Title: Play the Game Tonight

Summary: Kei Ubusuna figured that her play would go just as the script was written

WC:1582

Notes: Welcome! This is a collection of story bits that might have gone overlooked (and yes, I'm sure some of you did notice them). They'll be in any character's prospective, and will mostly consist of scenes that any of the three (manga, anime, novels) might not have fully elaborated on.

...

What a pity.

The thought crossed my mind as I served the black-haired girl tea. With her shaking shoulders and tear tainted face, she could hardly keep the teacup from shuddering in her hands.

"I didn't mean to," Kasai said, more whispering into her tea than talking to me, her teacher.

I sat down opposite of her and sipped at my tea.

"I just still don't understand the reason why this is all happening. With Hara-san getting hurt… how much more is going to happen before it stops?" Kasai set her cup down since her body was trembling too badly. She tried to cover it by clasping her hands together.

"Come now, Chiaki-chan, you know why it started. You shouted it out to the whole world that day, about your intention of using black magic."

Kasai reacted like she was being stabbed with a needle in the palm of her hand with every one of my words. More unwarranted tears ran from the corners of her eyes.

She looked like such a wreck, that I had to keep from rolling my eyes. This girl, how can anyone even see her as a threat? She cried half of the time, and she tried not to cry the other half. There was nothing threatening about her except for her voice, where she had been blessed with the gift of having incredibly angry sounding vocals.

That's the only reason people believed what she was saying was true.

"Kei-sensei… I didn't mean to do that – it just came out so fast, I was so angry. I –"

"Calm yourself, Chiaki-chan – words are powerful objects. I know you didn't mean to do it, but you said it nonetheless."

Kasai buried her face into her hands, sniffing into them like they were tissues.

Sitting in front of her like this, I couldn't help but feel disappointed in Kasai for all the tears that she'd spilled over this affair. Professional was not in Kasai's vocabulary.

"Why do you think it was Hara-san that the curse went after? She wasn't involved in the original hearing of it. Do you maybe think you have a personal grudge against her?" I didn't have to ask this question – I knew the full reason why Hara had been attacked.

I had even been present when she had been pushed down the stairs.

It was at a distance, of course.

I was just interested to see what reason that Kasai would come up with.

Kasai's eyes widened with me mentioning it, which I thought to be intriguing. Kasai ducked her head and mumbled something; which sounded something close to, 'I have no idea'.

Time slipped by, as I continued to drink my tea and Kasai wringed her hands.

"Kei-sensei, do you think it's possible that someone would be interested in me?" Kasai had an earnest look in her eyes.

"You're a beautiful young woman, Chiaki-chan. Why wouldn't anyone be interested in you? Besides from some basic reasons, of course. When a husband or boyfriend always has to worry about you getting angry and becoming harmful, it tends to make the relationship, well, stressful."

I would know from experience.

"But what brings up such a question at this time?" I only continued to press on the topic after I had seen Kasai's lower lip quiver a little.

"There is no reason."

"Perhaps somebody has caught your eye? I would imagine it to be that young scientist, Shibuya?"

Kasai's eyes widened in comedic-horror, "Oh, please, Kei-sensei, don't tell anyone!"

I continued to smile at Kasai's flustered state, but really? How stupid must the girl be to believe that I would just go around telling people about who her petty crush was? It was a shame that the girl wasn't as intelligent as she had first appeared to be when I had taken her under my wing.

"Mai-san told me that he was an Onmyouji…" Kasai said quietly.

I nearly gasped at the same time I was taking in a drink, which only ended up in an ungraceful choking spasm.

Kasai handed me a handkerchief to wipe my lips on.

"I – I just remember you talking about that once, that they're powerful. Maybe he can help break the curse I cast?"

"Chiaki-chan, you must not go near him without me there to accompany you. I can't go into details – you would not understand with your minimal knowledge – but you have to trust me, he can be dangerous. They can all be dangerous. If you're not careful, disclosing any information to them can lead to your death. If they learn too much about you, they can turn all the demons and curses you've conjured back onto you. You must keep away from them; especially now since they have a personal vendetta against you because of Hara-san."

Kasai looked small, cowering in her chair. She was a gullible girl, mention that silly curse she thinks she cast, and she'll immediately swallow any lies you offer her.

Her chin was quivering again, and I looked down into my tea as I could not bear to see how pathetic she actually was.

…

He was an arrogant bastard, really.

How could someone look so haughty and sure of themselves, when they're wearing a hospital gown and reclining in a bed?

It didn't matter what he was wearing or where he was though – the only thing that mattered was that damned magazine he held in his hands. He had a guarded look in his dark eyes. It was that calculating, suspicious look that everyone looked at me with sideways. The thing they knew subconsciously. It wasn't anything new to me, and I had come to not expect people to look at me any differently at this point.

Except for Kasai. She had admired me, not feared me. Perhaps that's why she was so annoying.

Even now, her eyes only held shock and hurt from the betrayal. The girl trusted too easily – and the wrong people on top of it.

It was such a disappointment, really. I had been expecting so much more to come from this big, beautiful mess. Especially from Kasai, who was the main actress.

I walked out of the hospital room, without making any more eye contact with the people. The tall man escorted me out. I could feel the energy that was coming off of him, prickling my skin.

"Ubusuna-san," he said, once we had exited the hospital.

"Yes?" I smiled. My smile was an enchantment in its own right – it disarmed people. Calmed them. Unfortunately, it held no power over this man, or his boss.

"I don't trust that you will keep your word," he said.

Nobody trusted me. As they should – normally when they did they got stabbed in the back. Just look at where it left poor, pitiful Kasai.

"Perhaps it's for your own good," I told him.

"I believe that you misunderstand – I am not here for you to laugh at me, I am here to scare you."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Ubusuna-san," he said, a soft tone to his voice that actually made a chill skitter up my spine. I could not recall the last time that had happened to me. "I am here to tell you not to do it again. If anything happens to the girl, we will know that it was you."

"Do you think I wouldn't know such a thing?"

"Sometimes people forget minor details."

We were quiet as we assessed each other. I was not weak in my power… and yet… I could not match his.

Our war was over within a five-minute stare down.

It was… unfortunate in a type of way, because all-in-all, I had lost.

They had left me in a deep rut, which I could not remove myself from without being knocked back down and, in a result, only amounting to my undesirable death.

The tall man turned away and left, returning to the hospital.

As I watched him leave, I felt like he took the key with him. I was now just a locked-up coffin. Confined in my own hell.

It was really regretful. Everything would have gone so smoothly, if those two had never showed up. The other spiritualists would never have been a problem. Their sights had been so set on Kasai – like everyone else – that they couldn't see the one pulling the strings behind the poppet. They had been just a bunch of stuck-up, powerless amateurs.

The Onmyouji, the boy and… that girl. I don't remember her name anymore. She had caused problems by alerting people that something might have been going on behind the scenes. I will admit that I panicked a bit when it came to that one… If I had never hexed her to try and silence her, then I could possibly not have been in this situation at this moment.

Kasai had been such a perfect play. The girl had so many suicidal tendencies, that no one would have questioned the day that she would have committed her own death. She only needed a little more subliminal prompting and bullying to be completely pushed over the edge.

Then after that, I would have just halted all of my curses. With the spells disappearing the day Kasai's grave was filled, everyone's belief that it was all her doing would have been entirely sealed. No one would have noticed the person behind the curtains.

It would have been a truly beautiful show.

What a pity.