It was as bad as Izumi had said it would be. The section of the underpass within her teachers shields had been completely blackened by the scalding heat of their target Youmu's magic, all distinguishing features scorched to rubble. Bounding over the bubbling remains of what might have once been a car, Mirai surveyed the area. Confronted again with the devastation caused by a powerful fire monster, Mirai couldn't help but think of the last time she fought such a creature.
The half-Youmu, Akihito.
Absently scanning the blistered landscape, Mirai mused on the strange dichotomy between the playful pervert Akihito and the devastating monster within him. Despite the human Akihito's strange fetish for glasses and the creepiness this occasioned towards her, he was relatively harmless, friendly even. Kyoukai no Kanata, on the other hand...
Mirai suddenly became aware of a noxious, latex smell coming from beneath her and she reflexively leapt away. Landing a few steps forward in a battle stance, she turned to face the potential threat.
Fused to the sizzling cement were the soles of her shoes, reduced to a rubbery ooze.
Mirai sighed, extending her protective shield from simply around her body to her outfit as well.
Izumi better let me keep the bounty for this Youmu, she thought, I just bought those shoes last week!
Her attention returning to the task at hand, Mirai rolled up the sleeve of her cardigan, revealing a bound hand. With the automatic actions of an oft-repeated task Mirai removed the bandage, her eyes scouring the area. As she exposed a small wound on her palm Mirai inwardly stretched, the familiar calm washing over her as she activated the blood-magic of her clan. The wound wept, blood trickling from her hand in a thin line, quickly thickening and taking shape. Moments later, Mirai held a blood red sword in her hand.
In the distance, a burst of flames illuminated a section of the underpass. With a determined cast to her expression Mirai darted towards it, sword trailing behind her.
Izumi waited at the edge of the shield, saying nothing as Mirai approached. Mirai was used to her teachers reserved nature, and while she was tempted to wait out the silence her own eagerness to impress was overwhelming.
"A weakling!" Mirai shouted, tossing the stone form of the slain Youmu to Izumi.
The former head of the Nase clan caught the stone deftly with one hand, her gaze never leaving Mirai.
"I thought you were training me to kill the most dangerous Youmu," Mirai continued, "even your brother could've taken care of that one."
She cocked her head to the side, flashing a wide smile. In truth it had been a challenging kill, but Mirai was anxious to convince Izumi that her tutelage had been paying off. Ever since Izumi had returned from her mysterious, self-imposed exile she had been training Mirai in the intricacies of the Extermination arts. Despite her considerable natural skill, the increasingly dangerous Youmu that seemed to be descending on the city made this instruction invaluable to Mirai. More significant, however, was the companionship she had found with this talented Exterminator.
Izumi absently weighed the stone in her hand, still silent as she regarded Mirai. After a long moment, she spoke.
"You don't need to exaggerate to me, Mirai. In the entire region, there are maybe a handful of Exterminators who could've taken on that creature alone and survived. Yet you killed it, with barely a scratch."
Mirai sheepishly looked to her now bare feet before replying,
"Well...I suppose. But after Kyoukai no Kan..."
"After Akihito," Izumi interrupted.
Mirai shrugged, continuing, "Well, after him, no Youmu has really compared. It's hard to call even a monster like that anything other than a weakling."
Izumi reached out with her free hand, grabbing the bound hand of Mirai's. The sudden touch from her teacher startled her, sparking a strange feeling within her that somehow reminded her of Akihito. Izumi placed the stoned Youmu in her hand, and as their fingers briefly touched the feeling intensified, and Mirai felt her cheeks warm as she blushed.
Lost in this strange sensation Mirai missed the start of whatever Izumi had been saying, only hearing the conclusion.
"...you're the strongest Exterminator I've met, Mirai. But you have to be honest to yourself, and to me."
Mirai stared into the purple eyes of Izumi, who was regarding her with a mix of compassion and appreciation. This only aggravated her blushing, and Mirai looked away, feigning modesty.
"I'm strong...because you teach me, Izumi!" she blurted, her eyes fixed on the ground.
She heard a soft laugh in response, and her teachers hands withdrew, leaving the stone in hers.
"We'll get stronger together, Mirai. Take that stone to Ayaka tomorrow, and please...buy some better shoes!"
With well practiced, delicate cuts Mirai trimmed back the needle-like foliage of her small juniper tree, occasionally brushing away the loose leaves. While part of her was conscious of the task at hand she couldn't help but let her mind wander to the earlier events of the evening. The battle with the Youmu was a blur, just another difficult monster slain, but the encounter with her teacher afterwards...Mirai wasn't sure how to feel about that. She had quickly grown close to Izumi after the former Nase matriarch had returned to train her in secret, but it was clear to her that what she had felt at Izumi's touch was something much more intimate than simple camaraderie.
She remembered her involuntary blush as her teachers fingers had met hers, and shuddered. What did Izumi make of that? Mirai was, after all, an Exterminator whose power was drawn from her manipulation of blood; what did it mean that she couldn't even suppress the flushing of her cheeks.
Hopefully she just thought it a side effect of using my powers earlier, Mirai thought, attempting to banish the embarrassment with false logic.
Pausing her reflection, she took a moment to appreciate the shape the tree was taking. She noted a branch that was angling away from the others and resolved to reposition it; reaching into her toolbox she felt around, eventually finding the speciality brown-coloured wire that Akihito had gifted her.
As she unwrapped the expensive bonsai wiring, Mirai remembered the thought of Akihito that Izumi's touch had initially sparked. Although she had confessed her love for him as she felt herself disappearing in the aftermath of the battle with Kyoukai no Kanata, Akihito had not returned the sentiment after her revival. Their relationship after had been awkward at first, but quickly fell back into the routine of Akihito's overt pervertedness and her own mock outrage in response. She was sure Akihito felt something more than friendship for her, but why he persisted in maintaining the illusion they were just friends, and disregarded her confession, Mirai had no idea.
Sometimes she felt like Akihito did this to protect her in some misguided attempt to shelter her from loving a half monster creature. Other times she just felt like Akihito didn't care at all, and she had read too much into their friendship despite his constant over-the-top fetishizing of her and her glasses.
Regardless, she could never forget the feeling she had when she first learned the truth about his half Youmu nature. She had lived her life as if she too was a monster, outcast from the other Exterminator families because of her supposedly cursed blood. When she looked into Akihito's eyes after learning what was contained within him she saw a reflection of the same pain she was going through.
A shared pain, she idly reflected, was perhaps not the best grounds for love.
That was why her reaction to Izumi's touch had startled her so much. Other than Akihito, she had never felt like that about anyone; to feel that way about an elegant, confident Exterminator who she had instantly admired was entirely alien. Izumi was so different to both her and Akihito. She had a natural poise, her words and actions always effortlessly graceful. Whereas she had bonded with Akihito through their shared adversity her attraction to Izumi felt rooted in the inspiration she drew from the beautiful teacher's strength.
Still, even if she admired the power of her blood magic, Izumi simply would not have feelings for a bumbling idiot like Mirai. Between her clearly unrequited feelings for Izumi, and Akihito avoiding his feelings for her out of some misguided insecurity, Mirai suddenly felt truly alone.
Forcing herself back to reality, Mirai clamped down far too hard on the protruding juniper branch, feeling it snap. Hanging her head at yet another mistake she wondered if it would be better to let the branch mend, or to break it off completely.
After a long moment she snipped off a length of wire, binding the snapped branch in the direction she had planned.
A/N: lemme know if y'all like this & ill get started on chapter 2 & we can really kick off this love triangle~