Family
"Why do we have to go on patrol?" Yuuichirou Hyakuya let out a groan of complaint like he'd rather kill himself than do what he was doing right now. He slumped forward as he walked, clearly deadbeat tired. "It's the middle of the night, and they wake us up practically just to kick us out of the dorm."
"Now, now. Don't get so worked up, Yuu." Shinoa Hiiragi giggled mockingly, a few feet behind the grumpy, sleepy boy who was gripping his sword in his hand so tightly that anyone within a five meter radius would be careful.
She loved to tease him, but she had seen the extent of his new power after letting himself getting possessed by his demon.
If she went too far with her teasing within strike range, she wasn't too sure if she could manage to escape unscathed from his katana.
"We're here too, you idiot." Kimizuki Shiho muttered, also clearly sounding sleep-deprived. "Don't act like you're the only one suffering. We all got dragged out here, just like you."
"Shut your mouth." Yuu shot back, already ready to start a fight.
Kimizuki wasn't afraid to proceed either, beginning to advance on Yuu with his hands reaching for his twin swords. "What'd you say, punk?!"
"Guys, we're on patrol! Save it for later!" Sangu Mitsuba quickly got in between the two that were ready to begin an all-out brawl, holding her arms up to push them away. "They told us that several Horsemen of the Apocalypse are nearing the city, and that we need to find and eliminate them! Don't go starting a fight now!"
"Actually, if they do that, maybe they can attract the Horsemen with the noise they'll make?" Shinoa teased with a smile, taking ten more steps away from the scene that could quickly become a battlefield if Mitsuba didn't defuse the bomb quickly enough.
"You're not helping at all, Shinoa!" Mitsuba commented sharply, shooting her a venomous look which the purple haired girl simply laughed off.
"Guys!"
They all were alerted by Saotome Yoichi's urgent tone of voice, followed by the sound of a massive explosion in the distance. They turned to look at him, and they realized that he had drawn his bow and was facing the west. He glanced at them with an uneasy expression as he drew the string back before looking back to his target and firing again. Another, bigger explosion rung out and illuminated the moonlit, deserted street with bright orange and yellow fiery light.
"Are those the Horsemen you're talking about?" He asked breathlessly as he drew the third arrow, and then pointed at his faraway target with the sharp projectile still nocked in the bowstring.
Mitsuba drew out her axe and took a few steps in the direction Yoichi was facing, and her eyes narrowed. "…yeah, I think those are the targets. At the very least, some of them."
"What are we waiting for, then?!" Yuu shouted with fervor, drawing his blade and sprinting forward, leaving the rest of his team in the dust he was kicking up. "A few Horsemen is easy!"
"That stupid…!" Kimizuki growled in irritation before he drew his own swords and followed behind Yuu, the two of them heading straight for the first Horseman in sight.
"Those two are just idiotic." Mitsuba muttered, exasperated, before she began running as well with Shinoa behind her.
Yuu leaped at the first Horseman, a two-story tall specimen with large tentacle-like arms, and cut through it so easily it was like watching a baker cut through freshly baked bread. The only difference being the immense downpour of blood that came afterwards. The upper half of the creature toppled onto the ground lifelessly, with the lower half following behind it shortly. The body made the ground rumble and shake as it collapsed.
"You dumbass! Behind you!" Kimizuki held one of his swords in his hand and then hurtled his other one at the Horseman that was fast charging upon Yuu's open backside. The chain extended as it flew, becoming longer than it used to be. The boy holding the other end of the chained blades then pulled back hard, and the distant sword came back like a fishing rod, cutting through the monster's legs and making it crash into the ground hard.
"Not bad, for an idiot." Yuu remarked sarcastically as he turned around and then raised his sword up. Instantly, a dozen replicas of his own sword materialized around him and then shot like bullets, burying themselves into the incapacitated beast.
"You guys aren't doing that bad." Shinoa critiqued with a smile as she leaped backwards, evading the legs of a Horseman and then slashing them with her own Scythe. She twirled her scythe and prepared to deliver the finishing blow.
The beast suddenly let out a roar and then lashed out with one of its arms. Shinoa narrowly dodged the oncoming arm with an inch to spare, and she raised her scythe in preparation to sever the arm.
But what she didn't realize was that the arm wasn't trying to attack her.
It had grabbed a nearby car.
Shit! Kimizuki thought as he saw the spectacle in his peripherals while dodging the blow of another Horseman. I won't make it in time!
"Kimizuki! Throw me!" Yuu shouted desperately, his eyes locking with his comrade's. Yuu thrust out his arm, his hand open for his comrade to take.
And for a moment, Kimizuki was lost in the moment. His mind was blank, and the only thing registering in his thoughts was his body movements. In a single fluid motion, he reached out and grabbed Yuu by his wrist and flung him in Shinoa's direction.
"Shinoa!"
In a single instant, Yuu managed to fly directly into her and grab her, wrapping his arms around her frame and taking her with him. The mass of scrap metal hurtled past them and then crashed into the ground before creating a flaming explosion that rattled the air.
The sound of creaking steel suddenly rang through the air as a power line tower began to fall down. The transformer hit the ground with a violent boom, and yellow sparks flew through the air with a seething hissing sound. With the wires violently twisting like pinned snake, the pole slowly fell downwards and slammed into the ground with all the force of a cinderblock.
The two had escaped from the collision of both the car and the column, managing to avoid getting flattened by the car. They landed in the dirt, unharmed and still intact.
"You okay, Shinoa?" Yuu asked, looking down at the girl that he'd saved and was now in his arms. "Are you unhurt?"
"U-um, yes." She stuttered, a little flustered at their faces being so close to one another. The Hiiragi family member could feel her heart flutter a bit and her face growing a bit warmer, and she averted her gaze to look down instead. "I'm f-fine."
"Okay." Yuu replied, looking relieved, before he loosened his tight grip on her body. "Glad you got out in one piece."
Nothing about that statement nor the way he looked when he said those words helped Shinoa's confused heart at all. It was like snakes were strangling her insides, but it wasn't unpleasant at all.
The sound of another explosion shook her and brought Shinoa back to her senses, and she was quick to recover. She quickly got to her feet, escaping Yuu's grasp and holding her scythe up in preparation to fight.
However, the Horseman that had attacked her was dead. Blown to pieces was the most accurate description to give to what she was looking at.
"Got it!" A distant call from their marksman Yoichi told Shinoa all she needed to know, and she just sighed and let her weapon dematerialize. The bladed weapon let out a hiss as it faded into black flames that dissipated into the air.
Agh! Suddenly, she realized that a burning pain was making its way up her left leg. She looked down and was surprised to find blood dripping down her shin and leaving bloody splatters on the pavement. The pain that she had suddenly become aware of was like a burn and a sprain at the same time, a twisting fire that seared her calf.
"Shinoa!" Yuu let out a cry of concern as she fell to one knee, clutching at her leg in pain. He rushed to her side quickly, and spotted the source of the blood. He cringed at the sight, then let out a sigh of relief upon closer inspection.
The wound itself wasn't that bad, from Yuu's point of view. If a normal person had received it, it would normally take treatment and more than a week for it to recover. However, to an experienced member of the Moon Demon Company, it would heal on its own after a night's sleep.
Still, it looked gruesome enough to warrant shivers. Below her knee, Shinoa's leg had a large gash running from her knee down to her ankle. Beyond that, an immense, dark purple bruise was present on her ankle. Blood ran down the limb plentifully, forming a puddle of crimson on the cement.
It looked spine-chilling to most civilians, but things like this couldn't make Yuu bat an eye. He'd seen worse in his short time with the Moon Demon Company.
"Yeesh, that doesn't look good." Mitsuba made a sound of surprise mixed with disgust the instant she laid eyes on the injury, even taking a step away from Shinoa upon seeing it. "You won't be able to fight with that injury."
"Tch." Yuu made a sound of irritation and clenched his fist in self-frustration. "If only I'd been quicker to react."
"Hmm…we can't risk you getting injured any further." Kimizuki said as he drew closer to the group, his eye on the injury. "We can't go on like this. We're not a team of five anymore. Any armed vampires out here will be dangerous with us like this."
"Then let's head back." Yoichi replied, glancing worriedly at his surroundings as if something were going to leap out at any minute. "They should understand if our Squad Leader's been injured."
"…I hate to say it, but I agree with you. Going on like this will get us killed." Shinoa let out a defeated breath and then held her arms out to Yuu. "So? What are we waiting for? Carry me back."
"…huh?"
"D-Don't give me that look. How am I supposed to head back if I can't walk?" She gave him such a confused expression that, combined with the use of a very matter-of-fact tone of voice, left Yuu at a loss for words.
C-C-Carry her? He thought, reluctant at the idea. But he gave in to his guilt when he thought again that if he'd been even a second faster, he could have helped her avoid the injury. He accepted it silently and walked over to the purple-haired girl without another word, and then lowered his body so that his back was facing her. "Get on."
"S-Sure." Shinoa dragged herself onto him so that she was practically, for all intents and purposes, being given a piggyback ride. She locked her arms loosely around his neck so that she wouldn't fall off.
"Alright, let's head back. Yoichi, keep an eye out for any approaching Horsemen or Vampires. Mitsuba and I will keep these two safe in case any surprise attacks show up."
"Got it!" The brown-haired boy nodded in agreement before turning and firing an arrow at a streetlight. The projectile stuck into the large bulb, leaving behind a trail of green energy that the archer used to pull himself up onto the high vantage point.
"…since when could he do that?" Mitsuba muttered in grudging admiration.
"Better for us, worse for the vampires. Come on, let's get going." Yuu replied, sighing as he began to walk. He shot a glance back at Shinoa, whose forehead was directly against the back of his own. "You can take a nap or whatever. It'll help recover your energy."
"I'll take you up on that, since you're being such a gentleman." Shinoa replied with her usual teasing smile, knocking him on the back of his head with her forehead once before leaning on it and closing her eyes while her friends began the long trek on foot back to their base.
15 Minutes Later…
Shinoa stood in an empty place with absolutely nothing but the color white. The endless floor, the vast ceiling and the nonexistent walls that were so far apart it was like a new dimension.
In front of her was a large floating being made up of dark smoke. A large glowing orb of orange and yellow sat where its head looked to be, near a pair of jagged horns that curved upwards.
"You amuse me sometimes, Shinoa." The demon had a very high-pitched, feminine voice despite its extremely menacing appearance. The demon just stared at its contractor with no expression on its face.
Any expression it could make was lost to the smoke it was made out of.
"Well, I'm glad I can be friends with you too." Shinoa replied with a smile, her hands behind her back. "You're probably the only friend I have that's still trying to kill me, though."
"True." The smoky creature shrugged, although its shoulders were so wide and bulky that it didn't seem like a shrug and more like it was lifting the sky with its back. "…but really, you amuse me more now than before."
"Why is that, Shii?" Shinoa asked in reply, looking at her demon with an expression of friendly curiosity that a normal person would normally not wear when dealing with a demon. "Have I done anything in particular to amuse you?"
"No…it's just that humans are often the most entertaining to watch when they lie to themselves."
Shinoa wanted to open her mouth and reply to the statement in a thousand different ways. To ask what Shii meant, to rebut, or even to lash out.
But her throat held her words in place in a grip unshakable, and Shinoa stood there in that empty place with her mouth already open. But not a single word came out.
…I'm…lying to myself…?
"If denial were a sin, I would have taken you over long ago." Shinoa's demon scoffed mockingly before it began to disappear into the air. "But I like you, so I'll offer you this." As the flames disappeared and left Shinoa alone, her last words emanated all around the girl as the world of white around her slowly began to shake and fade into nothingness.
"Being true to yourself is the only way you can die in this world without regrets."
"Shinoa!"
The girl woke up with a start, opening her eyes to the sound of a male voice that was so close to her it nearly made her uncomfortable. She raised her head and rubbed her eyes in an effort to wake herself up, realizing that Yuu had called her name. "…what? I was having a decent nap." Shinoa let out a small, sleepy yawn right after she finished talking.
Yuu made his own exasperated noise. "We're already near your room."
"…my room?" It took a while for it to sink in. Once it did, however, Shinoa's eyes shot open and her fingers suddenly began to dig into Yuu's shoulders. "What are you talking about?" She pressed him for an answer.
"Well…" Yuu looked away, a little embarrassed. "…see, there's a little bit of a problem with the apartment building. Remember that power line the Horseman took down? It caused a few problems with the circuit breakers, and the mechanics had to restart the generators while they get things up and running again."
"So? What about that explains why you're carrying a frail, helpless, cute girl over to your apartment in order to ravish her with your love?"
"I-I'm not doing that!" Yuu promptly shot back before continuing. "The power outage that occurred when they switched the generators caused a malfunction with the electronic locks on our doors. Yours was locked, and so is Yoichi's."
"I see…" Shinoa replied, having already figured out the rest of it. "So, since Mitsuba's room is too small for other people to stay in, Yoichi bunked with Kimizuki and I'm with you, correct."
Yuu nodded in agreement. "Besides, your apartment is a farther walk than mine."
"You be exercising more, Yuu. You're gonna need those muscles if you want to be killing vampires." Shinoa harassed him further with her signature smile, poking his calves with a finger.
"Don't do that!"
"Your room isn't as messy as I thought it would be." Shinoa remarked the minute they stepped through the doorway.
Yuu's room was much like most of the other rooms of the rest of the Moon Demon Company. It was a plain looking apartment room that was surprisingly spacious for a post-apocalyptic room. The walls were an eggshell white, faded slightly due to wear and tear.
Yuu's bedroom was large. With a single queen-sized bed complete with white fluffy pillows and a white blanket, the room felt much like a hotel. The bedroom was connected directly to the hallway near the door, which was a few steps away from the entrance to the bathroom. The comfort room looked relatively clean, with the porcelain and steel that looked slightly faded as if it had been aged for a year.
It looked surprisingly well for a room that had survived the apocalypse.
"Give me a break." Yuu replied, sighing as he closed the door using his leg. He began walking down the very short hallway that led to the bedroom, and he walked to the side of the bed. "Here, you should sit down for a second."
"You're very daring, forcing a girl who can't fight back to sit on your bed the minute you enter your apartment." Shinoa remarked coyly.
"If you have enough energy to talk back, then maybe you can try standing up on your own." He shot back, and he lowered himself with his back facing the bottom bunk. Setting her down, Shinoa sat down hard onto the mattress with a small yelp.
The exchange of banter more or less at a standstill now, Yuu just let out an exhausted sigh and loosened the collar of his undershirt. "Man, it's hot here most of the time."
"Even if it's the evening?" Shinoa tilted her head as she gave Yuu a look of mocking disbelief.
"Yeah. Oh, I'll be the one to make dinner, so just wait there for a minute." Yuu said as he took off his coat, and then he walked past the corner and disappeared from Shinoa's line of sight.
As Yuu walked into the kitchen, he hung his coat on a nearby chair. Now that I think about it, I should probably take a shower.
…what about Shinoa? The thought suddenly came to mind, and he shot a glance at the bathroom. Won't she need one too?
"What do you want to eat, Shinoa?" He asked the question with a loud voice so that his companion could hear him from the other room.
"Whatever you have will be fine." She called back to him. "I'm a guest here, so I'll take whatever you serve."
Then that's the curry. Yuu thought to himself bitterly as he opened the meager, small refrigerator that had come with the room. Inside were a few ingredients that was given by the supplies of the base, such as meat and various odds and ends for cooking. I guess making curry back in the vampire capital will have been good for something after all...
He prepared the food quickly, still trying to cull his thoughts about the shower. Deciding that he would have to go since Shinoa still couldn't stand, he began setting the table with plates and utensils.
Regardless of who goes first, I'm going to have to change out of these.
Doing his best to ignore Shinoa, he walked back into his bedroom and went over to the wooden closet at the opposite end of the room. Opening it and pulling out a drawer, he took out a dark grey tank top and a pair of black shorts. He refused to make eye contact with the girl sitting on his bed as he quickly walked into the bathroom to change his clothes.
After he'd put on his clothes, he walked back out and poked his head out to meet Shinoa's gaze. "Dinner's ready. Need me to help you up?"
"Actually, I'd appreciate that." She replied with a tone of gratitude, and she held out a hand for him to take. Sighing, Yuu walked over to her and took her arm over his shoulders. Placing another arm around her waist, he pulled her up and supported her into a standing position that was sort of awkward with the two of them so close to one another.
"Actually, I thought about getting you out of those clothes…" Yuu began, glancing down at her bloodstained coat and socks.
"You're a naughty boy~"
He did not need to retaliate with words. Instead, he pretended to wobble. The lack of balance made the girl let out an instinctive small scream, which was immediately followed up with a dagger-like gaze and a pinch to the shoulder that Yuu could have lived without.
The two made it to the kitchen, and Yuu sat her down onto the closest wooden chair before pulling the other chair up so that he could sit beside her. He took the plates that he'd placed onto the dining table and walked over to the stove. He turned off the blue flames, and then lifted the pot of curry and placed it onto two different plates. Yuu took both plates in his hands and then walked back to the table, placing one in front of Shinoa and the other one where he sat.
"Here, some curry." Yuu said as he took his seat.
Shinoa immediately took a spoonful of it and placed it into her mouth. Instantly, her eyes widened in pleasant surprise while she gulped down the mouthful of food. She turned her focus to the boy in front of her, clearly startled. "You're better at cooking than I thought you were."
"Thanks, I guess." Yuu muttered, a little embarrassed at the sincere praise. "Not as great as Kimizuki though." He scratched the back of his head sheepishly, caught completely off guard by the sudden compliment. "It was just something I picked up since my little brothers and sisters liked curry a lot."
Shinoa's expression became a mix of both solemn and curious. "…from your time in the vampire's capital?"
"...Mm." Yuu nodded, confirming what she had already guessed. "Mika would always help out no matter who was cooking. He just wanted us all to live happily together as a family, so he'd done stupid things before and risked his life just so that we could have curry every now and then." Yuu chuckled and smiled in spite of himself, recalling the bittersweet memories of his younger days.
"Well, at least I know that you had someone as equally stupid as you in the capital to keep you safe." Shinoa remarked with a grin.
"Hey, don't tease Mika. He's smarter than me." Yuu replied, not being baited by the tease and instead giving her a serious answer. "He made a plan to save our lives."
"Even if it failed in the end and you were the only one to get out?"
"…yeah. Even if." Yuu looked down at the floor, the grief welling up within him again for a brief moment before he took a deep breath and forced it back down.
"…to be honest with you, Yuu, I'm envious."
Yuu looked up to meet eyes with Shinoa, whose expression was not that of her usual playful air. Instead, while she kept the same smile she always had, her eyes radiated with sincerity. "I didn't have anyone to call family the way you did."
"…didn't you say you had a sister?"
"Yes, what about her?"
Yuu simply wasn't sure where she was coming from at this point. He simply gave her a weird look. "You just said that you never had anyone to call family. But you had a sister, and you're part of the Hiiragi family…"
Shinoa's expression turned blank, like she was trying to decide what face she should make. Slowly, it became one of slight discomfort. "If you were to call family the people that share your surname, then I surely have a family." She took another bite out of her curry before she continued. "But I'm sure that to you, family is not like that."
"Um…" Taken aback, Yuu could only nod.
"My parents were not loving ones, though my mother could be called something like an exception. I was raised mostly in the absence of my parents, and my sister did not offer me sisterly love like that you would probably think of." Her eyes glittered with something like nostalgia, but it was also stained with sullenness. "I was mostly alone."
I see… Yuu realized it as he listened to her, his lips being clenching together in thought. So that's what she meant.
"Haha. This isn't something I'd like to talk about at the dinner table." Shinoa laughed, sounding very bothered. She slowly got to her feet and stood up, limping a bit but otherwise managing to stay upright. "If you wouldn't mind, I'll be taking a shower in your bathroom."
"Ah, uh, sure." Yuu, still letting his thoughts roam, agreed hurriedly when he realized that Shinoa was talking.
Shinoa walked away and closed the bathroom door behind her, leaving Yuu alone in the kitchen.
…no one to call family, huh?
"Is this…really all you had to wear?" Shinoa asked as she looked down at her change of clothes, clearly hesitant. She took a glance at Yuu, who sitting on the bottom bunk before she came out of the bathroom.
A pair of Yuu's newly washed boxers shorts under a single white T-shirt. After she had requested a change of clothes, Yuu had scrounged around the room to find her some clothes. The result was an outfit that looked exactly like a pervert's.
"Um…well, it's not like I have any girl's clothes lying around." Yuu said embarrassedly, looking away from Shinoa in order to keep himself from either laughing or staring. "S-Sorry."
"N-No, it's nothing you have to apologize for…" She replied, pulling the bottom of the shirt down to cover her underwear. "Just…it's quite revealing."
"I can see that."
"Don't get smart with me now." Shinoa replied with a frown, punching Yuu lightly on his bicep. "And don't look at me, or I'll impale you on Shii."
"Fine, fine. I got it, so don't pull out your scythe." Yuu muttered, sighing as he walked out of the room and over to his closet.
Shinoa tucked her hairclip back into her hair and then pulled the white shirt down as far as she could to cover her lower body. It was the only time she was ever thankful for having a small stature, for the bottom of the shirt reached past her waist and stopped at around her thighs.
However, she had mixed feelings to think about the fact that it covered the boxers she was wearing. It looked like she had nothing else on except for the shirt.
Add that to the fact that she was wearing her underwear from earlier, and Shinoa felt like she was both clean and dirty.
"Anyway, you can go ahead and sleep." Yuu said as he walked back into the main bedroom with a pillow and a blanket in his arms. He tossed the pillow onto the floor a few feet from Shinoa, and she realized what that meant.
"Are you going to sleep on the floor?" She asked, getting up from the bed.
"Yeah." Yuu replied matter-of-factly. He looked at her like he had no idea why she had asked. "Why?"
"You don't really have to." Shinoa replied, shaking her head. "You sleep here, so-"
"You idiot, you need to get some rest!"
Yuu loud outburst forced Shinoa to lapse into a shocked silence, and she stared at him as Yuu tried to get himself to calm down. He took a deep breath and then let it out in a sigh. "Like hell I'm gonna let an injured person sleep on the floor. It makes no sense."
Shinoa wanted to rebuke the statement, but the logic was too sound. Having been defeated, she nodded loosely and sat down onto the bed again.
"…you don't have to act strong when you're with me, Shinoa." Yuu offered a kind smile. "I'm part of your new family now, remember?"
Those words really got to her. Shinoa felt her chest tighten at the word family, and she turned to face him as he spoke. Yuu just turned away with a slight blush of embarrassment. "…I-I don't know what you think about me, But I care a lot about you."
"…"
Shinoa felt frozen in time as she stared at Yuu like he'd offered to drink a brick. Her heart felt constricted and warm, like a python were hugging her from the inside.
It didn't take long for her to burst out laughing.
"Wha-What are you laughing for?!" Yuu responded, still too embarrassed. He glared at her, but Shinoa couldn't take it seriously. She was busy laughing hard enough that she had fallen backwards onto the mattress.
That's right, I have a new family. Shinoa's mind was on an all-time high, warmer and happier than it had ever been. It felt like her entire being, everything she ever was, had been poured out from her in an instant. And despite her mouth belting out the most powerful laugh she'd ever dared to let out, her thoughts were clear like a river of crystal. People to rely on and care about…
She took a deep breath as she settled down, and then she sat up. "Ah~ah, I told Mitsuba that you were nicer than you looked, but this really goes farther than I expected." Shinoa got to her feet, her smile practically like permanent marker on her face. She walked over to Yuu and then crouched down in front of him with her arms hugging her knees. "You should show her this side of you. She'd definitely find it new."
"Hey, knock it off. Don't say things like that. You don't sound like yourself." Yuu said, the warm tension and awkwardness piling up for him.
…what is this feeling? Like…like I could get something off my chest…
"Hey, Yuu."
"What?"
"I think... you're a very important person to me."
Yuu felt his chest tighten at Shinoa's smile, and he could swear the aircon was broken or something because the temperature was no longer what it used to be. He inched away from the girl crouching in front of him, his mind slowly getting jumbled and messed up like gelatin in a blender.
"…I guess you're important to me, too." Yuu managed to blurt that out as he looked away, his ears already tomato red. "…I mean, you're…part of my new family and all…"
Shinoa thought her smile couldn't get any wider, but it did. It felt like it was beaming with the energy of a thousand suns, and her heart felt like it had already taken off from the landing strip.
She immediately stood up and then sat down onto the bed, patting the mattress on the spot next to her. "Well, if we're family, then sharing a bed shouldn't be a problem. Right?"
"Hey, what?!" Yuu screamed, standing up in what seemed like near-terror as he just stared incredulously at Shinoa. "What are you talking about?!"
"I'm not letting you sleep on the floor. That would be rude of me. And besides, this is queen-sized, isn't it?" The purple-haired girl gestured to the mattress matter of-factly. "This should be able to fit both of us easily."
Again, sound logic won the day. Yuu couldn't fight her statement with logic, so he just hung his head and gave up against the girl in his apartment who was ignoring all factors of conventional common sense. Shinoa moved over to the side next to the wall and took her pillow and blanket with her as Yuu crawled onto the mattress with his own set of pillow and mattress.
He fell down onto his head and then faced away from Shinoa, trying to calm himself as he tried his very best not to think too hard about the current situation. Yuu shut his eyes hard, half-wishing sleep would hit him like a rock.
However, what he felt instead was a poke in his back.
Yuu shifted so that he could turn his neck around and look at Shinoa. He was met with a surprisingly emotional gaze from a girl that was lying down right next to him and facing him.
"…you're precious to me, Yuu. So you'd better not die."
Yuu's eyes widened, and then he flashed her a grin. "Who are you talking about? I'm going to kill all those vampires, and not a single one will be able to kill me." He reached out and rested his hand on her shoulder. "So…don't you die, either."
"…mm. I promise I won't die, so you'd better promise me that, too." Shinoa said, poking him in the chest with her forefinger and placing her other hand on his shoulder.
"…alright, I promise."
The Next Morning…
"Why did you drag us over here first thing in the morning, Mitsuba?" Kimizuki growled crankily as he walked, his fists clenched and his teeth gritted. "You haven't explained yourself at all!"
"I told you, we need to go over there!" Mitsuba replied, still flustered. She refused to ease up, still dragging Yoichi by the wrist behind her.
"Guren will tell them that Shinoa's room is fixed. There's no need to go over there ourselves!" Kimizuki complained, wishing he could go back and sleep.
"Her room's door is fixed, but her power's still out. So, I think Gurren went there to tell her that she still needs to stay at Yuu's" Yoichi said matter-of-factly.
"That's not the problem here!" Mitsuba shot back, not saying another word that might betray her thoughts.
She was far more concerned with the very fact that she was sleeping at his apartment.
As they rounded the corner, they spotted Guren walking from the other direction towards them. He waved a hand over to them as he stopped by the door to Yuu's room. The minute that they reached him, he had already knocked on the door.
"What, you guys came here too? Such good friends, aren't you?" Guren let out a tired sigh and rubbed his eyes. "If I had known, I would've just let you guys take care of it for me."
"We don't care at all!" Kimizuki and Mitsuba retorted, and Yoichi just remained quiet with a tired smile on his face.
"…he's not answering at all, is he?" Guren muttered as he stared at the door. Indeed, there seemed to be no noise coming from the inside. No footsteps, rushed or otherwise, to the door. It didn't even sound like there was anyone inside.
"Maybe they're both still asleep." Yoichi muttered, clearly not wanting to break into the room. He was getting a bad feeling just from being there, and he had the foreboding premonition that things were going to snowball. He tugged onto Mitsuba's wrist and lightly began to pull her away. "Let's just come back later."
But if he were the innocent civilian that didn't want to take part in anything, Mitsuba was the willing, eager accomplice to the criminal. She quickly swiped the master keycard from Guren's hand, since he was just about to use it, and then opened the door. Pushing Yoichi aside, she grabbed the doorknob and then opened the door roughly.
Stomping inside, she made a beeline for the bedroom with her fists clenched. "Yuu! Wake up al-!"
And she was greeted with the sight of Yuu and Shinoa sharing the bed in what seemed like a comfortable embrace.
"Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-YUU!" Mitsuba blushed hard enough to look like she had 50% of all the blood in her body in her cheeks. She took a step back and smacked her head into the wall, unable to do anything but point at the pair in bed. "Wh-wh-what are y-y-you two doing?!"
That scream promptly awakened the two of them. Yuu was the first to raise his head, groaning sleepily. "…urgh, Mitsuba? What are you doing?"
"That's my line, you sick freak! To do it in highschool…just how perverted are you?!" Mitsuba summoned her axe and slammed the edge into the ground, cutting a large crevice in the carpet.
"Hey, hey! There's someone living below me!" Yuu was now perfectly wide awake, and was scrambling in a panic. He looked to his left and realized that the still-waking Shinoa had her arms wrapped around his waist. "Wai-Shinoa?!"
The purple-haired girl merely let out a yawn and slowly opened her eyes. "…what's with all of…?" Realizing her situation changed her, however. With a very prominent flush of the cheeks, Shinoa pushed Yuu away and quickly clambered out of bed. "Th-this isn't what you think it is, Mitsuba…"
"Ho, so you popped the cherry already?" Guren sneered as he poked his head from around the corner, smirking. "Good thing you got it out of the way. Makes it easier to die without regrets, that's for sure."
"G-Guren!" Yuu staggered to his feet, his eyebrows furrowed deeply and his mouth forming a scowl that looked not-too-out-of-place with his reddening face. "Shut your mouth!"
"Well, anyway, you'd better take responsibility. Girls get pissed if you don't." Guren called out as he walked out of the doorway, taking Mitsuba by her collar and dragging her behind him. She kicked, flailed and complained, but couldn't hope to free herself. "I'll have your stuff dropped off here later, Shinoa, so take your time and enjoy the rest of the morning." He then grabbed Kimizuki with the other hand and began dragging him away as well. Yoichi didn't need the physical abuse; he was all too knowledgeable of what would happen to him if he didn't follow.
"THAT'S NOT WHAT HAPPENED! AND WE ARE NOT DOING THAT!" was the pair's response as they yelled back at Guren loudly enough to wake up the rest of the apartment building.
Gurren just walks out of the door, giving them a thumbs up.