Brand New Days

Chapter 4

It's been a week ever since she started fighting those Shadows, old bruises would go and new ones would replace it. There are times she would get burned by the Shadows, and it had caused many students from the university to wonder what kind of training she was doing because it looked too extreme to use fire for sparring.

The abandoned toy shop worked like Tartarus, except it was a mirror leading to the next area and that it was accessible anytime of the day, but it still has a transportation device to return back to the entrance. Even though it was accessible anytime, it was better off going there at night since hardly anyone goes out at night.

"Geez, Minako you should take care of yourself more often. Is that training really important? It seems so dangerous." Sakura sermon her as she turn her gaze upon her exposed burnt skin.

"Like I said before…no need to worry about me, this self-defence is needed since it's too dangerous at night." Minako replied as she studied her History textbook.

"Oh by the way…why is it you leave right away when you greet or pass by Akihiko-senpai? He always seems like he wanted to talk to you or something. Is there something I don't know? Maybe he developed some liking to you? Since you guys did stay at the same dorm back then."

Minako's face turned to different shades of red, and whacked her friend with a notebook who kept laughing.

"We were just acquaintances only. As much I would like to stir up a conversation with him, you know his fans club would go crazy if I were to get that much courage to do so."

"True…but you don't really need courage to talk to him neh? It's charm! And I think you're more charming enough to talk to him."

"Oh shut it! Let's go home its getting dark. I have training to attend to." With that she shoved her notebook and textbook in her bag, and grabbed the plastic container filled with pancakes.

"Just don't overdo it." With that Sakura hurried outside of the home economics room.

"Hey! Wait up!" With that Minako followed suit.

It happened so fast, she ended up colliding with someone.

"Dammit…Sakura don't just waltz out of the room…" Her voiced died out instantly as she saw the person she bumped into was not Sakura but Akihiko, she winced in pain since the impact felt like it opened one of her wounds on her side "I'm sorry Sanada-senpai."

She gave a small bow and unintentionally shoved the pancakes into his hands.

"Yo Minako! You're too slow, hurry up!" Sakura's voice boomed down the hallways.

"Coming!" Gathering her stuff, she walked off in the direction where Sakura was waiting until she felt a tugged on her wrist.

"Wait! Y-you're bleeding." Akihiko said, his eyes widen in fear as he eyed the red stain on her blouse which was coming from her side, most likely her wound she got from last night's exploration.

"No need to worry, it happens all the time. Anyway I have to go now; I need to go somewhere right away." Yanking her wrist free, she gave a reassuring smile before dashing off.

'Still keeping the burden all to yourself huh?'

Eyeing the container filled with pancakes, a small came upon his face and tonight he has a plan.

'…And you still remembered that I like pancakes.'

The whole trip back to her apartment was full of sermons from Sakura after she noticed the big red stain on her white blouse, obviously getting more worried of her condition. She joked that Sakura was like some kind of nanny or something, which lead to Sakura quieting down and turning red in embarrassment.

Entering back to her apartment, she quickly took off her blouse and drenched it in a basin of warm water. Eyeing the wound, it was definitely not in good condition but she'll continue her plan in exploring later. With that she quickly bandaged her wound and wrapped it so it would be secured.

Like always she would eat her dinner first, prepare the items, and sharpen the blade of her Naginata. Once everything was done, she slipped out of her apartment and cautiously looked around making sure that there was no one on the street. Like always the coast is clear, and with that she quickly trudged toward the direction of the toy shop.

Every once in a while she would wince in pain, the wound felt like it was on fire especially after she fought a hoard of shadows. She felt really exhausted; she decided to quit exploring and head to the transportation device. Resting her hands on the transportation device, she expected that she would be standing right in front of the toy shop but instead the device turned red and denied her to be transferred.

'What…!?'

She could hear an inhuman screech and the sound of stomping from behind. This was not her day at all, unfortunately her reaction was not fast enough and she felt like a wall collided at her with full force, next she was lying on the cold floor gripping her sides and gave an anguish scream of pain. Blood freely flow from her side; her evoker was missing from her gun holder as she tried to get a hold of it.

Scanning the area, the silver glint of her evoker from across the room caught her eyes.

'This is definitely not my day.' She thought, with that she narrowed her eyes in hatred as she looked up at the Shadow. This was not just an ordinary Shadow, but seems to be like a Guardian of the area since it gave a more dangerous aura. She steadied herself against the closest wall, her Naginata pointed dangerously at the enemy ready to strike.

Everything felt like it went in slow motion. The Guardian started charging towards her, while she tried to evade the path it was charging on and she ended up stumbling as she pushed herself off the wall as she tried to head to the direction where her evoker laid. She knew she was still in the path the Guardian was charging on and expected to get rammed against the wall but instead she felt she was shoved out of the way and seconds later she was lying on the floor out of harm's way and felt a cool healing sensation run through her whole body.

Knowing she has been healed, she slowly sat up to see who pushed her out of the way. The Guardian screeched in pained as it got hit multiple times by a big surge of electricity, it slowly disintegrated into darkness and later on disappeared. Looking over to the person who save her, her eyes widen as she saw a familiar persona, Caesar, disappeared.

"That persona, Caesar…Akihiko-senpai?"

"I told you to call me Aki, didn't I?" A glare came from said man as he walked over towards her, "You idiot! Are you planning to get yourself killed!? I thought I was going to lose you again!" With that he grabbed her collar and roughly pulled her towards him, his lips hungrily devoured her mouth.

It took a few minutes until they parted, both gasping for air. Minako's eyes widen in shock then shyly looked away, while Akihiko turned red as he scratched the back of his neck after he realized what he done.

"O-oh…sorry about. It's been a long time I haven't seen you…I-I miss you so much."

"It's okay Aki." The brunette replied as she wrapped her arms around him, "I'm a bit shock you remembered everything. How did you know I was here?"

"During graduation day, everyone remembered what happened though we were late to realize it, you guys were gone. I'm sorry I forgot it all… But thank god you're safe. Luckily I followed you right after we met earlier; if not maybe you were a goner if I didn't follow you." Akihiko replied.

"It's okay. Hey at least you were able to protect me." Minako joked as she weakly smiled at him as she staggered over to pick up her evoker.

Sighing in relief, he went over and carried her bridal-style despite her protest to walk and head to the transportation device which returned back to the normal green colour that hinted them it's ready to be used.

He silently attended her wounds, delicately applying medicine and wrapping them with bandages; on the other hand Minako observed him, wincing once in a while as she felt the stinging effect of the medicines on her wounds.

'He definitely changed. More manlier and more confident.' She unconsciously placed a hand on his cheek, and he lean in more to her touch obviously more satisfied and relief she was truly alive in front of him. His reaction made her give a shy smile, a little flustered as she caught his gaze; he looked back at her lovingly and gave her a chaste kiss on the lips.

After all her wounds were tended, the two would share stories of what happened during their five years separation. Of course Akihiko had more stories than her, since all she did was sleep at the hospital for years and subconsciously protected the door that held Nyx while debating with her brother on who to take full responsibility as the other will continue on with life.

"Seriously I thought I was going to lose you earlier. Don't get me worried like that again. Since you got me over the edge earlier, I think I'll have to execute you." He gave a mischievous smile.

"Eh!? Execute me!? What…are you like Mitsuru or something?" She joked, but obviously she could feel the sexual tension coming from him.

"I can't let you get away unpunished." He murmured huskily in her ear, causing her to flush red.

A few minutes later, they were inside her bedroom and kissing like there's no tomorrow. Before he'll start his 'punishment', he whispered into her ear:

"And from now on, we'll never be apart."

Minako spent the whole night with Akihiko.

Author's Note: 'If you know what I mean' moment. Yeah a bit too fast for their relationship, but heck they also did it after a week they got into a relationship in the game xD I really was thinking of writing down their 'scene' but not everyone wants to read those explicit stuff. Rest day again, so I'm putting this up.

Thanks for those who fav and follow; and especially to Panda for reviewing (yes you are the very first aggressive reviewer/fan I met, I'll try my best to make my chapters longer. Thanks though for being such an awesome reviewer it inspires me to continue this story.)