" How's Kana? Did you manage to talk to her?"
Rikuo and I immediately stood up as soon as Mrs. Ienaga entered the
living room, coming from the kitchen.
" Yes, Mrs. Ienaga. She said that she's feeling a lot better now and she
looks fine to me so we're quite relieved for that. "
" That's great to hear. " Mrs Ienaga's smile reflected what she had just
said. " So, why are you wearing your bags already? Aren't you going to
stay here for dinner?"
" Thank you for the offer Mrs. Ienaga but I'm afraid we have to decline.
We can't impose to you so suddenly. Besides Kana needed some rest and
she could not do that if we stay here." Rikuo declined politely with a bow.
Mrs. Ienaga sighed in disappointment and pouted that she reminded me of
Wakana. " How about you Tsurara? Are you okay with that?"
" I'm in charge of tonight's meal in the household so I have to decline
as well Mrs, Ienaga." I also bowed my head in decline to her invitation.
If Rikuo had decided to stay though, I would have no choice but to stay
as well. I'm sure Wakana and Kejorou would have understood that.
The only thing that I would have to worry about was Kubinashi since I
knew Kejorou would order him around and he would blame it to me once we
cross path with each other. But honestly, I look forward to that
confrontation from him again. The usual polite and calm Kubinashi
getting annoyed and irritated is a sight to behold.
" You're a lovely girl. I've heard so many great things about you from
Kana. At such a young age, you're already that responsible."
Mrs. Ienaga's compliment, as well as her kind smile, was enough to cause
heat to rise to my cheeks. Even my ears felt hot as well. She would have
surely retracted what she said if she knew what my real age was. She
might faint if she found out that I was even older than her.
" Thank you, Mrs. Ienaga." Thankfully, I still managed not to stutter in
front of her. From the corner of my eyes, I could see Rikuo smiling and
the reason for that would be either he was thinking the same thing as me
or he was just enjoying seeing me flustered like this.
" We'd better get going now Mrs. Ienaga. Thank you for having us here."
"The next time you visit us, I'll have you two stay for dinner and I
won't accept no for an answer."
Mrs. Ienaga said with conviction in response to Rikuo that we could only
nod our head in acknowledgement. Satisfied, Mrs. Ienaga smiled again and
headed towards the door and opened it for us. Rikuo and I followed suit
and after bidding our farewell to Mrs. Ienaga, we left the house.
Outside, Rikuo called everyone, one after the other, and informed them
that Kana was already doing okay. After that, we continued our way back
to the Nura mansion. The rain had completely disappeared this time, not
even a single raindrop fell from the sky.
-
" Waka."
The seemingly hurried strides of Rikuo abruptly halted to a stop as soon
as I called his name. His tall figure stood still for another second
before he tilted his head over his shoulder, a grin plastered on his
face. However, his eyes were well-hidden behind the shadows of his hair.
" Yo, Tsurara."
" Are you going somewhere again without telling anyone from us?"
Rikuo scratched his head, guilty as he was. However, he reasoned out in
defense." I'll be back in a jiffy. Besides, I'm the Supreme Commander
here. You don't have to worry about me."
" It's not you that I'm worried about. I'm much more worried about
Kubinashi who will absolutely get wild if he finds out that you
disappeared again. "
" Ah yeah. Just tell him that I'm having the usual patrol for tonight.
I'm sure he would not question that."
" Is that really the reason, Waka?"
Rikuo turned to face me and in the blink of an eye, he was already
towering above, blocking the light of the moon and casting his shadow
upon me. For something that I didn't expect, he ruffled my hair like I
was a child that had given him quite an enjoyment, which doesn't make
sense to me at all. I was being serious when I asked him that question.
" I'd better go now Tsurara. Be a good girl and wait for me to come
back, okay?"
He said with a grin before he disappeared from my sight. I remained from
where I was standing, staring blankly at the darkness that engulfed him.
" I wonder why he always has a different reaction when it is you who
questions him. " Kubinashi's voice cut through on the stillness of the
night. He stepped out from the shadows of the trees and into the light,
revealing his figure right before my eyes.
I smirked at him. " Isn't it obvious? Waka likes me better than you."
Kubinashi returned the smirk, only that his had a sinister bite to it. "
Do you really believe that yourself Tsurara? Then why is it that he
won't tell you that he'd been going to that human girl's place everytime
he's out alone?"
I froze. I didn't expect Kubinashi to be this blunt and bring that topic
out so brazenly. I only said what I said just for humor but Kubinashi
took it rather seriously. What is he thinking? Whatever it was, I could
not let him see that his words had an effect on me.
" It's also the same for you, isn't it?"
Kubinashi just shrugged his shoulder in response. " Heh. It's not like
there's going to be a problem if he would outrightly say that he likes
that girl. Maybe, he doesn't really like her as we thought."
" Then, why would he bother going to Zen's house just to ask for some
medicine that Kana needs?"
" Huh? Who told you that? And when did that happen?"
" Zen himself. Waka would not tell him what he would do with the
medicine so he called me, although Rikuo told him not to tell anyone."
That's the reason why I was certain that there's only one person Rikuo
would visit at this time of the night.
Kana.
She was still in the process of getting well and Rikuo might have wanted
to make it a bit faster. And only Zen's medicine could make that possible.
Rikuo had visited Zen earlier, asking him to create a medicine for
headache and cold. He didn't tell Zen the reason and the latter was
curious so he did what he said was the sensible thing to do, which was
to ask me.
However, in regard to what Kubinashi had said, it was still just an
assumption on our part. We never talked about the topic concerning Kana
but it was a unanimous thought for those of us who were closer to Rikuo.
It was the truth for us but we could not confirm it since no one dared
to go after Rikuo whenever he leaves. Rikuo wanted to keep it to himself
alone and as our Supreme Commander, family, comrade and friend, we
respect his decision.
Kubinashi chuckled. " I didn't know that Zen's loyalty leans more to you
than to Rikuo-sama. "
" You can think whatever you want to think. Anyway, what are you doing
there? Have you been eavesdropping on us from the start?"
I tried to change the topic as it felt like Rikuo's incomprehensible
behavior towards Kana was something that we should not be talking about.
Kubinashi must have thought about it too when he went along with me.
" That's rude. Wasn't that your specialty? I've been here first before
you two arrived. I'm taking my nap when suddenly, I heard the two of you
talking. And speaking of which, dragging my name in your stupid reason
is rather annoying. When the hell did I get wild, huh? "
" You haven't gotten wild yet but I can see you're slowly getting
there." I stuck my tongue out in retort before I hastily ran away from
him. Kubinashi grumbled a few incoherent words before he yelled.
" Oi Yuki-Onna, come back here!"
