Chapter 8: Depression
For the next few weeks, nothing mattered to Setsuna. He went about his life as though nothing were wrong, but did so as if he were on autopilot. He paid no attention to anything, and wasn't even sure how long had passed since he had last seen Sara. His days ran together. He knew that Sakuya Kira sometimes walked home with him. Sometimes Kira talked to try to break Setsuna out of his trance, other times he was merely content to walk beside the younger student.
Setsuna couldn't recall any more trouble with the gang of students who had tried to beat him up one day. It was entirely possible that they did catch him alone sometimes during the weeks after Setsuna had stopped seeing his sister, but anything they might have done to him was nothing compared to what he was already feeling. Eventually, they either gave up on him or Kira had intervened again on Setsuna's behalf, it didn't matter either way.
On one of the days when Kira wasn't with him on the way home, Setsuna thought he heard yelling as he passed a side alley. He stopped to listen better, and surely enough, there was screaming coming from within. Setsuna rushed in to find two men cornering a small child who was huddled in the corner.
"HELP!" the child screamed. Setsuna wasted no time; he ran up and hit one of the men as hard as he could in the back of the head. Given a momentary diversion, the child ran past the men, taking refuge behind Setsuna. Setsuna caught a good enough glimpse of the child to realize that it was Kurai, the little girl who lived near his house. She ran back to the main street, although she remained just around the corner instead of fleeing completely as Setsuna would have preferred.
"You really don't want to mess with us, boy," the man who had not been hit threatened. "We have ways of making things unpleasant for you. You've just spoiled a bit of fun we were planning, so I think we're going to have to carve you up to make it even." He reached for a knife at his belt. Without waiting for any further interference, Setsuna drew his fist back and hit the man squarely in the face. Blood streamed from the man's nose, and Setsuna found himself struggling to stay on his feet.
"What's the matter, boy?" the other man taunted. He had recovered from the hit Setsuna had given him, and was now approaching the increasingly dizzy young man. "Feeling a bit sick?" He punched at Setsuna, whose legs failed him at that moment by some bizarre stroke of luck. The man's punch went wild, and before he could recover Setsuna was on his feet and running away. He paused only long enough to grab Kurai by the arm to make sure she was still with him. The continued running until they had reached the neighborhood where they lived, where they slowed to a walk. By this time Kurai was dead tired, so Setsuna picked her up and carried her the rest of the way in his arms.
"Thank you," she said before falling asleep. He brought her to her home, where he left her with her cousin, Arachne. He then left for his own home, despite Arachne's offer to let him rest there for a while. He stopped suddenly when he saw a familiar figure walking down the steps of his house.
