A Hundred Mysteries
written by Kurosu
Episode Eight: The Aftermath! What Did Happen Last Night?
"Loki-sama?"
"The one and only," he grinned, brushing some loose strands from her face, while she was still sitting in his lap. His free arm rested on her waist, fingering her obi playfully and watching her curious expressions. He waited till she opened her mouth to ask him what was on her mind.
Mayura looked very serious than she normally was. She placed her hands on his shoulder, piercing her eyes deeply into his own, which surprised him slightly, "What are you doing here, Loki-sama?" Then she looked around, taking note of their surroundings, "I don't think it's safe out here."
"Hmm, is that so?" He didn't seem at all phase from her worries. "Well, as long as you're with me, it'll be fine." He cupped the side of her face and brought her back onto him and told her, "There is something I wanted to show you."
"Ooh, there is?" she was getting excited, "Ancient burial grounds? Haunted house? Mysterious bones? Floating lights?" All these suggestions gushed from her mouth, and every time, Loki shook his head as he helped her up from the ground. He then brushed the grass and dirt off the precious kimono he gave to her. Holding her at arms-length, he finally took a good look at her wearing his gift.
She realized he was staring at the kimono and remembered her manners. She bowed to him deeply, grateful for the lavish gift she didn't deserve, though she did reprimand him, "You shouldn't give presents to other women so carelessly! It's something you do for your wife!"
He laughed at her naivete, taking her by the hand and led her along to his surprise. "But I'm not married," he informed her. She didn't seem to notice or mind that they were holding hands so intimately, since she was freely chattering away as if they weren't chancellor and student.
"Oh. Well your girlfriend wouldn't be happy!"
"No girlfriend either."
She blinked at him incredulously, "Whaa..? No way, not someone as goodlooking as you!"
He raised an eyebrow at her compliment of him, as his smile grew wider, "Oh? You think I look good, hm?"
"Well, you aren't ugly," she stated obviously. "I think," she paused for a second, "you're the best looking guy I know..."
"It's reassuring that you think so," he continued to smile, tugging her hand just a bit to pull her closer to him.
She didn't realize she was walking a bit slow and caught her pace up to him. She was grinning too, "Kakinouchi was number one."
"Oh?"
His response came out dull and disappointed, reflecting his own emotions, and he grew a little irritated. His hand holding hers tightened his grip possessively at those words, but he was still confident in himself. He was alone with her, and no one would disturb them right now, as he planned it to be. He would make her see him, and only him.
"Ne Loki-sama? Where are we going?"
"Just a little farther.
They continued to walk, now in silence, but not too far ahead, she could make out some lights and the sound of water gushing out. She pondered on what it was, but as they neared, coming off an unmarked path through the trees, she noticed it had been the construction grounds earlier that week. The area was now completed as a central attraction point with a gorgeous water fountain in the middle.
"Wow, it's beautiful," she whispered. She stepped onto the stone paved walkway, with her hand falling out of his grasp. She walked up closer to the fountain to inspect the marble decor and the statue of what looks like a goddess with long hair gazing up to the skies. Around her feet were flowers that spouted water out.
"I'm glad you like it," came his voice next to her.
Mayura looked at him, only to find his longing eyes had been on her the whole time. It made her slightly uncomfortable under his earnest gaze, and a faint blush painted her cheeks. He touched her face with both hands, moving closer and closer to her. Lost in his enchanhtment, she felt her insides squirming in confusion, but it seemed so right, and all she could do was whimper out his name.
"Lo..ki.. sa..ma..."
"LOKI~ DARLING~!" came a squeal.
Next thing either of them knew, Mayura was shoved aside, falling to the ground on her bottom, and a woman with long blonde hair threw herself at the confused chancellor.
"I found you!" the strange but beautiful woman pulled back momentarily to see his handsome, "Did you miss me? I took the the first flight back from the convention just to see you!" She puckered her red lips eagerly to kiss him, but his hand quickly caught her face before she could taint him with her overbearing adoration.
Nujorudo Freya, in a sense a goddess of the health department and the academy's head nurse who was completely smittened by Loki at first sight. Her duties as nurse only came second to her pursuit of the chancellor who had thwarted her hunt at every turn while she rejected all her lovesick admirers. And now to complicate things further for the unofficial couple...
Mayura, still baffled on the situation, remained in her fallen position on the ground, just staring at the weird woman who flew from nowhere. She almost pouted to see how intimate the blonde was getting with Loki, but just as that unfamiliar feeling came to her, it was gone in the next second when she found Fenrir by her side, licking her hand in comforting.
"There you are, Fenrir!" she sighed and picked up the puppy and cuddled him. "You had me so worried," she scolded him lightly, though she couldn't be upset with such a cute thing.
Loki had finally calmed Freya down a bit but getting her to detach herself from his arm was another hurdle that was practically impossible. When Mayura composed herself on her feet, Freya finally took notice of the girl and frowned, "And who are you? A student? Don't you know who Loki-darling is? So you shouldn't be so familiar with him!"
"That's enough, Freya," he ordered her, keeping his voice even, and with one brush of his hand, he broke free from her and walked over to Mayura, while still addressing the woman, "You must've had a long flight. I suggest you retire to your room."
He placed a hand on Mayura's back, indicating that he was leaving with her. With one last glance towards Freya, "Have a good weekend."
Speechless and uncertain of what she had become the middle of, Mayura was ushered down the pathway by Loki. Fenrir, still in her arms, gave a small bark and wagged his tail happily. Loki smiled down to the animal and with his free hand, gave him a good scratch behind his ears.
Mayura couldn't help but look back at a very annoyed Freya glaring daggers right back at her. Then she looked up at Loki, who kept his eyes straight ahead, but his hand around her waist remained where it was. She wanted to ask him who the lady was, but his serious expression scared her. It wasn't like him at all without his charming smile and lighthearted laughter. She was even used to his playfulness and his laid back demeanor.
This Loki was different.
They had been walking for a while now, and she didn't even noticed till he stopped and apologized. "I'm sorry the night ended this way," he started and gave her his usual sweet smile as he laid a hand on her head, petting her. As the gentleman that he was, he had walked her straight to her dormitory. "I'll have to make it up to you."
"Who was she?" Mayura braved herself to ask.
His grin grew wider, "Oh? Jealous are we?"
"Huh?" she blinked, "What do you mean? Well, she is pretty..."
"I was joking," he chuckled, "You're irreplaceable, Mayura-chan."
"Your relationship didn't look simple."
"We're old colleagues, dated once. That's it." He touched her chin, lifting her face up to him, "So there's nothing to worry about."
"I'm not worried," she stated, "Loki-sama can date whoever he likes."
"I see." He released her and folded his arms across his chest in a thinking pose, "So Mayura-chan agrees."
She nodded, "Of course."
"Great!" He leaned down to kiss her on the cheek. She blushed as he told her, "Then I'll pick you up tomorrow at six o'clock for our date!" He departed from her with a smile and wave, leaving her in utter confusion. He was gone from her sight before she could protest.
"That's not what I meant!" she whined.
Fenrir barked, which sounded a lot like laughter.
And so when the next morning came, Mayura popped up in bed with sweat dripping down the side of her face. She just had the weirdest dream, and there weren't any ghosts or aliens in it. All she kept seeing last night was Loki, holding her hand and taking her through a dark forest. She didn't know what it all meant but decided to get out of bed, as gently as possible as to not disturb Fenrir curled up at the end of the bed.
Passing by her dresser, she noticed her cell phone blinking and went to check it. It seemed several messages have been left for her since last night. She entered a few numbers and accessed her voicemail. After a few minutes, her eyes widened at the messages, and she rushed into the bathroom, and in another fifteen minutes, she was dressed and ran out the door, absentmindedly letting the door slam shut which woke up poor Fenrir from his sweet dreams of chasing meat.
Wearing a purple tank top and a pair denim shorts, Mayura ran across campus that weekend morning with such urgency that one could've sworn the biggest mystery just released. But that wasn't the case - not so much - as she headed to the health department, which also contained the medical wing for on campus emergencies.
She flew through the sliding glass doors and went directly to the front desk, where the receptionist just stared at an out of breath Mayura. She raised a hand, telling her to wait a moment before she could ask a question. She had no need to when a familiar voice called out to her, "Senpai!"
Mayura looked up and saw Hel-chan hurrying over to her.
"Senpai, I've been trying to reach you all night. Are you okay?" she asked.
"Yes, I'm fine. What happened to the others? Are they all right?" She was very concerned and followed Hel-chan to the elevators.
"They're doing well right now, but I think they should explain what happened."
After the short ride up to the second floor, the girls made quick strides to the patients' rooms. Their three male companions were placed together in one room for recovery, and when they entered the room, Narugami was downing a bowl of miso soup. Yamino was watching the television while Kakinouchi wished he had better days. He had his eyes closed, trying to get some rest.
Hel-chan greeted the guys, "Mayura-senpai is here, everyone."
Yamino seemed very relieved, "You're all right, kaichou. I'm so glad."
Narugami acknowledged her with a wave while he ate his morning rice, and their blonde companion opened one eye to glance at her before shutting it again.
"Of course," she seemed puzzled and joined Hel-chan by her brother's bedside, "What are you guys doing here? Did something happen last night?"
Yamino looked to the other guys, but both were occupied so he began to explain, "It happened when we separated from Narugami-san..."
Narugami was lured away by the awesome, delicious food of the ramen stand, and his food was laced with a drug that rendered him unconscious. The owner of the stand said he hired a woman to help serve the customers but didn't remember her very well, and her information was fake, of course. Later, Yamino became the second target and confirmed that it was indeed a woman's voice he heard before passing out.
Kakinouchi piped in at this point, "It was very dark, so it was hard to see her, but she appeared tall and slim, with a very attractive voice. Smart and cunning, a professional." All eyes were on him as he spoke, and he turned away to hide his face as he told them, "She threw in some gas device, and that was all I can remember. When I-we woke up, we were here in the medical ward."
"As you can see, we're fine," Yamino insisted, "but our blood must've been taken." True to his words, on each of their arms, there was an entry point where the syringe entered.
Hel-chan added, "The doctors ran tests to make sure nothing was injected, and they're normal."
"That's some mystery!" Mayura exlaimed and started thinking it over.
The younger girl looked worried, "We should tell otou-san this. I haven't seen him since last afternoon, I wonder if he's okay too."
"Oh, he was fine to me," she told them, "Healthy as can be to beat that woman off him. Haha."
They stared at a laughing Mayura, who was the only one to find her own joke funny, when the door suddenly opened, and a familiar woman appeared - not laughing one bit, "Oh? Beat off what woman?" She bopped the back of Mayura's head with her documents before addressing the others, "You boys are fine as can be, so you can check out of here."
"Thank you, Nujorudo-san," Yamino nodded, looking very pale along with his sister.
Various reactions to the new face amused the blonde nurse while she carefully looked over each patient's file. Narugami was agonizing over leaving the food, but Kakinouchi seemed mildly interested in the refreshing beauty. Mayura glared at the woman's back for the mistreatment and dropped it when Hel-chan tugged on her sleeve.
She nudged her to the side and whispered, "We're in deep trouble."
((This episode bothers me... because it's not funny. -sighs- Anyway, I hope the MayuLoki moments can sustain you guys a bit, lol. And you've finally got a Freya! I figured it's about time to spice it up. ~kuro))
