Chapter 11: Broken Inside
Next morning as usual, Shusei woke a sleepy Hotsuma. They washed up, changed into their casual clothes, ate a little breakfast and left for school, carrying a large plastic bag each of the list of items they bought yesterday.
In school, everyone was working very efficiently. Hotsuma was doing most of the carrying job; Shusei was busy in the student council with the President, going through the timetables and job duties of everyone during the school festival; Yoshino and other first year girls were decorating the corridors and some other guys were painting sign boards and cleaning the classrooms.
One of the guys asked Hotsuma to pass some photocopied printouts to Shusei. Hotsuma then headed towards the student council room. He opened the door and saw that no one was in there. 'Where is Shusei?' he thought. He was sure that his partner was here a minute ago. He checked from room to room, holding the stack of papers. He stopped the classroom block. 'Hmm he could be in his class.' Hotsuma thought.
Hotsuma opened the door to class II-I and saw his best friend kissing the President on the lips. Hotsuma just stared. The President saw Hotsuma and let go of Shusei, her face blushing furiously.
"Ren….Renjo-kun." She stammered.
Hotsuma dropped the stacks of papers. His insides were boiling. He didn't know why he was so angry but seeing his best friend making out with another person made him feel like disappearing.
"Hotsuma…" Shusei said softly.
"Sorry for interrupting. Please pretend that I didn't come in and continue whatever you guys were doing." He said in a cold voice.
"Hotsuma…wai….." Shusei said but Hotsuma had already closed the door.
Hotsuma closed the door and ran as fast as he could, not stopping even though Shusei called out to him. Hotsuma ran and ran and ran, not knowing where his feet were taking him. He ran out of the school compound and into the outside world.
Hotsuma just kept running.. he didn't how long he ran for but stopped for a rest when he started breathing heavily. He sat down under a tree and put his face on his knees, his hands gripping his hair. Then, suddenly a chill ran up his spine. The sky became dark and gloomy. Suddenly, low ranking Duras suddenly appeared in front in him, lead by none other than Hyde.
"Finally you are separated from your partner! I've been waiting for a chance to kill you first. Since you are the one who killed Jekyll off!" Hyde said in a furious voice.
Hotsuma stood up. 'Shoot I let my guard down' he thought. There were around ten low ranking duras, five mid-villains and Hyde, an opast. He was outnumbered. The low ranking duras attacked him
"Tsk. I'm really in a bad mood now," he growled.
"DISAPPEAR! CREATURES OF DARKNESS!" Bright golden flames appeared on both his palms and engulfed all the low ranking Duras, eliminating them immediately.
"Shit! He is strong even without his partner," one of the mid-villains said.
"DO NOT LET YOUR GUARD DOWN! EVERYONE ATTACK TOGETHER!" Hyde shouted.
The five mid-villains attacked together. Hotsuma closed his eyes and focused. Once again, he felt Suzaku burning within him. He faced his palm against them and released a powerful fire blast. The flames were so strong that it even burned through the metal light post. The five mid-villains evaded the attack.
"Its no use dodging my attack. I shan't miss the second time," he said. This time, he released golden flames in the shape of a phoenix from his palm. The phoenix flew around in top speed and engulfed all the five mid-villains in flames. They all disappeared into thin air. Hyde was the only one left.
"YOUUUUU! HOW DARE YOU!" Hyde shouted. He threw Jekyll's spiky boomerang at Hotsuma's direction and the flames immediately engulfed the boomerang. Hotsuma then set a barrier of flames around Hyde and Hyde immediately jumped up, avoiding it.
"Bastard! The same trick won't work twice."
"Oh really? If you think it's the same trick then you are an idiot." Hotsuma said. The barrier of flames then transformed into flames of phoenixes and the phoenixes flew around Hyde, creating a hurricane of flames. Hyde screamed in pain.
"Losing your partner must be hard. If I were to lose Shusei, I would rather die along with him. Don't worry I'll be sending you to where your partner is now. Hope you see him in hell!" Hotsuma yelled.
The flames got bigger and Hyde was swallowed by it. Hotsuma extinguish his flames and fell on his knees. Heavy sudden raindrops suddenly drenched him. He was drained from the fight. The Flames Of Suzaku was powerful but it took up a lot of his strength. He cried in sorrow.
"Shusei… Shusei why? Why?… SHUSEIIIIIIIIIII! He screamed out loud in the pouring rain.