Chapter 12: Another Friends' Night
A/N: I don't really have anything to say except… here's chapter 12! Hope you enjoy reading and don't forget to drop a review! ^^
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"Now I'm starting to get worried…" a dark blue-haired girl in twintail mumbled to herself with an uneasy look on her face, her fingers tapping her elbow impatiently. She glanced at the wall clock then screamed, "ARGH! It's already 7:00 and he's still not back!? Where on Earth did he go!?"
"Calm down, Silica. Probably it's just taking them a while," the brunette with headphones said with his usual smile on to calm her down but she sent him a glare instead.
"What is taking him a while? Where is he, Yoh? You know right?" she asked impatiently.
"Eh? Er, um… uh, what should I…" he stuttered then wondered if it's all right if he should tell her that his cold fiancé had send them to get something for her but knowing this hot-headed, impatient girl, she would probably pummel him when she finds out that her brother has been working as a delivery boy for her.
"What?" she asked as her eyes scowled.
"Uh um… a-actually, he's—"
"TALK AND DON'T STUTTER!" yelled the girl who's about to die of impatience, which made him flinch.
"All right! He just went to get something for her!" the Ainu kid answered instead in an irritated tone. The girl eyed him irritatingly.
"Who's her? And what's he getting?"
"Uh, just stay calm, okay? Here, have some tea," a certain pink-haired girl named Tamara came to her with a timid smile and gave her a cup of tea. Silica just sighed and drank it immediately. After drinking it, she closed her eyes and became a bit calm.
"You are already stressing yourself out even if it's your first time in a long time going here. Don't worry, your brother can take care of himself, right?" Yoh said to reassure her.
"I just have a hard time today, all right? Never mind that. I'm actually surprised that for a long time, you've made some new friends. So you met them at the Shaman Fight?" Silica half-opened one of her eye and looked at Trey blankly. He grinned at her.
"Actually, I'm Yoh's first friend. And he's the first shaman that I've fought with at the tournament," he said.
.
"Yeah… but too bad you lose," Silica said nonchalantly as she looked at her side.
"L-Lose!? H-How did you k-know that?" he asked surprised.
'That's because she's expert at stalking or watching people secretly, which makes her know almost everything that has happened in this town. Actually, this girl is a masochist," Yoh said with a smile, unnerving Silica.
"Who's this masochist you're calling? Want me to snap your neck?" she asked in a threatening tone. Yoh only sweat-dropped. She just looked away and crossed her arms "Tch, I don't know why I'm surrounded by idiots this time."
"Who are you calling an idiot, you wench?" yelled Trey as he slammed his hands on the table angrily.
"Wench?" Silica uttered as she gave him a scary glare, scary enough to make him sit down and gulped nervously.
W-What the heck? I don't know why but… she smells dangerous. I just felt a half-Anna and half-Pilica in this girl just a sec ago! Trey remarked in his thought.
"N-Now, now, Silica, don't get upset over something like that," Yoh said, trying to calm her down.
Suddenly, they heard a door slammed open, surprising them. Trey and Morty rushed outside of the living room to see a spiky dark blue-haired boy, a purple-haired boy, and a black-haired girl. They were a lot surprised to see the girl actually since they already know it's not her style to hang out in someone's house.
"We're back!" Acrein greeted with a grinning face.
"Oh, welcome back," the shorty greeted too with a smiling face.
"ANNA! Where are you!? Your pile of junks is already here!" Ren immediately shouted in an obviously irritated tone. Yoh and Tamara just giggled at him.
Hearing him, the blonde girl showed up from the kitchen and crossed her arms as she stood up straight on the end of the hallway. "You took long enough. I got tired of waiting," Anna said coldly.
"So you're only tired of waiting while we're tired of walking all the way from here to there!" He dropped the boxes on the floor and glared at her.
"Put that in my room. Now. And don't just go calling my things 'junk', get that?" she said with a warning tone before going back to the kitchen. He twitched an eyebrow but followed her anyway.
"Man! I'm so tired after all those things!" Acrein sighed as he raised his arms in the air like he just woke up in the morning. Morty noticed something strange with them.
"Uh, excuse me, but what happened to you guys? You look a bit… dirty."
"Huh? Oh, we were just having a bit of fun. Right, Eri?" He looked at her but she didn't respond.
"Oh, Eri's also there?" Trey asked.
"Yeah," she replied meekly.
"Uh, hate to break it to you guys, but Acrein, you've got someone waiting for you," Yoh said with a sheepish smile while scratching his head.
"Huh? Who?" Acrein said as he went to the living room with the others, then a steel tray went flying to him the moment he entered and hit his face with a loud bang. He fell to the floor with a drop of blood from his nose. The others jaw-dropped.
"What's taking you so long, huh!?" Silica screamed as she stomped her feet on the table.
Acrein immediately sat up while cupping his nose and looked at the girl with an annoyed expression. "Is hitting me a tray your way of greeting your brother who just got recovered from injuries!?"
"Injuries?" Her eyes narrowed. He backed off. She closed her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "What happened?" she asked as she tried to calm herself down.
"O-Oh, I…—" he thought of an excuse, then something crossed his mind. "I just fell down the stairs while getting something," he said as he flopped on Indian style.
"Your clothes and your back are so dirty," the girl said, doubting.
"It was hardly a fall."
"And what's with your very red nose?"
"I instantly fell onto this hot chick behind me— WHAT!?" he freaked out when he realized what he just said. He looked at his friends. Two boys with a plain blank stare, one with a confused stare, and… two girls with murderous glares. He sweat-dropped nervously.
"Hot chick?" Eri repeated his words in a deep tone, accompanied with a deadly aura behind her.
"Fell onto?" Silica hissed as her body is already shaking in anger.
"Ah! No, no, no, no, it's not like that! Something happened while we're on the way back here—"
"Something happened?"
"Eh… well… ALL RIGHT! Just let me explain first, okay!?" he yelled as he's starting to get irritated with the conversation.
"Oh, I get it. So you've been up all night chasing girls all around the town, huh? I thought you only come to visit Yoh since it's been a long time… You lecher…" she said as she crossed her arms. A very deadly aura surrounded her, causing her hair to fly. Acrein and the others backed off in nervousness, except for Eri of course.
"H-Hold up, Silica! Hear me out, please! Please don't do your Breaking Punishment on— OW, OW, OW!" the boy yelped as her sister pushed him down to the floor and sat on his back, then pulled his arms so hard and bent his back like she's ripping them off. "STOP IT, SILICA! MY SPINE IS BREAKING!"
"Acrein!" Yoh and Trey both called out worriedly.
Silica pulled even harder, causing him to cry even more in pain. "OH GOD! MY BACK WILL SNAP INTO TWO!"
And CRACK!
…
The poor boy lied down on the ground with his soul drifting just above him while Silica stood up and crossed her arms, still having the same expression. The others turned white and stiffened, all thinking— What a bloody backbreaking torture!
"Got something to say?" she asked as she sent them her glares, making them gulp nervously. However, Eri remained calm and walked in front of the others.
"Who is this big-mouthed girl with an irritating hairstyle?" she asked.
"Huh?" Silica asked like a gangster's tone. "Who the hell are you to call me big-mouthed, match head?" she retorted.
"Well, you are a big mouth. Even that long, creepy hair of yours makes you look like a horse," Eri replied as she crossed her arms and stood very straight.
"Eh? Well, just by looking at you, I can tell that you're nothing but a left-over of a burnt match," she said with a smirk.
"Pony-girl."
"Pen marker."
"Creepy witch."
"Coal tar."
The two girls kept calling each other nicknames while the boys sweat-dropped while thinking the same thing— Those two are a lot alike. Then before they realize it, the girls are already turning the scene serious and took their weapons out.
"You're pissing me off, ink head!" Silica screamed as she swung down a huge steel pinwheel-like thing to the floor, leaving a mark on it.
"EHHHH!?"
"You're starting to get in my nerves, you rotting donkey face!" Eri retorted back while activating her Oversoul. The spectators freaked out even more. Annoyed at the noisy bunch, the angry Itako slid the kitchen's door open, immediately catching their attention.
"Oh man, are we that noisy?" Trey asked, nervously smiling.
"STOP SCREAMING, YOU ALL NO-GOOD PEOPLE!" Anna yelled, silencing them. She sighed then met Eri's blank gaze at her. She returned the same action to her. After a short silence, she asked, "Who is this uninvited guest? This inn is getting more and more uninvited people. "
Yoh walked in front of the others then stopped beside Eri. He said with a sheepish smile, "Um, Anna, this girl is Eri Azuraki, you know, the one I told you about?"
"So she's the one who slept here in the other night without my permission?" she said while eyeing Eri.
"Eh? T-That's because she was injured that night and… couldn't go back home. Plus, you came home late and I didn't have the chance to explain it to you," Yoh explained.
Anna kept staring at Eri from head to toe while Eri also stared at her. They kept staring blankly at each other for a while, creating an awkward silence inside the room. Just then, Yoh and his friends inwardly freaked out as their bodies lose color in fright.
'Oh, God! How come I introduced her to Anna like this? This is bad now!' Yoh exclaimed in his thought.
'Just great. What if these two demons fight inside here? The whole place will be crumbled in pieces!' Trey, Tamara and Morty thought while gulping nervously while picturing an image of a horned Eri and Anna having an all-out rumble.
Stare….
Stare….
Stare….
Short silence….
Anna clutched Eri's hand gently as she suddenly appeared in front of her in a split of a second. "It's a pleasure to meet you in person, Eri," she said in a bit of a nice tone.
"You too, Anna Kyouyama," Eri said as she gripped her hand gently and shook it once. The others stumbled down with the sudden change of the atmosphere.
"WHAT THE HECK!? They shake hands!?" Yoh exclaimed shocked.
"They're not fighting!" Morty and Tamara added.
"Well, maybe it's only natural for brutes like them to get along," Trey softly murmured at the word 'brutes'. However, Anna and Eri both heard this very well and shot him a death glare.
"Who are you calling a brute?" Anna asked in an icy tone.
"Want me to offer you a chopping business?" Eri added while releasing a very dark aura.
"KAAAH! Plus, it's ten times worse if the two demons are together!" the Ainu kid shrieked as he felt like their glares are piercing him.
"No, you're missing the count. If you add this one behind me, it will be three— OWWWW! PLEASE STOP IT!" Acrein screamed as Silica performed another torture technique on him; she sat behind his knees and locked his legs then twisted them.
"You're calling your own little sister a demon!? You garBroge!" she yelled and gave it more strength.
"So… what now?" Yoh sighed loudly.
"How about me and Eri have a cup of tea? As a symbol of our acquaintanceship," Anna suggested.
"That… would be nice," Eri replied hesitatingly. Anna left them alone and headed to the kitchen. Eri watched the door of the kitchen where Anna just entered a sec ago then turned around and observed the crowd around her: Silica snapping Acrein's arms and legs, Acrein yelping, Trey shedding tears for him, Morty and Tamara laughing at the scene and Yoh just shrugging his shoulders off.
Anna just went out of the kitchen, holding a tray with two cups of tea and went to the living room. The rest stopped what they're doing and followed her including Eri. They shared stories for a long time then Tamara was about to go to the kitchen by Anna's order when she bumped into Ren and fell. Ren scolded her and she whimpered while Yoh came and comforted her, despite Anna's glare of jealousy on his back. Trey and Acrein started a conversation with the two of them while drinking.
Eri saw all of this with her eyes. She can feel comforting warmth around them, a warm feeling that she never felt before in a long time. Nostalgia struck her as she got sucked deeper into their world.
'Before I realize it, I tagged along with the two idiots and ended up sitting right here. Right now, I'm surrounded by mostly idiots. If Eurin was here, this would get noisier. An event like this is something I don't experience in life every day. I admit… it's fun to have some friends with you, but…'
While thinking, fragments of her memory flashed in her mind; the night when the moon was full and glowing in red, a small town being burned into ashes, a sword soaked in blood, a cold corpse of a boy, and a mysterious silver-haired girl with a smirk and words that she can't forget.
'This mustn't keep on…. because a devil like me has no place in this world full of stupid people.'
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