Yang

Yu Kanda

The Moyashi was acting strangely.

Yeah, he was normally weird, and I already knew that his head was a bit messed up after what he'd gone through to get this far, but he just went from something vaguely resembling the average indifferent human being to a fucking robot sometime while we were talking about those demons of his. It was like whatever allowed him to converse properly had been cut away. He seemed less able to hold an extended conversation, and the way he spoke was clipped and more… blunt.

"Why won't there be a next time?" Lenalee asked, her eyebrows drawn together and her forehead creased with lines of worry. "Did we do something wrong?"

Grey eyes and tone as blank as the first time we'd met, he said, "I need to leave."

"Why won't there be a next time?" Lavi probed, repeating Lenalee's question.

The Moyashi didn't say anything. He just stood there and stared at my clansmen, lips unmoving.

Where we were, it wasn't exactly quiet. There was bustle all around us, from the clack of shoes as shoppers moved around, to the low hum of conversation as people talked to their companions or ordered their food.

Even with all that noise, to us, it was quiet. None of us spoke.

The Moyashi wouldn't answer, and my clansmen wouldn't speak until he answered.

That little fact must have clicked in that head of his, because he blinked once and then… just walked away.

The three of us were stunned by his actions, so we didn't react immediately. Eventually, after realising what was happening, Lenalee tried to hurry after him.

I caught her arm and yanked her back before she could make her third step, refusing to look at the brat as he left. "Leave the rude little shit," I said, our gazes connecting. This was the kid's decision. We didn't have the right to interfere.

"Kanda, don't call him that," Lenalee chided as her eyes flicked to where we'd last seen the boy from Noah, but there was nothing behind it. She wasn't mad. She was too preoccupied to really chastise me right now. "I don't… know why, but I…"

"Don't want him to leave," Lavi finished for her. "I want to stop him, but I'm not sure why that is."

Lenalee swallowed thickly, eyes wide and pained. "My heart… it aches."

I wouldn't say it, but I could kind of feel what they were talking about. Even though he was gone, even though I knew that he needed to go, it felt wrong to let him just leave.

This was new.

I put it down to pity; we'd been told so much about his pathetic cause that it was only natural for us to feel this way.

Still, we didn't have time for this. We couldn't save everybody.

Our job right now, our goal, was to somehow manage the Noah clan, before this problem became something we could no longer contain. There was a lot at stake here.

"Let's go back now," I said, and slowly released Lenalee's arm.

She didn't try to run.

Good.

We had to get back to the clan and start planning a new course of action.

The direct approach had gotten us closer to what we wanted; we had more information, and now knew that it was the Moyashi's unidentified ability which had served as a key contributory factor in regards to the expansion of Noah.

Now we just had to stop them from growing.

"There's still time, isn't there?" Lenalee tried, purple eyes now pleading. "Allen could-"

"He won't come around. Those demons of his are too important to him. He won't betray the Noah clan for us."

He was too broken for us to fix anyway.

Lavi and Lenalee quietened down after that, exchanging glum glances. They hated this and I knew it.

If it were up to them, if one of those two were the next in line for leadership of the clan, they'd be by the Moyashi's side in a heartbeat, offering their aid and helping him get his miserable life back on track.

They would waste their time on that and ultimately put us all at risk.

My companions were too emotional, and someone ruled by their emotions would not be fit to be the head.

That's why I hadn't let them do this alone, instead tagging along with them to ensure that I'd be there to rein them in if need be. And oh how right that decision had been.

I didn't even want to imagine the result of what would have occurred if I hadn't been present here today. Or any of the other days we'd met up with a demon from the Noah clan, really.

It would have become one big mess, no doubt.

Our small group remained in silence, heading back outside to locate the nearest train station when, finally, Lavi asked, "Are we calling a clan meeting?"

"We are."

|I|I|

Another short chapter… But this one is leading up to something fun~

Anyways, I have a poll going on my profile which basically asks you guys what story I should start after I finish one of the five I'm writing now.