It's been like... forever, right? Sorry about that. It's unfortunate, but my real life is taking up way more of my time than it normally does. In that regard, I have a few personal updates!
So I banged out this chapter over the course of about four days because someone dropped a floor jack on her foot and had to miss two days of work before the weekend. Who was that girl? Oh yeah, me. I'm that dumbass. But like, I got a lot done over those few days. Quite a bit. Work has been keeping me from writing for long periods of time, plus my second update.
I got a dog! He's a beagle by the name of Sunny, and he's the sweetest, quietest dog you'll ever meet. Naturally the cats hate him, except my youngest fur-son Lucifer (ironic, I know). I spent quite some time getting him acclimated to living in his new environment. He's spent basically his entire three years on a chain staked to the ground. Now my Foxy and I have him, and we are quite satisfied with his personality so far. I really think this is gonna stick!
So, I'm on the mend, nothing broken, but hella bruising. I got off super fucking lucky. On that note, I got a nice long chapter today, chock full of fun stuff, so enjoy the "sho", and stay tuned at the end for the announcement regarding the companion story!
I think I'm going nowhere like a rat trapped in a maze.
Every wall that I knock down is just a wall that I replace.
I'm in a race against myself, I try to keep a steady pace.
How the fuck will I escape if I never close my case?
Cause I'm about to break down,
Searching for a way out.
I'm a liar, I'm a cheater, I'm a non-believer.
I'm a popular, popular monster.
-Popular Monster- Falling in Reverse
Common Ground
"Your test results just came through," Takenaka-Sensei informed me, sitting at his desk as I stood by expectantly. I could feel my spine straighten a touch as I awaited the verdict. The older man smiled proudly, his eyes roaming the contents of the stack of papers in his hands.
"The school board was most impressed with your performance. Half of them had a mind to move you up two grades," he remarked. I quirked my brow and gave a somewhat crooked smile.
"You mean, they wanted to move me straight into high school," I inferred, and he gave a warm chuckle.
"You've got the scores for it, there's no debate there. They simply don't think it would be wise, considering how young you still are." I remained silent, anticipating rejection, but the old teacher looked up with a nod of certainty.
"However, moving you up a single grade should prove no issue at all. The board has decided to accept your application, and your request for an immediate transfer has been granted." He grinned, his paternal gaze heavy with the weight of his satisfaction. "Assuming you have no objections, you can start Monday."
I nodded emphatically, perhaps too enthusiastic a response.
"No objections, Sensei. Will you be informing my teachers, or should I?" He waved dismissively.
"I'll mention it in the staff meeting tomorrow. You run along home now, Kuwabara-San, and tell your family the good news. I'm sure they'll be very proud." I smiled sweetly in response.
"I'm certain."
Thursday, after school, I left in completely the wrong direction to head home. Home was not, of course my destination. I was set on a course towards Mushiyori, a neighboring city, to deal with a little problem that had cropped up.
Kurama was meant to be waiting for me in a park just by the station, though I did wish I could have supplied him with a communication mirror, or thought to keep the one that Botan had taken back from Kazuma by the end of the last mission. I thought about asking her, though I had the suspicion she would have refused. Possibly, it was that they did not want demons in possession of Spirit World tools. I had the confidence that Kurama would not misuse whatever he was given, but it was unlikely my judgement would mean much.
I was relying on Kurama's abilities alone now, unable to check in and be sure of the situation. It was an unsettling feeling not to know for sure, but I knew at some point I needed to have faith in abilities other than my own. Unlike most people I encountered, Kurama was decidedly not an idiot. I was certain he could handle it.
… Well, I was hopeful, at the very least. He had expressed doubts on being able to keep the target in the area for any great length of time, which only encouraged me to quicken my pace. This contradicted his claim that he was in no danger, which confused me to no end. Surely if they were not a threat to him, he should have no issue subduing them.
The park was, in fact, directly beside the station, with a clear view of the bridge the train had just crossed and the river it intersected. Trees in the full bloom of autumn occupied the far corners, and I counted more than one photographer taking advantage of the scenery with large, heavy-looking cameras. There was even a group (they looked like tourists from a distance) laughing rather loudly as they took turns seeing how high they could climb one of the oaks. Something that disrespectful, I was certain a native would never do, and I rolled my eyes at the juvenile behavior.
It did not take long for me to locate Kurama, or his… companion. Both stood out, being the only students in the park. This was not too odd, considering it was a school night. Any reasonably dedicated student would still be studying by this time. Only those such as Kurama and myself could really afford to take our afternoons off. Yusuke, of course, did not count.
The demon in question was still dressed in the garish magenta, the other in cherry-red. It was a female student, that much he had told me. However, his description over the phone did not at all match with what I beheld.
Black hair, he had told me. Brown eyes as well, which the girl most definitely did not have. Even from a distance, it was clear that her eyes were blue, and there was no missing the shock of beach-blonde that cascaded over her shoulders in bold curls. A splash of red at the front indicated her fringe was dyed to match the uniform, and I had to wonder if this was acceptable at a school as prodigious as Meiyou.
They were somewhat secluded, several trees blocking the majority of the view of any passerby not really paying attention. It was a spot hidden well enough for what we required, but not so much as to make the target nervous. Surprisingly enough, Kurama did not notice me until I was in speaking distance. His eyes flashed in relief, and it took me less than a second to figure out why.
"-and not that it's any of your business, but I happen to like men who actually look like men. So, like, not you." My brows shot up, eyes flickering between the girl's scowl and Kurama's thinly pursed lips. He took a step back from her, folding one arm behind his back to presumably ready a weapon, if needed.
"Believe me, I find that perfectly acceptable," he said. He could have spat it as well, I suppose, or hissed it. Either way, his words carried a sense of deep and long-suffering irritation which left me curious.
"Tokagemaru Midoriko," I announced my presence, drawing the targets attention with her name. She turned with an annoyed frown, which quickly morphed into surprise, then greatly exaggerated shock. Her posture suddenly went slack, tense shoulders falling as her arms, formerly crossed, moved to an almost defensive position in front of her.
"Who's… um, who's asking? Er, I mean, that's me, yes, hello?" I blinked, taking a moment to catalogue her confusion and the two distinct tones with which she responded. Suspicion first, then a meek respect which was unbefitting of her stature in comparison to my own. She must have been only three or so inches shorter than Kurama.
"Hello. My name is Kuwabara Hotaru," I gave a polite nod, which she returned after only a moments hesitation.
"That's pretty," she remarked with a nervous smile, and I raised a brow.
"Thank… you." I existed in a state of confusion for a moment before collecting myself. It was odd. Compliments were not normally the first exchange between strangers. "My friend here, Minamino Shuichi, was under the impression the two of us should meet. I hope this wasn't an inconvenience."
At my mention of Kurama, she cast a bewildered look back at him, her mouth agape.
"Hang on, is she your… do you have a girlfriend?" She then looked outraged. "And you're here flirting with me!?"
I raised a brow at my demon, who gave a delicate sigh of intense exasperation, glancing at me with eyes that were just shy of pleading.
"I did what was necessary to keep you here. That is all."
Before the girl could open her mouth again, I stepped in, coming a little closer to the pair. Kurama adjusted his position, placing himself directly behind Tokagemaru as she turned back to me.
"Minamino and I are not intimate," I informed her, and her cheeks flushed impressively. "He is my parolee, though it would be more accurate to say we are allies. I am the current active Spirit Detective of Earth. Do you know what that means?"
The girl blinked, her head pulling back as she regarded me with something akin to concern.
"Uh… is it like a club or something? Or a movement? What do you mean by parolee?" She glance back at him. "I didn't know womanizing was a crime. I guess it should be with weirdo's like you out there."
I watched as a thin vein ticked on Kurama's temple, that miniscule indication of his ire making my curiosity grow from a single blooming flower into a full garden. His jaw clenched, muscles of his cheeks shifting like he was chewing his words, holding them back as they clawed and bit behind his tightly pressed lips. My amusement at his discomfort was almost enough to distract me from the job at hand, and I regrettably dragged my eyes away from his face.
"No, not a club," I told her, taking a second to figure out where exactly I wanted to start my explanation. It was as Kurama deduced, that Tokagemaru had absolutely no idea about the world she now existed in.
"The Spirit Detectives are humans who maintain the peace of the Human World by hunting or otherwise dealing with problems of a demonic or spiritual nature. It is our job to ensure that demons and other such apparitions do not cause trouble in the human world, and that their existence or actions do not threaten human life or the balance of the natural world. Do you understand?"
Her eyes, baby blue and appearing incredibly synthetic (contacts?), were wide as tea saucers, one brow raised comically as she beheld me like I'd suddenly grown a second head with the face of a horse. She took a slow, careful step back, unwittingly placing herself closer to Kurama. He appeared to react on reflex, taking a much larger step away from her. I could feel my lips trying to twitch, but I kept the reaction under control.
"So… it's like, Live Action Roleplay?" I shook my head. "Okay, so I'm gonna go now."
I mirrored her as she attempted to step around me, watching her eyes follow my movements with flashes of unease. She halfway looked over her shoulder, seeming to have reached the realization that she was outnumbered, and completely boxed in. However, when she returned her gaze to me, she did not hold any fear in her eyes. There was only an alertness like prey cornered at the edge of a cliff. She considered jumping, if only to escape a worse death.
"Everything I am saying to you is true. There are humans in this world, like myself. Then there are demons, such as Kurama. And yourself." I gestured to my ally upon saying his name, but she hardly seemed to notice, staring me down intently. Her breathing had accelerated, if only slightly, and her body grew rigid as it prepared to receive a burst of adrenaline.
"D-demon?" she questioned quietly, and I nodded. "You're saying… I'm a monster?" Again, that word. It was Yusuke last who uttered it, and I shook my head with a frown, opening my mouth to explain further when she cut me off.
"What do you know, huh? You don't know me, you don't have the right to say things like that!" I was unbothered by her offended take on my words, simply crossing my arms over my chest and staring her down with calm patience.
"Perhaps you've noticed some changes in your body? Your heart, for example. Does it still beat?" Her breath cut off in a short gasp, eyes flying open in horror.
"How… how do you-"
"Maybe you have noticed that your appearance has been greatly altered," I suggested, gesturing vaguely to her mop of blonde curls. "Or, if you have had the right motivation, you've possibly discovered new talents and abilities, inexplicable but exclusive to yourself. Have you noticed anything like this?"
She remained silent.
"I'll take that as a confirmation, and with that in mind, I must inform you that you are no longer human, if you ever truly were."
She was motionless for a moment, eyes transfixed on mine and shining with a mortification I could not explain. She then rounded on Kurama, a fist raised and her voice thick with venom.
"You creep! You- you've been spying on me or something! How did you even know? How do you know all this!?" She turned back to me, and one step forward was all it took. Kurama stood behind her, eyes narrowed, and I could feel him beginning to focus his power.
I held out a hand, my palm flat and vertical and facing the girl, who stopped and stared in furious confusion.
Violet light suddenly bloomed across her face as I charged my ki into my hand, starting a slow spiral in my palm. The aura danced over her cheeks, lighting her eyes until they shone like stained glass windows in the sun. Captivated, she leaned closer, and just when it appeared she might reach out to touch it (strange that she did not initially react with fear), I brought my hand down quickly, creating an arc of energy that morphed into a sickle, leaving a deep gash in the ground where it impacted.
She jumped back with a yelp, much to Kurama's obvious satisfaction, her eyes locked onto the swath of dirt now marring the perfect carpet of green. When I was sure she would not attempt to leave again, I called my energy back within myself, drawing her eyes to my hand again as the purple light sunk back into my skin, pores taking the aura like a sponge would water.
"Is this sufficient proof, or shall I ask Kurama to demonstrate as well?"
She gave me a strange look, tilting her head curiously. Once again, she remained completely unafraid, even intrigued as she continued to look at me, gaze searching.
"Kurama? Like, the mountain?" I gave a gesture in the negative, nodding towards the fox.
"The one you know as Minamino Shuichi is not human. He is a demon, like you, though he currently exists in a body that is human." She whirled around, taking a step away from Kurama and giving him a horrified look.
"You're not- wait, hold on, what?" Her hands flew up, waving as though to signal a speeding bus to hit the brakes. She shook her head emphatically, blonde curls bouncing into a dramatic mess. She stumbled for a moment, both of us watching her as she backed away and tripped on a nearby iron bench. There she sat in disarray, eyes frantically moving from myself, to Kurama, to her hands, and to random points in the air. The visuals of her exaggerated processing were amusing, to the degree that I no longer felt the need to be unfriendly.
"Take your time," I encouraged with a patient smile. "This is a lot to take in all at once."
"I'm a demon!" I blinked, watching as the girl suddenly jolted to her feet, eyes crazed. "That explains so much, you have no idea!" She looked at Kurama, the slight furrowing of her brow indicating she still did not view him in the most friendly manner.
"So then what do you really look like, huh? Cause like, I definitely don't look like this normally," she tossed the blonde curls, hand falling to her cocked hip.
"I have no other form," he informed her plainly. "Do you?"
The look on her face said she did, but she was clearly trying very hard not to show it. She waved his question away dismissively, a nervous smile gracing her lips.
"No way! I mean, not something hugely different, just like, different colors and stuff, you know? Totally not human-looking. But not like a monster either!" The fox and I traded glances, and I could see that he too had seen fit to drop his guard.
"You are taking this surprisingly well," I remarked, and Tokagemaru shrugged with a good-natured smile.
"I've kinda had a bit to get used to the idea that I wasn't, like, human. Demon isn't too hard to believe. I'm way stronger now, and I can run without my lungs catching fire!" I tilted my head and she giggled. "Asthma. So, what's gonna happen now?"
"Now," I began, approaching her to stand beside where she sat, not taking the seat alongside her. She looked up at me now, expectant, willing to listen. Her wide-eyed curiosity brought to mind fawns and rabbits, creatures one might find in animated childrens movies. "We ascertain your threat level."
The color drained quite hilariously from her face. She leaned away with a gobsmacked expression.
"Th-threat? Hold up, I'm not threatening anyone!"
"As I said before," I continued, ignoring her sputtering, "I am tasked with keeping the peace between humans and demons. Usually this has resulted in the eradication or else incarceration of said demon."
In a panic, she attempted to take a step back, forgetting that she was still in front of the bench. Only the back of it stopped her from tumbling onto the grass in a heap of limbs and hair. In hindsight, perhaps that had been too blunt of a statement. I should observe Botan's method of delivery, though the idea was as repulsive as the ferry girl herself.
"So my choices are to be arrested or die!?" Tokagemaru yelped, staring up at us with wide, fearful eyes.
"Not necessarily," I assured her, which seemed to do little. "You do not seem to be particularly hazardous. Kurama?" I turned to my parolee, looking to hear his assessment of the demon girl. He raised a brow, still giving her a narrow-eyed stare.
"She seems to possess less than remarkable shapeshifting abilities among the usual demonic traits. Exactly which species she is I am yet unable to discern, though from scent alone I-"
"SCENT!?" Tokagemaru's look of revulsion as she recoiled further from Kurama was comical, to say the least, her hands clutching her shoulders almost defensively as her entire body shied away. Kurama continued, completely unflappable as always (though with a noticeable tightening of his jaw), as though she had not spoken.
"I would hazard a guess that she was some sort of reptilian. Aside from mild kleptomania and a particularly vexatious personality, she's harmless." The word dripped venomously, 'harmless,' as though it were an insult. And her barely perceptible flinch when he mentioned reptiles was an easy admission that this was the truth. I briefly wondered if my energy might have the same pull over her as it did Kurama, but with him so near, I did not dare to-
I stared in surprise.
"Kleptomania?"
Her face ran as red as her uniform, the girl turning on Kurama with an embarrassed frown. She seemed to overcome her previous aversion instantly, leaning in as close to his face as she could without actually getting off the bench.
"You don't have any proof of that," she refuted. "I was just borrowing the stapler, I wasn't gonna keep it!"
"Perhaps not after I pointed out what you were doing," he replied with a skeptically raised brow. "The instinct to collect and hoard is deeply ingrained in the blood of bakemono. Some of us are better at suppressing these instincts than others," he finished with a pointed look, and I hummed in thought.
"So then, all shape-shifters would end up becoming thieves one way or another. Like tanuki… or kitsune." He narrowed his eyes at me, and I responded with a small, crooked smile, which was quite real. It dropped when I turned back to face Tokagemaru.
"In any case, so long as you do not cause harm, there will be no need for me to interfere. You may do as you wish. However," I held up a finger at her look of awe. "This does not mean you can use your abilities carelessly. Without knowing exactly what kind of demon you are, we have no way of knowing the extent of your power. With that in mind, I would be open to the idea of helping you explore your power."
One could never know when the ability to change forms could come in handy. Depending on the range of her abilities, she could very well prove to be more than a little useful. After all, if she could change her hair and eyes with so little experience, what could she change with proper training?
"If I may, I would like to look into your spirit," I said when she did not respond. She seemed dazed, snapping to wakefulness and looking at me warily. "It is not painful or invasive," I assured her. "I need only use my power to see yours."
"Err," she hesitated, her eyes raking over me and spending quite some time on my hands, which were hanging harmlessly at my sides. "Sure, alright."
I nodded my thanks, pulling the energy from my core to my eyes. Her gasp was barely audible with the power rushing through my skull. It took just a moment to find her Core, which was a molten red not nearly as dark or thick as any other demon I had encountered. White still shone through as the energy curled and undulated inside its confinement.
The network springing from this oddly colored Core, however, was a clear teal, closer to the green hue than the blue. It was slow-moving, a trickle through her body. Slender veins wove around muscles and blood vessels, glowing faintly like bioluminescent marks on some jungle-based animal. The coverage of her energy over her core was thin and translucent, rather weak, but it couldn't be helped. She was new to her power
"Hm. Completely harmless," I mused, dismissing the power and blinking until my vision returned to normal. I found her staring back intently, traces of her earlier fear replaced by something I couldn't quite identify.
I took a step away, giving a subtle nod to Kurama who came to stand beside me.
"Of course, there is the matter of secrecy. Obviously you cannot spread this information to whomever you please. You should try to limit the number of people you tell about your change in species," I advised, and she nodded.
"Oh trust me, I'm not gonna tell a soul. You have any idea how something like that would, like, totally screw up my life?"
"No," I answered bluntly, and she gave a charmed smile.
"Well it would, a lot. You can trust me, I promise." I nodded in acceptance.
"Think about my offer. If you find you need to speak with me, you may use Kurama as an intermediary."
"Y-yeah," she gave an enthusiastic nod. I bowed, shallow and brief, before taking my leave. I could feel her eyes following us until we rounded the corner of the path that led to the train station. Even then, I waited until the two of us had taken our seats to wait for the next train out of Mushiyori to speak. Glancing up at Kurama, I could feel my mouth moving to form a smirk.
"I've never seen you quite so… emotionally compromised," I remarked casually, and Kurama's expression strongly resembled a particularly respectful glare. As usual, his face could contort in such contradicting and interesting ways.
"My feelings on the matter are decidedly not in conflict, actually," he responded tersely. "The girl has no redeeming qualities that would make her at all worth keeping on hand. She is, as we have both agreed, harmless." I scoffed.
"Harmless. I take it you are using that word in substitution for useless." He shifted, examining the digital display that marked when the train to Sarayashiki would arrive. I had suggested we take one that would let out closer to his home, but he insisted that he could not very well tall his mother that he let a young girl walk home alone. Of course I told him he could lie, but he made such a fuss about that. All mockingly, of course, but it was enough for me to let him have his way.
"I don't see why you would need such a low-level pawn, and one so irritating as well." I was surprised at how he referred to her, searching his emerald eyes which had yet to look at me. Too focused he was on his dislike of Tokagemaru to really notice me.
"Pawn? Is that how you think I see you?" It was his turn to look surprised, and he tilted his head with a blank look, carefully hiding whatever it was he thought about this. Of course it was only because his expression was so dead that I knew he felt something he did not want me to see. Perhaps embarrassment, or resentment for this slight he perceived against him. If he truly thought of me as so callous…
"It's true, you're useful to me, and I may require your help every now and then," I admitted, this information being what he already knew. "But I should hope you realize that when I told you I wanted an ally, I meant exactly that. I would never dream of likening you to a pawn or underling. You are far more valuable with your own free will, and to attempt to rob you of that would be incredibly disrespectful to someone such as yourself."
Such things, I had not believed needed to be said. They seemed obvious to me. Kurama's age and fighting ability alone made the very idea of attempting to control him absurd. Those factors aside, there was a distinct difference between manipulating someone into liking me, and using leverage to force them to do my bidding. The second was tacky at best, and not at all befitting of the person I was attempting to portray.
That aside, it did not feel… correct.
"You were so averted to the idea that your power could in some way influence me, yet you were not willing to explain why," he recalled, and I could see him drawing conclusions now that he was not so guarded. "Now you speak of respect, yet the implication seems to be something less formal."
I shrugged, said: "Call it appreciation then."
He paused to consider this word, nodding once he found it to his liking.
"Very well then, Hotaru. I appreciate you as well." I dipped my head, not even trying to fight the ghost of a smile that flitted across my lips. He might need the assurance after all, if he still believed I considered him something lesser. I only hope he could tell that it was real.
I once spent an entire week researching the various facial expressions to convey regret. In the event that I was to deliver bad or unfavorable news, I wanted to appear as genuine as possible, and so when books failed me, I turned to media.
Actors in movies, specifically gaijin movies, had such expressive faces. Some may say they were overacting, though I found their exaggerated variety to be of great interest. Regret, like any other emotion, could manifest in any number of expressions. There was of course the dramatic regret, covering the face and spreading a wry smile, hollow laughter echoing raspy in the back of the throat. There was regret paired with mourning, characterized by distant looks in the eyes and a lax brow. The regret I wished to convey, while not at all genuine, was the apologetic sort.
Eyes wide and softened, brow furrowed just slightly, chewing and twisting my lips in an imitation of nervous apology, I regarded Asako and Hitomi as I delivered the news of my transfer.
Their first emotion was a shared shock, which was followed closely by a shared look of disbelief. When it finally registered, Hitomi attempted to give me her congratulations, which clashed visibly on her face with the dismay she was trying not to show.
"That's wonderful," she lied with a smile. "Your family must be proud."
"They are pleased with my progress," I confirmed, stirring the toppings of my tofu stir fry into the rice taking up over half the container. "To be honest, I have been making such requests since the beginning of the school year." Hitomi's smile grew more genuine, humor playing through her blue eyes like a traveling twinkle, there and gone in a blink.
"If there's anyone who deserves it, it's you. You always worked so hard."
"You'll still come and eat lunch with us, right?" Asako demanded, earning her a frown from her friend. However, to the surprise of both, I smiled.
"Of course. I don't see myself making friends easily in that grade." It wouldn't do to pull away immediately. The disconnect had to be slow and gradual, our time spent together growing less and less. Of course, I would need to find suitable replacements, which may be difficult. The dynamic these two girls had with one another made them uniquely compatible with my needs. I would likely never find accessories that fit so well again. However, leaving them behind a grade would effectively make them obsolete. It would be less easily justified to spend time with them when I was already ahead of them in the work material.
Asako grinned over her sadness, her relief reflected on Hitomi's face. The day was able to continue normally, our lunch period bringing with it an hour of time for conversation to fill. It was normal that the other two took up the mantle of discussion during this time, though it seemed my announcement had triggered a sense of urgency, both of them rounding on me with matching smiles soaked in conspiracy.
"So, Hotaru-Chan, how does your boyfriend feel about your advancement?" Hitomi asked all too innocently, giving me a half-lidded look from the corner of her eye as she leaned over her steamed vegetable medley.
"He's excited for you, right? Maybe you two will end up going into high school in the same grade," Asako suggested cheerily, and I gave them a secretive smile.
It had gotten easier to play along with their notion that I was involved with Minamino Shuichi. Ever since their initial meeting, not a single lunch had gone by without at least one question regarding him. His schooling, his mother, his health, her health, hobbies. So far, the image I had built for them was a particularly mild-mannered aspiring botanist whose compassion knew no bounds. Kurama himself had in fact inquired about the girls, and how I had been handling them recently in regards to himself.
I never did answer him.
"I saw him yesterday briefly, but I forgot to tell him. We were otherwise engaged." The words came out before I could double check them for the possibility of miscommunication. This was regrettable, as the girls faces immediately turned impressive shades of red. Hitomi, for her part, looked somewhat mortified, while Asako's blush was accompanied with an eager curiosity.
"Were you making out?" she whispered excitedly. I cleared my throat.
"We were studying with a schoolmate of his." My response seemed to displease her, her cheeks puffing out and brow pinching in exaggerated frustration.
"So boring. Maybe you two should 'study' with us next time," she suggested with glowing eyes. Hitomi nodded in agreement, missing the thinly veiled innuendo.
"That would be fun, I think. It might give us a chance to know him better. After all, his mother is doing well, yes?"
Why they imagined the two of us, leagues ahead of them, would want to study with children so far behind in their studies is beyond me, but I smiled wider and tilted my head.
"I'll bring it up to him." That should have been the end of the conversation. They had received a vague answer that was neither a commitment nor a refusal, as was my usual. Normally, the conversation would move on. Asako, however, decided to maintain that particular topic thread.
"What do you guys do together, when you're not studying?" she asked, rather blatantly with a rudeness I was accustomed to. It took a moment for me to formulate an answer, not quite prepared for this question.
"Well… we recently took a hike up to a rather secluded temple. There was a forest there with the most… interesting plant life. He was quite happy to take samples." Both girls looked intrigued, leaning in with appropriate interest.
"Oh? Which temple?" Hitomi queried, and my answer was rather honest.
"As far as I am aware, it has no official name. It is still very much in use by an elderly martial artist named Genkai. Apparently, it was once a place where many fighters trained, but has long since been the home of one particularly cantankerous old woman." A smile tugged at the corners of my lips at the memory of the irritable Genkai. "Shuichi collected his plant samples, and I spent some time learning from Genkai. It was a productive day for us both."
Asako tilted her head, sharing a brief glance with the other girl.
"You said you had started taking lessons at your regular dojo. Is something wrong there?" she asked with a guileless tone. I shrugged.
"My old Sensei cannot teach anymore. His health is poor. But Genkai, while old, is rather spritely and has much to teach me. I think I will make frequent trips up to see her, perhaps with Shuichi again. We may even go camping one of these weekends."
An entire night with the pack in the Dark Forest, with or without Kurama, was something I had been planning for some time. Perhaps there, I might find my dreams taking more natural turns than they have been lately. Last night, for instance. It was another scene from memory, playing out exactly as I remembered it up until a point near the end. It was like the dream with Mika, the one that began my nightly disturbances.
~Standing outside the bedroom door, I counted the breaths I took and waited for them to be silent enough. One could never be too careful, after all. Perhaps my prey was a light sleeper and the slightest noise would wake him. I knew only his habits during the waking hours, not what his life was like when his front door closed and I could no longer see him. His elderly parents were early to bed, thankfully. His lights hadn't been doused until past nine.
I had waited until nearly ten-thirty before approaching and entering the house, had worked my way quietly down the hallway, stepping carefully and as quietly as I could. My weight being as high as it was, I tended to set off creaking stairs and floorboards more quickly and loudly than others, so the demand for slow deliberate movements was great.
Now outside the prey's room, I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as I painstakingly turned the knob and pushed. There was no squealing of the door hinges, which meant I did not need to use the can of oil stashed in the pocket of my black sweatshirt. It swung open easily, so easily that I had to hold the knob to ensure it didn't move too quickly and bump into anything. Even after the door was open and I was halfway inside, I refused to make another move, listening for any sign of disturbance.
His even breathing was all I could hear.
I felt my lips twitching under the thin black scarf tied over the bottom half of my face, my eyes locked onto a large sleeping form as I crept across the neat and orderly bedroom floor. The carpet lent itself to silence quite well, masking the sound of the cloth shoes sliding over its plush surface.
I stood over him, staring down as I planned out how to approach with his particular angle of sleeping. His lips, slightly open as he snored softly, made my eyes narrow in focus on the point. It was those lips, of course, which got him into this mess in the first place. His lips, his tongue, his teeth, and throat, or really whatever else it was that was required for liars to go about their lives. His hands too were instruments of his downfall.
The saying went that words could not hurt, but it was clear that the one who first spoke this had never had hurtful words directed at them. Or else, they were so well liked that none could speak evil of them. Of course, when you are a troublesome teenage punk like my brother, it was a given that cruel words would be slung at you from every direction. Even crueler accusations may be made yet, especially when they came from the mouths of the police. Those such words, coupled with an insatiable need to be right, can lead a man to do many things. Planting false evidence was on that list.
Kazuma could deny his involvement all he wanted, and it would never matter. The words of the police were law, and at times the law was horribly flawed. My brother was lucky I caught onto the scheme in time, so anxious was I after the deed for which he was framed occurred.
It was my own fault, really. I should have known better than to target someone with whom Kazuma had recently fought. My brother's blood and fibers would be all over the other punk, I should have realized. Furthermore, it was in error that I chose that particular target, considering his familial connections to the police. What could I say though, it was my very first kill for my brother. Not that he appreciated it. He mourned the boy just the same as everyone else.
I caught the deceased prey's uncle tampering with the crime scene, taking prints off a soda can to place on a random knife, one exactly the size and shape as I had used. It had only seemed fair to use a knife then. He had once attacked Kauma with one. Now he understood the pain he would have caused.
Lying was one thing. I did it daily, and I held it against no one who did the same. However, there was also lying for the purpose of harming Kazuma.
With nothing more than a whispered prayer for success, I crawled over his sleeping form, my limbs spider-like to avoid disturbing him. It was fortunate his wife had left him years ago. Her presence would make this infinitely more difficult.
I gently pulled the covers down from his chin, exposing the soft, pale throat and the pronounced collar bone. His adams apple bobbed as he shifted, and I calmly took out the ether-soaked cloth I had kept in my back pocket, carefully and quietly taking it out of the plastic bag and pressing it over his face. He was already asleep, of course, but one could never be too sure.
He shifted, his eyes fluttering open. The struggling began soon after, confused and half-hearted at first, then more frantic, but by the time he realized his situation, it was too late. I squeezed his ribs with my knees as he attempted to buck me off, keeping his arms back when he tried to push at me. It took mere moments for him to fall back into unconsciousness, and I smirked at his disheveled appearance.
I hurried to uncap the safety stopper to the needle, knowing time was short. An experimental push of the syringe to ensure that it would indeed inject (catching the liquid in the cloth) was all that was needed for me to continue. I lifted his earlobe, sliding the needle into the vein there which would be hidden from the examiners initially. The poison flooded his bloodstream, the syringe empty within moments.
The rest of the plan was simple. The pufferfish from which I had extracted the tetrodotoxin was currently in a cooler box outside, hidden away in a clump of bushes. The fish would be placed in the refrigerator, poorly packaged beside the fruits I had seen him purchase just yesterday. The liver would be cut open and the contents would spill onto the fruit, not entirely noticeable. One of the apples would be missing. Once they analyzed his blood, it would be quite obvious what had happened, and if it happened to affect his parents or young son as well, then so much the better for me and my cover.
Kazuma would surely not approve. He was so sensitive, though he may be less so considering the officer had been quite aggressive towards him and his friends. Regardless, my dear brother would be so disappointed and angry if he could see me now.
But then, he would never know.
I sat atop the soon-to-be corpse, holding a piece of the cotton fabric of the cloth over the tiny injection sight over the ear. Even long after the bleeding stopped, I continued to take in his warmth, curious how quickly his body would cool. Six hours was the estimated time for the poison to run its course and take full effect.
Numbness was one of the first symptoms, not that he would be awake to enjoy it. It could be accompanied by vomiting, which would definitely kill him if I left him on his back like this. I planned to, of course, just in case. Then the paralysis would start to set in, and even if the ether wore off within that time, the poison itself would cause him to lose consciousness again. The lungs would eventually stop working as a result of paralysis. Then…
Well death, of course.
It was not particularly wise of me to remain the six hours it would take to watch the man die, considering this time, the prey was not technically alone. But I would never leave immediately. There was something fulfilling about taking a long look at a job well done. There was a sense of pride, and satisfaction that filled me. I could feel it after passing a particularly grueling test. I could feel it when my attempts at genuine laughter were well-received. I could feel it when I tasted my own cooking after spending hours on preparation.
And of course, I felt it after my two successful hunts. Only these two so far, and if all went as planned, I would have a one hundred percent success rate. That was something to be proud of.
There was a click some distance behind me. Light broke through the darkness of the bedroom, light that was bright yellow and not the pale blue of the digital alarm clock on the bedside table.
I had lingered too long.
"Otou-San?"
The sleepy voice belonged to a child, no more than eight or nine, who stood in the doorway. He rubbed his eyes, one arm wrapped snugly around a purple stuffed dog while the other obscured his face. I could feel my eyes widening, feel my heartbeat skyrocket in just a moment. I threw myself off the officer's body and onto the floor, landing on all fours. I lunged, knife in hand, my focus on the boy's throat.
His arm came down, fire lighting his black eyes, and I came stumbling to a halt. I tripped over the shock, landing on my knees as Kazuma pointed a finger in my face.
"You monster!" He cried, face twisted into a horrible snarl. He stood there, the toy in his arms morphing into a blue cat, the hair seeming more orange, more curly than my memories dictated.
"Zu-" I tried to speak, but he clutched the stuffed toy closer to his chest, taking a step away.
"Why did you do it? Why did you kill them!?" he demanded, and I choked on words that refused to come. My chest tightened painfully and my eyes burned. "You're a monster, you're not my sister!"
"I was… just trying... to protect you," I stammered out, my breath coming short and each word leaving me as a gasp. I reached for him, his young face that I once saw every night when we shared a room. But he recoiled, nose wrinkling in disgust.
"Don't touch me! I hate you!"
The light behind him burned brighter, sunlight emanating from his very being as the little boy grew tall, and wide, his pyjamas shifting to the sky-blue of his school uniform. The blue cat's image fluctuated as it was swallowed by the light, becoming a blazing golden sword pointed directly at my throat.
"I hate you!"
Please no, Kazuma… Please.
"Ka… Kazuma," I sobbed, bowing my head and waiting for the strike. "I'm sorry."~
Disturbingly personal ending aside, this was not how I first remembered the kill. When searching my memory before, I had been outside, in some dark alley. There may even have been others with me, though the details were getting hazy. Even now, I struggled to remember how the dream usually went. But the setting, the murder weapons, the discovery afterward… Nothing was the same.
It was a disturbing thought, but I could no longer differentiate between the dream and the memory. What really happened then? Was it a silent home invasion, or a drawn out false ritual in a dingey, dirty street? Did I laugh, as I initially believed, or was it a quiet smile of satisfaction? Did I… did I kill the boy as well?
Perhaps the Dark Forest's purely malicious energy could shed some light on the matter.
"Hotaru-Chan?"
I startled, though managed to keep myself from jumping too dramatically. That voice did not belong to either of the girls, and I raised my head to find a girl standing a desk over, hands folded politely in front of her skirt.
"Yukimura," I stated, not quite sure what else to say. She gave a pleasant smile, fingers twitching in a barely noticeable sign of anticipation. Her expression, while polite, was a barely passable imitation of the real thing. I would know. "Is something wrong?"
It may seem odd that this was my initial reaction, but considering our mutual friend, it was a perfectly valid question. It took a moment for me to remember that he was gone, however, which left me completely confused as to what she could want (and left another aching reminder of the missing piece of my life).
"Oh, no, nothing like that," she said with a smile a bit less disingenuous. "I just wanted to see you before Monday to make sure you were all ready to go into your new grade. You'll be transferring into my class."
I blinked, raising a brow.
"Not Class A?" I asked, then realized that question could come across as a rude insinuation that Class B wasn't good enough. Belatedly, I realized (with a strange happiness) this would also put me in the same class as Yusuke. How he managed B and didn't land himself in C-Class with my brother and his friends I was not entirely sure. Yukimura's help was a likely factor. There was only so much I could do for Kazuma.
"No, I guess not," she said apologetically, and I rushed to correct my mistake.
"That's not a problem," I assured with a quickly manufactured smile. "I will know someone going into my new class, so that's certainly a positive."
A throat clearing nearby reminded me that we were not alone, and that my previous company was feeling a bit left out. Hitomi elbowed her friend, but I gave Yukimura an apologetic smile.
"Could this wait, possibly?" I asked her with a supplicating expression. "Perhaps I could meet you after school." She nodded, happily accepting my offer.
"Of course, I don't want to pull you away from your friends. You can stop by the teachers lounge. I just have some filing to do, being class rep and all. I'll see you then." She gave a short bow, which I reciprocated, then turned to exit the classroom. Once she was gone and out of earshot, the two girls beside me pounced on the conversation before it could creep away.
"That's lucky, isnt' it?" Hitomi said with an encouraging smile. "You'll know Yukimura-Senpai at least. I didn't know you two were friends."
"Well-" I began, not entirely sure what fabrication I would use to cover my acquaintance with the older girl, but Asako interrupted as usual. It was not terribly annoying this time.
"Wow, you know Yukimura? She's so cool! Man, I wish I was going up a class," the girl lamented with a pout. "Lucky!"
"We've met a few times, yes," I admitted. "It was usually just in passing, but I would say we are friendly."
Asako, still swooning over whatever it was she was seeing in her mind, simply sighed and slumped over onto the desk.
"You two should have lunch with us when you leave," she suggested. Surprisingly, Hitomi agreed.
"I imagine studying with someone with test scores as impressive as hers would be a big help towards our own grades. Or at least, one of our grades." That taunt did not go ignored, Asako whining childishly and being chided by the smirking Hitomi. I laughed at their antics, thinking to myself once more that leaving their unique dynamic would be quite a loss on my part. It was unavoidable, but they were so very reliable.
… … …
The school never cleared by the end of the day. Students in various clubs still milled about after cleaning their classrooms. Study groups took up the tables in the library and even the cafeteria. It was strange, then, to find that the teachers lounge was largely deserted. I looked around the first room after knocking and receiving no answer. Desks were cleared and most lights turned off. I could only imagine the teachers had gone home, or were supervising club activities.
There was a room to the far right where the lights were still on, and I could hear someone shuffling papers around, feet clanging against metal filing cabinets. I directed my feet there, coming to find Yukimura with her back to me, slightly bent over a table and sifting through manilla folders.
"Yukimura," I announced myself in a normal voice, not wanting to startle the girl. She turned her large brown eyes to me, a warm smile on her delicate features.
"Hotaru-Chan, come in," she welcomed. "You can call me Keiko, by the way. I wanted to mention that earlier, but I didn't want to come across as too forward in front of your friends."
I smiled back.
"That's alright, Keiko-Chan. They're quite enamored with you, I doubt they would have minded."
Yukimura made a strange noise. It was clearly meant to be a laugh, but the way she quickly turned her face away and the tone the laugh was in made the noise sound forced, almost bitter.
"Oh, I see," she said in a light tone, though it was obvious just by the sound that she was no longer smiling. She didn't say anything else, and I wasn't sure what I could say after such a lackluster response.
… Teenage girls…
"Was there something you needed?" I prompted after the silence stretched too long, and she waited a beat, still organizing the papers in front of her. Many were photographs or diagrams, each with lists beside them. The images and words were indecipherable from this distance.
"Ah, right," she said as though just now remembering. She nodded for me to join her, which I did with some hesitance. "Takenaka-Sensei told me this morning that you would be switching classes, and that your grades were good enough for you to run for Class Representative, if you wanted."
Ah, so that was it. She felt threatened.
"You don't need to worry, I have no interest in the position," I told her with a reassuring smile. "It's all yours. I'm a bit too busy right now to take on those duties."
I expected her to smile jovially, tell me that my decision was perfectly fine, possibly even offer the position once more as a courtesy. However, none of this happened, at least not in that order. Her face fell for a split second, a momentary dismay which was hastily obscured by a smile, more resembling a grimace. Clearly, this was meant to pass for a cheery smile.
"O-oh, that's understandable. Are you sure? I mean, there would obviously be no hard feelings, and I'm sure you would do a great job." I scoffed to myself. Now that was unlikely.
Her offer seemed entirely genuine, nothing indicating that this was the typical predatory behavior of girls this age. If anything, she was far more open and honest than I would ever have given her credit for. This placed her on the same level as Asako and Hitomi, which simply did not add up with everything else I knew about her.
If I had to hazard a guess, this sounded almost like a plea.
"Is there a reason you don't want to be class rep any longer?" I questioned slowly, calmly, without judgement. If I were to receive an answer, I would need to appear as open and accepting as possible. She shied from the question at first, predictably. It was somewhat invasive, and quite informal. However, Yukimura had just given me permission to use her first name. That indicated some level of camaraderie.
"No, I mean it's not that I don't want to be class rep," she denied, tapping the bottom of one folder to straighten the papers within. "I just want to give someone else the chance. Maybe I could have a little change of pace too, not spend so much time worrying over all this stuff."
"What else would you like to do that you don't have time for now?" I found myself genuinely curious, coming closer to lean against the desk beside her. She paused to think for a moment, then shrugged, her shoulders slumping slightly in dismay.
"I… I guess you would call it studying," she admitted, then gave me a helplessly defensive look. "But, not the class material. There's just other things I don't have time for now, what with my duties here, and chasing after Yusuke to do his-"
She stopped, looking away quickly. On this topic, at the very least, she and I understood each other well.
"He isn't here now," I reminded her. "As much as you miss him, you do have some time to yourself for the next six months."
She remained quiet for a moment, her hands holding the file limply. Soft brown eyes darkened, her bangs falling in front of them to obscure them from my vision, but I was certain they looked more shiny than they had a moment ago.
"Six months is a long time," she finally murmured. "I'm not sure I can focus on anything when I'm stuck worrying about him."
The far window was open, the distant sounds of children shouting at the playground filtering in through the dusty air. The afternoon light turned every surface it touched orange, glinting off metal drawer handles and distorting as it traveled through the fish tank in the corner of the staff room. Birds could be heard too, if one listened closely enough, and even in the autumn the room was comfortably warm, soothingly quiet with only the white noise of day to day life.
It was in this horribly pedestrian atmosphere I shared this moment with Yukimura. I knew any other normal girl might smile, offer encouragement. In fact, any normal girl would advise her to forget Yusuke, to move on and not let him define her life. Obviously, I was anything but normal, so this was advice I would never give.
Yet, she needed something, that was clear. I wasn't sure I wanted to give her anything. She was not mine to keep happy, she was Yusuke's. This girl was his responsibility. I did not need to involve myself any more with her than I already had. She was already important enough to keep alive, and that level of care was the extent to which I was willing to go. Yukimura wasn't my problem, and her concerns were not my responsibility to assuage. I should never have agreed to meet with her. I should have known she would set this unwitting trap.
I needed to leave. Immediately.
"I… I understand how you feel," was what I said instead, because for some reason, I could not obey the part of me that was reasonable. It was an emotion I was unfamiliar with, something akin to longing, but not far off from kinship either. I don't remember this feeling.
"Yusuke is the only one who truly knows me. He's… he's my only friend." At my admission, she gave me a wide-eyed stare, her mouth settling into a small 'o'. "There are others, of course, like my brother, or Shuichi. I care for them, and I enjoy their company. But it's not the same. It seems with him, I don't need to try to be anyone else. He has accepted me, completely. He's just unique that way."
I finished that abhorrent speech, shutting my mouth to look away before I said something else sickeningly sentimental. No matter how true it all was, it was embarrassing to have said in front of Yukimura, of all people.
For Kazuma, I was the innocent sister, fighting for the side of good, saving lives, helping people. With Kurama, I still needed to carefully choose my words and actions. Everything regarding them was well calculated, planned out ahead of time to ensure the greatest chance of victory. My goals were always clear, if not in fluctuation, and I always achieved them. But with Yusuke…
I forgot to think when I was with him. His very existence made my time with him so easy. I forgot my goals, and I forgot to act certain ways. I was the most honest I could be with him, and I didn't even need to try.
He didn't need to try.
"I met Yusuke a long time ago," Yukimura began, startling me out of my musings. "We were just little kids on the playground. He didn't have any friends back then, and I guess I just knew he needed one." She shrugged, leaning against the desk with me. I found I did not have the urge to move away from her, though I could feel the warmth coming off her skin.
"It seemed weird to people when we got older, but we always stayed friends. Him probably because he couldn't make any others. And me because… he could always see me for me." She smiled. It was almost tearful, holding a nostalgic fondness that I had little trouble understanding.
"He knows everything about me. He knows how I think, and how I feel. Everyone else just… they don't ask, and they don't listen. They just expect me to think like they do." Her voice turned bitter and I took in a quiet breath, captivated by the emotional strength conveyed in the words. Resentment, longing, anger, a sense of searching for something she knew she wouldn't find. "They just automatically assume I agree with them. They see a mature, top of her class girl who's being dragged down by her delinquent boyfriend-" she raised a hand to her mouth, eyes going wide.
"Oh- oh my… I'm so sorry!" She jumped off the table like it had bitten her, giving a deep bow in my direction. "I just started blabbering and- I'm sure you didn't want to hear all that. That was horribly rude of me!" I stared for a moment before speaking, deciding not to think about whatever I might say. It worked with him, so why not Yukimura?
"I'm friends with Yusuke. Obviously I've come to appreciate rudeness every now and then." Her face turned up with an incredulous expression, which soon broke when she began to laugh. I was pleased to note it was not the empty noise from before, and was very much a laugh I might hear when Kazuma finds something particularly hilarious. Of course, Yukimura's was far more attractive.
"He is pretty rude huh? Just leaving us here like that, not even a number to call," she complained, and her voice lacked the harshness from earlier.
"I have frequent trips planned to the area he is in," I said without thinking. Stop, this is bad. Abort! Do not engage further! "The one training him won't allow me to see him, but I can ask about him for you, if you would like. Then perhaps you wouldn't need to worry over him, and you would have time to do whatever it is you want."
My foolishly personal offer was met with a look of incredulity, Yukimura's eyes crinkling moments later in grateful approval. She smiled, brightly, sweetly, so happily. In an instant, all the warmth in the room seemed to focus in on her form, reflecting back out and focusing solely on me. At the center of her attention, I basked in the heat radiating from that smile. I was completely unaware of my own smile until she voiced her thanks. I simply nodded, not entirely sure what it was she had said. My senses returned to focus on her again when she gestured to the papers in the files she had just been sorting.
Was this how Yusuke felt when they first met? I could understand his attachment now, I believe. She was atypical, to put it lightly. If she could make Yusuke feel that way, she was certainly worth keeping close.
"Well, since you're here and you'll be transferring Monday, you can get a vote to count towards the Bunkasai." I looked down at the two pages left out, both of them with drawn diagrams depicting themes and decorations for the annual festival, which doubled as a fundraiser. The money went towards end-of-year trips to places voted on by the students, though given our school's class average in comparison to other schools, our options were limited to locations within the country. For many of the students from lower-income families, this was perfectly acceptable.
"What are the options?" I asked, leaning over the papers to peer at the descriptions. The festival was set for November third, as it was every year. Normally I would be relegated to whatever group project I had been assigned to with Asako and Hitomi, however it seemed this year I might have more free reign. Of course, this just meant more work for me.
"We agreed to hold everything on the ground floor this year, especially after someone defaced the teachers lounge last year," she pulled a face that was wholly scornful, so I was able to understand Yusuke had taken no part in that activity. Come to think of it, I don't recall ever seeing him any year before. We certainly wouldn't be seeing him this year.
"Now we're just deciding on a theme for decor and food arrangements. We have the culinary club working with us this year so we don't have to rely on outside vendors." She gave me a gleeful smile. "It's nice that everyone's coming together for this."
"Indeed," I agreed, not sure what else to say. One option was an imitation of the Hotaru Matsuri, small hanging lights imitating the fireflies and pastries decorated black and yellow to simulate the blinking insects in the dark of night. All in all, it seemed fairly expensive and difficult to put together, while the second option was simpler: a display of plant life and floral arrangements, a welcoming respite from the unforgiving harshness of winter. This too could prove expensive, as many of the flowers listed as suggestions were quite out of season by November.
"They're both big undertakings," Yukimura admitted. "To be honest, I'm not sure we could pull either off, even with everyone working together. There aren't any clubs that could help us either."
I considered the two options, weighing the possibilities in my head, as well as the pros and cons of the suggestion I could make. In the end, I decided favorably, the choice not taking terribly long to make.
"The second one, Fuyu no Hana," I told her. Flowers of Winter had a nice ring to it anyhow, much better than Fireflies Second Coming.
Yukimura hummed in thought, taking up the sheet I recommended and gazing at the details with a doubtful expression.
"I think it would be pretty, and it's a great idea in theory, but how are we going to get flowers like this without them being fake? They're very insistent that the flowers be real if we go with this one, but almost all of these will be out of season." I smiled, taking the paper from her hands and pretending to skim the list of flora provided.
"I happen to know someone with a particularly green thumb. I'm certain he will help, if I ask." She gave me another impossibly sunny look, but I was more prepared for this one and so was not nearly as stunned as before.
"That's amazing! Do you know what he will charge for all this?" I sighed, not needing to falsify my look of annoyed acceptance.
"My presence at dinner with him and his mother, no doubt." Yukimura's brows disappeared under her bangs, her lips curling into a surprised smile.
"Oh? So he's a close friend?" The way she stressed the word without making it sound like a terribly obvious implication was a novelty to me. So accustomed was I to Asako's blunt innuendo's that it was a relief to encounter someone with a bit of tact. Even Hitomi was swept up in Asako's wild lack of sensitivity.
"We spend a great deal of time in one anothers company, yes," I told her, and she seemed satisfied with that answer.
"I can't wait to meet him. This is perfect!" With a proud look, she filed the remaining papers into their correct slots, closing the filing cabinets and leading the way out of the lounge. "Now that we have a rough plan, we can get everyone's input, pull resources- this is going to be spectacular!"
I chuckled at her enthusiasm, following the girl to her locker to grab her school bag and switch out her shoes. We stopped by my own after, both of us leaving the school and turning left.
"You mentioned you had another interest outside of our school material," I prompted, finding myself still curious. "If you don't mind my asking…"
She looked a little surprised, perhaps impressed that I had remembered or else unprepared for the question. Then, her cheeks dusted pink and she looked away with a secretive smile.
"Oh… it's nothing really. I've just sort of… gotten really into history lately." I blinked.
"History? Japanese or foreign?" She shrugged daintily.
"Both, actually. It's funny to see what misconceptions our ancestors had about such commonplace things we take for granted. It's also pretty fun to clear up my own misconceptions about them. Did you know, nordic vikings didn't actually have horns on their helmets? But that's in all of our heads when we picture vikings, isn't it? The idea came from a costume designer who worked on an opera in 1876-"
She stopped suddenly, her blush returning in full force and her steps growing shorter as she tried to make herself seem smaller.
"Ah… sorry. You probably aren't interested in all that." I tilted my head, giving her what I hoped was a friendly smile.
"I can understand the appeal of learning the worlds history. My interest lies in psychology, personally." At that, she seemed to perk up, her gait picking up and resuming its normal pace.
"Really? That's unusual. Not in a bad way, I mean. It's actually pretty neat, I think." I nodded.
"It can be… enlightening at times. I imagine your exploration of history exposes you to our ancestors warped ways of thinking. It must be very amusing." She rolled her eyes with an exasperated smile.
"It can be, but it's not all funny things. The wars, religious persecutions, racial issues, it's all such important stuff to remember. It's valuable insight into the current state of affairs too at times." I nodded my agreement.
"It's a useful hobby. Perhaps…" I paused, but decided to continue my thought against my better judgement. "You might be interested in a collaborative study. I imagine our two interests would be compatible to create a presentation for the Bunkasai."
Her eyes lit up in delight, her mouth opening to give some positive reply, perhaps even offer an idea for our topic. However, our conversation was cut short when a shout pierced through the air, ringing through my ears like a war cry, and immediately alerting my body to the possibility of a threat. I allowed instinct to take over, turning to face the voice and placing myself in front of Yukimura, a protective measure Yusuke would likely appreciate.
My vision focused on the two blue uniforms first, my eyes widening in surprise when I discovered none other than Asako and Hitomi standing several yards away. They had just rounded the corner on the opposite side of the street, but strangely enough, neither of them was looking at me, or even in my direction. Both were staring with mixed reactions at a third person.
The red uniform pushed through, an arm waving enthusiastically. Blonde hair tossed about in the wind as the person increased their pace, a huge smile taking up the majority of their face. I could only stare, feeling as though my eyes might fall out of my face. The sudden shortness of breath could be explained by the shock, but my inability to move following the surprise arrival of this demon, no matter how harmless, was disconcerting.
"Tokagemaru?"
She grinned. I stood frozen.
Kuso.
Keiko is MY waifu. Back the fuck off.
So yes, if there was any question, Keiko is not going to sit on the sidelines. Not this time. I absolutely adored writing her this chapter, and I honestly felt like after what they had shared already (to Keiko's memory, that is) she would have no problem opening up to Hotaru. Keiko strikes me as someone who is really lonely, even in the show. Her friends are just so antagonistic towards Yusuke, though not to his face. Hotaru, being at least a little like Yusuke, probably seems like a breath of fresh air.
College-me was a misogynistic prick, tbh. I hated Keiko for some pretty dumb reasons, I think I've said that before. Hotaru originally spent a lot of the story bashing her. Four years later and a little more maturation, I've come to respect and appreciate Keiko as a character, and this felt like the logical course of action for Hotaru. Sorry if anyone reading this doesn't like Keiko. I do, and I would marry her if I could.
ANNOUNCEMENT: The first chapter of the companion story, Choosing Strength, will be going up tomorrow. If you couldn't tell already, the main focus of this story will be none other that Tokagemaru Midoriko! Oh boy, it's gonna be a hell of a trip for me. I'm ready though, I've got this! (she says with a manic smile that indicates some pretty intense mental health issues that she doesn't even want to begin to explore)
Meow for now!