Chapter 2: Arousing Suspicions
"Mr. Namikama, your dinner is ready." Said the maid.
"Thank you." Kurai answered. "Let's go Ren." He got up from his desk and stretched.
Ren stopped typing on the computer and turned to his best friend. "Fine."
"What's the matter?" Kurai asked. Before Ren could answer, the phone began to ring. The older boy answered it.
"Hello?"
"We have a problem." A girl on the other line replied.
"Like what?" Ren knew it was Raine. He mouthed to Kurai that it was his younger sister.
"I think there's a Hunter in town." Raine said.
"How do you know?"
"Look at today's newspaper headlines." The girl ordered. Ren placed the phone down and went to retrieve the day's newspaper. Kurai placed the phone to his ear.
"Raine? What's the matter?"
"A Hunter may be in town. You want me to take care of it?" Kurai's little sister asked.
"Yes. I don't want any of you getting hurt." Kurai ordered.
"Don't worry so much Kurai. We all can take care of ourselves." Raine answered. She hung up the phone.
Kurai hung up the phone. "That girl has no manners at all if she hangs up with no warning…" he muttered. Ren came back into the room with a newspaper.
"You have to see this…" Ren answered. He showed Kurai the headline. As soon as Kurai read the big bolded letters, he was taken back by shock.
Raine walked down the light streets clutching a samurai sword. The crowds were not so packed so it was easy to navigate among the group. She was dressed in a black skirt, shirt, and boots. She was also wearing a black hoodie with the black hood over her head. She stopped in front of a tall skyscraper's entrance. Just as she was about to walk inside, Ryoko Takamachi came running out and bumped into Raine. Raine's hood fell off her head as she hit the ground on her butt.
"Oh! Sorry! I didn't see you." Ryoko replied as she stared down on one of the Night Children. She smiled and offered her hand to the other one.
Raine rudely slapped Ryoko's hand away and said meanly, "Watch where you're going next time." Her eyes were so icy and cold that it sent chills down Ryoko's spine. Raine stood up and wiped the dirt of her black skirt. Ryoko slowly turned her attention to Raine's fallen samurai sword and picked it up. The rude girl quickly snatched her sword away.
"You're Raine Namikama aren't you?" Ryoko asked.
"What's it to you?"
"Well, I heard from my friends Mei Ichiiwa and Ayumu Narumi that you're new." The track star replied. She was trying to find out who she was. There was something very suspicious about her and she didn't know what.
"That's nice. Now if you'd excuse me…" Raine said. She moved past Ryoko and into the building.
Ryoko frowned. "She is so rude…yet I can sense something suspicious around her…" A light bulb clicked on in her brain. "Oh shit!" She immediately sprinted down the street sidewalk, accidentally crashing into strangers.
Finally, she reached the house where Rio, Kousuke, and her were living in. She climbed the stairs and started banging on Kousuke's door. "Kousuke! Kousuke! Get up! Kousuke Asazuki, if you don't open this door then I'm going to beat it down!" Ryoko screamed. After several seconds, the girl was pounding the door with her fist. Just then, the door opened and Kousuke appeared in the doorway. Ryoko didn't have enough time to stop herself. Her fist was about to pound the door again when the door opened. She accidentally punched the red head onto the ground.
"Damn Ryoko! Are you that impatient for me to open the freaking door!" Kousuke yelled. He got up and glared at her.
"Sorry. But I have something very important to tell you." Ryoko breathed.
"Well, sorry. I was pretty much up when you started banging on the door!" Kousuke yelled back.
"And it takes you that long to get up!" she hissed.
"Well, it's takes a while to completely wake up and put on some decent clothes!" Kousuke shot back.
Ryoko turned around and covered her ears. She screamed and said, "I can't believe I just heard that! You pervert!" She whirled around and punched him again.
"It's the truth…" he grumbled as he regained his balance.
The door across the hall opened and Rio stepped out into the hall rubbing her eyes. "What's all the commotion…?" she asked.
"Sorry Rio. Were you sleeping?" Ryoko asked the shorter girl.
"Obviously…" the girl muttered.
"Well, gather Ayumu and the other Blade Children." Ryoko ordered. "I have something important to tell everyone."
"Hm…Raine Namikama…that name sounds familiar…" Hiyono muttered. Everyone was in the living room where Ryoko had just explained that Raine might be one the Night Children.
"Of course it sounds familiar. She's the new girl in my class." Ayumu snapped.
"No. That's not where I've heard her name before. Her last name is familiar."
"Namikama?" Eyes asked. "I've also heard of that name before as well."
"Where? There was a newspaper article mentioning the death of the powerful Haru Namikama about thirteen years ago. One of his kids was trailed for his death but he case ended up being forgotten because of lack of evidence." Eyes explained.
"Interesting…" Ayumu whispered.
"Even if Raine is a Night Child, how are we supposed to prove that?" Rio asked. "We don't even know what the name "Night Child" means!"
Hiyono began typing furiously on her laptop. "I'm trying to find out a little more than just her basic profile…" she muttered.
"I still don't understand. Even if Raine was holding a samurai sword, how does that prove she's a Night Child?" Kousuke questioned Ryoko.
"Don't you understand you idiot! She must be suspicious that a Hunter would pop out and try to kill her! That sword is there for defense!" Ryoko yelled at the redhead.
Ayumu thought for a moment. "Or maybe the sword was going to be used to hurt someone else…?" he suggested. Everyone turned to look at him.
The phone began to ring. Kanone picked up the phone and said, "Hello?"
A mysterious voice answered, "Quick wondering who the Night Children are. We will reveal ourselves when we're ready. No one can save us. We die either way." All that was left was the repeated sound of the hung up phone.
Lain appeared in the doorway. She had long silver hair and blue eyes. It was a Saturday night and everyone except Kurai and Ren were in the Namikama library. She was clutching the newspaper. Mei and Kyle were playing a quiet game of chess with occasional words to each other. Raine was sitting behind the study's desk carving something into a block of wood with a Swiss Army pocketknife.
Lain walked over to Raine and threw the newspaper in front of her. She noticed that Raine was carving a wooden mask. "Why did you do it?" Lain demanded. The headline read, "Famous Scientist Found Dead."
Raine looked up at Lain and said, "He showed an interest in our kind. I did the only thing that had to be done."
"You're drawing attention to us!" the older girl yelled. "With the death of the scientist, you're just proving that there are people like us!"
"Don't worry. No one knows what we are. Not even the Blade Children and Ayumu Narumi." Raine answered. She bowed her head and hid her eyes though a sly smile played around her lips.
"And what are you planning to do?" Kyle asked. He and Mei had been watching the entire thing.
Raine let a small laugh escape her lips. "You three can take care of Kousuke, Rio, and Ryoko. Kurai and Ren say they'll be covering Kanone and Eyes. That means the "savior" is mine." She explained. She picked up the wooden mask and covered her face with it. "I have plans of my own for him."