Ichigo sat with a snort at her new desk, placing her elbows down and resting her face on her hands; she watched the professor ask for silence, and she took advantage of the last moments of commotion to check her cell phone: she read Masaya's answer quickly and her heart flicked pleasantly.
If it's that important, then I'll free myself for sure baby. See you at 4 p.m. at our usual place, kiss
She smiled so happily that Minto, two desks in front, had to hit her forehead with an eraser to disenchant her. Ichigo glared at the mewbird and mouthed:
"Ouch, what the hell are you doing?!"
"Wake up, silly."
Was the laconic answer. Ichigo growled quietly and heard someone chuckle softly: two desks to the left and two back, Kisshu had witnessed that exchange and seemed very amused. The redhead snubbed him, neither he nor anyone else could have spoiled her mood for the rest of the day.
At last she would spend some time with Masaya, an entire afternoon with him: she could talk to him about everything that was going on, which she had not been able to do in the previous days, get a little advice… But above all, they could spend hours just the two of them! Finally, all her torments would be wiped out and her thirsty heart, which in those few days had felt so lonely and dirty, would be reborn clean.
Seven hours. Just seven hours.
Nothing could have dissuaded her from going that afternoon: alien or conquerors, crystals or drops of Mew Aqua, protests of Ryou or not, there was ten of them at work and as many as four could perceive the crystal, as soon as the bell would have ranged, she would disappear like the wind. And neither Kisshu, nor Minto, nor the new classmates – who had largely performed ever so irritating squeals and giggles at the sight of the boy – nor that school for arrogant people, nor having Pai the pouter or Ryou the unbearable as teachers would take away that excitement and that joy. Unwaveringly happy.
Just seven hours.
Further behind, Kisshu stretched his legs under the desk, crossing his ankles and his arms behind his head, puffing loudly. He knew exactly what made Ichigo so happy and it was making his blood boil: he believed that his little kitten and the amoeba had some problems, however it had been enough for Ichigo to read a text of not even five lines to start beaming with energy, a penny of the reaction she had had when he had hugged her.
What the hell is so special about that earthling?!
He nervously changed his position, already the situation was annoying in itself – he had never studied willingly, he had quickly paid his dues and now he had to replicate without the possibility of ditching – but he hoped at least that he could alternate the search for the crystal with a few moments in private with Ichigo, or maybe merge the two things... But how could he, if she kept having her boyfriend in her head and looked around with heart-shaped eyes?!
He was surprised when he heard something fall on his desk with a light thud, a small piece of folded paper. At first he thought it had been passed by one of those dull girls in uniform – he had a couple at the desks close to his and they all kept sending him languid glances with a fool air – and he reluctantly opened the slip, written in a small and elegant penmanship.
What you want to do with Ichigo is just your business, but now stop looking at her as if she were a roasted ham and focus, next period we're going to scour around with Retasu.
M.
Ps you're so blatantly jealous that I can hear your liver sizzle from here
He came close to standing up and screaming in anger. He balled up the paper and furiously looked further ahead, briefly catching Minto's self-restrained glance.
Okay, if she wanted to make him angry, she'd done it perfectly, she would have paid for that.
The first hour went by like any other school hour in any institute of the globe in any spring of any year: calm, silent and quite monotonous, judging how Ichigo and Kisshu ended up snoozing before the bell. The following lesson saw Ryou as the teacher, and his entrance caused another rustle of spring chickens and caused Ichigo to have yet another, albeit mild, bout of tachycardia followed by a bile excess; excess that became overflowing when – the redhead had yet to understand what excuse Ryou had used with the other professors to let him do so – the boy announced to the "three students Midorikawa, Aizawa and Ikisatashi that they could leave". The girl wondered desperately why she had not been included in the search group and why she would have to endure two significant hours of biology. More annoyed than her was Kisshu, who had instead guessed very well the American's intentions.
"I won't leave you alone with Ichigo anymore, if I can stop it."
Ryou's ice-colored stare was saying, as he, grinning, scrutinized Kisshu's face disappearing past the sliding door.
All right, the alien's blacklist was increasing by the minute.
He and the two girls walked away from the classroom, stopping in front of the stairs, and Minto crossed her arms to her chest:
"Well, I think we should split up."
"Split up?" Kisshu looked at her skeptically, "Little crow, I can't sense the Mew Aqua, otherwise I wouldn't be here, dressed like a fool."
"But you can see if anything suspicious happens," she declared and pulled out of her pocket a hairy acid green ball just bigger than a marble, "MoiMoi built transmitters for everyone."
Kisshu distractedly felt in his pocket, found his transmitter and nodded, grunting. He had to admit that his senpai was tremendous, she had given a prototype of those things to Ichigo just three days earlier, and had managed to perfect them enough to reduce their size to almost a third; although the color and design choice did not remain her forte, it was still like chatting with a punk hamster.
"We meet again here in two hours, before Shirogane's class ends," Minto said authoritatively, "Let's try and hurry up."
All three headed in different directions. Retasu tried to remember which classrooms she was inspecting and what area of the school she was in, so as to check with the others the areas already searched.
That campus was huge. They had decided that, during daylight hours, they would take turns checking the high school building, taking advantage of the lessons taught by Pai or Ryou, and so would Zakuro taking care of the third year's floor, the higher one, which included many club rooms; Purin and Taruto, on the other hand, would scour the middle and elementary school buildings, easily accessible on both sides and much smaller than the high school, helped by Eyner, the only one of the fake college students to be shipped to another area. The only remaining problem were the places not reachable during the "hooky hours" or to which not even a professor could access without a valid reason, such as the swimming pool, but for those they would follow Ryou's idea about night shift rounds.
In that moment, Retasu was descending to the first floor, among the first-year students' classrooms, where there were also the classrooms for elective subjects and courses, places that therefore remained closed for a long time. The girl felt a little uncomfortable and at the same time a little excited, she had never found herself wandering the deserted corridors mid-morning: she swayed for a few minutes from one classroom to another, reading the tags posted on the sides of the doors – "Music Room 1", "Live Art Laboratory", "Chemistry Room 2" – when her attention was captured by a slightly different door, made in Western style; beyond that threshold, the wall went on smooth, a sign that there had to be only one room, and on the metal plate the inscription read "Library 1". Something in the Japanese girl's soul awoke with a start, a library at school? Neither in middle school nor in high school she had had a real library, only a small reading room and dozens of wonderful, wonderful books unfortunately untouchable without written permission and guarded with jealousy by the responsible professor.
But will it be true?
She timidly opened the door, looking through the crack: a long and wide classroom, with dozens and dozens of light wooden shelves full of volumes and metal tables scattered here and there, where some third-year students were absorbed in more or less fruitful searches and where someone else, with an agitated air, betrayed their hooky activities and the attempt to recover some forgotten homework. It was a library, small, but a real library. Retasu felt over the moon.
Ah, but the Mew Aqua...
She sighed and made to close the door, when an idea came to her mind: after all, the drop could be there too, right? It was a very large classroom; a lot of students came in… It could be a good place to check.
Okay, just one patrol round.
.
.
.
Eyner sighed with relief when he reached the roof, he was really exhausted; he wondered why only he had ended up teaching kids, but he immediately realized that it was a pointless question that would never get answered. He strolled for a while on that huge roof: although the elementary and middle school facilities were separated from the high school by internal divisions, for security reasons the roof was one for the whole complex, accessible in case of emergency.
Well, his could be considered an emergency: he was dead tired, he had checked every damn room he could get into, it was incredibly hot and another annoying feeling that he couldn't define had been haunting him for a while, and up there he could find a nice cool wind and a lot of quiet.
He walked for a few minutes to the other end of the roof; he was surprised when he spotted a silhouette in the distance, but he was even more so when he recognized who it was .
What is it, destiny?
"Zakuro."
The brunette, sitting on the outlet of the air conditioning system, barely looked up and nodded her head without speaking.
"Why are you here? Skipping class?"
He chuckled; she lifted a packet wrapped in cling film:
"Lunch."
That's what that other annoying feeling was. Hunger.
"Actually, I haven't eaten anything since last night..."
He prayed that she had not heard the mighty gurgling of his stomach as he sat a short distance away, on the floor. Whether she had or not, the model stared at him a little, rummaged through the remains of another package, and took a third out, still untouched, handing it to him:
"It was a potential snack for today," she explained laconically, "But I will survive."
He looked at her surprised and then smiled gratefully, forcibly ignoring the happy and immature jolt of his stomach at that kindness.
Don't be silly.
"Thank you," he dubiously inspected the package, "What is it?"
"Melon Pan."
The answer did not satisfy the boy and Zakuro, after another bite to her pan, explained:
"Melon sandwich; it actually doesn't taste of melon; it just has that shape. That's chocolate."
Eyner's confused expression was accentuated as he listened to her, unwrapped his lunch and studied it a little:
"Why give a food the name of something if it doesn't really taste of it?"
Zakuro held back an amused puff:
"Welcome to what's called 'culture shock'", she joked, filling the air with the noise of cellophane crumpling, "It could happen to you often around here, Japanese people like to create things a little special."
She resumed eating and the boy imitated her. They remained silent for a few minutes until Zakuro watched him ball up the empty paper and said:
"You were hungry."
He blew through his teeth in a playful way:
"Just a little bit."
Zakuro held back another laugh. Eyner felt his stomach give yet another squeeze: damn, those smiles just hinted at him were hitting his weak spot...
"Didn't Shirogane tell you that you should bring something to eat?"
"I think he kindly forgot to warn us," he replied a bit sarcastically, "I have the feeling that this whole thing is getting on his nerves, or rather, that us aliens are very getting on his nerves. To put it politely."
'You're not wrong," she admitted, "Even if, let's say, he has his good reasons. Don't worry, though, he won't get in the way of our work."
"If you say so," he smiled and examined the ball of garbage he had made distractedly, "So for these things you need terrestrial money?"
Zakuro nodded:
"Downstairs there's a café, I bought them there" she explained quickly, "But you can bring food from home."
"Ah well, problem solved," he chuckled, "And you?"
"With work and all, I didn't have time to prepare the bento," she said with nonchalance and seeing his expression, she added, "Packed lunch."
"With work... You mean the one at Shirogane's place?"
Zakuro shook her head:
"The other job."
Eyner continued to look at her curiously, but given that she was not replying, he hurriedly waved his hands:
"Let it go, it doesn't matter."
"I'm a model."
Instead, she answered him; again, that summary was not enough, and she continued, thinking of how to explain it briefly:
"Basically, I wear clothes created by famous people and then I get photographed, so people can see the clothes and can decide if to buy them."
Okay, maybe as a summary it was excessive, but to Eyner it seemed enough:
"Got it. And you're so busy that you can't feed yourself?"
She made a noise of self-importance.
"You're not going to tell me that you'll eat these the whole time we're going to be here? It may be good, but it's sweet... And I don't think it's a great source of nutrients."
"Used to it," she said flatly, "At home I'm always alone… I hate cooking for myself only, I prefer to buy prepared meals."
Eyner stared at her for a moment without answering, she seemed to have become melancholy:
"Listen..."
A well-known noise suddenly interrupted him. Zakuro sighed and rose, elegantly getting off the tube:
"First bell... I'm going to get back to work," she said, while collecting her garbage, "You didn't find anything on your side either?"
"Absolute nothingness," he sighed weary, "I hope Taruto and Purin have better luck than I did."
"Well," she continued, "At least I found a quiet place where to eat."
She opened the door that led downstairs and sent him one last amused glance:
"See you later then, professor."
"Funny."
.
.
.
While Zakuro and Eyner were eating on the roof, Kisshu was in full empty-stomach-crisis mode.
For the third time in two minutes he lay down with his whole face on the desk, lamenting gloomy:
"Hungry… I'm starving…"
"You're so boring," Minto said disdainfully, "Go get some food and stop it!"
"And how, if I may?" he muttered "Maybe you'd like to buy me lunch… Or if you want, I could sneak into the cafeteria and steal something."
"Don't you dare!" Ichigo exclaimed, "We'd just need someone seeing you teleport, and we'd be done!"
"But I'm hungry, kitten!" he cried "Can we share your lunch?"
Ichigo protectively shielded her bento:
"Forget it! I put a lot of hard work into it!"
"If you did it with your own hands," he smiled, "Then I have to eat it."
"I said no!"
She blurted, blushing. Minto exhaled a dry sigh:
"For heaven's sake, Ichigo! I think your figure would only benefit from you eating a little less."
"What did you just say?"
"And as for you," she condescendingly looked at Kisshu, "I don't recommend you try it; our redhead doesn't usually dance among the stoves, she fights with them."
Before Ichigo could take a breath to insult her, Retasu burst into the classroom like a fury, sighing in relief:
"Thank goodness, I made it on time!"
"Retasu!" Minto's voice became a whisper, "Where the heck have you been?! You disappeared all morning!"
She saw her friend blush a little, uncomfortable:
"Nothing important," she chuckled awkwardly, "It's just... I got distracted looking, you know."
She gave the brunette no time to ask anything else and put her head inside her purse, extracting a gigantic bento; Ichigo opened her eyes wide:
"Are you going to eat all that stuff?"
Retasu smiled softly and shook her head, removing the cloth around the container and uncovering three separate ones:
"Purin and I guessed that you would not bring anything to eat," she politely said, "So we prepared something for Kisshu-san, Eyner-san, Taruto-san and Pai-san."
She handed one of the boxes to Kisshu who looked at her theatrically:
"For me?" she nodded, "You're a saint!"
"Correct."
Minto sighed with a resigned smile; then she pointed the chopsticks at Kisshu, who was already stuffing himself:
"Don't you dare take advantage of it, you! Tomorrow you'll make do!"
"Hoping that tomorrow we won't have to come in here again..."
Ichigo mumbled through clenched teeth. Kisshu swallowed a large mouthful of onigiri and looked a moment at Retasu, who was putting aside a bento for herself and picking up two others; on his lips he painted a malignant smile:
"How come you haven't found a boyfriend yet?"
"Eh?!"
"Kisshu, would you mind flirting with one girl at a time?"
Minto roared poisonous, but he ignored her:
"I was just asking," he started counting on your fingers, "She is sweet, awkward, clumsy, four-eyed and with huge boobs, how is it possible that she doesn't have a boyfriend yet?"
"Eh?!"
"That you don't have one, little crow, I understan –"
Both Ichigo and Minto hit him square in the forehead with the lids of the bento, shutting him up, and yelled together:
"You're an idiot!"
Retasu was still paralyzed by the subject, purple in the face, but she suddenly awoke to the loud tonk! of the plastic against Kisshu's head and, holding the other bento, ran out before the lunch break ended. In the room, Kisshu's subdued lament rose like a dirge, ignored by the two furious girls who ate in front of him.
"Look, I was just trying to give compliments… (ouch…)"
.
.
.
Retasu was stuck in front of the professors' room where she spotted Pai, alone, sitting at a desk with a bored air. The girl called herself stupid, she had not considered that fundamental point: how could she (officially a student) bring lunch to him (officially a professor)?! The end of the world would have ensued!
What do I do now?
Within seconds she pondered a brainy secrecy plan and hesitantly knocked on the door's glass, attracting Pai's attention; as soon as he turned around, she motioned him to come out; keeping up with that system of hiding and giving signals, she took him to shelter behind a couple of soft drink dispensers. When he reached her, he seemed really annoyed:
"What is it?"
Retasu barely jolted at his curt tone, but it was at least five minutes that they were playing hide and seek, and he had every reason to be aggravated. She quickly handed him the bento, feeling her heart beating fast and her hands sweating.
"I... I thought you... You, and Taruto-san and Kisshu wouldn't… wouldn't have any food, so…"
Why did she have to do that? Yes, maybe it was a little awkward, but it was just a kind gesture from her, and with Kisshu it hadn't been anything that complicated. Then why was it so difficult with Pai?
At that moment, so many doubts came to her mind that she almost withdrew the box: what if in fact he was not hungry? What if she had cooked things they wouldn't eat? Maybe it was better to just mind her own business...
She felt two fingers graze her as the bento was taken from her hands and she opened her eyes that she had tightened so well, barely catching Pai's half-smile and the slight thank you, before he headed back.
.
.
.
"What a bore!"
With a puff and another curse between his teeth not at all suited to his age, Taruto slouched down on the floor:
"How is it possible that we haven't found a damn thing yet?! Where's that damned drop?!"
Purin sat next to him, also tired:
"I'm sure it's here somewhere," she said firmly, "But this place is so big…!"
They both sighed.
"Ah," the boy said suddenly, "I haven't thanked you for lunch yet."
"Was it good?"
He gave her a sly smile:
"Acceptable..."
"Hey!"
"I'm kidding, it was yummy. You're good!"
She smiled smugly:
"I'm an expert, I've been cooking for me and my little siblings for years, packed lunches have no secrets anymore!"
"You cook? What about your father?"
He immediately regretted the question, remembering that she no longer had her mother and fearing what might have happened to her father, but Purin smiled candidly:
"He's always on the road for tournaments and training, he rarely comes home, so I take care of it."
"You? I'm sorry, does he leave you and your brother alone?"
"Plural," she corrected him, "I have four younger brothers and one little sister."
"What?! And your father always leaves you alone?!"
"He knows he can count on me."
Taruto's jaw opened so wide that it could have been proposed to the Guinness World Record.
"But he's a wretch!"
The blonde shrugs and smiled cheerfully; Taruto was speechless but, as she kept smiling, he looked down:
"He must have made you feel alone, right?"
Purin suddenly shut up.
Nobody. Nobody had ever asked her.
She looked at him as if she was seeing him for the first time and after the first few seconds of bewilderment, she smiled again, but sadder:
"Yes. A lot."
Taruto swore to himself that if he ever met the blonde's father, he would make him spend some quality time with one of his chimera animas.
"But I have my little siblings!" Purin said cheerfully, "You know, they help me so much... And I have the girls!"
She stretched and hugged him:
"And now I have Taru-Taru again! " she looked at him contentedly, ignoring his blushing, "I could never feel alone!"
Taruto reciprocated the smile:
"You're really incredible…"
"Is that a compliment?"
"I meant incredibly strange."
He corrected himself with a grumble. Purin ignored his protests and changed the subject:
"Hey, if you liked my bento, I'll do it tomorrow too!"
"... You don't have to, I'm going to ask for help at home and bring something..."
"But I was happy to do it," she smiled, "I've decided, I will prepare it for you tomorrow too!"
"Do you ever listen to others when they speak?" he sighed exasperatedly, "And then... I mean, it's embarrassing! You're not my girlfriend!"
The clarification seemed to hit the mark and Purin put her index finger to his cheek, weighing up the matter, and after a few moments she lit up:
"Well, if I become your girlfriend then can I do it? That's okay with me, I like Taru-Taru!"
Purin never believed she could see someone get redder than Ichigo.
With his new poppy-colored complexion, Taruto jumped to his feet and in a choked voice squealed:
"How can you say these thigs?! What's in your brain, swallows?!"
And he vanished at a martial pace in the hallway hoping that, moving away from Purin and her mental tangles, his heart would refrain from exploding.
.
.
.
When the bell rang, the whole gang gathered in a hidden corner of the courtyard: they all looked exhausted and distressed, with some showing also angry eyes.
Ryou, who spoke first, was at the top of the list:
"Can you tell me where Ichigo is?"
"She ran at the first buzz of the bell," Minto said with resignation, "She must have mumbled Masaya's name four or five times without answering me and ran out like a crazed person."
Ryou grunted annoyedly; Kisshu was also furious and was grumbling through his teeth all sorts of conceivable curses, from Masaya ending up squashed under a bus to all the globe's cloud assembling above his head in order to ruin that wonderful afternoon of sunshine. Possibly raining boulders.
"Forget it... So, there's still a few hours before the school closes and we can check among the students in the clubs and in their classrooms. We still need to decide who will take the night shift."
"Ah, yes, that too…" grunted Kisshu, "And how would you decide?"
"Old-fashioned way."
Ryou pulled from his pocket a band of wooden sticks, which he held from the bottom:
"Drawing straws. None of us want to have a sleepless night, so we're going to draw lots. Whoever takes the sticks with two red marks, is up."
"What are we, in kindergarten?"
Was Kisshu's poisonous comment.
"I would also go a little further back in time…"
"Do you have any other more democratic ideas, Pai?"
The blond retorted with all the sarcasm he was endowed with; the other did not answer, and Zakuro, close to him, reached out and grabbed a stick, being careful to keep the bottom hidden in her clenched fist:
"Rather… when did you make this?"
"I gave up the coffee break," Ryou said, and took a stick himself, "Lately I feel like I'm too cranky, I have to decrease my caffeine intake."
Everyone else grabbed a twig and held it tight. Purin, who adored those (stupid) things, looked around with a connivant air:
"On three? One, two..."
When Kisshu looked in the palm of his hand, he held back a profanity, but he couldn't do the same with the groan that lifted from his core, seeing who had the other stick with the two red marks:
"Well," he hissed, "With this, my day is missing only an attack of grasshoppers or a chasm of lava that swallows me..."
Minto's voice, who tossed her marked stick into the nearest bin, seemed to want to massacre him:
"Yes, what a pity, isn't it? Instead of a cat, you'll have to do night searches with a bird."
.
.
.
The afternoon passed slowly, in heavy, sleepy hours accompanied by the chirping of birds and the flock of a warm breeze.
Pai had gone on a nervous walk through the courtyard of the institute, unable to stay a minute longer between those four walls. And to say that he had never had any problems with the enclosed spaces, he spent more than half his days there.
He was aware that the problem was not staying indoors, but that nerve-wracking search; at least, in those fruitless hours he had perhaps found a trail. Some professors were concerned about an unusual agitation among first-year students, something that had to do with desires and angels... Mysterious things and seemingly inexplicable phenomena anyway, all things that could somehow relate to the crystal. He had failed to understand very well, there were gaps in his knowledge of humans, but anyways they were collaborating with earthlings that could have given him some explanations; having clarified his doubts, he would have nothing left to do but assess with MoiMoi the potential of the Mew Aqua drop based on that information and, perhaps, they would be able to find that blessed fragment by the next day.
He found himself in front of the athletics field, surrounded by a high steel net and by small flowerbeds of green grass neatly studded with trees and benches. On one of the benches, just behind the curve of the 200-meter track, he identified a familiar silhouette topped with a curious mane of green hair, concentrated in a reading that was apparently to engaging for distracting her from it.
A vein darted on Pai's forehead, was that how she looked for that blessed crystal?
He took a deep breath to curb the urge to run her and threateningly scowl at her, it was Retasu, not Kisshu or Taruto: to pounce on her in that way would have been exaggerated and, by the way, he had the impression it was an attitude that sent her panicking a bit.
He sped up and went behind the flowerbeds to approach calmly, but Retasu looked so absorbed that she probably wouldn't have noticed him even if he had fallen into her arms. She had an expression that Pai had never seen her do, quiet and relaxed, with a slight satisfied smile; he had usually seen her make – better, attempt to make – combative faces, of doubt, of confusion, of fear, but never one like that.
He wondered why he was so surprised, if they were now on the same side it could be normal.
I still think she's relaxing too much...
He came a little closer and then stopped again. Two boys, with a fairly adult air, perhaps in their third year, had approached not too far from him and were looking at the girl, confabulating.
"So is that her?"
"Yes, I'd recognize her in a thousand, with that hair. She's spent all morning in the library buzzing through the shelves and reading, I remember her well."
The vein on Pai's forehead pulsated again, so she was a repeated offender in terms of laziness!
Has anyone here taken seriously the task of looking for the Mew Aqua?!
"But you're right, she's really pretty!"
"Yes... You like girls with glasses, don't you? Maniac..."
"Yeah, as if you didn't think about them!"
"Who cares, she's still pretty. Even though she looks a little dumb..."
"Yes, today she stumbled twice, she got close to crashing to the ground."
A general snickering:
"Did you at least see her underwear?"
"Who do you take me for?! I'm a gentleman!"
"Yeah, sure!"
"Anyway, what if she's a bit pretentious…?"
"Nah! I think she's one of those ones that with just one kind word, they'd do anything."
"So, what do you say?"
"Let's try and talk to her, come on..."
"And what the hell would you be doing back here?"
Pai's peremptory voice even caused Retasu to jump, as well as the two third-year students who turned to look at him in terror: after all, he, within one morning, had made a name for himself as an ogre professor among more than half of the students.
"P-p-professor Ikis..."
"If you have nothing better to do," the calm tone was so menacing that it seemed to erase the warmth of the sun, "Don't stand here and gossip. Go!"
With a squeal the two ran for the hills instantly and Pai, grunting, strode to Retasu's bench; she meanwhile had snapped the book close and had taken to look at him alarmed, she did not understand what was wrong with him, but his look was frightening.
"Ehm... What did I do?"
The question came natural to her given his face.
"Nothing," he said, "I hate idiots."
She looked at him confused, but he did not explain: it was not very clear even to him, but the comments of those two brats had gotten on his nerves. He took two breaths and calmed down a little, turning back to her with a stern but calm air:
"No, wait, there's one thing. Can you tell me what you're doing?"
Retasu jolted guilty, hiding the book behind her back:
"I-I... I was just... Here...," she snapped her fingers, "Reflecting! Yes, a moment of pause and reflection!"
He looked at her, barely raising an eyebrow:
"It's the most blatant lie I've ever heard."
She blushed uneasily:
"I found a beautiful book," she admitted, bowing her head, "And I couldn't resist..."
"Didn't you read enough this morning in the library?"
He did not say it with malice, but there was a hint of reproach that made Retasu blush further:
"I haven't read all morning!" she protested, "I inspected! Then yes, I lingered in the library, but I didn't waste my time reading!"
He studied her inexpressively.
"I know full well that we have an important mission!" she insisted "I just... took a break, that's it."
The face she made, all red, wrinkled and serious in trying to convince him, swept away any discontent on the part of Pai, who smiled up his sleeve:
"Okay, okay I get it."
He very lightly tapped her head with the attendance register, making her let out a small yelp.
"Nice cry."
She was shocked. Maybe she was wrong, but she was pretty sure he was teasing her.
"It's just that... You scared me."
She thought he was softly laughing, and it made her laugh too.
"Enough is enough, though," he continued flatter, "Come on, go back searching, we have a short time before they close the campus."
She nodded without replying, touching her head with her heart beating loudly.
.
.
.
By then it was getting dark and the sun had almost completely lowered over the horizon, casting long shadows over the whole city. Sitting in the park – their park – on the usual bench – their bench – Ichigo was blissfully with her head resting on Masaya's shoulder, while he stroked her hair and reflected a moment on the very long, twisted tale of his girlfriend.
"So," he said after a few minutes of silence, "I would say that you are once again in the midst of problems."
"Yes." the mewneko muttered, "And so the time we can spend together will be halved...!"
She cried, but Masaya looked at her worried:
"What I am truly sorry about," he whispered, staring the light hazel eyes in the chocolate ones of hers, "Is that I am no longer able to protect you."
Ichigo melted into the sweetest of her smiles, embracing him.
Yes. Nothing and no one could compete with that joy, with the happiness that Masaya's love and sweetness gave her.
"Don't worry," she comforted him, "I'll be careful."
He smiled at her and stroked her cheek softly.
"And... With that guy, Kisshu?"
Bad question.
Ichigo stiffened like a cod:
"What do you mean?"
He looked at her eloquently, he had not forgotten that the alien had demonstrated over and over again even in his presence a – could they call it that? – "excessive attachment" to Ichigo.
"Is it all right?"
"Of course!" she answered in a voice that was perhaps too high-pitched, "What could have happened? And by the way, if he had any strange intentions, I'd kick him, don't worry!"
She laughed, a little too loud, but it seemed enough for Masaya and smiling he said ok. Ichigo was a little disappointed.
That there was his whole reaction?
Well, after all, I told him everything's fine.
It occurred to her how Ryou had resisted the beginning of that coalition and dismissed the thought forcefully: Ryou hadn't done so because he cared about her, but because he hated the aliens.
Masaya, on the other hand, feared for her safety, but believed her words were completely – or almost entirely – true; therefore, he had no reason to fret too much.
That's it.
She smiled at him and came closer to him, who held her waist and pulled her to him by kissing her softly. Ichigo was instantly lost in that contact, leaning against the boy's chest, her head empty; when she felt that she had just parted her lips, she felt ready to faint from the emotion, she felt the thin trickle of his breath intertwining with hers…
Masaya slowly moved away, smiling at her, and placed a light kiss on her cheek while she was still trying to understand what had happened.
"I love you, my beautiful kitten," he whispered, playing with the bell around her neck, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but we have to go back, don't you think?"
She, fuzzy-headed, looked at him and the sun setting completely, and nodded sadly.
"You know I'd stay here with you forever, but I'd like to avoid your father smashing my head with the bamboo sword," he chuckled, "And above all, that you are reprimanded because of me."
Ichigo nodded with an inebriated smile on her face, she felt as if her chest was about to overflow with contentment.
Never, never, ever could she have found a better Prince Charming than him.
She kept repeating it gloatingly to herself as they left the park holding hands, as he accompanied her home, while he stole another light kiss on the threshold; as she dined with a dreamy air, as she changed and went to sleep.
Everywhere, in order to stifle that selfish inner scream that asked – rather, demanded to know – why for the umpteenth time that kiss that could become something more, had actually not.
.
.
.
Minto wrapped the sweater more tightly around herself and rubbed her hands along her arms, covered only by the shirt. For hours now she and Kisshu had scoured every area of the school that was difficult to access during the day: the auditorium, the research labs on the first floor, almost all the facilities where sports clubs kept their equipment. Unfortunately, nothing had come of the investigation, up to that point.
"And now," she said discourage, "Only the pool's left."
The complex had a huge Olympic swimming pool, which in a few weeks would be divided between all the elementary, middle and high school classes, resulting in great confusion; for that reason, for a few days professors and attendants had been filling the pool and had started checking everything, from filtering systems to the state of preservation of the tiles, and the pool was again accessible.
Minto and Kisshu walked around for a while, without crossing over the fence, seeing nothing but the shimmer of the moon over the calm water. Kisshu snorted exasperatedly:
"Listen, little bird, we've been wandering like tormented souls for hours. I'm dead tired, how about we all leave and go home?"
"No," she replied sternly, "We have to properly check it."
Kisshu melodramatically let his arms fall to his sides and sighed, rolling his eyes to the sky, as he watched the brunette sneak over the fence and climb over it.
"Do I have to admire your underwear, while you climb?"
"No one asked you to look under my skirt."
"A little complicated," he joked, teleporting in, "If you're squirming your legs that way."
She stared at him, resentful; she hadn't thought of asking him to teleport with her, she would have spared herself the trouble. And the gaffe. Instead of being embarrassed, she stared even more annoyed at the boy and jumped to the other side with great agility, ignoring him.
"Skills of a patented thief," Kisshu laughed, "My congratulations."
She stared at him darkly:
"I'm not the one who wanted to steal from the cafeteria because they were hungry, at lunch."
He answered with a grunt. Minto began to comb the entire perimeter of the pool, snooping under the canopy where students usually waited before entering, in the changing rooms, in the tool shed.
Nothing. Naught. Nada. Total void. Absolute zero.
"But are we sure the little monkey wasn't wrong?"
"Absolutely not," she replied convinced, "It's hard to feel it, but when it happens, we're always sure we've found the crystal."
Kisshu crossed his arms behind his head and gave no answer. Minto sighed; indeed, that fruitless search was frustrating, okay that that school was immense... But that much? She looked up demoralized, from there almost the entire profile of the school building was visible, including that slight glow above the middle school.
Glow...?
"Kisshu, look there!"
"Uh?"
She grabbed his arm and pointed up; he squinted to see better and caught something.
"Did you see that?"
"Yes... What the hell is that?"
"It doesn't look like a reflection to me," the mewbird thought aloud, "Could it be the – "
There was a sudden flash from the roof and with a squeal Minto stepped back, slipping on the damp edge of the pool.
She had escaped a dip just a few days earlier, surely karma wanted to rebalance things.
That Kisshu was also included, whose arm the brunette was still firmly clutching, wasn't certain, but anyways he too ended up straight in the water with a dull thud.
Although the day had been hot, it had not been enough to warm up the pool and Minto felt the cold swallowing her; her clothes, especially the nice black sweater, got soaked, immediately dragging her down, down, down in the dark, and even though she was good at swimming they wouldn't let her go back up. Stiffened, trying to push away the fear with all the strength she had in her soul, she took off her sweater and shoes with effort and tried to return back up, giving two strong strokes, but the surface remained far away; a pang of panic, another stroke and a pale hand closed around her thin wrist, pulling her out with a tug. Minto returned to the surface with a mighty breath, starting them to cough up chlorine on the white tiles.
"You and the water have a bad relationship, huh?" Kisshu teased her, badly sitting a meter away from her, "And this is the second time I've saved your skin, now."
Kisshu had to thank that Minto was too breathless and too alerted to the fact that she actually owed him a huge favor, because otherwise she would have told him off. She sat up straighter, gradually resuming clarity:
"Yes," she sighed, Thank you."
She took another breath and pushed away the hair that was glued to her face, having slipped out of the undone chignon, only noticing after a while that Kisshu was looking at her differently:
"What's wrong? Do I have something on my face?"
"…You just fell completely dressed into a pool, and you worry about your face?" he had a strange tone, "It's the blouse you should worry about..."
She confusedly checked herself and blushed all at once. With all that commotion, she hadn't thought of that terrible union.
A white blouse and an unscheduled bath; with lace underwear.
She squeezed her arms against her chest, but realized that every inch of skin covered by the fabric, wet and sensually tight, had become potentially very dangerous.
"W-what are you starting at?" she blurted almost hysterically, "Look away! Right now!"
But he did not look a millimeter away. Minto saw him take off his jacket and huddled up a little more, becoming confused when he put it on her shoulders.
"I haven't been in withdrawal for so long that I'd jump on you for so little," he said naughtily, "But better to hide that little body, what do you say?"
She sent him an offended glance, bundling up in the soaked blazer, it was amazing how he always found a way to mock her.
"You know, I could change my mind…"
"Idiot!"
Exactly.
She watched him get up as he laughed and felt for a moment her anger calming down; perhaps Kisshu said too many and mean things, but she had to admit that he also knew how to make gentle gestures: the air was quite chilly and he couldn't have been much warmer than her, with only his soggy shirt on him.
It was at that thought that Minto realized she was blushing for the second time.
That shirt was sticking too tightly and was perfectly marking his well-defined chest; his green hair, which looked black when wet, had clung to his pale neck and the bangs were dripping, behind which golden eyes seemed to tremble in contrast to those dark colors.
Minto quickly bowed her head and bit her tongue, had she by chance become dumb? As if she had never seen a guy just come out of the water.
Yes, but the situation usually implied it, it wasn't by accident.
And usually guys weren't aliens, or even just vaguely resembling Kisshu.
With yet another head jolt, Minto buttoned the blazer, which was basically a dress on her, and got up; it appeared that Kisshu hadn't noticed anything, and absentmindedly squeezing a sopping sleeve, he asked her:
"What was that thing?"
"I d-don't know," she said, her voice as firmly as she could, "Maybe it's better check it out."
He nodded. Minto took the purse she had left behind after climbing over the fence and Kisshu touched the arm she was handing him, teleporting with the mewbird to the roof; unfortunately, they saw nothing important: only the bare roof of the school and, for a moment, an indefinite shadow that closed the door to the lower floor.
"Did I dream that?"
Kisshu shook his head; after all, he saw as well at night as in the daytime:
"There was someone, certainly a human being." he preceded her, reassuring her, "Strange, however, I didn't hear anyone come in."
"It must have happened when we fell into the water..."
Kisshu rubbed his neck, exhaustedly sighing:
"Listen, little bird, at this point I would say that we looked everywhere, but if there was actually anything here (and I can be a finger there was), for the moment, it vanished; I don't know if it's something that pops up or happens only at night... What I do know is that I'm drenched and dead tired, how about we raise the white flag and talk about it tomorrow with the others?"
Minto agreed weakly:
"Yes, you're right," she rummaged distractedly through her bag looking for her cell phone, it showed a quarter to four in the morning, "I wouldn't mind sleeping at least three or four hours."
He took her arm again and teleported away. They appeared in front of the Aizawa mansion, exactly on the brunette's balcony, and she, surprised, looked at the boy:
"You got the right room?"
"Seriously? " he was astonished, "I only remembered where your house was, here I guessed."
"Ah, yes... That time you kindly interrupted that party in my garden, almost offing Saionji-san out."
Kisshu made a strange grimace:
"Never remember a value of mine, all of you ladies are so prejudiced towards me!"
She sighed exasperatedly, but did not hide a smile.
"Ah, I have to give you your jacket back..."
She glowered at him and he turned with a dramatic attitude:
"I won't look, I won't look!"
More convinced, but always uncomfortable, she turned her back to him and slowly took off the blazer, which was not at all simple given that, it being so drenched, it was quite heavy and it stopped at every turn; when she finally managed to accomplish the titanic feat she passed, always with her back turned, the jacket to the boy, who took it lost in thought.
"Ah, speaking of..."
As promised, he didn't turn around, but for Minto's likings he still came too close when she felt him press his shoulder on her scapula:
"Before bugging me for how I behave..." he whispered to her in a low voice, "You'd better avoid looking at me as if you wanted to eat me, you know?"
She turned at once, angry and red-faced for the embarrassment, only managing to see hi satisfied grin: from the face that Minto had made, Kisshu felt more than repaid for the funny note from that morning.
Minto staid still for a few seconds and then, livid, opened the window so hard that she scared to death the little Miky, who sent a dry bark.
"Miky, please stop!"
She blurted out and the Pomeranian curled up in an angry bark, his owner never treated him so sharply. In that moment, however, Minto felt so humiliated and furious that if it hadn't been the middle of the night – and if such a gesture wouldn't have called a hundred servants and maids to her room – she would have screamed with full lungs all the expletives she knew. She began to take off her soggy uniform, abandoning it around the room, and went to her gigantic walk-in closet, pulled open a drawer and, still twitching with anger, grabbed a very soft, sweet-scented blue shower towel, rubbing her head in a frenzy without even bothering to undo the chignon.
"That... Ugly...! Annoying! Lewd...! Piece of...! »
She ended up making her head like a hedgehog just in order to vent; once calmer, she took off the dripping underwear that fell with small deaf thuds on the polished floor, then wrapped the towel around her and huddled up on the bed, warming up her icy skin. She remained still for a while to calm down completely and began to caress her little dog's face, who was leaning towards her with his paws resting on the mattress, and after a few minutes she took him in her arms for a cuddle.
She was furious with herself: she had looked foolish and had not even been able to defend herself, it had been too clear to deny it.
All just because that unbearable Kisshu was minimally attractive and she was a girl?! It had to happen just for an unnecessary human biological predisposition?!
No.
She may not have been as immune to her natural impulses as she had hoped, but she certainly wouldn't get involved in such vulgar things; she had to maintain her status and rise up as compared to the masses.
She was not a person of such low instincts. She was an individual superior to such lowliness.
But that didn't mean she wouldn't make that gossipmonger pay for his desire to be so witty.