People says that time can heal all wounds.
However, if there are certain scars and pain in the past,
Deeper than hatred and despair,
Can they ever heal?
Ghosts of the past'
"Promise me, stay by my side and watch me.. ok?"
"Kantarou!"
"Help me and don't let go.."
"Kan-chan"
"Kan-chan"
"KAN-CHAN!" the fox yokai cried to her master who was in a daze. It was 2 in the morning and he still had not finished his next article for Reiko, again.
"Er.. oh sorry youko.. Anything the matter?" Kantarou asked the tired looking youkai.
"No, its just that Reiko is here.."
"Crap.. I still haven't finished the article yet! She's gonna kill me!"
"But Kan-chan, someone is with Reiko.." she replied in a calm tone.
"Huh?" Kantarou stood up and looked at the time on his clock. "At this hour?"
Both of them then went downstairs to see who it was without awakening Haruka.
"Konichiwa sensei, sorry to bother you but.. this lady here wants to see you and it seems kinda urgent.." Reiko spoke in a quiet voice to avoid waking 'her' dear Haruka.
"It has been awhile.. Kantarou.."
Kantarou couldn't believe his eyes. A lady wearing a maroon coloured kimono he knew to be his childhood friend was just sitting before him.
"…Rei…"
Both of them stared at each other for a long time and no one spoke as they stood in silence.
The ghosts of Kantarou's past had returned..
"So that woman called Rei came in the middle of the night looking for Kantarou and he knows her as well?" Haruka asked during breakfast.
"Yeah and.." Youko paused to see if the coast was clear before saying again in an inaudible tone, Kan-chan has not been himself ever since…"
"Huh?" Haruka raised an eyebrow. Just as he was about to leave to take a look at how his master was doing, Reiko appeared from the hallway.
"Oh! Good, the both of you are here. Just to let you know, umm, Ichinomiya sensei will go to the editing office to pass the articles to me, since he is not done with them now. Make sure that he comes. Try to come too Haruka!" she added with glimmering eyes. Haruka sweat-dropped. "Anyway, I have to make a move for now! Bye!"
"Take care along the way!" Youko called after Reiko left while Haruka went to see how 'bad' Kantarou was according to Youko.
He finally found the man talking to Rei in a guest room on the second floor. He only heard muffled words until Rei said, "You still have not forgotten that painful parting?" leaving Kantarou speechless. A while later, he also heard, "Kantarou,can you please ask that tengu outside to come in."
"Damn.. she actually.. Eh? How did she know I was here? Am I that obvious?" Haruka scolded himself before stepping in. Just as soon as Haruka sat down between them, Kantarou stood up and opened the sliding doors.
"I'm.. going to hand my article to Reiko now. You can tell him if you want." with that, he left the room with those two alone.
"Why?" Kantarou asked himself repeatedly as he walked along the hallway as memories of that time came back to him like a whirlpool in his head.
He dug his nails into his palm, drawing blood from it.
"…Reiya…"
