Author's Note: Holy heck, this was a hard one. I got halfway through the chapter before scrapping the whole thing.
Apologies for the delay! Here's chapter thirteen. I hope you enjoy!
Mizore saw two empty seats and knew what Ikko had done. She checked Black as the students filed in, finding him quiet, pointing in the direction of the dorms. Eyes rolled. She launched from her seat and perched on the desk, smiling at her class. Some words about their assignments and a half-hearted excuse about catching up later, and she was clear to dip into her office and yank her phone out of her pocket.
Ruby answered almost immediately. "Aren't you in class?"
"Yeah, yeah, I know. You seen Ikko?"
"Not since this morning. Why?"
Mizore huffed. "He's gone off to see Tayama."
"She's not in?"
"No, she's – I think they had a falling out. She's playing hooky, and now he's off to fix things. I guess."
"You guess?"
"He talked to me about it this morning. Can you go… y'know, check on him?"
"Is Black making noise?"
"No, he's-"
"Then why are you worried?"
"He's breaking the rules?"
"Sure, but…" Ruby trailed into a thrum. "That's no reason to call. We broke the rules all the time."
"We can't excuse him for that!" She laughed, deepening Mizore's frown.
"Relax. You can chastise him later. This is good."
"How? How is truancy good?"
"He's reaching out to his friends." Ruby offered. "He's decided that they're worth fighting for, and he needs that."
Her eyes rolled. "Don't be that way," said her friend, reading the silence, "Let him learn."
"Can't you go make sure?"
"No, I can't. Yukari's gearing up for a trip with one of our Notables. It's her turn to cover the rota, so I'm picking up the slack."
Mizore frowned. She looked back into her class, seeing the beginnings of distraction take root. "Please?"
"Mizore-"
"Come ooon. For my sake."
She huffed. "If he's not back by the end of class, drop me a text – not a moment sooner. You're supposed to be teaching!"
"Thank you, Ruby."
"Go on – get back to it."
She did, and as the lesson proceeded apace and the students broke from distraction to handle their work, tedium began to convince her of Ruby's words. Perhaps it would be for the best that Ikko shirked class to tend his relationships. Surviving Yokai alone would be tough even for the regular students. Getting Kia back to class, too, showed at least some responsibility.
Mizore smiled, sucking thoughtfully on her lollipop. Tsukune had done much the same, once upon a time. She was young again, a first-year locked in her apartment, with the hapless human banging on her door, begging to clear the air.
"Miss?"
"Hm? Sorry, what's up?" Mizore bounced from the desk, moving over to the student that shattered her reverie. She finally conceded Ruby's argument. She could chastise him later.
Class ended, and break began. Mizore waved her students off, turning to the textbook on her desk. Her own studies loomed, dark smog between the bright spots of boring lessons. She could teach just fine – earning the peace of paper that allowed her to do such, however, proved an altogether more daunting beast.
She slumped into her chair, half-heartedly turning the page, and began to submerse herself in policies and regulations when a flash of red caught her eye. She looked to the door, recognising the waves of flame flowing over the student's shoulders. "It's Yanase, isn't it?"
"Oh!" Etsuko exclaimed, stepping properly into the class. "Sorry, Miss. Didn't see you there."
"What's up?" She pushed her textbook away, deciding that yes, indeed, it was a terrible shame to surrender her revision. Absolutely.
Etsuko looked around, frowning minutely. "You haven't seen Ikko, have you? Akada? He's in this class, right?"
Mizore arched a brow, head tilting. "He's not here."
"Oh." Etsuko leaned back on her heel, towards the door. "That's okay, I'll go find him."
"Yanase." She spoke up. Etsuko rolled back, wobbling on her feet. "Ikko never showed for class. How do you know where he is?"
"Er-" Caught. Her smile turned sheepish. "W-well if he's not here, he must be in his dorm, right? So…"
"So you can't go find him." Mizore abandoned her desk, approaching the fire-headed second-year. "You know the rules. Why don't you tell me what's going on?"
"I-" Etsuko looked around, scouting the corridor. "I don't think that's-"
"Yanase," Mizore steadied her tone, straightened her shoulders. She removed the lollipop. "Tell me what's going on."
Etsuko slumped, shuffling towards the nearest desk. Mizore closed the door behind her. She relayed the same story she'd heard from Ikko that morning; nothing new. "I pushed him to go see her. It's important, y'know? Kia's not answering her phone, and she sounded pretty torn up when I called her this morning."
"You pushed him?"
"Yeah – it's my fault. Please don't be mad at Ikko." Etsuko wrung her hands, insistent.
"That depends entirely on how long he takes to get back." Mizore explained, pushing her hair back. She replaced the lollipop. "That's all he said to you?"
"All of it. I've never seen him shut down like that. Or pissed."
"Language."
"Sorry. Angry."
"Why angry?"
"Yakumaru showed up – Kia's ex. He said some stuff, and I guess Ikko couldn't deal with it."
She sighed through her nose. "Right. Okay. Thank you, Yanase. I'll take it from here."
"What're you going to do?"
"Nothing. Yet. I still have classes – as do you." Mizore replaced her lollipop, furrowing her brow. The cold seeped into her, sharpening disparate thoughts into clear lines. "Odds are I'll not see him until the end of the day. I'll see what he has to say first."
"Okay. Okay…" Etsuko placed a hand on her chest, exhaling gently. "It's no big deal, right? It's just one missed class."
"That depends entirely on him – and Kia."
"How so?" Mizore shot Etsuko a simple look. "Oh. Yeah. Okay."
"You go on – I'll deal with this."
"Yes, miss." Etsuko turned for the door, and Mizore turned away from her, only to spin back when she started speaking to another. "You! What're you doing here?"
A tall, fair, blond youth leaned on the doorframe. "Forgive me – I was on my way to my next class. I couldn't help but overhear."
Etsuko leapt onto the ball of her back foot, away from the frowning Masumi. He pushed into the classroom. "What did you hear?" asked Mizore, arms folding.
"Akada didn't show for class," said he, brushing his fringe to one side, "And… Kia hasn't shown up today, either."
"You know something?"
"I hope not," Masumi folded his arms, avoiding Etsuko's accusing glare, "I fear something – and I wish, for his sake as much as ours, that it isn't true."
"What are you going on about?" Etsuko spat, "You threatened him not even twenty minutes ago!"
"I warned him!" Masumi snapped, arms folding tighter. He closed his eyes, scrunched them, forced his tone into something more level. "I warned him. It's not my fault he's wrapped around her finger."
"He's-!" Etsuko began, only to stumble over her careless protest.
Mizore raised a hand. "Enough- Masumi, was it?"
"Masumi Yakumaru, Miss. I'm in 2-A."
"Yakumaru. What are you worried about?"
Masumi shot her a quizzical look. His frown slipped down his face. "Kia – Tayama – she's in your class. I thought… don't they tell all the teachers?"
"Tell them what?"
His eyes flicked between her and Etsuko. "What, Yakumaru?" she pressed, words quickening.
"Sorry, it's – I'm not really supposed to know, and Yanase…"
"Cut to the chase – tell me, Yakumaru. What?"
Masumi's eyes dipped. For once, his confidence shrank, and his arms folded. He sighed heavily through his next words. "Kia's on the Notables list."
Mizore's breath stopped short. Etsuko's head tipped to one side. "What's that?"
She already reached for her phone, dialling for Ruby. "Miss?" Etsuko breathed. "Yakumaru, what's that? What are you talking about?"
"It's…" Masumi lowered his voice. Mizore started pacing. "It's what Yokai calls students with… requirements."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Ruby- hi, yeah, me. Actual emergency…" Mizore disappeared into her office.
Masumi folded his arms, eyes closing, head hanging. Etsuko balled her fists. "Yakumaru…"
"It means," he interrupted, "More often than not, it means conditions or habits that make them a threat to other monsters. Like… dietary requirements."
"Dietary… you don't think-"
"I don't think," Masumi shook his head, "I fear."
A great weight crushed Ikko's chest. It took all his strength to draw even a single breath, to rip cold, sharp blades of air into leaden lungs and rasp his way into consciousness. Doing so spread the weight, but did not lessen it. It laid over his eyes, pinned his arms. He dared not exhale, fearing that releasing the breath might crush him for good.
Noise buzzed in his ear, his world shook, but far away – like a fly in the corner of a room, like the vibration of his phone on the corner of his desk. As the only sensations he could feel, besides the weight, he tried his best to focus on them. Had he overslept? Was it his alarm?
His mind swam. No – it drowned. Where was he? What happened?
The noise droned again, louder now. It sounded like a word. A name. He reached out for it, dragged his arm into aching, straining movement. His palm warmed. Something soft and burning to the touch, like a coal made of plush toys.
Again, his world shook. This time it brought pressure to his hand. "Ikko, wake up – wake up wake up, please… please, Ikko…"
Why did he have to wake up? It seemed so insurmountable a task; to even open his eyes asked for more strength than he could muster in five lives. The voice seemed to insist, and he only writhed in response, trying feebly to squirm under the weight. Doing so brought more aches, his body remembering every time it had ever been tired and compounding those memories in every fibre, every sinew. He groaned. "Ikko! Ikko, come on – wake up, you gotta… you gotta wake up. Now. Listen to me…!"
The words took shape, gained definition, sounded less and less like static with every laboured breath. His muddled mind recognised her, eventually. Recognised Kia. Recognised the desperation lacing her voice. He'd heard it before. Where had he…?
Ikko's eyes opened to dark. She loomed over him, eyes as deep and empty as every bottomless well he'd resisted the morbid urge to stare down. "Ikko!"
His groan came with more coherence this time, as he blinked blearily into the waking world. "Time is it…?"
"Oh, thank god…" She slumped, arms failing. He realised it was her weight – her head crushing his chest, staining his shirt with tears and frantic, choking sobs. "I'm sorry…!
"What for?" He croaked. He felt rough, like every inch of his insides had been torn out, dragged through sand, then shoved back into him. "Where am I?"
"We're in my room. Ikko, I'm sorry – you came in, and – and I tried to stop myself, but I… I…" Her next words cracked over the aching sob that shattered her calm. She slumped again, leaning on his chest.
"Your room? Why are we-" He couldn't make sense of it, couldn't wrap his head around it. "Etsuko told me to come see you."
Kia didn't help, staining his shirt with what remained of her makeup. Ikko took a breath, cutting his words off. He lay back, finding a pillow underneath his head. "What happened?"
"You don't," she stumbled over a sniff, "You don't remember?"
"N-no. I remember last night." The memory of the cold shock that woke him stirred, unbidden. "And this morning, you never showed for class. Etsuko told me to come find you, so I snuck out over break…"
His memories slammed into that cold shock again. Naught but black remained beyond it. "I don't remember…"
A phone buzzed. Her phone. Kia didn't check it, instead wiping her sunken eyes and attempting to take a breath between hiccups. "It's hard to explain, but… Ikko, I tried to get you to leave. You have to know that – you have to understand, I never meant to-"
"Meant to what?" Ikko sat, propping himself up on his elbows. "Kia, what did you do?"
"How are you feeling?"
"Feeling? What's that got to do with it?"
"Answer the question, Ikko. It'll make sense – how're you feeling?"
He stared at her, bewildered. In the dark, he found only her once-sunny flesh now pale, veiny, sickly grey like someone mixed pitch into her blood, and her eyes. Deep, dark, quivering eyes, the same eyes that once threatened to gorge on his innards and end his horrific first day. "How're you feeling?" She repeated.
"Kinda sick-"
"No, that's your body. That's nausea. Focus on your feelings."
"Kia, what are you-"
"Answer me, Ikko! What are you feeling?"
"Nothing!" He yelled, ripping back the curtain of crawling sickness and churning bowels. A hollowness rested at the seat of him. He looked down, away, brow arching. "I don't feel… anything?"
Kia hung her head. "You should be terrified. That's the natural response – the human response – to a form like mine."
"I don't…" Ikko placed a hand on his chest, feeling for a heartbeat. He found it. "Kia, what happened? What did you do?"
"I told you." She lifted her gaze again, hiding behind a shattered smile. "I'm a wraith. Only part, sure, but it's a pretty big part. Big enough to… inherit the worst of it."
"What?"
"I'm getting there! It's… I can't really explain it." His frustration carried some reassurance for the girl, who moved to sit at his side on the bed. Ikko watched her, waiting. "Wraiths are… they don't feel, like humans do. Like monsters do. I-I mean they can, but it's like… fuel? Once they run out, they have to – to replenish it."
"Replenish?" Ikko tilted his head, running a hand through his hair. Cold sweat dewed his palm. He remembered Mizore's lessons. "You mean... you don't mean replenish. You mean feed, don't you? That's how – so you just-"
"I didn't mean to!" Kia shouted over him. "Ikko, you have to believe me. I've been keeping it in check all month, but- but the breakup, and now you…!"
"You fed on me?"
Her gaze fled from his. Kia shrank. "I didn't mean to," she whimpered, "I didn't…!"
"So when you asked what I felt, you were checking – you checked if you hadn't sucked me dry!"
"I thought I'd killed you!" Kia's voice broke, "I've never fed like this, I didn't – I didn't know what I was doing until after I was done! Ikko, you have to believe me…"
Her phone buzzed again, the constant pattern of a call. "Who is it?" Ikko whispered, eyes wild, unblinking. Kia dragged herself across to her desk.
"Etsuko." She didn't pick the phone up, didn't answer. The vibrating pulled the phone across the desk, millimetre by millimetre. Ikko watched her, his friend – shoulders slumped, still rocked by ghosts of her sobs, her pleas. The hollowness of his chest warmed.
"You swear you didn't mean it?" He asked, lifting from the bed. Knees wobbled underneath him, forcing him to clutch to the desk.
"I didn't!" Kia cried, matching his gaze. "I never meant to hurt you. Never, not once – I swear…"
His addled thoughts began to crystallise. If Etsuko called Kia, then… did she know he was here? "How long has it been since I got here?"
"Huh? About… you were out for – I think it was about an hour."
"Break's over. I missed class." Ikko exhaled, puffing his cheeks out. The call rang out – only to start again. "Let me answer it."
"Why? No! Ikko, you can't-"
"It's Etsuko, isn't it?"
"Yes, but-"
"Let me answer it," He coughed, reaching for the phone. Kia snatched it away. "Kia!"
"If she finds out- Ikko, there are laws about this! Not rules – not detention – I mean laws."
"She won't!" He replied, trying to catch his breath. "She won't. She just needs to know I'm okay, right? If I answer, then…"
Kia held the phone out at arm's length. Ikko reached out for it, slumping against the desk. "I'm trusting you, Kia. You didn't do anything wrong – you didn't mean to. Trust me. Let me help, for once… for once…!"
"How is this going to help!?"
"Trust me, Kia!" Ikko swiped, feebly, fingers grasping. Kia beheld him, panting, crumpled against the desk. She helped him into the seat before his legs surrendered the rest of his shaky upright stand. "Trust me…"
"I do." Kia whispered. "I do. I trust you."
Ikko held his hand out. She pressed the phone into his palm. Etsuko called for the third time. He swiped to answer.
"Kia! Kia, it's Etsuko."
"Not Kia." Ikko cleared his throat, strangling the enervation. "Not Kia. It's me."
"Ikko?"
"What's up?"
"Ikko! Where's Kia? Are you okay?"
"She's here – I'm fine." He forced a smile, that it might bleed into his words. Kia hung onto every syllable, breath held. "Why? What's wrong?"
"Hang on – Miss! Miss Shirayuki, it's Ikko!"
His heart sank. Uh-oh. Etsuko spoke to him before he could collect himself. "Why are you answering Kia's phone?"
"She's, uh-" He looked around the dark, messy room. Laptop, books, empty glass, toilet… "She's in the bathroom."
"Oh." She eased her frantic tone, the microphone struggling to contain the volume of the breath Etsuko released. "I see. And you're okay?"
"Yes!" He threw in a small chuckle. "Why wouldn't I be? What's going on?"
"Nothing! Nothing. You were taking so long, I thought-"
"I'm fine." Ikko coughed, pulling the phone away. "We just got a little… caught up."
"You what?"
"It doesn't matter – look, I'm fine. I'm coming back to class." Kia's eyes widened. "I'll see you when I get there?"
"Okay… Well, maybe. Miss Shirayuki looks pi- angry. Annoyed."
"She does?" Ikko gulped. " 'Course she does. Alright, well-"
"Oh, and someone's on her way over to see Kia. Ruby, was it? She's staff."
Now Ikko met Kia's eyes, and shared the rising panic. "S-sure! I'll let her know."
Ending the call, Ikko let the phone drop back onto the desk and slumped back into his seat. "Ruby's on her way."
"Okay." Kia nodded, shoulders dropping. They soon snapped back. "No, not okay! Ikko, if she sees you like this, you're not fooling anyone! You can barely stand!"
He chewed on this. "Wh-what do we do?"
A knock caught them both off guard. Kia yelped. "Who-who is it?"
"Tayama? It's Ruby, from your orientation." Ruby's voice struggled through the door. "Can I come in?"
"J-just a sec!" Kia squeaked. "I'm – uh – I'm…!"
"Bathroom!" Ikko hissed. She grabbed him and yanked them both inside as quietly as she could, struggling to hold Ikko's weight as his legs gave out properly. The slightest movement drained all his strength.
"Quiet!" Kia whispered, shushing his groan as he came to rest on the floor.
"I don't feel so good…" he murmured, head lolling. He felt his insides start to choke and glut his throat, bringing back the nausea that haunted him.
"Just- just stay here, alright?"
"Tayama?" Ruby knocked again, more insistent. "Kia? Is everything okay?"
"Yeah! Yeah, everything's fine! Hang on!" Kia flushed the toilet and closed the door, leaving Ikko completely in the dark. He tried to adjust and get comfortable, squeezed into the corner, but he froze the moment he heard her door open.
"Tayama – oh, Tayama, your Guise…"
"Ruby…" Kia sniffed. Ikko nudged and scraped over to the door, to better hear. "Sorry, sorry. Let me just…"
"No, it's okay. Don't force yourself. Where's Ikko?"
"He left – didn't you pass him?"
A pause. "No. No, I didn't…"
"Weird. W-well, er, how can I help?"
"The headmaster wants to see you. Both of you, actually. Miss Shirayuki, too."
"Why? What happened?"
"It's…" Ruby's voice trailed off, "It's about – well, there's no easy way to say this. We need to talk about your father's arrangement."
"What? Why?" Kia wavered. "What does that have to do with Ikko? Miss Shirayuki, I understand, but he-"
"He'll explain when you get there. Come on, Tayama. I need to call Miss Shirayuki and let her know to find Ikko."
Kia fell silent. Ikko held his breath, held still, and only when he heard the door shut and the lock click did he make another sound. He slumped against the bathroom wall, groaning, finally allowing himself to feel all the strain he'd strangled.
This all moved too fast. From cold shock to Etsuko's call, his tenuous grip on the situation began to fail completely. If the headmaster needed him, it wouldn't be long before they found him. He just needed to walk outside – but if they found him like this…
He switched on the light. What did 'like this' mean? The mirror's answer sparked a fresh bout of disgust. His pale skin drawn, hair tangled and matted in cold sweat. His chest heaved, fighting for every breath. Never mind his emotions – it looked like Kia had sucked every scrap of life from his marrow. His arms quivered, struggling to grip the sink, to support himself. He tested his balance, lifting one hand, and then the other.
"Now what…?"
