-/ Chapter 3 \-

"It's Watanuki's locker. Isn't that interesting? Watanuki Kimihiro. I can't remember him at all. Still, the name sounds really familiar. Did you know him?..."

Something crashes. Himawari scrabbles at the inside of the door and cuts herself on something. "Muun-kun! Muun!" She slaps the door, hits it with the side of her fist.

She hears him coughing and coughing until suddenly he lets out a groan. She slides down so she can see through the grill again. Sees his hand, splayed taught and wide on the ground.

"Muun-kun! Are you okay?" she sobs.

"M'm fine," she hears him mumble. "Just dazed."

Vague. Innocuous. She doesn't like the sound of that at all, it only means something worse is yet to happen. The only reason why she isn't slamming her body against the doors to get out is that she is afraid that she could take down the lockers on top of him by throwing her weight around, and crush him. And that would be—much worse luck.

"What happened?"

He coughs, and groans, "Urgh…" she hears sounds of scraping, sliding. The sound of shoes stepping over ground. "Something on top of the lockers fell. I think. Like, uh, a satchel of some kind? Felt like a ton of bricks. Ugh, I feel awful. Why am I…so sick…I can't see—" His body slams into the locker door—Himawari jumps back—and then he slides down.

Curling her fingers into her palm, Himawari holds her fists to her chest as she gingerly peers out the grill—but there's not much to see; just blurry shadows. Darkness.

His breathing quickly becomes audible and labored.

Himawari starts to sweat. She knows what—she knows who this sounds like. Even without seeing it she knows what the picture on the other side of the door must be. The pattern is too familiar.

Bad luck is one thing. Watanuki is another. When Himawari and Watanuki mixed their spheres of influence, the result was always both terrifying and nasty. Watanuki was haunted and oppressed by spirits no one else could see. If one of them attached itself to Muun-kun, he won't even know what is attacking him, and then the spirits—

What they need is Doumeki.

Himawari pulls the ribbons from her hair and clenches them in her fists. Closing her eyes, she begins to wish.

A door slams in the hall and Himawari hears loud, forceful footsteps. A second pair, lighter, comes from down the hall—

"Doumeki-san, you can't just leave like this—" the voice stops short, and the light, dancing footsteps stop.

The heavy steps slow as they near the scene. "Yamada-kun, I need you to call the school nurse," Doumeki suggests tonelessly.

"Uh, right, yes…" The other boy runs.

"He'll be all right, Kunogi," says Doumeki calmly, bending down. Himawari looks through the grill and sees his feet and hands, walking. He drags part of Muun into view. "I can feel his pulse. He's fine."

"Can—can he breathe?" Himawari asks.

There's a pause. "If I keep touching him, yes."

"How did you know? I thought you were in class..."

"I felt it." A dark shape descends over the grill. When the dark shape—Doumeki—moves back up, Muun is gone. Doumeki probably picked him up or slung him over his shoulder.

"Take him—take him to W-Watanuki, then?" Himawari stutters.

"If necessary."

"Please, Doumeki. Please!"

"I'll leave. Kunogi, I can trust you to explain everything to the teachers in my absence?" But he doesn't wait for an answer. Doumeki walks away, his footfalls heavier and slower than they had been when he approached.

Yes.

Himawari wraps her arms around her knees and rocks there, tears streaming down her face.

She finishes wiping her tears away just as the teacher with the limp comes with the key to let her out. At last she has some semblance of calm.

"Are you all right? Where's the boy?" asks the teacher as he unlocks the door.

Himawari eases herself out of the locker and stands slowly. She shakes her head. "He got really anxious while I was in there, and I thought he was getting calmer, but then he started having trouble breathing, and one of the other students took him to the nurse's office…"

"Then I hope he's all right. But how are you?"

Himawari avoids his eyes. "Fine. I—I overreacted over something…very stupid. I worried Muun-kun, I mean Hisaki-san, when I got upset…then I accidentally locked myself in there…" She shudders. "It wasn't his fault. He was just trying to help. I don't know what came over me…I just needed to c-calm down. Sometimes the darkness and the…small spaces help."

"Are you sure?"

She nods. "I want to—I want to make sure he's okay. If he had an asthma attack because of me, or something..."

"I see. Would it be possible for you to return to class today?"

She shakes her head.

He sighs. "You should know that if you ever wished to speak any teacher about these things, we would listen. I cannot promise I would not be bound to interfere…but I could suspend judgment."

"Hai," she says, quiet and earnest. "Of course." Himawari bows slightly.

Perhaps they could listen, but in this matter, they couldn't help.

"Seeing as class has been disrupted enough already, you might as well run along to the infirmary, see to your friend, and return to class when you are ready. Clear the air at the earliest opportunity. If you need some time to think, then come back to school tomorrow. Am I clear?" he says sternly.

"Yes." Himawari bows once more, and turns to leave.

The teacher shakes his head. "One more thing, Kunogi-san."

Himawari stops.

"If your grades go down then I will be forced to have a conference with yourself and Hisaki-kun."

Himawari says, "Yes."

"That is all. I don't expect to have to." He looks at her meaningfully.

Respectfully, Himawari says, "Thank you, sir."

"That is all. You may go."

Finally, she escapes.

Muun-kun is not in the infirmary. Which means he's at Watanuki's house, and Doumeki left to accompany him. Utterly despondent, Himawari makes excuses for them all, and leaves the school.

It's only once she's on the street outside the house that she remembers that she has to wait at the gate. She's not allowed in except once a year on April 1st. She's just touched the gate when the door opens and Doumeki comes out to meet her. Himawari steps back a little.

"How is he?" she asks, downcast.

Doumeki shrugs slightly. "Fine, I think. Watanuki threw some salt at him."

Himawari laughs uncertainly. "Did it work...?"

Doumeki's mouth twitches at the corners. "The boy got angry."

"At least he can breathe…" she groans, twisting her hands through her hair.

"Yes." Doumeki inclines his head. "And you?"

Without warning, Himawari sinks to her knees. "No! Oh my god, Doumeki. What are you even asking— I can't!"

"Mm." Doumeki crouches on the tips of his toes and leans forward. "He means a lot to you."

A dark and brittle note creeps into her voice. "I've lost people before."

He looks at her. "He's like Watanuki."

She grabs the bars of the gate and shakes them. "No, he's not!" she screeches, and flinches at her own voice.

Doumeki remains calm. "The boy is fragile. He loves you. You're fond—or about to become so." That Doumeki can see through her so quickly and make this sound so matter of fact… For just a moment, she almost hates him.

"I've only known him three days!" she spits. "That's just not—"

"Then you know he's important."

With tears springing to her eyes, she scowls furiously. "How can you—!"

"Kunogi." The guarded, warning look in Doumeki's eyes silences her instantly. Because Doumeki loves Watanuki too. No, Doumeki doesn't love Himawari, but he wants her away from Watanuki. He wants to help her move on. This is what he's really saying: don't lie to yourself so you can cling to the past, Kunogi.

After a short pause, Doumeki speaks again. "They say that there is no such thing as love at first sight. But there are people we meet whom we know immediately are important." He stands. "He may not be the love of your life. But he is your special person. Do not deny that." He points to her chest. "Not while your scarlet heart bleeds through your hands."

Bewildered, she looks down; sure enough, her hands are clenched into fists and crossed over her chest. It's throbbing, dully. Her fists are wet from fallen tears. "I'm…not bleeding," she says, as if in shock, the words robotic and false, clueless to her ears; she looks back up.

Doumeki makes a sharp intake of breath, a hurt sound. "Then it's just a daydream," says Doumeki, somewhat hoarsely, and turns his back to her. There's something odd about this. Something she hadn't expected from Doumeki. A brokenness...

Himawari blinks. "You—saw something? Saw that?"

He doesn't answer, but nods slightly.

"Because of your—grandfather? Or Watanuki?" She guesses.

He shrugs, like he doesn't know.

"But what happened, that's not normal!" she says, voice rising with emotion despite herself.

When he speaks, Doumeki sounds exhausted. "It's not unusual for me to get sudden insights. What's difficult is..."

"…sharing them," Himawari finishes, voice soft.

His shoulders stiffen for an instant, and then he nods.

"For the truth." She says it quietly. "Thank you."

Head turned just slightly, his jaw clenches. "I never saw you cry in pain like that before, Kunogi," Doumeki tells her tightly, strung with a sense of complete and final certainty. "I am quite sure, that I never want to see it again." With long strides, he stalks back into the house, as if he can no longer stand to be in her presence.

Perhaps he can't. There is always more to Doumeki than meets the eye.

She sighs. Doumeki is kind, kinder than she deserves. If she needs him, he will be there, but…she'd forgotten he was already hurting. Just now, he didn't want to help, but he felt he had to.

She shouldn't have forgotten. There is much that Watanuki has yet to answer for. After Watanuki locked himself in the wishing shop, it's been hard for Doumeki to see her, and she doesn't blame Doumeki for that. Himawari may have loved Watanuki, Watanuki may have loved her, but now she can never be part of his life; Doumeki got that place, and yet Watanuki tolerates him. Doumeki's glad of it, but no wonder he can hardly stand to look at her. He cannot bear her disappointment on top of suffering his own sheer inadequacy.

And he wants Watanuki to love him, so badly.

She knows what that felt like, but she must also remember that time is over.

Himawari puts away her feelings, squares her shoulders, and steels her heart. Everything will be all right now. Muun could come out any minute. She will just be waiting.