Chapter 6
Tsurumatsu's eyes fluttered open. He took a moment to realize he was still inside the school house and remembered getting there and Shioseki tending his wounds, but nothing else. Did he call her beautiful to her face? The sunlight from the window interrupted his embarrassment, something was odd. Shouldn't she be here in the classroom by now? It must have been mid-morning at least. The kids! Were they okay? He fought with his back telling him to stay lying down, but once he was sitting up he scooted off the large desk he'd slept on. His sore neck thanked him for that. He checked his arms and legs and they were surprisingly unpainful. Shio always did great work, but he hated to be a burden. He was lucky he didn't awaken with fever considering the circumstances.
He figured he'd find out what's going on at the docks in town. He grabbed his spear to lean on it as he walked with a slight limp. He made it slowly there and saw Tanefusa's ship preparing to go underway. He looked around and didn't see any of the children, so he approached the butcher.
"Where is everyone today? I had quite a night." He leaned on the bar.
"Tsuru? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be going with everyone?" The butcher put down the fish he was descaling.
"Going where with who?" He wrinkled his nose at the fish.
"The scholars, Shioseki, they're taking the kids to Naaru. They're saying the island's not safe anymore. There's supposed to be a ship coming to take everyone off the island too. To be honest, I don't think anyone's going to leave though. You know how most people feel." The butcher shrugged his shoulders and started back on his fish. "And what are you doing standing here? Go to Shioseki. I know you want to go with her." Tsuru was taken aback.
"She didn't even tell me though." He looked to the ship as it pulled away from the dock. "Maybe I'm supposed to stay here and protect the island. To protect you all. What would you do if I left?" Tsuru pointed to the butcher as he questioned him.
"I may just be a simple man, but even I know you're not here to protect the island." He said with his eyes unblinking. "We'll be fine. We can defend ourselves. You know none of us are leaving. If this island goes down, so do we. It's just how it's meant to be." He smiled at Tsuru. "Now go to Shioseki and those children. They need you. Not the island." The butcher turned away from Tsuru and disappeared into his shop.
Tsurumatsu couldn't think of any argument, but his mouth hung open in protest anyway. He looked out to the sea at the boat Shio and everyone was leaving on.
"I'll miss your cooking." Tsuru grunted to the butcher then bounded down to the docks, forgetting his injuries. He heard none of his aches or pains. He listened only to his heart. He untied a rowboat, grabbed the oars, and rowed with all his might. The waves pushed him back and slowed his progress, but he roared in defiance even as his arms burned in protest. He looked behind him and saw a rope dragging from the ship as he started to gain on it. He reached out with his hand and gripped onto it as best he could. The rope's fibers cutting into his fingers as it pulled him out of the dinghy. Reach by reach he pulled himself up the rope, the waves pushing him underwater. His lungs fighting the urge for air. He reached the back of the boat, pulled himself over the edge, and fell on his back.
"Atuykarounkami! Who are you?!" A sailor exclaimed when he saw him. "Wait, Tsurumatsu? What are you doing here?"
"Tanefusa," Tsuru spit out some sea water. "I'd appreciate it if you gave me a ride." He smiled wryly. "And also don't tell anyone that I'm here."
"Why in the-" He put his finger to his forehead. "Look, you two just need to get married. I'm tired of being the go between guy. Is this about Shioseki?"
"Just let me talk to her in my own time." Tsuru nodded. "I will talk to her. There's just a lot going on right now. I mean look at me, she did leave me behind." Tanefusa clicked his tongue.
"Well you probably deserved it." He turned away. "Head down to the cargo deck. I'm sure there's a box you can hide in, little mouse."
"Thank you." Tsuru struggled to his shaking feet and snuck below deck without anyone noticing.
"Sensei Shioseki can you please buy us a candy? I'll clean your ears or anything you want!" I clapped my hands together as I begged. Her expression was worth a thousand words, except for yes. "Come on!" I reached for her ear with my fingers, to which she squealed and karate chopped them away. Hisanaga laughed at us. He learned quickly how to interact with everyone. I taught him the important stuff like what foods taste the best and not to pick your nose. I dared him to the try and lick his elbow, but he could actually do it. We still had to be careful around Shio of course.
"Maybe we can ask Akafude later, I'm not sure about the money situation yet." Shio turned around and started scanning the area.
"What is it?" Hisa was the first to ask.
"I thought maybe we were being followed." she turned to Hisa and I. "Sorry, you know me I'm just an over protective mother. It's nothing to worry about. Let's see what else is down this way." Hisa and I agreed, but eyeballed the people around us. They all looked like they were going about their business. How could you tell if you were being followed? I was confident Shio could take care of us, she always did.
We walked past even more food and candy stalls and even a puppet show that was going on. It was the story of the False Mikado during the Civil War. It had some jokes I didn't understand and made Shio blush. Then a man came around with a hat full of coins and he offered it to us
"Is that money for us?" I looked to Shio.
"Oh I'm sorry I don't have any money with me. Come on children, this show seems to be for a different age group anyway." She looked to the man embarrassed and ushered us away. I heard him curse after we were some distance away, which left me even more confused. We kept on down the road and entered less busy area with fewer stalls scattered about. Shio put her hands on both our shoulders.
"Don't turn around, but I think someone is following us." My spine stiffened. I resisted with all my might not to turn around.
"The one on the right side with the bluish cloak and hood?" Hisanaga responded coolly. Shio blinked with surprise.
"Yes, that one." She paused and regarded His. "We're going to go down the alley here and then slip out after he passes. Ready?" We both nodded like little soldiers. We turned down the alley like we planned, rounded another corner, and then entered a book shop. I'd never seen so many colorful book covers. Some of them had black paper covering them up and Shio slapped my hand when I tried to pick one up. She wouldn't explain why.
"Okay, I don't see him, wait here and I'm going to check." Shio gave us both serious looks and we nodded. My stomach was nervous and I thought I might pull a Takaharu all over the store. I calmed down thought about taking another look at the forbidden books, but Hisa shook his head at me.
"I thought I was the one in charge?" I put my hands on my hips. Just then Shio came bursting back into the shop. She looked furious.
"Come on. We're going back to the university." Hisa and I looked at each other. Praying it wasn't something we had done. We tip toed out of the book stall and couldn't believe our eyes.
"Tsurumatsu?" We both said.
"Hey guys." He half smiled and nervously scratched his head.
"Let's go." Shio said to us, walking past Tsuru. "I can't believe you did that to me. I really thought we were being followed. What if we really were and something happened?" Shio threw her hands into the air.
"I'm sorry!" Tsuru kept repeating. Hisanaga and I exchanged glances and held in our laughter. They argued the whole way back to the university about who left who behind, but we made it to the front gates.
"Hello, I am Scholar Shioseki of Kiyoshima. Akafude is expecting us." She bowed.
"She is expecting you. You may come in, and the children, but who is this?" They pointed to Tsuru an looked at his spear on his back.
"He is Tsurumatsu also of Kiyoshima. He is family." They looked him up and down, obviously a little thrown off by his bandages and dirty clothes. They nodded and let us in. Shio shook her head once we were inside.
"I literally can't take you anywhere." She pointed her finger in his face. He apologized again profusely.
"Come on Sensei, anymore and he's going to start kissing your feet." I played diplomat to mend their broken bridges occasionally.
"There's still some time before dinner will start." Shio changed the subject. "Why don't we spend some time in the library?"
"That sounds like fun." Tsuru tried to look excited for her. "I'd love to read." He didn't.
She led the way to the library after asking for directions. Once we got there I was pretty impressed. Books were stacked on massive shelves so high you'd need a ladder to reach them. I couldn't imagine having a test on each one. The idea made my head spin.
"No wonder Sensei Shioseki is so smart since she loves the library." Hisanaga spun around taking it all in.
"Thank you Hisa, at least some people have a real appreciation for it." I could see the electricity still between her and Tsuru. I let them be and followed Hisa as he marveled at the massive collection.
"There may be information here that can help us." He whispered to me. I hadn't thought about that.
"Yeah, so what exactly are we looking for? I know we're supposed to be helping you, but what exactly are we doing and how are we going to do it with Shio and Tsuru around?"
"I can't talk to the main server, so I don't even know what's going on." He tried to think of a way to explain it so I could understand. "There should be a bunch of me's all trying to fix the weather. I can't tell where any of them are though. We can all talk to each other like we're connected. If I can somehow talk to the ones up in the sky maybe they can help." We talked in low whispers as we walked between the shelves of books. We turned into the Historical Fiction section and who should we bump into but Akafude.
"Hey you rascals, you caught me taking a break, I promise I have been doing work. You just always catch me at the wrong time." We both laughed as she hid her bottle in her pocket.
"You don't have to worry about us tattle tailing." Hisanaga said. I saw his eyes instantly catch onto something though. A tall round arched paper smooth wall behind Akafude. In fact, it looked just the same color as the walls at The Circle. That struck me as strange too. Why would something like that be here in the university? Just then Shioseki and Tsurumatsu rounded the corner as well.
"I thought I heard a drunk over here." Shioseki smiled.
"Oh Tsurumatsu, was it? I'm so glad you made it." Akafude smiled wide at Shio.
"Excuse me," Hisanaga interupted. "But what is that?" He pointed to the wall behind Aka.
"Oh these walls are scattered all over the university. It was actually built on top of an ancient ruin from a long time ago. If you touch it you can tell it feels different from other stone." Hisa seemed entranced by the wall. He walked up to it and reached out his hand. I noticed his fingers slowly light up as he got closer.
"Oh no." I said out loud and covered my mouth when everyone looked at me. The edge of the door light up with a soft blue light, reacting to Hisa's touch, and opened up.
"Uh, who is this kid, what did this kid just do, and is that even a kid?" Tsurumatsu looked around like he was the only one seeing it.
"Impossible." Akafude was stunned. "What are you?" She backed away from Hisanaga. He wasted no time and walked into the doorway.
"Wait!" I chased after him. Shio tried to stop me but I slipped pasted her. Everyone followed after me and we ran down the hallway. I heard the door slide shut behind us. We turned a corner into a wide room. There was two unusually dressed people with helmets that covered their eyes with tiny open slits to see.
"Identify yourselves. You can't be here." One said in a deep voice as they both stepped closer. Everyone fell in behind me and Hisa. He was unsure what to say and looked to me for help. I was more clueless than he was. Luckily Akafude spoke up.
"Apologies, it's me Akafude. I was giving them a tour and we stumbled upon this hallway. The door was unlocked."
"Impossible." They said. "You're going to have to come with us." I could see Hisanaga begin to panic. He looked to the door behind them, reached out his hand, and the door slid open. Both of the guards cursed and ran to grab him. The first grabbed his arm, but he casually grabbed the guard's hand and twisted it effortlessly. He screamed in pain and collapsed to the floor. The second took a small device from his belt. I didn't know what it was, but I couldn't stand to see anyone else hurt.
"Hisanaga stop!" I yelled and he froze.
"He takes your commands Kinu?" Shio asked. Everyone else looked to me, speechless. Three more guards came out of the door behind them yelling commands. Everyone put their hands on their heads and knelt to the ground. Hisa turned to me with defeat and worry on his face. The guard with the strange device in his hand came up behind him and put it to his neck. Blue light arced between him and the device. His eyes went blank and he fell to his knees. A guard grabbed me and pressed me to the wall.
"Kinuito!" Hisanaga screamed as his I watched his body go limp, His mouth silently moving, repeating my name.
"Hisanaga!" I screamed as tears fell from my eyes.
And he slowly morphed back into a floating metal sphere.