Chapter 2
Reiji kept on nagging her, as she rubbed with the usual wet cloth Laito's sweated forehead, still laid on the bed, unconscious and whispering apparent nonsense; Mary sighed and at the twentieth lecture to stay away from the Mukami brothers, her patience reached its limit, which had been already poor since way before because the comatose vampire had had a violent crisis of convulsions and cries.
- URUSE! – her voice echoed nearly all over the mansion; the vampire stood mouth-opened before that reaction, unable to formulate any sentence or word out of surprise or resentment – Reiji-san, why on earth should I avoid those guys? Ruki-san is a classmate, it's not rationally possible to ignore his presence or his eventual approaching!
The young man fell silent and froze, staing at her bewildered as she took care of his younger brother; he didn't even notice he was left alone in that room, five minutes after the girl had exited in a hurry, risking to pour on herself the bowl of water.
She was totally stressed.
She walked down all those hallways as usual, stopping by a bathroom to discard the water in the sink and rinsing the bowl, which was put back in a storage closet later; finally, with a still frustrated expression, she got back in her own bedroom and laid exhausted on the bed, back onwards, hoping to fall asleep and either escaping from that situation or simply improving her mood.
- No blood today, Subaru-kun; I'm not in shape...
The albino stood up from the chair where he had been siting while waiting for her return, taking a look at her drawings neatly arranged in envelopes piled up on her desk; gloomy, he approached her, sinking on the mattress' edge, on her right.
- Are you ok? – he asked, touching lightly with his forefingers some of her scattered long, dark locks.
Lately, the girl had no longer been fixing her hair in that elaborate hairstyle which everyone was accustomed to: she often tied them in a high, inaccurate tail, or left them loose, keeping the two braids on her left side, just using some hairpins to hold her hair from her sight; they had once got stuck in one of Shuu's cardigan's buttons, and Mary only knew what the consequences had been...
- I'm just stressed, don't worry. I'll get better as soon as I see some improvements - she muttered, turning to a supine position; her eyes were closed, but not relaxed, and her mouth was contracted in a grimace of forced concentration.
Hardly convinced, Subaru raised an eyebrow, ironically murmuring that they would have had to wait centuries and centuries to see a minimal progress; he immediately added, stuttering. that he wasn't worried about her, with an embarrassed and irritated tone. Mary ignored him, opening her eyes to stare at the two swans on the ceiling: in her thoughts she called her twin; a nostalgic warmth comforted her a little, after sensing her brother's quiet voice, replying to her with reassurance, even though he was far away.
- It'll be all right - she stated, cracking a cheerful and more confident smile; the albino fell silent and, hiding a slight beam on his lips, got up, teleporting elsewhere.
- One out; Kanato-kun? – the girl exclaimed, sitting down and shaking her legs a while, eyeing the balcony's window. A petite figure stood in front of the windows and a second later he was next to her, his plush to the chest and his gaze on the floor; Mary got that the middle trigeminal wasn't in a better mood than her own (not that it was news...).
- Mary-san, I don't like those four weaklings - the vampire whispered, highlighting the last three words with a particularly cold and disdainful voice.
It reminds me of my mother's reaction when she talks about Karlheinz, she thought, trying not to laugh; but why did most of the Sakamaki brothers, if not all of them, dislike those Mukami guys? Even Subaru had twisted his nose, and Ayato had promised himself to stick on Yui round the clock; nevertheless Reiji had confirmed to her that they had never had to deal with them before then; perhaps, they were actually aware of something or their instinct told them they weren't reliable people? Yet, the vibes she perceived about them weren't completely that negative...
Kanato tilted his head, observing her closely (so that she had gulped); he asked her what she was thinking and Mary wisely chose not to comment and rather to dwell on another subject: along with Teddy there was another plush, smaller in size and rabbit-shaped; it was cream-colored with the belly and the inside of the ears lined with a synthetic golden cloth, the neck was adorned with a bordeaux bow and two blue buttons as the eyes, sewn one with a white thread, the other with a black one.
He's so damn creepy, the girl considered, breaking out in a cold sweat as she saw that the plush was lacking a limb; she didn't deny that it was still a good job, and it was meticulously well-finished. These were the words told to the vampire, who reacted coldly by saying that he didn't ask for her opinion and turned his head to the other side; Mary had managed to see his pleased face.
The next evening, during the break, Mary was overthinking the bad feeling that had accompanied her generously in the first hours of class, as if the person behind her had stared at her all the time; she massaged her neck, pierced by that hypothetical gaze, and tasted for relief that lemon tea she had got herself from the vending machines, with Subaru's company; Reiji had severely recommended to never leave the girls alone, except logically inside the bathroom (Shuu was obviously discharged from that task, lazy as he was he wouldn't have cared much).
Yet she was convinced that something would have gone wrong that very night: Ruki Mukami seemed to be very clever, cunning, and if they really were interested in them, he would have predicted the Sakamaki brothers' behaviour with her and Yui; therefore, in that case, he probably would have had an ace up his sleeve to play.
She quickly confirmed her hypothesis when, distractedly looking out of the window, she saw a tiny light-haired girl with a frightened look backing up in a corner of the porch; in front of her there were those four well-known male figures. Where was Ayato? She had noticed them together as they went to the bathrooms; jealous and protective as he was, said vampire would have never abandoned his girl.
She jumped up and, after throwing the tea container in the trash bin with a sharp line of fire, quickly reached to that area, mumbling curses against Reiji's plans to "protect them."
A pair of ocean eyes opened in the meanwhile, sleepy, in the music room: the blond had sensed a lavender scent passing by the door, in the hallway, and he had recognized her hurried and decisive movements.
- What a pain… - he yawned in annoyance, raising up and leaving with a slowness enviable by a snail. As soon as he was outside, he faced his albino brother.
- Do you know where's the ugly with? – Subaru asked him abruptly , with a scowl on his face – I lost sight of her and I don't think it's very wise to teleport within the school during the break...
Shuu huffed, bored.
- No. I just know she was here… Agh, Reiji will pester us about it if he finds out...
- I saw a few minutes ago, he isn't suspecting anything yet… unless Kanato doesn't expose everything.
- Eh? – was Shuu's blank and emotionless reply, asking to be clearer, while rubbing his nape; the other vampire explained, irritated.
- I made a mess out of his room! You know how much vengeful he can be... Don't laugh, you idiot!
Shuu kept on snickering.
Thanks for reading~ I hope you enjoyed the new chapter!
