I See Red
Chapter 4: Red Streak


She was a difficult woman, but at least she wasn't the angry foreign chick or the sullen, emo girl that Okita had the displeasure of seeing for the past couple of weeks.

On the way home, she had insisted that they stop by the grocery store for their snacks. He was pleasantly surprised at the happy glow in her eyes as she piled up their cart with chips, cookies, chocolate, and sukonbu. Especially the sukonbu, which she reverently stacked in the neatest corner of the cart. Along the way, Okita bought food for dinner, and he decided on extra spicy curry.

He carried most of the groceries home, and to his annoyance Kagura even stopped to buy Korean ice cream in a different store. As she victoriously licked her melon-flavored popsicle, he dragged her by the crook of her arm on the way home before she bought more food beyond than what he could buy.

He ignored the Mayora's angry and curious phone calls. He would later open up a number of nagging texts as to why he disappeared with China all of a sudden and that in the end, they weren't able to catch any of the girls in question. Also, that the Gorilla covered for him at work.

Okita knew that the bullying she endured recently was just scratching the surface, but the dismissive way she was acting told him that her opening up will be like opening a screwed-up Pandora's box involving her dark past. If transfer students were main characters in this manga, what genre were they in? Is it really a damn shoujo manga?

Nobody was home in the apartment when they got there. Mitsuba must still be out in her secretarial job. He ordered her to sit down, start reading a chapter from their literature textbook, and to not touch anything else while he prepared dinner.

He made three portions of chicken curry, rice, and shredded cabbage, and brought two of them to the table. China was already picking her nose and watching TV and making herself perfectly at home, and she gave the tray of food a huge smile before announcing "Itadakimasu" and practically inhaling the food in front of her, even though she ate snacks barely an hour ago. She said it was good, but it was much too spicy, and her cheeks turned into the nice shade of red that happened when she was angry or embarrassed.

A weird, not-unpleasant feeling spread over Okita's chest as he saw her on his dinner table, eating his food, and he blamed the extra spice. Weird.

However, that was how his aneue liked curry, and her katsudon, and her ramen, and her crackers, and her parfaits—basically anything that passes through her throat has to be a million Scoville units or more.

"I didn't know you had a sister," said the pink-faced, vermilion-haired, red track-suit-clad girl. Everything about her was in shades of red, except for her striking blue eyes, which were now uncovered by her fake glasses.

"You'll probably see her later. She should be back from—"

As if on cue, the clanging sound of keys clumsily making their way to the key-hole and the muffled sound of her coughs through the doorway interrupted him mid-way. Okita rushed to the door and upon turning the knob, Mitsuba crashed through the door and would have also fallen onto the floor, had it not been for her younger brother catching her in his arms.

"Aneue!" She coughed so violently that he worried her lung might come out. He held her close and tapped her back firmly in certain areas just as her doctor taught him. Is she getting worse? Had she contracted pneumonia again? He tried not to panic, tried not to think about the expensive antibiotics that she had not even finished taking yet.

To his surprise, he heard the pull of tissues coming from behind him. "Here," came Kagura's voice.

Mitsuba gratefully accepted the tissues from her and coughed into them. It took a minute or so for her to catch her breath again and for her to focus on the new girl. "Oh—Sou-chan. You didn't tell me we had guests," she said in between rapid breaths.

"I forgot to text you, Aneue. I'm sorry," he said. He saw Kagura's blue eyes widen in surprise at the new polite speech pattern he adapted. "Come on, let's get you to your futon…"

"Sadi—er. Sou-kun. Let me help." Kagura already positioned herself under Mitsuba's arm before anyone could say anything. Through Mitsuba's weak protests, they lifted her by the shoulders and led her to her room. As soon as she was on her futon, Okita took her temperature, her blood pressure, and her heart rate. Thankfully, all of them were normal, except her heart rate, which was a little faster than normal. He asked Kagura to get a basin of tepid water and a towel from the kitchen as he set up the nebulizer.

As the machine hummed and Mitsuba inhaled her medicine, her breathing slowed down, and Okita sighed in relief.

Kagura placed a damp towel on her head. The older Okita smiled at her serenely. "I'm… Mitsuba, by the way. Sougo's older sister. I'm very embarrassed that you saw me like this."

It was then that both of them realized that they have not been introduced yet. "She's… Kagura. Classmate of mine. Ginpachi-sensei's class."

"P-pleased to meet you. I'm a transfer student from Taipei, yup. Sad—er, Sou-kun is helping me out with homework," stammered Kagura, already blushing. She was obviously disoriented, probably from seeing a version of Okita that was closer to a Bodhisattva than a Sadist.

"Kagura-chan. You're very kind to help me, even if we've only just met. Thank you so much." Mitsuba gave one of her smiles again, and looked at Okita. "I feel better already, Sou-chan. It's okay if you guys need to leave to study—"

"Aneue, let me call the doctor. We might need to bring you to the hospital." He already had his phone out, ready to dial.

"No," said Mitsuba. She held his hand, making him stop the call. "I don't have a fever, right? And I've got a few more days of the antibiotics left." She smiled and sat up straight. "I don't feel like coughing anymore either, thanks to you. It's just asthma… I forgot to puff today."

"Aneue…" He looked at her face. As frail as she looked, she had a strong, resolute expression. He knew how stubborn she was, and of her fear of never coming home from the hospital if she were ever admitted.

"… fine. I'll send him a text though."

She let his hand go and sighed in relief.

"And you aren't going to work tomorrow."

She nodded.

"You'll rest for the entire day and drink all your medications."

"Yes, Sou-chan. Don't worry about me," she giggled. She looked like she wanted to say something else, but became aware again of Kagura's presence. "Thank you again for the help, Kagura-chan. And for taking care of Sou-chan."

"It's the other way around—" began Okita, but the girl was already holding her hand, her eyes sparkling. "You're welcome, onee-sama. I'll make sure to whip him to shape."

"Idiot," he said, smacking her on the head, and Mitsuba giggled again.

"All right you two, get along… I just need to rest…" She slid under the covers and closed her eyes. Kagura bowed and got up to leave. Okita stayed there until he heard her breath slow down, until the rise and fall of her chest became rhythmic. He tucked her in a bit more snugly before leaving.

Outside, Kagura had a mess of tissues in her hands. With a worried look on her face, she showed it to him. "Sadist, this is…"

He frowned. A gooey mess of greenish matter with a fresh, red streak of blood stained the pure white paper.

"Don't you think she has to go the hospital?" she asked as he took the tissues from her. He threw them in the bin under the sink and washed his hands after.

"It's fine… it was worse before. She'd cough up about half a glass of blood. I think this one is from a throat infection than from her lung problem," he said. His voice felt detached from him—he knew he barely believed his own words. But the last time he forced Aneue to the hospital…

"… okay… you know her better." She quietly walked next to him and washed her hands, shoving him slightly with her body as she did. "I like her. She's too nice to be your sister, so you better take care of her, Sadist."

"Don't you think I know that? She's the best. I'll do everything I can to protect her."

He was suddenly aware of their height difference. He wasn't the tallest in class, to be sure, but China was small. Her cheek grazed his shoulder as she rubbed her hands under the running water.

"Good." She balled a paper towel in between her hands and threw it under the sink. Avoiding his eyes, she muttered, "If you want… I could go right now… she probably needs you more than me, yup."

He sighed. "It's okay. She's asleep. I left her door open, so I can keep an eye on her even if we're studying." And if you're here, it'll keep me from going into full panic-mode, a small part of his brain whispered.

"Hm. If you're sure. And I guess I can help again if she needs it." She nodded. Quietly, they made their way to the living room, took out their notebooks, and began doing practice exams.


"Health me! The quickly car is going so fastly, yup."

"Fine job of butchering the English language, China. Among other problems, I'm not sure if you grasp how adverbs work."

"S—shut up, Sadist. I'm doing my best."

"Hm. I liked it better when you called me Sou-kun."

She pouted at him and his smug face. "That's just 'cause I can't remember your real name, and Onee-sama was calling you Sou-chan. Was it… Soda or Sol-fa or something...?"

"It's Sougo."

He knew, however, that his real name went in one ear and out in the other. The scowl is back on her face, and she tapped her pencil impatiently against her notebook. Her eyebrows were knit together in concentration, and without her swirly eyeglasses to cover her eyes, he saw how they almost glowed whenever she felt anxious. "Fastly isn't an adverb?"

"It's not an English word, at least."

"Hrm." She grumbled, and stared at the mess of English words in her textbook angrily. "It should be… so, quickly, fast, speedily, slowly…"

Okita yawned. It was already 1 AM, and they had only managed to crawl through algebra and at least 10 bags of chips. Needless to say, the girl was a bottomless pit, and there was probably something bottomless in her head as well. They were far from covering all the topics needed in all the other subjects, so they decided to power through the coverage of the Monday exams only.

"Don't just concentrate on memorizing the words, China. You have to try to form meaningful sentences out of them, too. They might make us write an essay on the spot."

She gave an exaggerated sigh and put her pencil down. "I need a break, yup. Gimme the sukonbu."

"You had a break thirty minutes ago."

"Yep. Thirty long minutes." Okita tossed her the box of seaweed, and the next moment she was chewing on it happily. For a few, sleepy moments, there was nothing but the ticking of the clock and the munching sound of her biting through the pickled seaweed. "Say, Sadist…"

"Hm." He had made them coffees as well, and he sipped on his absently. It was already cold…

"Are you studying to be a doctor or something?"

"Wrong. Minus one point for China."

She puffed her cheeks. "Are we in a quiz show? Are we in Jeopardy? Did I ask Alex Trebek whether the Chihuahua will go into medicine?" On top of her sukonbu, she decided to open a bag of honey butter chips as well. "I'm just saying, 'cause you sure looked like you knew what you were doing when… when Onee-sama had that asthma attack, uh-huh."

He had done it since he was in middle school, when he and Mitsuba first moved out into the city. Their doctor in Bushu was the one who taught him how to use the BP app, the stethoscope; how to take vital signs; how to do chest physiotherapy; what to watch out for when she's having her attacks… he had done it as expertly as a nurse could do, and even kept his own record of her meds and status because who else would?

Truth be told, he had considered going into medicine if only for her sake, but…

"Nah. Wouldn't make a good doctor. I hate hospitals," he said in the same deadpan voice he always had. "My future's all planned out. Me and Kondo-san are gonna be police officers. He'll be the police chief, and I'll be his vice-chief. That's always been my goal."

"Uh-huh. What about the Mayora?"

"He could work in a mayonnaise factory for all I care."

"Hm. Funny. The Gorilla says you three will be together forever. Like the Powerpuff Girls or something, yup. How cheesy." She had a teasing grin on her mouth. Paired with her tired, blue eyes and the darkening circles around them, she looked like a panda. He told her so.

"Sorry, make that a trash panda. Since you could live off of eating garbage too," he clarified, and it earned him a smack on the head. "One day, I'll arrest you. Obviously you're gonna be a criminal after you graduate."

An undeniable flash of anger shrouded her facial features for a millisecond. Okita braced himself for her to yell at him or to kick him in the face again, but she seemed to have forced herself to calm down just in time.

"… foul, Sadist," was all she said.

"I'm just saying. From what you've shown me so far, you have the IQ of a bamboo shoot and you could easily eat your future husband out of a house and home. You'd definitely have to resort to larceny to feed yourself."

"What's larceny? Is that indecent exposure…? Oi, what perverted things are you imagining about me, anyway?! Quit using big Japanese words around me, yup!"

"Burglary… ugh, never mind. So, besides thieving, what are you going to do?"

She gave him a sly smile. "Why are you asking, Sadist? You're worried about me, aren't you?"

"Have to keep an eye on my future… clients." He gave her a dark smile as well, and she gave him a frown in return.

"Hmph. Do I have to decide so early about my future? I'm too young to know about these things… you can't trust teenagers to make a huge decision this early in their life when they haven't seen the world yet."

"Sounds like a completely unambitious slob's excuse."

"Even so, if you ask me right now about what I want to do… all I'll say is that I'd like to marry a handsome rich guy in a space station somewhere, take care of a huge, white puppy, and go travel in outer space as an alien hunter. Like, far, far away from the likes of you. That would be awesome." She said this with a dreamy, far-off look in her blue eyes.

"No doubt you look like you belong in outer space, China… so that makes two… no, three things I know about you."

Kagura tilted her head at him in curiosity.

"Your favourite food is sukonbu, you're from Taipei, and you don't know what to do with your life yet," clarified Okita.

"Hm. Why are you keeping count, Sadist?"

Because… even your new best friends here don't know anything about you. And this is the first real conversation we've had about you, he thought, but he only shook his head at her. "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer," he said in fluent English.

"Hmph. Show-off," mumbled Kagura. "Anyways, let's get back to studying already, uh-huh. If I fail, you have to buy me a shit load of sukonbu."

As the wee hours of the early morning went on, Kagura passed out on the table in the middle of English composition. Okita frowned as he watched her snore and drool in that annoying, audacious way of hers, but placed a blanket over her shoulders, just the same.

He decided to get some sleep, too. He would have gone to sleep on his own futon in his room, but he reminded himself that he needed to get up hourly to check on Mitsuba, and China was making the table look comfortable…


He didn't recall much in his dream. No images, at least. Just a weird, spicy taste in his mouth, as well as a weird sour, salty combination that he had never tasted before. A doorbell rang in his dream, but he was too tired to answer it.

When he awoke, it was because of the sound of activity in the kitchen. He bolted upright and saw Mitsuba in her facemask, making coffee, eggs, and rice.

She creased her eyes at him. "Sou-chan, good morning! You seem like you had a nice nap." She giggled. "You better look in the mirror."

Still groggy, Okita took out his phone and opened his selfie camera, which showed a big, red mark on his forehead from sleeping facedown on the coffee table. He was also wrapped in a blanket. He looked at the time: 9 AM.

"Hm. Did China go home already?" he asked. This is her blanket.

Mitsuba nodded. "She didn't want to wake you since you guys pulled an all-nighter. She left at around six in the morning. Hijikata-san accompanied her home, so you don't need to worry."

Okita blinked. "Hijikata? What was he doing here so early in the morning?"

Reacting to the rise in his voice, Mitsuba flinched. "Sou-chan, calm down. I… gave him a call when I woke up at five, and… he thought that he'd like to check up on me. And you guys too."

A quiet rage boiled from within him. He tried his very best to suppress it, especially since Mitsuba came from an exhausting night. "Aneue, you don't need to call him anymore, right? If you need anything, you could come to me instead. If not me, then Kondou-san. I don't want that nicotine-addled guy to—"

"Sougo. He's quit smoking for a month now." Her voice was firm when she said this. "And I appreciate you and Kondou-san's help, I really do. But I can rely on him too, right? It's my choice to want to see him, isn't it…?"

Okita bit the inside of his cheek. Nothing like a Mayora to ruin any kind of morning. The two of them made an agreement that he stay out of Mitsuba's way as much as possible, except when Mitsuba herself asks for him. Even though that was how their agreement went, he couldn't help but still blame that annoying V-shaped bangs for stealing her attention…

And on top of that, he gets to accompany China-girl home? In the early morning?! What would her dad think? Of course, he wouldn't mind the part where Hijikata's balls will get torn off and served over rice for breakfast, but…

"Anyway, Sou-chan. He didn't stay here for long, so please stop being so angry at him. Here, let's have breakfast." Despite the earlier tension, Mitsuba tried her best to keep the mood light.

Relenting, Okita glumly munched through his breakfast, trying to ignore the rage that wouldn't go away.


AN: Thank you very much for reading (and reviewing, if you did so)! I thought this story would be simple but so far it's... not... orz
All I wanted was to write fluff but I am not good at that huhuhu. I hope you guys bear with me. I would love to hear what you think of the story so far. Constructive and nonconstructive comments are welcome. :)