Chapter 22, Ghost Hunting.
Waiting outside of the baths for Moriyama, the girl clung to the new uniform that was handed to her by the director, as a sort of impromptu mission. Since they were all now official exwires, Shiemi needed a proper uniform in which she would represent The Order, so he gave the girl the task to deliver the outfit to the blonde girl that morning, before their first group mission. She had texted Shiemi right away to meet her at the girls' dorm room bath to get ready together, and get some girl time, which they had seriously been lacking as of late.
In her usual yukata, Shiemi smiled as bright as ever as she walked over to the girl leaning against the wall, and after one of those long, I've missed you so much, squealing embraces, the two headed in to get ready. Being bombarded by the steam of the fresh baths, they decided it wouldn't hurt to take a quick, relaxing dip before the day's mission, and so they hopped into the hot water, sighing as their muscles eased.
Shiemi then turned to the girl with a sweet smile and broke the silence. "I'm really glad to see you, I feel like it's been forever."
"I know, me too. I've just been…busy, I guess," the girl replied, slowly slapping the water with her hand, watching the pull of the current taking bubbles down under the surface, where they struggled, and dissipated. "I've been with the headmaster a lot."
"So, are you two…?" Shiemi's cheeks turned pink with her implication.
The girl furrowed her brow and pouted her lips a bit. "I don't know—sometimes I start to think he's into me, and then when I want him to do something about it, he doesn't." Moriyama rested her head against the edge of the bath, listening intently to the girls' frustrations. "But then," she continued, "when I start to think, 'Oh we're just friends, never mind,' he gets really touchy with me and works me up again. And then I feel like I push him away cause it's such a shock."
"Maybe he's just not sure what you want," Shiemi tried to reason. The girl let out a heavy sigh and shrunk down into the water, her mind rewinding over the last few months. "Have you spoken to Rin at all?" Shiemi finally asked.
She reluctantly came up from the bath water. "Not really. That's part of why I haven't been hanging out with you guys much besides training and studying with Yukio. I mean, things are just kind of awkward still." Awkward as hell, she thought. Rin tried to kiss her. A demon wanted a kiss. Johann was always back and forth on the subject. "I'm really glad you made peace with Izumo, though."
"Me too," the blonde said with a smile. Of course she missed the girl's company, but she was apparently going through some troubles lately, and Shiemi always tried her hardest to understand her friends.
It was around that time that Izumo and Paku walked into the bath, and they all waved at one another. After they had went to the showers, the girl and Shiemi got up and toweled off, and the girl tossed the new uniform to Shiemi, telling her to put it on. As they were dressing, Izumo got out of the showers herself, only to see Moriyama struggling to figure out how to wear the uniform.
"Here," Izumo said, helping show Shiemi how to wear it.
"Don't forget your belt," Paku said as she passed by on the way to her locker.
The girl looked over Shiemi, fully dressed in her new uniform, face red with embarrassment. She then placed her hands on the tie that Izumo had done, and began to unknot it, telling Moriyama to be quiet for a moment while she re-tied it differently. "There," she said, taking a step back and looking at her handiwork. "A cute bow – it suits you better!"
Shiemi peered down at the new knot, and smiled warmly. "Thank you!"
"I knew we were going to be late!" Izumo shouted as the girls sprinted towards Mephy Land.
"We're sorry!" Shiemi shouted as they came upon the boys. "We got held up!"
Rin ogled at the blonde in her new uniform, and the girl just giggled quietly to herself as the classmates told the shy little blonde just how cute she was in her new uniform. That's who Rin needs to be with, she thought to herself with a curling smile and a warmth growing in her heart. It had been clear to her for months that he held true feelings for Shiemi; even if she herself had had feelings for Rin, she would have turned his advances down. They wouldn't be a good match as romantic partners. But Rin and Shiemi? Oh, absolutely, she thought.
"Alright, now that everyone is here, I'll be dividing you all up into pairs," Yukio shouted authoritatively, getting everyone to pipe down and pay attention before he began naming off the groups. "Since we have an odd number, you'll be with me," Yukio said to the girl, who scowled back at him. He was always babying her. After a thorough run down of the mission at hand, and a description of what a ghost was via Izumo, Yukio dismissed everyone to spread out across the empty amusement park. The girl loosely followed the two teachers around the starting area, her mind off in another world.
"He probably wants me to stay here because I wouldn't even be able to see the damn ghost," she grumbled under hear breath, pulling a piece of gum off of the corner of a building a tossing it into a nearby trash can. Quite a bit of time had passed already, and she was no closer to exploring deeper into the amusement park in search for the ghost than when the hunt first started, and it was becoming clear that Yukio had no intentions of actually looking for the ghost with her. As she glanced over to the two teachers, who were lost in conversation while they looked over their charts, an idea popped into her mind – she might still be able to sense the ghost if she got close to it. And according to the report, it wasn't a very threatening ghost, so there was a possibility that it was one she could handle even by herself, she thought. Keeping her gaze straight, locked onto the professors, she began slowly scooting around the corner of the building, inch by inch, until she was out of sight completely. She raced through the rows of buildings, tents, and attractions until she was fairly certain it was far enough away from the teachers that they wouldn't be able to find her easily before she slowed any. Panting, she came to a stop, putting her palms on her knees as she bent over so she could catch her breath.
And suddenly, there was something. A presence of some kind.
Doing as Yukio had taught her in their tutoring sessions, she closed her eyes, and tried to focus on the feeling, trying her best to push all other things from her mind in the process as to not let the presence escape her senses. The sounds of the wind howling high in the sky settled; the aromas of the cold amusement park food in the closed-up tents became blander, until she couldn't smell them at all anymore. And there, in the dark, was a child-like sense, off in the distance, over her left shoulder.
Snapping her eyes open, she darted off once more between the rows of tents, trying to follow the aura to the best of her ability. She chuckled to herself, proud of how far along she had come in such a short amount of time; even some of the other exwire's hadn't yet been able to sense demons and spirits as well as her, and they had their temptaint. It was possible that her lack thereof heightened her senses altogether, much like a blind person hears better than the average person with sight, or it was possible that she had some sort of natural ability being quelled by the lack of a temptaint; but she chalked it up to her hard work, which only caused her to want to work harder to reach her goals. Chasing down the apparition seemed like a personal test to her – had her senses become good enough to actually track demons? She beamed enthusiastically as she jogged, excited to find out.
Coming to a sprawling building whose top came to a tall point, the presence she felt was still onward. Looking to both the left and right, it seemed as though her best bet would be going through the building itself to continue the trail. Noticing that one of the slider doors was open just a tiny bit, she walked over to it slowly, and peered into the black that poured out of the building like a thick veil. She poked her head through the door and looked all around her; there were a few windows where solid light beams were shining down onto the dirt floor, and a crack of light here and there from the other large, sliding doors on the other side of the building. It smelled strongly of dust and animals, but the sweet smell of kettle corn lingered in the air as well.
The dark absorbed her body as she slipped inside the building, the gravel crunching lightly beneath her feet. The presence she had felt, suddenly felt very near, as if it were in the building with her – but she couldn't see a thing. Tripping over a chair, she gasped loudly as she caught herself, only to clasp her hands over her mouth. She held as still as possible, trying to sense the ghost again. It was hard to feel. Maybe she scared it, she wondered.
Suddenly, the spotlights at the top of the point blared on, shining down on the ground, exposing the middle ring and the tightrope poles. Purple, red, and white stripes were painted on the inside of the coned ceiling, the tall tightrope masts were purple in color, and the back wall was painted with elaborate scrolls which served as the hair to an intricate clown mural. The clown had a stripped hat and a polka-dotted frill, and the mouth was gaping open to a hole in the wall to the back room where the performers would pour out from. It became clear that this was a permanent circus tent, which meant that she was all the way on the far side of the amusement park.
Her heart beat heavier and heavier in her chest as she ambled past the miscellaneous chairs and rows of red and purple pews, toward the main ring. Paw prints from the performance animals were still in the dirt, showing signs of a couple days age by the softening of the outlines from the draft that rolled through the building, causing the large doors to bang against the walls with each gust. In the center of the ring, there was a single foot print, with a brushed circle of what appeared to be air that was forced down around it somehow. Upon further inspection, the girl noticed that there were no other human foot prints in the large center ring, and this one was fresh. The high spot light cast shadows all around her, and her mind twisted them into potential threats, causing her heart to skip a beat every few seconds.
The hair on the back of her neck stood on end as the presence suddenly became very strong. A loud thump echoed above her, and as she looked up, she stared in bewilderment as the trapeze swing flung back and forth, smacking back into the large purple pole. There was something else in the building, but it was still too dark to see elsewhere out of the center ring.
Her heart pumped wildly as something tickled her waist, and she spun around flailing arms and legs like a rabid beast, coming into contact with something as hard as a boulder. Squealing as she thrashed with eyes closed, her fists landed on something that wrapped around her wrists tightly and held her in place until she couldn't move any longer, as if her arms had been cemented in place.
Cracking open her lids, she gasped loudly.
The same green haired demon stood in front of her, holding on to both of her wrists, to keep the annoying flaps of her arms from smacking him, even though her strikes only felt like dull tingles upon his body. He watched her eyes expand; only to recede as her body relaxed from the familiar face. He wasn't quite sure what kind of emotions were running through her, nor did he particularly care. Emotions weren't a strong suit for demons, and his comprehension of them was especially watered down.
"It's you again—what are you doing here?" the girl questioned.
His grip on her wrists loosened. "I had some time to spare. I wanted to see you again," he said plainly, eyes scanning the human's face.
"Why?" she asked, squinting one eye, perplexed.
The lollipop in his mouth crunched loudly as he bit down on it. "I find you interesting."
Pulling her hands from his, she examined him closely, taking in his long, black nails, the strange outfit which adorned his slim figure, and his expressionless face. Why would a demon be so interested in her, she wondered, keeping silent as she planned out her words carefully. "So you came to see me, because you had a moment. A moment from what exactly? What are you doing?"
"I'm going to play for a bit," he said, toying with the paper stick in his mouth.
"With who?"
"My brother."
Her heart thumped in her chest. Another demon? "Who's your brother?"
"I can't answer that question," he said plainly.
She furrowed her brow. "What are you going to play with him?"
"I can't answer that question, either," he said as he pulled out the stick and looked it over. "The food in this world is very good." Pulling out some candies from his pockets, he held them out to the girl. "Would you like one?"
She looked over the assortment of hard and chewable candy in his palm, only to focus on his sharp nails once more. Her gut sank a little. "No thanks – are you going to tell me if you're the demon who's been following me my whole life, or not?"
Pulling a wrapper off of a piece and shoving the rest back into his pocket, he looked back up at the girl with bored eyes. "I told you what the price was for that sort of question."
Her heart thumped again, this time harder. A kiss. Just a simple, little kiss, and she would at least get an answer. Her mind could be at ease finally, instead of thinking about it every day and wondering if she would ever get the chance to ask this demon again. And who knew if she would see him another time.
His eyes shot wide open as soft, warm hands came into contact with both sides of his chilled face ever so lightly. Something inside of him jumped and turned in a way that he couldn't explain as the girl's pupils danced around his face, hesitantly leaning in closer and closer to him. What could such a strange, alien feeling be, he wondered. As the girl placed her lips upon his cheek, barely missing his own lips, the flipping feeling inside of him exploded into something extraordinary, like hundreds of fireworks being set off at once, rocketing through his veins, setting him ablaze. And for the first time in his life, he felt a warmth in the pit of his belly.
Opening her eyes, she pulled away softly, only to have his hands caress hers and keep them in contact with his flushed cheeks. His eyes were wide with wonder, and her heart filled with dread, wondering what sort of curse might befall her for making such a foolhardy decision. But she had to know. Her pouty lips cracked, and her voice broke as she tried to speak. "Are you the demon that's been following me since I was little?"
He found himself unable to speak for the time being, and resorted to faintly shaking his head 'no,' eyes still wide. Her face changed to something that he couldn't quite place his finger on, and he watched her eyes become as glossy as the ocean as his hands fell from hers, releasing them from the caress.
"Do you know who is?" she prodded, almost whispering.
"M-my brother," he answered. And with that, he hopped into the black, and a gust of wind took the presence that she had felt, far away to the other side of the park.
