I met Rin the next morning at the terrace. She wore a dull red jacket with a woolly light brown hem, its length almost managing to cover up where her skirt would be. Thankfully she was wearing her casual jeans, otherwise I'd be worrying about how cold her legs would be.
Rin doesn't spot me at once. Like always, she's tending to her army of cats, most of which don't mind the cold weather. The ones that do are the ones immediately around Rin, waiting for warmth from their protectorate. I watch quietly from the sidelines.
"Alright, Jackie, your turn," she addresses one of the mangier-looking cats. It steps forward and leaps into her lap. She proceeds to enclose it tightly in her arms. "There, there."
From the way she was holding the cat, I got the impression of a mother cradling her newborn child. It made me wonder, would Rin make a good mother? She's gotten a lot of practice taking care of all these cats, but was taking care of cats really the same as taking care of a human? I didn't think so.
"Meow~" One of the cats, Lennon, brushed up against my leg. It seemed that he noticed my arrival before Rin. I picked him up carefully, not having the best knowledge of how to carry cats, and let him rest comfortably in my arms. Hm...would I make a good father to a child?
"Rin," I call out to her. She notices me immediately.
"Ah, Riki! Go! Shoo!" She scats the cats around her away, leaving the terrace nearly empty. I approach her with Lennon in my arms, and lend him to her.
"Found this one rubbing my leg when I came here," I told her. "I hope I was gentle enough carrying him."
"You're fine, Riki," she waves it off, giving me a stern look. "Anyway, where were you?! We were supposed to be leaving right after breakfast!"
"Saigusa-san happened," I explain to her. "She wanted to official announce the transfer of roommates between Kud and Nishizono-san."
"Well, that must have been pointless," she states the obvious. "Come on, let's go."
And so we went. It was an hour or so before midday by the time we reached the market square. Already we could see a heavy Christmas influence on many of the shops and buildings there; cafes were advertising their special brand of peppermint ice cream or blends of cocoa and festive coffee. It was a veritable commercial wonderland, brimming with people. It overwhelmed Rin a little.
"Uh..." She stuck close to my side as we dove through the busy streets, which seemed to distract us from our true goal. I found it necessary to ask Rin where she wanted to shop at.
"The clothing store," she answers almost immediately. "There's something I want to look at there."
We went there as directed by Rin. The store she chose was relatively small, with a homely, rustic feel going for it. It looked more like an arts and crafts shop than a clothing store, but sure enough, there were clothes inside. They all seemed made of various kinds of fabric, including ones you wouldn't normally see made into clothes. I was a little skeptical.
"Are you sure this is where you want to look for clothes?" I ask Rin. "They don't seem very conventional."
Before Rin can answer me, I heard a familiar voice calling out to us. "Riki, Rin-san!" It was Kud, wearing cozy winter apparel. Her blood red scarf grossly stood out among her light pink beanie and fluffy white jacket. What was she doing here? Did she get the same idea as Rin for her present?
"...Kud, good morning," Rin greets her awkwardly. I do the same, but in a more familiar tone.
"Haro, eburiwan~ Haowa yu?" Kud looks very happy today. The snowpuff on top of her beanie jiggled around as she bounced towards us. She seemed a total contrast to how I saw her last night.
"Fain, sankyuu~" I answer her as she would. It made me giggle a little inside. I wonder if this is how she gets her energy?
"...What are you doing here?" Rin starts asking her.
"I'm shopping for materials!" She gladly explains. "This store is well-known for its unique material used for sewing and stitching together into all kinds of clothing articles!"
Yeah, I figured as much. That would explain the crazy styles of clothing on display. That's when I remembered: Kud can sew fabric. She made patchwork before; I saw it when I helped her unpack in Nishizono's room. That leads me to ask: "What do you plan to make with the materials?"
"It's a secret!" Ah, the typical Christmas cover-up. Now I'm curious.
"Who do you plan to give the finished product to?"
"That's also a secret!" I'd been shot down twice. I figured I should be more roundabout in what to ask.
"Well, what can be made with these materials?"
Her eyes light up. "Well, you can make just about anything. Shirts, pants, skirts, underwear, you name it! You can even make winter clothes with some of the wool and felt this store has."
"...Winter clothes, huh?" Rin suddenly seemed very interested.
"Yes, winter clothes," Kud repeats cheerfully. "I can't wait to see the look on Kurugaya-san's and Inohara-san's faces when they see the cozy clothes I'm going to make them..." She freezes at that moment. "Gaan! I've been tricked?!"
"Well, we won't tell anyone," I promise to Kud. "Right, Rin?"
Rin seemed to be deep in thought when I addressed her. "Huh?! Uh...yeah, we won't tell."
"Wafuu...you guys are the best," she breathes a sigh of relief. "Well, I'd better go make my purchases now. Tu bii kontinudo nekusuto taimu nano desu~" I swear, watching her progress in English never gets old.
"Riki," Rin interrupts my line of thought. "Let's check the fabrics."
"O-okay," I roll along with her. For some reason, though, my line of sight is still focused on Kud's bouncy figure. Is she really alright?
We left the shop around the early afternoon. Rin purchased a curious batch of solid brown and beige fabric for a surprisingly low amount. I had to reconsider the possibilities my budget could achieve after that short stop.
"So, shall we go home?" I ask Rin.
"No, there's two more stops," Rin denies my need for relief. Our brief visit with Kud left me a little drained, and having Rin drag me along for two more stops sounded agonizing. Still, I kept going for Rin's sake. I knew there would be an end, so I indulged Rin a little longer.
"Where are we going next, then?"
Rin's response is swift. "The toy shop."
I don't know how Rin knows about so many of the stores, but she seems well-versed about where and when to shop. Well, I figured, she is a girl after all. And I'd learned about some cost-effective materials from the last store, so there was likely something to learn at the next one.
The toy shop Rin picked out was also quite small and out of the way, its appearance mimicking that of a brick-and-mortar shop in a Christmas diorama. It was rare to see one of these thrive in Japan, but I suppose its cozy, unambitious feel is what drew Rin here in the first place. I kind of liked it myself.
Inside were rows and rows of toys that I simultaneously did and didn't recognize. Those that I did recognize were toys I hadn't seen since I was a kid. There were stuffed animals lined up on racks hanging just under the ceiling, some of them in the form of weird animals I didn't recognize. There wasn't a single ordinary-looking toy in the store.
"Mm..." Rin didn't seem as enraptured, but that had to be because she had been to the store before. Her eyes were the exact same as they were yesterday, when she was scrutinizing me. Curious, calculating, full of intent. They seemed like eyes that were ready to overturn the world to find the ideal Christmas present.
"Ah, pardon me," a familiar voice apologizes as she bumps into me. "Huh? Riki-kun?"
"Saigusa-san?" I was surprised to see her here. "What are you doing here?"
"Yahaha, wouldn't you like to know?" She started teasing me. My guess was that it had something to do with the party, but she quickly dispelled the thought. "I'm here to get something for Little Kud."
"As a Christmas present?" I asked her.
"Of course not," she denied my theory with a hearty laugh. "I'm getting it for her to welcome her as my new roommate."
"Does Kud even like playing with toys?"
"Sometimes she does," Saigusa-san answered with a smug grin. "Miocchi told me that she likes anything that reminds her of her home. Not that I know what that means."
Saigusa-san laughed heartily as she moves past me towards the counter. "I would like to purchase this funny-looking anteater, please."
It was at this moment I realized that Rin had wandered off. I felt tempted to look for her, but something deep inside me was bothering me. The image of Futaki-san's cold rejection of my offer still burned itself inside my skull. I had to tell Saigusa-san about it. I'm not sure what I was thinking of then was right, but I figure I had to convince Futaki-san to stay somehow. Saigusa-san seemed like the right person for just that.
"Saigusa-san," I asked her hesitantly. "Have you been speaking with Futaki-san lately?"
"No," she gave me a quick, blank reply. "Why?"
"Can you invite her to the party on the 24th?" I plead with her. "She wouldn't listen to me when I tried."
"Riki-kun," Saigusa-san fires a slow, sharp answer in my direction. "If she wouldn't listen to you, why on earth would you think she'd listen to me?"
She snatched up her bagged anteater and left the store in a huff. I couldn't say or do anything more. For a moment, time seemed to slow down, all noise fading into a low, ambient rumble. It was the sound of a shocking realization. Futaki-san was now a lost cause.
"Riki," Rin's voice snaps me back to reality. "Let's go."
I just didn't care anymore. There was one stop left, but all I was doing was slumping behind Rin. Heh, this must be what she felt like when she hides behind my back. Had my back always been a stone wall, one of the few safe havens left for Rin? I found myself a little conflicted about my position in relation to Rin's. She was younger, therefore she was worth more than my sorry rump. Was I really any stronger a person than her?
"We're here," she stops in front of me and looks up. I glanced up at the store in front of me briefly. It looked like a small, well-worn bookstore. The coloration and wear of the wood were indicative of the shop's age and reputation. Either that, or nobody ever bothered to clean the outside. Whatever, let's just get this over with and go home.
The interior of the bookshop smelled like old books. No surprise there. The floorboards creaked as we stepped on them. There were only two other people in the shop, but I didn't bother looking at their faces. Rin looked about on her own, while I slumped myself on the left of the doorway.
"Excuse me," a girl with a quiet voice addressed me as I settled down. "I need to leave through the door."
"...Alright," I answered as I moved out of the way. I just barely caught the girl's face as she walked past me. It was familiar, someone who shouldn't have been here right now. I thought I was seeing things, but experience had told me that there was always a stark difference between her and her 'other'. My eyes flashed back to life.
"Mio!" I rushed out the shop to meet her, but within my field of view, she was gone. It was as if she was never there.
What was going on with me today? People and opportunities were disappearing left and right, as if Christmas was never meant to be for me. I was dangerously close to shouting to the sky, renouncing any semblance of claim to my life and cursing whatever religious deity came into my head first. I was angry, hopeless even.
"Riki," a cold whisper voiced itself, as if a human ice sculpture's hand were laying itself on my shoulder. It was trembling, much like how it was last night. The Reaper was keeping tabs on me. Not simply because it was her duty to, but because she could hardly think about anything else. I was in danger of dying to my best friend.
"Kud," I dispelled my fear of the spirit with her name. I couldn't see her anywhere, but I could feel her. She was cold, just like I imagined Death would be. Her breath was an odorless perfume, formless but sweet. She was ready to embrace me...but was I ready to let her?
"Riki," she repeated my name. It wasn't a seductive touch; rather her crackling, icy sorrow was beckoning me not to give in. As much as I knew she wanted to embrace me, it hurt her to let me be hers alone, as well as to ignore her lust for my dying flesh. It was a painful Catch-22. It could only be broken if I had earned the right to be with her for all time. That was an impossible dream for now.
"Alright," I nodded fervently. "I'll carry on for your sake."
Having regained light in my eyes, I felt her inhuman touch shrink away from my presence. I could hear sobbing from the great beyond. Were they happy tears? To this day I still don't know for myself.
"Riki," Rin's hand finds itself on the same shoulder. "I found the..." She took a good look at me, her eyes widening with shock. "What happened to your face?!"
I felt the skin of my face. It was cold and sunken, as if a layer of construction paper were grazing bone. I could feel its coarseness as it had started to decompose. Tiny white flakes stuck to my hand when I looked at the colorless hand that felt my face.
"I...have no idea," I answered Rin, quite speechless myself.
"Riki, you've been acting weird since we left the toy store," Rin confronted me on the subject. "Is there something wrong?"
She wasn't the type to back off if I told her nothing was wrong. Especially since, quite clearly, something was wrong with me. I was hesitant to tell her, but eventually the truth came out.
"I'm...worried," I tell her slowly. "About everyone going away."
Surprisingly, Rin seemed to understand immediately. Her eyes droop. "Yeah...I want Komari-chan to stay too." She was silent for a while, but then she looked at me with a strange conviction. "But you can't get worked up about it. She's only gone for the holidays."
Her words were kind, but they didn't cheer me up in the slightest. "Kyousuke was counting on me...I'm failing him as we speak. I can't just stand here shopping with you!"
"Idiot, didn't you hear what he said?" Rin gives me an irritated stare. "You should be focusing on finding a present for who's left. He never once said they were lost causes. Getting the party ready is more important right now than ensuring all the guests arrive."
"Yeah, but..." I struggled to argue with her. "I just can't stop thinking about what might happen..."
"That's your problem," Rin shares with me bluntly. "You never stop thinking. Try doing something actually productive for once."
"But I..." I ran out of words to argue with. She's right, I haven't done a single thing towards making the party a reality. As far as I knew, it was already going to be a reality. Kyousuke would make it happen regardless of what I did. But what was the point of me being there if I didn't put forth my own effort, as the other Busters were doing? As Rin herself was doing? She had her present in the bag. What did I find?
"Alright," I exhaled reluctantly. "I'll focus on finding a present."
"Well, don't tell me about it," she yells at me. "Go do it!"
"Okay, okay!" I make a break for it back down the street. Rin scampers after me, screaming her lungs out. "Don't leave me behind, moron!"
I revisited the craft and clothing store from earlier and bought some of their clearance fabric. Rin helped me pick out some good solid colors, and I carried them out in a plastic tote bag. We were both quite exhausted from running and shopping, but I felt so full of light and ideas that I couldn't wait to return to the dorm.
"I bought a book for working with fabric at the bookstore," Rin fills me in. "You can borrow it when I'm done."
"Thanks, Rin," I nod. I couldn't be happier to receive her help.
Our walk back to the school grounds was rather quiet despite all of our recent activity. The sun was going down fast, so I guessed curfew was close. Futaki-san would be mad if she found out we were out until late.
I sighed. "Futaki-san..."
"Hm?" Rin caught what I said. "What about Futaki-san?"
"Nothing," I shook out the thought. "Just processing stuff in my head."
"Riki, don't think too hard about it," Rin cautions me. "Just focus on what's in front of you."
"What's in front of me..." Another dangerous thought came to my mind. Did Rin mean...no, that couldn't have been it. Sure, it's been at least six months, but she still can't seriously be thinking about...?
"Rin?" I thought I might regret what I was saying here. "What do you think of me right now?"
Her eyes bobbled with the same childish blankness I knew her for. "Hm? I don't understand."
"I mean, it's been a while since we last dated," I gave her some context. Her eyes light up at the word 'dated'.
"Oh, that's what you meant," she answers with greater understanding. "Well...hm..."
Her face contorted itself in every conceivable way as she thought long and hard about my question. I found it a little ironic that she told me to stop thinking, and yet she took her sweet time thinking about what I'm saying. That's why I felt I should stop her.
"It's alright if you don't know," I tell her. "I'm not sure I know what I think of you myself."
"Riki?" Rin gave me a curious look of disbelief.
"I think what we had wasn't so much love as it was an obligation to be together," I continue. "We were more like brother and sister than actual lovers."
"Hm...maybe you're right," Rin nods slowly. "I still don't quite get it, though. Why couldn't we be lovers even though we were already close?"
"I'm not saying we couldn't," I clarify for her. "I just think...neither of us really knew what it meant to love at that time."
"Mm..." Rin pondered my words for a while. "Riki, what does it mean to love?"
I couldn't look her straight in the eyes anymore. I didn't know the answer. In my experience, love was something that couldn't be explained, only felt. I think Kurugaya-san understood that by the time we started dating. Rin wanted a meaning, because she only understood something by its strict definition. Nonetheless, I think she had as much of a capacity to love as Kurugaya, if not more.
"I wish I could tell you," I settled on telling her. If that was true, then wasn't my love for the gang a lie? Did I not truly love the girls I dated? I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe I was contradicting myself. I had to add: "I think it's one of the few things that can't be explained. Like magic, I guess."
"Magic, huh?" Something seemed to click into place for her. "Isn't Christmas magical? Doesn't that make Christmas a time to experience love?"
Now that I think about it, I think she was onto something. Christmas was kind of a time for spreading love and cheer to all. My heart warmed as my mind turned towards the gang. Kyousuke and the others...everything we did was a labor of love. Christmas would be no exception.
"I...I think you're right," I tell Rin. "There may be no better time to experience love than Christmas."
Rin smiled quietly. We didn't say much else before we reached the gate, at which point we were met, not by Futaki-san, but by Kengo. His expression didn't look good at all.
"Kengo?" Rin acknowledged his presence before I did.
"Welcome back, you two," he spoke in a low voice. "Just so you know, Kyousuke's caught some sort of influenza."
We rushed over to Kyousuke's room, but we were stopped at the door by Masato. His face ought to have been made of stone, it was so stoic. "No one's allowed in Kyousuke's room unless he says so," he briefs us.
"What's happened to Kyousuke?!" Rin had been in a panic since Kengo told us the news.
"I don't know, he just collapsed while we were out shopping!" Masato couldn't keep a stoic face forever, so his sudden irritation was strangely comforting to me. "We were talking to Kamikita-san and Little Kud at the bakery when it happened. Maybe one of the samples upset his stomach..."
"Well, I don't think it would have happened immediately if that was the...wait," I stopped myself for a moment. "Did you say Kud was there?"
"Yeah," Masato nodded. "She had this odd look on her face, like she was about to grow some extra muscles and strangle someone. It was pretty scary."
"I don't see how that could be scary coming from you," I retorted. "But I'm worried about Kud. I'm gonna go see her."
"Hey, what about Kyousuke?!" Rin yelled after me.
"I'll come back to see him! Kud's more important right now!" I don't hear Rin following me. Please hang in there, Kyousuke...
The sun was nearly down by the time I made it out of the boys' dorm. I had to see if Kud was still around at the girls' dorm. I ran as fast as I could, clinging hard onto my bag of fabric from the store.
When I asked the dorm head, she told me she left almost as soon as I arrived. Crap, I didn't have much time. She was going to break into Kyousuke's room if I wasn't fast enough. I couldn't let him die, not before Christmas!
I stopped in the middle of the field between the girls' and boys' dorms. Kud often appeared here when I was in my room, so she had to appear close by tonight. If I didn't see her, she might have already made her way into the building. I had to come up with a way to get to Kyousuke's room.
Kyousuke's room was on the far end of the second floor, so the only other way in was to climb through the window. I had no clue how I was going to get up there. A simple rope wouldn't be enough; I needed a grapple to latch on to the window, if not outright break a glass pane. Again, I had nothing that could work in place of a grapple. Oh, what should I do? The sun faded away into the horizon as I fretted over how to save Kyousuke...
Night. Silence. None of the usual noises of nature pervaded through the walkway between the dorms, not even the wind. There was only the faint buzzing of the night lamps as they rapidly flickered on and off. The air grew ominously colder, and the sky became like murky swamp water. I shivered in place. This unnatural chill signaled to me the end of life itself. Not my life specifically, but someone I loved. She was here.
"Grrr..." I heard the low growl of two large hounds. Strelka's growl had a strange squeaking sound mixed in with it, while Belka's was rumbling like a motocross bike's engine. They were hostile, ready to kill me at a moment's notice. Would Kud really do this to me? She must have known I would try to stop her. Then...why?
"Strelka, Belka," I called out their names to dispel my fears. "Calm down. I'm not your enemy."
My pleas were promptly ignored. Belka lunged first, aiming for my arm. I give it to him hard.
WHAP! Belka flew back five feet as my fist connects with his snout. My fingers throbbed from the impact. "Agh, gosh, that hurt! Stop this, please!"
Strelka ran at me next, and I watched her closely to see where she would bite. She wasn't jumping, so she must be aiming at...my side!
"I told you to STOP!" My free hand smacked Strelka aside as I dodged her attack. She didn't slide far, but I heard her whimper a little. That must have hurt...
"I don't have time for this!" I ran towards the boys' dorm, a recovered Belka chasing after me. "Uwaaaaah!"
I ran screaming into the boys' dorm, flying up a floor while Belka trashed it. I could hear screams coming from other rooms as the reckless hound tore through them in search of me. By the time I made it up the stairs, I was sure he would be caught enough in the ruckus to lose track of me.
Boy, was I wrong. As I reached the floor Kyousuke's room was on, Strelka had somehow managed to reach the second floor. She blocked my path with fierce intent, combined with a low growl. As I stood there paralyzed, Belka had caught up to me, leaving me cornered on all sides.
"Rin! Masato! Someone help!" I called out desperately to anyone in the vicinity, but nobody came. This was the end of the road for me, I was sure of it. Belka looked ready to slice me apart and feast on my entrails. Strelka, on the other hand, only seemed concerned with blocking my path. If she wasn't going to attack me, then I had to make sure Belka didn't. I turned my back on Strelka to face him.
"I don't know what you plan to do with Kyousuke," I stared him down, "But it's gonna be over my dead body!"
"Back off from Riki!" From out of nowhere, a fleeting shadow dropped from the ceiling and pinned Belka with a single kick. I immediately recognized it as Rin.
"Rin!" I called out to her.
"Riki, behind you!" At Rin's behest, I turned around just in time to see Strelka leap at me. I leapt aside in time for Strelka to land close to Rin.
"Unyaa!" Rin nails Strelka's lower jaw with another perfectly placed kick. Strelka flies backward across the hall from the sheer force. "Riki, go! Quickly!"
I nod, and run in the direction Strelka flew. I could hear Rin continuously kicking Belka as I ran. I should apologize to him later.
At the end of the hall stood Masato at the designated door. Strelka lay in a heap by the hall's end, struggling to get up after Rin's oddly strong kick. I run straight to Masato in a sweaty, breathless mess. "Masato, let me in!"
"I told you already," he tells me in the same stoic manner as earlier. "No one goes in unless Kyousuke says so."
"Now's not the time to act cool, Masato! Kyousuke will die if I'm not in there!" As I argued in front of him, Strelka regained her footing and lurched forward with a nasty growl. I shut my eyes and prepare to get mauled. The sharp claws and fangs don't reach me, however. They've been stopped by Masato's meaty fist.
"How else am I gonna pull off something like this unless I stay cool?" Masato answers me with a haughty grin. "Go inside. He's been waiting for you for some time."
"Thank you, Masato," I breathe a sigh of gratitude, and run past him into Kyousuke's room. I heard Masato's handful of dog snout squeeze tight, Strelka whimpering in pain behind me.
The room, to my surprise, was empty. The window wasn't open, nothing was turned on. Kyousuke's stack of manga remained neat and untouched. The only sign of life in the room was the sound of Kyousuke's sleeping breath under his bed. Thank heaven he was still alive. I knew Kud had to be close by, though. I started searching the room.
"Kud?" I called out to her. "Kud, where are you? I know you're in here, answer me!"
"Riki," she answered in a clear, but sad voice. "Why did you come?"
I turn away from the direction of Kyousuke's bunk, close by the window. Her figure was there, clear as the moonlight outside. It was her hunting hour. I kept my distance while also staying close to Kyousuke's bedside.
"You should know very well why I came," I yell at her. "Kyousuke is my best friend!"
"He is close to death," she wails. "You should know what happens to people who fail to die."
The undead. I've heard stories, watched movies about them. Kyousuke becoming like a zombie was already too much a thought to bear. I knew it was Kud's job to prevent their existence, but I didn't want to let go of Kyousuke. Not before Christmas!
"Riki," Kud repeats my name. "I'm sorry to do this to you, but if you won't step aside..."
From beneath her ghostly mantle, the form of a long, demonic scythe emerged in Kud's small grip. It stood taller than Kud herself, and the blade was more than half as long. I had no idea how she was able to carry something that huge, but I've seen it in action. It was ruthless, desperate to cure its insatiable hunger for a human's life force. It seemed to grin as it licked the blood of its victims. I wasn't going to let that thing touch Kyousuke!
"This isn't you, Kud," I plead with her one last time. "If Kyousuke dies, the Busters die. You don't want that, do you?"
"This was never about the Busters, Riki," Kud answered, raising her scythe. "It's just how things need to be."
In a flash, the scythe cut through the air at impossible speeds. I closed my eyes and braced for impact, but I didn't feel any pain. I opened one eye. Kud stood there in the same spot, scythe-less and panting. I looked behind me, and I noticed the scythe embedded in where Kyousuke was sleeping.
"Kyousuke?! KYOUSUKE!" I threw myself against the scythe, pushing it off him as hard as I could. It wouldn't budge. Already the sheets were stained with his blood. I couldn't fight back the tears. He was dead!
"UWAAAAAAH!" I threw myself on his corpse and cried. I didn't care if I got blood on my clothes. His sleeping breath...had faded away. His eyes had...lost all light within them. Any missions we could have had together...would never be. He was gone...he was gone, HE WAS GONE!
"This..." My trembling fists crunched up. "This is your fault."
Kud said nothing in response. She watched me in silence, satisfied in her work but keeping her true feelings in the dark. I hoped she was happy with her decision, because I sure as heck wasn't! Answer me, darn it! Give me back Kyousuke!
"Give him back!" I rushed at Kud to hit her, but she caught my fist perfectly. I threw my other one, but she caught it too. I tried kick her, but she twisted my arms around to paralyze me. I was useless against her. I knelt in front of her, massaging my injured arm. Then she did something unthinkable.
"Riki..." She kneels to my level, wraps her arms around me and rests her head on my shoulder. "I'm sorry..."
"Liar..." My voice cracked. I couldn't yell at her anymore, I was so distraught. "You could have held back...you could have stayed away...Don't say you're sorry! You killed Kyousuke! You deserve to die!"
"Yes," Kud answers, crying herself. "I deserve to die...I should have died long ago...with my parents."
"Uwaaaah..." I kept crying on her shoulder. I was so lost in mourning and confusion, I didn't know how to react to her words. I kept listening.
"Riki," she sobbed. "Kyousuke was...keeping us apart. As much as I didn't want to...I had to, for your sake...We need to stop living...in Kyousuke's shadow..."
"Uuuuu..." My cries died down. I didn't care about revenge anymore. I just wanted someone to cry to. I wasn't ready to forgive Kud yet, but for now, I was calm. Kud continued to embrace me carefully throughout the night...until I fell asleep.
When I awoke, I was in my room. My eyes burned, and the rest of my face was boiling hot. I took my time getting out of bed, in order to get used to the cold. "Ugh...what happened?"
I remembered the last rays of twilight. The fight with Strelka and Belka. Rin and Masato. I entered Kyousuke's room...and everything went black. Something wasn't right. What happened in Kyousuke's room? Or rather, what happened to me in Kyousuke's room?
"Did Kyousuke...make it?" I couldn't be sure. Part of me hoped for the best, but I was also worried that I didn't have the strength to make it. I guessed the best way to know was to see Rin and Masato, maybe Kengo if I couldn't find them.
"Alright," I gathered up myself. "Let's go."
I opened the door...and saw Komari there. "Oh?"
"Huh? Howaah!" Komari jumped back at the sight of me. "I-I-I'm sorry, Riki-kun! I wa-wasn't trying to open the door while you were asleeeeep~!"
"Well, I'm awake now," I answered her. "Good morning, Komari."
"Uuuee...don't scare me like that, Riki-kun..." She seemed rather lively today.
"So, what did you want?" I asked her. She took some time to compose herself before replying.
"Well," she started, smiling like her usual self. "I came to wish you a good morning."
"Well, good morning to you too," I smiled back.
"Good morning, Riki-kun," she responded in kind. Neither of us knew what to say next, so we just stood there for what seemed like a full minute. I noted the pleasant noise of birds chirping outside, the ticking of my alarm clock, and the squeaking of the floorboards. Komari didn't look like she had any sort of ulterior motive behind coming to see me. Actually, why was she here?
"Um..." "Ah..." We both spoke about the same time. "Aha...you go first, Riki-kun."
"No, you go first," I reply politely. "I'm sure what you have to say is more important."
"No, I don't really have anything to say," Komari refused with a sheepish smile. "I just wanted to let you know how healthy you look."
"Well, um...thanks," I replied, pleased but a little red-faced. "I thought you were leaving for home yesterday. Did something go wrong?"
"Hue? Leaving?" She looked a little confused. "Riki-kun...what are you talking about?"
Her words left me stunned. I thought I was hearing things; I couldn't help but push a little further. "For Christmas! You were going to see your family for Christmas! Did a bus crash? Did your plans fall through? WHAT HAPPENED?!"
"R-R-Riki-kun, are you...are you okay?" She was looking at me like I was a crazy person. "I didn't say anything about going to my parents' house...I'm going to spend Christmas with you and the other Busters, remember?"
I couldn't believe my ears. Either Komari had bad memory or something was wrong with me. I wasn't inclined to believe either. I knew what I saw. I knew what I heard. This didn't sit right with me...but...I wasn't unhappy. Komari seemed completely fine, and yet...she would sacrifice time with her family...for me and the other Busters? That just didn't seem right.
"Komari," I asked her, still rather serious in tone. "Where are Rin and Masato?"
"Fue? They're in the cafeteria, waiting for you," she replied innocently. I wasted no time moving past her and rushing to the cafeteria. I had to see for myself if they were okay after last night, if they even remembered anything about it.
"Masato! Rin!" I yelled out as I reached the cafeteria. I spotted them quickly, as did they. They seemed as though they were chatting peacefully with the others.
"Ah, morning, Riki," Masato greeted me with his usual grin. "Have a good rest?"
"Masato," I confronted him, "What do you remember about last night?"
"Huh? Last night? What about it?" His attitude seemed to mirror Komari's when questioned. That did not give me hope.
"Riki, what's wrong?" Rin asked me with a look of genuine concern. "Did you hit your head or something?"
"I...don't know," I told them. "What...what happened while I was in Kyousuke's room?"
"Oh, that," Masato's eyes lit up. "You took a while in there. I don't know what you two were talking about, but you looked really out of it when you came out. Your face still looks kinda red...Did Kyousuke make you cry?"
"N-no," I told them. "It was..."
"You cried in front of Kyousuke?" Rin gave me a weird look. "What a stupid thing to do."
"I wasn't crying in front of him," I asserted my previous statement. "It was because of..."
"Yo, everyone," a shockingly familiar voice addressed us. I looked in his direction, and was taken aback by who it was.
"Kyousuke..." He looked as fit as he was before. He looked perfectly unharmed. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was him, it was really him!
"Morning, Riki," he spoke directly to me, sounding a little stuffy. "Did I make you worry?"
"Kyousuke!" I rushed up to hug him. He felt real, smelled real, sounded real! I couldn't stop crying in front of him. I couldn't let go of him. Everyone else seemed quite shocked.
"Riki?" Rin glared at me. "What's happening to you? Did you catch his stupid cold or something?"
"Settle down, Rin," Kyousuke let out a joyful, throaty laugh. "I'm sure Riki has his reasons for hugging and crying on my chest this early in the morning."
"It seems rather strange, though," Masato agreed with Rin. "He wasn't like this until after he left your room last night."
"I second that statement," Kengo observed, eyes cross. "Although I must say, he's the most expressive out of all of us when it comes to you."
"Well, if anyone minds being loved unconditionally by someone like him, it's not me," Kyousuke gargles to himself with his warm smile.
"Kyousuke..." I sniffed up happy tears. "I thought you were...but how?"
"Don't mind that, Riki," Kyousuke lightly wiped away my tears with his right index finger. "Just focus on our Christmas plans right now."
"...Yeah," I nodded. "Alright."
At breakfast, we discussed the current state of the upcoming Christmas party. Masato, Kengo and Rin threw around ideas that we could do for activities. Kyousuke considered them all carefully, shooting many of them down. When asked why, he simply answered: "Let's not get too organized about this. The goals of this party are to have fun and be merry." Ah, I'm tearing up just from remembering that.
"Kyousuke," I asked him in the middle of all this hubbub. "Komari told me that she would be joining us for the party instead of going to her parents' house. Did you say something to convince her?"
"Actually, I didn't," he answers with a clear conscience, but without a clear throat. "Kengo did."
I looked at Kengo. He was looking quite proud of himself. "When I heard that some of the members were leaving for the holidays, I made a few arrangements with their families. They've all agreed to let them stay."
"Kengo," my mouth stood agape. "You're amazing."
"Thank me later," he smiled. "We have a party to organize."
Continued in Act 2...