Chapter 5:Tears In the Rain

Shortly after the incident with the prurient Orphan, the rainy season began. Everything was gloomy and grey.

I'd been checking in on Takumi from time to time. Especially after the girls who visited Linden Baum had given voice to some wild fantasies about an illicit and unspeakable relationship involving my brother and his roommate. Though I fear I did Takumi few favors, because I was then teased with the suggestion that my protectiveness of him stemmed from an equally illicit relationship. There is nothing quite as terrifying as the propensity of the adolescent mind to conjure tawdry details where they don't exist.

I suppose that's why I was grateful for my newfound acquaintance with Miss Kuga. She seemed to have neither time nor interest in the gossip of our peers. Her soul focus was on the mystery surrounding the gathering of Hime. She and I didn't really talk much, but she would occasionally stop by Linden Baum, have a meal, and ask me if I was aware of any further Orphan activity. I wasn't. However, there was stories that both of us had heard that suggested that she was correct, and there were other Hime active in the background. And, of course, strange damage showing up here and there on campus.

I was having bizarre dreams, as well. Some were too strange to make much sense of, but some were utterly horrifying, and I would wake up in a cold sweat, only to find that Mikoto has once again slipped out of her bed and into mine, clinging to me with a near-iron grip and using my bosom as a pillow.

She'd also informed me that she was looking for her older brother, but the only information she had about him was that her grandfather had said he was now living in the land of Fuuka. She couldn't remember his face clearly, and she wasn't even certain what his name was, only that he had had long black hair when she last saw him.

"There's a book in the library I want to look into," Natsuki informed me at her latest visit to Linden Baum, "It's a Japanese translation of The Necronomicon. There's supposed to be information about the shoggoths in it…but Nagi hangs out in the library, and he's sure to pester us if we try to read it. Or send Orphans after us. Or worse, hit on us."

I gave her a wry smile, "You have very unique priorities."

After my shift I was walking back to the campus, and my dorm room. I considered taking a bus, but it was only a light rain, and the bus cost money, which I was trying to save.

It was then that I sensed it. I'd felt it before, but I'd never connected it to anything specific until that moment. As a bus passed me, I felt a dread unease in the pit of my stomach, and I realized that I could perceive an orphaned shoggoth concealing itself on the exterior of the bus. And that is when I committed a grave sin. I pretended not to notice. I had determined that I wasn't going to fight any longer. If I didn't summon Kagutsuchi, I wasn't in danger, and I could be there to look after Takumi. It was not my problem. That is what I decided.

The consequences of my choice were made undeniably clear to me the next day, when I was told our homeroom teacher was in a horrible bus accident, and had been taken to the hospital.

They didn't say what caused the accident, but it was all too apparent to me.

That night, I had a dream of a small girl riding in the back of a car, a large dog sitting beside her. There was a sudden jerking, and the car went off the edge of the road, into the inky blackness of the ocean at night. The girl was unconscious, and then I saw a pair of webbed fingers with grey-green flesh reaching for her. Something that resembled an abominable mesh of man and fish dragged her from the car and carried her to the surface. There, on the shore, waiting, was an albino with silvery hair and sharp pink eyes. Nagi.

Nagi knelt over the girl and spoke, "Go now—the casement is open and the stars await outside. Already your shantak wheezes and titters with impatience. Steer for Vega through the night, but turn when the singing sounds. "

I woke with a feeling of dread.

The next day, I decided I was going to talk to Kuga about my nightmares, and see if they were something important, or if the strange circumstances I'd found myself in had addled my mind. I'd been told she lived off campus, in a rather luxurious apartment paid for by her estranged father.

I didn't make it as far as her apartment, though. As I was standing at a corner, waiting for the light to change, another city bus passed me by. And once again, I sensed the presence of one of the Orphaned Shoggoth. It was there, and I sensed the malice pouring off of it. And then I saw Kuga, on her motorcycle, following the bus.

I clenched my fist. I'd sworn I wouldn't get involved. Takumi needed me. Miss Kuga had power, and she was already involved. She could…

I cursed myself, and hailed a cab. I handed the driver all of the money in my wallet and told him to follow the bus for as far as the money would take me.

We didn't have to go very far. Around the bend in the mountain road, there was a plume of black smoke. I told the cabbie to stop, and I raced on ahead, tripping at one point and scraping my knee. I came to the wreckage of the bus, with people littering the road, many of them badly hurt. Some of them…some of them were dead.

I was about to approach, when someone seized me from behind and dragged me into the brush.

"Shh," I heard someone hiss, and then I saw Miss Kuga beside me, staring out at the wreckage from the woods along the mountain path, "Look."

A few lorries pulled up alongside the wreckage. Several men in dark glasses and darker suits got out and began moving the injured and the dead. I heard them speaking, but they were not speaking any language I recognized. It sounded not at all like Japanese.

"They're agents of District One," Natsuki said, "It's an organization with ties to our school, and to the Hime. I don't know what techniques they use, drugs or hypnosis or something else, but when they're done, those people will have no memory of this incident, from the shoggoth that tore apart the bus to the accident. They'll even forget the dead. I've seen it before. I don't know how you feel about our powers, Miss Tokiha, but this is the reality that faces us. All of us."

She retrieved her motorcycle after the lorries left, and sped off. I found myself limping back down the mountain road, where I bumped into an ambulance. The men in the ambulance ran over to me. They asked me several questions, but I didn't really hear them. The wrapped a blanket around me and transported me to the hospital, where a doctor bandaged my knee and said I should take it easy for the next few days to let it heal.

I was exiting the hospital when I ran into a group of my classmates, including Mr. Tate. I learned that they students were there to check up on our injured teacher, and that a collection had been taken up to purchase a "get-well" gift for him. Mr. Tate seemed incensed at the others when he realized I hadn't been told. Mr. Zaizen, whose father was one of Takumi's doctors, explained that he had been aware of my financial situation and the grave concerns for Takumi's health.

"We weren't trying to exclude Miss Tokiha," Mr. Zaizen said sincerely, "We just knew she had such heavy burdens already, and so…"

I forced a smile on my face, "It's quite alright. Your intentions were good, and I can't fault you. All the same, you needn't worry. I'm always happy to lend a hand."

The others wished me well, and then I found it raining again as I left. Mr. Tate made a teasing remark about not loaning me an umbrella. There was nothing malicious in his remark. It was just a light-hearted tease. And yet, it was the straw that broke the camel's back. I began to bawl long and loud, and Mr. Tate shielded me with his umbrella, assuring me that he'd merely been joking.

He escorted me to a covered bench, and I cried until I had no more tears left.

"Forgive me," I said, "I was just overwhelmed."

He looked down, rubbing his knee, "I can understand. A year ago, I got hurt pretty badly, and I had to step down from Kendo. I…did not handle it well. I began to lash out at people. I was just so angry, and I hated the people who told me things like 'We're rootin' for you.' What the hell does that even mean, really? But then I tried to pick a fight with Miss Kuga, and she just kicked my keister and hauled me off to talk to Miss Fujino. She said something to here at the time, 'He's just angry and needs something constructive.'

"And she was right. Fujino assigned me gofer duties for the Student Council, and it gave me purpose again."

"Miss Kuga isn't as cold as she seems," I smirked.

"Well, she owes that to Fujino, too. Maybe that's why she hauled me in front of her. Miss Fujino has a habit of rehabilitating strays, I guess. Anyway, I'm glad you were able to vent. It can be relieving to let it out…from time to time."

I smiled, "I suppose so. Thanks for letting me borrow you for awhile."

"Hey, I know it's probably none of my business, but if you ever need help, ask, okay. I don't know if I'll be able to do much, but I'll do what I can."

I promised him I would. But in my heart, I knew I was lying.

And still the rain fell.