A/N: I'm so sorry! Please forgive me! I know it has been about 2 weeks since my last update. College started last week and I've been busy. Don't worry. I have another chapter that WILL be up this weekend. I just need to finish editing it.
I'm sadden to say that Peer Into The Abyss is doing rather poorly that I am starting to lose the motivation to write the story. :( Should I perhaps revise the beginning chapters to see if that will gain more readers?
A big thank you to GoddamnAnimeGekko, Attackoneverything, NaruShika-Forever, inlovewithshizaya, OrangeWolf4, KawaiiiPotato, TheFutureWriterIsHere, and nicoleAnE for the amazing reviews! As always, you are all amazing. Also, a big thank you to everyone who decided to follow/favorite this story. You are all awesome!
GoddamnAnimeGekko: No one can defy anime logic. :P What will they do? I guess you should stay tune to find out. :D
Attackoneverything: Rin is probably wondering "who the hell is Everyone?" Like Everyone was a person. :P
NaruShika-Forever: I wonder how they will convince Rin that. Hmm…
inlovewithshizaya: Yes, you are allowed to hit someone with glasses. :P Suguro and Rin and violence, what else can I say? I hope you continue to enjoy.
OrangeWolf4: I hope this chapter help!
KawaiiiPotato: Who doesn't love it when Bon hurts Rin or Rin hurts Bon? I personally find it hilarious! Haha :D
TheFutureWriterIsHere: Well, here is more for you. ;)
nicoleAnE: Thank you so much! I really hope you continue to enjoy.
This chapter was written by Evilneko101 with yours truly who did all the editing.
Evilneko101, it's your turn.
In case you've already forgotten, In the previous chapter...
I furrowed my brows in confusion. Who... are these people?
"Yukio, who're they?" I bluntly asked.
And suddenly, everything fell silent.
And now...
I looked around in bemused confusion, unsure of what to do. Polkabrows and the blondie that I dubbed as Boobalicious looked confused, Pinky's head was tilted, his eyebrows furrowed, and the very short, stubby gray hair teen (he could almost be considered bald) stared at me, as if waiting for the punchline of the joke.
"Okumura, quit screwing with us!" Pinky suddenly laughed. "You had me for a second there! Ahahahah, oh man!"
"Rin, you're so silly!" Boobalicious giggled, walking over to me and hugging me again, making me stiffen in place. "Really though, you're gonna kill Yuki! Don't go running off like that again!" She pouted, letting go of me in favor of placing her hands on her hips in what seemed to be a motherly act of scolding.
"Honestly! Quit being such an idiot!" Polkabrows muttered, crossing her arms and folding a leg of the other. "Not that I was worried though."
Tsundere much?
"I'm glad you're okay. Did Bon give you any trouble on the way here?" The shorty pleasantly questioned, looking almost apologetic.
What the hell?
I slowly turned to look at my brother, who'd gone ghostly pale in the face (was this four-eyes going to throw up out of stress or something?), with a comically bewildered look painted on my face. Wordlessly, I grabbed my chagrin, taller brother by the shirt collar and dragged him elsewhere to talk one on one, leaving those... people over there.
I didn't bother beating around the bush and just got to the point. "Yukio, who are they and why do they act so familiar with me?"
Yukio looked around nervously, looking unsure of how to respond to me, unable to meet my eyes. I gently squished his cheeks and pulled him down to look me in the eyes.
"Quit screwin' around and just tell me!"
"They're... they're your friends." He finally spits out.
Again, with this friend bullshit?
"Okay, now what are they really?" I asked him, staring at him vexedly.
"Rin, they're actually your friends." He said more insistently.
"Cut it out, already! I don't know if you've noticed, but I don't have friends!" I stressed, shaking him a bit as if to knock his brain back into place because clearly it wasn't working properly! "Did the old man drop you on the head multiple times when we were babies or something?! What the hell is up with this friendship bullshit?! Tell me the truth already!"
"They are your friends, whether you want to believe it or not!" Yukio suddenly shouted, swatting my hands around from him. "Quit shaking me everywhere!"
"What part of 'I don't have friends' did you not understand?! Was it the 'don't' part?!"
"Things changed, Rin! I swear on Father Fujimoto that they're your friends!"
"Why in the hell would they want to be my friends?" I growled. "Do they even know who I am?!"
"Depends on what you're referring to!"
"I don't know! Everything I guess!" I burst out.
Yukio sighed, pushing up his glasses. "The only thing they don't know about is your reputation back home."
Oh look! A wild question has appeared for the 985684th time today!
"Where the hell did I meet those people then?!" I demanded.
Where would I have met them if not at home?
"At True Cross Academy." Yukio agitatedly replied, pulling his hair.
Okay, now he was really pulling my leg here. "What? Why would I have ever stepped foot in a prestigious stuck-up place like that?!" I demanded.
"Because you are training to become an exorcist!"
"What? I... I don't understand."
"You don't understand anything, and neither do I! I don't know how to tell you that they're actually your friends, about school, and... and everything! I'm just as confused as you are!" Yukio snapped at me. "I don't know why you can't remember anything and I don't know how to even begin telling you everything! I just don't! What do you want me to do, Rin?!" Yukio demanded.
I backed away at his tone. I've never really seen him like this before. All of a sudden, it hit me. I'd woken up without any memory, bombarded him with questions, ran off, and all of this time, he's probably been beyond stressed out. And suddenly, I felt like shit. All this time, I had been focused on everything else regarding myself that I hadn't even stopped to think about how my younger twin brother would feel.
God, I am such a selfish prick.
"I'm... I'm sorry." I blurted out, bowing my head.
Yukio faltered. "What?"
"I've been thinking of myself so much that I haven't bothered to think of you." I muttered. "You're probably just as stressed out and confused as me. I'm sorry for being so selfish."
"N-No! It's not that! Yes, I'm confused, but I'm not the one who's missing all of my memories and I'm not being pounded by all of this new information all at once. It's no wonder you're so overwhelmed. You only just learned about demons and everything else not even a couple hours ago."
"That doesn't excuse me being such an ass about this. You've probably been worried."
"Look, you've got every right to be confused about this, and I would've been surprised if you didn't snap at some point."
"Let's just forget about this for now." I sighed.
And, to my surprise, Yukio leaned over and hugged me. Initially, I stiffened up, unused to displays of affection (We've; well, I've never exactly been the touchy-feely sort of person due to... I have no idea.) but eventually, I let myself relaxed and slowly hugged Yukio back, sighing and resting my forehead on his shoulder. I'd never wanted to admit it, but hugging... hugging was kind of nice. To my surprise, my eyes started to sting a bit for some reason and I hurriedly willed the tears away. I do not cry. Crying is not cool.
"Oh, there you two are!" A voice called out. "They're over here!"
Hastily, I pulled away from my brother to meet eyes with the pink hair dude from before. "Oh. Did I just interrupt something?"
"No, we were just finishing talking. Sorry to trouble you." Yukio stated.
"Oh! Yeah, Okumura just yanked you off somewhere. We were a bit confused." Pinky smiled bashfully, rubbing the back of his neck. "Just wanted to see if you two were okay."
"We're good." I shrugged.
"Good to hear!"
"Hi Rin!" Boobalicious called from over Pinky's shoulders.
"Oh, h-hi." I awkwardly replied, lifting my hand up slowly in greeting.
"You alright?" She asked.
"Y-Yeah. I'm fine."
"Okay!" She smiled at me cheerfully. "Hey, do you want to help cook for the people here? It's going to be lunch time soon and we need some help, and you're great at cooking!" She offered, getting up in my face and grabbing my shoulders. "I can't cook very well; I always use too much spices! Haha!" She giggled.
Wait, cooking?
Awwwwww yeah. Now this was something that I could do.
"Yeah, of course..." I began determinedly, before faltering when I remembered I didn't know her name.
"Shiemi." Yukio hissed, quiet enough that no one else could hear but loud enough to reach my ears.
"... Shiemi! Lead the way!" I said, forcing a smile on my face after remembering what Suguro had told me I acted like.
I sent reassuring glance at my brother over my shoulder, telling him I'd be alright through facial expression. I mean, this girl knew me, but she probably hadn't known for a long time. This couldn't be that hard, right? Yeah, this'd be easy and hey, I'd be putting my one productive talent to use!
I was wrong. I was so so wrong.
This is hard.
The blondie, Boobalicious, jabbered on and on about what I had apparently done before I had blacked out and lost my memories (even if she didn't know about that). She'd asked if I remembered what had happened with the 'Impure King' before I'd blacked out and I'd accidentally let it slip that I didn't. But instead of figuring out that I was basically an amnesiac, she thought I'd just forgotten because of the intense fighting I had apparently done and had proceeded to fill in the details for me in a very animated fashion while the other people working in the kitchen watched with laughter in their eyes.
"And from what Suguro tells me, you were like WHOOOOSH! while riding on Kuro's back with him behind you over the miasma! Oh! And Suguro got all grumpy when he told me about how you wouldn't stop calling him Princess Suguro! Hahahahaha! That would've been really funny to hear!" She rambled.
Despite how much she talked (she actually seemed to genuinely like me; who'd have thought?), I couldn't help but be kind of fond of her. A part of me told me that I knew her, but for the life of me, I just couldn't remember who she was. Shame, really. She was kinda cute, and although I wouldn't voice it, I wouldn't mind hugging her. She looks soft. I'd actually probably break her in the end, so I probably shouldn't hug her. I don't want to hurt her, she's too nice and innocent. 'Okay, that's it. This girl is under my protection. Nobody's going to hurt a hair on this girl's head.' I decided, nodding to myself.
"And then you were like BAM! And Suguro says that Ms. Shura watched you unsheathe your sword and you burned away all of the miasma! You saved so many people! Rin, you're so amazing! I wish I was as strong as you!"
I looked over at blond-boob-Shiemi. "You already are." I bluntly said. "I mean, if you're my friend, that's quite a stunt on its own." I wryly smiled at her.
"Thank you!" She blushed, before frowning a bit. "But what do you mean by that last part?" She asked as I arranged food in the bento boxes.
"... Don't worry about it." I shrugged. "Okay, I'm done in here!"
"Waaah?! I didn't even help! I was so caught up in telling the story!" She wailed in shock.
"Eh, it's okay. Don't sweat it, okay?" I swatted her lightly on the shoulder good-naturedly. "Alright, I'm going to go bother my brother, don't... don't die or something in the time that I'm gone, okay?"
"Pfft-hahahah! You're so silly, Rin! You got it! Go find Yuki, and tell him I said hi!"
"See ya later." I waved over my shoulder.
I wandered down the hall, following the signs to the lobby area...
... that is, until someone grabbed my wrist and yanked me into a room.
How nice.
Today was just getting better and better.
Ooh~! Cliffhanger! I wonder who it is?
