Chapter Seven
Our entire year group stands in the assembly hall, and I know the question on everyone's minds. Why have we all been kept behind after school? A loud crash resounds around the room as a teacher standing on the stage claps her hands in front of the microphone.
"If everyone could please get into a group of two boys and two girls, it would make my life much easier." When the teacher speaks, there is a sudden rabble as everyone rushes to get into groups with their friends, and find a pair of the opposite gender who are not too awful. Megumi grabs onto my shoulder with her left hand and Takeshi's with her right. I make eye contact with Ezra. He stops looking quite so lost and makes his way through the crowd towards us.
"Of course I don't even get a say in who I go with." Takeshi says, shaking his head. Ezra's eyes flicker onto him a few times, and I can see his fear and nervousness.
"What are we even doing?" Megumi asks, tilting her head to the side in confusion. Takeshi shrugs.
"It's probably the same surprise orienteering trip Mum signed Satoshi up for last year. You know, the one in the forest." he says, and Megumi nods with a sigh of understanding.
"The one he couldn't go on because we all got called out to Kyoto to help get rid of that whole clan who were terrorising civilians! I remember!" she exclaims, and Takeshi nods.
"Probably. I hope not, though. They ended up being split off into pairs, and quite a few people ended up badly injured because of Yokai attacks," His face falls and he tenses up, paling drastically. "I don't fancy my chances, what with the…" He trails off, not seeming to realise that his left hand has found its way to just above his right hip. Megumi nods.
"Yeah. I hope so. I don't want you to get hurt ag-" She stops suddenly, cutting herself off with widening eyes. It's obvious, though, what she was about to say. She doesn't want Takeshi to get hurt again.
"A-again?" Ezra asks quietly, his small voice almost completely swallowed by the noises of our classmates screaming at each other excitedly. Takeshi gives Megumi a dark scowl.
"No. Not again. Megumi meant nothing. No one has got hurt." His voice is bitter and laced with such venomous anger, all directed towards his sister. It's obvious he's lying. Ezra's cheeks flush red and his hands begin to shake. I reach out and clasp his right hand in both of mine.
"You okay?" I ask him, and he nods slowly, although tears are forming in his eyes. I give his hand a gentle squeeze, and he manages a small smile.
Finally, the insane yelling from all corners, edges and centimetres of the room dies down.
"The groups you are currently in are what we will base the pairs for this weekend's orienteering trip on," the teacher says, and everyone cheers excitedly. "From each group of four, we will create two mixed gender pairs." Several groans are heard throughout the room. The four of us share a look. I wouldn't mind being paired with Takeshi, but I'd rather be with Ezra, and I'm not sure how well he'd cope being paired up with someone as loud and bubbly as Megumi.
The two teachers begin to make their way around the room, stopping at each group of four to write down which pairs they are making. There are several squeals of excitement, though they are almost always accompanied by groans of misery.
When one of them reaches Megumi, Takeshi, Ezra and I, she looks at our group.
"How did I know?" she asks, and Megumi giggles. The teacher scribbles something on her clipboard and looks up at the four of us. "Megumi-san and Ezra-san will be together, as will Takeshi-san and Korin-san." Megumi squeals so loudly that several people cover their ears. The teacher walks off, giving Megumi a slightly disapproving look.
"Yay! This is so exciting!" Megumi squeals enthusiastically. She turns slightly and makes eye contact with Ezra. He begins to chew his lip nervously. "I finally have a chance to get to know you, Ezra-kun! You're so quiet that I know nothing about you, except what Korin-chan has told me."
Takeshi sighs, "I guess I'll have to protect you, Korin-san." His tone says all too clearly that he is most certainly not happy with the arrangement. I nod with a slight shrug.
"Yeah, I guess I'm stuck with you." Megumi frowns.
"Do you two not like each other? Did I miss something?" she asks, and Takeshi shakes his head.
"No, nothing." he says, before beginning to cough. Megumi places her hand on his shoulder. Takeshi coughs hard into his hands, doubling over, for about thirty seconds. Ezra looks stunned, and with good reason. Takeshi isn't one to show weakness, and the last time someone asked if he was okay, he gave them what I've come to know as the 'Ultimate Akiyama Death Glare of Doom' due to the fact that I've also seen both Megumi and Satoshi using it. Megumi rubs small circles on his back.
"A-are you okay, Takeshi-san?" I ask him as he stands up, his face much paler than it was before his coughing fit. He scowls at me, but it's half-hearted and not as cold as his glares usually are.
"I'm fine." And there it is. The most commonly told lie for people of almost all ages. He gives a dismissive wave of his hand as he speaks, but it's obvious that no one is convinced. A few people from other groups are giving him concerned looks, too, though no one seems surprised. Maybe it's a common occurrence, and I just haven't been here long enough to have noticed.
"Th-the trip is this w-weekend. M-maybe you should s-stay home and r-rest, rather than going on the trip, Takeshi-san…" Ezra says quietly, staring at Takeshi with his eyes wide and filled with genuine concern. His hands are trembling. I doubt he's ever said so much to anyone outside the family before. Takeshi shakes his head slightly.
"Don't be stupid, Ezra-san. Your sister probably can't read a map and will most certainly end up getting herself lost or killed if she's alone."
I frown, "Did you just call me stupid and incapable?" I ask. "I can too read a map. I'm pretty good at it, too." Megumi steps between Takeshi and I and places a hand gently on each of our chests.
"Hey, no fighting. School is a peaceful place of learning where everyone should be able to feel safe." she says with a slight frown. It looks out of place on a face that seems to smile even while telling Yokai that she's about to end their existences. I notice out of the corner of my eye that the teachers are watching with slight concern. One of them says something to the other, and I guess they're wondering whether or not they should come over and make sure everything's okay.
"I wasn't intending to fight. It wouldn't be fair to fight someone who's obviously sick and should obviously be resting." I state calmly.
"I'm fine." Takeshi says firmly, but as though he's trying to convince himself. Megumi sighs and facepalms.
"You two are hopeless. I'm never going to able to get anything through to either of you, am I?" she asks exasperatedly. Ezra giggles almost silently into his hand.
The teachers have obviously decided not to intervene, because one of them clears her throat into the microphone to get everyone's attention.
"Now that you all have your groups for this weekend's trip, you will be dismissed shortly. Your parents and guardians have all been given the lists of what you will need. The reason you were not told of this trip before today is so that you do not have time to prepare too much, and so that everyone has the same chance to achieve high levels in the activity. There will another meeting in here tomorrow after school, when we will tell you what you will be doing and how you will be assessed. This is not about how well you can prepare, but rather about how good your intuition and navigation abilities are, as well as how well you can look after yourselves." she says loudly in her booming, authoritative voice, and everyone in the room seems to be hanging off her every word. "Dismissed!" There is a sudden crush as everyone rushes to get out of the doors quickly so that they can get home as quickly as possible.
The four of us hang around the back and are the last ones to leave.
"Will we need to take food with us?" Megumi asks, and Takeshi raises his eyebrows at her.
"That cannot be a serious question. Of course we'll need to take food! I highly doubt they would trust a group of fifteen and sixteen year olds to gather their own food in the forest." he says slowly, as though talking to a toddler.
"What sort of food do you like, Ezra-kun?" Megumi asks Ezra, grabbing onto his arm. She clearly doesn't understand the concept of personal space. "Do you like instant ramen?" Ezra nods.
"You're so lazy, Megumi," Takeshi says. He glances at me. "Can you cook, Korin-san?" Ezra and I share a look and immediately burst out laughing. Takeshi and Megumi stare at the two of us as if we're crazy.
When I calm down, almost five minutes later, I respond to the question. "My last attempt at cooking ended up with the whole family out of action for a week, all thanks to food poisoning. I've set fire to the kitchen a few times, too. At my last school, they wouldn't even let me in the Food Technology classroom." Takeshi's eyes are wide with shock by the time I finish talking. Ezra is still giggling.
"V-V-Vienna" he manages to say between fits of laughter. I glare at him and purse my lips.
"What happens in Austria stays in Austria." I say indignantly, and Megumi tilts her head to the side.
"What happened in Vienna?" I give Ezra a glare as he opens his mouth to tell her.
"Don't even think about it." I say, and he falls into another round of giggles. I shudder and try to push the unwanted memories back down.
"Well, I can't cook either," Takeshi says. "So I guess we'll have to-"
"Instant ramen!" I scream, punching the air and doing a happy dance. Takeshi mutters something that sounds like Narutard. I pretend I didn't hear him. We continue to walk to the bus stop.
"This is so exciting!" Megumi squeals. She seems to be in very squealy mood today. She begins bouncing up and down and clapping rather than walking, and I can see Takeshi's growing exasperation. He grabs onto her shoulder to try and make her draw less attention to us and coughs into the crook of his elbow a few times.
"C-calm down, Megumi." he says, his voice slightly weak, and Megumi stops bouncing.
"I need to let out some of my excitement, or I'll explode!" she all but screams with a wide grin spreading further and further across her face.
"To be honest, I sometimes think that Xander might actually be more mature than you, Megumi-chan." I say, and Megumi giggles.
"That's not a good thing, Megumi. Xander-san is eleven." Takeshi says. Megumi pouts.
"You guys are so mean to me!" she whines. Takeshi facepalms.
"We're just stating the facts. You are probably the weirdest person I will ever have the misfortune of knowing." he says.
"A-apart from Korin." Ezra mutters. Takeshi frowns.
"She's not too bad," he turns to face me. "When she's keeping the creepy fangirling to a minimum, that is." I poke my tongue out at him. He shakes his head slightly in exasperation, though a small smile is tugging at the corners of his lips.