Chapter Eleven
Once we're in the car, with Mr Akiyama and Ezra in the front and me, Megumi and Takeshi in the back, Mr Akiyama pulls away. Breckenridge-sensei waves to us as we go, smiling brightly as usual.
"What was it you wanted to ask, Korin-san?" Mr Akiyama asks. I frown.
"Takeshi-kun said that it was a Yokai that made him ill. I want to know what happened." I say, and Mr Akiyama sighs.
"I suppose I should've guessed from the fact that you didn't want to ask in front of your peers that it would be something along those lines." he says.
Takeshi leans forward and smiles at me, "It's a long story involving the family almost dying. Are you sure you want to hear?" I nod.
Megumi starts talking before Takeshi or Mr Akiyama have a chance, "We'd had reports of a Yokai about half way up the mountain terrorising people, so we decided to put an end to it. It wasn't what we were expecting, though. It was a Kijo. They're evil and twisted in life, and become monstrous moments before death, turning them into some of the most powerful Yokai out there. They're immortal, too, unless they're killed, so they have forever to gather knowledge and they know their home areas better than almost any others. This particular Kijo was an expert in deadly poisons and hand-to-hand combat. She'd knocked out all of us expect Takeshi. I'm not sure what happened after I got knocked out, but when I came to…" Megumi trails of sadly. Mr Akiyama picks up from where she left off.
"We were all in the local hospital hooked up to various machines. Takeshi had had a vial of a completely unknown poison smashed against his hip, and the poison had got into his bloodstream. He'd continued to fight, even with such an injury. Eventually he managed to single-handedly exorcise one of the most dangerous Yokai ever to walk the planet." By the time Mr Akiyama has finished talking, Ezra is staring, awestruck, at Takeshi. Takeshi is blushing hard.
"You're really brave, Takeshi-kun." I say, and Takeshi smiles at me.
"Th-thank you, Korin-chan." Mr Akiyama glances over his shoulder and raises his eyebrows. Megumi giggles and whispers something that I can't quite hear. Takeshi obviously does, though, because he glares at her.
"Shut up, Megumi." he says coldly. Megumi pouts.
"But you guys would be cute together!" she whines petulantly. I resist the urge to wrinkle my nose in disgust.
"He's not my type." I say, shaking my head slightly. Megumi giggles.
"What is your type?" she asks teasingly.
"That's none of your business, Megumi-chan." I shake my head as I speak. Megumi pokes her tongue out at me as Mr Akiyama pulls up in their driveway.
"I'll get Takeshi inside, and then I'll help the two of you with your rucksacks." Mr Akiyama says.
"There's no need to help with mine, thank you. Takeshi-kun was being stubborn and carried everything himself." I say, and Mr Akiyama shakes his head and lets out an exasperated sigh. It's clear that he's used to Takeshi being the noble, stubborn type who will do anything to make the lives of others easier.
"Will you be okay with your bag, Ezra-san?" he asks, and Ezra nods.
"Yes, thank you, Akiyama-san." he says quietly, and Mr Akiyama nods.
"You're welcome. I'll see you later, then, if you're okay to go back by yourselves." he says.
"They're literally ten seconds away from their house, Dad." Megumi points out as we clamber out of the car and grab our bags. She hugs me and Ezra without giving either of us a chance to get away.
"Ask people before you hug them, Megumi." Takeshi says, obviously noticing that neither Ezra nor I like being hugged. Megumi pulls away.
"Sorry! I'll see you at school tomorrow, or maybe I'll come over later!" she bubbles, before lifting Takeshi's arm and draping it over her shoulder. He leans against her, though he's supporting himself much better than he was earlier. The Akiyamas go over to their front door. Mr Akiyama knocks on it twice and, after a few moments, Satoshi opens it. His cheeks are flushed red, his belt undone and his glasses lopsided. I grimace. Megumi looks round at me like Can you believe this guy? I stick my tongue out at her.
Ezra and I make our way across the drive and round the fence so that we're in our own drive, and make our way to the door. Ezra taps it gently with his fist, and I know that no one will have heard it, so I punch the door with the side of my pinky finger.
"Coming!" Xander yells from inside, and within thirty seconds he's at the door and is sliding it open. I hear a soft crashing sound and turn my head towards it. A boy, maybe a couple of years older than Satoshi and Jase, is creeping out of the back door of the Akiyamas' house as quietly as he seems to be able. He catches me, Xander and Ezra looking at him and looks like a rabbit caught in a car's headlights for a moment, before sprinting off down the road.
Ezra and I walk into the house after Xander.
"What do you reckon that boy was doing in there?" Ezra asks quietly with a slight giggle. I shrug.
"It was obviously bothering Satoshi. I'm not sure whether that was because he didn't want him there or because he didn't want him to go, though." I reply. We both start laughing. Xander looks round at us in confusion.
"I don't get it…" he says. I shake my head.
"You'll understand one day." Ezra says, which causes us to laugh even harder. Xander shakes his head at us.
"You guys are so weird." he says. He grabs my hand and begins to drag me to my bedroom. Once Ezra's out of earshot, he speaks. "Chiasa got lonely without you, so I've spent the whole time you were gone chatting to her." I'm slightly confused for a moment, but then I remember that Hanako used her human name, Chiasa, to introduce herself to Xander.
"Do you two get on well?" I ask. Xander nods enthusiastically.
"Chiasa's brilliant. She's like you, but funny and cool." I frown slightly.
"Did you realise that you were insulting me just then, Xander?" I ask, and Xander nods.
"You always say that honesty's the best policy. I'm just being honest." I roll my eyes at what an idiot my brother is as we reach my bedroom. I open the door and step inside.
"Hanako-chan! I'm home!" I yell, swinging my rucksack off of my back and dumping it on the floor. The bathroom door swings open and Hanako races out, literally throwing herself at me. She tackles me into a bear hug and squeezes me as tightly as she can.
"Korin-nee-chan! I would have missed you, but I was talking to Xander-kun and he's cooler than you, so I didn't get lonely." I frown. What's with all of the kids I know dissing me all of a sudden? I'm happy, though, at the same time. Xander has a hard time making friends because he can come across as sulky and spoilt (which is fair because it's true), and Hanako doesn't get to socialise much because people are automatically afraid of her and lots of the other Yokai don't accept her because she's pretty much powerless. Even the other Toilet Hanakos don't accept her because she's from the 21st century and the majority of the rest of them died during World War Two. I smile slightly and stroke Hanako's hair fondly.
"I didn't really have time to miss you, Hanako-chan. I'm sure I would've missed you, though, if I hadn't been so busy." Hanako looks up at me and pouts.
"What do you mean, you didn't miss me?" she asks petulantly. "Of course you missed me." I shake my head.
"The person I was paired with didn't feel well, and I was too busy looking after him to miss anyone." Hanako frowns.
"Are they okay? I don't like it when people are hurt or sad."
"He was injured badly and poisoned while fighting a Yokai," I tell her. She gasps, stepping back. "His sister is the girl I saved you from." Hanako frowns.
"I didn't like that girl. She was scary when she started searching everywhere in your bedroom to try and find Yokai." she says. Xander giggles.
"That was really funny, because she found mouldy sausages under Korin's bed!" he says. Hanako laughs lightly.
"That was funny." she admits. I shake my head.
"Those were not my sausages. I was set up," I defend myself, knowing full well that it's all lies. "I would've eaten them before they went mouldy if I'd known they were there!" Hanako and Xander share a weird look which unnerves me slightly. I feel as if the conversations they've had while I was gone went much deeper than just keeping each other company.
"Sure you were set up, Korey…" Xander says with a smirk. I blink twice in shock. I've never seen Xander smirk before! He's obviously picked it up from Hanako.
"Okay, okay. It was me. I'm going to go next door and get my 3DS back from Satoshi. I'll see you two midgets in a few minutes." I ruffle Xander's hair before walking out of the room and running along the corridor. I slip my shoes back on and walk out of the front door. I leap over the fence and walk to the Akiyamas' front door. I knock on it a few times and wait.
After about a minute or so, the door opens. Satoshi is standing in the doorway holding my 3DS.
"I figured you'd be round to get this back soon, Korin-chan." he says softly, running his fingers through his hair. I wrinkle my nose in disgust.
"Thanks, Satoshi-kun," I say, reaching out and taking the handheld from him. I smirk slightly as I remember something. "By the way… Who was that boy who left just after we got back?" I ask. Satoshi flushes a vibrant shade of crimson.
"Th-that's none of your business, Korin-chan…" he mutters, avoiding making eye contact with me. I grin broadly.
"It's okay, Satoshi-kun. Your secret is safe with me. I won't tell anyone." I say. Satoshi's eyes flicker around, constantly changing his line of sight to various parts of the area surrounding my head. He raises his trembling hands and removes his glasses, bringing them down to the bottom of his shirt and rubbing the lenses clean. I bite back laughter. He couldn't possibly make it more obvious what was going on unless he hung a neon sign around his neck stating what happened and was shouting through a megaphone to declare it to the world.
"It's none of your business, Korin-chan." he repeats. I sigh.
"You honestly couldn't be making it more obvious, Satoshi-kun. I seriously don't care what was happening. I just wanted to confirm my suspicions." I say softly, trying to reassure him. It's clear I've made him uncomfortable, and I don't want to ruin our friendship. When he's not being a flirtatious moron, we actually get on quite well. "I'll see you later." I shove his shoulder playfully and he shoves me back, smiling. I wave as I leap (as gracefully as an alpaca on crack) over the fence, missing my footing and faceplanting.
"Are you okay, Korin-chan?" Satoshi asks, and in moments he's on my side of the fence, helping me up. I nod with a grin.
"I actually kind of like pain…" I say, and Satoshi regards me with slight concern for a moment.
"You sounded like a totally creepy sadist just then, Korin-chan." he says, and I poke my tongue out at him. He pulls a crumpled tissue out of his pocket. "You're bleeding." He dabs at my forehead with the tissue.
"I hope that tissue's clean." I say, and Satoshi grins at me.
"You really think I'd wipe an open wound with a used tissue?" he asks, then holds his hand over his heart. "I'm hurt that you'd think such things about me, Korin-chan!" I laugh.
"I have to go. Places to go, ramen to eat. The usual."
"I believe the phrase you're looking for is 'Places to go, people to see', Korin-chan." Satoshi says, giving me a You adorable little weirdo look. I shrug.
"You can't expect me to get things right. I'm hungry." Satoshi laughs at me and climbs back over the fence.
"See you around, Korin-chan." he says, disappearing back into his house and closing the door.