Chapter Eighteen
Satoshi bursts out laughing. Hanako looks up at him, clearly as confused as I am.
"You really think I'd exorcise you?" Satoshi asks her. "You're obviously harmless, so there's really no point. You're not hurting anyone and you're not scaring anyone, so there's honestly no reason for me to hurt you." I let out a sigh of relief. Hanako frowns and smiles simultaneously.
"I'm not harmless. I'm a fearsome Pokémon Master." she corrects, though her voice is still trembling.
"On the subject of Pokémon Masters…" Satoshi says. "I still have your 3DS. I'll give it back to you when we get home." Hanako smiles at him, wiping tears out of her eyes.
"Th-thank you, Satoshi-kun." she says in a whisper. Xander is still trembling in my arms. He constantly chokes out painful, terrified sobs. I make eye contact with Satoshi and he tries to look away, but his eyes keep wandering back to me. He obviously feels guilty for scaring us so much.
"K-Korin…" Xander croaks out, his voice high, tight and strained. "I-I think I'm gonna…" He trails off. I nod and stand up, helping him up and beginning to wade alongside him to the exit. I made eye contact with Hanako. She's staring at Xander, her eyes filled with worry and fear and so much more.
"Korin-chan, is Xander-kun okay?" Satoshi asks, chewing his lip. He avoids making eye contact and removes his glasses, dipping them into the pool. He swears when he remembers that it's sake and not water. He begins rubbing the lenses furiously.
"Yeah. He just has a weak stomach, and sometimes pukes when he gets really stressed." I explain. I think I see a tear fall from Satoshi's cheek. Xander's hand has moved from his side to his mouth in the time that it's taken to get out of the pool. Hanako swims over and gets out, grabbing hold of Xander's shoulder and wrapping her arms around him. The three of us leave and rapidly make our way to the boys' toilets.
We round the final corner and are just outside the toilets when someone grabs my shoulder. I turn and see Satoshi staring straight at me. It's obvious from his flushed cheeks, ragged breathing and puffy eyes that he ran to catch up, and was crying as he did so.
"Do you want me to go in with him and make sure he's okay?" he asks, gesturing to Xander. I nod, smiling gratefully at him, though inside I still hate him for the way he scared us. Satoshi places a gentle hand on Xander's shoulder and maneuvers him into the toilets. Hanako and I stand outside in stunned silence. Hanako stares at the ground, trembling, but purposefully distancing herself from me. She's angry, and doesn't care if I know. I feel a tear roll down my cheek and I wipe it away. Hanako looks up at me curiously, like, I didn't know you cried. I squeeze my eyes shut for a few seconds as I try to swallow the lump of tears forming in my throat. The moment I open my eyes, Hanako looks away again.
The door opens and Satoshi comes out, Xander draped over his shoulder. He rubs circles on Xander's back as the smaller boy shudders in his arms. Satoshi has tears rolling down his cheeks and his glasses. He gently places Xander down on the floor. Xander turns and falls into Hanako's arms.
"I'm really sorry your birthday ended up being like this, Chiasa-chan." I say. Satoshi nods.
"Yeah. I shouldn't have scared you so much. I'm sorry." he says, his voice cracking slightly.
"No, Satoshi-kun. It's my fault." I say. Satoshi nods.
"Yeah, you're right. If you hadn't messed up with Chiasa-chan's name, none of this would have happened. You need to be more careful. The rest of my family won't be so forgiving. Especially my sister. Chiasa-chan got away from her once before. If Megumi finds out who she is, it won't happen again." he warns. Hanako gives me a reassuring smile as I fail to hold back a choked sob and reaches her hand out to me around Xander. I take it and give it a gentle squeeze. Xander unlatches himself from Hanako and the four of us begin to walk, though I'm not sure any of us know where we're going.
"We should probably go and get our clothes." Satoshi says, looking up and down my body. I nod, realising for the first time that we're all still in swimwear. Hanako giggles quietly, and Xander gives a small smile.
"Would you two mind getting them?" I ask them. They stare at me, clearly confused. "I need to speak to Satoshi-kun in private." They both smirk deviously and run off in the direction of the pool.
Once they're out of sight, Satoshi raises his eyebrows at me.
"What do you need to talk about, Korin-chan?" he asks.
"I owe you big time, Satoshi-kun. For not killing Han- Chiasa-chan. Thank you." I say. Satoshi shrugs and shakes his head.
"You definitely do not owe me anything, Korin-chan. I still owe you for not telling anyone about…" he trails of awkwardly. "You know…"
"The mysterious boy who Xander, Ezra and I saw leaving your house when you'd been home alone?" I say with a teasing laugh. "You don't owe me for that." Satoshi smiles at me.
"Yeah. You're a good friend now that I've got past the whole 'insane otaku who likes yaoi way too much' thing." he says, a small blush creeping onto his cheeks. "I really appreciate that you're not judging me for it."
"You said yourself that I love yaoi." I point out. Satoshi wrinkles his nose.
"Not a chance. Sorry. Not happening." he says.
I smirk, "I never suggested anything. I only like boys if they're animated, anyway."
"Disgusting girl. Let's see if we can catch up with the kids, just to make sure they get the right clothes." he says, shaking his head with a sigh. I grin at him and we make our way towards the sake pool.
By the time the sun has gone down and the day is nearing its end, Hanako, Xander and I have all recovered from our earlier terror. The three of us, alongside Satoshi, Takeshi, Megumi and Ezra (Jase is hanging out in one of the springs with his new girlfriend), sit in one of the bedrooms. A playlist of Simple Plan, The Click Five and The Ready Set blasts through the speakers of Satoshi's MP3 amplifier. The seven of us chat and laugh, getting up to dance whenever a really good song comes on.
"Can we choreograph a routine?" Hanako asks, and I nod, grinning at her.
"Count me in!" I yell, punching the air. I leap to my feet and begin to flick through the songs on Satoshi's iPod. "Which one shall we do?" Everyone starts shouting the names of their favourites, and I eventually give up on trying to pick one out of them and settle for Higher by The Ready Set.
Within minutes, there are arms and legs flying and colliding everywhere as we all just mess about more than actually trying to do anything properly. Ezra sits on the edge of one of the beds, facepalming every time someone complains that they've been trodden on or kicked or some other such nonsense. Takeshi seems to be intentionally crashing into Satoshi and Megumi, just to annoy them. Hanako and Xander hold hands as they try to do various made up dance steps in time with each other. I smile and laugh as I twirl around, my long plait flying out behind me and hitting multiple people in the face. When I stop spinning, there are three slightly irked and extremely strong onmyoji glaring at me.
"That thing on the back of your head is a dangerous weapon. Keep it under control." Takeshi says, holding his hand to his cheek, slightly reddened by the thick whip I call hair.
"Sorry. It has a mind of its own." I giggle. Ezra gives a strange smile.
"Like a Kejoro." he says, and I raise my eyebrows at him. Satoshi turns to him, waggling his index finger slightly.
"Not strictly true, Ezra-kun. Yes, a Kejoro will use their hair as a weapon which can be used to strangle or whip a victim, but they have complete control over its movement, almost as though it contained muscles which could be controlled as easily as any other." he corrects.
Takeshi continues for him, "This means that if you can stay on your feet long enough while fighting a Kejoro, you can pick up on their fighting style and work out what they're going to do next with their hair as well as their hands and feet. If you can't read their movements or they're highly trained or completely untrained, you're as good as dead. With enough practice, a Kejoro will become so strong that they need only tense a muscle fractionally to place an attack, with such precision and so little movement that it's not visible. On the other hand, an untrained Kejoro will use muscles that they don't need to use, which can trick or confuse their potential victim."
"Wow, Takeshi-kun. You really know how to ruin the mood." I comment. Takeshi blushes and pokes his tongue out at me. "You're teaching us how to fight Yokai at at ten year old's birthday party. What do you expect me to say?"
"I don't know… Maybe something along the lines of 'Wow, Takeshi-senpai! You're so cool and knowledgeable!'" he says with a shrug and a teasing smile.
"Can we please have less Yokai talk and more dancing?" Hanako asks impatiently, her hands on her hips and her left foot tapping rhythmically on the floor, and I grin at her.
"Yeah. Let's get to it, guys! Ezra, be our choreographer!" I say, and Ezra shakes his head.
"I can't dance." he states, and I snort as Xander rolls his eyes. The two of us share a look before turning back to Ezra.
"Vienna." we say at exactly the same time. I small smile tugs at the corners of his lips as he most likely recalls the school dance we attended when we were twelve.
"Okay, fine. I might be able to dance a little." He uses his fingers to show just how tiny the amount of dancing he can do is. I shake my head with a laugh.
"You're a good dancer, Ez." Xander says reassuringly. Hanako grins at Ezra.
"Show us your coolest moves." she orders. Ezra flushes crimson from his Adam's Apple to the tips of his ears. Satoshi gives him a small smile with partially closed eyes that would be enough to melt the hearts of the majority of the girls at school. As it is, my heart melts not because of the look on Satoshi's face, but because it's directed at Ezra. It takes all of my self control not to squeal loudly at how cute it is, but I manage. Sort of. Instead of letting out a full-blown fujoshi shriek, however, I make a noise that is somewhat reminiscent of a constipated alpaca. Six pairs of eyes land on me, the majority of which look mildly concerned.
"You okay, Kor?" Ezra asks, with a giggle. I nod, not trusting myself to speak in case my fangirl side shows itself and I unleash the wild beast of YAOIYAOIYAOI on everyone.
Hanako giggles, "Did you notice what I noticed?" she asks. I nod. She bursts out with maniacal laughter as she stares at Satoshi.
"You children are creepy," Satoshi says, pouting at us. "Why do the creepy ones always pick on me?"
"It's because you're tall and mildly attractive and girls like you," Takeshi says. He makes a strange expression and points at his face. "This is my jealous face." he says teasingly. Xander and Megumi laugh.
"I'm surrounded by freaks." Ezra says mildly. Megumi bounces over and sits beside him.
"I'm not a freak, Ezra-kun. I'm too cute to be a freak, aren't I?" she asks. Ezra nods, giving her a small smile.
"We're all freaks, Megumi-chan. But at the same time, we're all perfect the way we are."
Needless to say, with all of the random outbursts and sudden deep comments that follow, our attempt at turning ourselves into a dance troupe is unsuccessful, much to Hanako's disappointment.