Chapter Twenty-Three
I sigh as I sort the money into piles. ¥120,000 in ¥10,000 notes, ¥30,000 in ¥5,000 notes, ¥84,000 in ¥2,000 notes and ¥114,000 in ¥1,000 notes, as well as a pile of coins. I sigh. Even without working out the total, I know that it's nowhere near enough. It isn't even ¥1 million, and we need ¥186 million by tomorrow. I groan and decide to count the coins to find the total. Of course, I knew it was going to be difficult to get so much money together in two weeks. ¥186 million is over £1 million. We've currently got about £2000 worth of yen. I feel a solitary tear roll down my cheek, and I lose it. I start sobbing and trembling uncontrollably. I've done everything I can, sold things, begged my grandparents, done odd jobs for money… I even sang in a pub, with Satoshi doing a guitar accompaniment. But it still isn't enough. We still don't have enough, and the deadline is tomorrow. They're going to start taking hostages, and it's my fault. I wasn't good enough to help them. I couldn't save them.
The door opens and someone comes over, pulling me into a tight embrace.
"Okay, Korin-chan. It's going to be okay. Everyone's going to be fine." Satoshi says, burying his face in my hair and rubbing my back.
"W-what if they're not? What if people get hurt or killed?" I ask, "It's all my fault…"
"No it's not. Don't ever blame something like this on yourself. This is Juro's fault, all of it." he says reassuringly. I'm not convinced.
"Tomorrow is the day they start taking hostages. They're going to take twenty people. Any one of those could be someone I care about. I will probably know all of them. Some will be in my class. One will probably be related to me. What if they take my dad, or any of the other adults that hold the community together?" Satoshi pulls away from the hug slightly and stares into my eyes.
"We'll be fine. You'll see. My parents have been in contact with relatives from all over the country. There are about twenty onmyoji arriving over the next few days." he tells me. "We're all going to work together- me and my family and the Yokai- and we're going to save the village and all of our friends and even the people we don't like." He nods. "That's right, Korin-chan. Everything's going to be fine." He keeps nodding as though he's waiting for me to nod. I do so, and he smiles at me. He pulls me back into a hug. "Your family will be fine. Megumi's putting up wards around your house."
"What about your family?"
Satoshi raises his eyebrows at me, "You think they would be stupid enough to take an onmyoji hostage?"
"They might think that Takeshi-kun would be weak because of his condition." I say.
"If they do that, they will be in for a massive shock. He's still at least twice as strong as me and Megumi combined. He will utterly annihilate them." he says, "In fact, I reckon that we don't even need an army of combined onmyoji and Yokai forces. We have an Akiyama Takeshi. He's a prodigy, you know. He took out more Yokai by the time he was ten than I have in my whole life." My jaw drops and my eyes widen. Satoshi smiles kindly at me. "Takeshi has a soft spot for you. He's been much more like his old self- cheerful and carefree- since he opened up to you. He would protect you with his life." I let a small smile find its way onto my face.
"I'm glad I could make a difference." I whisper. Satoshi smiles at me.
"I'll go and make you a coffee. I'll be back in a minute."
As Satoshi leaves the room, Megumi barges past him. She comes over to me.
"You're not seriously still trying to get the money together, are you, Korin-chan?" she asks. I nod. "There's no need. It won't stop them from attacking." Her tone isn't as cheerful as usual. She sounds tired, and looks just as bad. Her hair is pulled back in a high ponytail and there are dark circles under her eyes, poorly covered by makeup that doesn't match her skin tone, mainly because she doesn't usually wear makeup. She's paler than usual, too, and she's lost weight.
"It might," I say. "If we don't give them the money, they'll take civilian hostages. You saw the letter. Their messenger attacked us and we fought back, but they only cared about his side of the story. They want revenge. If we let them take hostages, who knows what they'll do to them? There are so many young children in the village. I-I don't want anyone to get hurt." Megumi shakes her head.
"We're heading into a war. This is exactly what happens every time someone survives a Kirin's earth magic." she snaps. Tears begin to trace their solemn paths down my cheeks. Megumi, the first person I spoke to after coming here, the first friend I ever made, thinks that everything that's happening is my fault.
Satoshi comes back into the room.
"Megumi, what did you do?" he asks, glaring darkly at his sister. "I actually got her to calm down, and then you came a long and messed it up." He shoves a mug of steaming black coffee into my hands. "You take it black with no sugar, right?" he checks, and I nod, smiling weakly at him. He smiles sympathetically at me.
"All I did was say that trying to get the money together is pointless because there's going to be a war anyway. There always is when a human witnesses earth magic and lives." Megumi says.
Satoshi snorts, "There would have been one anyway. The earth magic was aimed at the messenger, so whatever happened there was going to be a war. I'm pretty sure they only sent the messenger in the first place so that they could find an excuse to invade." he says. I sip my coffee, drawing in air with it so that I don't burn my mouth.
"Stop shouting, you shits!" someone yells. The three of us turn to the doorway and see Takeshi staring at us, his hands on his hips. He looks like he's about to start sassing us. Satoshi bursts out laughing, and it takes me a few seconds to realise why. Takeshi is wearing nothing but a pair of boxers, which seem to be on back-to-front. I giggle and he walks across the room towards me.
"What are you wearing, Takeshi-kun?" I ask him. He shrugs.
"Not much," he says. "You jealous of my boobs? They're bigger than yours." I roll my eyes. Satoshi snorts.
"Did you actually just say that, Takeshi?" he asks in disbelief. Takeshi nods. "You can't tell a girl that you have bigger boobs than her!"
"I just did, and honesty's the best policy" Takeshi says. I laugh, but Megumi doesn't seem amused.
"You have got to be the most moronically stupid person I have ever has the misfortune of knowing, Takeshi." she says bitterly. Takeshi's smile melts away and his eyes fill with concern.
"Are you okay, Meg?" he asks, reaching out and putting his hand on her shoulder. "There must be a reason why you've been getting so worked up recently. Are you ill?" Megumi shrugs Takeshi's hand off and shakes her head.
"I'm fine. Leave me alone. I'm going to go and train." she says, and storms out of the room. Takeshi looks like he's about to cry, and Satoshi is chewing his lip worriedly. A silent tear rolls down my cheek. I hate the fact that my friends are miserable and I'm powerless to help them. Whatever I do, it's never enough.
"Sh-should I go after her?" I ask. Takeshi shakes his head.
"She needs space to cool off. You'll only put yourself in danger if you try to talk to her while she's angry." he says softly, taking my hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. "She can look after herself. She'll be fine once she's calmed down a bit." He sounds like he's trying to convince himself, though. I nod, swallowing hard and wiping my eyes.
"Come on, Korin-chan. We'll teach you a new technique if you're feeling up to it." Satoshi says, plastering a fake smile on his face and grinning at me. I nod.
"Yeah, that sounds like fun." I say, giving him a small smile in return. Takeshi takes my coffee cup and Satoshi reaches out his hands to help me stand. Takeshi coughs hard for a few seconds.
"I think I'm going to go and put some clothes on." he says. "And turn my underwear the right way round." I laugh at him.
"Idiot." I say, and he pokes his tongue out at me.
"Error 404: Maturity not found." Satoshi says, shoving Takeshi's head playfully. I laugh as Takeshi leaves the room and I see the hole in the back of his boxers which puts his butt on display. A shocked yell followed by maniacal laughter signals that Ezra has crossed paths with Takeshi. Satoshi and I stare at each other for a few seconds before bursting out laughing.
The two of us make our way out of the house and across to the Akiyamas' house where we wait for Takeshi. He comes out still in his boxers, but at least now he's wearing shoes.
"What?" he asks upon seeing the looks on Satoshi and my faces. "Shoes are clothes. I've got socks on, too. I couldn't find a bra that fitted me, though, because yours are all too small, Korin-chan." I frown at with, a small laugh escaping my lips.
"You're such a weirdo, Takeshi." Satoshi says, shaking his head. He's definitely laughing, though.
Takeshi gestures for us to move out of the way, and we do. He takes three large steps and throws himself into the air, somersaulting over the fence and landing on his hands. He stays on his hands for a few seconds before swinging his legs down and pulling himself upright.
"Bloody show off." Satoshi mutters.
"Love you too, Onii-chan!" Takeshi says, smiling innocently. He turns to me, "How totes kawaii was that?" he asks. I nod.
"Totes. Totes kawaii." I say sarcastically, though I'm actually impressed.
"You'll be able to do that one day, Korin-chan." he says. I shake my head.
"No I won't. I do nothing that involves having my feet off the ground." I say. Takeshi pulls an apologetic face.
"Oh, God. The other week, I had a Shikigami carry you through the air… That made it worse, didn't it?" he says quietly. When I don't respond, he hugs me. "I didn't know you were scared of heights! Please don't hate me!" I pat his head.
"I don't hate you, Takeshi-kun. You're just a mild annoyance sometimes." I say.
"Are we actually going to get any training done?" Satoshi asks. "The neighbors are starting to stare at you, Takeshi." I look around. In almost every window, there is someone staring at us. the majority seem to be slightly confused.
"Yeah… I think we should probably do some actual physical training now, rather than endurance training." I say. Satoshi frowns at me in confusion. "Takeshi-kun is testing my ability to endure uncomfortable situations. He knows I hate being hugged, but he continues to do it anyway." Takeshi pulls away from the hug.
"Sorry, Korin-chan. I won't do it again," he says with a smirk, "Probably." I roll my eyes with a laugh, and the three of us go through to their garden to train.