Akio

"Mum, I don't understand though. "

"Akio, you just can't. Please don't."

"Mum-"

"Mai, I think you should explain." My dad interjected suddenly. "I think Akio would be able to understand. And isn't it better that it comes from you?"

"But…" Mum looked at Dad with wet eyes, beseeching. I could tell she wanted him to swoop in, sweep all this away and make it better. I could tell, because I wanted it too.

He reached out and squeezed her hand, and they exchanged a look, before Mum looked away and stared down at her lap, taking a deep breath. In that moment, Dad glanced over at me, his expression darker than usual, and even more unreadable too.

"Hello….earth to Arisato?"

"Huh?" I blinked and looked over at my friend. "What was that, Terasawa-kun?"

"I was saying, you know Little Miss Perfect, she's probably going to end up in Hope's Peak with you too." He said.

"What?" I said. "Who?"

"Who? Hello, Akemi Koizumi? In Class 3A? You know, the genius girl who appears on Akemi Tries It?" Terasawa said.

"You mean, the girl who is literally the point of that show?" another classmate I was friendly with interjected.

"Yes, her! You know who I'm talking about, right?"

"Yes, I do. Have you ever tried talking to her though? She can't actually be a real person-I mean, who the fuck is that nice?"

"I know, right? She literally graduated university when she was like 10-"

"I, um, I don't understand though, why are you asking me about her?" I said, interrupting them abruptly.

The name bought back memories of a few weeks ago, when a buzz of rumours had surrounded the arrival of a new girl. I'd seen her around, I thought-I could vaguely remember long blue hair, tied in a swishy ponytail. I also remembered the sense of sadness, though I could hardly say why.

Terasawa and my other classmate turned to gawp at me. I laughed, awkwardly, and rubbed the back of my head, internally breathing a sigh of relief at the fact I managed to halt them.

"Geez, I already said!" Terasawa said, rolling his eyes. "She's likely to get into Hope's Peak. I mean, she's basically the most talented teen in the country, so you should go talk to her."

"Because….?"

"Because, you may as well try and get into the good books of someone you're going to be proper classmates with next year."

"I don't even know if I'll be going."

"Not going?" Terasawa's eyes bugged out.

"What do you mean, not going?" the other classmate said. "That'd be madness! Like, way back in the day that school was like, best of the best! You won't have to worry about getting into uni, unlike the rest of us unlucky sods!"

I sighed, hesitating.

"Well, you know what happened at the last one…"

"I was one of those seven, Akio. I saw my friends die and…I just….."

"Mai, it's okay, you've done well, you don't need to say anymore."

I felt like it was rude for me to be watching as Mum seemed to almost collapse into herself, as Dad quickly gathered up. This was the type of pain that wasn't meant to be seen.

"Geez, your mother is still going on about that? She needs to get over herself."

I stiffened, wanting to give Terasawa a cutting response of the type I hadn't been able to give to defend a girl I didn't even know. Yet, I wasn't ready to reveal that Mum's worrying was so much more than well, just being an overprotective mother. The pictures I'd seen on the internet of my mother, back when she was a happy-go-lucky girl that everyone called Sadie, they were imprinted into my brain.

Terasawa quickly figured out that I wasn't going to say anything, and shook his head.

"Well, yeah, you should try talking to Koizumi, see what happens-"

Terasawa was interrupted by our teacher coming in and calling for attention. I was happy to ignore them and listen to the teacher. But now I was thinking about the fact there might be someone in a similar situation here. It would be nice, to know someone who was also going to Hope's Peak and who'd understand why it wasn't just something to be excited about, the way Terasawa and my other friends seemed to think it was. I somehow didn't think that was why Terasawa had suggested it to me, but it was not like he needed to know that.

Yes, maybe I will try.

…

Eventually, after getting information from a third year who was in my club (who had been incredibly incredulous at my inquiries) that she often spent her lunchtimes alone in the 3A classroom if people didn't beg her to have lunch with them for the perceived social-status lift her presence gave them, I decided to take the plunge. When lunch came around, I stayed in my own classroom and quickly shovelled down my food, ignoring my classmates' cheering commands to get autographs and photographs, before heading upstairs to the floor the third-year classrooms were in.

The door to 3A was ajar, and I cautiously looked around. Sure enough, there was only one person there-a girl, reading a large hardcover book with some sort of figure drawn on it in gold outlines, though no discernible title that I could see. Her hair was long, blue, and in a ponytail, just like my vague memories, and she was wearing suspenders with her school skirt, even though they were technically optional and most of the girls preferred the skirts without suspenders.

"Um, hello?" I asked cautiously.

The girl looked up, clearly startled, before her expression settled into a polite smile.

"Hi, are you looking for someone?"

"Are you Akemi Koizumi?"

"Yes, that's me." She said in a calm voice that was almost melodic.

"I, um…" I hesitated, wondering why I was nervous all of a sudden. "I'm Akio Arisato, I'm in Class 2-B and, um. Well, have you heard about that school opening? Hope's Peak?"

"Yes, I have." Akemi said politely.

I decided to step away from the door, and I entered the classroom properly, walking over and settling a couple of desks away from Akemi, who carefully slipped a star-patterned bookmark into the pages of the book she was reading and settling it on her desk. As she did, it struck me that under the neat presentation of her uniform, she was skinny. Not in a neat, put together sense, but skinny. The type of skinny Mum would feel instinctually bound to feed. I took a deep breath and sat down on the desk I had stopped at, and continued.

"I've been invited to it, when it opens next April, and I heard that you might also be attending and I thought that, well, it'd be nice to know someone else who would also be going. I'm…I'm a little nervous, to be honest?"

"How come?" Akemi asked.

"Do you know what happened twenty years ago?"

"Yes, I do. It's a horrible thing to have happened, isn't it?" Akemi replied. "I can understand being nervous about going there, but on the other hand, Hope's Peak achieved a lot, didn't they?"

"Mmm…"

Suddenly, a memory clicked into place. Last summer, Sachi watching some sort of game show where a teenage girl was solving maths proofs of some sort, up against a professor of some kind. I'd wandered in near the end, but I'd caught some of it, and once it'd finished Sachi'd looked at me and said 'Nii-chan, I wish I was smart like that, then I wouldn't be stupid like I am now." Perhaps, I realised, that's the sadness I am remembering. If it was, I could almost understand why Terasawa and my classmate felt how they did. Still, I'd never want to be that vicious about another person.

"I think I'm still hopeful about it all. After all, back then, being invited to Hope's Peak was one of the greatest opportunities a person could get." Akemi said after a moment, when I didn't respond, sounding considered yet cheery about it.

"I…guess. "

Akemi looked at me with curious concern, her eye contact intense. I noticed then for the first time that the dark blue of her eyes was flecked with gold. It was almost beguiling, except there was something about the look of her, neat and need-to-feed-up skinny, alone in this classroom except for me, that made me look around, and then lower my voice.

"The thing is…my mother…she used to go to Hope's Peak, as well, back then."

I couldn't bring myself to directly say that she'd been one of the survivors of the incident, but Akemi instantly seemed to get it.

"That's…I'm sorry to hear that. Which one was she, if I may ask?"

"Her Talent was Yosakoi Dancer." I said.

"Oh!" Akemi exclaimed, taking me aback. "I enjoyed learning yosakoi!"

Her voice had gone up a little, excited and carefree, a little like Sachi when she was happy, except more mature. I blinked, taken aback. The difference between that, and everything else she had said. I didn't think Akemi had lied, exactly, but this was the first true thing she had said. Sure enough, her eyes widened slightly a beat after the words had left her mouth.

"I'm sorry," she said, back to calm again. "That must be hard on you and her."

"Truth be told, I didn't know anything about it after all this. Mum still hasn't said much-she finds it really hard to talk about, and I don't really want to push. But…at the same time, I feel like I want to know. I want to understand what happened, you know?"

"I can completely understand that. It would be nice to find closure for them, wouldn't it?" Akemi said.

"Yeah," I said, letting out a breath. "It would."

There was a silence for a moment. I looked down at my lap, Akemi sat, perfectly still and placid. After a while, I realised I hadn't actually confirmed if she was in Hope's Peak. So I asked, quickly. In response, Akemi bit her lip for a moment, regarding me, before she took a deep breath.

"Truthfully, yes. But it's being officially announced later, so I'm not actually supposed to tell you. " she half-whispered.

"Oh."

"Sorry, that's what you originally came here for, wasn't it?"

"I mean, I suppose? But since I know for sure, would you like to be friends? I know it's a little elementary school to be asking straight out like that, but I think it'd be nice."

Just like when I'd told her about Mum's former Talent, Akemi seemed to brighten for a moment, before then apparently remembering herself and restraining herself.

"If you'd like to."

"Great! So, um, shall we exchange details? And maybe we could meet after school and…do something?"

"I can't make it tonight unfortunately." Akemi said, with just the briefest hint of a shadow flitting across her face. "But I'd be happy to give you my number."

We took out our phones, and exchanged contact details. At that moment, the bell rang, and some other members of 3A entered the room.

"See you later, Koizumi-sempai!" I said, as I got up and left hurriedly, earning baffled glances from the others around us.

"Goodbye, Arisato-kun."

Once I was outside the classroom, I looked back around the door briefly. Akemi had picked her book back up, and was reading it again, while everyone else laughed and chatted around her, as if she wasn't there. Friends. It was a kindness, and as much for me as it was for her, but now, more than ever, I hoped it would come to be.

…

Akemi

"Aaaaand once again, Akemi-chan has done it! She's beaten an expert in the field at archery, and she can now add that to her many list of achievements!"

I knew that on the television screens of everyone who was watching this, there would be a little box appearing on the side, listing just some of the different things I had done for previous episodes, as I smiled obligingly and stood next to Chiyo, the presenter. Knitting, basketball, rock-climbing, hairstyling, chess, yosakoi dancing, and more besides that. There were too many to fit in the box without obscuring the view of me in the studio, clad in archery clothes that were a deep turquoise rather than the traditional black or dark blue, especially for me. All to fit in with my image.

As the audience in the studio whooped and cheered, Chiyo beckoned the person that I had been up against and made him stand next to me. I gave as much of a sideways glance as I could without being too obvious, and took in his dark red hair, and the cloud-grey eyes that seemed to stare straight ahead without a care. His archery uniform was proper, not something made for appearance's sake, and it gave him a sombre aura. Though such seriousness was fair-I had just taken away from him this one success. Trivialised years of hard work and all the additional barriers I imagined he must have had to face, by picking up the skill in two weeks for the purpose of entertainment.

It didn't matter that I never wanted to.

It was not as if he could know that.

Smile, Akemi, remember to smile. My cheeks ached, but it was little more than a twinge these days.

"But let us give another huuuuuuge round of applause to Akagi-kun here, because he really did give our Akemi-chan a run for her money! And so he should, for as I mentioned at the beginning of the show, he has been accepted as the SHSL Archer for New Hope's Peak first class! And speaking of Hope's Peak…."

I sucked in a tiny breath. But it's being officially announced later, so I'm not actually supposed to tell you. I hoped that boy, that sweet, soft-featured boy who had spoken so earnestly of his mother, had not told. Wouldn't it be just my luck to glimpse some hope only for it to just be a mirage? I watched as Chiyo produced a bright gold envelope as if from nowhere and spun to hand it to me with a flourish.

"Akemi-chan, can you guess what this is?"

"Oh…could it be?" I made my eyes widen, my mouth form a perfect 'o'-for after all, acting was one of those many skills. "Is this a letter from New Hope's Peak?"

"Well, let us see, shall we?"

With dramatic flourishes-and dramatic music in the background-Chiyo opened the letter, and began to read it out. Through all of this, I stood there, smiled, gasped at the appropriate intervals, and then tried to look suitably gushing when Chiyo handed it over to me. I clasped the letter carefully, hoped the shaking of my hands was not obvious, and waited. Chiyo continued with her scripted spiel about both of us, including about how Akemi Tries It! was going on a break for the summer, and then she turned to us.

"Now, can we have Akemi-chan and Akagi-kun shake hands to say that there are no hard feelings."

"Of course!" I said, cheerily.

Akagi turned, and simply nodded. Chiyo stepped back, and I stepped forward, holding out my hand. Akagi frowned, and held out his cautiously. I stretched out a little more, until our fingertips brushed, and then he stepped forward a little more so that our hands could grip in a firm handshake.

I wondered if I could feel anything in his handshake-fear, resentment, sadness. All of these would have been reasonable. I tried to find a way of conveying I'm sorry in the handshake, but came up empty. Of course I did.

"Excellent, excellent. Now, let's have one more bow for the audience, and then it's time to say goodbye! See you all next time!"

…

Safe, at last, in the car that would take me and my parents home, I quietly wiped away a globule of spit that an onlooker had aimed at me and crumped the tissue, putting it in the discreet pocket of my skirt. I couldn't help thinking that I was looking forward to not having to wear this outfit for the next few weeks. I knew that there would be a few simple, classy outfits that complemented my colouring involved in the interviews that my parents were setting up with my agents, but apart from that, I would be free.

But of course, the freedom would extend to so much more than outfits. And because it was temporary, I needed to do something about it. The face of that boy-Akio Arisato, I needed to remember his name-came into my mind. The thought that he had come to find me primarily to make friends, because we had something in common-well, it'd been a long time since that had happened. And the fact he'd bought up the mystery of what had happened at the old Hope's Peak was interesting too as, well, I was interested in it.

Save for certain things I had somehow liked, in truth it was the first thing that I was really, truly interested in. I'd had to keep that under wraps, because if there was a way to turn it into entertainment, my parents would find it if they knew.

And didn't I deserve just one thing to myself?

But do I? Do I really? I held back a sigh, and continued looking out of the window. My parents were busy talking, and more than likely wouldn't notice me slipping out my phone, but still, I hesitated. And then I remembered, the forums I had signed up for. The student called Rieka Amasaki asking if anyone wanted to solve a mystery. I wondered, had Akio Arisato noticed that? He had not mentioned it. But…I had said it would have been nice to find closure for the survivors of that incident. And what better way than trying to find information? I didn't think we could solve it, but surely, it could help.

Quietly, I slipped my phone out, scrolled to the number I had added today, and sent a message with the link. I decided that I would only reply to any response once I was in my bedroom, so I put it back straight afterwards. But still, that was enough.

I had a glimmer of hope ahead of me, once again.

…

Akagi

"So," I asked as I ate in huge mouthfuls. "Did mum ask about the show?"

"No," my uncle Taiki said. "She didn't."

"Oh."

I wasn't sure why that had come as a surprise to me. Mum hadn't talked to me properly for the better part of two years. Indeed, the last time had been when….I abruptly stopped that memory in its tracks, and continued eating. I was surprisingly hungry. It had been a long day, but then again, most were long these days.

I reached out for my glass, knowing it would be where it had always been on the table since I'd come to live with Uncle Taiki, and took a sip before setting it back down, and eating another slice.

"You know, your mother, she will come around."

I said nothing to this for a moment, as I swallowed a mouthful, and considered it. I couldn't imagine that she'd ever come around. The venom in her voice whenever she'd spoken to me since that day, the way I was either 'Mistletoe' or 'that one' from that point-I couldn't imagine them changing, if only because I could barely forgive myself for what had led to it.

That, and I knew my mother had already suffered before I had caused this latest pain. No wonder she hated me.

"I know you don't believe it, but Friede, she was a good person, very kind, and she still is. Just…well, it's not like anyone knows what happened there, but it was horrible, you know. There was a good amount of time she just wouldn't talk to anyone. And then of course, she met your dad. "

"Yes."

As far as I knew, Dad had taken Mum's side. Occasionally, he sent me text messages which my phone faithfully read out to me, but because Mum was not interacting with me, for the most part Dad was not either.

Uncle Taiki let out a sigh, though I couldn't quite interpret what it was meant to mean. I reached to pick up a pizza slice, only to touch an empty plate. Apparently, this was noticeable enough that Uncle Taiki asked

"Are you still hungry, Akagi?"

"I guess."

"There isn't any pizza left, but there is some ice-cream, if you want that?"

I considered this for a moment and then nodded.

"Okay then."

I heard Uncle Taiki's chair scrape back, and I got up too, carrying my empty plate carefully to the sink.

"No, don't worry, I'll wash up." He said as I was about to squeeze some washing up liquid. "You just get yourself some ice-cream and…um…"

"Perhaps I could sit outside?" I asked.

"Yes, yes, of course!" Uncle Taiki exclaimed. "Well, the bowls and spoons are where they are usually, but the ice-cream is in the second drawer of the freezer, at the front on the right. It's vanilla and caramel."

My favourite, I realised with a pang. Lucius had always tended to more chocolate-laden ice-cream flavours, and while I didn't mind them so much, those were the only kind that had been stocked back home. If I could even call it that. I don't deserve this, I thought. But of course, I was going to take it anyway. I went over to the freezer, opened it, located the ice-cream box, then got myself a bowl and a spoon, while Uncle Taiki washed up, and neither of us spoke for a while. As I was spooning out ice-cream into my bowl though, he spoke up again.

"Your mother will come around, I know it. Because she loves you…she loves both of you."

No, she doesn't, was my automatic thought. But I knew why he was saying that. Not just because he loved my mum-his sister-but because he loved me, too. He was just trying to help. Sort of like how he'd tried to help by having me come live with him when her grief and resentment had showed no sign of abating. So that meant something at least.

But it still didn't change anything.

"I'm going to go outside now." I said, as neutrally as I could, hoping my face didn't give anything away.

"Alright then. I'm just going to watch some TV if you need me."

Finished with the scooping, I put back the ice-cream box, and then went over to the back garden door, sliding it open, and stepping out. A breeze tickled my face, and I could sense some brightness still. Carefully, I sat down on the step and began to eat my ice-cream.

Love, huh?

Now I knew about my mother's past, even if it was only the bare bones, it weighed heavy on me. I hasn't thought anything could feel so heavy, after Lucius, but that…it no doubt coloured everything, really, though I didn't understand how. Could not understand how, considering that for most of my life I hadn't even been aware of the weight.

But perhaps that in itself was something. If I had been hated all along, then surely the burden of it would have been made clear to me right from the beginning. Surely Mum would have told me from the beginning. Perhaps then, she had loved me once. But she certainly didn't now.

And I do not blame her. But how, how can I make this right? I can't bring back the dead.

"What do I do, Lucius?" I asked to myself, even though I knew there would be no answer. "What would you do?"

Because Lucius would have known. He'd always been the golden one, he knew the answer to everything, could do anything. If it had been the other way round, if I had been the one to die, he would have been able to be a comfort to Mum. She would never hated him for it, even in circumstances like-

No, stop. Even if I would never forget, I couldn't say it to myself, what I had done.

I sighed, shook my head. Maybe an answer would come to me later. But still, as I continued to eat, I kept on asking myself: What should I do?

…

Otsuka

"Look, just because you pootle around online, doesn't suddenly make you an expert investigator."

I stared in frustration at the screen, where the smug, annoying face of Rieka Amasaki, glittery red-lipgloss, too-gleeful green eyes and all. Okay, I had to admire that she put effort into her appearance and all, but still, the girl was a pain. Contacting me for a video call, asking me to work with her to solve the mystery of Hope's Peak. Okay, so we were going to be classmates there, but even so. At least I had managed to finish and send my latest article, the one that had come about as a result of getting Tetsuji Kamiya to work with me.

"Excuse me, I'll have you kn-"

Geez, we're going around in circles here. Looking at the time at the corner of the video-call screen, we'd been going around in similar circles for at least 20 minutes.

"Yeah yeah, you solved that museum case, but you aren't a detective. You aren't an investigative journalist, or anyone who could possibly have anything useful to offer me. I don't need a fucking sensationalist poking around my work just for excitement."

Rieka pouted quite impressively.

"Are you telling me that you don't do this for excitement?" she asked. "Because that'd make you a hypocrite, and I hate fucking hypocrites."

So you are here because….?

"No, I do not."

Well, investigating was exciting, for sure, and that helped me through particularly hard aspects of investigations. But no, unlike what she thought, it wasn't for the excitement. It was for the truth. The truth always set people free, I knew.

Though, it can make others miserable first.

I shook away that unpleasant thought. Collateral damage, that was all. Usually of people who deserved it. No, the truth had to be revealed, and I would reveal it.

"I just want to reveal the truth. If you can help me with that, then okay, we can arrange something, but I'm not going to join your little wannabe Scooby-Doo gang."

"Hey, I'll have you know Scooby-Doo is great. But that's hardly the point here, is it? Well, as it happens, I like mysteries like you do, and I think that the truth is important too."

I opened my mouth to speak, but she apparently wasn't finished.

"Aaaand, I have something you will probably want to get your paws on."

Paws? What are you, five? I thought judgementally as Rieka's cat ear headband jangled. Before I could ask though, she had disappeared off screen. I sighed heavily, and waited. Part of me was tempted to just end the call and go about my own business, when suddenly she reappeared, holding a red box. She took the lid off of the box, and then pulled out papers. I saw scrawled handwriting, a document headed 'autopsy report' and some photographs, though the way she was holding them the subject wasn't very clear.

"What are those?" I asked sharply.

"Weeell," Rieka's irritating grin broadened. "My uncle used to be a Detective at Towa Central. 20 years ago."

"He was on the 78-B case?"

"Yup," I said. "It was one of his biggest cases, and he's never been able to let it go. But he can't do anything about it now, so he's given all the evidence he kept about it to me. And I'm going to use it. I suspect you could really use something like what's in this box, huh?"

"I certainly could."

"I could lend it to you, you know." Rieka said. "Or let you have a little look in it."

"…Let me guess, you want me to team up with you."

"Correct! So, what do you say? Still think I'm just a little amateur?"

Well actually, yes. But information like that-so much of it in one place, it would save me a lot of digging. Make my own investigations more effective. The only thing was that depending on how many other people she had asked to help her, I might have to deal with a whole bunch of thrill-seeking weirdos who didn't truly understand what it meant to investigate. On the other hand, if they were desperate enough, I could still use them some way or other.

Yes, this could work.

"Alright," I said, decisively. "I'll join you."

"Oh awesome!"

Since she was now going to be a source of information, I could hardly roll my eyes or flip her off. I just sighed internally, and decided to get down to business.

"So, when can we meet?"

...

Eikichi

"What, exactly, are you doing?" I asked in bemusement as I sat cross-legged on the bed watching Shion chucking things into a suitcase. I had been checking train times on my phone, but now I had put it down since I was thoroughly distracted.

"What do you think I'm doing?" she asked, looking up to roll her bright green eyes at me. "I'm packing."

"But where are you going?" I asked.

I thought back. I hadn't been that preoccupied with sorting everything out to make sure I was free to travel back to Towa-Towa, huh? Who would have ever thought…-that I would have failed to notice if my fiancée was also embarking on a trip. But apparently I had been, because this question earnt me another eye-roll, and a sigh that reminded me a lot of Azami, back when she'd been spunkier.

"I'm coming with you."

This left me speechless for a moment, but I quickly recovered myself.

"You're coming with me? Why? What about your work?"

"Ah, that's no problem." A hand gesture and a grin, reminiscent of Moeka. "I sorted that out. As to why…for better and for worse, remember?"

"We're not married yet though."

"Okay, and? We're almost there." Shion said defiantly.

She turned her back to me for a moment as she put some clothes into the suitcase, then came over and clambered onto the bed, facing me.

"I know you're not too happy about all of this…" she gave me a sideways glance, knowing full well that this was an understatement.

I'd ranted a lot about why I felt like that over the past couple of days, without really going into the reasons as to whys behind the whys, so to speak. So I simply gestured to her to continue.

"…but if you have to go, then you have to go. And hopefully it'll be all over soon-if they're reopening, they must be pretty confident that this time, they will get whoever did this."

I thought of Kimiko, of her unwavering faith that the police would find us, that they would save us. She'd been one of the first to accept the reality of the situation we'd been in, and yet…and yet… Perhaps it was because of her dad's job, but she'd held onto that belief for ages, right up until she had died herself.

"But anyway, I can imagine it's going to be pretty hard for you, right? You barely even talk to me about what happened, and I know you talk to me more than both people. And like I said, for better or for worse, and all that. I want to help you through this. Because you can get through this."

Shion reached over and took my hand, and I stared. The fierce exasperation had given way to loving softness, reminding me of the first time I had told her I loved her. But also reminding me of Sadie, Sadie of the lilting voice and insistence on cooking, the solicitous way she looked over Azami after Akari had died.

When we had first met, Shion and I, in some ways she had reminded me of some of the girls from Class 78-B, but it was little more than a fleeting resemblance, something to cause a twinge but little more. It did not hurt, it did not haunt. And of course, Shion was her own person, utterly brilliant and bright, demanding of my respect and deserving of it too.

But now the reminders were flocking back in, hard and fast. Goddamnit. I hated whoever had decided that re-opening everything was a good idea. I couldn't quite hate Ayuna for being so persistent in her insistence in tracking me down via my professional social media-my only social media-and persuading me that reunion was necessary. But I was still annoyed by it. Did promises mean nothing anymore?

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath.

"You don't need to do that for me, I-"I stopped.

No doubt, she'd chew me out if I expressed the thoughts I was thinking about wanting to protect her from this all. Because I did, really. More than that though, I wanted her to be separate from back then. Shion was my present and my future, the rest of it was the past. Even if I had to go back to it, I wanted to keep it that way.

But perhaps, if she came with me, then it'd be easier to see, all the ways in which she isn't like the rest of them. Perhaps by encountering it, she'd be separate again. Perhaps this will all stop haunting me, and then I can go back to my normal life.

"Alright then," I said heavily. "You can come with me, if you really want. But if things stretch out-which they won't-then you need to come back. I'm not having you disrupt your life for this."

Shion grinned.

"I knew you'd see sense." She said, grinning, before giving me a quick peck on the lips and then getting off the bed again to finish packing.

I watched her for a moment, emotions whirling around my head, and then I smiled despite myself before picking my phone back up again.

Characters introduced this chapter

Prospectives

Akemi Koizumi, SHSL Aptitude (created by: CandiedStars)
Akagi Benbow, SHSL Archer (created by: PainX65)