Ryuji stared blankly at his long time friend Kitamura and his girlfriend Taiga hugging like lovers. That image mentally scarred him, he couldn't fathom the idea of being cheated on by Taiga of all people, and yet there it was happening right in front of his eyes. It felt surreal, like he was dreaming or in a nightmare for that matter but it was very much a reality.
Before he could say or do anything he started to feel something he never felt before. A mix of anger, jealousy, anguish and sadness. It was like being shot by a gun, sudden and painful.
All these feeling were simply too overwhelming, he didn't know how to process or handle them, especially the more extreme feelings that he never felt before. So with fear on his mind of what he might do at the moment he opted to run, to run as far away as he could from there. Ryuji's mind went blank as he did to hide the horrors of the painful reality. Whilst he wasn't known to be the most athletic person under normal circumstances in this instance he ran faster than anyone else in the school,
Taiga stood there, wide-eyed as she watched the back of her boyfriend disappear going down the stairs, tears in his eyes. Instantly she recognized what was going on, and she was horrified to her very core. All the inner demons she thought she just defeated risen from ashes like Phoenix. She was this close to finally ending this long nightmare yet there she was, getting swallowed by it again. Persistent that she wouldn't lose it all again she quickly ran after him. As Taiga ran down to the stairs that lead to the roof she overheard his footsteps down below her, putting two and two together she figured out that he was running away from the school, so she chased after.
All she wanted was to tell him that it was a misunderstanding, but he probably wouldn't believe it, maybe he'd just break up with her on spot for cheating on him. After all, she did nothing of worth for him and in his eyes she was cheating on him. Her mind was getting clouded by the dark thoughts just like before, but this time they were stronger than ever, to distract herself from those thoughts she ran even faster to the point she was practically running down stairs, that would prove to be her literal downfall. Taiga fell down the flight of stairs with quite a momentum, landing badly on her ankle in the process. She couldn't tell if she sprained her ankle or not, but she didn't have time to figure it out, she needed to get to him no matter what. Taiga tried to get up her feet again only to be betrayed by her ankle, with some slow movements she finally managed to get up her feet, so she could go after her Ryuji. Granted she couldn't run as fast but at least she could run.
As she drew closer to the lowest floor a thought started to dig deeper with every step she took, what if he wasn't there? Surely she'd be able to explain to him what happened if he was there, but if he wasn't? She didn't have an answer. That thought terrified her just thinking about it being real, let alone what it might mean if it were to happen, she didn't know what she would do if it ever came to that. So she ran even faster and just hoped for the best.
Finally, she reached the last floor! Here, she could explain what happened and everything would be okay!
But unfortunately for her, he was nowhere to be seen. He got away.
Taiga dropped to her knees in defeat, completely destroyed. Just as she thought that their relationship was going to turn for the better her ineptitude ruined everything once again. Before just a few minutes ago she thought that things couldn't get much worse, but now she knew just how wrong she was. She stopped hiding her sadness, and so she begun wailing as hard as she ever did, it didn't matter anymore if anybody was around to hear it, the love of her live was now gone and with that any chance of sorting her self insecurity, so why bother?
As teardrops fell on the ground her mind was overtaken by all the negative thoughts, to the point where she believed every single one of them.
Kitamura stood still at the roof, not moving an inch since that whole ordeal took place. What the hell just happened? One second he was staring at the wall when Aisaka was hugging him, then a second Takasu appeared and then, and then.
To say he was in shock would be an understatement, even seconds later his mind wasn't able to comprehend the situation. Kitamura never saw Takasu look so emotional before, he always saw him being quite reserved and chill even under the most stressful circumstances and yet there he was tearing up and running away. It was the same with Aisaka, but he already saw glimpses of her softer side just moments ago so it was bound to be expected. Still, he was just as confused as he was oblivious. "Wait, did he got the wrong idea? Surely he wouldn't, we were just hugging and that was it." He thought to himself, then it struck him. He felt like such a fool, not only did he fail to help anyone yet again, him helping got everyone into even more trouble.
As he went over the event again he felt a weird sense of sympathy on top of guilt and everything else, it reminded him of what happened between him and Sumire, but on a whole different level. At least he didn't had to handle the pain of being cheated on, in his mind at least. So he had to fix this yet again, not only to make things right WITHOUT things backfiring or being ineffective, but to also make sure Takasu won't go through what he had to go through or even worse. With that he wasted no time and ran towards the stairs with haste.
Minorin was casually walking towards the lockers, ready to head home. She prayed that Takasu would be successful in his plan, because she didn't want to think what would happen if he wasn't. All she could do really was to pray, since it was a no brainer that if she was around then Taiga would never spill the beans.
As Minorin was making her way towards the room leading to the lockers a very familiar face popped up crying on her knees. "Taiga?!" She shouted in shock, She was so stuped she couldn't think about anything at first. Why was she there? Ryuji was supposed to be there talking to her, there's no way that conversation would go wrong this quick, right? Why was she crying like that? Did he do something to her? What in the hell was going on?
Taiga at first didn't hear Minorin's footsteps, but as soon as she heard a very familiar voice calling her name she immediately perked up "H-Huh? Minorin? What are you doing here?" Taiga snapped back to reality as she looked towards her best friend, but her eyes were too teary to see, so she had to wipe the tears with her school jacket. If there was one person Taiga didn't want to see her right then and there it'd be Minorin, she made her feel ashamed and pitiful being in this state. Once Minorin recovered from the short shock she quickly rushed over to Taiga, who was recomposing, so she wouldn't act over emotional.
"I was going home, but what about you? What happened?" She asked, hoping Taiga would give her some useful answers for once. "..." Taiga remained silent, she was a very anxious about telling her what really happened after lying to her about her well-being in the last couple of days, but reluctantly agreed. "I ruined everything" She whispered to herself as she hid her face in her arms so Minorin wouldn't have to see her cry. Minorin looked as concerned as ever, her suspicions were actually right. But now arose the question of Why? Did Ryuji hurt her?
"What? Why? What do you mean?" Minorin asked concerned. She wanted some clarification, she needed to get to the bottom of it, she promised to Takasu after all. "I-It happened on the rooftop, Kitamura listened to my problems, so I thought I'd hug him to show my thanks but then Ryuji saw us, and he ran away. It's all my fault, if only I just didn't hug him maybe everything would be okay." Taiga briefly explained to Minorin, who just stood there more shocked than before. She didn't know how to approach that situation, whilst she felt bad for Taiga that Ryuji ran away when she could have talked to him and evade this whole ordeal, but she also couldn't help but sympathize with Takasu, since Minorin knew very well what he was going through which once again was all inadvertently caused by Taiga. But it didn't matter who was in the right or wrong here, what mattered was fixing the situation at hand. "Right, do you have any idea where he went?" Minorin asked, determined to get to the bottom of it.
"No, I think he just ran out to the city" Taiga said as she slowly pointed behind the lockers. Minorin looked where she was pointing, she needed to act and fast.
Ryuji ran, ran as fast as his legs carried him, and even though he heard Taiga fall badly right behind him he didn't stop, he couldn't, not after what had happened. Finally, after scaling down the many flights of stairs he finally made it out of school and into the streets. He didn't even stop for a second at the lockers, he didn't bother to change his boots, he just kept on running. Where? It didn't matter to him, he just needed to get away.
After a few minutes of running through the streets of the city he finally made it out to the outskirts, at first he didn't know where he was since he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings as he ran, but after he quickly scanned his eyes he recognized the place as a park near the outskirts of the town where he occasionally used to hang out with Kitamura. Ryuji finally decided to sit down and catch his breath, and most importantly his thoughts. "It's really over.." He thought to himself as that image popped up into his mind again, as soon as it did he started tearing up. His dreams crumbled away as tears and sadness replaced them. He didn't understand why, Why would she cheat on him? He always thought of her as the perfect girlfriend that he could ever have, and yet she stuck a dagger in his back. "No, it has to be my fault." Ryuji repeated to himself in his mind, he put all the blame on himself, since he couldn't find it in him to blame it on her.
Ryuji was completely lost, what was he supposed to do now? Taiga was part of his life as much as his own mother, he knew that severing all ties with her would be even more painful than finding out he was being cheated on, since he couldn't even be part of her normal life anymore. What to do now then? He didn't know, nor did he wanted to think about. He just wanted to sit there, and calm himself down a bit.
Kitamura jogged through the school hoping to find either Aisaka or best case scenario Takasu. He searched through all the school classrooms and points of interests where they might be, but to no success. At alas, only the locker room remained unchecked, so he took off hoping they'll be there. Fortunately for him, Aisaka was standing there alongside her friend Kushieda! Whilst he hoped that Takasu would be there as well, it was nice knowing that he at least had some leads to go off of.
Kitamura walked up to them "Hey Aisaka, Kushieda, haven't you two seen where Takasu gone?" He straight up asked, he knew there was little time to spare, so he had to act quickly. Kushieda turned to him looked at him in the eyes, whilst Aisaka's glare stayed at the floor, most likely because of the awkwardness and the shame of what just transpired. "Hey Kitamura, We haven't seen him, but he ran into the city." Kushieda informed him, all whilst Aisaka still remained silent. He wondered if she was okay. "What are you doing Takasu?" He thought to himself as he shook his head. "Well then, what do we do now?" Kitamura asked, he wanted to hear what Kushieda had in mind since she wasn't around when it happens, so he hoped that she would have a clear view of everything unlike him or Aisaka who still would be clouded by emotions.
"We have to act. Now. Before he does something stupid." Kushieda replied swiftly, she knew his mental state and how much that whole situation must have twisted his mind, she couldn't imagine how much he had to be hurting right about now.
He nodded in agreement. "You're right, I say we split up, search around the city and ask around to see if anyone spotted him" Kitamura explained his plan. She shook her head in disagreement "That's not a good idea, after what happened It's best you two lie low for a while, can't risk him spotting you, who knows what he might do. I'll go search for him alone." Minorin shot down his proposal, she knew that would be the only way to go through with it. Of course Kitamura didn't exactly found it fair in his eyes.
"No way! I was one of the reasons why this even happened in the first place. I need to go find him." Kitamura got heated up in his own weird way, he never really did that except for that one time when he 'rebelled' by painting his hair yellow. Kushieda shook her head once more. "Can't you see it would do more harm than help?" She asked him, but he'd have none of that, his proudness as a president and a friend wouldn't let him hear any of it.
"I owe him this much, he was there where I needed him the most as a friend, so I'm just repaying the favor here. Besides, if the roles had been reversed he'd do the same for me." He explained proudly, truly he wasn't just going to let him suffer like that if there was any way he could help out. Minorin shook her head. "Look, if you're that serious about helping how about you go help Taiga get home? Look at her, she's in no shape to go running around the city." Kushieda explained how he could logically be of use, pride aside. And whilst it still wasn't as helpful as he hoped to be, it beat sitting back and watching everything go down again without so much so as being able to lift a finger, never again. "Okay you got it. But promise you'll bring him back in one piece, please?" He begged her. She nodded in response. "I promise, we'll be back in a jiffy!" Kushieda exclaimed excitedly as she smiled at him. "Go on then, I'll get her home safely, you worry about finding him Ok?" He replied as he turned his gaze to Aisaka, who was still looking down in what he guessed to be shame, or maybe she couldn't even look at him because she hated him for being the reason all of this came about? No matter, he had a job to do. Get her home safe, and he would see to it being done, he wanted to do something useful even if it was doing something as simple as escorting her home. Kushieda nodded for the last time. "Alright then, I'll see you around!" She waved off before she ran off to find Takasu. "Good Luck!" Kitamura waved her back before turning back towards Aisaka, yet again she sheepishly stood there, not saying a word. Awkward silence ensued...
After a few seconds Kitamura spoke up.
"Let's head out then, after I'll change I'll wait for you in front of the school okay?" He broke the silence as he pointed out of the school like she did prior. She simply nodded her head without saying a word. He took that as a yes and proceeded to change his boots and out the school he went. Kitamura looked up at the skies to see that they weren't near as clear as they were in the morning, The nice white clouds on the baby blue sky got replaces by dark grey clouds. It was clear that it was going to rain soon, he hoped that he would get her home before then. Finally, after a few minutes Aisaka walked out of the school, ready to head home. Of course as expected she still didn't look him in the eyes, but it didn't bother him in the slightest. Kitamura knew that if he'd be in her shoes he'd probably act the same. Aisaka walked past him, and took the lead heading to her home. Kitamura was taken back for a second, so he fell back behind her somewhat, of course that would not be for a long time as he closed the gap by walking faster. He continued to march a meter or two behind her for the rest of the trip home.
Even though the whole trip has been awkward up until that point Taiga enjoyed the silence, all the noise and commotion that happened that day wasn't helping her mental state after all that happened, so even a few minutes of silence was worth more than gold to her. But something started bothering her, she didn't consider how much Kitamura helped her and was currently helping her, and even after all of that she couldn't even thank him for it because she was too embarrassed about the whole ordeal. She needed some proper way to thank him for all he done for her, after all. Taiga stopped right in her tracks, which startled Kitamura a bit, since there was little to no reason to stop in that place in particular. "Is everything okay Aisaka?" Kitamura asked, worried that something be wrong again. Taiga stood there for a while before responding "I'm sorry for acting like this, I'm really grateful for your help it really means a lot to me, I'm just.." She couldn't even finish her words, tears started to well up again. That oh so familiar feeling of self hatred started to return. "It's fine, you don't have to thank me. I'm doing this because you're my friend." He explained, as he reached out to touch her shoulder to reassure her. Kitamura knew that she needed someone to rely on, and in Takasu's absence he knew he had to step up to take his place for the time being. Taiga turned around with a smile on her face "Thank you, I really needed to hear that" She thanked him, still tears pouring down her eyes. This face reminded Kitamura of why he fell in love with her all those years ago, no matter the situation she would always be brave and fight 'till the end. "I'm glad to have helped" He replied, the guilt washing away from Taiga in the process. He was happy that he was of some use to Aisaka after everything that had happened. Of course, nice moments such as these can't last forever, this one wouldn't be anything different.
Something wet fell on Taiga's face, she quickly realized it wasn't her tears that were falling down from her eyes but it was the raindrops from the clouds above. At first, it was just a few droplets here and there but very quickly the rain intensified to the point where they would need to find a shelter very soon if they didn't want to be wet to the bone. Of course, this being a spring day they didn't expect it to rain so none of them packed a umbrella with them. Taiga looked up towards the clouds to see the dark grey hostile skies surrounded them everywhere as far the eye could see, meaning it wouldn't just go away any time soon. "Quickly, We gotta get to my home!" She exclaimed in a semi shocked tone, Kitamura nodded as they both started running towards her apartment. In amidst of that her ankle started to hurt again, but she had no time tovthink about it. She needed to get home!
In the matter of minutes they made it to the entrance of her apartment, granted they were soaked, but they were alright. They had to catch their breath for a good second, it's exhausting to run for a few minutes on end, especially when you're wet and your clothes are soaked through and through. "We made it" Taiga triumphantly exclaimed, it was a great feeling to finally be home after the relentless rain. "Yeah, we did" Kitamura nodded, still very much out of breath. Whilst he wasn't no pushover when it came to running he didn't possess the stamina that Kushieda or Aisaka possessed. "So what now?" He asked, Taiga remained silent for a good second, good point. They didn't really get that far to think what to do after they got to her home. Then it hit her.
She'd needed to tell Yasuko, after all her own son went missing, all because of her. The guilt creeped It's way back to her mind once again. "I guess I'll go tell Ryuji's mom what's going on" Taiga said with a sad tone, if there was someone she didn't want to disappoint more than Ryuji it'd probably be her, since she acted as a mother figure and to some extent she started viewing her as her own blood.
"You okay?" He asked her, bringing her back to reality. Once again she was not only anxious but also very nervous. That thought of betraying Yasuko's trust kept spinning back, no matter how hard she tried to suppress it, it would always come back. "No, but I'll be fine" He shook her head. Kitamura wanted to help, but he knew he'd be of no good, it was now solely on her shoulders to bear. Of course, that being said it still infuriated him that he couldn't help anyone but help her get home safely, but he'd have a plan. He would fix everything. "Just watch yourself okay? Anyways I guess I'll be on my way then. I need to get home before it gets any worse outside" He said as he turned around and headed towards the door, already brain storming on what he could do to help. Aisaka looked at him completely perplexed. "Hold on, are you gonna go back there without a umbrella? Wait a second" She said to him before getting into her apartment, she walked around the place to get her umbrella. The apartment without her Ryuji in there looked sad and miserable. It reminded her of the time she used to be all alone there, she prayed that she wouldn't have to stay in that huge apartment all by herself again. She finally found the umbrella and walked back to the hall where Kitamura was waiting. "There" She handed it to him, he accepted and nodded. "Thank you, you really didn't need to do that" He replied, it didn't strike him at first that there was a literal storm outside when he was amidst his brain storming, but he was glad that she did offer it to him. She shook her head once more "Of course I did, You helped me get to my home and made me feel better, I feel It's the least I can do to repay you for that" She explained, words couldn't describe how much he helped her that day, despite what has transpired, that's why she insisted. "If you say so anyways, Have a good rest of the day and don't worry okay? We'll find him and get him back to you as soon as we can" He reassured her that It'd be fine, he hoped that It'd make her worry less, but he knew it most likely wouldn't be very effective. "I'll try, but no promises though" She said, trying to get her mind off of Ryuji and his Mom. Kitamura wanted to say goodbye and march on home then and there, but then he realized that he forgot to ask her for her phone number. He needed it for him plan to work. "Oh right, I almost forgot. Can you give me your phone number in case we find him or something, so we can be in contact?" He asked. "Sure, here!" She added his number to her phone contacts and vise versa. Great, he had all the preparation out of the way, the plan was ready. "Thank you, and I'll see you later then" He waved her goodbye. "Bye!" She waved back as he walked away to the unrelenting storm outside.
As Taiga saw the back of Kitamura disappear behind the corner she knew what needed to be done next, she was very hesitant in telling Yasuko just like a child is hesitant to tell their parents that they done something, but she also felt obligated to tell her because it was her who screwed up everything. Taiga slowly approached the small house that Yasuko was residing in, she walked up the stairs before standing in front of the frame of the door which was quite large compared to Taiga's height. She gently knocked on the door twice. "I'm coming!" A familiar mature female voice replied, after which a pair of feet faintly drew closer to the door. The door opened, revealing none other than Yasuko herself, as per usual she was as lively as ever. "Hey Taiga, what are you doing here?" She asked Taiga who couldn't find the right words to tell her anything. "Oh, you're soaked to the bone, we need to get you some dry clothes, come in!" She invited Taiga to her home, her motherly senses made her all forget about the question before, after all she didn't think It was too important to ask why she was there they were like a family after all!
Taiga hesitantly entered her home, after all who'd want to stick around in someone's house when they're the bearer of terrible news. The house itself remained mostly the same throughout the year. Something changed within Yasuko when Ryuji moved to Taiga, she started getting her life in order, so she wouldn't be just going to work and sleeping all the time, she really became a role mom just in the span of few months all because her son moved a few meters away from her. "Hold on, let me make you some tea you look like you could use it." She smiled at her future daughter-in-law, who just nodded and walked to the table in the living room. "Oh, you should have a change of clothes in the closet, you forgot to take some of your old clothes a while back." Yasuko continued, Taiga didn't react at it anymore and just changed her clothes before sitting down at the table. Second by second, minute by minute Taiga tried to come up with some adequate way of breaking the news to her without her completely disowning her, but alas she couldn't find anything suitable. With each passing second the anxiety got worse and worse as she dreaded the moment when Yasuko would ask about Ryuji.
"All done!" Yasuko said to her self silently, but Taiga heard it very easily. She took two tea cups with her before she sat down at the table. Yasuko placed one cup near Taiga and one near herself. "Say, why are you here alone today sweetheart?" Yasuko asked, curious since Taiga and Ryuji were ever so inseparable it was a rarity to see not see them together. There it was asked, the wretched question. Taiga knew that lying or changing the subject would do her no good, so she did the only thing that she could: say the truth. She looked down, not having the strength to tell her whilst looking her in the eyes. "Ryuji, He's lost. And It's all my fault." She revealed to Yasuko, there it was, the ugly truth. Tears started to reemerge, not only she would complete lose Ryuji but also Yasuko in the process, and it all was her own fault. Taiga still didn't dare to look up, instead she had her head low expecting anything and everything to happen. Only thing that she did see was Yasuko standing still for a good second before quickly walking up right next to her slim body. Taiga braced for impact, she expected to be slapped or worse.
But instead of that Yasuko placed her hand on Taiga's shoulders. "That's bad sweetheart, what happened?" She asked softly, as if it wasn't a big deal. "I-I hugged a classmate for helping me sort my problems out, he saw it and ran away" Taiga stuttered, that demeanor caught her completely off guard, so that she just blabbered the whole story instead of questioning her being so calm. "That's Ryuji for you, but he'll be fine I know it." Yasuko explained briefly, this continued to perplex Taiga. "It's really not good, he ran out of school and now he could be everywhere, why are you so calm?" Taiga wanted to know, she herself was already shaking a bit just thinking about it, yet his mother was perfectly fine when her son was missing. "It wouldn't be the first time he done that, but he always returned no matter what, I don't believe this will be any different." Yasuko explained. "But this time It's different, he ran away not because of some dumb reason but because I betrayed him in his eyes. So how can you still be so calm?" She begged to know, hoping she could find an answer to her handling her problems. Yasuko scratched her chin, trying to find the right words to say. "Well, how should I put this.. Exactly the same thing happened to me and his father when we were young, he thought I cheated on him when I didn't and after some time and convincing he came back." She explained briefly, yet on the nose. It was more than effective to satisfy Taiga's worrisome mind for the time being. Yasuko sat down by her to calm her down a bit "Don't worry Taiga, He'll come back I know it. Anyways do you want to try some of my home cooking?" She changed the subject to something more lighthearted to get Taiga's mind off of him for a bit. "Yes" Taiga said happily, she smiled upon seeing Yasuko all happy like this, at least someone was happy during all of this. But even after all of that, that thought still remained within her, all she could do was hope he was okay.
Minorin took off from school as she sprinted towards the town, where she was hoping she'd get some information about Takasu's whereabouts before the trail got cold. She asked anyone and everyone she came across to see if they seen him, but alas she had zero luck. After about half an hour of asking people around she gave up on trying to find information about him through common means since they proved to be unfruitful, so in a bit of a desperation she decided to head over to her previous employer's shop to see if they perhaps haven't seen him.
Kushieda walked up to Enoki's General Store, even though she worked there only for a little while she really had a fond memory of that place. It was mostly due to the fact this was the first time she and Takasu spent together, granted they were locked up in a storage room, but she genuinely enjoyed the little time they spent there together, if only things were different... But she had no time for such thoughts. She needed to find him, and get him safely to Taiga. Kushieda looked at the opening and closing time, it read 17:00. It was currently 16:56. if she came even just 5 minutes later to the store, it would have been closed. She was grateful that alteast for once today she was somewhat lucky. Kushieda slid the doors to the right, walking inside the store. The man behind the counter immediately recognized who she was. "Oh, Kushieda! Long time no see! How are you?" The balding cheery man asked, happy to see her again after about a year or so. She waved back with a smile on her face. "Hello Mr. Enoki, I'm fine thank you, and what about you? What's the store been like?" She asked a question right back to the old man, who was more than happy to answer. "The store has been doing fine over the year, but It's been too dull around here lately. Wouldn't you want to work here again?" He straight up gave her a job offer, whilst she wasn't really needed there he really liked having her around, so much, so he felt really sad when she left to focus more on her school activities. "I'm sorry but I'm graduating soon, so I already have enough on my plate to begin with. But if I had the time I totally would." Kushieda declined his offer, but she wasn't lying. If she had the time she would work there or anywhere really, but she needed to focus on her studies in the long run, and on finding Takasu right now! "Ah, well can't say I didn't try. So anyways, what brings you here, you're here to buy anything?" Enoki asked in a friendly voice. She shook her head. "No, actually I'm just looking for someone. Do you remember Yasu.. I mean Mirano's son, Takasu?" Kushieda asked hoping she'd hit jackpot. He nodded instantly, how embarrassing that'd be to forget the son of her favourite hostesses, especially when he even worked there for a day. "Yeah, I do. He worked with you here for a day right? Wait, don't tell me the kids in trouble?!" Enoki asked, a bit more concerned now. "No, he's not. I just can't find or reach him is all." Kushieda said with a tad bit more serious voice. "Wait, so you're here to find out where your friend is? You know I barely step out of the shop during work so there's no chance I'd see him." He shot her down immediately, she expected to hear that answer, but she was persistent on confirming that he didn't know. A lot was on stake, she couldn't afford to let Takasu get away. "I know, I just wanted to try. This is really important to me, are you sure you or the surrounding people haven't seen him in past hour or two?" She down right begged him to, seeing her in such a state he felt bad for the young girl, so he gave it his best to remember if he ever saw him or heard about him in the recent hour.
"Hmm, now that you mention it, the new kid I hired said something before he clocked out, something about seeing someone with a scary face in a school uniform when he was out delivering I believe, maybe that's him?" Kushieda struck jackpot, that had to be him, no one else in their school strikes as naturally scary looking as Takasu. "Yes, that has to be him!" Kushieda nodded her head as she looked like a kid on Christmas day. Seeing her reaction was enough to convince him that it was him, he was proud that he was of some use to her. "Righto, Hold on here. I'll go call him up to see if he still remembers where he met him." Enoki explained as he pointed with his thumb towards the back, where he went a second later after the conversation. A few silent minutes gone by as Kushieda checked out how the store looked and changed in the last year. Not too much of her surprise not a thing changed in the last year, it was just like she was there almost a year ago, time when everything was simpler. Finally, after a while he came back with some info. "Sorry to keep you waiting, after a bit of back and fourth he spilled the beans, he said that a student with scary eyes bumped into him down in South East Park a little far away from the town. Apparently it didn't phase him that he almost bumped into a delivery man, I guess something's up huh?" Bingo, another jackpot, if he stayed there she'd have his exact recent location or better yet find him there.
"That has to be him! again thank you very much for the help." Kushieda thanked him as she bowed to show gratitude, even though she didn't knew where he exactly was, but it was a good start if nothing else.
"Ah don't mention it! When you do see him say hi for me would you? And I'm glad I got to see you again, and don't forget that my doors are always open if you want to work!" He friendly exclaimed, hoping that she would one day change her mind and work there again. "I will consider it. Thanks again for the help, and goodbye!" Minorin once more bowed towards him as she exited the shop, He simply gave her a wave before she went away. Minorin quickly ran as fast as her legs carried her could towards the South-East Park, desperately hoping that Takasu would still be there.
Takasu sat still on the park bench as he did before, only change now was that it was now raining, he wondered how long was he sitting there? A second? A minute? An hour? A day? He couldn't tell, He was too preoccupied thinking about Taiga and their future to really notice the world around him. But finally, he zoned back in but this time he felt awfully tired, like he just ran a marathon. Ryuji decided to just relax there for a while, maybe It'd get better.
After a few minutes worth of running she finally made it to the aforementioned park, however the weather was getting worse by the minute. The skies turned completely grey as the rain continued to down pour, by the time she got there her uniform was soaked to the brim. "Looks like I'm going to be sick tomorrow." she sighed to herself, but she knew it was a small price to pay for fixing Takasu's and Taiga's problem. Was it just about that though? She doubted her own intentions, maybe there was some other ulterior reason why she was so eager to help him out before and especially now, but that'd be ridiculous, right?
No matter though, she had a job to do. Find Takasu and get him home. So Minorin marched forwards, towards the wet park in front of her. She hoped that Takasu would still be there, otherwise all of this would be for nothing. The path leading through the park was long and due to the bad weather she couldn't see much in front of her. With every passing step that she took she got more and more worried that he wouldn't be there, she couldn't do anything but pray he'd be there somewhere.
She finally noticed someone sit at a bench, it was him! She quickly rushed over. "Takasu? Are you okay?" She shouted, but alas she got no response. He didn't so much so as moved, he just kept on sitting as if nothing happened. Maybe he was still stuck in his head, unable to listen to the real world around him or maybe he just simply chose not to react. Seeing this made Kushieda worry quite a lot, so she slowly neared closer as she braced herself for whatever might be wrong with him. She slowly circled around of him, so she could get a glimpse of his face, and to her surprise and shock he was unconscious. As it turned out the reason why he didn't respond was because he fainted at some point before she got there. Whilst it was great that she found him okay, it raised another issue and that was waking him up.
Minorin shook his shoulder. "Takasu! Wake up! Hey, wake up!" She shouted, maybe that'd wake him up! But it wasn't enough, he was still fast asleep as if nothing happened. Minorin wondered if he was that much of a heavy sleeper or if something really happened to him. A thunder struck somewhere near in the city, and she needed to get him out as soon as she could! She tried time and time again to wake him up, with each of the tries getting more and more desperate. Minorin begun to suspect that something was wrong with him, since no matter how much a person is a heavy sleeper he'd be awake by now. Her hand touched Tarsus forehead, only to feel a great heat resonating from it. Yup, it was fever alright. She needed to get him home, and as fast as she could! Who knows what would happen to him if she didn't. Wasting no time she ducked underneath his arm in an attempt to lift him up, but she quickly found out it'd be harder to pull off than she thought. But on her second try she was successful. Normally Takasu is on the lighter scale but due to his body being limp and the water which accumulated in his clothes made him quite heavy to carry. She struggled to keep him straight because of his feet dragging behind them, due to the great size difference between the two of them. But eventually she dragged him off from the park, but where to go now? Minorin herself slowly started to lose strength, she considered dragging him to Taiga's home but that was on the other side of the town, no way would she make it there. She couldn't drag him to Mr. Enoki since he probably already closed the store. So, with those places out of the question only one location remained where she could leave him, whilst she wished there was some better alternative she had no other choice than to get him to her own home, which was relatively close by to the park.
She dragged his lifeless body through the wet streets as good as she could, however she still earned quite a lot of weird stares by the pedestrians along the way. But none of them spoke up or said anything, it was af it was a normal occurence for them. Minorin opened the door to her house to find it empty, just as always. She laid him down on her living room until she could find some replacement clothes for him. In the closet were a few stacks of clothes she used, either for school or just for casual wear, but obviously she couldn't give him that. But there was some hope after all! After a bit of rummaging through the closet she found a pair of work pants, work shirt and a work jacket from her old part-time job that let her keep the clothes that they gave her, having so many part-time jobs over the years finally paid off.
Of course the cut wasn't exactly Takasu's size, but with them being Work clothes they were more loose, so he could fit in them better than say the rest of her clothes. She changed his wet uniform to her dried work clothes before pulling out a spare futon she kept for situations like these and pulling him in it. After that she prepared a cold tower to help with his fever a bit, only then did she look after herself and changed her wet clothes. After everything was said and done and Takasu was stabilized she went to her kitchen to make herself some tea, she deserved it after everything that just transpired. She sat down in the kitchen table to relax, what a stressful day this was huh? But at least she could feel at ease knowing he's near her and safe. She drank her tea as she noticed her heart was beating heavy and fast.
Just what the hell was going on with her?
End of Chapter - Crying Skies.
Well, I am still alive. Don't worry.
Not gonna sugar coat this in any way shape or form, I aint and haven't been well in the recent months, and overall in the last year as of whole. Too much stuff to really talk about, but on top of all that I really didn't wanted to write this. Like I don't like writing this exact story anymore, not like I don't want to write but I don't like the style of what this story has become and going forward I decided to return to my old style of writing as I enjoy it way more than what Afterstory has became, this chapter being the last of It's kind. Now, I will talk about this more indepth at a later date, probably at the very last chapter which will hopefully come within a few weeks to a month at most. I am writing a follow-up chapter right now, which should go live in a few days. I will see you all there, until then have a good day. - Totenwelt