Shift

[Andromeda]

Meanwhile during the fight Yuki and Seiji had with the assassin, across town Yumi and Yori were having lunch together in an unused class room in the club and activities wing of the school. Yumi had spent the previous lunch with her friends, but made a promise to Yori that she would meet with him today. She was still uncertain what it was that he wanted from her. “Brother…what is it that you wanted to talk about?”

Yori sat in opposite of her at one of the smaller desks with his lunch laid out next to her with a very similar array of food. It was clear that they were both made together. He took a small bite from his food before he looked up her at to speak. “I want you to stop spending time with Yuki Hayashi, sister.”

“What?!”

Chapter 30 – The Warning

Yumi dropped her food on the table pausing in the moment confused and puzzled by her brother’s words. ‘How does he know about Yuki? I’ve never told anyone…’ She placed her hands on table setting down what was in her hands and folding her hands into her skirt becoming nervous. A little trail of sweat was forming along her neck from the stare of Yori. “Why, Yori?”

Yori, who had been eating naturally, looked back at his sister returning the serious gaze that he had been holding the entire time. “I’ve known that you’ve been seen in the company of Yuki and his friends several times.”

“But…Yori, he’s a classmate.”

“During class it can’t be helped, but I don’t want you spending time with them anymore.”

“But why?” She had not known how much Yori knew about her school life. The fact that he knew meant that he was following her or keeping track of her made her a little more uneasy than she already was before. She knew her brother was concerned about her well-being and cared for her a lot of the time, but this was unusual.

Her brother came to pause once more in his lunch, which was now half eaten unlike Yumi’s. “I’ve heard about Hayashi’s past at his last school. He’s dangerous and I don’t want him to drag you into what he happens to be mixed up in.”

Yumi did not know much about Yuki apart from the last school that he attended. Most of the time, Yuki did not speak anything about his past, but was generally happy, cheerful and upbeat in class if not a little strange at times. For Yumi, the way that he acted never really bothered her. She thought that his attitude was warm and inviting apart from many of the other students that seemed to be a little more distant. “I haven’t heard about anything like that. Yuki’s not like that, brother.”

“I don’t trust him, Yumi. I don’t know much about him, but he has a violent history of fighting and bullying.”

Yumi’s eyes grew wide when she heard this about Yuki. This was nothing like what she saw from him during class. She knew some of his friends could be aggressive, but she had never seen Yuki fighting. “I’ve never seen him fighting.”

“I’m your brother and I care about what happens to you. But I won’t force you. I wanted you to know my feelings and be aware of him. Please think about what I’ve said though.” Yori finished his lunch and seeing that Yumi was still unable to eat her own lunch needing time alone to think left the room.

Yumi stared down at the table for several minutes unable to think or move. It was not even a matter that she learned something that could be frightening about Yuki that paralyzed her so much. The issue troubling her mind was that it was her brother that came to her. ‘What do I do? I can’t go against my brother, but Yuki…’ She did not know if she could just stop, the feeling…her feeling…(it’s all quite embarrassing for her).

The rest of lunch went by slower than a snail trying to reach the other of a window for Yumi. Her food was nearly forgotten by her as she was lost in thought. When she realized that she had not touched any of her food she panicked and hurried through it not feeling so good afterwards. The stress and uncertainty combined with eating too fast made for a poor combo inside Yumi requiring her to go to the nurse’s office for a part of the day.

‘What am I going to do? I can’t remain here all day…’ She hung the sheets of the bed that she was resting in over most of her face. Every time she thought about her brother it only made her stomach feel even more ill and when she thought about Yuki she felt warm, which certainly was not helping matters. ‘Yuki…Yori…I don’t know what I should do…’

She remained in the nurse’s office for most of the rest of the day until her worry managed to subside enough for her to leave. The remaining part of the day was made a little easier on her since she did not see Yuki, but him not being present left her a little concerned for him. When school came to an end she walked home with her friends. Due to her being so quiet, they talked between each other not noticing the turmoil that was boiling around her.

Yumi’s house was first on their stop and so she departed company with them in a vacant bow before making her way to the front door. She fished around her pack for her keys to the door becoming increasingly more absentminded by the minute. Once the keys had been found she opened the door and took off her shoes. “I’m home!” she announced knowing already that she was in the house alone. Yori would not be back for sometime due to student council and her mother worked most of the day to support them as a single mother. Having an empty house made things a little easier for her with the problems that she was dealing with today.

She walked into her room closing the door behind her and collapsed on her bed burying her head in her pillow leaving her pack on the floor. Yumi’s bedroom was bright and cheerful with a few assortments of stuffed animals lying about from when she was younger. There was a desk at the opposite side of her room layered with papers and books from studies. A few posters lined the walls adding variety and color to the plain walls. At her bed side on a table with the alarm clock and lamp was a picture of her brother as well as her mother and father, but slipped into the corner of the picture frame was a small snapshot of Yuki with his head turned looking away from the camera.

“What am I supposed to do? Someone…”

The evening gave way to night and Yumi recovered enough to have a meal with her brother. They had become accustom to making their own meals and usually shared the duties. At first, their cooking efforts were poor, but they were given the chance and sometimes forced to get better if they wanted to have a decent meal. It was not their fault that their mother worked multiple jobs just to cover the cost of living for them. So they helped where they could.

Since Yumi was in no mood to cook it fell to Yori to do so that night. The mood was filled with tension even though Yori was acting like there was nothing wrong between them. Yumi was not certain to really even call what was happening a fight since Yori had dropped the matter after he said his bit. However, for Yumi it felt like there were miles between them as she had to be cautious of any words or actions she made. She did not want to do anything to upset him. Most of time, he was the only one that she had near her when she was not at school. She did not know what she would do if she was left to feel alone with her brother.

The uneasy meal eventually came to an end for Yumi and she left for her room again unable to deal with the pressure that she was feeling from the room. She fell back on her bed having a difficult time doing anything even sleeping. All her mind could do was twist and turn through mazes and spirals that seemed endless and linking back on each other leaving her only further confused. Her thoughts repeated through cycles with none answered or barely responded. Somehow through it all, she passed out still in her school uniform.

As Yori was passing through the hall he noticed Yumi’s door cracked open with her light still on in the late hour of the night. Their mother had returned home recently and he had finished with helping her. He peeked into the room to see if she was studying only to find her lying on her bed asleep. Yori quietly walked into her room feeling sad for the troubles that were weighing her body. He could not get her out of her clothes, but he should at least cover her up. Yori turned down her covers and carefully put her under them pulling them up to her shoulders.

Yumi turned suddenly on her bed facing Yori while he was bent down. “…Brother…” she said softly while shifting in her sleep.

He turned out her light and walked out of her room looking back. ‘I didn’t want to place such stress on you, but know that I do care. I hope you feel better tomorrow.’

The morning came and Yumi pulled herself up out of bed still feeling a little tired, but confused as well to being under her covers. She let it pass by though as she looked down to see that she was still wearing her school uniform. “Oh no! I slept in my uniform! It’s going to be so wrinkled! Oh no!” Yumi jumped out of her bed tossing her uniform on her bed in a panic starting to running around her room. Then she looked down at her alarm clock to see the time was twenty minutes past when she normally woke up. “I’m late too!” She realized that she needed to shower as well as get new clothes and deal with her wrinkled ones. In the flurry of her panic she started to feel lightheaded with her eyes becoming spirals and smoke escaping her ears as she collapsed to her knees trying to calm down. “What am I going to do…”

After an exhausting start to a morning, Yumi made it to school with her friends. Her brother Yori usually had student council matters to attend to in the morning that required him to leave earlier than her. So it made it rare for her to see him except at home. She had mostly recovered back to her normal quiet shy self that smiled and agreed with her friends’ idle conversation.

Once class began she could see that Yuki was back at school after his strange absence from class yesterday. She was not certain, but there seemed to be something a little different about him. He was still cheerful and happy, but it looked like he was not complete or something. It was a strange feeling that she could not put her finger on, but she did not dwell on it. During class, she tried to keep her eyes forward, but could not help them swaying away from the lesson towards Yuki. She tried to push down the fuzzy feelings that were washing over her each time. ‘…Yuki…’

While their last class of the day was being taught she noticed that Yuki had fallen asleep. Most of the day, he had kept his outbursts down to a minimum, though Yumi noticed that Saki and Ayumi were often covering for him. ‘…Saki and Ayumi…’ It made her curious what sort of relationship the two had with Yuki to always been helping him so much. She had tried to help him once or twice, but she was so timid that her voice was never heard.

Even though Yumi was watching Yuki sleeping peacefully, the teacher was not enjoying him sleeping during his lecture and shouted to him wake up. Yuki was slow to pull himself up looking half awake even when he sat up. “But the galaxy’s in danger…” he said still waking up.

The rest of the class began to laugh while the teacher only became more frustrated with Yuki lack of focus. He managed to keep his composure with Yuki. “Well the galaxy can wait until after my class is done, Mr. Hayashi.”

“…Al-right…”

Yumi smiled to herself seeing the Yuki she was so familiar with. She could not see what her brother was concerned about in Yuki in the slightest. Yuki was just a normal student in her class that had a little more attention than most. When she caught him looking around in her direction she quickly snapped back trying to keep her face from getting too red. ‘…Yuki…’

“Can you believe him?” Kaede said once class ended for the day. Yuki and his friends had already left as well as a majority of the rest of the class. Kaede and Katsumi were waiting on Yumi to finish up things at her desk and Yuki made the topic of discussion.

Katsumi nodded in agreement Kaede standing next to Yumi’s desk. “He was sleeping in class, again.”

“How many times does that make?”

“I don’t know, but it’s like three times a week at least.”

“Yeah, and then he goes on about his dream like we care.”

“Really, he can’t even tell when he’s awake or dreaming.”

“Don’t you think so, Yumi?” Katsumi leaned over to see what Yumi was doing in her pack.

Yumi pulled her head up from her seat and stood up ready to go. She was not willing to answer them knowing how badly they talked about Yuki every time he did something in class. Kaede and Katsumi hardly caught it and followed Yumi out of the school. The subject of Yuki was not dead though as she had hoped it would be.

“Don’t you think that Yuki is a troublemaker too, Yumi?” Kaede said looking over at Yumi as they walked down the sidewalk.

“Well I…he’s…”

“You’ve spent some time with him. You know right?”

Yumi did not like it when they confronted her like this about Yuki. She was never able to speak up strongly to them even though they were her friends. “He’s not…”

“How can you defend him, Yumi? Look what he did in class.”

“Kaede’s right, Yumi. He just causes trouble! And there’s those rumors too!”

“What rumors?” Yumi said remembering that Yori had been concerned about rumors around Yuki as well. She wanted to know more about why people did not like him.

“I don’t know much, but they say he got into fights everyday at his last school.”

“But he doesn’t—“

“Yumi, you should stay away from him. He’ll get you into trouble too just like he does to that new girl Ayumi.”

Yumi was getting to the end of her rope listening to her friends talking so badly about Yuki. Her body was shaking knowing that all she could do was stutter continuing to lose the words that tried to come out. She came to a stop at the corner of the street with her friends turning to look back when they realized that she was not following them. Her head was held down casting a black shadow over her eyes obscuring them from view between her bangs.

“Yumi?”

“Is something wrong?”

She tried to hold back her tears knowing that it was not going to help her in any way. Her friends began to touch her shoulders trying to figure out why she had gone so still, but she did not answer them. Yumi remained like a statue for a minute stuck in turmoil. When she finally snapped out of it and rose her head up her expression had changed back to normal. “I’m sorry. I’ve got work today. So I have to leave now.”

“Yumi?” said Kaede and Katsumi saw Yumi cross the street waving to them. They looked back at each other feeling puzzled by the way she had been just a moment ago.

‘Yori and now my friends too… What should I do? I could barely hold back the tears in front of them. I can’t let them know…’

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

The town was busy with activity crowding the streets and sidewalks leaving the noise to plow through everything around. Near to the neighborhood of Yuki and many of his classmates was a shopping district within walking distance that provide much of the after school entertainment. It left the sidewalks filled with students just off from classes.

For Yumi, she had to make it to her part-time job that she kept. Since their mother worked so hard to make enough money for them, Yumi took it upon herself to help in any way that she could to make things a little easier for them. She had decided when she entered high school that she would get a job. It was not uncommon for high school students, but still was something difficult to do. However, the school knew about her family situation and she was allowed to work.

She arrived out front of the local bookstore that she had found through the school. They had helped her in locating a respectable business that was near to school. She helped them with whatever was needed in the store filling in where there were gaps. It was a simple job, but Yumi enjoyed the people that worked there and the friendly atmosphere.

Yumi smiled and nodded to the owner at the front desk as she walked through to the back. Since she came straight from school she was still wearing her uniform. It meant that she had to change out to what was worn for the store, which was simple slacks and a pink polo with the store’s logo embroidered on the left side. As she put her bag away her mind began to wonder through memories and thoughts.

Chapter 31 – Unbroken Bonds

The back room gave her the moments to think back with her mind still spinning in uncertainty from her brother’s words. It made her think back when she was younger, when their family was still whole. ‘When I was younger, father was still with us and mother didn’t have to work. She stayed home most of time taking care of us. During that time Yori was a little distant from me.’

Yori, age eight, was standing next to the table in the adjoining room to the kitchen where their mother was still looking at a paper. She returned the paper back to him smiling to him rubbing his head. “That’s amazing, Yori! You’re so smart!”

Outside of the kitchen looking in through the doorway was Yumi, age seven, watching with curiosity. When Yori caught the eye of Yumi his gaze shifted for a moment narrowing at her and then changing back as he looked at their mother. The look made Yumi recoil around the corner of the door frame barely allowing her eyes to peek around. Their mother quickly picked up on Yumi’s presence and turned making Yumi go into complete hiding. “Oh Yumi! It’s alright you don’t have to hide, dear!”

She pulled herself back a little catching the warm comforting smile from her mother that made her feel some courage pouring through her to get her out from hiding. Yumi stood in the threshold of the doorway hanging her head down trying to hold back her tears. “…Mom…” Her entire body was shaking ready to run away.

Her mother stood up from the chair walking over to Yumi kneeling down to her a little confused for why she was getting so upset. “What’s the matter, Yumi? Why are you crying, dear?” She raised up Yumi’s head to look at her seeing the tears that hung in her eyes. Then she looked down catching a paper in Yumi’s tiny hands wrinkled from her tight hold on it. She gently took the paper from Yumi to look at it and then set it aside. “Is this what’s got you upset? Don’t worry, Yumi. You’re still my precious daughter. Your grades won’t change how I feel!” Yumi jumped into her mother’s arms held out for her unable to stop the crying.

“…Hrmph…” Yori said turning his head away walking out of the room leaving them behind.

‘Yori and me, we got along well enough for siblings, but there always seemed to be a hint of competition between us. Much of that didn’t change for a while, but it soon became clear to Yori what our father had been doing. While I was only a year younger than him, much of it still was beyond my understanding.’

Their father came into the house late as he always seemed to be these days. There was a masking glow about him that made it clear he was hiding something while feeling contrary to his outward emotions. He sighed like he was tired and loosened his tie as he dropped his coat on the rack.

“Your dinner is warmed for you in the kitchen,” their mother said as she came out of the kitchen helping him with his things.

“I had something at work. I’m just going to sleep.” He walked around her going up the stairs to their room.

She hung her head down with a sense of knowing. “…I see…”

‘I was asleep then, but had woken up seeing Yori looking out into the hall.’ Yumi, age nine, looked up from her bed across her room and through the door that looked into Yori’s room. She could see the light of the hall shining on his eyes. Then the door completely opened and he walked out disappearing into the hall out of view. “…Yori?” She could not hold back her curiosity and stepped out of her bed walking to the edge of her door.

‘There was not much I could see, but I knew he had gone into our parent’s bedroom. All I could do was listen from a distant.’

“…doing here…” a muffled voice of her father said.

“I know… …playing around…”

“…just a child…”

“NO! I… …mother knows… …waits for you each…”

The voices suddenly became raised and much clearer to understand. “You don’t have any right to talk to your father like that!”

“And what right do you have to make mother cry every night when you don’t come home and knows what you’re doing!”

“Don’t you talk back to me, child! This doesn’t concern you!”

“It does when my own father doesn’t seem to care about his own family!”

“Watch your mouth! I—“ Yumi pulled herself back into her room seeing that their mother had been alerted to the noise and came running to see what was going on. There was further yelling, but Yumi had hid herself under the covers of her bed trying to keep the noise away from her.

‘It was not long after that our father left and then a year later it became official. Yori seemed glad, but it weighed on mother. When father left, she had to start working. It was then that I realized how much we depended on her. I had become so used to arriving back from school to have a warm smile to greet me and a snack to eat. But none of that happened anymore. The house was empty when I came home.’ While at school she kept a pleasant smile on her face even in front of those that knew what had happened. She continued on not letting to slow her down or get to her.

“Welcome home, Mom!” Yumi said greeting her tired mother at the door coming home late.

She had pat Yumi on the head working up a smile for her. “Thank you, dear.”

“Is there anything you need?” Yumi smiled keeping a happy pleasant face hoping to cheer up her mother.

“No, I’ll start working on dinner for you two immediately. You go do your homework.”

“Alright!”

‘It was always empty when I came home. There was never anyone to greet me.’ Yumi, age ten, was sitting at a chair in the dining room, alone in the house, next to the kitchen with her school bag dropped at her feet. She held her head down on the table with her hair covering up her face hiding her feelings.

Unnoticed by her, Yori had returned home from school and walked into the room seeing that the light was on. He walked around her to her side trying to see what was wrong with her. When he called out to her she did not answer back remaining in silence. He placed his hand on her shoulder hoping that he could get her attention. “Yumi?” However, he was not expecting what happened.

Yumi jumped up from her chair grabbing Yori by the waist and plunging her face into his shirt crying. He was taken aback by her reaction and collapsed to the floor not certain what to do next as his sister could not stop crying. “She’s not here! She’s not here! I want to see mom!”

“…Yumi…I-I…” Yori held Yumi in his arms as she kept crying feeling at a loss.

“…I want…” Yumi could not control herself anymore at that point. She had been feeling the sadness weighing on her for so long and tried to keep it bottled up so that she did not make anyone worry. She understood why their mother was always gone, but accepting it and understanding were not the same. ‘I thought that I had to be the good girl and so that I was strong. I didn’t want them to worry about me, but I just couldn’t take it. Everything that I had been holding in came pouring out.’

“I didn’t know…I…won’t let you be alone, Yumi!” Yori said looking down at Yumi trying to reach her.

She paused in her tears for a moment pulling herself away to look at Yori. The words had given her a little strength to be able to break through the emotions. “Yori? You…”

“I promise you, Yumi! So you don’t have to cry anymore. I’m here.”

“I’m not alone?”

Yori helped her get back on to her feet and clear up her tears. It was obvious to him how upset she still was about the matter. “Let’s make something to eat. You’ll feel better!” He started to walk her over to the kitchen looking back at Yumi, he was holding on to her hand to give her something stable.

“Can you cook?”

“Sure! And you can help me!”

“But I-I don’t know…”

“It’ll be fine. We can make something for mom as well.”

Yumi was still uncertain about the idea, but doing something with her brother made her a little excited. She had not known him to do much of anything with her. They went into the kitchen looking confused and lost, but Yori trying to play it like he knew what he was doing directing Yumi around. ‘Neither of us knew how to make anything to eat. She had always done everything for us. Even when she was working she left something for us. But Yori was determined to cheer me up. It was the first time that we had been so close. In the end the kitchen was a mess and we got scolded by her, but Yori stood up for me.’

The time passed on slowly for them. Their mother got more work and hours to keep her children in school and the house that they lived in. She was in the house less and less leaving it up to Yumi and Yori to pick up the duties that their mother used to do. They would clean the house and do the laundry. Both of them took turns in the kitchen and when their mother was free she tried to help teach them. ‘Eventually, we were able to cook just as well as her. We became closer and closer as time went on and I was able to be happy again spending time with Yori.’

They continued out elementary school together becoming almost inseparable at school or home. It was pretty clear to the students how close they were as siblings with some even knowing what happened in their family. Their close nature made them targets of teasing some times, but Yori stood up for Yumi every time it happened. But being a year behind Yori, eventually he went to middle school leaving Yumi alone in school.

She became distant again during her last year of elementary school shying away from most people. Yumi was simply holding out until she was near her brother once more. She had been through it before so it was not as painful for her. ‘When I arrived middle school, Yori had already developed a name for himself. He was smart and popular with the girls. It was typical that he would try to ignore the attention, but it made it difficult when everyone heard we were related. They expected me to be just like him, but I could only end up disappointing them.’

“Hey, you’re Mizuno’s little sister!”

“It’s Mizuno’s sister.”

“What’s her name?”

“He must be so embarrassed with having a sister like her.”

“Yeah, he’s mature, intelligent and good looking.”

“She’s nothing like him, it’s surprising.”

“Hey! There’s nothing wrong with Yumi!” a girl said breaking up the crowd.

Yumi looked up from passing through the halls quietly a little surprised to hear that there was someone that was not talking down to her or making fun of her. She came to a stop seeing that there was a group of students in her way. “…umm…excuse me…” she said weakly barely able to speak. The commotion that was being created only made her want to leave sooner.

“Who do you think you are?!”

“I should be saying that to you! You think its fun teasing people?”

“What?!”

“Hey! Why you stopping her?!” The girl had suddenly realized that Yumi was trying to leave, but a mob of students was preventing her. She came running over to Yumi glaring at the students, who were confused and a little scared by the reaction. “Come on!” The girl grabbed her hand pulling Yumi through the student wailing in surprise not wanting to cause trouble for everyone.

Once they had broken through and found a quiet place to rest Yumi collapsed to the ground panting heavily for air. She looked over at the other girl that was trying to recover her breathing as well. “I’m sorry to cause you trouble.”

“Huh? Why you apologizing to me? They should be apologizing to you for harassing you like that!”

“But I don’t want to cause any trouble!” Yumi did not know why the girl was supporting her. She did not even know who the girl was aside from being about her age. It was a foreign notion to her that there was someone that would want to stand up for her. She was so used to being with her brother that she had isolated herself from the rest.

The girl stepped forward holding out a finger over Yumi’s lips when she was about to say something more. “I don’t want to hear you blaming yourself! You did nothing wrong. So cheer up! You always look so sad.”

“But I-I…”

“No ‘buts’ alright? I’m Kaede!” Kaede pulled her hand back letting Yumi speak again.

Yumi was left without words to say. She was not used to someone being so open and straight with their words. It felt like she had a harsh tongue, but Yumi could feel that she also seemed to care about her too. ‘That was the first time I met Kaede. I soon became friends with her and later Katsumi as well. They helped to fill the void that I felt when my brother was not around. They are both a lot more open about saying what’s on their mind then me.’

Yumi pulled her focus back to her work in the store. Her mind had been absent for long enough leaving the books that she was supposed to stock still resting in the box. When she realized how far behind she was on her work she panicked and flailed her arms punishing herself.

The books were eventually finished and she was about to take the box back when she was called forward. It was the woman that was the only other full time worker at the store apart from the family that owned the store. Yumi would see her in almost every day working behind the counter most days. “Yes, Miss Momoko?”

“Hey, Yumi! Could you take this to the back for me?”

“Sure!” said Yumi as she approached the counter. There was someone else there with his back turned to her handing over a bag to Momoko.

“You can just give it to her, Yuki.”

“Alright,” Yuki said slowly as he turned to face Yumi coming up to him.

Yumi froze instantly seeing Yuki standing before her. Her words began to stutter and her face turned red almost immediately. ‘What’s he doing here? Why is…’ There were countless questions that ran through her mind in the moments as she stared unable to say anything. Yuki stepped forward to her holding out the bag for her to take as she stepped back. “…Yuki…”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

“…Yuki…” Yumi said softly almost in a whisper. He was staring straight at her holding out the bag that she was being asked to take to the back of the store, but she could not move. Her body remained frozen still with her face getting warmer by the second. ‘What do I do? I can’t move! He’s standing in front of me right now!’

Yuki took a step forward developing a confused look on his face for the odd reaction that was occurring in Yumi. He tried to hold out the bag for her again seeing that it was out of reach for her to take, but even being closer did not make a difference. “Yumi?”

‘What should I do?’

‘I want you to stop spending time with Yuki Hayashi, sister.’

‘Yori! Yuki!’ Yumi’s mind suddenly went into a spin hearing the echoing voice of her brother in her mind reminding her of his feelings. It was not an order, but it felt like it to her. She wanted to listen to him, but she did not believe Yuki to be like they said. ‘He’s here now. I can’t avoid him…’

‘Yumi, you should stay away from him. He’ll get you into trouble too just like he does to that new girl Ayumi.’

Her lips began to quiver as she retreated inward further, no longer recognizing those around her. The words were pounding against her mind raising new conflicts that only further paralyzed her. She could not take all of the voices anymore feeling her heart racing faster. ‘No more, please!’

Yuki was starting to become concerned with the way that Yumi acted and stepped closer to her hoping to get her attention. When he saw that she was just stuttering in front of him he reached out his hand grabbing her hand hoping to snap her out. “Yumi? You alright?”

The confused state that she was in was suddenly shattered the moment she felt a new warmth in her hand. She blinked and looked down to see that Yuki was holding her hand staring at her very closely. Her head burned turning bright red and making her mumble words stuttering even worse than before. “Yuki! I—“ However, all of the stress on her body was unable to take pressure and she passed out dropping to the floor out of Yuki’s hand.

“Yumi!”

Chapter 32 – Matter of Self

The time passed quickly for Yumi unconscious with all of her troubles faded away into the void letting her sleep in peace. When she woke up she found herself in a bed with the covers up to her neck. She looked around cautiously not moving with uncertainty to her new location. The room had a strange smell to it like there was no life allowed to persist left in a bleached environment that was almost unnatural. On her left sat Yuki quietly waiting unaware of Yumi’s eyes. ‘Yuki…what’s going on? Where am I? A hospital?’

The blood began to rush into her face again making her feel warm once more as she accepted Yuki being near her. It made her twitch and squirm in the bed alerting Yuki to her waking up. He leaned in to the bed checking her face to see if she was awake or still asleep. “Yumi! You’re awake! That’s a relief!”

“…Yuki…” she said slowly having her throat choking on her words seeing Yuki so close to her.

Yuki pulled back a little from Yumi having become a little at ease that she was awake now. Though, as he continued to watch her the redness in her face was starting to return making him worry. “You feeling alright? You look a little red still.” He lifted up his hand placing in on her forehead and checked it against his own trying to see if she was running a fever. “Hmm…I’m not so good at this, but I guess it’s normal?”

‘Yuki’s…touching me… He’s so close…’ Yumi’s entire face became red as she lost her voice with her eyes starting to spin and spiral. She fell back into the pillow of the bed unable to take the closeness. Unfortunately, Yuki leaned in panicked when he saw her collapse backwards. She could not hear the words that he was shouting in worry, but he started to run for the door. It was an instant, and she did not know why she did it, her hand reached out to him grabbing his wrist before he was out of the room. Her hand was small compared to Yuki, but it met him halting him. “Yuki…”

He looked back down at Yumi finding her to be a little more stable than before with the redness disappeared. The look in her eye told him that he should stay. “You sure?”

“Yeah…I-I’ll be fine.” Yumi gave him a weak smile to try to make him feel a little better. He took his seat once more that he had been using while he was waiting. “What happened?” There was still a lot that she was not certain about, especially the reason she was in a hospital room.

“Oh! You collapsed at the bookstore. When you didn’t wake up we took you to a nearby clinic.”

“I passed out…” She tried to think back to the bookstore, but the events were hazy in her mind. All she could remember was Yuki and everything getting very warm for her.

“Yeah, the doc said something about fainting from stress. He said he couldn’t find anything physically wrong with you.”

“Oh… I see…” Yumi looked around the room taking the surroundings once more as she sifted through what Yuki told her. If she looked at Yuki for too long she was afraid that she would start to feel weird again like before. She was barely keeping in control knowing how close he was to her and that they were alone (which was certainly not helping matters for her). “The bookstore! I need to get back to work!” Yumi started to get out of bed, but Yuki stood up putting his hands on her shoulder’s stopping her.

“They gave you the rest of your shift off. They want you to rest.”

“But they’ll be short handed!”

“Momoko said she’d handle your work.”

“But I—“

“If something’s got you stressed out it’s just going to keep affecting, especially in a weakened state.”

“…I…” Yumi was still straining against Yuki’s hands not wanting to give into what he was saying. She thought about her brother suddenly making her stiffen realizing the effects that it was having on her. “Alright…” Yuki had let up on her seeing her resisting come to an end.

“I’ll let the doc know you’re awake.” Yuki stood up walking out of the room disappearing into the hall leaving Yumi alone in the room.

Yumi laid back in the bed leaving the covers slightly folded down when she tried to leave. The ceiling was unwelcoming to her concerns as her mind was given the freedom and peace to begin turning once more on the thoughts that were plaguing her. ‘Yori… What should I do now? Yuki’s here and…’ She turned in the bed not wanting to deal with the questions that were popping up. ‘I just want …’ Yumi closed her eyes trying to get the thoughts closed out from her.

“I’m back, Yumi!” Yuki said entering the room and announcing his return with a bag in hand. When he saw that Yumi looked like she was in pain he dropped the bag and ran over to her side. “What’s wrong, Yumi?!”

“Oh Yuki! I-I…” She froze opening her eyes once more staring back at Yuki. ‘He’s so close…’

“Are you in pain?”

Yumi forced herself to calm back down seeing Yuki. “I’m sorry for worrying you so much. I’ll be fine. I’ve just got a lot on my mind.” She pulled herself up from the bed sitting in it so not to get Yuki alarmed too much. Her eyes were quickly drawn over to the bag that Yuki had dropped coming into the room. “Is that my school bag?”

“Huh?” Yuki said confused by the sudden change in conversation. He turned his head over to where she was looking seeing what he had dropped. He walked back over to the entrance of the room and picked up the bag taking it to the end of the bed that Yumi was resting in. The school bag rested a little heavy on the mattress. “Yeah, Momoko gave it to me to give to you. She put your school uniform in it too, so it’s probably a little wrinkled. But I didn’t have much I could do while I carried you.”

She pulled the bag in to her lap while Yuki talked taking out her uniform and realizing that she was still wearing the bookstore’s clothes. However, everything came to a stop for her when she heard the last thing that Yuki said to her. “You carried me?”

“Yeah…traffic was bad and so I didn’t want to wait any longer. Momoko complained saying I shouldn’t have carried you thinking it would cause even worse injuries or whatever, but she’s over reacting.”

‘Yuki carried me…I was…all that time…’ Her mind began to spin again with the thoughts that were floating through her head imagining Yuki running through the streets shouting to people to get out of his way while he was carrying her (over-dramatized recreation). The thoughts of her being carried by Yuki made her face red once more as she tried to keep it under control.

Yuki did not want to dwell on the matter too much longer and turned away. “Well umm…the doc said if you’re feeling better you can leave. But if you want to rest some more—“’

“No! Uh… I mean… I’m feeling better. I don’t want to burden him with me when he’s probably got other patients that need his attention more.”

He turned to look at Yumi not wanting her to be saying such things. “He’s a doctor. You’re just as important as anyone else here. You’re not a burden!”

“…I-I…” Yumi began to stutter not expecting to have Yuki snap at her as he did. She had always known him to be so carefree and cheerful. It was a strange light that she was seeing him now that she was not familiar with, yet comforting to her.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to shout at you.”

“…No, its fine… You’re right.” Yumi looked through her clothes and school bag. While she could stay in the bed for as long as she wanted she knew that she had to be getting home. She did not want to make her brother worry about her. The time had to be late. She lifted up her uniform close to her and looked back at Yuki not saying a word.

Yuki looked down at Yumi not taking the hint immediately. The slow turning gears finally hit him and he stood up looking a little embarrassed that he was still in the room. “Uh… I’ll just be outside.” He walked a little stiffly through the room making it to the door and closed it behind him.

She smiled to herself seeing a little more of the normal Yuki in that moment. Once she knew that she was alone she lifted herself out of the bed and changed out her clothes. The slacks and shirt lay on the bed next to her school uniform neatly arranged on the bed. It was a little chilly for her, but her thoughts had paused her. As she had went for her school uniform her mind echoed back to school. She placed her hand on her school uniform seeing her friends pounding at her thoughts. ‘Katsumi…Kaede…’ She pulled back her hand holding in close to her chest, but then saw her brother appear to her. ‘…Yori…’ Yumi retreated lowering her hand to her store uniform and an image of Yuki carrying her appeared. ‘…Yuki! I-I-I…’

Yumi jumped back being surrounded back by all of her fears regardless of what she did. She could not escape any of it no matter where she went. There was nothing that would hide her or make her free from her cage. “How can I…” She kept backing away not want go anywhere near it, but knowing that she could not escape it. It was stuck to her even if she was not wearing them.

The hallway held Yuki leaning against it until the door opened. Yumi walked out in her school uniform with her bag on her back and her store uniform folded up in her arms held tightly to her. “I’m ready!” He gave her a nod and pushed off from the wall starting to walk in front of her through the hallway. ‘Is he going to come with me all the way?’

There was a little paperwork for Yumi to fill out as she departed, but since there was nothing wrong with her it was minimal. She thanked the doctor for his help and exited the clinic with Yuki. They walked side-by-side down the sidewalk with little being said between them (awkward silence actually). The void remained until they began to enter the residential neighborhood. “Umm…” Yumi said quietly wishing that she had not even uttered a sound afterwards.

“Is something wrong? If there’s something you’re stressed about I can listen. It might relieve it.” Yuki was feeling a little lost walking next to Yumi the entire time. He had insisted on following along with her to know that she got back safely without an incident, but he barely knew her. It was not like Saki who would talk for him. He was feeling unease, but realized that he was not wondering in his mind or having to control his thoughts for some reason. He almost wished that he had something to focus on. ‘What am I doing?’

“Wha—“ Yumi turned to look at Yuki and then away realizing her mistake. ‘What am I doing? Why did I say anything?’ She could feel the gnawing pain at her heart that was poisoning her body making it difficult to breathe. It continued to rake at her consciousness knowing that she was uncertain. ‘What should I do now?’ The silence dragged out between them creating the void once more until Yumi could not take the weight anymore. “…Yuki…I…”

“Yes?”

“Uh…Have you ever had someone important to you tell you something, but you didn’t want to do it?”

“Huh?” Yuki said looking over at Yumi not quite sure where the question was coming from. He thought about it casually for a moment running out an answer to her. “Yeah, my parents always told me to clean my room and I would get into fights with them over it.” Yuki looked closer at Yumi seeing a disappointed look in her eye making him suddenly realize his mistake. “W-Well I mean… I guess that was of a given huh? Parents are sort of meant to do that.” His voice trailed off and then his eyes widened in shock when he heard a familiar echo in the back of his mind.

‘Yuki…promise me…’

‘…mother…’

Yuki snapped out of his trance remembering Yumi next to him as he tripped in his step. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. It was a silly question anyway.” Yumi started to walk ahead of Yuki feeling embarrassed that she brought it up in front of Yuki.

“Yes!” Yuki said grabbing out to Yumi making her stop as he held her wrist. She turned her head over her shoulder to him in surprise. “I mean… I have had someone important to me tell me…”

Yumi could see the seriousness in Yuki’s eyes as he was taking her question and answering with a genuine answer that could relate to her. She was not certain what she was seeing from him in that moment, but it felt like she could feel the conflict boiling off of him as he was tormented by the answer he gave her. It felt familiar to her. “What did you do?”

Yuki turned away from a moment trying to push back his memories to where they belonged for him. There were too many things that were clawing at him to be released and this was not the time for him to be recalling them. “I listened to them and did what they asked.”

“I see…”

The tortured conflict in Yumi’s eyes reached to Yuki and he could tell that it was something that she did not want to hear. “You have to decide for yourself though. I made my decision and I’m living with it. However, it was something that I decided and no one else. Even if they tell you do something that goes against your nature, if it is important to you that you don’t want to lose it then you should stand up and fight to keep it. Because in the end, if they are important to you they will understand. You have to follow your self if you want to be happy. You’ll never be wrong if you do that.”

“…Yuki… I…” Yumi tilted her head down staring at the ground for a moment as she thought through what Yuki told her. Even though she had felt conflict in him, she could also see that he was happy with what he decided. She looked back up at him smiling. “Thank you, Yuki!”

He nodded back to her and they were able to continue on their walk back to her house. She left him at the gate walking the few steps to their door. When she walked in she could see her brother’s shoes already placed against the short drop in the floor. ‘…Yori…’ Yumi left her shoes at the entrance and walked into the house looking for him.

“Welcome home,” Yori said from the kitchen. “Was that Yuki with you?” He kept his focus on the pot in front of him as Yumi entered.

“Yes brother. I’ve decided. You may not trust him, but I do. I’m going to show to you that you can trust him too! I’m sorry, but that’s how I feel.” She closed her eyes lowering her head a little to him as she stood near him.

“Very well. I will respect your decision.” He gently smiled turned away from Yumi watching the food cooking. “Perhaps you will.”

“Thank you!”

Yuki walked back to his house in the darkening sky. His mind was elsewhere as he wondered through the street. ‘…I hope that helped her. But I’ve still got problems of my own that I have to deal with. She made me realize I can’t run from my problems. Saki…’

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

The morning brought a new dawn and new opportunities that could be wasted or used. How they would be used was still unknown leaving a heavy weight on those that had to make a choice. In the case of Yuki, he had been unable to find Saki after leaving Yumi, but he was relieved that he had been able to help in some way. The way that things had been going for him lately, he was constantly worried about things that seemed out of his control and always on a watch to keep his own power in check. So it was refreshing to be able to do something normal as just sitting down with someone and talking out a problem. It seemed so normal and more natural than everything that was surrounding him anymore.

Yuki went down for breakfast after dealing with his brothers. “Morning!” he said in a not quite so cheerful manner, but pleasant enough that it might have seemed a little strange. His family had a different view of Yuki than the rest of his friends or school. They knew how he acted, but family always seemed to bring out annoyance for him rather than pleasant feelings he usually felt outside.

However, ever since he came back from the day with Seiji where he fought with the assassin in torn clothes, again, Momoko had been acting a little different with him. She was adamant about getting home on time and taking responsibility around the house with his brothers. It made him feel like the air was thin and he was being choked by an invisible hand that would not let him go.

He was not certain if she was suspecting something about the truth and Ayumi’s memory eraser power did not do as good as a job as they thought or she just thought that he was reverting back to the way he had been before. Yuki continued to remind her that he was not fighting, but that did not stop people from picking on him. It was not his fault that he was a target for bullies. ‘How long can I keep this up? It’s not that I have trouble lying to her, but this can’t last. It’s going to slip again. Seiji and Saki already know, but they’re keeping it a secret.’ Yuki left his house quietly in silence thinking that the day would be easier once he left.

However, as he walked away there was a strange sense that he was being followed that he could not shake. When he turned around there was Ken and Jun smiling up at him. “What are you two doing here?!”

“You walking to school together today?” Ayumi said cheerfully as she came down from her house up the street.

Jun nodded to her and Ken jumped up holding on to Yuki tightly. “Yup! He said we could at any time.”

“What?! Wait, I didn’t say that! That was Saki, not me!”

“You going to turn down your own brothers?” Ayumi said starting to get a little upset and sad that Yuki would be so cruel to them.

Yuki stepped back off balance not sure how to take Ayumi’s reaction. “W-W-Wel-Well…it’s not like I…I didn’t…” He saw Ayumi getting closer and closer to breaking up over something so small and could not take it anymore. Yuki slouched over sighing to himself knowing that he was beat. “Fine.”

“Yay!” Ken said grabbing up Jun’s arm making him look more or less equally excited as well.

They had all decided to walk together and Ken and Jun took up sides on Yuki with Ayumi taking some pleasure or amusement in watching Yuki. However, as they came to the intersection in the road Yuki came to a stop. Yuki could see Saki coming up from the street and he hesitated for a moment, but changed quickly to a smile. “Hey, Saki!”

Chapter 33 – Those Above

The rest of the walk went by smoothly for everyone with the company of Ken and Jun keeping things in good spirits. Even after they left Yuki did not change in mood keeping to his cheerful self while Saki held quiet with Ayumi walking with them. On their way to their homeroom class, Yuki was interrupted by a familiar group of boys looking to get back at him for the last time they were interrupted. In spite of Yuki feeling like he had changed, this continued to happen and he let it go on. He was not going to stand up to them. However, it was to his surprise that Saki never appeared to save him. She had gone on leaving him behind to get pounded until they got out their aggression on him.

He came out of the beating with only minor scrapes with the boys getting tired out fairly fast and being a little taken back by the fact that they were not stopped. After the morning ritual had been completed he walked to his classroom trying to get the dirt off of his uniform before getting to class. His clothes were one thing, but his face could not easily hide the fact that he had been in a fight of some sort. When he entered the class a little late during Ms. Kuniyoshi taking attendance, she stared at him seeing the signs on his face. “I’m sorry I’m late, Ms. Kuniyoshi!”

“What’s with your face, Hayashi? Were you in a fight?” She was holding her pen tightly in her hand keeping it from going through her paper that she was reading from. For her, Yuki was a troublemaker constantly disrupting her class with his problems. The cuts and bruises on his face were not something that he normally had, but it was neither the first time either. It was just another sign of proof.

Yuki backed away from the teacher’s accusations trying to come up with something that might seem believable. “I slipped and tripped on the stairs rushing to class,” he said laughing trying to brush it all off.

“Tripped?”

“Uh huh!”

“Tripped?” The teacher leaned in on Yuki make it pretty clear that she was not believing him.

Yuki smiled nervously trying to be as convincing as he could with the pressure of his teacher glaring down on him. “I tripped and fell back down the stairs. A lot of stairs. I’m sorry!”

The teacher head tilted down as anyone watching could tell that she was starting to shake vigorously listening to Yuki’s lying. Everyone knew that he was lying through his teeth, but saying that he was fighting would not have been any better either. She reached a point where she stopped shaking and the entire class held cautious at what would happen next with Yuki. They were expecting her to blow up on, just as Yuki was expecting. “Fine…go to the nurse’s office and get yourself fixed up. I don’t want you bleeding all over the class.”

“Alright! I will go immediately!”

Saki had been watching the whole thing and tried to keep from standing up the entire time. She knew what had happened and in some way hoped that he might actually do something, but he had taken it all. Saki did not know why she had done it, left him to the bullies. ‘Why… I let him, but I wanted to… He deserves it. No, I shouldn’t… Seiji… Yuki’s changing…’ Yuki and Seiji had gotten back together, even it was briefly, and that was the way that Yuki had wanted it. She knew that she had to let him do what he wanted to do.

Hiroshi looked over at Saki a little confused that Yuki had not been rescued by Saki as he always had been. ‘Are they fighting still over that Seiji subject? Yuki didn’t look like it, but Saki…’ He was not certain what was going between them, but it had not gone ignored by him that they were acting differently. However, there was something that made him even more confused than the Saki was not coming to his rescue. It was a matter of Yuki and what he had learned. ‘If Yuki knows how to fight then why isn’t he fighting back? This entire time he hasn’t need Saki to save him. And then there’s that other matter… I don’t have any more doubts that he could or still can fight, but it doesn’t explain what I saw. What was that?’ Hiroshi held his chin against his hand supported on the desk watching the scene while trying to keep himself out of it. His eyes turned his eyes back to Ayumi. ‘She’s another matter completely.’ The images of Ayumi killing that man had replayed through his mind for him. Anyone dying in front of your eyes was a difficult thing to forget, but it was made even more difficult by the fact that he knew the person and it was completely contradictory to who he thought he knew.

The day was slowly pushing forward for everyone. Yuki returned to class with a few bandages on his face and arms and an otherwise cleaned up appearance. The silence between Saki and Yuki continued with Yuki acting like nothing was wrong and Saki being left with a continued sense of uncertainty. Hiroshi held his eyes on Ayumi and Yuki trying to sort through his own problems. Most of the tension in the class went unseen or known as it sat just under the surface throughout the day. However, when the end of the day came for school and everyone else was leaving the tension snapped.

Saki had to stay behind to clean up in class as the others were leaving. Yuki and Ayumi decided to leave together, though it was more Ayumi telling Yuki and him just nodding in agreement. However, Yuki stopped all of sudden outside holding up Ayumi. “I’ve got to go back to class. I-I forgot something I need!”

“What?” Ayumi said turning to follow with him a little annoyed that he had been absentminded.

“No! You don’t need to follow me, Ayumi. I’ll be fine, it’s just school.”

She stared at him for a moment reading him and afterwards stopped. “Fine, just be quick.”

“I will, thanks!’ Yuki rushed back into the school looking back at Ayumi one last time before he disappeared around the corner. He ran up the stairs to the third floor and to his class sliding open the door relieved to find that Saki was still there. “…Saki…” Saki continued on clearing the blackboard ignoring him. He was only managing to stand in the doorway not entering feeling the unsettling presence of getting any closer would make him freeze up completely. ‘What am I doing? I can’t move any further.’

Saki moved from the blackboard to the back of the class leaving Yuki to keep standing looking like he was a statue. The lack of progress on his part only continued as Saki moved about the room keeping to herself with Yuki starting to hang his head lower casting a shadow over his eyes. ‘Why… This should be easy…’ There was sweat building over him as a massive weight pressed him until it felt like his bones would crush. His feet ached and knees stung unable to relieve the feeling that was covering him unrelenting. He tried to slide his feet back to run away with his will completely depleted in front of him.

Saki was suddenly drawn to the window that snapped everything in Yuki breaking his legs making him sprint to the window. The look on Saki had him worried at what she was seeing. When he looked down from the classroom to the grounds below he could see Ayumi surrounded by several boys. “Ayumi’s in trouble!” Yuki turned on his feet immediately followed up by and quickly passed by Saki.

“Aw, come on, don’t you want to come have some tea with us?” one of the boys said pushing in on Ayumi as she could only hold her hands up in panic.

She had been unable to say more than a few words to them, but they were not taking ‘no’ for an answer. “P-Please…”

“Hey, if you don’t like that, we can get a soda.”

“Yeah, cutie. Come on. We’re friendly.”

“Nothing to be scared of.”

“…I-I-I…” Ayumi tried to back away from them, but was held in place with them circling her. The tears in her eyes began to trickle down as she wanted it all to end, but could not take it anymore. The boys grabbed on to her arm still wanting her to come along with them even by force if it was necessary. “…no…s-s-some-one…” None of the other students that were watching even seemed to budge towards her. She was alone with no one willing to help her.

“Come on!”

Suddenly, there was a large shadow cast over everyone grouped together. As everyone looked back behind them all they could see was a dark figure with gleaming eyes of a demon staring down at them. The boys all fell backwards into the grass frightened by what they saw. When the figure leaned in towards them it made them all turn blue in the face with fear. “What do you think you’re doing? The girl doesn’t want you bothering her, understand?”

“Y-y-yeah!” all of the boys said quickly as they turned around and fled on all fours until they were able to get back to their feet leaving only a trail of dirt behind them. The rest of the students turned back to their regular lives no longer concerned by what was happened.

The dark figure leaned in offering a hand out to Ayumi with the shade breaking through revealing the person to be a female student and by the looks a senior. “They shouldn’t mess with you anymore. Are you alright?”

Ayumi cautiously accepted the hand getting pulled up to her feet. “T-thank you…” When they were standing up back up Ayumi looked up and up realizing that the girl was very tall. She had very long dark brown hair, held down to her edge of her skirt, working in contrast to her green eyes. “Umm…”

Saki came charging through the door out into the school grounds, to where Ayumi was, blindly going after whoever it was that was near Ayumi. Yuki followed up the rear trying to get to Saki before she got too out of control, but he caught in a moment that the situation had changed. In the speeding enraged scene that was about to occur, Yuki extended out his arm quickly bridging the gap between them through sheer will. “Saki! Stop!” Unfortunately, he could tell that there was no chance of that with the way that Saki was running like a bull. He did the only thing that he could and jumped off into Saki knocking her off her target and coming to a sliding stop on the other side of Ayumi and the senior becoming a new scene of embarrassment and entertainment for the students.

“Yuki! What do you think you’re doing?!” Saki grabbed Yuki by the throat throwing him off of her so that she could get up and do what she had intended to do.

It had been a long time since he remember being on the receiving end of Saki’s hands. He choked through his words to calm down Saki. “Ayumi’s safe now, Saki! Look!”

“Huh?” Saki looked away from Yuki back to Ayumi and the senior that rescued her who were now staring down at the two of them a little puzzled by their actions. “Umm…well…”

“C-can you let go of me?” Yuki said starting to feel his throat really tighten in Saki’s hand as she became embarrassed.

“What?! Ah!” Saki pulled back her hand from Yuki letting him drop to the grass suddenly as he was able to breathe. “Well…I-I-I…” The senior bent down and offered her hand to Saki, who was still flustered by everything accepting the help without thinking. Yuki was given help up as well with everyone finally back on their feet.

Yuki turned and looked at Saki getting the same thought going through them. ‘She’s tall! I think she’s even taller than Seiji! Is she really a student?’

“Uh…thank you senpai!” Ayumi said bowing to the senior with Saki quickly following up, but apologizing instead.

The girl waved them off a little becoming embarrassed by the formality. “I’m just glad you’re safe. No thanks is needed.”

“I’m Ayumi Nishimura.”

“Saki Furukawa.”

“Yuki Hayashi.”

“Oh, well I’m Fumiko Terauchi. It’s nice to meet you.” Fumiko politely bowed back to them returning the formality that everyone was giving.

“Thank you for helping, Ayumi,” Yuki said not even acting with the thought that Ayumi was pretending the entire time not even coming to him. “She’s new to the school and hasn’t gotten used to everything.”

“I see. Well those boys aren’t how everyone is in the school, Ayumi,” Fumiko said leaning in to Ayumi to give her reassurance. There was an almost charming look in her eye that left Ayumi gasping for air and Yuki and Saki stuttering a little themselves. “It seems you have good friends to be at your side, but if you’re ever in trouble I’ll be there to protect you.”

Ayumi felt her face become a little red as she was still unable to keep breath inside feeling a strange pounding in her heart. “…uh…al-al-right…”

“I’m sorry for taking up so much of your time.” Fumiko stepped back quickly letting Ayumi go and bowed politely once more. “My club is meeting today, so I must be going.” She turned around and rushed off like she was late going off towards the club building of the school.

Yuki and Saki finally pulled themselves together and took up sides on Ayumi, who was still recovering from her encounter. “Who was that?” Yuki said not sure if he could believe what he saw just an instant before.

“…Fumiko…Terauchi…”

“Ayumi?”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

“Ayumi?” Yuki said looking at the distant almost vacant look in Ayumi’s eyes after Fumiko had left them. There seemed to be a reddish glow in her face that Yuki was having a little trouble understanding for a moment. He put his hand out on her shoulder hoping that it would snap her out of the trance that she was in now.

It mostly seemed to work making Ayumi initially blink and then step back a little like she was not expecting to see someone in front of her. “What are you looking at?” The softer features of Ayumi were washed away almost immediately to be revealed as the cold calculating expression that appeared under the surface, so easily forgot.

“Well you were zoning out ever since Fumiko was standing near you and even after she left. You feeling alright?” Yuki stepped in closer to Ayumi, but she backed away from him.

She looked at him a little suspiciously not certain why Yuki was acting in a strange manner towards her. “I’m fine, why wouldn’t I be?” When Yuki tried to reach out a hand to help Ayumi she slapped it away looking insulted. “Just because I let a bunch of immature boys near me, doesn’t mean I’m helpless. I can’t be revealing myself.”

“Yeah I know…” Yuki thought to himself for a moment remembering her reaction. The image made him think that he might be not seeing the entire picture correctly. ‘Is she being defensive?’ A change in his features became almost sly and mischievous making Ayumi’s eyes narrow only further questioning his behavior. “How come your face was so red then if you were just acting?”

“What?!” She stepped back a couple steps from Yuki being taken off guard by Yuki strange probing question. “I was just keeping with the moment.”

“Oh?” said Yuki becoming even more suspicious of what she had told him before. He was starting to believe her less and perhaps even see that there might be a human being underneath all of that cold manipulating exterior. “But you were still like that even after Fumiko left. You didn’t need to keep the façade up for us, right?”

“Huh? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said turning away and crossing her arms.

Saki was minding her own business during most of it, but her hand was up at the side of her face thinking as Yuki was acting like a fool. There was something valid to what he was saying in spite of being as tactless as Hiroshi looking for a victim for his next joke. “You…were… Were you acting?” She had a more curious tone in her voice than one that was accusingly looking for someone to play with.

“You too?” She turned back to look at Yuki with her cold stare that would have normally frightened him into submission. However, it did not seem to be working this time as Yuki was grinning to the point of laughing almost. “If you say another word about this I’ll kill you…”

Yuki could not hold back his laughter anymore seeing how seriously that Ayumi was trying to make this just to cover up the issue. The expression that she had was too funny for him. She could not take a joke. However, Ayumi did not find it amusing and grabbed Yuki by his uniform’s jacket collar and tightened her hold quickly to make him choke while he laughed. The glare from Ayumi was firm and unmoving by anything that Yuki did making him cough himself serious in a few moments. “Alright! Alright! I’ll drop it!” He was released and stepped back to pull down his jacket to straighten it out.

Chapter 34 – Far Enough

‘Ouch…can’t take a little teasing…’ He rubbed his neck feeling the rawness that left behind from Ayumi. ‘Sort reminds me a little of Seiji.’ Yuki finished getting himself back to normal and stepped forward to Saki and Ayumi. “Still that Fumiko, is something. She was able to scare off the boys with nothing, but her glare. Huh, Saki?”

“Hmm…”

“But speak of…Saki I—“

“I’ve got practice now. I’ve got to hurry before the coach yells at me.” She ran off quickly from the two of them returning to the building leaving Yuki with his hand out and speechless.

“…Saki…” Yuki dropped his arm to his side holding his head down looking at the grass at his feet. The chances that he had been given to speak to her were both stolen away from him. He did not have any choice in what happened, but even when he tried he could not say what he wanted to her. It felt like the weight would not leave his back no matter how much he tried to strengthen his resolve.

Ayumi walked up around Yuki facing him even if he was not looking at her. “It’s time to go.” She waited for him to make a move seeing clearly enough that he was still held within his own problems. She did not want to waste much time stand around, but it could be afforded slightly. However, he was not moving even with her being patient in giving him the time that he needed to be able to settle his issues. ‘If he’s this unfocused and distracted… How is he going to be able to control his power…’ Ayumi pushed forward on Yuki getting into his space making him be forced to react even if it was only to fall back. She needed him to snap out of this if he was to move forward.

“Ayumi?” The distance between the two of them was frightening for Yuki. She was nearly touching his face with her face. He did not know what was wrong with her or why she was so close to him. This was not something that he was used to, especially from Ayumi. He was half expecting her to attack him and send him flying across the school grounds for whatever small reason that she had for doing it. When he saw that she only seemed to be getting closer to him, the serious cold stare never changing for a second, he stepped back as the unnerved feeling he was getting quickly grew in strength. “What’s the matter with you?”

“What’s the matter with you?”

“Huh?” He did not know why she was just repeating what he had asked her and it only made him shuffle away further. However, she was quickly to keep the gap short. “I asked you! You can’t just ask me like that!”

“What’s the matter with you?”

“Stop asking me that!” Yuki turned away from Ayumi feeling like running away and covering his ears up so he did not have to hear her anymore. Even though he wanted to run all he could manage was a few steps before he was stopped in his tracks.

“Running away now?” Ayumi had been able to stop him with just a few words. She needed to harden him from the emotions that he was letting run wild through his mind. They were only to cause more problems and break his focus. It was disrupting the flow of his power. Unfortunately, she knew that he needed to deal with this matter before she could lecture him too heavily on the need to separate his emotions. This was something that lingered and held with him in spite of his personality because it was with someone close to him.

‘Running away now?’ The words echoed through his mind sending a paralysis across his body that held him unable to move. ‘What’s the matter with you?’ Ayumi’s words were bouncing around in him making bring his own thoughts inward. He did not want to listen, but the voices were too loud to ignore. ‘Running away now?’

‘I don’t want to run away, but… But how can I…’ Yuki tightened his hands in to fists pouncing at his legs. It was a simple matter that he needed to just go to Saki about, but it had become something much greater as he ignored it. He thought that if he just did not think about it and return to being normal that it would just disappear. However, Saki could not let him forget as she remained quiet each day in class. She was acting in a way that Yuki did not understand, but he knew the cause only making it fester even more in him until he could not take it anymore. “I won’t run…”

“Good,” Ayumi said pleased that he managed to find his backbone. She began to walk forward towards him. “Now that is settled, let’s go—“

“I’m going to speak to Saki!”

Ayumi came to a painful stop as her knee snapped into place feeling like it was being pushed back against her leg. “What?!” She fell over into the grass unable to stand after hearing from Yuki the opposite of what she was expecting. “You can’t!” Once she was able to pull herself back together she jumped back to her feet getting around in front of Yuki.

“I will! You said not to run!”

“Well yeah, but she’s at practice. She’ll be even less approachable if you interrupt her.”

“Then I’ll wait until she’s done with practice!”

“She won’t be done for a few hours. You need to go home!”

“No, I’ve made my decision. I’m waiting on her. I can’t leave until I’ve talked to her. You can go home, though. I won’t make you wait around with me.” Yuki started to walk away from Ayumi getting around to go towards the track and field in the furthest parts of the school grounds.

“I’m going with you!” Ayumi turned and rushed to catch up with him not letting him go alone to wait.

Yuki stopped and turned toward her getting a little defensive that she was going to follow him. “What?! No! Go home! I can do this alone!”

Ayumi leaned in towards Yuki with a serious stare in her eyes. “I won’t leave you alone, even at school. It’s my job to protect you since you can’t protect yourself!”

The weight of ‘failure’ and ‘useless’ fell on him snapping his back a little nearly making him collapse to the ground. He straightened himself out looking at her with a stare that he hoped would match her in intensity. “This is a school! I don’t need protection here. Who’s going to act with so many people around that could see?”

“The first assassin did!”

He was pressed into the ground with the weight of ‘forgetful’ pressed against him. Yuki smoothed out his features seeing that he had lost and that Ayumi right. “Fine. Come along!”

Across the campus Fumiko was rushing to her club that she was pretty much late to at this point. It was not a huge issue for her that she was late, being that she was the club president, but she still wanted to be there on time. Her club was a branch club of the Literary Club that met regularly during the week in a room near them. However, when Fumiko joined the Literary Club it was developing too quickly with too many members to maintain with the budget that they were provided. As a result to deal with the financial concerns it was decided to break up the club into smaller interest groups that could provide more focus for those that were only interested in a single genre or two of books.

The result was that the branch club the Fantasy Literary Club was born in addition to two others, the Classical Literary Club and the Science Fiction Literary Club. It was often that these individuals were polarized to their own interested and either had trouble showing interest or possibly even validating the other genres. So it also provided an ease in tensions between the club members with the more vocal or strong voiced students separate. It ended up being a great solution for the members as they were able to continue with that they had a passion for without causing undue stress to the Literary Club President, who was frail and weak willed to deal with the problems.

Fumiko became part of the founding of the Fantasy Literary Club and when her senior left last year, she became the president of the club. She always had a deep passion and imagination for worlds that were created in the fantasy books. The western books had a great appeal to her than ones from Japanese authors, but it was not always easy to find translated versions of the newest books. It was often even harder to find any of the less mainstream books, which she often preferred over the often over used concepts. However, that did not stop her from reading and thoroughly enjoying them.

It was easy for her to picture in her mind the old cities and villages with the medieval like appearance. She could not help but have some respect for the old sort of chivalry that existed where it was a sword and shield that was the only protection one had. All of the technology that existed in the present day had no meaning and life was a little simpler where nature was more at one with the people. She also liked seeing a clear cut good and evil that stood across an epic landscape that she could not find in other books.

“President!” one of the male students said looking up from his book seated in front of several tables pushed together to create a large table, that would hold the ten members of the club. As Fumiko entered the students set down their books to greet her as well as a little surprised that she was late. It was common that she would be the first to arrive and usually stacked with at least four books at her place.

“I’m sorry that I was late. I ran into someone that needed some help.” She walked over to her seat at the head of the table pulling out of her pack five books from rest dropping them on the aging table’s surface. Around the table were the other five female students and four male students. Each had a strong passion for fantasy.

“That’s our president.”

“Yeah, she’s always helping out other students.”

“Especially the underclassmen.”

“Has she always been like that?”

“Oh, right. You’re a first year. Yeah, for as long as I can remember she always comes to the aid of anyone in trouble regardless of who they are. It doesn’t matter if they are strangers or not to her.”

“How come?”


“Alright! Since we’re all here now let’s get started. There are a few matters that need to be resolved before we can get to discussions.” The members were quick to change their attention from the gossip to Fumiko as she brought them to order. The first year boy was a little confused feeling like he was missing something, but he was not going to press the matter.

The club moved from club problems into discussions on the latest book that a few of them were reading without missing a beat. Any signs of the previous discussion were erased and forgotten as they all were easily engrossed in the topic. When everyone had been given the floor to talk about whatever they wanted, so long as it was related to the club’s focus, they all divided up and went back to reading their books. At that point they were free to leave whenever they wanted. The club was only scheduled for two hours and they always used that and then some. Afterwards, they were no longer required and some usually took the time to leave before the sun was too far down. However, Fumiko and a couple others usually stayed behind forgetting about time.

As it usually happened, Fumiko was the last to leave. She typically waited until the other members left and cleaned up anything that needed it before leaving herself. This day was no exception with Fumiko closing the door to the club room behind her as she checked her bag one last time to make sure that she had everything.

Fumiko walked out of the hall and the club wing of the school going towards the front of the school. “Oh wow, I’m tired. Probably should go straight home…” She made it to the gate entrance, before she could not help but yawn. Her eyes became a little blurred, but she blinked a couple times clearing up the cloudiness that was hanging over them. “Mmm, guess more tired than I thought…huh?” As she came out of the school turning left on the sidewalk to head home she nearly ran into a little girl standing at the side of the school wall. She stepped back to try and not let her apparent and well known height become intimidating to the little girl.

She looked closely at the girl to figure out if she knew her, but it was not anyone that she had seen. The girl looked almost lost, but Fumiko was not certain if that was case. She had long black hair that was tied off into two ponytails that rested against the girl’s back in a white and red one piece dress with a large bow in front. ‘What a cute little girl…’ Fumiko knelt down in front of the girl, which still managed to make her look very tall and imposing. “Is something wrong?”

The child looked up to Fumiko with her bangs coming free that had been masking up her face a little to reveal sad nearly tearful eyes. “I’m lost. I don’t know where I am.”

“Oh! I see. Where were you trying to go?”

“I was looking for my big sister.”

“Your big sister? Where do you think she is?” Fumiko could tell that the girl was distraught from not being able to find her sister. ‘She must have been wondering around town for hours.’ There was dirt and a worn look on the girl’s body that must have been from her searching. She could not help but feel for the girl and before she even thought about it Fumiko decided that she was going to help.

The girl looked down and away for a moment, but Fumiko tried to encourage her. It was enough to make her to look back at her. “I was told she’s at this school, but it’s so big. That I-I…I-I…”

Fumiko lifted up her hand placing it on top of the little’s girl head giving her a gentle pat to comfort her. “Don’t worry. I go to this school as well. So I can find your sister. What’s her name?”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

Yuki tried to relax sitting on the bench by the school that over looked the track behind the school. From the distance he could see Saki working hard with the other team mates for the upcoming meet that they had. The watching that he had to do was not helping his waiting-until-she-was-done decision. It only made him more impatient for what was going to happen next. He had already failed once to try to speak with Saki and the idea of having another chance did not make him feel like he had any better odds of changing his failure. However, he had decided what he was going to do and he had to try to be a man and keep to his promise even if he wanted to run away.

He had been pretty good about not leaving for a while, but the built stress had become too much for him to deal with. ‘Can’t stand it anymore. I need to do something.’ Yuki stood up with Ayumi quickly looking up at him questioningly. She was quick to her feet not giving him any ground to avoid her. It only took him a few second to realize that she was behind him making him jump backwards as he turned around to confirm. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“That’s what I want to know.”

“Huh?” Yuki pulled himself back in and straightened up to look at her. He did not like that she was not leaving him alone when he needed the time.

“Where are you going?” she said lowering her hands to her hips leaning in on him.

Yuki pulled back feeling a little blue in the face from seeing the look that was on Ayumi. He could tell that she knew that he was trying to leave without her and that she was going to be insistent about staying at his side. It was not something that he was feeling good about all of sudden, but he had to stand on his feet. “I’m going for a walk, alone.”

“No, you aren’t.”

“U-Uh…” The footing that he had before was starting to become lose under him as he stared at the full intention of Ayumi. His quivering lips were not certain if they wanted to go head to head with her. However, Yuki knew that he had to take a stand against her or he would be forever afraid. “Can’t you let me be for just a minute? If something happens I’ll run back, okay?”

Ayumi was not about to let Yuki leave not caring about his own self declared need to be alone. It was far too risky for him to be alone even here. When she went to grab him as he tried to leave again he slapped her hand away giving her a narrowed serious expression that made her second guess herself. It was enough of a pause for him Yuki to run away from her. “…Hmm…” She was going to let him go on his own this time.

Chapter 35 – Lost and Found

“She might be a skilled fighter, but she’s got a lot to learn about people’s emotions.” Yuki came to a stop around the school out of sight of Ayumi still a little surprised that he was able to get away from her. He took a moment to breathe before he started to move again not feeling satisfied until he was further away from her. ‘She’s probably going to come after me and I need time…’

Even though he had been focused on getting away from Ayumi, his mind was brought back to the worries that he had before when he looked back from where he came. The field where Saki was practicing was down the hill out of his sight, but he knew she was there. It came rushing back to him in an instant bringing his legs to a halt for a moment. ‘No, I’ve got to keep moving…’

He began pushing at his legs to get him moving forward once more as he felt the almost encouraging feeling that told him to flee. Yuki escaped to the other side of the school feeling his breath become shallow, but not from fatigue or exhaustion. There was something else that was pulling at his chest that choked him even when he ran away. It seemed to wrap around him tighter that the further that he went causing even further pain to him. ‘I…I…can’t…Saki…’ Even him slowing down did not stop his running until he knocked into someone falling backwards to the ground confused.

“Huh?” he said looking up to find what he had bumped into. His eyes were still partially closed as he rubbed his head trying to clear out the daze that he was in. “What the—“ When he was finally able to see clearly in front of him he fled back a few steps not realizing who he had bumped into completely unintentionally. “…Fumiko…”

The upperclassmen had been hardly affected by Yuki’s run in with her. Her height ended up giving her the needed resistance to only be knocked a step back to keep her balance. She was a little surprised and taken back by the reaction that came from Yuki. “You’re first year Hayashi, right?” Fumiko stepped forward to him offering a hand to stand up on.

“Wha-huh? U-Uh…yes!” Yuki was not certain why he was acting so off set by her. The feeling pervaded his body making him shake while he took the extended hand. “Thank you…” He tried to collect himself in front of Fumiko smoothing out his uniform when he saw much lower next to her was a little girl hanging on tightly to the edge of her skirt like a cub. “Who’s this?”

The girl hid behind Fumiko the moment that Yuki mentioned her. Fumiko turned her head quickly when she felt the change from the girl and then back to Yuki. She smiled to Yuki trying to cover up for the girl’s shyness. “I found her lost out front of the school. She said that she was looking for her older sister who goes to our school. She couldn’t find her so I’m helping her.”

“Oh. Well I don’t want to keep you.” Yuki started to turn away and leave, but Fumiko called out to him making him stop and turn back.

“Her sister’s Ayumi Nishimura.”

‘What?!’ Yuki’s had eyes widened in shock and surprise as he looked down at the little girl. A thousand questions ran through his mind that instant with none of them being certain. ‘Sister? Is that possible? Is she really her sister? Ayumi never mentioned a sister. Would she have? It wouldn’t have served a purpose to her to tell me. But wouldn’t she just wait for her at her house? Is this an assassin? Could someone so small? Fumiko’s in danger! What do I do?’ Sweat began to form along his face and hands as he tried to quickly figure out what the situation was for them. The panic of this being another assassin made his hands shake not knowing. There was certainty in his mind that there was something off. ‘What should I do? I have to get her away from Fumiko! But how? Can I be certain?’

While Yuki became frozen before Fumiko she tried to keep the conversation going a little confused by his strange reaction to her announcement. “You know Nishimura, right? You’re friends with her.”

Yuki snapped out of his panic, but still sweating from the thoughts that he was trying to hold back. “Huh? Oh! Yeah! I am!” He bit himself back realizing how silly and embarrassing he was acting all of a sudden making him only seem suspicious. It was not clear to him one way or another if the girl was Ayumi’s sister or just an assassin out for him, but he knew only one thing. ‘I have to get her away from Fumiko regardless of which it is. This is not something she needs to be involved in any further.’ Yuki wiped away the sweat that had built up. He cleared up his mind putting it to a focus point that was at the heart of the matter that he had to deal with immediately. “I’m sorry that she caused you so much trouble. I’ll take her the rest of the way to her sister.” Yuki stepped forward reaching out a hand to the girl trying to look friendly while still be cautious.

The girl was still acting nervous with Yuki and Fumiko watched him come closer. She stepped in between them putting herself directly in front of Yuki becoming a wall. “It’s alright. I offered, it’s no problem. If you can show me to her sister that would be fine.”

‘She needs to leave…’ Yuki twitched as he back up seeing that Fumiko was not going to let him just take the girl so easily. The uncertainty of danger lingered in his mind fearing for Fumiko’s safety. “No, that’s alright. You must be tired from class. I’m waiting for someone anyway, so it wouldn’t be any trouble for me to take her.”

“Thank you for her concern, but I’m fine.”

“I wouldn’t want to make you late getting home.”

“I don’t mind.”

Yuki was keeping a friendly smile on the entire time as was Fumiko as they played their games. Both of them were not willing to give in or compromise to the other. Fumiko was becoming suspicious of Yuki’s motives and the way that he was acting in refusing to let her come with him. She was not certain why he would be acting so strange, but she was becoming more steadfast the longer she listened to him. It was convincing her even more that she should not be letting the girl alone with Yuki.

The stalemate made the situation that they were in worse for Yuki. If his fears were correct then every second wasted talking the higher the chances that Fumiko’s life became in danger. He was considering the worst possible outcome as the one to be focused on and try to prevent. In the end, he would only be a fool and be embarrassed if he was wrong, while being right could be far deadlier. ‘This isn’t working. I have to do something!’ He measured up his problem seeing Fumiko’s height as a factor that he did not know how to deal with. ‘I wish I could use my power right now. It’d be able to do something…but this’ll have to do…’

Yuki lunged forward to get around Fumiko hopefully fast enough that she would not be do anything about it in time. He knew that he had an advantage physically over her, but it did not seem to matter when the girl moved out of reach giving Fumiko the time to push Yuki away. Yuki slid away with his momentum carrying him well beyond the two of them. “I’m not letting you near this girl. I don’t know what’s your problem, but it’s clear to me that you can’t be trusted.”

The word stung at Yuki’s heart to hear those words. He was paused thinking about the situation knowing that he was right in what he was doing, but still she was acting like this. ‘How did I become the villain? I’m trying to protect her!’ Yuki narrowed his eyes towards the girl becoming more suspicious and certain that she was an assassin unlike her appearance would tell. He stood up straight walking slowly towards the two of them starting to pour out a darkened space around him that washed around the careful attitude he normally had in favor of direct and serious. “I’m not the one that you should be suspicious of, but her!”

“Now I know there’s something wrong with you. She’s just a child!”

“Don’t be fooled. Hand her over to me for your own safety!”

“What’s wrong with you?” Fumiko backed away further from Yuki no longer certain what had come over him. She had thought that he was a kind person from their brief encounter, but she was mistaken. ‘I need to get her away from him now! There’s something strange about the look in his eyes.’

“She’s lying to you!”

“She’s lost and confused!”

“She’s not who she says she is! You’re in danger get away from her!” Yuki had been making a slow march towards Fumiko and the girl, but it was proving to be fruitless for him as she only backed away further from him. He was running out of options. ‘Damn! I can’t let someone else become hurt because of me!’ Any hope of finding a caring look in Yuki’s eyes was gone with him taking a single purpose on. He charged after the two planning on separating the two from them not buying into the panic on the girl’s face.

Fumiko’s eyes had become wide in surprise at Yuki’s actions, but the girl kept tugging on her skirt. She looked down at the girl reaffirming what she was doing and picked her up. Fumiko carried the girl in her arms and charged towards Yuki. The action made Yuki puzzled, but he could not stop what he was doing not realizing it until afterwards that Fumiko was making for his side. He was unable to stop or counter in time losing his ground falling into the dirt. Fumiko made it around the school and out of sight of Yuki not coming to a stop until she was well beyond him feeling safe.

She put the girl back down on the ground, who looked a little worse for wear. Fumiko patted the girl on the head to comfort her knowing how frightening it must have been. “It’s alright! I’ll make sure you’re safe and see your sister.”

The little girl was a little hesitant with the appearance that she was still shaken from the experience not knowing what to think. She looked up to Fumiko holding her hands together tightly still feeling the panic. “Thank you!” She reached out her hand to grab on to Fumiko’s skirt like before as Fumiko started walking with her to guide her around the school.

Yuki dusted himself off cursing himself for not being able to do anything to stop them. Once he finished checking everything from his very painful fall he narrowed his eyes and sprinted off in the direction that he knew that left. Unfortunately, after the corner he was not certain about which direction that they had went. ‘They’re looking for Ayumi, so maybe I should just go back to her and warn her instead.’

Away left waiting was Ayumi, who was growing tired of being patient with the way that he was acting. There were still many risks that he was not thinking about and she knew that she needed to keep an eye on him. “Well I’m done waiting.” She stood up from the bench and began going off in the direction that she knew Yuki went. However, just as she was about to leave the corner of her eye caught someone coming towards her. She turned to see that it was the girl from before that she had met, but was confused why she was still around school this late. ‘What’s she up to this late? Shouldn’t be going home after clubs?’ Ayumi turned to face the student putting on her façade for the girl in case she came too close to her.

It was as she thought with Fumiko walking towards her. Ayumi began to walk to meet the girl, but was a little confused when she thought she saw something or someone hiding behind Fumiko. She did not know what was going on, but it was unavoidable now that she had been seen. ‘What does she want with me?’

Fumiko was pleased that she was able to find Ayumi still at school. She was not certain if she was going to be able to find her at school and feared what she would have to tell the girl if she was unable to find her. “See there’s your sister!” said Fumiko looking behind her to reassure the girl.

The two were getting closer making it clear to Ayumi that there was someone behind Fumiko, but out of sight enough that she could not tell. She kept walking towards them with her innocent face smiling to them. “Fumiko Terauchi!”

“I’m glad I could find you, Nishimura!”

“Was there something you needed?” Ayumi said still walking towards him the distance coming to only a few steps now.

“I found your little sister lost out front trying to find you.”

“Little sister?” said Ayumi confused by what Fumiko was saying.

“Yeah, here she—“ Fumiko was caught off as she suddenly felt a sharp pain pierce her that cut off all of her words and feeling.

Out of Fumiko’s chest came a long sword that glowed yellow sending out a burst of energy from the tip towards Ayumi. Ayumi’s eyes had widened in shock as the entire area was blinded by a flash with blood spraying everywhere.

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

Fumiko’s eyes had widened in surprise as she could feel the blade ripping through her stomach. The jerking pain as the blade shook from the energy discharge made her cough and gasp for air. She felt like she was falling uncontrollably through a void that was threatening to imprison her forever. It was a cold and empty, solitary, sensation that enveloped quickly around her. ‘What’s happening?’ Her eyes started to fade blurring what she could see before her. ‘Everything’s out of focus… I can’t feel my…’ An icy touch surrounded her making her body lock in paralysis. She did not even have the time to think of her own mortality. ‘Why can’t I feel anything? It’s so cold… What’s wrong with me? Is the little girl safe?’

The sword redrew from her stomach trailing blood as it exited dropping her body with a hollow echoing thud. Fumiko’s eyes were pale and almost empty as her eyelids started to low with her body becoming still. “…Please…be…safe…”

Chapter 36 – The Little Things

Ayumi jumped back from the little girl that had just attacked her to put some distance between them. She held her hand up against her shoulder feeling the small trickle of blood through her ripped school uniform. The initial attack Ayumi had been able to dodge barely when she noticed the change in the demeanor of the child. It had, unfortunately, not been enough for her to completely avoid the attack since it was much faster and wider than she expected. ‘Another assassin so soon…I just dealt with two the other day…’

The small child swung the blade horizontally letting some of the blood wipe off of the blade to be painted across the school wall. The child was not even a meter and half tall and the blade she carried was easily more the half her size, yet she carried it as though it was nothing to her. There was a tiny giggle that came from the girl’s mouth as she returned the blade back in front of her ready to be swung again. “Hiding out in a high school, huh?”

“What do you want? There’s too many witness here for us to fight.” Ayumi stood prepared, but uncertain knowing that she was at a disadvantage without her field and powers. It took time to summon them and she did not know if she would have that time.

The girl smiled becoming amused by Ayumi’s words. “Worried about the children are we? That’s not the Eudokia I remember.” She caught the narrowed look in Ayumi’s eyes when she had said the last few words. “Oh that’s right. You’re going to by Ayumi these days aren’t you? Having fun playing Japanese school girl for that boy?”

Ayumi stared at the girl continuing to be cautious of her movements. She was safe so long as the conversation continued, but she had to make a move soon before drawing in others. “Maybe I’ve changed since last we met.”

“Well change or not it doesn’t change what I have to do. You’re a traitor to your homeland and must be killed!” The sword echoed through the back of the school as she pointed it straight at Ayumi.

“It’s you that’s the traitor! Trying to stain the name of your king!” Light burst from Ayumi as waves echoed through the ground changing everything into snow. The temperature change created a cloud around her that slowly settled with her clothes changed into her transformed state. She held out her blade towards the girl.

The girl smiled at Ayumi still amused by something in spite of her field being released. “Hmm? Not taking this seriously?”

“You aren’t being serious in the form.”

“I guess not,” said the girl shrugging acting like she did not have a care in the world. The girl swung the sword down from above her head launching an energy beam from the tip of the blade. The snow came up blocking the attack before it could even get close to Ayumi. Ayumi sliced her sword through the wall of snow causing shards of snow to be shot out forming into ice moments upon being released. The girl swung her blade horizontally with the blade perpendicular to the ground with a trail of energy that left a thick line in the air that widened prior to the shards breaching. All of the ice impacted on the semi-opaque wall of energy causing small waves as they were vaporized.

When Ayumi saw that she was not making any headway with her attack she sprinted forward to close the distance with the girl with her sword held back ready to swing. The girl saw the same and followed in suit bringing her sword to bear on Ayumi. The metal clashed together echoing through the school grounds as ice and snow kicked up from the blade and energy from the double edge long sword shot out. They struggled with the angles and stress of the swords to deflect or divert secondary attacks away from their bodies. Defenses were meaningless at this range with only agility and technique being of use.

‘I’ve got to end this quickly, but…’ Ayumi summoned up her ice to go after the legs of the girl, but she pushed back on Ayumi knocking her off balance and then in a smooth motion cut off the advancing ice. The girl jumped back a step throwing out another energy beam from the tip of the sword. Ayumi knelt down placing her hands in the snow to enforce the barrier that she projected up to stop the incoming beam from such a close range. Even with the strength that she provided it carved through the snow burning over her shoulder narrowly missing.

While Ayumi was still down she moved her hands through the snow up into the broken wall causing the snow to grow suddenly forming into spikes that extruded out from the wall towards the girl. It began as a single spike extended, but grew as more of the surface of the snow wall was transformed into attacking spikes.

The girl dodged and cut off the spikes, but it soon grew to exceed her capabilities and forcing her back as she was cut through her dress, but avoided a wound. The tearing cloth flew through the air as she came to a safe landing drawing the sword through the ground erecting a light field from the energy that the ice impacted on. Ice assaults continued as she could see thin pieces of the ice making it through. “Well if you’re getting serious…”

Ayumi jumped up onto the ice that had created a bridge of cylinders to the girl leaving the ice to keep up the siege. She held her sword ready to strike as she closed in the distant seeing the opening. “I’m not going to let you change!” Ayumi came down on the girl as she blocked with her sword just in the moments before. Ayumi’s blade sparked against the other blade, but it began to push into the steel as she focused her mind on the sword.

The little girl eye’s had widened in surprise to see that she was being over powered by Ayumi. She was unable to stop the advantage that Ayumi had built forced to hold the best that she could against Ayumi. However, all of the strength that she had could not be held against the tidal forces that were being brought to bear on her. The blade gave way as Ayumi cut completely through and continued through ripping through her dress and spraying blood from the wound. The girl retreated leaping backwards throwing the reformed blade at Ayumi forcing Ayumi to evade as it exploded in light.

Ayumi was blinded by the light as she attempted to protect herself from the explosion that knocked her away to the ground. “….damn…” When she collected herself after the light faded and she could see again the damage from the explosion had only been visual leaving nothing damaging, but it had bought all of the time that the little girl needed.

From where the girl had been was a colored mist that pulsed outward falling into the ground expanding to change the grass and cement into a pool of liquid like multi-colored energies that covered a vast area. The changes affected the school eliminating anything that was not ground level carving an arched cross section into the school with the pool expanding. Ayumi could see her own field disappearing greatly from what it normally was as the snow and pool collided with her losing the mental fight. She was able to keep a little in front of her, but the sign made sweat drip down her face.

Out of the fading mist came an adult woman with blonde hair and medium blue eyes that had a surprisingly calm and gentle expression on her face. She had strains of hair from the side of her head twisted and pulled back to be tied behind her keeping her medium length hair in place. Covering her entire body was a gray body suit that matched her figure completely. She stood taller than Ayumi and the sword that the little girl had been using looked almost small in her hand now. “Ready, Eudokia?”

Ayumi pulled herself together narrowing her eyes and controlling her features. She raised her sword up releasing the chakram from the hilt in her off hand. “You’re using your real form now.”

“Now use your real power and let’s finish this.”

“Ayumi!” Yuki shouted from around the school building as he came running towards the two women, but quickly coming to a stop seeing that there was a battle in progress. “Another assassin?! Ayumi, you’ve got to listen to me quickly! I think there is a little girl around this school that is an assassin looking for you. You need—“

“I already know.”

“What?!”

“This is her.”

Yuki began to walk closer watching the assassin carefully knowing that he did not have a kasou-ryoko out or prepared. It was Ayumi’s words though that confused him as he looked at the young woman standing at a safe distance away from Ayumi. “Huh? I said little girl, not an adult. If you just let me finish—“

Ayumi drew her sword over to Yuki making him stop while keeping her eye on the woman assassin. “The little girl you saw was this assassin. She used her powers to make you think you were seeing a child while she was hiding behind that illusion.”

He came to a stop seeing how serious Ayumi about what she was saying and knowing that she had to be wanting him out of her way. She had to protect him from the assassin and he did not have anything to help her.

She pulled her sword back in front of her and began to step forward cautiously. “Take the girl and stay back.” Ayumi focused on her strength pushing her field back a little on the pool field that enveloped her. She had to be at peak concentration if she expected to even have a chance.

Yuki did not know what she was talking about until he remembered that Fumiko was with the assassin as well, but he had not seen her standing anywhere. He looked nearby to Ayumi noticing Fumiko lying in the snow passed out with a large pool of blood around her body. “Fumiko!” Yuki ran to her side immediately reaching out to touch her hoping that she was still alive while the back of his mind was spinning fears out of control. “…is…she…”

“Get back now! It’s only been a minute. She should still be alive. I’ll finish this quickly.”

“Quickly? Not as you are…” said the assassin watching Ayumi.

“Why?! Why did you do this to her? She just wanted to help you! She did nothing to you!” Yuki was having trouble holding back the tears that were forming in his eyes as he stared at the woman. The kind expression on the woman’s face jarred him expecting to see a cold calculating face like the past assassins. He did not know what to think, but Fumiko was dying. “I just met her today. She has nothing to do with me! If you wanted to kill me you could have done it without her!”

“Yuki! Control yourself!” Ayumi said snapping at him trying to get through his emotions.

The assassin looked calmly at him looking almost sympathetic. “I’m not interested in you. I’ve seen your skill. I could kill you at anytime. You’re no threat to me.”

“Yuki! Get out of here with her now!”

“But!”

“Save her! And let me protect you!” Ayumi stared at Yuki knowing that she had to face him if she was going to get through him to him. Unfortunately, his emotions were running high for him making it difficult to speak to him rationally. It seemed that she was getting through him and so she gave him the final push by making her snow form a wave in the ground pushing Yuki and Fumiko away. She turned back to the assassin knowing that she had to focus.

‘Ayumi…she’s fighting to protect me, but Fumiko… What should I…’ Yuki watched as Ayumi initiated her attack on the assassin echoing the clash of blades through the school. He lifted up Fumiko’s body feeling her awkward height giving him trouble as he staggered to his feet trying not to drop her or lose his balance. ‘Ayumi’s right. I have to save her!’ He ran off around the school getting out of sight of the battle.

He bent down letting Fumiko rest on the ground. When he pulled his hands back he caught the sight of her blood that coated his palm and then to his uniform. “Blood! She’s bleeding badly!” He was sent into a panic standing up and backing away no longer certain what he was doing. ‘What am I doing? She’s dying because of me! It’s my fault!’ Yuki drew his hands up to his face feeling the fear that was building starting to pour out into him. He looked through his fingers at Fumiko wishing, hoping, that she would be alive. ‘Why does this have to happen? It’s always me. I’m always hurting them! Why can’t I stop it?!’

Fumiko suddenly coughed spilling blood from her lips as she began to shake. It snapped Yuki out of his fears for the moment drawing him towards her. “…is…she…safe…” She was barely able to speak in a low voice as the blood from her wound began to seep into the ground now.

Yuki leaned close to her trying to understand what she was saying, but not certain who she was talking about. “Do you mean Ayumi?”

“…the little…girl…”

His eyes grew widen when he heard her worrying about the safety of the little girl that was the assassin in disguise. He tightened his fist that rested against the ground feeling the shaking pain in his chest knowing that the Fumiko had been completely fooled by the assassin and was still worrying about her when the assassin did not care at all. Tears from his eyes were streaming down his cheeks uncontrollable. “…Yes…she’s safe now…”

“…good…” she said with a weak smile forming on her face.

‘…why…she did nothing and yet…I have to do something! I have to save her! I can’t let this keep happening and doing nothing, but cry!’ Yuki rubbed his sleeve over his eyes to get the tears out of his face and stood up. He looked down at Fumiko knowing that she did not have much time left. There was no time to wait, but he feared if he would be able to do what he wanted. ‘There’s no time to second guess myself. I know what I want…that should be enough.’

Yuki closed his eyes concentrating on his Kasou-ryoko and Fumiko. There was only one thing that he wanted from his power right now. Nothing else mattered to him. ‘Give me the power to save her life!’ The wind suddenly blew up around him as waves pulsed out of his feet making the grass blow away from him. All around him light began to appear from the grass and cement around him gathering at his hands.

When he opened his eyes he looked down to see thin strains of energy being drawn towards his hands. He knelt down at Fumiko’s side not completely sure what he had to do, but instinctively placed his hand on her wound. The strains of light flew up into the air blowing in the breeze digging into the skin and wound of Fumiko. All around the injury green light shined between Yuki’s fingers. Yuki held tightly to Fumiko as more strains grew up attaching to Fumiko slowly closing up the wound from the inside until the skin was sealed up.

Yuki pulled his hand away looking through the cut in the uniform to see that there was nothing but blood left where the wound was. He smiled in relief and fell back on his legs. Fumiko groaned and coughed as she opened her eyes. “Are you alright?”

“Huh?” Fumiko pulled herself up looking around no longer certain what was happening. The cold feeling of the void that she had felt was no longer surrounding her. A warmth carried through her giving her the reassurance that she was still alive in spite of what she was certain had been her final moments alive. “How am? Is this heaven?”

Yuki laughed a little wiping away the newly forming tears in his eyes. “No, you’re alive still.”

“But how am I alive?” She looked down at her uniform seeing all of the blood that had soaked in her clothes and around her. It confirmed for her that she had not dreamt the injury. She remembered feeling the blade going through her and yet now it was no longer even a scar on her stomach. “It’s gone!”

“Yes, I healed you.”

“Healed? How?”

“I don’t have time to explain now. I need to go back. You stay here and rest. I’ll be back.”

Fumiko watched him stand up and start to run off away from her. She saw a different side of him that she had not seen before. The last time he seemed like a raging maniac that she could not control and before he seemed like a kind friend. She did not know what it was that was true about him. All she could see from him now was worry and kindness. ‘He saved me…I don’t know…but…’ Fumiko stared at him a moment longer trying to figure out what was going on and what she had to do. ‘Saved me…he’s worried…there’s something he needs to do…’ She stood up narrowing her eyes in determination feeling a stiff almost soreness coming from her stomach only helping to affirm the notion that she used to be injured, but no longer. “I’m coming with you!”

“What?!” said Yuki as he turned seeing Fumiko walking towards him. ‘She needs to stay there. She can’t see this…’ Yuki stopped and rushed back to her looking at her straight. “You need to rest! I’ll be back shortly, it’ll be fine.”

“No! I’m going!”

“But—“

“I…I misjudged you. I’m sorry… I thought that you were trying…I didn’t know that you trying to protect me. That’s all you wanted to do. I can see that look in your eyes right now. You want to protect someone. Let me come with you so I can return your kindness.”

‘That doesn’t make any sense!’ Yuki stared at Fumiko seeing the look in her eyes and getting a feeling that he had felt before. It was something that he was going to lose. He could not beat her determination. He was not going to understand it, but he had no choice. “Fine, just stay behind me.” Yuki ran off to where Ayumi was fighting with Fumiko following up behind him.

As he turned the corner of the building a piece of a sword flew past him making him stop. He looked towards Ayumi seeing her sword broken and the assassin standing behind her wearing a red short skirt and shirt one piece over the gray suit. The assassin’s sword was coming back for another swing with Ayumi completely defenseless. “Ayumi!” he shouted as he charged around the corner towards Ayumi.

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

Yuki’s feet crunched the snow beneath him as he charged forward trying to reach Ayumi in time to save her from a lethal blow. “Ayumi!” He had his arm stretched out reaching for Ayumi as he saw as the moments clicked by with the sword coming down and fearing that he would not be able to make it in time. ‘I’ve got to reach her in time! She’s protected me all this time and now when she needs help I can’t do anything!’ He felt his heart pounding in his chest aching from his fear and strain. ‘I’m too far away! I won’t make it! If only I could…’ A sudden blinding light pulsed out from Yuki over the entire field engulfing Ayumi and the woman assassin.

Chapter 37 – It’s just like Magic

When the light faded away a column of fire was burning where Ayumi and the assassin had been. “Ayumi!” Yuki screamed unable to see her fearing that the assassin had burned Ayumi with her attack. He ran to the flames, but was forced back feeling the heat coming off of them only a few steps away. Yuki screamed out for Ayumi repeatedly hoping to get a response from her only falling into even more despair with no answer from her. As the moments drained away he saw something leave the inferno taking a safe distance away from the column with trails of fire coming off of them as they landed to safety.

Yuki ran around the column of fire towards the figure unable to see clear through the heat that was coming off of the pyre. However, as he was getting close to the blurred figure the fire suddenly when out with an explosion that forced all of the air out cutting off the source long enough to end it. Yuki turned back to see ice shards flying everywhere as a solid hexagon column of ice around Ayumi appeared from the dust. The ice melted away quickly with Ayumi coming out unharmed from the fire. She swiped her sword through the air pushing away the remaining embers.

“Ayumi!” Yuki shouted as he realized that she was safe and then towards his back where the assassin had to be. He felt the cold presence of a shadow over him knowing almost instinctively that it was assassin coming up behind him sword drawn ready to run him through the back. His entire body froze in paralysis feeling the touch of death that he wished that he had not been so familiar with. A dark shadow draw across his face as his eyes widened with the feeling pour through him completely. He had only tried to save Ayumi and now he was going to be dead a second later after not accomplishing anything. ‘Is this it?’

Out of the side of his eye a flash of metal blazed by his head and shoulder in a blur with his panic stricken body unable to follow the movements. A momentary clash of metal echoed through his ear and then another blurring trail as whatever had passed by him returned. The feeling was finally returning back to his legs and body as he slowly turned feeling time being returned to him when the blade of death had not pierced him.

The assassin had been turned back taking up a safe distance from him leaving Yuki confused. He tried to replay the events through his mind, but none of it was making any sense to him. It was all just hazy to him with his body unwilling to act. ‘What just happened? Ayumi?’ He turned back looking at Ayumi for answers, but only receiving a glare that he knew all too well.

“Get back now!” she snapped at him before Yuki could say two words to her.

Yuki jerked back in his legs puzzled by her reaction to him. It was not a response that he was unfamiliar with, but considering her danger a moment ago he would have thought that she would be a little shaken. ‘She’s so cold even now. How?’ As he stood still longer he felt Ayumi’s eyes become even more piercing and impatient like she would cut him down if he did not act. Yuki dragged his legs forward to get himself moving approaching Ayumi. “Ayumi…”

“Behind me!”

“But Ayumi!” Yuki was still walking towards her rather than following her orders. He was not certain why he was not running away, but he just kept moving unable to turn his legs.

“I said behind me! Listen to me!”

“…Ayumi…”

“Is that all you can say? Shouting my name like that’s going to help me?”

Yuki stopped in mid step feeling the full force of Ayumi’s scolding, yet more than he was accustom to though still seemingly unprovoked this time. “…Ayumi… You…the fire from the assassin!”

“The fire wasn’t from the assassin, but you!”

Yuki was genuinely confused by Ayumi words. “Me?” He knew that he could not have done it since he still had the healing field that he made for Fumiko up. However, if she said it was him he had no reason to doubt her since she was expert, but it did not make any sense. He did not remember changing fields or even thinking about what field to change to. The last two times he used his field that had an outward change he had a sword and armor, but he had neither of those things this time. “What are you talking about? It couldn’t have been.”

Ayumi stepped forward grabbing Yuki by the arm and throwing him back behind her causing him to land of his butt in shock. She stepped forward holding her sword in her right hand with her chakram in her left putting her between him and the assassin. “Look around! This isn’t my field!”

“Huh? Yuki rubbed his back side still not sure what she was talking about, but he looked around as she told him. All he could see was trees of a dense forest in an open clearing that they were standing. It did not look that strange to him and it was not his field. ‘My field is grass… And Ayumi’s is snow… The assassin’s was…something weird looking… Besides it’s just a forest I don’t see any field.’

A wind blew through the clearing in the forest as Ayumi and the assassin stared off at each other. The moments passed between them. Yuki held his gaze to them still left on his rear not certain what the next move was going to be. He knew that the assassin had cornered Ayumi only a moment ago, but he was not clear if it was a lucky move or if the assassin was better than Ayumi.

“Get back! You’re field is neutralizing mine!”

“What?! I already told you it’s not me!”

“Dammit Yuki! I don’t have time for you to be dense!” Ayumi kept her eyes focused completely on the assassin knowing that she would take advantage of any opening or moment of weakness that would be shown. She had only managed to stall things by protecting Yuki from the attack. Both of them had no idea what Yuki had summoned for his field aside from the fire and he remained completely clueless to what he had done as usual. The assassin was playing it cautious knowing from her information how powerful Yuki could truly be when motivated. ‘I don’t know how long this standoff will hold. She’s only analyzing the situation before making another attack. I don’t know if I’ll be able to hold her off for much longer, especially with him weakening me.’ She had to do something to get him away from her and make him understand the situation. “…look…the forest is your field this time. The fire came from you, not the assassin. Get away from me so that I can fight this assassin without you interfering with my field.”

Yuki finally got up to his feet again backing away a few steps still not completely sold on everything. He had to trust what she was saying, but it did not make any sense to him. ‘…forest…forest?’ The forest that surrounded him suddenly came to him realizing that there were far too many trees around him to be the school anymore. When he looked for the school it was completely missing and they were out of sight of anyone with only Fumiko behind him at the edge of the clearing. ‘This forest…it is me isn’t it?! This is what Ayumi was yelling about!’ He began to back away from Ayumi seeing what he was doing, slowly understanding. “But the fire…from me?” he said softly still trying to figure out what he had done by staring at his hands.

Fumiko rushed up by him grabbing his shoulder to stop him. “You need to help her, Yuki.”

“Fumiko?! Wha…” Yuki was taken aback by the appearance of the tall upperclassmen next to him. He had expected her to stay back out of the way terrified by what she was seeing. This should be all a complete mystery beyond her understanding and unable to comprehend, but it did not seem to be affecting her. “I can’t… I’m only getting in her way…”

“But you want to her help! You should stand at her side!”

Yuki turned his head down knowing how much that what she was saying was true. He had gone rushing in to try to save Ayumi, but only looked like a fool in the end having to be rescued by her. Even now he did not even understand what he had done. “You don’t understand. It’s not that simple. All I’d be doing next to her is weakening her strength.”

“I know I don’t understand what’s going on, but that fire was you right?”

“I guess so…”

“Then you can do that again from here right?”

“Maybe, but if I did it I don’t know how. I don’t even know what I gave myself this time.”

“It all looks like magic to me…”

“…magic…” Yuki had been trying to think back to what he was thinking when he probably had created the field, but nothing was coming to him. If Ayumi was correct and it was him, then it meant that he had long ranged attacks like Fumiko was suggesting. However, it was not a sword or anything physically. So he did not know how to control it or what he should even try to use. It was all set in stone already what he could and could not do, but he did not know what it was. This was so beyond what he was used to doing. ‘…magic…’ The word echoed through him making him think about what was happening.

The forest around him looked like any ordinary forest with a clearing, but he had to think knowing that it was from him. ‘If this is me, then it means something. It came from me, so I should recognize it as something…’ It was not coming to him, but he could not get his mind off of the word. ‘…magic…’

He was brought to stop as he heard the clashing of weapons in front of him. Ayumi and the assassin had resumed their fighting making Yuki feel the rush of urgency to figure out what he could do to help her. ‘…Ayumi… I’ve got to figure this out. Magic…why do I keep coming back to that?’ He stared at the forest around him feeling the sweat beading down his face. His hands were shaking from nerves knowing that time was running out for them. ‘…forest…magic…’

“That’s it!” Yuki turned his head up finally putting things together and realizing why this was so familiar to him. It should be familiar; it was a stereotypical cliché that he saw all the time. The forest was just like out of a fantasy story. “Which means that the fire must have been real magic.” He looked forward towards the fighting knowing that he still do not know what he could, but figuring that if it was him then he should already know it all.

Ayumi threw out a wave of ice from her field keeping the assassin back from the attack that she had tried to make. It was all buying time for her until she could take the opportunity that she needed. ‘I can’t let her get close to me. Her field is…’ She prepared to throw her chakram as the woman came to a landing, but there was suddenly a large lightning bolt that struck down nearby the woman searing the ground. The strike was enough to take the woman off balance, but Ayumi as well. In the moments that she wasted before throwing her chakram, the woman was already rolling out of the way.

“I missed…” Yuki said twitching as he saw that the strike had been nowhere near to the woman. He was going to have to do a lot better if he stood a chance of hitting her.

The woman’s hand dug through the multi-colored pool as the liquid substance was drawn up her hand covering it completely up to the wrist. She came to a stop and ran her soaked hand straight down her clothes. The red skirt and shirt that she was wearing vanished to dust as yellow poured out from her hand draining away from her hand into her gray body suit. The yellow liquid covered her body turning into new clothes that hung long like a dress at her legs, but with several slits up to the waist. The top became like wide ribbons along her shoulders attached to a low cut folded shirt.

Yuki stared in surprise at the change in the woman no longer certain what it was that the woman was doing with the costume change. He had thought that the pool of liquid was meaningless, but it did something to her. “What’s going on?”

“Keep out of this! She’s not like the other’s we’ve face!” Ayumi was glad to know that he was figuring out how to use his powers and something like that would be useful if he had accuracy. However, there was a problem that Yuki did not realize. ‘He might have unnatural field strength, but without the concentration he’s not going to be able to use ranged attacks on this foe.’ She caught the puzzled look from Yuki forcing herself to remember that he was not thinking at her level of awareness. “Look at your field and her’s, Yuki!”

“What?” Yuki did not know what Ayumi was getting at. He knew what both of the fields were already. It did not make any different if he looked at them again, but Ayumi was insistent. ‘What’s she getting at? It’s just our fields out there… Nothing strange.’ When he looked he could see much of the assassin’s field while Ayumi’s field looked surprisingly small and his covered around both of them. It took him another moment to put things together finally and realize what she was getting at. He had to think back to the fights he had with the other assassins. ‘Whenever I’ve fought with anyone their fields would almost completely disappear except for around them, but this assassin… I can still see much of her field even with my field on and Ayumi’s is almost gone. The field is a supposed to be a sign of a Kasou-ryoko users strength. The fact that the assassin’s still hold against mine must mean they are really strong.’ It made him second guess himself as he was no longer certain how much of an effort that he would have on her. He shook his head getting the doubt of his mind and focusing in on what he had to do. If Ayumi was having trouble with this assassin it only meant that he had to do everything to assist her.

“Lightning!” he shouted pointing his hand at the assassin where she rested. The bolt came down from the sky striking at the ground near to the woman again missing, but forcing her back. Another bolt came down this time much closer to her. The assassin jumped to her feet and quickly evaded the next series of increasingly more accurate strikes, but each time the woman was able to dodge. It was getting on Yuki nerves that he was getting better, but still missing her. Each movement from the woman seemed more fluid than before. He could not explain it, but she seemed to be more graceful with her steps than she had been when she was fighting Ayumi.

Yuki lowered his hand back to his side seeing that he was not getting anywhere with this plan. The woman came to a rest sliding across her pool of liquid not even disturbing its surface. She held her sword close at her side in a defensive stance monitoring both of them. However, Yuki was not done with his attack as he knew that he had to do something about the woman’s defenses. ‘If I can get her off her feet then I should be able to get a strike she can’t avoid.’ He raised up both of his hands focusing on the woman once more. “Wind!” A gust from behind him ran through the clearing gaining force sending Ayumi off her feet as well as the assassin.

‘Damn! Yuki…’ Ayumi threw out her chakram to the ground below her catching it in ice that grew up from her disappearing field. The ice clamped on to the chakram holding it in a solid frozen mass keeping her from being flung away as she held on to her sword with the chain that attached to the two keeping anchored.

The assassin was knocked off her feet sent into the air by the gale force winds, but her hand was soaked in a green liquid this time that she raised up in an arc around her creating a solid material she pushed back on to get herself just into reach of the ground. She dug her sword into the pool catching it as a bolt of lightning came down. The bolt struck on her this time as everyone watched momentarily blinded back the lightning bolt. When the light faded with the bolt Yuki stepped back as his eyes widened in shock seeing the woman unaffected. The material above her was disintegrated to dust falling away having taken the full force of the strike. “No way! How could she react that fast!”

The gale had passed and Ayumi was on the ground once more, but did not miss the beat as Yuki was taken to pause. She charged in towards the assassin that was recovering from the attack. While the assassin was still off guard Ayumi swung her sword down while pulling up ice to trap her in fighting against the assassin’s field strength. However, the woman spun around on her sword hilt bringing her feet to stand on the tip of the hilt of the sword still embedded into the ground. She raised up her hand catching the blade of Ayumi’s bare handed.

“What?!” said Yuki as his eyes widened in shock followed by Ayumi and Fumiko. ‘This shouldn’t be possible!’

The woman stared at Ayumi looking almost sad with her calm sympathetic expression. “I’ve humored you long enough. If you’re going to fight me with your hands tied then I’m going to end this now!” The blade from Ayumi’s sword snapped breaking off as the woman let it go free to pierce through Ayumi’s shoulder unable to react in time. Blood sprayed through the air as the assassin flipped backwards. The sword embedded into the ground was caught on the woman’s foot as she flipped back and ripped free to be caught as the assassin landed. She swung her sword across from the still unrecovered Ayumi drawing up another arc of blood as the blade ripped through her chest dropping Ayumi to the ground.

“Ayumi!” Yuki shouted in shock at seeing Ayumi collapsed on the ground in defeat. ‘This can’t be happening! No!’ He tightened his hands against his side being powerless to stop Ayumi from getting hurt.

Fumiko came up behind Yuki touching him on his shoulder looking down at him. “If you have magic as you say you should have a healing spell in there right?”

“What?!” He looked up at Fumiko trying to keep the tears that were forming away. It took him a moment, but he realized that she had to be right. ‘There was still time!’ He raised up his hand towards Ayumi as the assassin was moving in for the final blow to finish her off. “Lightning!” The bolt came down upon the assassin taken by surprise from the attack and engulf by the light without defense. The bolt persisted until there was a sword’s blade that swung through breaking Yuki’s concentration as he was shocked that the woman was still moving. Out of the fading light the woman still came moving towards Ayumi with only singed marks on her clothes and a little blood tickling down the right arm that held her sword. “Ayumi! No!” Yuki returned his focused back seeing that Ayumi was in danger. “Healing!”

Green light poured up from the ground surrounding Ayumi wrapping her in thin sheets of magic energy that shined and flowed like silk in the wind. The wounds that she had taken were starting to close up as the assassin turned her eyes towards Yuki. “Healing her now. You’re becoming troublesome. Seems I will have to kill you first before taking her head.” The woman dragged her sword into the liquid coating the entire blade in the red substance as she soaked her hand once more. Her hand was covered in green liquid that was painted on her body suit as the yellow clothes shattered into the winds. The green spread throughout her entire body covering the entire suit in a thick leather hide that washed away some of her definitions.

Yuki stepped back seeing that he was suddenly the focus. The woman charged forward sword held out closing the distant between them quickly. “Fire!” he shouted as a wall of flames issued forth from the ground immediately in front of the woman. However, the woman burst through the flames with only the ends of her clothes catching some of the embers completely unaffected by the magic. “Earth Wall!” He brought up his hands summoning the rocks to pull up from the earth to form a solid wall between them with room between them. Yuki waited to see what happened to react to her next move, but the earth in front of him glowed red suddenly in a clean line across the entire length of the wall as the woman burst through with the rock falling away. ‘No more defenses… Nothing’s stopping her!’

The assassin pulled up her sword swinging it to cut him in two through the waist. Yuki could only watch the moments tick by seeing the sword coming for him this time with death riding behind it. His vision seemed to blur for a moment as he saw a strange shadow pass in front of him before a massive amount of blood sprayed everywhere. He suddenly knew who it was protecting him again. “Ayumi!”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

“Ayumi!” Yuki shouted reflexively as he realized that she was standing between him and the assassin’s sword. He tried to reach out his hand for Ayumi seeing the blinding shadow in front of him, but as the blood trailed up into the air the cut had already been made. He thought he could see Ayumi’s lifeless eyes as she fell backwards just before a blinding white light burst from the center bleaching everything. Yuki tried to run for Ayumi to catch her, but was stopped by some unseen force that he felt suddenly pulsing outward. It felt like the sword swing from the assassin had caused it all with bursts of wind pushing back on him and Fumiko making them helpless in the death of one of his friends. “Ayumi!”

Chapter 38 – Gushing Imagination

‘I can’t move forward…’ Yuki held his hand up by his face as the gusts grew in intensity nearly ripping at his clothes as they flapped. He went unnoticed holding on to Fumiko’s hand to keep her from losing balance. Each effort he made to push forward a leg towards Ayumi failed. ‘…Ayumi… She protected me… and now… …I couldn’t do anything to help her in the end… …I failed…’ Yuki found some hidden strength in his legs to press himself forward a step while he felt like the gale forces were increasing with each step forward. ‘I’ve got to keep moving…’

The light persisted keeping anything that might have been happening out of sight and the wind blowing through made the sound of a wind tunnel blaring through their ears that any noise that might have been heard was sent past them. All around them the forest was behind blown outward snapping thin branches and ripping leaves free. Nothing was being allowed near as the seconds ticked away slowly.

Then as quickly as it all began the force disappeared relieving everything of the pressure and sending Yuki and Fumiko falling forward into the grass taken off balance. While they laid face first in the grass the white light faded away giving them their vision back. “Ayumi?” Yuki said struggling after his painful fall to look forward fearing for her condition. He knew that the amount of blood that he saw and how weakened she was from the fight that she could not have survived the blow. Yuki pulled his head up still barely seeing anything with his eyes being bleached needing time to readjust. He could hardly make out a figure standing over another that lying in the grass. “…no…no…Ayumi…” His feet were still shaking from stress that they had taken making it difficult for him to get them moving.

Fumiko was the first to her feet and trying to see through her blurred vision what had happened. She looked down seeing Yuki still on the ground a little more clearly. ‘…What just happened? I couldn’t see anything. Did Hayashi see?’ She knelt down offering him a hand, but it went unaccepted as her sight became focused seeing that he was looking forward and not at him. “Hayashi…” It was her hope that she could get his attention calling out to him, but his mind was no longer in this world. ‘He was shouting something about Nishimura…’

Her eyes had nearly returned to normal giving her the strength to reach out to Yuki. She placed her hand on his shoulder pulling him over to get his attention to her. “Can you stand?”

“…Yeah…” Everything was still blurry for him, but it was not aided by the tears that were starting to build up in his eyes over the thoughts. He took the extended hand for help in standing. His head was hanging from his neck as a heavy dark shadow was cast over his eyes blocking them from sight. “…Ayumi…it can’t…”

Fumiko leaned down trying to hear what he was saying through his whispers. He was mumbling to himself still not completely connected to the world. There was little chance that she had in getting through to him. She had barely known him. However, as she looked forward to where Yuki had been transfixed she could see someone standing over a body that was bleeding out. The sun was making it difficult to see as it caught on the surface of the blade in their hand shining as the sword was brought down from overhead to be thrust into the chest of the dying individual. A shadowed face coughed up blood gasping from their last pain they would feel.

Once the figure was finished they pulled out the sword and held it out stretched at their side as they turned to face the two of them. Fumiko swallowed slowly still not certain who had won the fight. However, as the figure began to walk towards them it no longer mattered. She was only feeling the need to step back with the bloodlust and savage raw emotions becoming palatable in the air. The scent of death that wound through the forest and through them made Fumiko almost sick to her stomach. She felt her knees buckling from the shaking paralysis going through her body. Her eyes were drawn towards the individual unable to pull away as though attracted by some dark curiosity that had to know. The moments that passed as they walked towards her only made each nerve in her body stand up churning in the ill aura.

Out of the shadows the individual stepped with the light being cast on them covered in blood through their clothes and sprayed across their face. The sight made Fumiko’s eyes widen in horror witnessing the cold empty expression of a killer that had become far too familiar with the company of death. She choked nearly throwing up from what she was seeing pulling away out of reflex regardless of who it was. Fumiko turned down to Yuki out of instinct thinking that he could do something, but it was still hopeless for him. “…Ayumi! What have you done?”

The cold eyes of Ayumi stepped free from the shadow still walking towards them. The coat of blood that she wore was completely ignored by her. “I did what had to be done to protect Yuki. I won’t let anyone kill him and I’ll become death itself for him if I must.”

Fumiko jerked back hearing the words coming from Ayumi unable to believe what she was hearing from someone that she had only met recently. ‘Is this really the same girl I saw before? She is completely different from then. I don’t understand what’s going on…’ However, Ayumi’s imposing fear inducing stance all washed away as her eyelids fell and her eyes faded to a pale green when her legs gave out dropping her unceremoniously to the ground rapidly pouring blood out into the grass. Fumiko could not think of her fear or questions anymore as she shouted in panic. “Ayumi!” She tried to run to her, but Yuki held her back and then she realized turning to him. “Hey! Ayumi needs your help! Hayashi! Snap out of it!” She slapped him across the cheek hoping that it would break through the wall that was between him and everything else.

A dull echo in Yuki’s ears suddenly became a ringing and then clear as it was Fumiko screaming at him. He heard Ayumi’s name being shouted and he looked over through the clearing seeing that both of the women were lying in the grass. The assassin was lying dead in the grass with several evenly placed slash wounds across her body with a large pool of blood soaking into the ground. His eyes were back; he turned and he could see Ayumi bleeding out into the grass barely alive. “Ayumi!” he shouted feeling his entire body heighten and move on its own as he ran over to her side leaving Fumiko behind. “Ayumi! Don’t die! Please! Ayumi!”

Fumiko followed behind Yuki when she saw that he no longer needed her help. She grabbed him by his shoulder seeing that he went from one extreme to the next, but still ignoring reality. “She’s not dead yet, but she needs you to save her.”

“Huh?” Yuki was acting slowly on what Fumiko was saying, but it eventually clicked with him that he needed to use his magic in order to save her. “Right! Healing!” He stretched out his hands staring down at Ayumi as he watch a green glow come up from the earth and surround Ayumi in thin ribbons of silk that began mending the wound that she had taken in her waist. It was taking longer than he remembered making him uneasy. When he looked closer it looked like the sword had gone halfway through entire body making him wonder how she was even able to keep standing. “Come on work…”

They watched the magic working keeping them on edge to know if it would be successful or too late. But Ayumi coughed and began moving as the green light continued to grow stronger. Ayumi’s arms began pull up as she tried to right herself even while the magic still worked on her. When she reached a seated position in the grass the light had almost faded away bringing relief to the others.

“Ayumi? How do you feel?”

“Better…” She waited until the magic had faded to stand up feeling the soreness in her muscles and mental fatigue starting to creep on her. It was a fight that she was not expecting to have to fight so soon. ‘They’re sending stronger ones sooner than I thought…’

“Should you be standing?” Fumiko asked a little concerned still that Ayumi was not ready to be moving around like she was.

Ayumi nodded to her looking over at Yuki like she had something on her mind. “His power healed me. All that’s left is rest.” She scanned the horizon still seeing the forest around them. After a moment of unclear pensiveness she turned back to Fumiko looking serious. “I need to you whack Yuki in the head.”

“Huh?” Fumiko said stepping back becoming confused by her request. She could not see any possible need to do such a thing to him. ‘Is she trying to kill him? But she said she wanted to protect him. What’s going on?’

In the usual slowness of Yuki it took him longer to pick up on what Ayumi was getting at. When he did he looked over to Fumiko to reassure her that Ayumi was not being strange. “It’s alright, Fumiko. It’s normal at this point… Just hit me hard.”

“What?! But why?”

“It’s the only way to turn off my power.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Please! I’ll explain afterwards.” He looked at her with all the seriousness that he had shown to everyone when he asked them to do this. It never felt good for him, but until he could control his power it was the only fast way of turning it off, especially knowing that when it was on it usually affected a large part of the neighborhood. He had been lucky that it did not happen often, but he knew that people were starting to get a little suspicious. Most, as Ayumi had said before, just treated it like a dream and thought nothing more of it. People were more likely to forget something that they could not explain that was far too fantastical to be real than go around talking about it. The fear of looking like a crazy person to anyone else usually controlled their decisions, but if it happened too many more times he feared that people would ignore their fear of looking crazy.

Fumiko looked back and forth between the two of them. They were both looking completely serious and earnest about what they were asking her to do. Ayumi was hardly in the shape to be doing much physical leaving it on Fumiko to take the action. She did not like the thought of hitting someone, even though she defended people all of the time it never came to violence. ‘I can’t believe I’m actually going to do this…’ She pulled her arm back not certain if she would be strong enough to do what she was asked, but put as much behind it as she could. “Forgive me…” She closed her eyes as her arm went flying hoping it would all work out.

“It’s ok,” said Yuki as she launched her fist at his face. The impact bounced his head around a little, but it went by otherwise unnoticed. Yuki looked around to see that the forest was still around them unchanged.

Fumiko opened her eyes looking at her hand still touching Yuki’s cheek, but him looking a little disappointed. “I’m so sorry!”

“You need to hit me harder than that.” Yuki sighed a little to himself trying to think of another way of doing this seeing that she probably did not have enough strength to knock him out or get anywhere close. But she went to hit him several more times with same effect all while keeping her eyes closed. ‘This isn’t working…’ He started to move thinking that he had an idea when there was suddenly a shadow over his head giving him a sinking feeling that something bad was about to happen. Yuki turned his head towards what was casting the shadow to see a school bag flying through the air at him. “No! Wait!” Yuki flailed his arms at Fumiko trying to get her to stop, but it was already in motion and slammed in his face loudly sending him flying across the grass tumbling to a stop against the school that reappeared with the fading of Yuki’s power.

“Oh no! I hit him too hard! Hayashi!” Fumiko ran over to him checking to see if he was still alive flailing her arm about at Yuki’s lifeless body. “Hayashi! Stay alive! I’m so sorry!”

Yuki coughed and began moving revealing a large red mark on his face from where the bag hit him. “Ugh…I’m still alive, Fumiko…”

“Oh! I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry, please forgive me!”

“It’s alright!” Yuki stood up slowly pushing back on Fumiko a little let her know that he was fine and did not need help. He pressed his hand against his head feeling the soreness and cracking his neck feeling a little better. “What you got in that bag? Bricks?”

“Just all of my fantasy books I read and a textbook,” she said showing him the contents of her bag.

“Woah, you must really like fantasy books.” He could feel sweat dripping down his head looking at the sheer number of reading books.

“I love fantasy! What was that power of yours?” She leaned in on him with her eyes suddenly starting to sparkle with excitement.

Yuki leaned back a little feeling the sweat getting larger. “Well that’s a little difficult to explain…”

“But you can do magic, right?”

“Yeah, I guess so…”

“That’s so cool! I’ve always dreamed of being able to use magic. To be able to actually see it used…”

Yuki had been feeling cornered by Fumiko, but he suddenly felt the same excitement realizing that he had used magic. “Wait! I used magic! I can’t believe it. That was so awesome!”

“What did it feel like?”

“It sort of felt like I was grabbing out into the ether itself controlling it and manipulating the energies.”

“Oh wow! That’s so amazing! And when you use that wind spell in combination with the lightning spell to knock off her feet.”

“I know it! If felt so amazing!”

Ayumi could not help but sweat in embarrassment for them witnessing two fantasy nerds getting excited over something so common. ‘I thought she might be different, but seems she’s just like him…’ She walked over to the two of them while they were still going on a mile a minute about the amazing sight of magic that was used. Ayumi stepped around and between them cutting off the conversation. “I’m glad you two are all friends now, but I need to erase your memory now.”

“What?!” Fumiko said in shock as she looked over at Ayumi.

Yuki was quick to move his feet getting between the two of them. He had seen this with his family and knew it would be coming again. She had wanted to wipe Saki’s memories too, but he stopped her. “Stop! She’s accepted what she saw. You don’t need to erase her memories!”

“Anyone that sees can’t be allowed to remember. It’s for their safety as well as yours.”

“But Saki already knows. Can’t you make an exception?”

“The more that know the worse this will get. It’s already bad enough that the entire neighborhood is suspicious and you can’t control your power. This is your fault!”

“I know and I’ll take responsibility for it.”

Fumiko watched to the two argue over her leaving her uncertain about what was happening. It was clear to her that this had happened between them before and it was nothing new. She knew what she had seen was beyond anything she thought possible, but it was not frightening to her. She stepped forward around them looking at Ayumi directly. “If you want to erase my memory fine. But I can keep this a secret. I won’t tell anyone. It’s not like anyone would believe me anyway, right?”

“That’s not the problem. There are others like her,” Ayumi said pointing over to the dead assassin on the ground. “This won’t stop here. There will be more.”

“But they want me not her. She said that she’ll keep it a secret.”

There was shouting voices and confusion starting to develop over by the track team in the distance that caught all of their attention. They had forgotten in the fight that there were still students in the school. Most had gone home, but the track team was staying late and had seen everything. Ayumi sighed seeing that she had greater problems to deal with. “Fine. We’ve bigger problems anyway.”

“Huh?”

Ayumi’s face and expression suddenly changed back to the innocent one that she used publicly. When she screamed loudly for no reason it sent both Fumiko and Yuki back against the wall of the school in shock and confusion. They watched as Ayumi ran down the small hill to the track field towards the girls still covered in blood looking terrified. The track team was alerted to Ayumi and turned looking at a panic stricken frightened girl covered in blood. They did not know what was going on, but gathered around her like a magnet to try to help calm her down and get her to explain. Saki walked away from the crowd noticing in the distance by the school Yuki. Behind her a wave came out from Ayumi that surrounded the team leaving them all hazy and dropping to the ground.

Yuki stepped forward seeing Saki coming up the grass still in her track uniform. He looked back at Fumiko only to see that she was walking away already getting the feeling that they needed time. He gave a smile to her as she walked away before he turned back to Saki washing his expression off. “…Saki…”

“Yuki… Another assassin?”

“Yeah…”

“I kept the team from going crazy until you were done.”

“I’m sorry, Saki.” Yuki could feel the uneasiness in his stomach from before, but it was not holding back his words this time. He did not know what he was going to say, but he was at least able talk to her finally. “…Saki…I’m…I…I know that you never liked Seiji…” This was something that always hung over them and Saki was vocal about it in the past, but since he had been gone for a while he had been forgotten. The old wounds that were brought back, he knew it must have hurt Saki seeing him with him. “I’m sorry, Saki. I know that I must have hurt you…”

“Yuki…just stop…” She could see the confusion in his eyes, but knowing that he had been thinking about it was enough for her. During school and when she saw him it was so difficult to read him as he always covered everything up with a happy pleasant face. It was not until today that she could see that it was bothering him. She had already planned on forgiving him when she talked him knowing that she was making things worse for them. “It’s alright, Yuki. I know. You don’t have to say anymore.”

“But Saki…I-I… I don’t want to lose you because of Seiji.”

“Yuki!” Saki shouted not quite becoming annoyed or angry, but needing him to stop torturing him. ‘He already weighs his heart with so much that he has to cover it up with a smile. I don’t want to see him add another weight.’ She stepped forward reaching out to him getting him to stop shaking. “Idiot… Our friendship’s stronger than this, Yuki. I’ve stuck it out with you through it all and this isn’t going to break me. I’m sorry I over reacted.”

“No…I…Saki…” Yuki hung his head down feeling some relief, but sad as well. He did not think that she needed to apologize for something that he did to her.

Saki looked down at him developing a little smile to see that they were finally able to talk and get the air cleared between them. “Just promise me, Yuki.”

“Huh?” Yuki began to lift up his head not certain what Saki was going to ask him.

“Promise me that you’ll stay the same. I know you can’t help it with assassins after you, but don’t let it consume you please. Promise me not to fight because you want it.”

“…Saki!” Yuki eyes had widening as memories came flooding back to him that he tried to forget. Of painful times that were in his past.

‘Promise me…Yuki…’

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

School had already ended with the end of the week having arrived for the students. Most of them had already gone home or were out spending time with their friends. Saki was visiting a friend, but it was not a happy occasion for her. She was on the twelfth floor of the west wing of the Konomoka General Hospital, the psych ward.

This had been a matter that had been weighing on her and trying her emotions since the time in the warehouse when she found Takako. She had not known Takako as well as Hitomi had, but she felt a connection with her knowing what she had to have gone through. Hitomi visited her every day after she recovered from the trauma, but Takako had not come out of the state that they found her in the warehouse. Hitomi had brought her to the hospital to the emergency room, but when her parents discovered what happened to Takako they got her moved to a private room in the hospital with specialists looking into her case.

Saki was not clear on all of the medical words that were tossed out, but the one thing that was clear was that they were unable to do anything for her. It was all in her mind beyond the physical injuries that they were able to treat. She remained trapped in her mind unwilling to speak or acknowledge anyone’s presence. Saki was not sure if it was an improvement over how she had been where even getting near would send in her into a panic attack.

The nurse in the psych ward looked up from her papers at the desk as Saki’s shadow cast nearby her making her presence announced. “Yes?”

“Uh…excuse me, I’m here to see Takako Yamazaki.”

“Yamazaki…oh she’s been restricted visitors to only specific individuals. What’s your name?”

“Saki Furukawa…”

The wait for Saki seemed to last forever. She knew that she was on the list, because Hitomi had told her that she was given permission by the family. Neither Hitomi nor Saki told them what really happened to their daughter since it was far too unbelievable. It did not really matter much for Hitomi since Ayumi paid a visit to Hitomi during lunch wiping her memory of the events. Ayumi said she could not fix the mental damage, but Hitomi had recovered from the experience quickly so it got passed off as a memory that she rather forget than think about. All the parents knew was that Takako, Hitomi and Saki had been kidnapped by an otherwise unknown criminal that the police caught and released them. The mental trauma came from the kidnapper. Being that the family was wealthy that did not press too much so that they could keep things private, so there were not too many questions asked around.

“Ah here you are! I’ll show you to her room.” The nurse stood up from her chair and pulled down some keys from the wall before she came around the desk to meet Saki. She smiled pleasantly to Saki waiting for her to catch up to her. The large polish metal doors with wire re-enforced glass and dull echoing of voices created an ominous feeling that permeated through the doors ready to grab at her if she made a step towards.

Chapter 39 – Shattered Thoughts

Saki had a lot of images in her mind of what the place would be like before she got to the hospital that only helped to make her feel like running away. The only thing that kept her going was the sense of guilt in believing that she was responsible for this happening. She was not certain if she could do anything to help her, but it was something that she felt she had to do.

The doors unlocked and opened for her with the nurse following at her side just a step in front of Saki guiding her to Takako’s room. All of the other patients in the ward were in a varied state of insanity or solemn peace, but every single room was filled that she passed. Saki could not help but look to the nurse for an answer. “Um…is there normally this many…um…”

“Hmm? No, not really. This has only happened in the last two weeks. Normally, we only keep a few cases here that require specific medical treatments, but we are actually helping out the local institution. They’ve reached an unusually high number of cases that they were not able to keep them all. So we are helping them.” The nurse looked around through the windows of the rooms as they passed the doors. “I don’t know what’s going on, but there’s been a lot of mass cases of people hallucinating repeatedly. It’s gone largely unreported, but no one knows what’s going on or why it’s affecting so many people. If it keeps up we won’t be able to treat everyone.”

A thud against the door that they were passing with a face appearing in the window of a half mad middle age man that had not shaved for a week. “The end is coming! Save yourself!” shouted the man half muted and toned down by the glass and metal. Regardless, Saki was knocked off her feet slamming her back into the wall behind her getting herself away from man. “It’s coming! I’ve seen it! Hell’s on Earth now!”

The nurse rushed over to Saki immediately checking to see if she was hurt. “Miss are you alright?” Saki was quiet unable to speak to the woman as she pulled her away from the wall. “Are you hurt anywhere?” As Saki started to come back to her senses, she could hear the nurse speaking to her. She shook her head not able to speak yet. “You want to go back?”

It was all a little too much at once for Saki. She could not be certain, but the unexplained increased could probably be explained by what she knew. ‘I knew people had to know, but I didn’t know it was like this. Yuki’s…he doesn’t know…’ Saki swallowed poorly getting back to her balance stepping away from the nurse. The woman looked a little unconvinced that Saki was alright even with her smiling. “It’s alright. I just got surprised.”

The nurse was still concerned that Saki needed to go back from the reaction that she had, but she continued on as Saki insisted. They managed to make it to the room for Takako without further incident. Saki looked through the glass into the room finding Takako in the corner of the room balled up wearing a hospital gown in a padded cell. Saki looked over to the nurse. “I thought she stopped having outbursts.”

“She did, but the rooms are all the same. Don’t be upset if she doesn’t acknowledge you. She’s been like that for the last few days.” The nurse unlocked the door not opening it just yet. “Not even her parents.” The woman turned on a smile and happy voice as she entered the room looking over at Takako. “Good afternoon, Miss Yamazaki! You have a visitor!” She turned her head and nodded over to Saki signaling her to enter the room.

“Hey, Takako! It’s Saki from track.” Saki took a few cautious steps forward to Takako not wanting to set her off or startle her, but it was as she had been told. Takako remained still holding her head down against her knees with her legs pulled up and her arms wrapped around. “Takako?”

The nurse placed a hand on Saki’s shoulder to comfort her. “Well I have some rounds to make, but there’s a camera monitoring the room and an emergency button at the door. Just push the button if anything happens or when you’re done. I’ll check back on you in a few minutes.” The woman turned and left the room locking the door behind her as she disappeared out of sight leaving Saki alone with Takako.

Saki made the bold move to walk over to Takako and sat down next to her against the wall. She did not know what to do or what to say. If she brought of the kidnapping and torture she might relapse and Saki did not want to make her remember the experience if she had forgotten. She put her arm around Takako’s back leaning against her and resting her head on her shoulder hoping to provide some comfort for her. “…it’s alright, Takako…”

Nothing happened for Saki or Takako in the way of words, but Saki came out of the visitor feeling heavier. She looked back at Takako one last time before the nurse escorted her back down the hall. Saki kept her mind focused and forward away from all of the other patients in the ward. Her mind was still sifting through questions and thoughts from her time with Takako that it was not too hard. “Thank you,” said Saki politely bowing to the woman before heading to elevator to leave the hospital.

‘…I wonder if there are others from the warehouse with the same problem…’ She stepped into the elevator alone barely hearing it ding away the floors. ‘…I know what she went through, but that doesn’t seem to help me… Why was I able to recover and Hitomi too? She didn’t even know Yuki…’ The elevator opened letting her walk into the main lobby. ‘…could it be because she didn’t know? Did he torture her even more trying to find something that wasn’t there? But Hitomi didn’t know anything either…’

Saki did not even know that she had left the hospital when the sun hit her in the face interrupting her train of thought. However, a loud noise from across the street in a park kept her in reality. She tried to look over to park through the traffic to see what had happened, but it was behind the brick wall that surrounded the park. She would have ignored it like a lot of other people were doing, but there was another loud noise. This time she was listening and it sounded like something metal and heavy being knocked over hitting the cement. ‘What’s going on in the park? Could it be an assassin?! Is Yuki fighting?’

Those thoughts were enough to get Saki into gear looking at the street for a way to cross. Both of the intersections were too far away that she would lose time and the street was busy. However, she knew that she could not ignore what was happening if her fears were justified in the end. Saki saw the gap in the cars making it her opportunity to sprint across the street making cars honk at her and slow down in her reckless move. ‘...please be safe…’

The scene that was developing outside of the park became focused on Saki as she burst onto the sidewalk and through the small crowd. ‘…this is a public place, why here?’ Saki did not know what was going on, but the noises that she was hearing were getting louder. They began to be coupled with voices that she was starting to hear. It came from deeper into the park, but soon Saki could clearly hear a young girl’s voice shouting and yelling out to another person that was assumed to be Yuki.

“Get back here!” Saki followed the voice that was shouting starting to get close. “Stop your running! Are you just a coward?”

She was starting to feel like she was correct that Yuki was the one that was involved. ‘I’ll be there soon, Yuki…’

“I’m really getting tired of your attitude! Fight me!”

The path that was left behind by Yuki and the girl became more present as there was a trash bin over turned. There was glass broken and spread across the area along with trampled flowers and broken branches. Saki no longer needed the voices with the path of destruction being enough to follow. All the voices did was giving her an indication of how far she was away from them. She was almost on them she could tell as the last bush between them was being reached.

Her legs carried her through the bush breaking through with twigs and leaves attached as she shouted out, “Yuki!” An extended leg intended for Yuki just after Saki came through forced her to bring up her arms to block and push away the attack protecting Yuki.

The attacker as Saki discovered was a young girl from a local middle school by the uniform that she was wearing. ‘Why is a middle schooler attacking Yuki?’ She did not look like an assassin, but Yuki had told her about the child that attacked Ayumi yesterday that turned out to be an adult woman in disguise. So she was not going to take any chances with this girl. She pushed the leg off of her making the girl jump back to reassess her position. “Yuki…” Saki said turning around to face him. However, her voice was cut off when she found that it was not Yuki behind her, but a stranger wearing her high school’s uniform. “You’re not…”

Saki jumped back taking a position away from the both of them look questioningly at him. ‘What’s going on here? This isn’t an assassin… So why is a middle schooler picking a fight with someone that is three times her size…’ When she looked at the two students it was immediately clear the difference between the two. The girl was significantly shorter than either of them about average for someone her age and very thin, though surprisingly strong and agile from the kick that Saki blocked. The boy looked to be about Saki’s age and just a little taller than her, but the difference came to his build. The student was very solidly built filling out a large uniform with a very muscular build. It was not overly development, but it would be an understatement to say that he had some muscles.

The male student had been running away from the girl from the sounds that Saki had heard, but it was clear that the way he was built that it would not have been an issue the girl attacking him. ‘Is the girl stronger than she looks or is it the guy?’ Saki did not have much time to ask herself anymore questions as the girl launched into another attack on the boy seeing that Saki was not going to be doing anything.

However, Saki could not let the fight continue seeing that the boy was just getting out of the way of the girl not interested in fighting. He was not making any sounds, but it was clear enough that he was not going to indulge the girl in her wish. “Stop it! Stop fighting!” Saki hoped that it would get the girl’s attention, but it was only brief and in the middle of her next attempt.

“Don’t get in my way! He’s mine!” the girl said refusing to back down.

Saki was also not going to take ‘no’ for an answer and stepped in between the two taking the high kick pulled down and blocking it with her arms crossed. The girl jumped back seeing that she was interrupted again. Saki was off balanced by the blow, but kept her footing. ‘The girl’s got strength and speed…’

“What’re you trying doing?” the girl shouted venomously at Saki becoming angry that her fight had been stopped once more by an outsider.

Saki lowered her arms still feeling the sting from the kick. “Why are you picking a fight with someone that doesn’t want to fight with you?”

“’Cause he’s strong!”

Saki blinked and took a moment to repeat it in her head. ‘Unbelievable, she’s picking a fight with a stranger based on looks.’ She was not going to let some bully going around attacking people for such a ridiculous reason. “What?! You can’t be serious!”

The look changed in the girl’s eye like something in her mind had just switched tracks. She took an offensive stance staring down Saki with a serious glare that had its intent clearly painted across them. “You look like someone that’s strong! Let’s see how strong you are!” The girl leapt into the air with her leg already in motion bearing forward on the surprised Saki.

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

The girl flew through the air launching her entire self at Saki so fast that Saki did not know what to think. She wanted to shout out to the girl, but it was already beyond words at this point for the girl. There was only one intention with her and that was to fight Saki. As the girl got into the air and pulled her leg around from behind adding spin to it as she turned, Saki could only raise her arms up block the incoming kick bracing for the impact.

Chapter 40 – Strength to See

Saki was able to take the blow keeping her head safe, but it knocked her off her feet throwing her into the bushes that she had just run out of a minute before. The girl landed on the ground lightly watching and waiting to see what became of Saki.

‘I didn’t even do anything!’ Saki was poked and stabbed by the bush that she was lying in holding her position for the moment trying to find a way to deal with the problem. She had seen the middle schooler attacking the boy without mercy and expected it to be no different for her, but she did not understand the reason. It seemed so pointless to want to fight just for the sake. ‘…Yuki…’ The word rush her head recalling memories and feelings forcing her back to her feet to stare down the girl, hair a little worse for wear. “What’s your problem?”

“What’s your problem? I can tell that barely even hurt you and yet you lay there in the bushes wasting my time.” The girl threw a straight easy to block punch at Saki like she was testing her rather than trying to do harm. “You know how to fight, but you’re wasting it defending yourself. Fight me for real!”

Saki felt the punch vibrate through her arm even though she blocked it with an open palm. She shook her head at the girl in disappointment. Afterwards, she lowered her body down and used her shoulder to push the girl back clearing the distance between them. “You don’t understand the meaning of having strength!”

The girl slid and stepped back as she was thrown free of Saki. She sprinted back launching a high kick towards Saki’s head. “No, you don’t get it! Strength is wasted if you don’t keep it sharp! You have to push your limits!” Saki blocked the kick and grabbed her leg keeping her from going anywhere. However, the battle hungry girl was not taking it as a failure as she pushed herself into air throwing her body into Saki bringing up her arm to strike down at Saki’s face.

The punch thrown was evaded with the tilt of her head and partially releasing the girl from her grasp, but Saki still felt the sting from the edge of the hand passing her cheek. ‘The girl’s crazy and completely closed minded. I can’t get through to her!’ Saki let the momentum of the girl’s body carry her through and let her go into the grass landing on one knee staring up at Saki. The mix of anger and pleasure from a challenge seemed to be interwoven on the girl’s face as she launched for another attack.

“Thank you, sir!” the cashier at the local bookstore said to Yuki as he hauled away his load of manga in his arms.

He smiled back to her and nodded lifting his books up a little to get them back into position on him. “No, thank you! I’ve been looking for several of these in tankoubon, but they’ve been sold out.” Yuki left the store with a very wide grin on his face pleased to have plenty of reading material for the week. However, he looked around the sidewalk outside looking for an angry upset Saki and found none. He was supposed to meet with Saki outside of the bookstore ten minutes ago, but he lost track of time in the store. When he realized that he was late he rushed to get his purchases, but now she was nowhere to be found. “Where’s she gone? She said to meet here I know… She didn’t get tired of waiting and leave did she?” Yuki looked around the sidewalk and across the street once more with no more luck in finding her. “No, she wouldn’t leave. If anything she’d just barge into the store and pull me out by my collar without letting me pay.”

The image of Saki looking impatient and angry storming through the bookstore played through his mind. It made him laugh a little to himself knowing how often it had happened that he had lost his purchases because she did not want to wait on him any longer. Unfortunately, the mood turned sour when he pictured himself getting dragged out of the store losing all of the manga that he had in his arms. He tightened his hold on his books reflexively. “…scary…”

Yuki took a few steps around the bookstore trying not to go too far away knowing that he had a lot to carry and preferred not to run the risk of ruining them. “Saki! Saki!” However, he was not finding any sign of her nearby. “Where’d she go? Saki?” Yuki stood around for another minute thinking to himself and weighing the choices that he had. The decision soon came when he was distracted by the noise and murmuring of the crowd across the street that were stopping as they passed by trying to figure out what was going on in the park.

“Huh? What’s going on over there?” He shifted the weight of his manga and made his way to the crosswalk nearby at the intersection. It was a longer way around, but he did not want to run across the street with the precious cargo in his arms. When he arrived the crowd had shrank some, but it was still gathering people with curiosity. He leaned over to a businessman that had stopped for a while looking confused. “Do you know what’s going on?”

“No, there’s just some strange noises coming from there like someone’s breaking the park.”

“Has anyone gone in there?”

“No, not that I saw.”

A woman that had been there longer corrected the man speaking up to Yuki. “I saw a teenage girl go in there a while ago, but I haven’t seen her since.”

Yuki was becoming increasingly curious about what was going on as another loud crash of metal echoed out to their feet. Yuki looked at the other onlookers through his books questioningly. The adults seemed only interested enough to listen and not investigate making Yuki a little frustrated. ‘I wonder if the girl they saw was Saki… Only one way to know…’ He readjusted himself with his book once more and pushed through the remaining thin crowd to get to the entrance of the park. “I’m going to find out what’s going on.” The others looked back at each other trying to figure out if he was expecting them to go with him or just announcing it to them for no apparent reason.

Everywhere he walked he could see things thrown about the park. It looked like someone had emptied all of the trash bins in the park and spread the contents. Then as though unsatisfied with just throwing junk around they drove a motorcycle or bicycle through destroying all of the flowers and half the bushes. “Saki?!” he shouted hoping that he might get a response from her, but there was nothing. “What happened here?”

As he went deeper into the park there were even more than just clashes of metal and things breaking. He was certain that he was hearing girl’s voices shouting and grunting, but he did not know why. “What the…” Yuki pushed on walking with some caution in his step as he approached closer to what he believed to be the source. The noises became louder along with the voices becoming clearer to him. “Is someone fighting back there?”

“Are all you going to do is preach to me?”

“I’m not going to fight you!”

“I’m not letting you go!”

“I think that’s Saki!” said Yuki as he recognized her voice. It pushed his feet forward a little faster to get through the distance and appear around the foliage with Saki jumping away from a girl attacking her. “Hey Saki!”

The middle schooler caught Yuki’s voice by reflex and turned her head over to him. There was not even a moment’s thought as she charged for a loaded down Yuki. Yuki stepped back not certain what he had gotten himself into now that he had a young girl sprinting for him with a look in her eye that he was all too familiar with.

Saki had slid back to keep her distance from the girl, but it was only an instant for her to see the change in target. The Yuki Protection Meter jumped to an immediate five and Saki burst into a full sprint to close the distance in time. Her mind was no longer thinking about anything other than protecting Yuki. The thoughts of staying out of the fight and being peaceful vaporized with a narrowed look in her eye.

The girl was in mid-air pulling back her arm for a quick punch closing the distance quickly, but Saki covered the ground with remarkable speed coming into striking distance. Using the already built up momentum she brought up her leg horizontally as she leapt into the air keeping the motion going connecting her thigh to knee with the girl’s stomach knocking the wind out of her and making her cough up some saliva. The sudden change in speed and direction on the girl bent her over and around Saki’s leg before throwing her away into the bushes disappearing with only her legs sticking up. Saki came to a sliding landing on the cement rotating around to check Yuki. “Are you alright?”

“Wow, Saki! That was an awesome kick!”

Saki could not hold back the sweat at hearing his reaction. She marched over to him glaring at him a little annoyed, when she got over her shock. “I asked if you’re hurt!”

“Oh uh? Yeah I’m fine. Not even a scratch.”

Saki looked Yuki up and down trying to get through the wall of manga that he was carrying with him. “I thought you were only getting a few today?”

Yuki’s face turn red looking embarrassed. He almost lost control of his books, but salvaged them in time. “Well I found some that I’ve been looking for a while for.” He blinked catching the moving, twitching leg of the girl that tried to attack in the bush. “Who’s the girl?”

“I’m not sure yet. I’ve been trying to calm her down.”

“By hitting her? She looks like she’s in middle school!”

Saki snapped her head over at Yuki getting taken off guard by Yuki’s accusations. “What?! No, she attacked me!”

“But look how hard you hit her. You probably knocked her unconscious!” Yuki set down his books realizing that they were getting in his way. He walked over to the bush looking in and then away getting a little embarrassed from the sight he caught. “How could you be so mean?”

“What?! But I didn’t…” Saki was swinging back and forth between anger and guilt and trying to prove her own innocence in the matter. She did not even realize that she was being defensive with Yuki. “I was protecting you!”

“Well you didn’t have to hit her so hard, she’s younger than you.”

“She was attacking me and that other guy! Why you treating me like the villain here?” Saki grabbed Yuki by the shoulder pulling him back so that he would look at her face rather than shouting to his back.

He pulled away from her fishing into the bush trying to find something safe to grab onto of the girl. “Help me get her out of the bush, Saki.” There was silence from behind him as he looked around for an arm in the bush. He thrashed around with his hands going between the branches trying to keep free and not get scratched up in the process. “Hah!” he said finally locating an arm of the girl. When he went to grab the girl’s arm he felt the bush shift and move suddenly making him look over at the girl to see if she was trying to get out. However, he saw that it was Saki who exchanged Yuki’s slightly confused face for a grudging assistance. “Saki…”

It took her a moment, but they finally had the girl by the arms. Yuki counted the time down with Saki to pull together getting her freed from the bush and dropped on her knee slouched over with them still holding her arms. Yuki let her go making sure that she did not fall over while she was still unconscious. “Umm…little girl? Are you alright?” He put his hand on her shoulder hoping to be able to get her to wake up with a little shaking. “You hit her pretty hard, Saki…”

Saki was turned away trying to keep her anger in check while Yuki took the wrong side of the situation. The words coming from Yuki continued to grate on her making it worse until she turned at the waist to look back at him. “What you want from me?! You want me to say I’m sorry? Fine! I’m sorry! Happy?”

Yuki faced turned blue for a moment trying to figure out where all of the rage that Saki was venting was coming from. “Uh, can you search her for identification?”

“Huh?” Saki’s emotions cracked in half taken off guard by Yuki’s redirect. She was not sure if she had missed something that Yuki had said.

“We need to find out who she is and try to get her to her parents.” Saki looked back at him still staring a little blank at him trying to catch up. “I’m not doing it! S-She’s a girl!”

“Fine…” Saki pushed useless Yuki out of the way and knelt down staring at the girl. She was a little surprised that for some with so much energy and fighting talent she had been knocked out so easily. The matter of finding identification was going to be difficult for them if she did not have it on her. She could not find any school bag or pack that she might have been carrying leaving only her school uniform. Saki swallowed slowly not sure what she was feeling about having to help this girl knowing how she was acting just a few minutes ago.

The search had to wait; the girl started to move on her own slowly looking up. It only took a moment, as though it was programmed into her, for her to leap to her feet taking a safe distance away from a still kneeling Saki and go into an attack stance.

Yuki jumped in between the two hoping that he could defuse the situation. “Woah! We aren’t here to hurt you! It’s alright Miss…” He offered his hand out to her as an invitation. However, she just stared at him almost with disgust. “I’m Yuki.”

The girl did not change her stance towards the two of them and checked out of her left eye to see that the boy she had targeted before was still nearby keeping his distance from any of them. His silence nearly made him seem invisible, contrary to his size. “I was mistaken…”

Saki stood up from the grass looking around Yuki at the girl. “So you’re apologizing for attacking us?”

“I thought he was a worthy opponent, but he’s just a weakling.”

Saki could not help but sweat a little from the unexpected respond as well as seeing the stone statue remains of Yuki. Yuki could feel the laughing wind blow through as he turned stone white at the word ‘weakling’. It did not make any sense, but he could not say a word. Upon seeing Yuki’s reaction and letting it set for a moment, Saki started to laugh uncontrollably with the others staring at her confused.

Once she was done laughing, Saki stepped around the still petrified Yuki towards the girl. “I’m Saki! What’s your name?”

The school girl still looked narrowly at Saki, but finally backed off her stance standing normally. She looked disappointed or frustrated. “I’m Chiharu…”

Saki looked over towards the boy from their school hoping to finally get a word out of him. However, he remained quiet not quite staring, but more just watching them. They were interrupted by the sound of something breaking under feet. Chiharu immediately snapped turning towards the noise in a prepared stance. Saki rushed over to Chiharu putting her hand on her shoulder hoping to ease her down.

Out of the exit of the park, or entrance in this case, came three boys with rough trouble seeking looks. They stopped just inside the park taking notice of the four students. However, as Yuki was coming out of his frozen state and turned the center boy, wearing a different high school uniform, pointing to Yuki. “You’re Hayashi aren’t you?! I’ve got some payback for you!”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

Yuki stared for a moment at the three punks that were looking for a fight with him. He looked over at Saki catching the look in her eye as she stood with Chiharu watching the boys. ‘I thought I was through with those days…’

Chiharu did not leave her stance not willing to let Saki calm her down. “You know these boys?”

“Not so much,” Saki said with some reluctance in her voice. She had hoped to get out of the situation that they were in without anymore incidences, but it seemed that fate had other plans. ‘This is something I need to take care of…’ She walked around in front of Chiharu putting herself between the boys and her. “I’ll deal with them.”

Chiharu was not one to let someone take away a fight from her and grabbed Saki’s wrist pulling her out of her way. “Are they strong?” The look in her eye was the same that had been there before when she stared down Saki. It was the eyes of someone eager for a fight and new challenges.

“Probably not.”

“Weaklings huh?” Chiharu look suddenly faded away in an instant like she had just lost her favorite toy. The deflated expression in her eyes made her sink back turning almost to a pout. “Well if that’s the case I don’t care. I only want strong opponents.” She turned away throwing her hand back at the boys dismissing them and giving them to Saki to deal with.

Chapter 41 – Trouble in Different Packages

The punks were not taking to Chiharu’s attitude towards them and moved up several steps glaring at the back of her head. The boy on the right was the first to pipe up in disgust for her tone. “What cha’ say, girlie?”

Saki narrowed her eyes not liking the direction that things were going. She tried to move a little to get in the way of Chiharu, but that was not enough to stop her. Still standing away, she mouthed off to them uncaring of their hurt egos. “You deaf as well as weak? Said you aren’t worth my time!”

Those words were the last straw for the boys as they charged past Saki knocking her away and standing over the middle school Chiharu glaring down at her. She turned around and leaned in glaring back at them returning the attitude. The four of them growled and exchanged more insults between each other.

Saki pulled herself up off the ground a little embarrassed by the scene that was developing. ‘So much for keeping her out of it… Doesn’t have tact…’ She began to walk over to the four planning to take care of the problem herself, but found that it was getting heated very quickly.

“Say that again shortie!”

“I’m not short! You ugly sack of bricks!”

“Ugly?! I’m gonna!” The boy on the left went to grab Chiharu by the hair trying to get her under control, having lost any patience he might have had before. However, Chiharu did not let the kid have a chance as she slapped his hand way. The boy turned defensive and threw a punch at her, but Chiharu was too fast for them. She ducked out of the way and leapt into the air after he was finish spinning around digging her foot and shin into the neck and faces of the three boys in sequence. They dropped to the ground just after she landed and turned to walk away.

Saki raised up her hand to her face seeing how little Chiharu held back against them. Even Saki knew how to restrain her strength against someone, but she just let them have the full taste. It knocked them out almost immediately and left them a little bloodied in the grass. ‘Great… Well hopefully they won’t be looking for Yuki any time soon…’

As everything was calming down finally and Chiharu looked a little more than pleased with herself after the laying out of three boys, Saki turned back to look at Yuki to make sure that everything was fine. However, they were interrupted by a storm of men in black suits and glasses covering the entrance and exit. They seemed to come out of everywhere taking Saki, Yuki and the strange boy by their arms to keep them restrained. The looks in their features, the clothes and the organization that they had made it clear that they were serious.

Yuki did not try to fight the two men holding him very much pulling at his arms trying to find Chiharu, who was missing. “Saki, can you see Chiharu anywhere?”

“No! I can’t find her!”

“What did you do with Chiharu?” Yuki shouted starting to strain at his kidnappers. He tried to get his arm freed from their grasps, but they had leverage against him as well as strength that he did not have. These were trained adults and not amateurs like the school punks he was used to seeing (though there are the assassins too). “What did you do with her?”

A lone man from the exit of the park entered with a path being made for him. He walked towards Yuki with the same look as all of the other men. The only difference was that he was aged with wrinkles across his face and his hair was half graying and tied back in a ponytail. “Come quietly and we won’t have to get rough with you,” the aged man said in a clear voice that cut down Yuki’s struggling.

Yuki turned to look over at the man getting the feeling that he was in charge by the way the others acted. “Just tell me what you did with her!” He had stared down death too many times in the last two weeks that an old man with a rough voice was not going to scare him at this point.

The man cracked a smirk from his tired lips finding the glare from Yuki to be interesting to him. “You’ve got a look in your eye. I like that look, however the girl…is another matter. Everything will be explained in time.”

“You won’t hurt her?”

“No.”

Yuki could not see his eyes, but the tone of the words and the impression that he was getting from the man told him that he could believe him. He pulled back letting his captors be eased up from his struggling. “Fine, but one thing.”

“What?”

“Could you grab my manga?”

“Yuki?!” Saki shouted at him in surprised and shock. She could not believe that he would say that in front of these people. They did not even know who they were or what they were planning on doing to them. “How can you care more about those books than your life?!”

“I haven’t read them yet! Well most of them anyway…” The old man jerked his head silently to signal for the three students to be taken away. Yuki had his head turned trying to look at his manga that sat there lying on the grass still. However, the men were quite insistent on him moving taking the three of them out to the side street next to the park. On the street were several parked black luxury cars looking like something the government or someone a lot more important a bunch of students would need. The two men at the doors of the car opened both car doors allowing them to be tossed (man handled in the case of the large student) into the car.

Saki landed on Yuki, who was left on the floor of the car. The car had enough room to move around in hunched over and gave them plenty of places to sit. It looked like there were places for glasses and bottles, but it was empty. As Saki got up from Yuki, she looked about the car feeling like they had gotten themselves into something terrible. She could not even see the driver through the solid panel that blocked him from their view. “What’s going on now? What have we gotten ourselves into?”

Yuki gave Saki a momentary shrug of his shoulders as they took a seat feeling the car moving. He sat pensive with his hand to face thinking to himself. “They must be yakuza!” he said coming to conclusion that he announced to the others.

Saki gave him an uncertain and questioning glace as the car took off from the park. “How did you come to that answer? And why do you look happy when you say that?”

“What?! I’m not happy about this…” Saki stared at him further not believing what he was saying. He pulled away from Saki a little feeling a little insulted by her lack of faith. However, he coughed into his hand and tried to turn the subject. “Well they’re probably yakuza. The black suits and organization, the cars and secrecy. Who else do you think it could be?”

Saki’s narrow eyes stared at Yuki still not buying into what he was saying, but she did not have any better ideas. ‘He’s just enjoying this because he thinks yakuza are cool from his manga…’ She crossed her arms together still needing some convincing. “I don’t know, maybe some private company or military research firm.”

“And they’re working on robots sanctioned by the government and we were caught up in some testing grounds!”

A sigh escaped Saki’s mouth listening to Yuki going on. ‘I’m not sure if he is mocking me or getting excited…’ She decided that it would be best to keep her mouth shut for the rest of the trip and not give him any more reason to fuel his imagination. They were already in enough trouble that they did not understand. She did not need Yuki making matters even worse for them.

The car ride remained mostly calm for the passengers. Yuki was the only vocal one as he infrequently moaned about his missing manga and hoping that they were not stolen. When the car came to its final stop the locks on the doors popped and the doors were opened allowing them to exit the vehicle. The men looked into the car staring at them giving them the sort of looks that made one not want to mess with them.

Yuki exited first, followed by Saki and last by the still unknown male student. They all took a moment to take in the view from outside the car, which had tinted glass making it impossible to see clearly. Yuki, naturally, was the first to make a response. “Woah, its huge. This must really be a yakuza’s base. It’s all traditional looking!”

“Yuki!” Saki said placing her elbow into his side to shut him up quickly before he made a mistake that got them into worse trouble. She gave a weak embarrassed smile trying to cover up Yuki’s loose lips, feeling the tension in the air from the mute men in suits.

“What you do that for?” said Yuki looking back at Saki. The look was only a split second, but it was enough to turn Yuki blue in the face and make him turn away quickly. Saki’s face was not a pleasant one.

In spite of Yuki’s comments though, he was correct in the appearance. It was a traditional looking estate that had a very old fashion Japanese presence. There was a tall wall that surrounded the grounds along with several houses neighboring the large main house and a very large open grounds with thick trees in the back and a well kept lawn and garden in the front. All of the technology and men in suits made them stand out in a place that suggested the common clothing attire to be a kimono.

The men escorted the three of them into the main house with Saki keeping Yuki’s comments to a minimum. They were left in an empty lightly furnished room with a guard posted at the door. There was only a short table to sit at with a window looking out into the grounds.

“Pretty cool place huh?” Yuki said like he had been holding it in the entire time and could not be held back any longer.

Saki did not hold the same opinion as Yuki getting an unsettled sense of dread. She did not know what was going on or why they were taken to some place out at the edge of the town. “Cool or not, it still doesn’t explain why we’re here.”

The door opened to the room bringing Saki and Yuki to answer the visitor. However, all they found was another man in a suit that was carrying all of Yuki’s manga. Yuki eagerly took it from the man before he could do anything to it and disappeared to the table. Saki tried to start a conversation, but just as her mouth was opening the door slid close again. She looked back to Yuki feeling like he was not taking the matter seriously.

“See! They can’t be so bad. They brought my manga and didn’t even damage it!” Yuki was already poring through a book starting to lose track of what was around him.

The fact that Yuki was more interested in his manga or that he was acting so casual as not to care, Saki could not decision which made her more upset. She marched over to the table bending over to stare down at Yuki casting her shadow over his pages. “How can you read at a time like this?”

“I need something to do.”

“But you don’t know why we’re here!”

“We’ll find out soon enough.”

Saki shoulders fell turning into a semi-circle becoming exhausted by Yuki nonchalant attitude. “But…”

“Here just sit down and read something. I’ve got shojo!”

A vein popped up on Saki’s forehead as she became insulted by Yuki’s attempt to give her something. “I don’t want any of your crap!” She lunged after him knocking him to the ground getting her hands around his neck. “What sort of girl you think I am?!”

Unknown to the two of them the door slid open to the room and someone entered the room. The boy in the corner of the room could only sweat at the sight knowing that there someone in the room watching the spectacle. After being ignored for long enough a voice piped up from behind them. “Why are you wasting time on that weakling boy?”

Saki paused in her pounding of Yuki realizing that there was someone in the room. Yuki’s frazzled appearance was quick to change as he looked up around Saki straddling him to see Chiharu standing in the room. “Hey! Chiharu! You’re safe!”

“Of course I am.”

Yuki jumped up from Saki’s hold standing in front of Chiharu showing his relief and excitement to see her. Chiharu’s distain for the attention and feeling of being trying like a child made a vein pop up on her forehead. She disappeared from Yuki’s sight appearing behind him twisting his arm making him fall to the tatami mat in pain. “H-Hey?! What I’d do?!”

“Don’t treat me as though you’re familiar with me.”

“What?!” She twisted his arm further to exercise her point to him making yelp in pain. “Alright!”

“And don’t treat me like a child.”

“B-But—Alright! You’re not a child!”

Saki stood up from the mat having recovered from the surprise of seeing Chiharu. She still had a number of questions and she hoped that Chiharu had few answers. “What are you doing here? What’s going on with us?”

Chiharu let Yuki go kicking him to the mat and turned to Saki. She looked up at the older girl feeling a little anger in her stomach, but also grudging respect. “I’ve been ordered to bring you before the head of the house.”

“What?!” Saki and Yuki said in surprise. Saki looked over at the door seeing it open with the men in suits for escort. Chiharu had her continued serious expression making everything that was happening that stranger.

Yuki pulled himself up from the mat holding his wrist trying to get the lingering pain to go away. ‘Head of the house? The head of a Yakuza group. Sounds like fun!’ He walked toward the door along with the male student waiting for Saki to catch up with Chiharu.

Chiharu waited on Saki as she took a moment longer to let everything settle into her. ‘Why are we seeing the head of the house? And why is Chiharu doing this? What’s going on?’ Saki could feel the insisting of Chiharu’s look piercing her and telling her to move as Chiharu waited with great impatience. She reluctantly agreed in silence and joined the others at the door with Chiharu taking up the rear.

The walk through the inner halls of the house made Yuki glow with excitement. Saki managed to keep him quiet, but they were soon brought into a large central room with much of the room partitioned off by bamboo blinds that were rolled down. It presented the room as a more narrow passage. The light held dim in the room from the candles and lanterns about the space. At the end of the room seated on a raised section of the floor in a dark brown casual kimono was an elderly man. His eyes looked closed, but seemed to be aware of everything in the room. “Welcome guests to the Chinen Estate. I want to thank you for taking care of my granddaughter as well as to apologize for her behavior.” The old man moved his hand to show that he was referring to Chiharu, who was standing next to him looking embarrassed and annoyed.

Saki and Yuki’s face both widened in shock at hearing that Chiharu was a part of the family that owned this place. Neither of them knew what to say not what to do. They simple stood in shock letting the moment pass through.

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

Yuki and Saki did not know how they should react beyond their state of shock at hearing that Chiharu was the granddaughter of this elderly man and part of the entire estate. “Granddaughter?!” said the two of them as being all they could respond with at the moment.

Chiharu was visibly becoming bothered by the attention as well as the reactions that she was receiving. “Grandfather! This is none of their business!” She turned to him trying to get him to stop embarrassing her in front of a bunch of strangers.

“Don’t be rude, Chiharu! They’re our guests.”

The stunned reaction for Yuki was quickly passed by his own realization of a fact that he found too amazing to ignore. “So this house is yours, Chiharu? That’s so cool!” Saki was quick to snap out of her paralysis when she heard Yuki acting like his usual self. She stepped in and elbowed him again to get him to be quiet. “Saki!?”

The elderly man smiled and laughed finding the scene to be enjoyable. “My you have some lively friends, Chiharu.”

“They aren’t my friends! I would never associate with that weakling!” While she did not point out to whom she was directing her insult towards, it was pretty clear to them. Yuki turned pale again getting hit with a heavy weight that broke his back.

Chiharu’s grandfather continued to smile and turned to look down at the young students. “Well let’s begin this proper. I’m Masahiko Chinen.”

Chapter 42 – Stranger Still

Yuki snapped back to reality seeing that there was a need for introductions. He stood up next to Saki looking straight forward to the old man. “I’m Yuki Hayashi, sir!”

“Saki Furukawa…”

They looked over at the still silent boy putting all of the attention on him hoping that the pressure would make him speak. However, the efforts did not seem to be necessary as he willing gave his name, finally. “Haruo Yoneda…”

‘Haruo, huh?’ Yuki thought as he was glad to finally have name to his face.

Saki turned her head back towards the front taking it in. ‘Haruo Yoneda… He’s got our school uniform, but I don’t recognize the name. I guess we do have a large school though…’ She had hoped hearing a name would have sparked something in her mind to know who the boy was, but he remained a mystery to her even now.

Masahiko nodded as he heard the names and smiled back. He gave them a warm voice keeping with the kind grandfather appearance that he projected. “All fine names. Well then. As I’ve said you’re our guests for the evening. I would like apologize for manner that had to be brought here, but our family is well known and wealthy making us the target of many enemies. Considering how you met my granddaughter, we had to be cautious, but any suspicions have been dropped. So as recompense for your troubles I welcome you to my home and have a fine dinner prepared for you.”

“Dinner?!” Yuki said with his eyes growing wide and immediately being drawn in by the idea of having a banquet feast in a fancy manor as he believed.

Saki let go a sigh knowing that it would be his reaction to the idea of food. He had already forgotten or forgiven everything that happened. “That’s such a gracious offer, but—“

“You don’t have to worry, Miss. We already contacted all of your families letting them know of what has happened. I spoke to them personally to assure them of your safety and that you’ll be our guests for the night.”

It had seemed that the old man had planned out everything in advance. Saki stepped back feeling her footing being taken out from underneath her. The way that it was being presented to them it did not seem like he was going to take no for an answer.

“What’s wrong, Saki? He said he already talk to our families. So there’s nothing wrong with relaxing. It’s Saturday so we don’t have to worry about school either!” He was almost too excited to contain himself, but he could see that Saki was still having a difficult time with everything. Yuki did not understand why she could not just accept what was happening and go along with it. This was a much more exciting time than they could be having somewhere else. “Come on, Saki!”

She did not want to have to listen to the whining of Yuki for much longer. The whole heavy handed manner did not sit with her very well even with the nice grandfather look that he had. Saki could not get rid of the unsettling feeling that she had about the house and the Chinen Clan. “Fine…” Yuki jumped over and hugged Saki forcing her to respond by grabbing him by the neck to get him off her.

They were escorted out of the chambers by Chiharu who lead them back to their room where they would wait. Only Masahiko was left in the room, but out of the shadows of the wall behind Masahiko entered the aged man that had spoken to Yuki in the park. Masahiko did not turn, but seemed to already know that he was present behind him. “So Tamotsu, what are your impressions of our guests?” The kind gentle expression that had been in his face faded away as more wrinkles seemed to develop in a stern look.

“They’re quite…energetic…”

“And the Hayashi boy?”

“He seems normal, but…”

“Yes, I couldn’t tell anything from looking at him. Either he’s a good actor or he’s a simple high school student.” While Yuki and the others had been in the car ride and waiting in the room for an audience with Masahiko, Masahiko had a background check run on all of them. As he had spoken to the children, he had his suspicions and if they were a threat to his family he would have had to deal with the problem. However, they all came up without any problems. “However, it concerns me when a record is too clean. He has almost nothing on record, even for someone his age.”

“I’ll monitor him, sir.”

“From a distance. For now it’s only a groundless gut feeling, no sense over reacting yet…”

“…very well…” Tamotsu disappeared into the shadows of the chamber leaving Masahiko alone once more with a now pensive face. He raised his thin fingers to his face trying to understand his dilemma better. In the end, he hoped that it would be nothing, but the cautious nature of an old man.

When the dinner was ready for them they were called out with escort by Chiharu, still very much bothered by the whole affair, to the main dining room in the main house. It was very traditional with them all sitting on the floor along a long dark oak table covered in a wide assortment of traditional Japanese food. It became very clear to them how old fashion the family was and focused on old values while others were keeping with modern times. The dinner went as to be expected with Yuki at the table. It was shared with Masahiko and Chiharu, but the others that they had seen were not present.

Yuki returned from the dinner dropping on the mats with his stomach filled and very pleased. He leaned his head back to look over across the floor at Haruo. “So you’re Haruo, huh? What class you in?” It had not taken Yuki very long to recognize the uniform, but the boy had been very unapproachable the entire time that starting a conversation proved to be difficult. The difficulty continued with Haruo remaining quiet in the corner. “Hmm…”

“Let him be, Yuki,” Saki said sitting down at the table with very little to do. However, that was quick to change as the door to the room slid open with the aged man, Tamotsu, at the entrance looking in at them. Saki was the first to stand and approach him, needing to do something. “Yes?”

“Mr. Chinen would like to inform you that the baths have been prepared for you. You will find clothes present in the rooms for after you’re done. Please leave your uniforms to be cleaned.”

The door began to close as Tamotsu was leaving when Yuki jumped up no longer looked fatigued from the meal. “Who’s going first?!” He looked around the room checking the reactions on the others faces to try to get an idea, but he seemed to be the only very enthusiastic about a bath.

Tamotsu returned back to the entrance briefly hearing Yuki. “I should let you know it is divided by gender and large enough for all of you.” He departed the room’s threshold disappearing into the halls leaving them to look around at each other.

“Well come on! Let’s go then. It’s no surprise that a place like this would have a huge bath.” Yuki grabbed up Haruo and dragged along Saki both protesting (one more loudly than the other). Their escort at the door showed them the way to the bath.

As they had been told it was divided with a clearly marked sign on both doors. Yuki waved to Saki as she entered leaving the two of them to go on by themselves. Saki could not help the weird feeling that she was getting as she undressed. There was a modest yakata left on the counter that she noticed remembering what she had been told. ‘What’s going on? This seems to be a little much for an apology. Though Yuki would probably say that he is just a really nice old man that wants to be generous. Yuki’s so naïve…’

She grabbed a towel holding it close to herself feeling like she was at a public bath. However, when she stepped out into what she thought was going to be bath she found that she was outside instead. She checked around suddenly feeling a little exposed, but saw the tall bamboo fence that gave the entire area privacy. In front of her was what looked like something she would find in a hot spring rather than a bath. Saki stepped forward feeling cautious and nervous knowing that this was someone else’s house.

“Who’s there?!” a young voice said disturbing the water as they turned upon hearing Saki approach.

Saki jumped back almost dropping her towel. She felt put on the spot being expected to give an answer to her intrusion to the girl that she could not see. “Umm…I was told that the baths were prepared for us and…”

“Oh it’s you,” Chiharu said coming out of the shadows realizing that it was Saki. She entered into the middle of the pool of water staring at Saki.

“Chiharu, I-I…” Saki froze on the spot feeling the glaring look from Chiharu. She normally would not have had a problem with Chiharu staring at her, but she felt more vulnerable at the moment. It did not help that the glare felt like she was checking her out.

“You going to come in? You’ll catch a cold standing out in the night air…”

“Oh! Right!” Saki nodded and entered the water feeling the heat coming off of the surface as her legs got the immediate taste. She eased herself in still feeling like she was an uninvited guest with the way that Chiharu was looking at her. “Umm…this is an impressive bath.” Saki tried to smile and change the mood that left a thick tension in the air.

Chiharu settled down into the water resting at the edge of the bath. “Grandfather had it put it wanting to imitate an open air hot spring that he visited.”

“Oh I see!” Saki could not help but feel some of the impressive awe that Yuki had been showing by how wealthy her family had to be. “Your family must to be very wealthy. What do they do?”

It was as though a taboo had been spoken. Chiharu’s look narrowed and tightened up turning away from Saki. She tightened up her lips not saying a single word. After that it did not take a hint to get the point across to Saki that she had touched on a sensitive area. She choked on her words trying to find something that would be safe to talk about. “Umm…You’re pretty strong, Chiharu…”

“So? What’s your point?”

Saki tried to smile becoming uncomfortable and embarrassed by the way the conversation was going so poorly. She could not remember how long it had been since she had this much trouble talking to someone. ‘If it was Yuki I could just talk and he’d pretend to be listening…’ She looked up crossing her eyes a little regretting her fortune and then focused back down. “Who trained you?”

“Grandfather,” said Chiharu shortly still not giving into idle chatter.

“Your grandfather? He must be really strong!”

“Yeah…but I’ll beat him one day. I promise you!”

Saki could see a slight glow in Chiharu’s eyes as she talked. She had found something that was easy to talk about. “What’ll you do when you beat him?”

“I’ll look for someone stronger!”

‘Sounds like a typical response.’ Saki could not help be sweat a little at hearing the simplistic answer from Chiharu. It seemed that fighting and getting stronger was the only things that she focused on. They also seemed to be the only things that got her excited and loosened up her words to speak. Saki was not going to try to rock the boat as much as she disagreed with the view.

Chiharu shifted in the water and threw her hand up dismissively. “Well I guess I’ll take over a head of the clan, too.”

“Head of the clan? That sounds like a lot to place on you…”

“I’m the only heir to the clan. It’s my chosen duty…” The manner in that Chiharu was speaking made it clear that she was not pleased by the responsibility.

Saki felt a little confused and sorry for Chiharu. She did not realize that she had such a weight that was placed on her at such a young age. However, there was something that bothered her still. “But what about your family? Your father and mother? Can’t they lead the clan?”

“They’re both dead.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…”

“I don’t care. It happened a long time ago.” Chiharu’s voice was so cold and empty when she spoke about her parents. It almost seemed unnatural leaving a jarring aura through the bath. There was no caring in her voice, but Saki held her words for a minute as she stared.

Saki was not certain what she should say at the moment. The flat reaction that she got from Chiharu made her feel like it was a sensitive subject, yet the tone in her voice seemed to be contrary to that. She wanted to think that Chiharu did care, but was just hiding it to be brave. “You’re very strong, Chiharu. I don’t know if I could ever be the same…” Saki’s voice trailed after she her mind suddenly flashed to Yuki making her choke up. She closed her eyes regretting where her thoughts traveled.

“I’ve been trained to not have emotions. So it’s not a big deal. Besides I hardly remember them.”

It sounded like some cliché from an action movie when Saki heard Chiharu say it. She could not really believe that it was true. The fact that Chiharu had some difficulties with people was clear, but not to allowed emotions. ‘What sort of training is that?’ She could not let it go ignored or dismissed so casually. “You can’t just get rid of them like they’re a possession! Emotions are necessary!”

“I don’t need them! They just make you weak!”

“They make you human!”

Chiharu narrowed her eyes at Saki staring at her intently for a moment. Uncertainty rose up through the tension as they held in contact by the eyes. She then broke it off and stood up from the water. “I’ve had enough of the bath for tonight…” The door of the bath slid open and closed quickly leaving Saki alone in the water to her thoughts.

The night passed on in solitude as Saki returned back to their room. Yuki and Haruo were already back waiting on her. They had been given sleeping arrangements to provide Saki with another room next to them for privacy. Yuki read his manga and Haruo remained his usual quiet self. Saki was left quiet weighing her conversation with Chiharu on her mind. It made it difficult for her to sleep into the late hours as she stared at the ceiling.

‘There’s a lot that I’m missing about this family. That feeling still hasn’t gone away…’ Saki was finally getting sleepy and ready to close her eyes when there was a disturbance that brought her to her feet. She heard several people running by the room bringing her curiosity to open the door of her room. ‘The guards are gone…’ She looked over to see that the noise had gotten Yuki up as well as he opened the door staring at her.

Suddenly Chiharu came running through the hall with an unmistakable look of shock on her face. Saki and Yuki agreed to themselves and followed behind her. They did not recognize most of the place, but eventually they came to a room that was stained with blood on the doors. Yuki and Saki had become more than accustomed to the sight that it barely fazed them until they looked in the room.

“Grandfather!!” Chiharu shouted as she ran to Masahiko’s bed side where blood was pooling out from his lifeless body.

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

“Grandfather!” Chiharu shouted as she hung over his dead body unable to anything but hold his head in her lap. Saki and Yuki kept their distance at the entrance of the room. After a minute Tamotsu came over to her side pulling her away wrapping his arm around her back for comfort. He walked out of the room with her leaving Saki and Yuki unattended and left to stare at each in confusion and worry.

Saki had only met the man earlier, but she still felt some sadness for his passing. However, it concerned her the face that she saw on Chiharu. ‘There were no tears… She just lost the most important person in her life and she didn’t cry…’ She looked over at Yuki and then ran off down the hallway.

‘…what’s she thinking?’ Yuki did not know what was going on anymore or why someone would want to kill the kind old man, but the look on Saki’s face was familiar to him. He had seen that determination before and he was not about to let her out of his sight. “Wait for me, Saki!”

Chapter 43 – Shadows that Scream

Yuki traced Saki’s shadow through the halls into even more unknown and darker areas of the mansion. The further that they went the stranger things became making Yuki even start to question what sort of family this truly was. His answers would come soon enough as he found Saki stopped at the entrance for a room in some of the deepest parts of the house. “Saki?”

Saki had arrived shortly after Chiharu and watched the two debate on a matter than she could not hear. The uneasy feeling that she had been getting from the home the entire evening suddenly felt like it had gathered together in concentration. It made her stomach churn and her eyes narrow. ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this…’ She did not even notice Yuki getting close to her or speaking to her (completely zoned out).

“Saki?” Yuki tapped his hand on her shoulder trying to get her attention seeing that she had been ignoring him up to that point. However, the reaction was not as he had hoped as Saki was taken completely off guard by it and nearly screaming before she cut herself off, but not before they knew she was outside.

“Who’s there? Show yourself!” Tamotsu shouted from the room pulling out a pistol aimed at the door.

Saki covered up her mouth and tried to cover up Yuki’s when he spoke again, but they got entangled. Upon hearing Tamotsu’s voice shouting at them, they panicked as vibration went up their body. They lost their balance and fell over with Saki hitting the ground and Yuki landing on top of her. Their heads and part of their shoulders exposed to the doorway. “This is all your fault, Yuki!”

“Mine? You didn’t answer me! What was I supposed to do?” They began to ignore the danger that they were in fighting between each other.

Tamotsu’s eyes twitched a little in annoyance at the children, but seeing that they were not a threat he return his pistol back to his side. “What are you two doing here?” He started to walk towards them seeing that they were ignoring him still in their arguments only making him more frustrated with them. “Shut up!”

Yuki and Saki were quickly silenced petrified by the loud voice and Tamotsu staring down at them. It was enough to turn their faces blue.

“What’s wrong Tamotsu?” Chiharu said stepping out from the place she had been not concerned by her lack of clothing.

Yuki turned his head quickly when she saw the bare legs of her and Saki nearly punched him if she was not flustered by what was going on. “What’s going on here? And where are your clothes?!”

“I was changing… Tamotsu, what are they doing here?”

“I was trying to find out, Lady Chiharu.” He glared down at them making them crawl away out of sight of the door to give Chiharu her privacy. Tamotsu followed them out into the hall as they stumbled over the other to stand up. “You two… I’ll have my men escort you back to your rooms. You’ll remain there until the morning when we’ll return you home. Understand?”

Yuki nodding quickly in agreement willing to leave on his own if Saki did not grab him by the collar of his robes. Saki stepped forward regaining her composure and stared back at Tamotsu. “There’s been a murder in the house and you just expect us to ignore it?!”

“You will.” The tone in his voice was commanding and solid not wanting any talking back. It was a voice that was used to ordering around others and expected those that he commanded to follow without question. Saki was not one of his men though and she stared back at him unimpressed by his demeanor.

“I’m not leaving here without some answers.” She could tell that she was starting to get to Tamotsu. “There’s something strange about this family! What’s going on here?” Saki was not going to let this family intimidate her any longer. This was not a time to be keeping secrets with someone being in the house possibly killing people, especially Chiharu’s family.

There was a long pause between Tamotsu and Saki as they glared at each other. Yuki kept himself behind Saki knowing that she was not going to let him get away now. However, it was Chiharu that broke the staring contest between the two as she stepped out into the hall covered in all black clothing. “It’s alright, Tamotsu. I’ll tell her.”

“But Lady Chiharu!” Chiharu glared back at Tamotsu making him back off from his protest.

Chiharu stepped forward meeting stares with Saki looking ready to speak, but Yuki pushed down over Saki’s shoulder getting his head in between them. “You’re a ninja! Aren’t you?” The glow and excitement on Yuki’s face made everyone sweat and Chiharu look like she was pouting a little with her secret revealed before she could even speak. Saki was quick to punch Yuki and get him off her back. She was interrupted from her beating of Yuki by Chiharu speaking up.

“The weakling’s correct…” Saki paused her movements looking over at Chiharu. “My family, my clan has been assassins for hire for many generations and in the past our heritage traced to the ninja. We still keep that pride today.” Chiharu hung her head down for a moment paused as though she was thinking or holding back on her words. She quickly turned her head up and looked forward. “And I’ll restore my family’s honor by getting revenge on those that killed my Grandfather!”

Saki and Yuki were held in shock at hearing those words from someone so young. Chiharu pushed the two of them aside to be followed up by Tamotsu. It took time to process and accept it, but Saki moved quickly to catch up to Chiharu grabbing her by the arm. “What do you mean revenge? You can’t kill someone!”

Chiharu snapped her arm free and in the process slapped Saki back too with a venomous look that was through listening to anything. “I’m the last of my clan! I have to avenge my clan!”

The slap that she received stung more inside her than her face when she heard Chiharu speak. She grabbed back at Chiharu refusing to give into the child. “No! You can’t do this! You’re just a child!”

“Get the hell away from me! I thought of all the people you’d understand, but it seems that I was mistaken.” Chiharu spun around on her feet launching the back of leg through the air to send Saki back away from her. Yuki caught Saki being thrown to the floor from the impact.

He stretched out his arm futilely trying to stop Chiharu. “Chiharu! You shouldn’t kill someone!” Chiharu was getting further away from them, but Yuki was not going to give up on Saki’s fight. He had been down this road and knew how it felt. “I know how you’re feeling! Chiharu stop!” It seemed to hit a nerve with Chiharu as she paused in foot step when Yuki spoke. “The rage and anger inside you is too much to contain. It speaks to you telling you this is right. That you must do it. There’s no other way. If you don’t it won’t be at peace.”

Chiharu turned part way looking back at Yuki. Her were fists tightened at her side and shaking. “Is that all you can do, talk?”

“It’s feels uncontrollable doesn’t it?”

“It’s no use, Yuki…” said Saki pushing herself up from Yuki walking towards Chiharu.

Yuki jumped up to his feet trying to catch up to Saki confused to her change. “Saki?! What’s wrong?”

“I’m going with you!” Everyone was paused a little shocked by Saki’s declaration. Yuki closed the distance between them and grabbed her shoulder pulling her back. Saki ripped her shoulder free and finished walking the distance to Chiharu. “I’m not letting you go out there alone!”

“Lady Chiharu won’t be alone I can assure you that,” said Tamotsu stepping around Chiharu to intercept Saki. However, Chiharu waved back Tamotsu to step towards Saki with a change in her an eye. “Lady Chiharu?”

“Let her come…” A grin started to appear on Chiharu face as though she was enjoying the moment. “Tamotsu give her some new cloths too. I’ll be waiting for you.” Chiharu marched off with an over-confident stride as she left the three behind.

Tamotsu turned to look back at Saki with a disapproving look. However, he said nothing and walked passed her back to the room they had been in before. He expected Saki to follow him as she did with Yuki trailing behind. Saki was directed to a locker that held cloths that would fit her while Yuki just stood back watching from a safe distance.

‘Why’s she doing this? This isn’t our fight.’ Yuki had not known Saki to act like this before. He feared that the fights that they had been in could be changing her, but was more afraid that she was looking to protect someone else. It was in her nature to defend someone, but she could not be defending everyone and not look out for herself. ‘…fine…’ Yuki walked over to Tamotsu looking at him, he had stepped out while Saki changed in privacy. “You got something I can wear?”

Tamotsu looked into his eyes seeing the look of determination that he seen before. ‘He’s a strange one. A fool one minute and fearless the next…’ He walked over to the opposite side of the room pointing to Yuki a locker. “This should fit.”

A few minutes later Saki stepped out from her place only to find Yuki staring back at her in the same ninja garb that Chiharu ran off in. “What do you think you’re doing, Yuki?”

“I’m not letting you go out there alone, either! Besides my abilities might have some use out there.”

She exchanged looks for a moment with Yuki, but could see that he was going to go with her regardless of what she said. “And can you use them when you need?”

“Well…no…but just in case!”

“Whatever…Mr. Tamotsu show us the way.” Tamotsu nodded silently and walked out. The quiet walk left them plenty of time to think about what they were getting into. Saki was certain about what she was doing, but still felt unsettled by everything. They had gotten an answer to the secret behind the family, but it still did not explain why they were attacked. She had her theories, but there was little time to ponder it.

Chiharu was waiting for them in what looked like a hanger below the mansion, but with the cars parked it would have been more accurate to call it a garage. There was a door open on one of the cars that she stood by. Once she saw that they had arrived she entered the car waiting for Saki and Yuki to catch up.

Yuki waited until they were taking off from the underground garage along several other cars before he looked over to Chiharu with a question. “If you’re a clan of ninjas…why are you using cars?”

Saki sighed out loud looking away while Chiharu looked narrowly at him. “Because the enemy is on foot still within our grounds. But we won’t be able to catch up to them without an advantage.”

He took the answer though was not too pleased by it. “Seems like cheating,” he said whispering.

“We can only run so fast!”

“Sorry!” Yuki said jumping a little. ‘Sharp ears…’ He decided to wisely keep quiet the rest of the time in the car until it came to a rough and sharp stop.

The panel between the driver’s seat and the back of the car opened up. The driver kept his eyes forward, but spoke back to them. “Lady Chiharu! Reports from the house say that they finally got the sensors to pick up the intruders. We are ahead of them now.”

“Very good!” Chiharu exited the car running out into the forest that surrounded the back of the estate. The road that they followed ran through the forest and around it. It placed them within intercept distance of the intruders. All Yuki and Saki could do was follow as they caught glimpses of other black silhouettes coming out of the neighboring cars. Chiharu knew where she was going leading everyone from the sounds that she could pick up from the enemy. ‘They’re making far more noise than I would have expected. But they’re very close.’ Once she was in range of them keeping in advance she ordered her men to spread out to flank them as they closed. Yuki and Saki stayed behind Chiharu waiting for the moment.

Chiharu waited grinding her hand against the hilt of her short blade strapped to her back. She was fighting the urge to charge in knowing that her enemy and vengeance was in front of her. In the end it was Saki holding her back that kept her from moving any further. However, in the distance the noises came to an end. ‘They’ve stop! Why? Did they discover us?’ The answer for Chiharu came soon as she heard sounds of screaming. It was of men being killed, but she did not know who’s it was. ‘Is it them or my men? Did they kill my men, just like Grandfather?’ Her eyes narrowed and power applied to her muscles as Saki could not stop her any longer. Chiharu leapt from their hiding and charged straight for the noise.

“Damn girl! Come on, Yuki!” Saki rushed to her feet following after the rage blinded Chiharu. They arrived quickly behind her as she had already stopped finding a dead body. It was one of Chiharu’s men from the house. They found another next to him. Chiharu ran off into the dark of the forest leaving them behind. “Chiharu! Don’t go alone!”

Chiharu eyes could not see anything, but revenge. They had killed her Grandfather and now her men as well. She would have them die for what they had done. She kept running to where she believed the enemy to be. However, her foot tripped on a wire trap sending her to the ground completely open.

A masked shadow leapt out of the nearby brush with a blade held high to make the strike. “The Chinen Clan dies tonight!”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

The forest seemed to grow very still as Chiharu collapsed to the ground from the trap making the noise of the man bursting out from brush accented. Enough time was given for her to turn her head in the moments that slowly passed to see the moonlit stained blade in the man’s hand held up to strike her down. Surprised, all she could do was look on in shock at the trick she had fallen for. “The Chinen Clan dies tonight!”

Chapter 44 – The Beast in the Forest

Chiharu could only see the black form of the man engulf her as he drew closer to her. Everything that surrounded her faded from sight and she could not even feel or see what happened next. Blackness came over her eyes as the sound of blood sprayed through the air and the dull sound of a blade penetrating flesh. ‘…Grandfather…’ Paralysis held for the moment as Chiharu simply lay where she was unable to move still out of her body not aware of her surroundings.

A branch snapped and plants shifted from someone walking. The noise alerted Chiharu immediately restarting her body and snapping her back up to her feet. Realization did not set in for another second when she saw that there was one of her family’s dogs standing over a bloody man that had attempted to attack her. Her mind replayed the events coming to the conclusion that the dog had jumped in preventing the attack and killed the man. They were trained to hunt and track with them in her line of work. ‘But we didn’t send out the dogs… they were not to be found… where were they?’ Another footstep rustled the plants nearby spinning Chiharu around with her short blade held up ready to strike.

“Your pets seemed restless…” said a voice from out of sight that had a familiar sound to it. The noise came even closer to Chiharu until appearing in front of her. Out of the shadows of the forest night was Haruo wearing the kimono that he had been given after the bath.

Chiharu narrowed her eyes with concern, but relaxed her muscles. “I thought you were still sleeping…”

“…I was…” Alongside Haruo came another one of Chiharu’s dogs keeping at his side as though it seemed natural for the animal.

The scene left her off center getting a strange feeling from him. She had tried to fight him earlier seeing how strong he must have been, but it was different from before. ‘He couldn’t have left when we did. He’d have to been gone before or during the attack. What’s going on?’ Chiharu tightened her hand on the hilt of her blade becoming suspicious of the boy.

However, both of their attentions were drawn away by a scream. Haruo ran past Chiharu with the dogs taking up sides keeping pace with him. Chiharu stood frozen unable to move for a moment. It could not be explained, but nothing answered her calls. ‘…I…Grandfather…’

‘…Chiharu!’

‘Grandfather?!’ Her eyes blinked and she could feel her body moving again bursting through the forest following the noise that was picking up in front of her. It became clear to her that there was someone running followed by a second possibly third person. She tracked the sounds into a small clearing in the forest. When she came in sight of the fight her dogs were already leaping towards two of the assassins.

Saki had been keeping ahead of the two men that were chasing her after Chiharu had run off. However, she had become cornered by them in the clearing when she was rescued by Haruo and the dogs. Yuki arrived slowly behind them holding his arm with a shallow cut. “Chiharu!” said the two of them upon seeing her arriving still alive.

The two men beat off the dogs sending them yelping to the ground. They pulled themselves together into a defensive stance seeing that they were now out numbered. In a better light it became clear to them that they were dressed in similar attire as Chiharu making it clear that they were ninja as well. They both had medium length katana drawn keeping their movements careful.

Chiharu saw the two men and could not wait a moment longer as she charged towards them without a care to the others. “Die assassin!” She brought her short blade to bear on first man, who parried her strike. Force from the charge was sent through the clash rattling the blades as they sparked. Chiharu jumped back and dodged around them as the second man came in for support. Her eyes were pulled down with her brow in wrinkled rage as she yelled with each strike she made.

The fight between the granddaughter and her murderers began to play as Saki and Yuki watched hesitant to make a move. In a fast paced exchange of blades that they were witnessing they were both out of their element. Saki had speed and reflexes, but weapons were not her thing and Yuki had experience in street brawls, albeit in the past. They wanted to help her, but they would have been in the way. Yuki rested his hand, from holding his wound, on Saki’s shoulder to give her some reassurance.

‘Saki wants to help… but knows there’s little she could do,’ Yuki thought to himself as he watched on the edge of his toes at the fight. He had seen Chiharu briefly fighting with Saki to know how skilled she was, however what he was seeing now went beyond it. It felt as though her rage and anger were driving her to be faster even though she was being blinded at the same time. ‘She can’t see, but her instincts are sharp enough to make up for it. It’s the only thing keeping her alive.’

Clashing blades echoed through the forest were brought to a pale dullness when compared to the screams followed up by Chiharu as she struggled to keep her ground. The fight was drawing her back to give up ground as the two ninja worked together to strike in quick succession. The man playing back up for the moment came around striking awkwardly at Chiharu that forced her to parry unevenly. Off balance from the strike, she was turned away from the coming strike from the main. She was unable to get away from the strike quickly holding up her metal guard on her forearm to catch the blade. The katana’s blade sparked off the metal cutting into it a little as it passed by in the thrust to cut into the upper arm of Chiharu. Wounded with a shallow cut and bleeding Chiharu nearly tripped over her feet to back up into a defensive position.

Pain had heightened her awareness starting to cut through the fog in her head, but it was working to dull her instincts as well. She flipped backwards out of the way the next strike while leaving herself open for the second attack from the back up. The blade ran shallow along her back missing for being out of range.

‘She’s going to die at this rate!’ Saki could not take the sidelines any longer and pulled free from Yuki. She sprinted forward to quickly closing the distance as Chiharu was left completely open from the last series of attacks. “Chiharu!”

The two ninja swarmed her to take advantage of her position ready for the final blow. Saki was still out of reach and Chiharu could not defend herself quickly enough. The two swords came down upon her. Two streaks flew by the two ninja knocking their swords from their hands saving Chiharu’s life once more. Surprised, but not finished the two ninja went for their secondary weapon, but several more streaks flew from the shadows this time digging into the men. They were kunai that were thrown at vital spots to disable their arms.

Saki came to a stop seeing the change. Caution moved her out of the way as she saw someone silently come out of the shadows of the forest behind Chiharu. Covered in black with only his eyes being seen he looked down at Chiharu. He made no move to help or hurt her, but simply staring at her in silence with the stance that he was communicating with her.

Chiharu blinked slowly before she returned to her feet. She stared down at her blade in her hand and back towards to the two ninja disabled. This was not how her first kill was supposed to be. It was not how it was planned. She pulled up her blade and reached out with her free hand to grab the man by his garb. Her hand held the blade trying to keep from shaking as she pulled back. ‘…they killed Grandfather! They killed him! I can’t show…’

“…Chiharu…” Masahiko knelt down to help up a six year old Chiharu who had fallen on the ground. The rigors of training were exhausting her and all she had was frustration and anger. It slipped her up. “You can’t let your emotions control you, Chiharu.”

“I know, Grandfather!” Chiharu said narrowing her eyes looking ready to continue.

He shook his head as he looked down at his granddaughter. “You recite that, but you don’t understand. You can’t show emotions to your enemy. You can’t feel emotions when you fighting. They cloud your eyes and weaken your strikes. Emotions are weakness.”

“Weakness!”

Masahiko stood straight up in front of Chiharu. “A ninja can’t have weakness. A ninja kills the weakness inside. You are nothing but a weapon! A weapon breaks if there is weakness! A broken weapon is useless!” He threw out a punch at Chiharu knocking her to the wood floor. “No anger! Stand up!”

Chiharu coughed weakly taken back by the attack. She crawled, in spite, to her feet standing up to look back up at her grandfather. The look was still in her eyes and he swung at her again sending her back to the floor. When she stood back up with tears in her eyes she was beat down again.

Training was all that she knew in her life to become an assassin. She was molded to be a weapon that would not have feelings or fears. It was a lesson that was repeatedly beat into her through tests and physical means. She could hear the echoes the lessons stripping her of her feelings, but all she could hang on to was anger. It was all she knew and the only comfort she could find.

‘…I-I’m a weapon… Weapons can’t have weakness… I’m a weapon…’ Chiharu repeated the words to herself as she hear them being spoken to her from her memories. She pulled the blade in her hand further back still feeling the shaking in her arm. An empty stare in her eyes began to form that steadied her hand. “…I’m a weapon…” Her arm released finally pulling down the blade for the killing strike.

“Chiharu!” Saki said, but was over powered by Yuki shouting out to her. It had been enough to halt her hand just before piercing the neck of the man. Saki was relieved to see her back away dropping the blade. The man that had rescued Chiharu turned away and quickly executed the two men. Chiharu disappeared into the forest with Saki chasing after her.

Yuki stared at the man left standing still unknown with his face held behind a mask. A narrowed glare from Yuki connected with the man. “You’re strange, old man. Giving her the kill after saving her, but killing them anyway. You knew she couldn’t do it and yet you tried anyway.”

Masked behind the cloth there was almost certainly a smirk or grin on Tamotsu’s face as he looked back at Yuki. “No more strange than a teenager that doesn’t flinch at the sight of death while acting innocent. You could’ve saved her as well, but didn’t.”

“Perhaps…” Yuki did not like the knowing feeling that he was getting from the old man. They barely knew each other and he had already seen so much into Yuki. Words games were not going to solve the matter at hand. “Not going after her?”

“Age has taught me when I’m needed…”

“…I see…”

Chiharu ran through the forest still hearing the echoes through her mind. They were like ghosts haunting her shouting out words of disgust and disappointment. She could not escape them however fast she ran. ‘…Grandfather… …I’ve dishonored you… …I couldn’t…’ All of her training had proved useless for her when she needed it. Now she was abandoning it and her grandfather. She could not face looking at him anymore.

The forest seemed to grow darker around her blackening out everything from her. An empty void caught her plunging the remains of the world in utter darkness. There was no ground making her fall endless as she heard the shouting of the voices out at her. She screamed to drown them out, but they reached her ears perfectly to be heard. Her hands clasped against her ears to prevent the voices from entering, but it was as though she was doing nothing. Slow paralysis worked over her as she continued to fall helpless.

“You’re a failure!”

“Worthless!”

“A broken weapon!”

“You couldn’t even avenge his death!”

“Shut up! Leave me! I didn’t… I-I… I’m not!”

“You can’t even convince yourself!”

“You’re weak!”

“…You’re human…” a new voice said breaking through all of the others around her and bringing silence to the chaos. Chiharu looked up with shrunken eyes seeing someone pierce through the void.

The silence was welcoming, but Chiharu shook her head at the new voice. “No! I’m not weak!”

“Yes, you are weak! All you have is weakness!” said the taunting voices once more.

The figure entering the void remained without color yet held a calming tone. “…It’s alright to feel weak…”

“I don’t need them!”

“Yes, the only way not to be weak is to throw them away!”

“…They’re closer to you than you realize. It’s with you…”

“Don’t listen! You don’t need them!”

Chiharu’s body was starting to accept the soothing feeling that was being emitted through the space. It was making the voices feel more distance bringing her peace for once. The void began to fade away as the voices tried to fight to be heard, but continued to be shut out. A blanket of warmth wrapped around her easing her heart that had been racing and tense. She could not remember the last time she felt so relax it almost made her want to smile.

Saki held Chiharu against her with her arms wrapped around her slowly rocking. She had found her collapsed from all of the running and mental exhaustion. “It’s alright to be scared. You lost the most important person to you tonight.”

Chiharu was half awake listening to the calming voice of Saki. When she heard her mention her grandfather her eyes opened quickly. She could see images of him in her mind from her past. All of the training that he had put her through played for her. He had always been there since she could remember. She had never known anyone else other than him. “…he’s gone,” she said softly almost not believing it.

“…yes… …You don’t have to be afraid anymore…” Saki put her hand up against Chiharu’s head as she felt her body starting to tremble. “You don’t need to hold back, Chiharu. It’s just us here.”

The forest was empty for them. No one was around, but the two of them. “Alone?” This realization was starting sink into her. Her eyes started to water up almost out of nowhere.

“Yes, just me here. You haven’t cried in a long time have you?”

Chiharu did not completely take in what Saki had said, but it was having a reaction on her that she could not control. All she could think about was her Grandfather. Her mind could not stop thinking about him. “Grandfather…he’s…” She could not hold back the tears at the point. Chiharu wept.

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

Silence held in the forest as Saki held on to Chiharu. No words were needed between them for that moment. A flood of emotions from Chiharu had been released that had been trained into her to keep held in. Time drained away slowly letting things run their course until Chiharu was ready.

Saki kept her eyes on Chiharu watching her as she stayed with her. ‘…she never gave herself the chance to grieve…’ It was clear to her that vengeance was almost instinctual for Chiharu. The mindset that she had to be given at a young age bothered Saki. ‘…she couldn’t allow herself that moment… just like with her parents…’

Saki rocked slowly back and forth with Chiharu just letting her be. While her thoughts spun question after question in her mind trying to understand the family. ‘…what did they do to her to make her like this? She needs time to be a girl, not a killer for hire…’

Chapter 45 – Girl No More

Chiharu pulled her head up still running with tears, but looking a little stronger than before. She pulled away from Saki with no resistance. There was a small distance put between them as she looked straight at Saki with a long face. ‘…how could…I…I felt…safe…’ Her eyes lowered a bit as her hands moved to try to wipe away the tears with her suddenly becoming embarrassed. Freely running emotions were still pouring through her even as she tried to close the door. “Grandfather…he’s dead…”

Saki reached out her hands to place on Chiharu’s hands for comfort. The tension and uncertainty could be felt the instant she touched her. “It’s alright, Chiharu… You’re allowed to cry…”

“But I couldn’t…” There was choking in her words as she paused. It was a thought that was part of her instinct that she could not turn away from. “…avenge him…”

“…Chiharu…”

It became clear that she was having trouble speaking, but it was something that felt was necessary. Every time that she stopped she was pushing herself to keep going. There was something that would not let her stop. “They were right…in front of me…”

“You don’t have to Chiharu.” Saki tried to lean over, but Chiharu was becoming more adamant about what she was saying. She threw away Saki’s hands and stood up turning away.

Chiharu stared down the thick trunk of a tree feeling uncontrollable frustration channeling through her. She had failed, but it was not even so much about that while it still was. “…in front of me!” Her fist ran into the bark of the tree making a low dull thud as it did not give. “They were there! I could have…”

Saki could tell that she had diverted her feelings focusing back on her failure. She ran over to Chiharu hoping to calm her down again. “Chiharu please… Don’t…” Comfort was not going to solve Chiharu issue this time for her. She snapped back at Saki turning and throwing her leg out to kick her, missing widely.

“NO! You don’t know!” Chiharu turned back away throwing her fist once more against the tree. She wrenched her eyes closed trying not to think of her grandfather in her mind. It was a haunting image in her mind that she could not shake. “They were right there! They killed my…”

“…Chiharu it’s fine…”

“But they killed him! …killed…” The words continued to pound in her head repeatedly. She collapsed to the ground, her hand sliding down the tree as she fell. “Dead… He’s dead…”

Saki was starting to feel at a loss for what she could do. All she could remember was what had happened with Yuki when his parents had passed away. But the way that Yuki handled it was completely different. He isolated himself after his mother and barely seemed to acknowledge when he father did. It only seemed to make angrier. She had been unable to help him any time that she brought it up with him just brushing her away, like Chiharu. ‘…I’m helpless…’

“I…failed him…I couldn’t…do it…”

“…I’m sure he wouldn’t have wanted you to do this…” She tried approaching again, but her words hit the wrong nerve in Chiharu making her lash out.

Chiharu pushed back Saki wanting to knock her down while not have the focus or strength for an attack. She had assaulted something that she knew and was pretending to know their life when she had no idea at all what was supposed to happen. “Don’t pretend like you know! You don’t!”

“…Chi-“

“What do you know!? Nothing! You don’t know me!” Chiharu was not going to give her a chance to respond back. This was an insult to her and she could not stand for anyone to attack her in such a manner. She took a wide and wild swing at Saki with her fist lacking any coordination. It was easily caught, but she was forced to look at Saki seeing her eyes that stared back at her unwilling to give up. “You don’t-“

“No…” Saki made her determination clear to Chiharu. The past had happened already and she could not do anything about it anymore. What was in front of her now still could be helped. Saki was not going to let it go so easily. “I don’t know you! But I know that look! I could see it in your eyes! You didn’t want to kill! You couldn’t kill!”

Chiharu’s eyes had widened in surprise not expecting to hear something so piercing with such confidence and certainty. It made her want to back away, but with her hand being held by Saki it was impossible. She was being pressed back and seen through, naked.

“You let it control you, but in the end you were stronger than your desire to kill!”

‘…control me? No… I wanted it! Me! I wasn’t being controlled!’ She shook her head to deny what she was being told. Frightened like a child she pulled at her hand trying desperately to break free so that she did not have to be afraid any longer. However, her mind suddenly flashed back to the hallway in the estate when Yuki confronted her about the same thing with similar words. It made her freeze up hearing it again, so close to the truth as though he had been through it.

He stretched out his arm futilely trying to stop Chiharu. “Chiharu! You shouldn’t kill someone!” Chiharu was getting further away from them, but Yuki was not going to give up on Saki’s fight. He had been down this road and knew how it felt. “I know how you’re feeling! Chiharu stop!” It seemed to hit a nerve with Chiharu as she paused in foot step when Yuki spoke. “The rage and anger inside you is too much to contain. It speaks to you telling you this is right. That you must do it. There’s no other way. If you don’t it won’t be at peace.”

Chiharu turned part way looking back at Yuki. Her were fists tightened at her side and shaking. “Is that all you can do, talk?”

“It’s feels uncontrollable doesn’t it?”

She did not want to hear anymore echoing through her head. ‘…uncontrollable? NO! No! Me! Just me!’ Chiharu snapped her wrist free from Saki though it felt like it was given up rather than won. She started to run away to leave everything behind.

“You did it because you’re the head of the family.” Saki words had a cold tone in them as they stopped Chiharu in her tracks. The comforting tone that she had before had vanished while the determination still remained. “An obligation. Because you want to be an assassin.”

“Yes! I’m head of the family! But it’s not because I’m the head!” Chiharu was forced to turn around again to face Saki as though she was being played like a puppet. “I don’t care about that! I don’t care about being an assassin! They killed my grandfather!”

“That’s quite the contradiction. Which is it? You want to be the head and want to be an assassin, but you don’t want to be. You want to kill for personal reasons, but don’t want to kill. Which is it?”

“I don’t care about any of it! It’s revenge!”

“But you didn’t get revenge you ran away!”

“They’re still dead!”

“But you didn’t get your revenge!”

“Grandfather’s killers are dead! It’s done!”

“No, it’s not. It’s not settled, but you didn’t do it!”

“I don’t care!”

“Yes you do! But you still couldn’t kill them!”

“Because I was afraid!” Chiharu came to a sudden halt when she heard the words. It made her eyes widen in shock not realizing that she had just admitted to her fear. She wanted to take it back, but there was no way anymore. However, now that she had said it her legs lost their strength as though they had been carrying a heavy weight the entire time that had just been lifted leaving nothing left to keep going. Chiharu collapsed to the ground no longer certain what she was feeling or supposed to be feeling.

Saki walked over to her kneeling down at her side with a painful expression. ‘I’m sorry I had to do that to you… but it was the only way…’ She placed her hand on her shoulder trying to comfort her once more, but got no response or action out of her. It seemed like she was a statue completely gone from the reality around her. ‘…I had to force you to confront what you were running away from more than anything…you put up such walls to protect yourself from it…that you wouldn’t allow yourself to accept it…’ Saki let her lay down before she picked her up and began to carry her back to the house. ‘…let’s go back…’

When Saki arrived in, the very early hours of the morning, the clearing from the forest that became the backyard of the house she was greeted by several guards. She assured them that Chiharu was safe, but just tired. Chiharu was carried back by Saki to her room where she quietly tended to her as the remaining men of the estate hovered outside. Tamotsu was the only one that remained inside with his usual loyal determination to protect and serve the family as he only knew how. After she was finished Saki walked over to Tamotsu staring up at him with a look back that said he had the same understanding.

“She wasn’t able to admit the fear to herself, but now that she’s heard it…” Saki turned her head down feeling guilty for the actions that she took that had left Chiharu in a lifeless state. It was her fault even though it seemed that no one was blaming her. Every time she looked around as she was passing through the halls it made it feel like they were silently thinking how wrong she was to have done it.

Tamotsu raised up his hands placing them on Saki’s shoulders giving her a smile that she could not see. “She just needs time to think in peace. It’s been a long night for her and you. She’ll come out of it when she’s ready.”

“…I hope…”

“I know she will,” he said finally meeting eye contact with Saki as she looked up. The certainty in his words and the deep caring understanding look on his face made Saki feel a little better. “Knowing her. When she does she’ll want to challenge you again.”

Saki choked a little at the joke as she could not laugh, but gave him a slight grin. “Yeah, you’re probably right.” She stepped away to return back to her room.

“Thank you…”

The innumerable meanings that were held in the words did not escape Saki. She blinked trying to keep from crying as she walked out of the room. Halfway to her room she started to run for a reason that she could not find, but she would not stop until she reached the destination.

Out of breath and sore, Saki stood bent over in front of the door waiting. She hovered outside unable to move as she panted even heavier than she would have running. Nothing could stop it as it engulfed her trying to numb her body. There was nothing else she could do. She had no choice. The door slid quietly open as she stepped into the darkened room. She walked over to where the blankets were for sleeping. Her head hung down staring at them paused once more.

Tears slowly began to fill up in her eyes as she looked down at the blankets. She collapsed to her knees looking over the blankets seeing Yuki sleeping peacefully unaware of her presence. When she looked at him she could not stop crying. ‘…I’m so sorry…’

Morning came quickly for everyone, ready or not. The aura of the estate had changed from when they arrived. Chiharu still remained unchanged and Tamotsu stuck to her side. Her men took turns standing guard. It left them with an uncaring feeling as though everything was their fault and was leaving without fixing anything. Yet they all knew it was beyond their care now.

Yuki and Haruo were loaded into the car as Saki was dragging behind them. She tried to say something to the men, but nothing came to her. One of the men reached out holding her hands looking down at her with an eased expression. “Thank you for protecting Lady Chiharu…”

Saki tried to respond, but was left unable only feeling worse. The man walked around to the car getting into the drive seat as Saki stood outside the open passenger door. She looked back at the estate once more before stepping into car. It pulled away from the estate disappearing into the city.

Tamotsu stood up from his knelt position next to Lady Chiharu’s side. He stepped out of her room into the back porch that wrapped around the house. No guards went with him as he stepped out into the back courtyard going away from the house. He disappeared into the forest masking his presence. After ten minutes of walked as a slow pace he came to a stop.

“The plan was a success, sir,” said a shadowed figure in the tree out of sight as Tamotsu looked forward not acknowledging the presence.

“Yes… With him out of the way and someone as inexperienced as her in charge. The next stage will proceed much smoothly.”

“I will make preparations, sir.”

“Patience. I’ve waiting a long time. I’m in no rush. I have to steer in the correct course. I will signal you again when the next stage is ready.”

“Yes, sir.”

Tamotsu closed his eyes keeping a stern empty expression. ‘…the time for Lady Chiharu to die is not yet…’

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

Monday came to a mostly uneventful ending for everyone. Apart from Yuki, he could be found sleeping and accidently summoning his Kasou-ryoko powers to alter the classroom in a split second that required Ayumi and Saki to quickly cover up in a very poor awkward manner that everyone noticed, but are conveniently forgetting. So life was normal for Yuki.

Momoko was surprisingly forgiving for Yuki returning home in the manner that he did, as well as being late. He had found the whole situation a little unsettling, but his own mood had been left sullen with the state that they had left Chiharu. The trip in the car he had tried to cheer up Saki, knowing how much it was hurting her, but it did not seem to improve. By class, she seemed to be mostly back to normal, though still a little distant at times. The others did not know what was going on, but Yuki was determined to cheer up Saki today.

Yuki tightened his fists together psyching himself up, pushing away stray thoughts, and approached Saki with a pleasant smile. “Hey Saki! You don’t have practice after class, right?”

It took a moment for Yuki’s voice to reach Saki completely and turn to see that he was talking to her. “Uh? Yuki?”

“Right?”

The look on his face was warm and determined making it difficult for Saki to ignore him. Unfortunately, Saki could only look clueless at him, having not heard what he said. “What are you talking about?”

Ignored and dejected a little Yuki slumped over. “You didn’t hear anything I said?” Her shaking head only made Yuki cry to know that all of his energy had been wasted. However, he was not going to give up and straightened himself back up reinvigorating his determination. “You don’t have practice, right?”

“…yeah…” she said slowly still feeling like she was missing something.

“Good! Then let’s go out!” Yuki exclaimed nearly jumping with excitement over the idea.

Yumi nearby could hear Yuki shouting (everyone in the class heard) making her face turn red quickly and grow short on breath. Her heart went shallow for a moment as though she had just lost something precious and irreplaceable. “…Yuki…Y-Yuki…”

“Yuki and Saki are going out? Since when?” said Katsumi narrowly becoming a little put off by Yuki’s boisterous attitude, even after school was over.

Kaede popped in around Yumi looking at Katsumi with some shock. “Can’t believe it! Though she does hang around him all the time and cover up for his mistakes in class. Guess I shouldn’t be surprised.” Kaede and Katsumi nodded to themselves in agreement, but when Yumi fell over to the floor they were quickly turned away. “Yumi! What’s wrong?” Together they tried to lift her up as she was not out, but feeling a little lightheaded.

“…Yuki…Saki…”

“Hang in there, Yumi!”

“Don’t follow that jerk into the light!”

Chapter 46 – Strange Meetings

Yuki was quick to rush over to Yumi hearing her friends shouting trying to keep her awake, Saki being pulled along. “Yumi? Are you alright?” Unfortunately, the proximity of Yuki did not improve Yumi’s condition only making her stutter and turn red.

Not even a whole word could make it out of her mouth as her friends pulled her away from Yuki trying to get her to recover. They had been through this enough time that they had become used to responding and dealing with her. “Hey Yumi! President Yori is here!” Kaede announced holding Yumi in her arm while block Yuki out of sight.

“Yori? Brother!” yelped Yumi as she immediately snapped out of her lost state. She quickly started looking around the classroom for him trying to find her brother not wanting to let him see her in such a position.

Katsumi leaned in placing a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. “He must have left. I know I saw him.” The relieving news eased Yumi back down allowing them to talk to her again. “You think you can stand?”

“…yeah…” She slowly pulled herself back up to her feet with Kaede’s help. On her feet again, she saw Yuki next to Saki talking between themselves. There was another jump in her heart as she tried to keep herself calm. “Yuki?”

“Yumi?” he said turning around quickly, with that wide smile on his face still and the excitement of a child. He dropped his hand into the palm of his other hand as an idea came to him. “Hey Yumi! You want to go out?”

‘Yuki…ask me?’ Yumi’s heart jumped again as her face ran red in an instant before she passed out for real this time. Her friends caught her quickly, but Yuki was left confused.

Saki stepped in behind Yuki whacking him in the back of the head. “Yuki! Watch how you talk to Yumi!”

“Hey?! Saki!” Saki stared at Yuki that only seemed to go around Yuki with his confused look. He rubbed his head trying to understand why she had hit him until Saki sighed giving up.

“Give it up Saki. You know he’s not going to get it,” Hiroshi said stepping in from the side of the class along with Tatsuya and Kazuhiro. “I think it’ll be easier solved by just explaining what’s going on. Right, Yuki?”

The weight shifted to Yuki with Saki and Hiroshi looking at him to fix what he started. Yuki still did not understand what they were getting at, but leaving out the details probably was not the best thing. ‘I guess I should let her know what I want to do…’

Everyone gathered around as Kaede and Katsumi worked on getting Yumi alive once more. Once Hiroshi and Saki had settled down Yumi enough so that Yuki could explain he stepped forward. “Let’s all go to this new awesome place in town!” Yuki’s eyes were glowing like a child’s innocent and full of joy as it could be clear that he was imagining things in his mind.

Saki slapped him in the head again noticing that he was losing control of his powers and Hiroshi did as well for another reason. “You’re skipping the details, Yuki…”

“Hey quit hitting me!” Yuki dried up his tears from the pain and returned back to his previous state completely lost in the illusions he was created requiring more reality checks. “Details, alright…I wanted it to be a surprised…” He began to look down at his foot aimlessly fidgeting becoming dejected.

Yumi had been waiting with curiosity to know what Yuki wanted to do, once their misunderstanding had been solved (a little disappointed). The sad expression that Yuki had immediately drew Yumi in to cheer him up not thinking about what she was doing so close to him. “It’s alright, Yuki. I don’t mind a surprise. I might be fun!”

“Something fun?!” Ayumi said cheerfully interjecting herself into the group. She looked clueless and excited at the same time. “What’s going on?”

Yuki perked up quickly with the encouragement from Yumi and Ayumi. Saki sighed to herself looking around at how large of a group that was developing for them. Looking around persistently to everyone, Ayumi tried to get some clue to where everyone was going. “Yuki wants to go to some place he’s heard about from Hiroshi. Hasn’t been able to stop talking about it since he was told about it.” The excitement was starting to be a drain on Saki as she began to regret agreeing with him. ‘Just watching those two is exhausting…how does she do it?’

“Let’s go everyone!” Yuki shouted throwing up an arm in excitement that dragged in Ayumi quickly. Yumi tried to smile and nod while her friends questioned their own involvement, but could not let Yumi go alone with Yuki. Following in behind was Hiroshi with his friends looking a little mischievous. Walking only made it so far as the school entrance before they were interrupted by two short shadowed figures that came running in towards them.

The short figures were faster than anyone could see being only a blur as they rushed for Yuki. Distracted in his excitement, Yuki was caught off guard by what happened until it was too late. The two blurs had attached themselves to Yuki shedding their blackened cover with light illuminating their faces. Ken had climbed up on Yuki’s back hanging off his neck and down his back with a wide grin while Jun silently held on to the edge of his uniform’s coat staring up at him. Once Yuki finally realized what was going on he jumped back as the group divided for him trying to shake them. “What’re you two doing?! Get off me!”

In the struggle Yuki collapsed to the ground with his siblings holding on to him. Jun, intentionally or not, sat down on Yuki’s stomach still just staring at him. The arrival of his brothers made everyone apart from Saki and Ayumi curious and confused. Yumi and her friends moved in taking quick looks at the young children before looking back at each other. Katsumi and Kaede seemed more intense than Yumi with the look in their eye. Yumi knelt down, leaving the two girls, looking over at Jun. “What are you doing here?” she said sweetly.

Ken let go of Yuki for a moment seeing that she was trying to talk to Jun. He walked over to Yumi looking very confident. “We came to see Yuki! I’m Ken and this is Jun! Who are you?”

“Oh I’m Yumi! Came to see Yuki? How come?”

“He’s our big brother! Big sister let us go play!”

“Brother?” Hiroshi, Tatsuya and Kazuhiro exclaimed together in surprise, never having heard anything about brothers from Yuki.

“So you came to play with Yuki?” Jun nodded in agreement with Yumi’s words. Yumi was taking to the information better anyone else almost as though she knew already.

Kaede and Katsumi behind Yumi held hands smiling to each other. “He’s so cute!” Kaeda said.

Katsumi nodded in agreement glowing with her. “And he looks so cool! Like he’s trying to be like Yuki!”

Ken looked over at Jun giving him a smile with a mischievous sparkle along with a victory sign. Jun pleasantly nodded in agreement with his brother. “Operation Cool and Cute was a success!” Ken declared to his brother, words that went mostly ignored by the others.

Yuki finally pulled himself together with the opening that his brothers left him. He stood up letting Jun down off him and glared back at the two of them. “Momoko’s going to be angry with you two for leaving the house! You know how she is!”

“But I already said she let us play!” Ken said getting a little cocky with Yuki and pointing to his previous words to re-enforce his defense. He then crossed his arms looking up at his brother with a look that said he knew he was going to get away with what he was planning.

Frustration was building up in Yuki as his dreams of having fun with his friends was quickly fading away. “But I’ve already got plans with my friends! You need to go back home!” Jun closed in towards Yuki giving him long sad eyes that worked on melting Yuki. “…Jun…you haven’t seen me lately? But I’m—“

Kaede and Katsumi jumped into the conversation dragging Yumi along as well. “We don’t mind if your brothers come along. Right, Katsumi?”

“Yup, Kaede!”

“…Yuki…it’s fine with me…” Yumi said meekly balancing her emotions precariously.

Jun’s melting stare was working on Yuki in tandem with the girls. Hiroshi and the others did not seem to mind either leaving Yuki looking like the bad guy. “Alright…Let’s all go together!” he half shouted trying to get back in the mood, which seemed to work well on Jun.

The large group of students, plus two elementary students, winded their way through the town. After school hours made the sidewalks their usually busy selves with students. It did not help that Hiroshi’s directions forced them to travel through the busiest and most difficult areas to walk through to reach their unknown destination. Yumi’s friends were the first to complain about the walking and soon by Saki. Both of them seemed to doubt that Hiroshi knew what he was doing until everyone besides Yuki and Jun wanted to leave becoming hungry from the trip.

“This should be the last turn…” said Hiroshi as he checked a paper he had been referencing frequently. He turned his head side to side looking at the alley that they were in left with two directions to take.

“This guy’s been sayin’ that for the last twenty minutes!” Ken said kicking a bottle on the ground into the adjacent wall.

Ayumi sighed heavily developing a pouting lip on her face from being so tired. “I’m so hungry…”

“We’re almost there, guys…” Hiroshi said looking at the paper for a second time. ‘I think…’

“Come on! Hiroshi said we’re almost there!” Yuki said with his never ending excitement.

“You’re the only one still excited…” a long voice said from Katsumi.

Kaede’s eyes were half closed with her eyebrows pulled down in stress. “Where does all of his energy come from…”

No longer able to wait with his excitement, Yuki took a turn and charged down the alley. Saki reached out for him, but had no strength or will to make a real effort as her arm fell limp. The group turned to look around at each other, but mostly at Hiroshi with an implying glare. Sweat dripped down his head as he tried to back away from the frightening looks he was getting. However, they were all interrupted by Yuki returning scream with excitement. “I found it!”

No one seemed to be looking at Yuki as they held their gaze on Hiroshi. “See he found it! I knew we were close, right?” Yuki waved at them before getting a dumbfounded expression on his face confused to the reason for their still sad emotions.

Jun was quick to take Yuki’s side and ran over to him followed by Ken. Kaede and Katsumi’s eyes were turned towards the two boys and they took to Yuki as well. The rest were quick to fall in place as Yuki eagerly directed them to the place that he had found. Yet when they reached the building that they had been looking for everyone just stood still in disbelief. No one could say a word for what they were looking at scattered their preconceptions of what was thought to be possible.

“Pretty cool, huh?” Yuki said oblivious to reason for their reactions.

“…right…” Saki finally said as though she was struggling to pull it out from her mouth.

“…I didn’t think it was possible…” replied Tatsuya as he tried to pull himself away from the sight.

Kazuhiro nodded slowly still wide eyed by the building. “…unique…”

“…is that a skeleton?” Kaede managed still trying to take everything in.

Being called a nightmare of design would still be understating the appearance. The building if all of the decoration was pulled away turned out to be a simple two floor structure large enough for several rooms to fit inside on each floor. Drawing the eye though was the single marble column near the door next to the fake skeletal remains of a bizarre winged lizard like animal. Following opposite of the column and door was a clay surface with Arab designs and a metal wire mesh. All coated in the worst possible color combinations of purple, pink, red and orange. The door seemed almost embarrassed to be present among the rest as it was a simple Japanese wood sliding panel door.

Yuki pulled back by the building lifting his arm up in a presenting manner still ignorant of his friend’s reactions. “Ready to go inside?” All of them stepped back uneasy, including Hiroshi.

“I wouldn’t be caught dead inside that place!” Katsumi said as she hid behind Yumi with Kaede behind her.

“Must be the wrong place, Yuki!” Hiroshi quickly said pulling up his sheet of paper to look at it again. The others were nodding in agreement with him or whispering similar words.

Amongst the discordant voices and distracted eyes the door to the shop opened and a woman in a beautiful green kimono stepped out. She went ignored by everyone other than Yuki, who was politely bowing to her. The students continued to leave her unnoticed until she finally spoke up in a soft traveling voice that managed to be heard clearly to everyone that it shut them up. “Welcome to the Mi Hana Shop!”

She was quick to gain everyone’s attention, especially Hiroshi and his friends. “Woah-um…I mean it would be rude to leave now that we’re here,” Hiroshi said quickly trying to turn the decision, but only becoming suspicious from the girls. The young woman that was greeting was filling out her kimono very well making it difficult for them to ignore or turn down.

Saki was still trying to get over the storefront and looked over at the storekeeper. Yuki had left them in the dark about what the place was they were visiting. “So what sort of shop is the Mi Hana?”

“We specialize in making your fantasies come true!” the woman said with a soft greeting tone.

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

“We specialize in making your fantasies come true!” the woman said with a soft greeting tone. The woman motioned with her arms towards the door inviting them into the shop. Her straightforward respond to Saki’s question was almost jarring as though there was no hidden meaning intended with her words.

Hidden meanings however were not something that Hiroshi could away from. A vacant glow in his eyes appeared like he was checked out while still managing to look like he was getting excited about something. The same looked was quick to appear across Tatsuya and Kazuhiro, even Yuki. However, it was only a quick moment after Saki recovered from her stunned state that she turned and whacked the four of them in the head.

“What was that for, Saki?!” Hiroshi said bravely in the brief moment that he forgot who he was staring at. Tatsuya and Kazuhiro were still recovering themselves from Saki (Hiroshi had a little resistance built up from repeatedly being hit by Saki).

She stepped into a lean against Hiroshi as he leaned backwards. “Because I know what thoughts were going through your head!” Hiroshi tried to deny it, but Saki was not being fooled by a faux innocent face.

Yuki rubbed his head walking over near Saki, oblivious to what she was doing. “Why’d you hit me, Saki?”

“Because I know what you’re thinking!” she said turning her head over to snap back at him.

“But I bet Hiroshi was thinking something dirty! Why didn’t you hit him too?!”

Everyone around could not help but sweat in disbelief. Saki wanted to hit him again, but all she could do was raise up her arm before realizing the futility of it. She dropped it back down to her side sighing heavily.

Chapter 47 – The Fantasy You Want

Hiroshi tilted his head down relieved that he was saved by Yuki’s distraction. ‘Hard to believe he was someone to be feared with how clueless he is…’ He turned to check on his friends after Saki’s assault. It was not their first time, but they were still not used to it. “You guys doing alright?”

“…Yeah…”

“…I’d hate to be on her bad side…”

“Yeah, well it’s something you get used to…” Old sores and bruises suddenly spiked dull pains of memories through his body from the more recent run-ins with Saki. He coughed feeling the choking in his throat from his thoughts. “Well…you ready to go inside?” Tatsuya and Kazuhiro both nodded eagerly to Hiroshi dragging over Saki’s attentions once more.

“We aren’t going in there! I can’t believe you thought this was a smart idea.” Saki grabbed up Hiroshi by the collar of his uniform’s jacket glaring at him. “You’ve taken this joke too far! What did you tell Yuki to get him to go along with this?”

“S-Saki!” Panic stricken was an all too familiar feeling for Hiroshi as he was on the balls of his feet with Saki’s demon eyes glaring down at him. Sweat poured down his face as he trying to get words out to calm down Saki. The choking in his throat made it difficult for him to speak clearly. “Y-You…got the…wro-ng i-i-idea!”

“I’ll tell you who’s got the wrong idea!”

Saki started to make a move, but Ayumi suddenly spoke up in a clear yet soft voice that interrupted Saki. Yumi had been trying to get her attention for a while, but her quiet voice was barely enough to leave her lips with Saki having turned violent. “Saki! Yuki’s gone into the building along with Jun and Ken.”

“What?!” she exclaimed dropping Hiroshi. Her eyes scanned the area trying to find him, but the place he had been standing was vacant. When she thought of how Yuki would react and that it was Hiroshi’s fault all she could do was raise her fist tightly as a vein popped from the back of her hand pulsing with frustration. ‘I can’t believe Hiroshi! How could he take a joke so far!?’ She looked around at the rest of the group. “Everyone wait here! I’ll go grab Yuki and his brothers!”

As Saki ran into the shop, everyone looked around at each other pausing for a moment. They all looked over at the woman still with the same warm greeting face inviting them all in. Her fine long black hair was pulled in the breeze that passed through the back alley as silence held everyone.

Inside the Mi Hana Shop, Saki was looking around the front desk reception area for Yuki. While Saki was not taking note, the interior of the building looked far more normal and easy on the eyes than its exterior. There was a large wood counter with a stack of brochures advertising their product protecting a middle aged woman dressed in a more subtle kimono of dark green. She pleasantly smiled allowing Saki her moment to franticly search around the room.

Once Saki, exhausted, came to a stop and walked over to the counter giving into the failure. The woman looked over at her speaking in an even tone that held an old fashion and refined accent that threw Saki off. “Greetings young child. You appear to be seeking something.”

Saki pulled back trying to work with the old Japanese and stiffly nodding. ‘I can’t believe anyone still talks like that…’ The woman waited patiently for Saki’s answer, but silence grew in pressure until it was a weight on her Saki demanding her to act. “W-Wel-Um…” There drew out another long pause as Saki stumbled over words needed to speak. “…Have you seen high school boy come through with two younger boys?”

“Yes, he said he had brought friends. I had my younger sister show him the rooms available. How many are in your party?” The woman looked down at the counter pulling something out from under the surface. “Is this the rest of your party?”

Saki tried to wave her hand to decline the woman, who had the wrong idea. “No, we aren’t—“ She turned around quickly picking up on what the woman had said. The rest of their group stood inside the room with the young woman sliding the door closed. “What’re you doing here? I thought I said to wait outside!”

Yumi stepped forward with her hands held together in front of her looking nervous. She kept her head hung down toward the ground as Saki stared at her expecting her to say something despite nothing ever being said. Ayumi leaned to the side around Yumi getting into view. “Hiroshi explained it to us, Saki.”

“Huh? What’s there to explain?” Saki turned her head towards Hiroshi wanting an answer from him to explain, but he disappeared behind the girls. Tatsuya and Kazuhiro made themselves invisible as well only frustrating Saki even more.

Ayumi walked around Yumi approaching Saki. “The way he explained it, this place is more like a karaoke shop. Except that instead of songs they have some sort of virtual reality machine that creates whatever you want. Sounded like a game…”

Katsumi popped up around Yumi interjecting her vote. “But if its real sounds like a lot of fun!”

Saki eyes fell low and narrow as she looked around to all of the faces. She felt so stupid for misinterpreting what the woman had said. ‘I want to go die in a corner right now…’ Her entire body felt numb and limp as she slid down into a puddle on the floor not wanting to be seen. She could not help but feel as though they were all laughing at her for acting so embarrassing.

“Hey…where’s Saki?” Yuki said walking back with his brothers and a little girl wearing a bright light green kimono. Everyone pointed down at the dark pool of liquid on the floor that Ken immediately leapt into. They all reacted with the same petrified state of electric shock only imagining how she had to be feeling at the moment.

After Ken had finished playing and Saki recovered enough to be solid, she looked with dark depressed set eyes around until catching sight of someone she had not seen before, the little girl. Whether it looked it or not her mind was still sharp and recalled quickly what the middle aged woman had said. She looked over to the woman behind the counter and said in a weak low voice, “I thought you said your younger sister was with Yuki.”

The woman nodded pleased to see that she remembered so well. “Yes, you are correct.”

“Ugh! This girl’s creepy lookin’ and weird! I don’t like her eyes!” The little girl that had been sweet and charming looking standing quietly next to Yuki completely changed into a wicked, foul and cold little girl. She turned her head up towards the woman at the counter addressing her.

“Quiet! They haven’t paid yet,” the woman said carefully under her voice meant only for the little girl.

“What?!” the girl yelped before choking on it as she looked around towards the potential (keyword) customers. She just as quickly turned back into the kind looking girl with a sweet voice. “You have a very pretty face, Miss!” The stunned silence by everyone was sharply followed up by everyone falling over in surprise.

Everyone was slowly pulling themselves back up recovering from the shock as the young woman politely looked over towards the ground of students. “So will you be staying?” Saki, Hiroshi and Yumi could not help but sweat in reaction.

Yuki jumped to his feet and raised his arms into the air. “Yes!” Everyone could not help but fall over again, in spite of the fact that it was not surprising. Yuki looked around at everyone confused by their reactions. “So how much?”

Saki groaned out loud as she pulled herself up. The others recovered soon and gathered around the counter with things returning to normal. The little girl stood with the young woman in the hallway politely waiting as the middle aged woman handled them. It was the price that almost drove them away making it difficult for them to pay on their allowance. Huddling together and pooling their money they managed to get enough time for two hours.

“Thank you! My name is Hanabira,” the middle aged woman said finally introducing herself upon receiving the payment.

At the moment the young woman and little girl were bowing politely thanking them as well. The little girl stood back up first. “This is my younger older sister, Hana!” she said point cheerfully to the young woman. She then returned the finger to point at herself. “I’m Ha! I’m only eight years old!” The cute adorable expression of pride glowed across her face as she started to turn around to guide them to their room.

Saki could not let things go and stopped them wanting an answer. “Are you saying you’re all sisters? That’s impossible! There’s at least a thirty year gap in your ages!” She pointed over to Hanabira accusingly.

Ha turned her body half way getting her head around most of the way changing once more. “Thirty-four actually… Got a problem with that?” The look in her eyes changed so quickly it left Saki stunned in surprise for a second. “Come this way please,” said a sweet voice from her lips jerking back into the previous personality.

Confused and stunned was all Saki managed at the moment as the little child seemed to be taking enjoyment in manipulating her. The rest of them were not sure how to act seeing Saki being toyed with so easily. They moved through the hall directed by the child and the young woman towards a booth near the end. Hana ushered them into the room and slid the door closed once everyone was in.

Inside the room there was enough space for everyone to fit surprisingly comfortably. There were several couches placed around the walls and a couple tables as well. Behind them at the entrance was a computer panel built into the wall with a full keyboard and touch screen as Katsumi found out from her curiosity. Upon her finger contacting the screen it turned on presenting a greeting in Japanese and English. Above them a voice of a woman that was not one of the three they had met evenly greeted them. “Welcome guests to the Mi Hana Shop! The screen you have just touched is the computer where you can input any dream you wish to have fulfilled. Note: The Mi Hana Shop is a family friendly environment and as such there are restrictions. Please keep that in mind when you are making a request. Enjoy your stay!”

Saki looked around at Hiroshi, Tatsuya and Kazuhiro making it clear to them, she was finally recovering. Jun and Ken jumped off the couch running over to Katsumi standing by the screen looking eager to have some fun. They both tugged on her uniform to draw down her attention. Katsumi bent her legs to reach their level becoming quickly enamored by them once more. “You want to give it a try?” Jun nodded eagerly with Ken jumping up and down unable to keep his excitement under control.

Yuki stepped in around his friends to reach his brothers. He had a surprisingly serious face on contrary to his display earlier. “We should test it out first. We don’t even know if it works or what to expect. So let’s do something normal as a test and then go from there.”

Rational thinking from Yuki made everyone come to a halt. Hiroshi exchanged stared with Tatsuya and Saki getting very similar feelings. “I’ve seen everything now. Yuki being serious and reasonable.” Everyone nodded in agreement, including his brothers.

“Hey! I can be serious when I want!”

Ayumi smiled a little shaking her head slightly. “No, but that’s what make you fun!”

“Ayumi!” Yuki dropped his jaw open freezing in position shocked to hear such bluntness from her. His friends all laughed knowing how true a statement it was, especially with the way he was reacting.

Saki lowered her hand from her face after she had finished laughing. “But in all seriousness, Yuki does have a point. We should probably test it with something safe. We don’t know what it is anyway.”

“But it’s virtual reality!” Ken said trying to get them to skip safety. However, when he saw that Saki was gaining the support of everyone else he lowered his head in disappointment. Jun patted his shoulder to try to console him a little.

“What should it be then?” Hiroshi said scanning the others for answer.

“…I don’t know…” said Saki.

There was a long silence as everyone thought of something safe and normal to test. “A meadow…” Yumi said softly thinking that her voice went ignored, but in the silence it carried well. Everyone pulled their faces up looking over at her making her embarrassed like she had said something wrong.

“That’s perfect, Yumi!” Yuki said quickly bringing relief to Yumi. He looked over to at Katsumi letting her input the request.

It ended up taking more than just the two words to get what they wanted out of it. Katsumi had to answer several questions about time, appearance and weather, but after a few minutes of stumbling through the form it accepted their request. When the computer beeped the entire room went into pitch blackness as though the power had failed. Everyone started to chime up with questions and confusion trying to understand what was going wrong. Katsumi tried to go for the door, but found that it was no longer where it had been. Slowly building over the panicked voices was a hum that encompassed them bringing everyone to a waiting pause of anticipation.

Like a drawn out breath the hum ceased followed by a new light appearing above everyone. They were not able to look at it in time before suddenly the black void was wiped away to reveal a lightly clouded blue sky with a large meadow of ankle tall grass overlooking the expansive fields of rolling hills as far as the eye could see.

The vista left everyone in awe unable to speak for a minute. Ken was the first to run out from where they were willing to give into the illusion. Yuki tried to stop him thinking that he would run into the wall of the room. When he failed, but saw that Ken was much further away than possible he started to believe.

“It’s unbelievable,” Kaede said as she began walking out away from the group.

A gentle breeze swept by everyone dragging along their hair. “Even the wind feels real…” said Yumi pulling her hair out of her face.

“It goes on forever it seems,” Kazuhiro said watching Ken get further way with Jun chasing after him.

“Yeah, I could easily relax and do nothing here for two hours…” Tatsuya said sitting down in the grass.

Saki knelt down towards the grass grabbing it by her hand pulling it free. “It’s pretty realistic for a virtual reality.”

“I didn’t think this was possible with the technology we have…” said Yuki staring up at the clouds. He looked over to Ayumi who still seemed to be enjoying the sights. A glance that lasted only a moment between them showed a change in her eyes that seemed to given him the same unsettled feeling. ‘…could this be the power of Kasou-ryoko?’

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

Everyone was drawn in easily by the illusion and the surprisingly real sensations that it gave them. The thought of whether it was possible or not was left ignored by most of them. It was now and that was all that mattered. Time eased on by at a quick pace making it easy to forget what they were doing. A few hesitant moments from Yuki washed away for even him as he was taken in by landscape. Not until Ha entered into the fields did anyone question anything further.

She approached in from behind Yuki, Saki, Yumi and Katsumi, who were sitting back in the grass. Ha crossed her arms turning narrow in face before she spoke to them, still unannounced or aware of her presence. “Wow for teenagers you’ve got a pretty lame imagination…thought at least the nerd would find something interesting.” The four students quickly turned towards to the voice not quite insulted by her attitude, but rather off balanced and agape.

Chapter 48 – Running Wild

Hiroshi came up from behind Ha dropping his hand on her head, not so much grabbing her nor resting his hand. “We’re just testing it out first…kid…” He gave her a wide grin that was hiding his annoyed expression from being mouthed off by a little girl.

The little girl pushed away his hand while getting out from under him and quickly placing distance from him. “Watch yourself! Kid!” After her gladly opening hostilities with Hiroshi the two leaned in at each other exchanging electric glares that set everyone back. However, Kaede came up from behind the little girl grabbing her up and hugging her tightly, in her attempt to calm the anger and she found the kimono that she wore quite adorable on her despite the attitude. “Hey! What do you think you’re doing, girl!”

“Aww, you shouldn’t be getting so upset. Hiroshi isn’t worth the energy.” She was holding on to Ha through the tantrum she was throwing to get free, but it proved to be a fruitless effort for Ha. “Just go back to the sweet little girl!”

“Stupid girls should be quiet!”

Kaede was not stopping and Hiroshi seemed to be enjoying the shift turning him back to his usual self. The noise had started to bring the rest back in as Ha fought Kaede. They continued with their struggle as Yumi tried to separate her friend from the girl with Katsumi half heartedly helping. It was not until Hana stepped in behind everyone with surprisingly unintentional stealth. “Oh hey Ha! Having fun with the customers? Can I join?”

Using everyone’s momentary stunned reactions to her advantage, Ha slipped out of Kaede’s grasp. “Did it look like I was enjoying myself? You stupid airhead!” Ha leapt up with tremendous height to whack Hana in the back of the head.

“But you were gone for so long, sis. I thought you were checking to see if they wanted something to eat?”

“I was until that stupid cow and her boyfriend started grabbing me!”

“Cow?! Boyfriend?!” Kaede shouted making her way over to Ha very quickly while point her hand back at Hiroshi.

“We are not!” Hiroshi and Kaede said together making some of the others laugh shortly behind amused smiles.

Kazuhiko joined the group stepping with a very blunt question. “What’s with the rough attitude towards paying customers?”

“I’ll show you rough!” Ha said before Hana grabbed her keeping her from doing anything, but running in place swinging her arms.

Hana was lightly laughing in embarrassment trying to keep Ha’s tempter under control. Then in a swift motion she lifted up Ha by her obi holding her off the ground. Her free hand raised up by her mouth as a distant, not quite vacant, look appeared as she was trying to think (very hard). “As big sister Hanabira explained it there is one type of little girl. The…what was it…stereotype! Yeah, the stereotype of a little girl is sweet and innocent. But she also said…” It was clear on Hana’s face that she was struggling to remember something incredibly complex for her. The twisted and confused look in her eyes was quickly shifting as she moved through her words. “…that cultural…trends had shown that a new stereotype was becoming popular…the blunt rough mature sounding little girl that is supposed to play…in contrast to the typical running stereotype. However…its uh a stereotype too…so uh…its falls into uh…”

Everyone listening to Hana’s explanation could not help but sweat as she tried to describe it to them only becoming confused by herself. It also left them with further shock listening to an analytical reasoning of child stereotypes in pop culture. No one knew what to make of what they were talking about.

Ha had had enough of Hana and broke free from her hold dropping back down to the ground. “Stupid girl, you aren’t supposed to explain the plan to them!”

“Plan?” Saki said questioningly stepping out from the rest.

The little girl curtly crossed her arms staring at them. “Simply put you get two clichés, a sweet innocent little girl and the brat that contradicts the other cliché.”

“What?! You can’t be serious!”

“Hey, this is a business of fulfilling fantasies and we get a lot of those weird anime otaku types.”

It took until now, as the shiny fantasy began to peel away, that Tatsuya poked Hiroshi to get him confirm what he was noticing. It made the two of them nearly break into tears collapsing to the grass. Hiroshi looked up over to Hana and Ha with a regretful question. “You don’t have a fourth sister do you?”

The question confused everyone, apart from Ha, making them all look over at them trying to understand what was wrong with them. Yuki ran over to their side trying to get them to speak to him, but it seemed that they were gone to the point of stuttering sounds. However, Ha spoke up for them knowing exactly what they had finally realized. “The two drooling morons are talking about this!” She held up her hands holding something that Yuki did not recognized, but the girls quickly picked up on.

Ayumi and Saki looked down and back up at Hana following by a double take that took in everyone. “Pads?!” Katsumi said before anyone else was able to say it. “Why she wearing those?!”

“Because saying that Hana’s got an ‘A cup’ would be generous and you can’t have a flat-chested airhead cliché without a rack that’ll make guys drool.” The bluntness that was delivered made everyone sweat and nearly fall over. Everything was falling apart it seemed leaving everyone unease about staying.

“I’m not so sure we should stay…” Tatsuya cautiously said.

Katsumi nodded in agreement with him. “It’s a little too weird…”

“Yeah, I want to this to end!” said Hiroshi sorrowfully still partially out of it. While the voice was low it seemed to trigger an effect in the room. An electronic beep sounded out followed by an explosion of light that drained away from sight. Revealed behind it was the room that they had been in before with everyone returned to the places that they had been. Ken and Jun were returned as well, though obviously confused by the sudden change in environment.

“Hey! Where’d the grass go? We were playing!” Ken said with Jun asserting a firm nod of his head towards the others to back up his brother. They both went over to Yuki to plead to him. Ken took his left and Jun his right holding on the ends of his school uniform trying to beg with soft eyes. “We want to play more!”

Yuki was made equally uneasy by everything with his thoughts starting to make him question once more if the machine could possibly exist. He tried to look away from them towards his friends, but that only seemed to make them even noisier.

Hana took to their complaints and started walking over to the door. The suspicious emotions in the air were going by obliviously being ignored by her. It was simply her task to serve and keep the customers happy. She approached the computer panel in the wall starting to type before everyone realized what she was doing. “I know something fun for everyone! It’s highly requested!”

“No!”

“Wait!”

“Stop!”

Tatsuya, Kaede and Saki rushed over to Hana trying to reach her before she did something. The entire room fell into darkness again as Hana’s speed typing finished the request before they were able to even get close to her. “There!” Seconds passed by as everything was beginning to be processed before revealing a sandy beach next to a water park.

“Oh this looks awesome!” Ken said running out into the water as the waves broke against the shore. Jun followed along with his brother splashing water everywhere he went. The rest of the students all took in the moment before Ayumi was taken in by the moment heading to the water. It was then they realized she was wearing a bright pink and white bathing suit. They all looked around at each other noticing that everyone was wearing swimwear making Hiroshi and Tatsuya grin and the girls embarrassed. Yumi was most especially embarrassed knowing that she was wearing bikini in front of Yuki. She balled up to the ground trying to cover herself up.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?!” Saki shouted over to Hana, still in her kimono smiling like everything was good and right in the world. Ha was standing next to her older sister with a wicked grin on her face also enjoying the scene, but for completely different reasons.

Yuki was not really thinking and went over to Yumi who looked like she was lonely, according to Yuki. “Come on Yumi! Let’s go!” He offered her a hand up in addition to a warm smile.

“Yuki?! Don’t encourage them!”

“…but I’m in…ah…a…b-b-b-b…” Yumi’s red face and embarrassed feeling of being exposed ran a total collapse on her ability to speak. She could almost feel how close Yuki was to her. It was making her heart pound in her chest and body sweat. His warm body and bare chest was making her face turn five shades of red.

The clues were not enough for Yuki to get the correct message and taking it in a different direction he let out a short laugh. “It’s alright, Yumi! You need a swimsuit if you’re going to go swimming. So let’s go!” He reached out taking her hand leading her a little to get her up to her feet. It was surprisingly easily to coax her legs to move before she was running with Yuki to join his brothers and Ayumi. Kaede and Katsumi were not about to let Yuki have his way with Yumi and sprinted after them. Hiroshi looked between Kazuhiro and Tatsuya nodding in agreement charging into the water as well leaving Saki the odd one out.

Saki looked around the empty beach agape that she was left behind and that no one else was feeling invaded like she was. She glared over as the hostess siblings and then walked off seeing that she was alone. As she stormed into the water she caught a mouth and faceful of salt water that was intended for Yumi behind her from Yuki. Everyone froze as the water slowly dripped down her shocked face. The frustrated expression behind the wide eyes transitioned into smirk that delivered a heavy retaliatory attack back at Yuki that covered him in enough water to blur out his features.

Once again time was forgotten in the playful expression of everyone. All of the stress that they had all been holding was finally allowed to be let free washed away. They could act like children without a care or worry in the world. It was a moment in time that they could smile freely dropping their guards to enjoy the moment.

Kaede and Katsumi were taking a break away from everyone resting on the beach. In the background Ken and Jun were enjoying the water slide that spun and spiraled before entering the ocean water. Kaede looked over at Katsumi, who was keeping an eye on Yumi. “Looks like she’s finally herself, Katsumi.”

“Yeah…it’s been a while since I’ve seen that smile when it’s not about her brother.”

“Maybe…you think?”

“…Perhaps…”

“He’s not so bad…”

“…maybe…” Katsumi smiled looking on at Yuki and Yumi. Once she had gotten into the water she had not been shy or distant from anyone. She was even keeping her face from getting red as well being around Yuki. Katsumi caught a look of Yuki as he was coming up from the water with water trailing off of him providing an unusually attractive view of him. “Hey, Kaede…”

“What?”

“Yuki…was he always that muscular?”

“You noticed too? I thought he was just a nerd, but he actually looks like he works out.”

Katsumi leaned forward resting her head on her hand staring out. “Maybe there’s more to him than what we see in class…”

The time that they had was coming to end soon as there was an announcement by the machine’s voice once more informing them of their time left. “Ten minutes remaining… Ten minutes remaining… If you wish to purchase more time please visit the front desk. Thank you!” Everyone looked around at each other feeling a little disappointed that they had already used up all of their time.

Jun looked up at Yuki grabbing his attention. “What, Jun? You want to try it out? There’s only ten minutes though, Jun.” Jun reached out his hand grabbing Yuki’s swim trunks giving him a serious expression through his eyes. “Alright. If you want this to end.” It was at that moment that the entire world melted away returning everyone back to the room with their clothes and completely dry hair and bodies. Yuki walked over to the computer with Jun looking down at him. “Just tell me what you want and I’ll put it in for you.” Jun tightened his hand on his school uniform making it clear enough to Yuki. “Alright…”

Yuki knelt down picking up his brother allowing him the height to reach the keyboard. Jun insisted on not letting Yuki see it or anyone else. It only seemed to take a minute and Jun was done with the computer accepting the input. Yuki stared down at his little brother trying to figure out what it was that he wanted to keep a secret from him. The entire room went dark once more for a few seconds.

Suddenly, the light exploded from the top as the sun beamed down on them revealing a seemingly generic looking neighborhood in Japan. It was not just any neighborhood though as Saki and Yuki quickly realized. “Jun why did you want to make our neighborhood?” said Yuki looking down at his brother once more.

Out from the distance there was a woman’s voice that seemed to clearly carrying through the air. Jun was quickly to turn and dart off towards the voice, but Yuki froze in his body. ‘That voice…it sounds so familiar…’

Saki looked over at Yuki seeing the reaction on his face not knowing what was wrong with him. “Yuki?”

Another voice this time a man’s voice broke through the street they were standing in. This time the words were heard by Yuki. “Hey, Jun! How’s my big man doing?”

Yuki’s body knew the voice, but his mind had not put it together yet. It was making his heart pound and sweat crawl over his skin. ‘Is it?’ The thumping grew to echo in his ears as he was unable to control his own body as it reacted.

“Yuki?” Yumi and Ayumi said confused by his reaction from seeing the two adults with Jun. They did not know what was going on along with the rest of his friends.

Saki was finally pulled away from Yuki recognizing the voices and looked up at the house seeing the man and woman as they greeted Ken running up the sidewalk to them. Her eyes widened sharply as she immediately knew who they were. She stepped back having difficulty believing what she was seeing. “It can’t be!”

The woman looked out from Jun and Ken quickly catching her eye on someone in the crowd. She stepped down from the house with Jun holding at her side. She stepped towards them standing before Yuki, still paralyzed, looking down at him with such a gentle and warm smile. “There you are, Yuki!”

Yuki’s eyes widen in shock knowing who it was as he slowly turning still not believing it. Even when he stared up at her face he had to reach out his hand to touch her just to know it was real. Before any words could come out of his mouth tears fell down his cheeks. “…mother…”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

“…mother…” Had been all that Yuki said, but it sent shocked and confused expression through everyone. It was Saki that had still not completely recovered from when she realized that it was Yuki’s parents. All of their friends, apart from Ayumi, did not understand why it such an important moment for them, but it was slowly starting to settle in for them. Words were not needed.

Yuki could hardly manage a word trying to stop his tears. Jun got down from their mother’s arms allowing her to hold Yuki. It had felt like eternity since Yuki had been able to feel her warmth. The soothing tone of her voice and calming eyes were not something he could ever forget. “How…is this possible?” In spite of it, he wanted the moment to last forever.

Chapter 49 – Never Forgotten

Jun walked back with Yuki and their mother to where Ken was with their father. From the view of their friends, they were able to watch and in that moment it felt different from any that they had seen before. They all knew Yuki to be a happy and excitable person, but there was always an intangible feeling of something underneath. It remained buried under layers until it could no longer be seen. However, that was completely different from the feeling that they were seeing. There was a genuine, near innocence, in his expression that was unlike anything they had seen before.

“…Yuki…” Yumi said slowly holding on to her friends hands.

Hiroshi stood next to Saki pulling his eyes away and caught a look that surprised him. ‘She’s crying…’ It was strange for him to see Saki acting emotional. She acted tough and rough so often that he did not know what to think. He turned back allowing her moment alone that she wanted.

“One minute remaining… One minute remaining…” the room’s voice announced to everyone. On the solemn note, the room filled with an uncomfortable sense of urgency. Tension suddenly grew from everyone knowing. Hiroshi pulled back with Kazuhiro and Tatsuya walking down the street a short distance. Katsumi followed soon taking Yumi and Kaede with her. The last to follow was Ayumi leaving Saki behind.

“…Yuki…” said Saki having trouble with her voice. Her heart was pounding fiercely making it difficult for her to keep everything in control. Even for Saki it felt like she had gone back in time. She felt as though she was a child once more looking towards Yuki for strength. The weakness that she had shed and never let her touch again began to weigh her once more.

Yuki was having difficulties finding a good-bye as the clock ticked away on his time. The dream was going to end and all he could think of was keep it going. “Father…mother…” Jun and Ken had given their words and stepped back instinctively knowing how important it was for their big brother. The distant beeping that alerted the remaining time pounded on Yuki’s shoulders as he looked back between them. All he could do was wrap his arms around the both of them as the world slowly faded away. ‘…mother…I’m sorry…’ The last particles to hold on to disappeared leaving Yuki’s arms collapsing in against him.

They were all returned back to the room left with a long silence that no one was willing to break. It was not until the door to the room slid open. Ha stood in the entry glaring at everyone with the look from before. “Time to leave…” she said starting out strong, but fell short as she picked up the atmosphere. “What the hell did you guys do?!”

Jun looked over at Ken with the same look in their eyes and marched over to Ha. “Let’s step outside,” Ken said as he picked up Ha’s left side while Jun carried her right. They walked her out under protest as the rest of their friends followed along with them.

“What do you think you’re doing you, brats?!” yelled Ha carrying her voice through the rooms.

Saki and Ayumi stayed behind with Yuki who still looked out of it. Saki rested her hand on Yuki’s shoulder searching for the words that would help him, but finding none. Tension between the three grew tight as the two girls were uncertain of Yuki. His head was turned down heavily cast in a dark shadow over his face. “…Yuki I…” began Saki cutting herself off disappointed with her words.

Hovering anxiety loomed until suddenly Yuki lifted his head up. “Well that was fun! Where’d everyone go?” The bright cheerful expression that Saki was so used to on Yuki’s face had resurfaced. He looked around the room quickly trying to figure out where all of his friends had disappeared. When he saw the door he darted for it leaving behind Saki and Ayumi.

A flat calculating look made a momentary reveal under Ayumi’s innocent persona as she watched Yuki leave the room. ‘Going back that quickly… He’s definitely more complicated than appearances would lead to believe… But how much does it affect him subconsciously?’ Ayumi stepped forward ignoring Saki.

Saki’s strained eyes turned to helpless pain. She had seen the look from Yuki so often that she was used to seen it. It should have been a happy reunion; a comforting moment that had eased her struggle. Contrary, she only felt worse than before in her heart. “…Yuki…why can’t you just…”

“Saki?! Everyone’s starting to leave!” Yuki said poking his head into the room.

The look and his voice only deepened the sadness tying against her. She reluctantly stepped forward knowing that he was just going to keep staring at her and she could not take it for much longer. “Alright…I’m coming…” When Saki stepped out of the room she caught Ayumi out of the corner of her eye standing next to the wall. The rest were down by the counter waiting.

Ayumi stepped forward looking at the two of them with the façade dropped while she only faced them. “I think one of the sisters is a Meso Presecho user,” she declared to them with all of the seriousness she could muster.

Yuki smiled and nodded patting her shoulder. “Yeah, I figured that it was a Kasou-ryoko a while ago.” Saki nodded silently to Ayumi.

As the only one to get under Ayumi’s skin, her frustration was quickly appearing as she glared at Yuki. “Would you stop insulting our tradition!”

“But I can’t understand your Greek words! It sounds better this way!”

The bickering between the two alerted Saki returning her to herself sharply to interrupt them. “Hey you two! Now’s not the time to fight!” She had her hands on the two of them gripping them tightly to keep them separated. Tensions eased back quickly for Ayumi as she regained her composure. “So which of the sisters do you think it is?”

Yuki did not look like he wanted to let go of it, but Ayumi was already addressing Ayumi. “The eldest sister. She’s the only one that was not present while we were in the simulations.” Ayumi turned her head just enough to glance back at the counter as the three sisters were entertaining their friends. Her mind was quickly going through tactics until a voice interrupted them.

“It’s actually none of them, Young Miss,” a woman’s voice said from above and front of them. Across from where they stood against one of the rooms was a stairwell with a landing. Drawn out steps on the wood boards signaled the approach of the woman. The woman that appeared on the landing looked to be in her thirties and an ordinary businesswoman wearing formal pants and blouse with an open vest over. It was carried out in a calm scheme of tan brown, white and light blue. She would have passed for Japanese if not for the distinct European features of her face and natural blonde hair.

Ayumi and Saki quickly turned to give her their full attention as well as stepping forward in front of Yuki. “My, such determined expressions. You’re pretty lucky boy,” she said keeping with her relaxed attitude.

“I won’t let you near him!” declared Saki as she moved out in front more keeping her between them. She did not know what to expect from an assassin since they were all so different, but she kept slowly pushing herself forward.

Taking them back some the woman sat down on the landing with her legs resting on the lower steps. “I think you misunderstood me, dear. I’m not interested in the young man there.” She smiled pleasantly to them still holding her aura of calm.

“Then what do you want?”

“Simply to introduce myself. Welcome you to my shop! I’m Phoibe.” Her hands drew out to her sides as she talked taking ownership of the building. “How did you enjoy my entertainment?”

“Entertainment?” Ayumi cautiously said still waiting for the woman to change her attitude. “What’s the point of this?”

Phoibe frowned upon hearing Ayumi’s suspicious tone. “I thought that was pretty obvious. I need money.”

“Huh?” Saki said confused by the reactions that they were getting from the woman. “But don’t you get support from your people?”

“Exiles have to live on their own,” said the woman flatly becoming serious. She pulled up her blouse exposing her stomach revealing a cross shaped scar on her right side. Ayumi immediately reacted to it as her eyes widened for a moment. “Seems the Young Miss understands.” Phoibe lowered her blouse readjusting it.

Ayumi relaxed her guard as Saki and Yuki looked to her for an answer. “How long?”

“Nearly twenty years…”

“Ayumi?” said Saki starting to pull herself back from the front.

There was a lengthened pause with Ayumi before she looked at the two of them. “Depending on the crime and person it happens that we’ll exile someone rather than kill or imprison them. When someone is exiled they are marked with a brand so that they are forever marked. It’s rare, but it has happened with Meso Presecho users. Though they are normally executed…” Ayumi looked over at the woman with a demanding look in her eyes.

“Why would they allow someone with such powers to leave?” asked Saki expecting Ayumi to give her an answer even though it was clear she would not know.

The woman stood up and began down the rest of the stairs. “Well I can explain that. In my youth I was considered a…deviant. I had one too many run ins with the royal guard and so they had enough of me. However, they weren’t strong enough to hold me for long and so I left.”

“You just left?” Saki said incredulously. The explanation felt too simple to be truthful.

“Always having to hide and look around your back gets exhausting. So it was easier to just leave. I let them brand me to save face and departed.”

“That’s rather generous of you.”

“I kind of regret it now. Makes wearing a bikini impossible.”

The flat delivery in a vain serious tone made them all fall over off balance. The time that it took them all to recover Phoibe was walking into the hall towards their friends. Yuki stepped out in the front of them, but stayed behind Phoibe to keep his distance from his friends ahead. “So you aren’t after me?”

Phoibe turned around looking across at him with grin that was bordering on a smirk. “My dear boy, I prefer men that are more experienced.” She looked him up and down quickly leaving Saki and Ayumi a little unsettled as she looked back at them. Afterwards, Phoibe turned letting her shoulder length blonde hair wisp around lightly in the air as she stepped out to greet the rest of their friends.

Saki caught up with Yuki as Ayumi brought up the other side. She looked over at Yuki and Ayumi continuing on in her gaze. “She’s a little strange, but you think we can trust what she says?”

“Don’t trust anyone, but for the moment she doesn’t seem aggressive. I’d suggest leaving.” Ayumi stepped forward returning back to her usual personality as she rejoined everyone in the lobby. Phoibe did not miss a beat with her leaving Saki and Yuki behind.

‘I don’t know, but I’d like to think that there’s not just assassins out there. There have to be good people too.’ The whole conversation left him with an off balanced feeling that seemed very intentional, but it was simply a feeling. He wanted to trust her seeing that she had such a power and only using it to run a business, even if it was a business that was impossible without the power. There was little that he could do at the moment. So he went with the flow of the time. “Let’s go, Saki!” he said smiling back to her.

Yuki grabbed her hand dragging her along with him taking them back to their friends. She was not in on their conversation and stood at the side waiting.

It was currently Kazuhiro speaking to shop owner. He had been mentioning what they had heard about the hostess’s ‘purpose’. “Given that, what type is the eldest sister?” Katsumi could not believe how straightforward he was speaking and grabbed him to keep him silence to not further insult them.

Phoibe waved her hand dismissing Katsumi’s response. She was smiling hardly offended by his question, possibly even pleased. “You’re quite correct in what you’ve been told. Though I’ll have to get after Ha for spoiling the trade secret. But to answer your question the more refined palette desires someone more mature both in age and intellect. That is Hanabira. I do serve many different types of clientele.”

“You’ve thought this out a lot I see.”

“I am a businesswoman. I have to keep my customers happy.” The woman raised her hand up to her mouth starting to laugh amusing herself.

While the laugh was not deafening it did make them retreat and ready to leave. Several of them were already going for the door as Hiroshi was politely trying to excuse himself. “Well it’s getting late and it’s a long walk through the alley.” The others were nodding to him stepping back with him.

Hana stepped forward still with her hands quietly held in front. “If you turn left around our shop you’ll be returned to the main street. It’s much faster!” She smiled warmly to them.

Everyone looked over at Hiroshi suddenly becoming angry at him. He tried to back out of the building even faster as he was trapped. Kaede was the first to speak up for everyone’s anger. “You mean all that walking through the alley we did and we could have just gotten here from the street!” She pressed in taking Hiroshi outside as the others followed leaving the owner and her hostesses behind still smiling.

Hana closed the door and turned politely towards Phoibe. “They were very pleasant customers, Miss Phoibe.”

“Yes…yes, they were Hana. However, I’m feeling a little tired. So we’re closing early.”

“Yes, Miss Phoibe,” the three sister said softly.

Phoibe stepped forward locking up the door before turning around. All three of the sister were gone leaving her alone. She ran her fingers through her hair fluffing it up a little as she walked back. “To think there’d be another one. I wonder…”

Their friends had left at the station leaving Yuki to walk home with his brothers and Ayumi and Saki. Saki left at her street and his brothers had run up ahead to their house. Yuki continued his even pace with Ayumi. However, before he could finish his walk Ayumi stepped out in front of him staring at him with serious eyes. “I hope that you enjoyed today, Yuki.”

“Huh? Ayumi? Why you look so serious when you say that?” Yuki started to pull away getting an unsettled aura coming off of her.

“I’m telling that because I’m going to be working you harder in your training.”

“What’s with this all of sudden? I still can’t even control my power!”

“Exactly. You need to be able to control,” Ayumi said with urgency in her voice that made Yuki recoil further.

“You make it sound like I need to do now!”

“You only have one month left, Yuki.”

Yuki was even more confused now than when she started. “Month? For what? What happens in a month?”

“The time for the heir to appear and claim the throne. After that it is turned over to the public for anyone to take.” Ayumi stared at him closely starting to slow in her words. There even appeared some tears in her eyes as she seemed to be pleading to him. “You’re the only one that can save them from the tyranny that they will bring down upon our people!”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

The bed creaked from the weight of Yuki’s body to being tossed on it, exhausted. He had just gotten back from Ayumi’s house having received her new intensive training. Being called ‘New Training’ (Ayumi’s words) was an inaccurate term according to Yuki and more important his body. He returned home with clean clothes, since he had to keep up appearances that he was just helping Ayumi study, but underneath his clothes were there a lot of bruises and sore muscles. Ayumi healed all of the wounds that he took, but refused to heal everything to leave it as a reminder. It made him want to heal them, but he had already accidentally summoned his Kasou-ryoku twice on the very short walk to his house.

He stared up at the ceiling trying not to think about his body, since it only made it hurt worse. ‘How long will I be able to keep this up?’ Yuki wrapped his arms around his head and rolled on his side. ‘Then there’s the fact that Ayumi says I only have a month left. She’s expecting me just to leave all of this… How can she expect me to become some leader of a place I’ve never been to?’ The echoes of Ayumi’s voice whispered to him forcing him to remember. It all felt like too much weight and importance was being placed on him. He wanted to remember was normal felt like.

Chapter 50 – Fading Light

“Yuki!” Momoko yelled from the first floor of the house managing to carry her voice through his closed door.

Unmotivated into leaving the comfort of his bed, he turned back lying straight on his bed not answering. A few seconds later after no response from Yuki his sister yelled again with more insistence in her voice. He was growing frustrated and yelled back to her. “What?”

“I need you to go out to the store for me!”

Yuki sighed loudly to himself and quickly regretted it as he felt his chest convulse in pain. “Why can’t you go?!”

“Just get down here!”

‘She’ll probably come up if I don’t…’ He grudgingly began to move his legs over to the floor and slowly pulled himself up to stand. The muscles in his legs groaned the most when he stood up making him wince as he moved. He staggered over to his door before taking a deep breath. Afterwards, the door opened with him walking normally covering up his pain. Yuki took the stairs slowly staring down at his older sister, looking impatient. “Why do I have to go?”

“Because someone has to stay and help our brothers with their homework and unless you want to—“

“What do you need?” He did not want to have to deal with his hyperactive brothers climbing all over him trying to get him to play with them, especially with the pain that he was in. Momoko turned over the list to him cracking a little smile as he walked to the door. He put on his shoes and light jacket before stepping outside. The cool evening air made him drop his hands into the jacket’s pockets. It would be a long walk down to the neighborhood store to get what he needed, but it was a quiet night.

Across the neighborhood Saki was staring at a textbook and paper with a pencil in hand sitting at her desk. Her family’s apartment was fairly quiet with only the neighbors making a muffled shouting noise. However, the homework in front of her was having difficulty being completed due to her mind wandering away. She had a lot of things weighing heavily on her with Yuki being in the forefront at the moment.

During class he had been his usual self, but she could not help but fear that he was covering up for what had happened at the shop they visited. It was hard enough for her to bring up that she ended up dwelling on it more than trying to resolve her problems.

She tilted her head back resting her neck against her chair looking behind her. ‘I can’t concentrate… Yuki is normally like this so why should I be so worried? It’s how he deals… But still to be reminded of his parents…’ Saki raised up her hands planting them in her hair becoming frustrated with herself. A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. “Yes, mom?”

There was a relieved relaxing of uncontrollable fears that had been persisting for Saki’s mother. Ever since she had been involved in the kidnapping she had been frequently checking on her daughter every day as a piece of mind. “The strange man from the other day just called you.”

“Strange man?”

“From that rich family that you stayed at on Saturday.” She had been very uneasy when she had received the call about her daughter on Saturday claiming that she had been invited to stay over at their place. The fears had been too much for her, but they had met with Saki to allow her to talk to her mother to calm her down after they had been introduce to Chiharu’s grandfather.

It all had finally clicked in for Saki when her mother had mentioned that and stood up immediately as her thoughts went to Chiharu. “The Chinens?!” Her mother gave her a slow nod still looking a little shaken. “Was it about Chiharu? Mom?” The slow drawn out words from her mom was only furthering her tensions as she wanted to know how Chiharu was going. “Is she awake? Mom, please tell me!”

The desperation that was appearing on Saki’s face made her mother step back. “The man said that she had regained consciousness.”

“That’s great news! Thank you, Mom!” Saki jumped up and hugged her mom tightly leaving her a little confused by Saki’s reaction.

“…yeah… He said he knew that you’d want to know…”

It had taken some time for Saki to recover, but she backed off from her mother looking a little embarrassed by the display of emotion that she had suddenly. Her mind suddenly felt clearer and focused. “Crap! I need to finish my homework! Thanks, Mom!” Saki darted back to her desk leaving her mother looking even more confused before walking away slowly. A smile crawled on to Saki face as her eyes focused on to the paper.

Yuki walked back from the store having gotten everything that Momoko had on her list. It was only a few things, mostly for breakfast and lunch. The quiet walk had been pleasing for him as he was able to keep his mind focus. Even his soreness was starting to be something that he could manage. A stray thought came to him as he shifted the weight of the bag in his hand. ‘I wonder what Hiroshi wants?’ It pulled his mind back to lunch on top of the school when they were eating together with everyone.

Their lunch group had grown a little with Yuki having hunt down Haruo and insisting that he ate with them and Yumi and her friends decided that they would accept Ayumi’s invitation. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves talking and laughing with each other. Yuki was smiling to himself listening when Hiroshi suddenly leaned next to him.

“Hey Yuki…” Hiroshi said to him lowly so that only Yuki could hear him. There was a surprisingly stern serious expression in his eyes making Yuki have a little trouble swallowing his food that he had just eaten.

“Yeah? What’s wrong?”

There was a long wait in Hiroshi next words as though he was having difficulty saying them. “You got some time to talk after school?”

“Not today, but I can tomorrow. Is that alright?”

“Yeah another day shouldn’t really matter.” Hiroshi sounded a little dismissive of the subject like he wanted to forget about it. However, he had caught the suspicious attention of Saki.

She pointed her chop sticks at Hiroshi staring at him. “What you whispering to Yuki?”

Hiroshi quickly flipped expression to nervous and then to an uneven smile. “Just a joke that I heard, right?”

Yuki looked back and forth between the two of them not really picking up on everything until he was getting a strange look from Hiroshi. “…yeah…” The pained look from Hiroshi at Yuki poor convincing agreement went by oblivious to him. Yuki returned to eating his lunch and Saki quickly gave it up.

The memory faded away still leaving him with a question. There had been an unusual seriousness in Hiroshi that had Yuki a little confused. He wanted to know what the problem was. Delaying it made him wonder if he was making a mistake. ‘It sounded important to him… Maybe I just have listened to him…’

A sound of something breaking had trailed down the street from somewhere out of sight. It made Yuki’s thoughts stop and bring his focus to the street. There was no one on the street that he could see and in the evening hours there were few people out. However, he heard another noise that hurried his feet to move. ‘Is it a car crash?’ Yuki ran towards the sounds he was hearing that were increasing in frequency. ‘Can’t be an accident…’

The noise came from around a corner sending him away from his house, but curiosity would not let him go. It was becoming stronger and clearer leaving an uneasy sinking feeling to develop in his stomach as it understood sooner than him. ‘The temperature…why is the air so cold…’ He felt the crunching underneath his feet that revealed snow covering the street concrete giving him the answer he was looking for. ‘Ayumi’s fighting!’

His eyes were able to confirm it for him a moment later as Ayumi came sliding through the snow evading several projectiles. She countered immediately charging forward throwing out her chakram attachment grabbing the enemy’s arm in the connecting chain before she pierced him through the chest with her sword. Once the sword was pulled free she removed her field and began cleaning the area with a new field.

A slow staggering Yuki walked forward not expecting to find her fighting. “…Ayumi…was that another assassin?”

“Yes, I was able to intercept him before he reached you.” She had finished her work and turned to walk away from the scene. Yuki was left without any words to say as she came towards him. When she passed by him she said something to him low. “Rest.”

Yuki was still trying to take it in staring down at the empty street almost in a state of shock. ‘She stopped the assassin before he got to me… She’s protecting me… That’s what she said she would do, but…’ He was still facing away, but knew that Ayumi was without range of his voice speaking to the empty street. “Was that the only one?”

Ayumi stopped for a moment to answer him not looking at him either. “No, nor the last.” She began to walk away reaching the street intersection.

“Why?!”

“I’d think that was obvious, Yuki,” Ayumi said with additional emphasis on his name.

Being cryptic was not something new for Yuki, but he wanted a straight answer. He turned around staring down the poorly lit street at Ayumi. “Explain it to me,” he demanded. His eyes were narrowing and face wrinkling in frustration that only Ayumi could cause him. “I don’t want some riddle from you! I want the truth!”

“I’ve already given you the truth. How many times to I have to repeat myself?” She finally turned her head to look back at him.

“I said stop with the riddles. Just get to the point, Ayumi!”

“You’re weak, Yuki! You can’t control your powers. They control you. It’s no way to fight. So I’m left with no choice but deal with the assassins myself. You’re incapable of protecting yourself.”

Yuki jerked back feeling stunned by Ayumi’s words. He had heard them before, but there was something different in the tone and feeling that left him frozen in reaction. ‘She’s been taking on the assassins? Is that why there hasn’t been very many? All this time…’ The atmosphere seemed to be stifling for him feeling the eyes of Ayumi on him.

‘You’re incapable of protecting yourself!’ her words echoed through his mind harder than anything else she had lectured and berated him about before. He had never really thought of himself as being defenseless since his powers awakened. There was the fear of death that he had tasted before, but he had managed to survive because his powers were there when he needed them. Yuki did not know what to think hearing it.

He did not want to hear it. All she could do was look down on him and point out his flaws. Her words repeated endlessly in his ears as mocking spirits that never left him. She was never going to be able to see as anything more than a failure.

‘No…’ Yuki snapped back to himself. He narrowed his eyes once more staring back at Ayumi. Ayumi’s echoing was fading out of mind for Yuki. ‘I have to show her! I’m not a failure! I can protect myself!’ A determined looked formed in his eyes as he clinched his fists. “I don’t need you to protect me!”

Ayumi returned his glare with one that almost seemed amused by his stubbornness. She had only raised her eyes for a moment before it was gone once more. “You don’t stand a chance without me,” she said flatly.

It only seemed to make Yuki even more angry hearing her voice. He was tired of the way that she treated him. “Stop treating me like a child!”

“Grow up and maybe I will.”

“What are you talking about?”

“All you know how to do is run away. You’ve been running this entire time. You can’t face yourself.”

“Shut the hell up!”

“This is why you’re a child still. You’ve been running for more than a year. It’s about time you faced your fear.”

That had been the last straw for Yuki. He could not hold himself back anymore having heard what Ayumi said to him. Yuki ran through the street towards Ayumi with rage filling his eyes. All Ayumi did was stare at him with the same uninterested, nearly bored, expression that she had been keeping the entire time. Never once did she raise her voice at him almost like he was not worth the emotions. It only made him angrier as he charged at her. “Damn you, Ayumi!” He raised his fist up connecting with a surprised Ayumi in the cheek sending her to the ground sliding a little. Yuki breathed heavily staring down at her still feeling the steaming heat of emotions boiling through his skin.

Ayumi shook off the surprise and wiped her face with her hand. There was a smirking grin on her lips as she stood up looking back at him. She said nothing more and walked away slowly disappearing into the darkness of the street.

Once she had left him Yuki snapped out of his blindness and lifted up his hand that had punched her. His mind went back suddenly to the time that Saki had taken the hit and he had knocked her out. It made him go wide in shock and panic dropping to his knees. ‘…Saki…Ayumi…What’s wrong with me?!’

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

The very air that surrounded Yuki seemed to be unsympathetic to the problem that was weighing on him. It pressed against his shoulders keeping him from rising from the street. He had no will to stand at the moment. His head just held down brushing the side of his face with his dark blue nearly black hair. The streetlamp above him cast a heavy light that darkened his eyes until it just seemed like there was a void present.

Yuki’s mind was stuck as memories of the past flooded with the present with one being transposed over the other. ‘I hit Saki…’ His eyes widened when he heard the words in his mind. ‘But she…it wasn’t like…’ Even with his eyes closed he could still clearly see the moment replaying in his mind. ‘I didn’t…no…I didn’t…wasn’t me…’ He held his hands against his head trying to snap out of the images that were torturing him. However, there was nothing that he could do to escape the endless looping that worked to break his sanity. His eyes were darting around quickly in his attempts to lose the hold feeling his body start to go numb.

“A pathetic sight…Yuki Hayashi,” said a distant voice that rang clear through the air. A man slowly walked out of the shadows of the night into the pool of light from a streetlamp. He stared across the street at the turned away Yuki. His blue eye held an almost disappointed look while his other remained darkened with a brown eye patch wrapped around his head.

Chapter 51 – Black and Blue

The words did not reach him, but the voice seemed to tap into the corner of his mind that was still listening. He had a sudden uncontrollable fear pass over him that covered him in sweat. ‘What’s going on?’ he thought as he was beginning to be pulled away. Yuki stared at his shaking hands not understanding why he could not stop them. He tried to warm his own body that had run cold as ice. ‘This feeling is so familiar…why?’

“Come…face me, Yuki Hayashi,” said the middle aged man once more from the light.

Everything was violently ripped away from him as Yuki heard the words spoken to him. His mind was complete blank with fear. Now the fear was understood. ‘Another assassin already?!’ Yuki slowly turned his head over his shoulder catching a look of the man that was beckoning him forward. He eyes grew wide when he was able to confirm that it was an assassin. The man worn clothes like all of the others, that Ayumi had called their military uniform. However, there was something different about this man, age notwithstanding. Yuki felt compelled to turn and stand on his feet to face the man as though deserved it.

There was a look in the man’s face that seemed to recount innumerable experiences within each wrinkle, yet the man did not seemed weighed down by age. In fact, the man looked to embrace his life with a tall and proud stance. He towered over Yuki by more than a head, but it was not the height that made him look like he was superior.

‘His shirt thing is blue… I’m not sure if I like that significance,’ he remarked to himself as he continued to try to judge the man before him. ‘Why did he announce himself and just wait for me? He doesn’t even have his field up.’ Yuki flexed his fingers trying to keep himself from getting stiff and break the paralysis that he had over his body. ‘Damn, my Kasou-ryoku won’t respond… This guy doesn’t seem like the rest that have come after me. I won’t survive without it! Come on work!’ The fading hope was falling through his grasp tightening the tension that strung around his neck and limbs.

“I’m glad to finally meet you.”

Yuki raised an eye confused by the formal feeling and somehow casual speech from the man. ‘What’s this man’s angle? Is he not that strong after all or maybe he’s not here to kill me?’ He held his lips shut, partially from fear, uncertain what to say and if saying the wrong thing would make him a target. The uneasy stare between them left Yuki feeling as though he was being told to answer back. Hesitation held his words longer drawing the awkward silence out. “…Who are you?”

“I haven’t introduced myself have I? I am Demosthenes Alexander.” The declaration had a strong air of pride in it. He stepped forward keeping his eye on Yuki.

‘He introduced himself? This is the first assassin to greet me and give me his name. Why?’ Yuki took a half step back seeing the tall foreigner walking slowly towards him. “What do you want?”

Demosthenes came to a stop out of the light, disappearing slightly in the curtain of night. “I’ve come to see what the trouble is able about. Thus far I’m disappointed.” He began to walk again until he entered the light that Yuki was standing under. His head tilted down looking at Yuki, but not making any further advances.

Yuki took another step back feeling the urge to flee, but sensing that it would not make any difference. “Do you always greet the person you’re going to kill?”

“Don’t give in to fear, child. It only weakens you.”

It started to sound as though Yuki was being lectured making his eyebrows twist in confusion. The tone did not approach as an insult, which is what really threw Yuki off. He almost felt like he was been advised. ‘What’s with this old man?’

“Now come! Let’s see if you’ve truly inherited the King’s power. Show me your Meso Presecho!”

Yuki did not like the sudden change that the man had. He jumped back going on the defensive knowing that he could not summon his power as requested. ‘He’s not going to like when he finds out that I’m not able to…’

“What’s the hesitation?” The old man narrowed his eyes as he looked at Yuki reading him. After a moment he leaned back with an expression that had changed to understanding. “I see…I’ll just have to force it out then!” Immediately following his words a blue wave pulsed out from his feet altering the street into grass while leaving the houses alone.

Once the field had been summoned the man was no longer wearing his uniform. In a medium blue, he wore a loose pair of pants and long sleeve shirt tucked in at the waist. The appearance seemed surprisingly modest when compared to some of the assassins that Yuki had seen. However, Demosthenes’ look did not change, keeping with the serious tone it always had. In his hands was a long spear that he held prepared to fight.

Next to Yuki that was a straight long sword stuck in the ground. He looked at it out of the corner of his eye, but knew better than take it. It would serve him no purpose to trying to fight with their weapons as he had learned from the first assassin that attacked him at school. ‘Come on I really need you right now! I’m going to die with you!’ Yuki made his second attempt to bring out his Kasou-ryoku, but as it had been all the times before he was unable to use it consciously. He forced himself to step back to keep distance between them praying that he could hold out long enough on his powers.

The old man straightened out his back standing up fully resting his spear in one hand at his side. “Take the sword. I don’t fight unarmed men.” He did not have to point with his hand as his eye was making it clear to him.

‘What?! Why is he doing this?’ Yuki reached out cautiously with his hand toward the hilt of the sword feeling like it would disappear the moment he attempted to grasp it as a cruel joke at his defenselessness. ‘Is this a game to him?’ He placed his hand on the sword’s hilt finding it to be solid. His fingers wrapped around the sword as his eyes stared up across at the old man trying to understand what he was thinking.

‘You’re weak, Yuki! You can’t control your powers. They control you. It’s no way to fight. So I’m left with no choice but deal with the assassins myself. You’re incapable of protecting yourself.’

‘I’m alone here…’ Yuki recalled her telling him that she had fighting for him. It had been because of him that she had been forced into so many situations. ‘It’s because of me that she had to fight that plant guy and almost dead because of me.’ The images of the fight with the plant assassin came back to him making him deeply remember the events, especially emotions. He just wanted to be able to help, but she had stepped him to protect him. ‘I’ve been useless… She nearly died protecting me from the woman that attacked the school last week too… She’s been taking it all for me…’

He was feeling a shaking through his body that was building his hesitation. Yuki did not know what he should do. There was no chance he had to win against the man without his own power, but fleeing would not work either. His legs weakened under his weight as the sword was becoming a crutch for him. All he could feel was the pounding in his head that threatened to move into his heart as it beat ever slower. ‘…alone…’

‘You don’t stand a chance without me,’ Ayumi’s voice said echoing through his mind from the past.

Hearing what she said made him pull away from the sword clinching his hand into fist. ‘…Ayumi…’ He looked up across at the man who seemed content with waiting. Yuki narrowed his eyes seeing the expression on the old man. He got a weird feeling from him again as though he was gently pushing him towards the sword rather than forcing him. ‘…what’s with him?’

‘All you know how to do is run away. You’ve been running this entire time. You can’t face yourself.’

It felt like she was standing next to him yelling in his ear. His hand was shaking just out of reach of the sword listening to Ayumi’s tirade weakening his strength. ‘…running huh… …yeah maybe… …but…’ Yuki stepped forward pulling his hand forward to take a hold of the hilt. He had quickly removed it from the ground holding it with hold of his hands staring over the blade at Demosthenes still resting. Determination in his eyes had resurfaced with the narrowing in his features. ‘None of that matters right now… I have someone standing before me! I have to take this on!’

“Glad to see you’re ready,” Demosthenes said as he returned his spear back into both of his hands. The expression that appeared on his face was different from before. It was a serious look that he always had before, but now there was a tint in his eye that said that he was focused solely on Yuki with all of his being for no other purpose than to strike him down. And yet the emotion was not hatred or anger coming from him rather almost a warmth of acknowledgement as only two warriors standing before each other could experience. This was the first time Yuki felt a sense that his opponent was not belittling him or thinking less of him, but seeing simply as a warrior. “Now let’s begin!”

Yuki charged forward with his sword in hand meeting the spear with a spark. The longer reach on the spear meant that he would have trouble getting close making him feel like that was done on purpose to put him at a disadvantage. However, he tried to focus his mind as the next swipe from the spear came at him as his jump backwards a step to avoid it. The sword Yuki had was single bladed allowing him to use his off hand to support the back of the sword when he took a strong blow from the spear.

‘He’s got good reflexes,’ thought Demosthenes pressing the attack. The next several strikes were even faster knocking Yuki off balance, but he quickly turned it around rotating to try to bring himself inside reach of the spear to his sword’s range. ‘…and he fast on his feet to think of a way to turn things around…’ The counter from Yuki never made it to the old man as he used the back of the spear to knock away the strike in rotation. He followed up knocking Yuki back with his shoulder. Yuki rolled over the grass to evade the next swings from the spear. While he was on the ground he tried to take a swing with his sword at his legs, but the old man agile body leapt up using the spear thrust into the ground to stop him.

Then as he came down he brought his leg across Yuki kicking him in the stomach. He tried to bring up his spear for a second strike, but Yuki was rolling with his sword against him barely taking the blade of the spear dragging it along sparking loudly. Yuki leapt back up to his feet pulling in his sword breathing quickly to recover himself. Demosthenes returned his spear back to his side in an attack stance. ‘…alright…now I know the child’s skill…’

‘I’m barely able to keep up with this old man… What am I going to do?’ Yuki tightened his hands around the hilt of the sword trying to keep his resolve to fight. The shaking in his muscles was not from fear, but reverberating from the strikes that he had taken. While he looked like he was holding his own each attack at left him nearly dazed only held together by determination.

The next moment the air suddenly seemed to change. Demosthenes’ spear traced through in a motion that left it appearing to skip or jump ahead. All of the movements became faster and difficult to follow. Moving faster than Yuki thought a man his age could he was nearly behind Yuki before he realized it left in awe. Yuki could not even manage a turn before the spear was coming at him leaving him barely enough time to dodge a fatal strike.

Blood sprayed into the air as the spear pierced through Yuki’s side scrapping painfully against his ribs. Yuki stumbled backwards lowering one eye in pain as he pressed his off hand to his left side into the lengthy wound. ‘He’s so fast! I couldn’t even follow him! Is this it?’ The next deadly strike came in with the blood coated spear blade shattering the sword he used attempting to block with in hand. It had saved his life though deflecting the spear away, but digging its hungry metal into his right shoulder. Yuki could feel the blood dripping down his arm and chest soaking into his clothes. His arm was starting to go numb as the remaining part of the sword fell from his hand.

Yuki did not even know it had happened until he felt a ripping jerk in his chest from the spear that pierced his heart and lung dropping him to the ground quickly bleeding out. ‘What’s happening to me?’ His eyes widened shaking from the shock. He could feel almost no pain, but he could not feel his body either lying in the grass. Yuki could not keep his eyes open any longer. ‘I can’t feel anything! I can’t move! This can’t be it! Over so quick… I didn’t stand a chance… Momoko…Jun and Ken… I can’t leave them alone! No!’ His eyes snapped open quickly as he stretched out his hand trying to push himself back up. Blood was dripping out of his mouth as he coughed. He was so numb that he was not certain if he was moving and simply acted on instinct.

Demosthenes turned looking down at Yuki. “I respect your will to live, but will is not enough to make you worthy of his power.” He pulled the spear back up raising it above his head to bring it down for the final blow to end Yuki’s misery. The blade shined brightly as it sailed through the air spraying blood from the deep wound. The last breath of life was exhaled.

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

Crimson liquid flowed through like a river from a shattering wet thump. The life was quickly extinguished at that moment pierced through the heart with a long blade that was soaked in blood left held out the front of the chest. Demosthenes’ wide eyes were left frozen as he collapsed to his knees with only the blade of a sword keeping him from hitting the ground. The metal was retracted from his corpse falling slowly to the street, the field fading away.

Yuki’s eyes were held wide open in shock seeing the man that had effortlessly beat him taken down by a sneak attack. Out of the shadows of night stepped Ayumi with a cold empty expression in her eyes looking down upon Yuki. “…worthless…”

Chapter 52 – Calm Before the Storm

Once Ayumi had finished healing him, Yuki pulled himself back up to his feet. While his body had been completely repaired there was a hollow feeling inside him that he could not shake. It made his head hang from his neck keeping a dark shadow over his eyes. He could not look at Ayumi. “…Ayumi…” There had not been a single word spoken between them since she had started to heal him. Even now he was finding it difficult to speak.

All that his mind could do was recall the last minutes of what he had thought to be his life. They replayed endlessly for him making his body remember the ripping pain that he had felt from each wound. His hand laid up his chest feeling the cold moist cloth soaked in his blood where the spear had run through him. ‘…I should’ve died…how many times now?’ He painfully clinched his torn shirt with his hand. ‘…I wasn’t able to do anything…’

A black void began to surround him removing the world around him. Any awareness that he might have had still was quickly snuffed out as he retreated into his mind. ‘…I wasn’t able to beat him…’ Like an old camera reel playing against the sheet around him the battle he had with the strange old man Demosthenes was being projected for him. ‘…he was just toying with me…’ The clashing of blades pounded out of the imagery making his eyes twitch in reflex. He shut his eyes. ‘…I was useless…’ Yuki turned his head away thinking that he could escape it, while the video continued to play ceaselessly.

“Please save me, Ayumi!” Yuki’s voice from the video said.

Yuki eyes quickly snapped open in shock at hearing the words. He was forced to look towards the image to see how pathetic he looked. ‘…I can’t do anything…without her…’ The words felt like massive weights were stacked on him making it impossible to move. Folded up with his eyes glued to be dully staring at the memories, he was being crushed. He could not resist. There was no strength left in his body. The world seemed to be getting further away from him. Yuki was no longer willing to chase after it.

A sudden loud noise boomed around the void cracking everywhere on the surface. It beckoned to Yuki. The boom occurred again even more violent than before, but this time he could feel something dull on the edge. Dull ripples became sharp and stabbing. The feel had turned to pain spread across him unfocused and clearing away the darkness. “…what’s going on…”

“I see you’re back…” Ayumi said flatly.

Yuki could not see what was going on, but had a strange feeling about him. When his eyes came into focus he found himself in Ayumi’s house. It took him another moment to realize that he was in her room and lying on her bed. He quickly pulled himself up off of her pillow getting the unsettled feeling of being a boy in a girl’s room and using her bed. ‘…why am I in Ayumi’s room?! And on her bed?!’ Yuki connected eyes with Ayumi finding her to be surprisingly close to him, leaning in from the edge of bed at him. “Ayumi! I-I…Why am…I?”

Ayumi pulled back relaxing into a tall stance with her arms cross. “I brought you back here.”

“By yourself?” Yuki could not help but look her up and down having trouble imagining her carrying him through the street.

She gave him a quick nod not changing expressions, as usual. “I couldn’t leave you in the middle of street with blood covering your clothes.”

“My clothes!” Yuki looked down at his clothes finally seeing that they were no longer what he was wearing. He had been so focused on his change of environment that he had not taken the time to notice them. One look had taken much longer for him as he was locked in gear unable to react. The slow countdown to his action came simply produced as an unintelligible yelp or scream. Yuki nearly leapt to the ceiling in surprise before he ran himself into the corner of the room thinking that it would get him further away, but it followed him. “What’s going on here?! W-Wh-W-Why am…I-I—“

Ayumi with flat eyes approached him almost looking bothered. “Wearing a dress? Because I haven’t done laundry yet and you’re clothes were soaked in blood. Or would you have liked to explain to your sister why you’re covered in blood?”

“Don’t you have anything else?!” Yuki was pulling at the embarrassingly feminine pink dress that he had been placed in while he was zoned out. He could not even consider Ayumi’s reasoning with what he was wearing. His own clothes were better than this.

“If I did I would have.” While Ayumi was not looking it, the tone she was talking with did not see a problem with it.

“But I’m a boy! I can’t be wearing this!”

“It’s only temporary until you get home… Besides the Scots wear kilts.”

Yuki could not believe how much Ayumi was failing to understand the situation. He felt like he was going to lose it any moment having to stare at the dress any longer. “It’s not the same thing! And we’re in Japan! They’ll think I’m a cross dresser or some pervert!”

Ayumi had a nearly blank stare at Yuki still not connecting with Yuki. She raised her hand up to her head resting it against the side of her head as it tilted a little from a thought. “Well with your hair you nearly pass for a girl…”

A mirror in Ayumi’s room was pointed out to him making look at him. He was lost in the moment agreeing with Ayumi before he snapped back. “That’s not the point! You aren’t helping matters!” Yuki turned back towards Ayumi and then around the room looking for her dirty laundry. Once he had found it ran over past her, but Ayumi caught him with her leg and sent him back on to her bed. “What are you doing?! I don’t care if they’re dirty!”

“Enough about the clothes, Yuki!” she snapped quickly at him. The raised voice was enough to make Yuki alert.

He lowered his eyes feeling the pressure began to return him. “I forgot to thank you for saving me.” Yuki started to move, but Ayumi’s stare stopped him.

“You just don’t get it do you?”

“You don’t think I know!” Yuki yelled at her in response. He pulled at his face to turn away from her already feeling the choking in his throat from the last of the words he spoke. “…I lost…he completely out classed me! I never stood a chance against him!”

Ayumi turned away from Yuki after hearing him speak. “You don’t understand…”

Yuki turned his head up towards Ayumi becoming confused by her words. “What are you talking about?”

“How many times do have I have to repeat myself?” She pulled around towards Yuki once more, but stopped halfway. The lost expression on his face annoyed her. All of her efforts were being wasted, yet she had no choice. “It wasn’t about his abilities or skills. It was you…” Ayumi raised her arm up extended towards him with a finger pointing at him. “Because you lacked the resolve! You lost to yourself.”

What she was telling him now was only compounding the issue for Yuki. He knew Ayumi to say things he did not understand at the time, but at that moment it felt like she had thrown a blanket over him and began hitting him with a pipe. “Myself? You’re not making any sense! I stood my ground against him, but he still beat me!”

“You’re missing the point. It’s not a matter of standing your ground.”

“Then what is it?!”

“You’re afraid to fight,” she said simply.

‘How could she?’ Yuki felt the weight on him grew even more intense than before. He could not hold his head up. Every part of him was shaking uncontrollably. Escape was all he could think about, but none of his muscles would even budge on him. It took everything that Yuki had to summon up breath to his mouth to speak. He was struggling and grasping at the tendrils of memories that threatened to tie him down. In a low voice with certainty he spoke, “You’re wrong. It’s not fear.”

There was a narrowed gaze from Ayumi reading into his words and body to understand the meaning behind his words. She was missing something, but the words did not lie to his self. “What is holding you back then?”

The threshold had been broached releasing a taste of memories held behind a wall in his heart. It all came in a flash that shook his body making him sweat. A undesired past crept in his chest. He had to stop quickly before he was lost in the sea. Yuki clinched his fists fighting to keep himself. ‘I can’t say it…but she’s not going leave me alone…’ There was a push that came from his body allowing him to look at Ayumi once more. “…I…I made a promise…”

‘…a promise? Why’s this so important to him that he’d rather die than break?’ Ayumi stepped towards Yuki giving him her full attention. It was clear that he was having difficulty even recalling this promise. Curiosity for her could not be helped as she wanted to know what it was that shackled him and prevented him doing what he needed. “A promise? What was this promise?”

“I can’t…I can’t say anymore!” he pleaded with Ayumi to drop it.

“I need to know, Yuki! If you don’t face this now—“

“I said no!” Yuki pushed himself away and rushed past Ayumi planning to leave the room. However before he was able to reach the door the entire room was turned to ice sealing him. “…Ayumi…” choked Yuki as he rotated back looking at Ayumi’s back.

She pulled around to look at him determined to pry the secret from him. “You’re not leaving until you answer my question.”

‘…this isn’t right…’ Yuki checked the door out of the corner of his eyes seeing the thick ice that encased it. He had no chance in breaking it. “This doesn’t concern you, Ayumi!”

“We’re partners, Yuki. I need to understand!”

He was being backed further into a corner. There was nowhere to run or escape from her room. She could keep him for as long as she wanted. “It was…” A dark room suddenly appeared in his mind briefly holding a foreboding feeling of familiarity. “…It was…I-I promised that…” There was a bed in the room with the curtains drawn. “…I wouldn’t hurt anyone again…” Resting in the bed was a covered figure darkened by the lack of light in the room.

Yuki had spoken so broken and softly through his choking that Ayumi could not understand him. “What?”

The flashes that he was receiving felt like they were each placing weights on his chest making it impossible to breathe. He knew what he was seeing, but he could not admit it. He would not admit it. “I said I promised I wouldn’t fight anymore!” Ayumi held her words simply staring at him leaving Yuki to the pressures he held. “So now you know…” Yuki began to move back to the door with the expectation that he would be let go.

“Who?” asked Ayumi after a long silence from her. The distance between them seemed to be growing in spite of it not physically changing.

The question came as a strange one for Yuki as he did not know the context. All he did was tilt his head back towards her. “Huh?”

“Who?” Her question was repeated with the same tone as before to Yuki.

“What are you talking about?”

“Your promise. Who did you make it to?”

The room returned to his sight once more making him blink. A frail hand was reaching out from the bed towards him beckoning him, calling him forward. Only the head and shoulders of the person in the bed could be seen weakly looking at him. ‘…Yuki…promise me…’

Yuki jerked away from the vision snapping back to reality. He was caught staring at Ayumi being left with nothing but to answer her question. “…it was…my mother’s last wish…”

The ice faded away from the room returning it back to how it had been. Ayumi allowed Yuki to leave the room. He was quick in reaching the door, wanting be freed from the atmosphere of the house that was condemning to memories that he never wished to remember. The house’s door was open and Yuki half way down the sidewalk before Ayumi stood in the threshold. “You’ll end up die holding on to that promise.”

Yuki stopped in his step, but refused to face her. “I thought it was your job to protect me so I can save your people.”

“They’re your people too. You don’t belong here.”

“I don’t even know where they are. They aren’t my people.” He started to walk away out to the street, but was stopped once more by Ayumi voice. It had not been the words that halted him; it was the weakness that trailed through her tone. Everything froze for him. He felt emotion coming from them like he was not familiar with from Ayumi.

“How can you say that to them?!” Ayumi shouted back at him nearly choking on her words looking like she was on the verge of tears. “They’re suffering! They need you!”

He had become compelled to turn face Ayumi. When he saw her face it left him stunned in shock to actually see her in such a state. There was never a moment that he had seen since he met her that he could feel such passion and emotion in her voice. “A-Ayumi…I…” Yuki had to pause just to collect his words not certain what he should say. “I don’t know…my family, I can’t leave them.”

Ayumi came running down the sidewalk falling into him looking into his eyes. The pained looked of rejection was reflected in her eyes that stared at him. “How can you say that?! You belong with us, we’re your family!”

Yuki did not know what to do any more with how hysterical she was acting in front of him. It was so out of character for Ayumi that Yuki was left paralyzed and started to have empathy for her. “But Ayumi…they—“

“They aren’t your real family!” Ayumi shouted in desperation no longer able to keep from crying into Yuki’s clothes.

Hearing Ayumi say that would have upset Yuki, but he could not be angry with her seeing her now. He could only hold on to her in silence feeling so empty at that moment as though he was guilty of being uncaring and heartless.

Across the neighborhood between the light of the streetlamps a darkened figured walked away. When they had finally stepped into the light it could be seen as Demosthenes. He casually left the neighborhood not looking back. “…Eudokia… This could be more difficult than I thought…”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

The walk back from Ayumi’s house was short, barely a minute, but the thoughts that were spinning through his mind made it feel like an hour. Yuki was no longer certain what to think. It had not been the first time that he had heard any of it, but there seemed to be more weight in the words when he heard it this time. ‘I haven’t seen Ayumi like that before…she usually so serious and composed…’ The softness in the clothes where her tears had soaked in made him recall the feeling of her being so close to him and seeming so frail.

When he finally reached the house a new weight dragged at his arm. It was the bag of food that he was supposed to get. Through everything it had managed to survive and still end up in his hands. The door was opened nearly on its own as he stepped. He left his shoes there at the door while he walked through the hallway.

“Yuki?” called Momoko from the kitchen with an underlining tone of annoyance.

“Yeah, it’s me…”

“What took you so long, its nearly an hour!”

Yuki sighed to himself thinking to the assassin and how he had nearly died once again. ‘Verge of death and yet…coming home it’s like nothing happened…’ He had not heard Momoko walking out of the kitchen into the hall towards him. Yuki was still so out of it that he nearly ran into her before snapping partially out of it. “Oh…here’s the things you asked for…” he said presenting him in an empty manner.

Momoko uneasily had taken them from him while still staring at him in silence trying to figure out what had happened to Yuki. The mood he was setting made her even more uncertain. She plopped her hand down on his shoulder roughly enough to get a jerk out of him from the sudden contact. Once he was finally looking at her a playful smirk drew across her lips. “My poor, poor brother…”

“Eh?!” Yuki was woken up by the strange tone carrying in his sister’s voice. The look that she was giving him was not helping to ease his confuse either. “What’s wrong, sis?”

Her grin was nearly turning into a laugh, but she was holding herself back, not nearly for his sake. “I know you’ve been growing your hair out, but I didn’t know you were swinging that way.”

She had started to sound nearly creepy to Yuki making his face begin turning blue until he caught her last words. Then his entire face light up red glowing faster than he could get words out, though he was choking on his own breath at that point. “Mo-mo-mo-Momoko?!” A moment later he followed her eyes that were pointing arrows down at him making him remember what he was actually wearing. In an instant Yuki changed through three completely different expressions before ending in panic and denial. “This isn’t what it looks like!”

The way that Yuki was reacting only seemed to fuel Momoko further as her grin grew wider. “So you’re in cross dressing then?”

“No!”

“Though I guess I can’t blame you. You clean up pretty well, it’s almost embarrassing.”

Yuki nodded in agreement with her having remembered when he looked at the mirror. However, as he had before he snapped himself out the path he was being pulled down. “Stop that!” He had thrown his arms down starting to get angry with his sister’s teasing at this point. Unfortunately for him, it ended up making Momoko laugh loudly due to the image that it created in her mind (actually looked cuter).

Chapter 53 – Family Matters

After Yuki had calmed down a little and Momoko could look at him with a little more of a straight face, he began to explain what had happened to her. “I bumped into Ayumi on the way back and got my clothes ruined. Ayumi felt bad about it and insisted that she clean them. However, I had to leave to get you the food you need so she gave me this to wear…”

It was almost too much for Momoko as serious as she was trying to listen to Yuki calmly explaining the situation. “And she gave you a dress?” giggled Momoko before she broke into a full laugh once more.

The vein on Yuki’s forehead was pulsing with anger wanting to leave immediately, but he had to set things straight with her. “She said she hadn’t done laundry yet and it was the only she had…” However, Momoko was too far gone for him to reason with her anymore and he turned away. He began to stomp off as the laughing from her ruffled him. “I’m going to change!” Yuki disappeared up the stairs to his room.

He was fortunate to avoid his little brothers and closed the door behind him quickly. The dress was the next thing that left him landing on the bed unceremoniously as he pulled out a pair of blue jeans. As he was pulling out a plain green t-shirt his thoughts caught up to him. His eyes had been pulled away towards the dress making him think of her, the image of Ayumi held up against him. ‘…Ayumi…’

‘They aren’t your real family!’ she shouted in his mind making him pull back dropping his shirt on the floor.

Yuki dropped his glance to his desk where a very old photo of his family, when they were still a whole family, rested in a dusty picture frame. A reminder of the past that he was never able to throw away, but also the only possession from then that he kept. It had been the only thing that he could not erase as much as he tried. ‘Not real?’ He could not believe that he had heard it from Ayumi’s lips. It was something he could not accept.

‘Exactly. The Hayashi family adopted you from your true father for reasons that even I couldn’t find. All I know is that they knew each other somehow and you became part of their family instead never telling you the truth.’ Ayumi had told him that he had been adopted on the first day that they met.

‘Adopted…me…’ When she had told him he had not been able to take it. It was quickly ignored with everything that had she as being a cruel joke that she was playing on him at his expense. However, the truth of her words came out soon enough for him. Yet despite him starting to accept what she told him, his family was one thing that he could never believe.

He knew that she had to be lying and never gave it another thought, until now. ‘…could it be possible? But I’ve seen baby pictures of me. They even showed me pictures from the hospital. I remember…I remember… No!’ As his thoughts tried to find the fallacies in her words the past was threatening to invade him once more. Yuki shook his head bringing everything to a halt. It forced him to catch his breath pressing his hands into the blanket covering his bed. ‘…have to keep focused…’

Under control of his thoughts, a slow eased release in the tension came over him letting go of his grip on the blanket. Yuki backed away and dropped himself nearly slouching in desk chair. The soft cloth backing on the chair gently soothed his bare back. His hand stretched out for the wooden frame allowing him a closer look at the photo. ‘…family…’ The picture had been taken back when he was only seven with his father and mother standing behind him at the ends of the picture holding Jun and Ken still only one and two years old themselves. Next to him was Momoko, eleven, and smiling wide like he had forgotten. Even though she smiled these days Yuki could tell it was no longer the same one that she had from then.

‘…mother…father…you’re my family…’ He stared with a distant look at the picture. There was certainty in what he believed, but Ayumi had managed to hammer a nail in his wall creating a small crack inside him. The crack was started to grow in size the longer that he stared. ‘…no…this is my family…’

Yuki placed the picture frame back on his desk and got up. He had to keep his certainty removing any doubt from his mind. The shirt on the floor was waiting for him to pick it up. ‘…got to stop thinking about it…’ He bent down taking hold of the shirt and put it on finally. His fingers ran through his uneven hair that ran down to his chin while keeping off of his shoulders. The ruffled mess of his hair sorted itself out falling out smoothly showing off the dark blue color only in the highlights of his hair.

‘We thought there were no heirs, but I found that was not true. You are in fact the only true heir to the throne of my people.’

Another echo rammed into him knocking him into his door making him start to sweat with his breath going shallow panting. Ayumi’s voice would not leave him alone. His hand pressed against his face and forehead trying to keep himself together. ‘…why…’ It was causing his heart to pound for a reason that he could not explain. Nothing was in his control as everything in his body seemed to completely out of breath as though it has been sucked out of him.

‘No! Stop it!’ Yuki clung his hands to his head sliding down his door folding up against it at the floor. The pounding in his chest was becoming an aching pain that bound him. It was too much for him to withstand. ‘…could it? Possibly?’

The tension was growing tighter threatening never to release him. Sweat moistened his palms from his building panic. Small doubts were being allowed through the hole that had been made inside. ‘…S-Stop…they’re all I…’ In a fit, he threw Ayumi’s dress across the room. It slowly floated down as he was left on the floor in pain. However, there was a noise that alerted him as the picture frame on his desk was dragged down by the settling dress. It was half buried, but Momoko and his mother with Jun could be seen.

Yuki’s eyes grew wide as it snapped him out clearing his mind and relieving him. It was gone. He stood up and going back to the picture placing it back on his desk. ‘…thanks…’ Yuki turned away carrying a determined look in his eyes as he stepped out of his room.

Momoko was still in the kitchen working with the food that Yuki had brought back with him. She was chopping on the cutting board with the sharp thud from the knife leaving her to not notice that she had company. It took a pause in her chopping to get the feeling that someone was behind her making her nearly drop the knife seeing how close they were. “Yuki?! What’s going on?”

“Nothing much!” he said with a pleasant smile on his face.

She could not help but tilt her head and eyes finding the look to be a little suspicious. “…Right, I see that you’re not cross dressing anymore,” she commented with the expectation that he would snap on her about the comment.

The reaction was completely to the contrary though as he just simply laughed and nodded to her. “I’ll return Ayumi’s dress later once we’ve cleaned it.” He took another step forward standing next to her with Momoko only being a little taller than him.

Seeing the way that Yuki was acting made Momoko narrow her eyes with confusion. She had seen him act like he was around his friends and away from family, but he usually dropped his guard for her. “You feeling alright, Yuki?”

“Huh?” said Yuki stared over at her next to the counter with an expression nearly mistakable for being innocent.

“You hit your head upstairs or something?”

“No?” he said elongating the word to drag it out as he stared up to Momoko a little confused himself now.

She pulled the knife back up to the cutting board returning to her chopping to look like everything was normal. “So what you want?” she demanded from Yuki.

“I want to help you with the lunches for tomorrow!”

Momoko skipped a beat in her chopping throwing her rhythm off causing the knife to cut her finger. She yelped in surprise pulling back to look at the cut. ‘What’s with him? He’s never willingly offered to help me with anything!’ As the wound in her index finger was starting to bleed a little Yuki ran off to the other side of the kitchen searching for bandaids.

“Found them!” he exclaimed holding the box up in his hand. In Momoko’s shock, Yuki was taking over control of her hand to clean it before bandaging it.

It had taken her until Yuki applying the bandaid to realize what was happening. She was just going with the flow not sure what was wrong with him. ‘He’s acting so strangely. Almost reminds me of how he was before father…’ The thought made her freeze for a second feeling like she was looking backwards through time. “…Yuki?” she said slowly reaching out her free hand to touch his face. There he was in front of her a six year old Yuki grinning back at her.

Even when he spoke it was filtered through time to sound younger. “Sister?”

It had been so long since she had seen him that she did not want the illusion to end. Her memories were breaking her protection that kept her strong to look after her family. She wanted it to be for just another second reaching out as everything faded away before her eyes. Snapped back to reality, Yuki’s puzzled face was looking up at her. “What? Yuki…thanks,” said Momoko having to sniff a little as she put herself back together. The hand that he was holding pulled back as she turned back to the counter. On the board sat the knife reflect her eyes back at her as she stared down seeing them being partially swollen. “Why don’t you finish cutting, Yuki.”

“Sure!” He willingly stepped into the space that she emptied going over to the one of the cupboard taking out a pan that she needed for the rest of the meal for lunch tomorrow. They worked together quickly finishing up the lunch and packing it away so that it was ready to be taken in the morning. Throughout the entire time Yuki had never gotten mad or upset, even when Momoko was making requests of him he took everything without complaint. It had left it difficult to concentrate at times for her making childish mistakes that she had not in years.

Momoko took a seat in the chair kept in the kitchen near the entry. After they had finished Jun and Ken seemed to have had perfect timing grabbing Yuki and dragging him off in the living room wanting to play. In keeping with the strange trend, he went along with them allowing him to be pulled. She watched her brothers playing bringing a smile to her own face. Yuki would get exasperated with them frequently, but he was always kind to them. However, she could tell it was different just like in the kitchen. She did not understand what was going on with him.

The change that she saw reminded her of the sudden personality shift in Yuki after their mother had died and he began speaking again. He had gone a month without speaking to anyone looking like an empty shell that simply was existing in a life that was completely automatic with no will or interest in another. He would attend school and eat, but anything more was too much. Yuki had just locked himself away in his room. Momoko did not know what to do with both of their parents gone and left trying to know how they would keep going. So she allowed Yuki his time thinking that he needed it to grieve. However, when he came out that one night acting so cheerful and excited like he had never lost anything it had nearly broke Momoko to watch. She did not have the heart to say anything to him and it seemed to end his constant fighting. ‘It’s just like back then…so different…’

She stood up feeling the urge to walk into the living room to join them. It was the first time that she felt like they were a family again. She had always wanted to see them like this once more, but thought it was impossible, accepting it as the way life was going to be. Her leg began to move, however there was a sudden thought that sparked through her mind that frightened her. ‘…it’s like he granting my wish as though it was some parting gift… Yuki, what’s going on?’

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

The night slowly passed on for the Hayashi’s. Family time, a term that had been completely foreign to them for many years, was renewed that night for the four siblings. Yuki had given enough entertainment for Jun and Ken that they had both fallen asleep in the living room on the couch. It had been a long time since either of them had seen them so exhausted before.

Momoko and Yuki looked at each other quietly seeing their younger brothers sleeping very peacefully together. It was almost a shame that they were going to need to be moved. Yuki bent over to pick up Jun. Jun was still asleep, but he suddenly opened his mouth a little. “Thank you, Big Brother…” he said softly in a voice that Yuki had not heard for so long. It made him pause for a moment looking over at Momoko, who had heard him too. All they could do was stared at each other in shock to have heard Jun speak, even in his sleep.

Chapter 54 – The Sealed Vault Opened

Yuki followed behind Momoko as they carried the two children up the stairs to their room. Once they were in their beds sleeping away the door closed behind them leaving them out in the hallway. She stared over at Yuki still trying to figure him out through the haze of her own emotions. The quiet moment between them came to an end with Yuki walking away. Not ready to let him go, Momoko reached out grabbing his wrist to get his attention. He looked back at her with the same face he had all night that made her pause in her resolve a second. “…Yuki…what’s this all about?”

“What’s wrong?”

“The way you’re acting tonight… Why are you doing this?”

The expression on his face did not change as he stared at her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Momoko.” He pulled away from her loose grip moving towards his room.

“Why are you acting you used to when mom and dad were still alive?!” she shouted the short distance to Yuki. Her eyes were wrenched tightly shut in pain snapping off the tears in her eyes. “It’s too cruel to do to them, Yuki! You really hate us so much that you’d do something so cruel to your little brother!”

Hearing her words made him stop immediately in his step, but with his back towards her still. His arm and hand were shaking lightly at his side. “I thought that it would be better on them to remember their brother as he was and not as he is…”

“Yuki?! What are you talking about?” Momoko ran after him before he could reach his door. She stopped him just at the door wrapping her arms around him holding him close to her.

Yuki held his head low having nearly forgotten what it was like to be so close to his sister and feel her comforting warmth. “…Momoko…I…”

“Yuki…I don’t know what wrong, but know this. You’ll always be their big brother no matter how you change or who you are. Even now with your temper you still care for them. You don’t have to go back to be close to them. Accept who you are now and don’t worry about how things were before.” She took a pause to think on her words and hope that she was reaching him in whatever he was going through. “I’ll admit I missed the Yuki I used to know, but seeing you tonight made my miss the real you. It’s no fun teasing you like this,” she said hoping to get a smile out of him. “How you are now isn’t wrong, never think that Yuki. Please don’t regret it.”

“…But can you ever be forgiven…by your family…” said Yuki softly. His words broke Momoko’s hold on him allowing him to slip through her fingers and enter his room. The door closed behind him as she was left to stare unable to respond to his question.

Momoko rested her hands against the door leaning in not trying to listen, but understand what was going through his mind. It had been the first time that she had ever heard him speak as though he was blaming himself. ‘Yuki…what’s wrong? None of it was your fault…what happened back then wasn’t…’

Yuki dropped himself on his bed laying on his back staring up at the ceiling. He reached out with his hand towards the ceiling feeling like he was able to take hold. It was beyond him, but watching helped to bring his thoughts to focus. The innocent expression on his face had all been washed away. ‘How was that…mother?’

Next to him faintly appeared a ghostly image of his mother kneeling at his bed placing a comforting hand on his forehead. He did not acknowledge her presence while accepting it at the same time. “You’ve made me so happy, my son…”

‘…But I…’ Flashes of life with Momoko and his brothers went through his mind. His cold attitude to them made him flinch not willing to accept the words. ‘…I wasn’t able to keep my promise…I wasn’t able to do as you asked of me…mother…I failed you…’ The darkened room faded away from him as he closed his eyes.

A black veil ran over him passing things away from him. Peace could be granted for a moment. However, it did not last for long as a voice began to pierce through the darkness. He was being called. It was slow in waking him, but eventually he was not able to keep his eyes shut any longer. Yuki woke up in his bed with the sound of his sister’s voice pleading to him to wake up. He was still sluggish and groggy from the afternoon nap. “What’s wrong, Momo?”

“Yuki! You need to wake up now!” screamed Momoko in a shaky voice that could not keep herself from falling apart. The tears in her words punctuated her voice clearing the fog in Yuki’s head quickly. Kneeling at his bed was Momoko, age eighteen, in her high school uniform.

Seeing the way his sister looked immediately pulled him out of his bed. “What happened?” He grabbed her shoulders lifting her up quite easily to her feet wanting some answers quickly. The way that she was reacting placed a deep foreboding in him. He forgot everything else.

“It’s…It’s…Oh! Yuki!” Momoko clung to him with her full weight unable to speak what she needed. They fell backwards to the floor with her burying her face in his chest. She cried ceaselessly for what seemed like hours. Yuki could do nothing, but feel that she needed the time. He had just held on to her.

Once it had seemed that Momoko was recovering from her state Yuki pressed the issue again. He pulled her away from him so that he could look at her face. His eyes stared down in her hoping to give her the strength she needed. “What’s wrong, Momo? I need to know.”

Unfortunately, the moment that he asked she burst back into tears uncontrollably trying to bury herself once more. He shook her roughly trying to her snapped her out of it. “Y-Yuki…I-I…can’t…” It had been difficult enough for her to say those words to him between the tears.

“Please! Momo, you’re scaring me! Tell me!” Yuki braced both of his hands up against her head forcing her to look at him to see his eyes. She tried to turn away, but he could not let her look away from him. He was going to have an answer.

Momoko gave a slow uncertain nod to him finally agreeing. She held back some of her tears building up her courage to speak. It was slow to work towards, but Momoko was gaining strength. “Yuki…it’s…it’s…mom… “ Just saying that had been challenge enough for Momoko forcing her to pause as she heard the words herself repeated once more. It had nearly collapsed any resolve that she had if Yuki had not been there. She nodded to him once more seeing that she had to keep going. “They say she collapsed at work…and she’s…at the hospital! Yuki! I-I…”

Yuki let his sister go and wrapped his arms around her allowing her the comfort that she was looking for. He did not know how to react at that moment. All he could do was be stunned by the words. Eventually, the emotions caught up to him and they stayed together. Time moved on around them passing the afternoon into the evening.

“I think we should go…” Yuki finally said. The sun was no longer shining in through his window and the house had been very quiet, even with his brothers being home.

She pulled away looking up at him a little confused at the moment. “Eh?”

“The hospital. We need to see her…”

“…right…” Momoko stood up wiping her eyes clear of the tears trying to pull herself together. Yuki joined her, working on collecting himself as well. She looked over to him realizing something. “We should tell Jun and Ken.”

He looked down at the floor for a moment thinking to himself. Once he had turned back to her he spoke, “How bad is it?”

“I don’t know, I feared the worst and couldn’t listen to the rest the doctor said.”

Yuki braced her with a hand on her shoulder seeing that she was starting to fall apart once more. “Alright then, let’s go to the hospital ourselves and find out. They’ll be fine for a couple hours.”

“But how will we tell them, Yuki?!”

An answer for her was not something that he could find. It was difficult to keep from being buried under the words himself. “…we’ll figure it out when it comes to it…she might just be a little sick…”

“But we’ve already lost dad! I couldn’t bear it to lose mom, too!”

“…I know…” It was so unusual for him. Momoko was older than him and yet it seemed like he was being the big brother for her. Yet at the same time it seemed completely natural for him even with the distance that had been starting to grow between them in the last few years. He was not so cold to turn her away and act like he would at school. “Let’s go and see her. I bet she’s waiting to see you!”

“Yeah…” Momoko quietly went to her room collecting her bag and the house keys. She joined Yuki downstairs. A long stare back at the stairs towards her brothers gave her a worried pause. The warmth of Yuki’s hand was enough to steady her as she turned towards the door. “…thank you, Yuki…”

While Momoko could drive, they did not have a car since their mother used to get to work. The company that she worked for was the same that their father had and sat on the far outside of the city, nearly standing alone. They did not know much about what it was, but they were told it was medical research. Both of them knew that their father and mother had met during their years in the university. Their father was considered a genius having completed his PhD two years early and quickly became one of the fore most experts in Japan on neurology. So while they never talked about their work, Momoko and Yuki had assumed that they were working on neurology at the research company. It had provided them with their house and their life style, since both of them work and love their jobs so much. Being the work-a-holic that their father was it had provided them with a house being completely paid for, even if it was pretty modest compared to others with his paycheck. But money never seemed to matter to him and he still managed to find time for his family. It was the only thing that had saved them after both of their parents were gone, all Momoko had to do was pay for the utility bills and food with no debts having been left behind.

It had become pretty clear how well off they had been when they arrived at the hospital to see such treatment being provided to their mother. At the time they did not know it, but the company had hired the best specialists to look after her and spared no expense in trying to save her life.

Yuki and Momoko were let into their mother’s room with the other doctors and nurses departing to give them time. Momoko was the first to run over to her bed seeing all of the tubes that were connected up to her. Her face was still uncovered, but looked asleep until Momoko arrived. “Mom! Mom!” It had been her voice that completely woke her up. She turned her head seeing Momoko returning to tears at the side of her bed with fears that she could not hope to allay.

Their mother stretched out her hand, from resting on the covers, to weakly place her hand on Momoko’s head patting her calmly. She had a comforting smile on her face as though everything was going to be alright, though it was unclear if she was already aware of her fading health and had come to terms. “Don’t cry, my dear. Everything’s fine.” Over Momoko’s shoulder she could see Yuki standing near the door still trying to look brave for her. It made her smile grow. “Come over here, Yuki…”

The welcoming tone of hearing his mother was all it took to crack his wall and he was burying his head in her bed next to Momoko trying not to cry even though he could stop himself. “…mother…” Her gentle hand touching him only made it worse for him as he could not bear to look at her.

“It’ll be alright, you two,” their mother said before she started to cough. It alerted both of them to look up at her trying to come to her aid. Once she had calmed down she smiled down at them. “It’s okay, I’m just a little overworked. I’ll be fine in a couple days.”

An hour passed for them until they agreed to leave their mother’s side. Yuki walked off down the hallway toward the first person that he saw with Momoko chasing after him confused. He looked up at the doctor coming out of a room forcing him to look at him. “What does she have?” he said bluntly.

“Yuki!” Momoko said tugging on his clothes trying to get him to move on. “We need to go home!”

Yuki was too stubborn and strong to let her drag him away. He stared at the doctor, who was a little confused with a strange kid standing in his way. “Tell me!”

“Who are you?”

“Our mother’s in the room!” said Yuki pointing down the hall towards the room.

The doctor took a glance and slowly was able to put together the piece. “Oh you’re Tomiko Hayashi’s children!” He flipped through the clip boards that he had in hand searching for something. Once he found it he quickly went through the pages. “Well, I’m not sure what to say.”

“I demand that you tell me!”

“Yuki! Please, calm down!”

“Momo, he knows!”

The two siblings fighting gave him a brief moment to gather himself. He cleared this throat before starting getting their attention. “From what we’ve been able to do, we don’t know. Her health is poor, but we don’t know why. There’s no signs of anything that would cause it. I’m sorry.”

Yuki was not going to be taking that for an answer and grabbed the man by his tie nearly choking him as he pulled him down to his eye level. “The hell you don’t! She’s our mother. We have a right to know what it is!”

“Ugh! I-I told you I don’t…know!” The man choked on his words feeling his tie becoming even tighter around his neck.

Momoko leapt to the man’s defense grabbing on Yuki’s wrist to try to free the suffering doctor. “Yuki! Please, he doesn’t know!”

“They’re hiding it from us! Because we just children in their eyes!”

“Yuki!” Momoko had gotten in his face at this point to try to calm him down from hurting the man anymore than he already had. She placed her hands on his shoulders connecting her eyes with him, revealing the tears that pained her to show her brother doing this because of their mother. “That’s enough, Yuki. Don’t hurt him, please! Think of mom!”

Hearing the words from Momoko hit a cord inside him making his eyes snap wide for a moment before narrowing in disgust. He tossed the tie back along with enough force to knock the man into the wall. “Tch! Fine!” Yuki walked off towards the elevator ignoring the both of them.

“I’m so sorry! Please forgive him, sir!” Momoko bowed deeply to the injured man hoping that he would not hold it against Yuki. She turned around and ran after Yuki to catch up to him quickly. Yuki was already stepping in to the elevator as Momoko arrived, barely sneaking before it closed. The long ride down was awkwardly silent between them as she could see Yuki aggressive side surfacing. She searched for some way that might break up the atmosphere. “I-If…they can’t find wrong with mom, then maybe it’s just exhaustion like she says, Yuki!”

“Hrmph!” said Yuki lowly crossing his arms not willing to lose his frustration at the moment.

Momoko remained quiet the rest of the way home. When they returned home they agreed not to say anything to their brothers since it seemed like their mother would be getting better soon. It was difficult for them to keep it between themselves and explain their mother’s disappearance from the house, but they managed somehow.

Unfortunately, Yuki seemed to get even more violent in the days that followed. He had been easier to provoke before, but he was going out of his way looking for everyone and anyone to fight. It no longer mattered to him so long as there was someone lying on the ground afterwards. And each day he would visit their mother, as she slowly began to worsen in her condition. She would ask him each day to not be so upset, having been told about all of the fighting he was getting into. It only seemed to make him even angrier at school leaving anyone that did not fear him to do so then.

One night visiting the hospital alone, Momoko was working around the house, Yuki had overheard the nurses talking that were personally attached to their mother’s room. He had been coming around the corner and caught their voices making him pause to listen.

“Did you hear that she got another call from the school?”

“Don’t they realize that she doesn’t need the stress?”

“She’s the only parent left and her son’s such a bully!”

“She seems to only be getting worse too.”

“Especially after those calls.”

“I don’t know if she’ll be able to take another call in her state.”

Yuki could only freeze next to the wall as fear gripped him like he had never known. He was paralyzed with his eyes wide in shock at hearing the nurses. He had not known. She had never said anything to him about getting any calls. Yuki assumed she had heard about him attacking the doctor and she wanted him to calm down. However, he could not think of anything else, but a single thought that echoed through his mind repeatedly, even today. ‘She’s sick because of me! It’s my fault! I killed her!’

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

‘It’s my fault! I killed her!’ Yuki was checked out when he stepped out from the corner. His shadow covered eyes cast a dark stare, despite the emptiness in his soul. The two nurses did not know how to react, surprised by his sudden appearance. All they could do was flee down the hallway away from him. He staggered forward towards his mother’s room without a thought controlling him. Everything in his mind was echoing the same words over and over again completely crushing his body.

The door was ajar causing him to shut out the light that crept into the room as he stood before it. It felt as though there was a wall that stood before him. A wall that could not be shattered or climbed; it knew his weaknesses and was able to defy him at every attempt. There was only one way for it to be overcome.

“…Yuki…is that you?” said a shallow voice from the room. Their mother’s health had continued to decline despite her assurances. It had gotten to a point where her voice had become empty and rough, distant from what it had been. However, Yuki would always know the sound of his mother.

As though upon command, the door creaked open slowly. Yuki pressed himself into the entry way feeling a sense of dread crawling up into his legs. The lights were dimmed, as she had been resting, leaving the air to feel tight. It gave his mother a deathly appearance draped in the dark veils cast from the streams of lights from the machines that lined the wall. Yuki felt his heart drop into his feet from the sight. “…mother…”

Chapter 55 – Strength of the Blind

“…Yuki…you can come…in…” his mother said in a weakening voice. There was little strength left in any part of her as she simply lay in the bed. It took great effort for her to move even her hand.

Yuki rushed into the room having been beckoned and seeing how much she was struggling to greet him. She was trying to pull herself up out of the bed for him. “It’s alright, mother… I’m here. You don’t need to get up for me!” Seeing how she was pained and how desperately she was struggling made Yuki feel like he was covered in needles all piercing his skin leaving it all numb.

She eased back into her bed resting her hand on Yuki’s hands at the side of the bed. She had managed a smile for him with her half closed eyes looking over at him. “How are you…doing, dear?”

“I-I’m fine! Get some rest so that you can get better!” Yuki was on the edge of pleading with his mother. It was too much for him to see her in such a condition. He was completely helpless to help her.

“How’s…school?”

Those words had made him freeze stiff. The pounding of fear that had been starting to fade was renewed with even greater crushing strength. “School?” questioned Yuki weakly wishing that he could avoid the subject, but his mind was already painfully reminding him.

‘Did you hear that she got another call from the school?’

‘Don’t they realize that she doesn’t need the stress?’

‘She’s the only parent left and her son’s such a bully!’

‘She seems to only be getting worse too.’

‘Especially after those calls.’

‘I don’t know if she’ll be able to take another call in her state.’

The words were whispered through his ears continuously making him want to run away, but it had left his body to weak to move. All he could manage was to place his hand on his mother’s hand for reassurance. “…it’ll be alright...mother…you don’t have to worry anymore…”

“…Yuki…” His mother’s eyes closed slowly followed by a long exhaled breath. It pulled him up on his legs leaning in towards her fearing that she would never open her eyes again. The shallow, quick breathing came to a rest as she opened her eyes to look back at Yuki. “Please stay safe, Yuki…” It seemed to be getting more difficult for her to even speak bringing her short of breath with each word.

Yuki hand’s were tightening up wrapped firmly around his mother’s. His fears wound as tension in his fingers through his silent prayers. “I will! I will, mother!” He was dragged in towards her feeling her hand suddenly become loose. It felt as though the life was slowly being pulled away from her forced to keep her core barely alive. “Mother?! Please! I won’t cause you trouble anymore, mother!”

She coughed a couple times and coming to a long quiet rest. Her half opened eyes looked on him softly. “Yuki…please…don’t hurt anyone…you’re a kind boy…show them…” The labored breathing from her became further drawn out as her eyes closed once more. However, this time it did not seem like they would open.

Tears were coming down his face as his fears were speaking to him, telling him what was happening. He pulled a little at her hand tightening his hands around her hand hoping for a sign that she was still with him. “Mother! Mother…I-I…” His head hung low looking away from her. The words that she had spoke to him spinning in his mind. Lowly spoken down away from her Yuki’s voice tried to reach. “…I won’t…I’ll stop fighting! I’ll stop if that’s what you want!”

The fading warmth in her body was able to smile softly to him. “…th..ank…you…” A constant ringing filled the room. There was a moment of silence as Yuki froze.

He snapped his head up towards her breaking away the tears that sprayed through the air trying to see that his mother was still alive. “Mother! I promise! I won’t hurt anyone ever again! So please! Please…open your eyes just once more for me…” There was no response from her apart from the lasting smile that was left on her face with the ringing in his ears. “Mother! Please just once more…open your eyes! I promise! Mother!” Yuki head fell into the sheets weeping and screaming until his throat ran dry. Yet he continued even when his voice gave out. None of the doctors or nurses dared to enter the room. After his voice had been lost and his tears dry Yuki stood up and left the room in silence. It would be a silence that he kept for a month with no one able to understand what he was thinking.

The void began to pull Yuki away from the past that he was forced to relive. It forcibly dragged him away leaving it all behind. Remnants of thoughts remained as a distant echo through his mind. Emotions, questions, fears and thoughts merged together in the myriad chaos that boiled inside him. ‘I killed mother! It was all my fault! I promised her! She wouldn’t wake up! I didn’t mean to! It wasn’t my fault! They never said goodbye! I stole her away from them! It was me!’ Yuki fell back into his body nearly jumping out of his bed. He was panting heavily and covered in sweat.

His hand pressed up against his face trying to calm himself back down. The nightmare that he had to endure left him completely exhausted. Yuki was not sure if he wanted to go back to sleep for the fear of having to relive any more of his past. The night he had spent brought up many things that he had wished to keep forgotten, but it was the path he had chosen. “I need to clean up at least…”

The house felt empty at the late hour Yuki was walking around the hall. He ran water over his face washing away the sweat. His clothes still felt weird, but it helped his breathing. All of the pressure that he had been feeling was disappearing. The mirror over the sink stared back at him as though to question what he was doing. His eyes narrowed in his certainty. “This is the way it must be.”

The rest of the night went with smoothly for Yuki. Sleep was difficult, but he was able to get a little more. Morning brought a tired Yuki that was separate from the one last night and his usual self. He just moved through the house until it was his time to leave. However, as his mind woke up the echoes from before began to resurface for him. He was able to hear Ayumi’s voice pounding in his head from his right and his own screams through the left.

‘They aren’t your real family!’

‘I killed mother! It was all my fault!’

It was leaving his concentration difficult, causing him to trip or bump into things throughout the house. ‘Ugh…feels like I’ve got a headache…’

Yuki left the house walking down the street hoping that the air would clear his mind. It turned out not be the case as the pressure was only increasing on his mind. He rubbed his hand against his temples doing anything he could, while ignoring his surroundings.

“Yuki?!” shouted Saki from behind him, having already tried several times to reach him. It finally seemed to reach him though as he turned his head back towards her.

He had stopped where he stood, unable to do more than one thing at once. “…Hey, Saki…”

“You going to move?”

“Something wrong?” said Yuki confused by the strange sense of urgency that was in her voice. She pointed down away from him to bring him to his situation. He was standing inside a parked car with half of it removed due to his Kasou-ryoku’s kino being active. “Wha-When?!” Yuki quickly jumped about feeling closed in with the cross section that he was seeing. Once he was outside the car and safe Saki hit him in the back of the head jerking his subconscious enough. “That was close!”

Saki came up beside him looking over at him trying to examine him to know what was wrong. “You don’t normally space out that much, Yuki. What’s wrong?”

“Wrong?” Yuki turned away from Saki realizing how transparent he was being in front of her. Trying to keep himself out of her view did not help him as it was clear he was hiding something from her. However, he did not know if he should even tell her. ‘No, I know what she’ll tell me anyway…’ He looked over his shoulder back at Saki working up his usual smile. “It’s nothing! Ayumi’s just working me really hard.”

“Doing training still?” She knew about their after school sessions, but beyond knowing about it she had been told very little. It made her feel a little left out, considering that she already knew about them and their powers. The need for secrecy between them seemed strange to Saki. Yet Ayumi was not one to answer many questions and much about her remained a mystery. All she knew was what little Yuki had told her and she suspected that Ayumi had left out things from Yuki.

Yuki gave her a nod. They could start walking to school now that they had resolved the matter. “She’s pretty insistent on me learning how to control my powers.” He laughed lightly about the problem as though it was nothing.

“Well you do still let go out of control during school. I’m always covering for you.” Her words turned to arrows that pierced Yuki feeling the sting of his weaknesses being bluntly called out by his friend. “And you can’t turn it off on your own either.” A second arrow sank into his back making it even more painful. “For someone like that dreams and pretends all the time, this is worst possible power you could have asked for.”

The third and final strike dug into him making him pause for a moment. “You don’t have to be so blunt, Saki!”

“Get stronger then, Yuki!”

“You make it sound so simple…” Yuki straightened himself back up relieving himself of the arrows to return to his pace. “I just have to stay focused!” He clinched his fists together trying to psych himself up to give confidence.

“Hrmph! I doubt that’s possible, stupid!” said a high pitched voice from behind the both of them.

Yuki had immediately turned to look at Saki puzzled why she would say something so mean to him. However, she was looking back at him with an equally perplexed look of confusion. It then came to them to look behind only to jump away in surprise. “What are you doing back?!” shouted Yuki, having nearly fallen down in shock.

The fairy, which he had not seen for more than a week, was floating in the air staring at the two of them with her arms on her hips. She seemed even more upset than the last time that he saw her. “I’ve come to torment you, girly.”

The surprised expression on Yuki’s face quickly turned to one of disbelief. ‘Is everyone here just to screw with me?’ He was not sure what to make of the fairy response. There seemed to be an awareness in the fairy of its situation. “What do you mean?”

“Well that’s disappointing. I was hoping for a better response than that. You are really boring today.”

Yuki looked over to Saki with both of them leaning towards each other to whisper to each other. “Is it me or does she sound more irritated than usual?”

Saki nodded slightly to Yuki as she looked back at the fairy, who was crossing her arms in disgust. “Yeah, I was just about to ask you.”

“What should we do?”

“I don’t know it’s your mind that created her!”

“Why you placing this all on me?!” Yuki had to keep himself from shouting at her.

“Because it’s true!”

“But I didn’t mean to do it!”

“You two realize that I can hear everything you’re saying?” The fairy was hovering a little closer to them staring narrowly at them. Both Yuki and Saki pulled back looking at each other quickly before staring sheepishly at the fairy. “Just because I’m small doesn’t mean my hearing is too.”

Hiroshi had already arrived at school a little earlier than normal. He had been unable to sleep very well; actually his sleep had been poor ever since he saw Yuki in the alley with Seiji. It had been on his mind continuously. There were little bits that he had been able to piece together. Most of it still confused him, but he knew that Saki and Ayumi were in on the secret as well. All of the mysterious accidents in class that focused on Yuki had started to make some sense to him. It was all still very strange to him, but he hoped that he would have some answers from Yuki soon.

When he had first seen Yuki he was not sure if he should be scared. There was the tales of Yuki being a bully at his past schools, but it never really bothered him. However, he could feel a heavy darkness being cast over Yuki since the alley. The darkness had a source, but he could not be certain if it was Yuki that was creating it. He knew it was there and that uncertainty was that left him feeling ill. ‘What’s going on Yuki? This is more than just something from your past.’

Tatsuya gave the oddly pensive Hiroshi a hardy pat on the back to snap him out of his uncharacteristic daze. “Hey, man! What’s going on?”

“Oh nothing much!”

Kazuhiro joined in from the other side of the aisle made by the desks, having just recently arrived. “Woah! Hiroshi’s here before us? You trying become an upstanding student?”

“Nothing like that, guys!” Hiroshi dismissively waved his hand to them. He pulled himself together and gave him a mischievous grin that helped to settle the minds a little. “There’s no fun to be had being a model student, you know that!” A need for distraction came to him as he began to look around the classroom searching.

It was Tatsuya that provided it when he looked over at Kazuhiro school bag. “Hey, what’s that thing hanging from your bag, Kazuhiro?”

Kazuhiro turned down for a moment reacting with confusion. He had lifted up his bag to bring it closer to their sight. There was what looked like a medallion hanging from a silver metal chain attached to this school bag. It had some strange letters carved into its surface along with a finely detailed impression of a bust of an unknown person. The craftsmanship on the piece was surprising, but hardly something that Kazuhiro would be carrying around. “Oh this? I dunno. Some strange foreigner handed it to me on the way to school.”

“Foreigner? Why didn’t you throw it away or refuse?”

All he could do was shrug to Tatsuya. “The guy was pretty insistent that I have it. Besides, if it’s foreign I might be able to sell it. It looks pretty nice. Better than nothing, huh?”

Hiroshi did not really give it much thought as he started to tune out what they were saying. He stared out the window down at the students walking around. ‘Just another normal day for everyone…something feels off. Why am I getting such a bad feeling about today?’

Demosthenes walked away from the high school pulling down his dark fedora that was matching his business suit that he was wearing. He tilted his head back seeing in the distance Yuki entering the school grounds. His eyes narrowed for a moment before he continued on his way. ‘This has a very bad taste, but it’s for the future King…I must do this…’

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

The remainder of the walk to the school for Yuki and Saki had been peaceful enough, once they had gotten rid of the fairy. However, Saki was forced to be on heightened alert with Yuki. Even though he seemed focused on the outside it was made clear to her that he was losing it inside. She had never seen him lose control of his power so much just on a simple walk. If it continued for them Yuki’s head would be nothing but bumps by the end of the day. ‘What’s bothering him so much? And why doesn’t he want to tell me?’

In school she had to keep Yuki concentrating in the halls. There were two near run-ins with bullies that had issues with Yuki in the past. It surprised her how easily he made enemies from just being clumsy and an easy target. The only thing that saved him that day was Saki as his escort. They were all too afraid to even consider doing anything with her presence near Yuki. While almost everyone knew that she protected Yuki from just about everything; it would still require her company with him to make others afraid. She would never understand why people would think that they could get away with it even if she was nearby, she always knew (almost as though she had radar to detect these sorts of things). ‘I wonder if Ayumi might know something about Yuki’s problem…but I haven’t seen her yet…’

Saki looked in the classroom for Ayumi hoping that she would be able to talk to her quickly before class started, but she had not arrived yet. ‘Hmm…not here yet…well she doesn’t always walk with us…just usually the days I have morning practice…’ However, she had to pay attention to Yuki who was losing control again. “Hey! Yuki! We’re in class!” She slapped him in the back of the head allowing his chair to reappear before he fell to the floor.

“…Oh! Right!” said Yuki starting to laugh sheepishly. “I’m so sorry for causing you so much trouble, Saki!” He began to bow repeatedly to her acting more apologetic with each second.

The attention got to her making her a little red in the face. “It’s fine, Yuki! I’m here for you! It’s a promise!” She forced down the embarrassment to redirect it in the hope of getting a little more out of him. The results were completely opposite of what she was expecting from Yuki.

He turned his head away suddenly having a dark shadow cast over his eyes. “…promise…”

Chapter 56 – Splitting the Dream

From across the room in his seat Hiroshi empty gaze was turned towards Yuki and Saki. He had briefly caught it, though at this point it did not even cause him to a raise an eyebrow to the fact. It almost made him nervous how easily he accepted something that could not possibly be happening. The question of his own sanity came up to him frequently, but he could only answer to himself that if he was questioning himself then he was still sane. However, none of that helped to make it any easy for him to deal. ‘…is it just another day? Then why do I feel so strangely…’

Their homeroom teacher, Ms. Kuniyoshi, arrived bringing the class to order. Hiroshi was not one to pay much attention to homeroom regardless of the day. However, he quickly began to zone out of the class fading away into his memories. He was not certain what he prompted the thought for him, but his nostalgia carried him back to his middle school days.

It was not much different for him being a first year middle school student than it was being a first year high school student. He had dealt with things in the same fashion that had known. Joking and mischief were his tools. They allowed him to get through the days without becoming bored by everything. Hiroshi managed to keep himself up barely above getting in to trouble, knowing almost uncannily when to stop (trait he always failed at with Saki).

School life dragged on for him. His behavior gained him attention, but not friends. It never really bothered him greatly since he always felt like he had someone near to him. However, during the summer term in school there had been a lot of troubles between some of the students. It had been an unusually hot and humid year putting a lot of people on edge. Tensions got to the breaking point and things quickly spiraled out of control.

During the lunch break of those summer days the entire first floor of the school was in an uproar. Hiroshi had been munching on some school bought bread looking bored when he heard a tidal wave of screams. They came from far end of the hall and distinctly girls. He poked his out of the classroom through the door catching someone running by away from the trouble. Hiroshi grabbed the boy with his free hand. “What’s going on?”

The boy looked nervous like he knew, but did not want to say. Which only made Hiroshi even more curious. A little pressure from a well placed lean and stare opened the boy’s lips, but briefly. “The girls in Class 1-E…”

“Yes…” he said pressing for even more information. The boy flipped his head back and forth down the hall looking suspicious by the moment. He then leaned in towards Hiroshi whispering to the rest of it. Upon hearing what happened Hiroshi eye’s immediately widened in surprise. “You can’t be serious! That’s enough to get you expelled!”

The boy nodded to him. “It’s true! And I saw Tatsuya Mori and Kazuhiro Nanase coming out! Everyone’s already saying that it was them!”

Hiroshi roughly let of the boy and marched off down the hall towards the screams with anger building up on his face. “There’s a line that no man should ever cross! I’ll show them where their stupid prank has taken them!” He stomped through the hall pushing everyone that got in his way. The line that had been crossed hit him so that he could not stand and do nothing. He found the two boys trying to flee from the screams only to bump into Hiroshi with the eyes of a demon staring them down. “Where do you two think you’re going!?”

“Who are you?!” Kazuhiro shouted as Hiroshi grabbed his uniform roughly to keep him from running away.

“We didn’t do anything?!” Tatsuya plead as he was restrained as well.

Normally not very strong, Hiroshi had gained a significant surge that allowed him to pin both of them against the wall. His demon eyes refused to turn away from them. “What you did was unforgivable! Do you have no pride as men?!”

“It wasn’t us!”

“Honest! I swear!”

“Disgusting you can’t even own up to what you did!” His teeth began to grind together staring at them with contempt. He pressed the two against the wall even more having difficult control his anger in front of them.

Kazuhiro began to choke and cough giving under the strain. “It wasn’t…I think it was Minori Nakano’s group!”

“Shifting blame now!?”

“Caught the creeps, Hiroshi?” said a girl behind him approaching from another classroom having heard the noise.

Having heard someone speaking to him cut off the rage that boiled in him. He looked over his shoulder to the girl and nodded. “Yeah, Sakura…I’ll take them to the principal’s office right now. Can you make sure the girls are alright?”

“Thanks, Hiroshi!” She smiled to him and ran off to see what she could do to calm everyone down.

The talk with Sakura cooled him down enough that he was finally thinking straight. As he stared at the two boys his gut was speaking to him. ‘Something’s off…’ He had not really been listening clearly to what the two had been saying; he was just simply reacting to the moment. Yet the longer he looked at them the more that he was uncertain about everything. ‘He said something about Minori…wait!’

His mind turned back for a moment to when he was running through hall. It had only been brief and he did not think much of it, but he had seen Minori with his three friends. ‘In all the rage I didn’t notice them, but they…’ Minori was not strictly known as a troublemaker, but what he was known for was holding a grudge worse than the Yazuka. ‘…something doesn’t fit…’

Kazuhiro and Tatsuya began to look at each other feeling a little more comfortable in their confinement by Hiroshi. They were uncertain why he had suddenly stopped and looked deep in thought. However, neither could go anywhere and was left to Hiroshi’s mercy. The moment disappeared though as Hiroshi’s dark look returned and he dragged them away from the wall and pressed them down the hall. “You two are coming with me,” Hiroshi said with an air of doom that left him blue in the face.

When Hiroshi came to pass Minori in the hall he exchanged a brief glance with him. There was a very smug look on his face as well as far too relaxed for something that had the entire floor of the school in chaos. It looked like was almost taunting the two he dragged knowing that they had nothing to prove their own innocence. ‘…I hate people like that even more…’

Hiroshi presented the two of them to the principal dropping them in chairs near the desk. While word had reached to the facility of the school, none of them knew much. So the principal was at a bit of a loss to their presence in his office. Hiroshi quickly explained what he knew of the incident while withholding any names.

“I can’t believe…are you implying that it was these two that caused this?!” the principal said trying to contain his own outrage from hearing the story.

Hiroshi stepped up to the edge of the desk looking closely at the principal. “No! I dragged them along as witnesses. They saw who did it!”

“Then who did it?”

Kazuhiro was about to speak up with Hiroshi stepped in. “I did, sir!” he exclaimed pointing to himself. Kazuhiro and Tatsuya both looked at each other stunned.

The principal’s eyes were twitching furiously. “Are you serious?!” A determined nod came as reply from Hiroshi not flinching. “I can’t believe this! In all my years…” The principal dropped down into his large office chair having to rest from his disbelief. He required a pause to collect his thoughts before looking back at Hiroshi. “I admire your honestly, but regardless I can’t allow you stay in this school. You’re here by expelled and your parents will be called.”

“I understand! I’ll have these two escort me back to my class to take my bag and leave school. I’m sorry.” Hiroshi bowed deeply to the principal and turned away. He pulled Kazuhiro and Tatsuya along with him to get them move, both still unable to even react.

Once they were out of the principal’s office Kazuhiro stepped out in front of Hiroshi forcing him to stop. The cowardly look from before had disappeared. “Why?”

“Because I believe you,” Hiroshi said simply before walking around him to keep walking.

Tatsuya reached out grabbing Hiroshi’s arm to stop him again. “But that doesn’t make any sense! Why would you stand up for us like that and take all of the blame when you did nothing?!”

Hiroshi looked back at them giving a smirk that did not show someone that felt they had did anything special. “I can’t stand people that would do that. They have no pride just for a grudge. And this way he’s failed at his revenge.”

“But how can you be fine with getting expelled?!”

There was no reply to their question. He simply gave them a smile and walked away. The look that Hiroshi had given them had spoke more to them any words could have. While they were not certain, something inside understood the meaning. They chased after him and followed quietly behind him as he entered the class, still in lunch. He left without a word and, for what they thought would be the last time, disappeared down the street from the school.

The next day Hiroshi showed up to class as though nothing had happened. He had been the talk of the entire school, the rumors that he confessed to the incident were well known. It made everyone uneasy by him still being in the school after he left so mysteriously the day before. Kazuhiro and Tatsuya had heard he returned to school and rushed into his class, homeroom was still not starting yet. “Hiroshi!? It’s true then! You’re back!”

“But what about what the principal said!?”

Hiroshi leaned back in his chair with a devilish grin on his face. “The principal called late last night apologizing to my parents. Apparently, Minori was actually the one that did it and ended up confessing to it late after school.”

“Huh?”

“What did you do?”

The smile on Hiroshi turned innocent, almost frightening to be seen on him. “Nothing.” In spite of his words, there was a sense of mystery behind them that implied more than he was letting on. However, Kazuhiro and Tatsuya were not able to get any more out of him and with homeroom starting they were forced to leave.

During lunch, the halls were feeling much safer for everyone. Hiroshi was walking down the hall catching sight of Sakura passing him. He gave her a knowing grin that she responded back with in kind. Nothing more was said on the matter, but the rumors fell away about Hiroshi when they learned he had been falsely accused. After that incident Kazuhiro and Tatsuya both began to hang out with Hiroshi developing his first real friendships. While never reaching the notoriety that Minori had, Hiroshi eventually carved himself a name as a mischievous individual with a surprisingly honest streak.

‘…huh? I fell asleep?’ Hiroshi pulled himself up trying to not draw much attention himself, while figuring that everyone already knew. It took him a moment to figure out what class was being held at the moment. He quickly shifted around his books to look like he was following along while his mind felt a little drowsy still. ‘Can’t believe I was out for two hours…and the teacher said nothing.’

His hand combed through his hair trying to straighten himself out a little. ‘Kazuhiro and Tatsuya…I wonder what brought that on? It has been a long time. I guess at lunch I’ll see if they want to hang out after school. It’s been a while. Just need to talk to Yuki first…’ A relaxed smile pulled up on his lips as some of the stress that he had been feeling seemed to have disappeared. He leaned back in his chair looking towards the window. ‘Maybe it won’t be such a bad day after all…’

The pencil on the desk to his neighbor fell on the floor alerting him. He went to pick it up for them when suddenly books and pencils started all dropping on the floor. It did not take too long for him to realize what was happening. “Earthquake!” The shouts from the students bounced around the room as everyone tried to go for their desk for cover, but it was too late.

A massive crash of breaking cement and earth pounded through the room followed by shattered glass in all the windows. The ground literally felt as though it had jumped under them followed by repeating resounding thuds from neighboring rooms of classrooms falling apart from the sudden cracks in the structure. Outside a jagged cut had been sliced into the middle of the school from the split earth.

Then a voice came through the air with clarity despite its distance. “Yuki Hayashi! Come out!” Down at the school entrance stood Demosthenes staring up towards the school making his declaration to the entire school without any regard to secrecy.

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

The school was still settling from the massive earthquake that had ripped through the ground. It had specifically targeted the school and nothing else, disappearing not long after the building. Dust clouds were billowing out from the debris choking off the screams of students. There was a deep rip through the new and old sections of the school. For the moment, none of the students had anything more than minor injuries; however the collapsing ceilings and fractured structure made it unsafe to stay. Teachers were leading them out to the safety of the ground, most still not certain what was happening. They believed that a real earthquake had struck.

“Yuki Hayashi! Come out!” the voice of Demosthenes echoed through the school piercing all walls. Everyone heard the challenge and all his friends became alerted in the confusion.

Chapter 57 – To Challenge Those that Threaten

Yuki had become quickly paralyzed in fear having heard Demosthenes booming through the school. ‘I thought he was dead! Didn’t Ayumi kill him? Is it someone else?’ He tried to move his legs, but his body remained in his seat. As everyone else in his class had fled from the room Yuki sat at his desk appearing unaffected by the threat.

Saki quickly whipped around from her place, she had been standing alerted by the vibrations, when the school suffered its attack. The voice was not one that she recognized, but her mind immediately went to the one thing that she knew. ‘An assassin’s come for Yuki! During school?!’ She looked down at Yuki seeing how frozen he was, but it made her pause getting the feeling that it was more than just fear that held him this time. It was a feeling that she could not understand, yet it left a heavy lead weight in her stomach. She rushed over to the scattered windows hoping to see the assassin through all of the chaos.

Hiroshi had taken his refuge on the floor when the earthquake hit, but was left confused with the aftermath. ‘Why is someone calling out to Yuki? What’s going on?!’ The other students had tried to get him to leave, but it had left him stunned. Only Kazuhiro and Tatsuya stayed behind trying to pull Hiroshi up to his feet. They had refused to leave him planning to drag him out by his arms.

Yumi along with everyone else had been pulled along with the teachers. She had wanted to stay, but could not disobey the teacher. As she was swept away she could see Yuki being left behind attempting to reach out with her hand towards him. “Yuki!”

Across the school on the lower floor was Fumiko escorting students out of the school quickly. The lower floors were starting to crack and groan from the stress of losing the central supports. When she heard Yuki’s name being echoed through the halls calling him out she froze for a moment. ‘Is it like before with that woman? What’s going on now? They’re endangering the lives of all of the students!’ A couple female students bumped into her snapping her out of her momentary trance. They had been knocked out of line from the stampede. “Are you two alright?” she said offering hands out to them. A shaken cautious nod came from them as they took her offer. ‘I’ve got to make sure everyone is safe first!’

Ayumi was acting frantic trying to wake up Yuki, still stuck to his chair. She yanked on his uniform futility until she collapsed to the ground. Tears were already starting to stream down her face from fear that he was going to die. “Yuki! Please, wake up!”

The cries of Ayumi pulled Saki back into the class. She realized what her focus had to be and ran over to the two of them. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Hiroshi and his friends dragging him away. She had expected that Yuki would have come out of his terror, but it was tightening around him. ‘Yuki’s what’s going on? What’s got you so scared?’ Saki grabbed him up from his chair and carried him over her shoulder as she bent down to get Ayumi’s attention.

Yuki was falling further in to the void of his fears. ‘It’s really him! I know it!’ Hundreds of spears felt like they were being sent through him each poisoned with a limitless horror that ran through his body. The pain crawled under his skin like snakes. He tried to claw at his own body to relieve his tortured shell, but nothing moved. ‘I don’t want to die! He’s going to kill me this time!’

‘Yuki…please…don’t hurt anyone…you’re a kind boy…show them…’

‘Mother!’ His mother voice was becoming distant from him. He could suddenly move his body starting to chase after the fading image. His hand stretched out pleading for her to stay with him. ‘Don’t leave me! I promise I won’t fight! So come back to me, mother!’

‘Yuki…please…don’t hurt anyone…’

Yuki was running until his heart was pounding and she was still fading away from him. He collapsed in the blank empty tunnel that he found himself in. His arms and shoulders were hung over with his back bent down. ‘It’s all my fault! She died because of me!’ Yuki tightened his fists pounding them into the ground. ‘She’s gone because of me! I killed her! I killed mother!’ The world shattered around Yuki leaving only a black void to surround him as he went deeper away from reality.

‘You’re a kind boy…show them…’

‘No, I’m not!’ Yuki clinched his hands around his head falling further into the ground. ‘I’m not kind! I only know how to hurt people!’

‘You don’t have to hurt anymore…’

‘No?’

‘I’ll comfort you so you don’t have to do anything anymore, Yuki.’

‘Mother…’ A warm glow surrounded him providing peace to his troubled mind. All of his thoughts disappeared granting him silence. He did not want to leave.

“Hurry, you guys!” Saki shouted to Kazuhiro and Tatsuya still struggling with Hiroshi. She could let them remain behind. The corner wall took Yuki from Saki as she rushed over to help them with their friend. His zoned out state was uncharacteristic of Hiroshi making Saki worry what had him so trouble. ‘I can’t carry them both and neither of them look that strong. Damn it, Hiroshi!’ She wound up a fist even while they were still trying to drag him along the floor. However, it did not take them more than a second to catch what she was preparing for. Both dived for opposite parts of the floor as Saki whacked him hard in the face sending him through several desks. “Damn you, Hiroshi!”

“Gah! I’m sorry, Saki! I won’t do it again!” Hiroshi said quickly jumping to his feet from the desk that he was laid out on. Kazuhiro and Tatsuya looked between each other embarrassed not saying a word. It took another moment for Hiroshi to become confused and nearly angry. “Wait! What’s going on? I didn’t do anything this time, Saki!”

“You’re daydreaming in the middle of an earthquake! You’re making your friends worried!”

Hearing it from Saki had made him stepped back in shock. He looked over at the two of them on the floor with relieved faces to see that he was back to normal. Hiroshi rubbed the back of his head not sure what he should say. However, it was when he turned his eyes back to Saki that made him freeze up for a moment. It felt as though she was meaning something more from her words. “W-Well I…I’m sorry, everyone!”

Kazuhiro and Tatsuya picked themselves up off the floor and joined him. They were smiling, glad to have him back. However, the building suddenly shook again making them all fall to brace themselves. It felt as though another earthquake was hitting even stronger than the one before. Ceiling tiles began to fall down on desks with lights popping. The floor began to develop cracks even as far as away as they were from the center of the damage. There was not much holding the building together once the second earthquake came to an end.

“Yuki!” Saki shouted as she looked over to check on him with the building settling again. She was caught off guard by a wave that pulsed out of him. There was only a second to react when she looked over at Ayumi for a confirmation before the entire floor disappeared underneath them. A moment hung for them before they realized they were going to fall and all fears of death came rushing into their minds. Races of thoughts passed through everyone’s mind trying to understand what happened. However, the time never came and they all looked around at each other to find themselves slowly descending to the ground.

“Ayumi? What’s going on?” yelled Saki across the air in the near zero gravity she floated in. Hiroshi and his friends were holding on to each other trying to remain calm.

Ayumi looked over at Saki narrowly as though she was considering her action. “His power’s activated and his field is removing everything within its radius. So there’s no longer a building to support us, but it seems he’s placed into it a low gravity law as well.” She came to a graceful landing in the grass of his field while his friends fell over, not prepared. The earth suddenly began to shake once more, but this time it was coming from Yuki. Stone and earth pierced through the field surrounding Yuki before falling against each other in a rough pyramid. The ground still shook though as Ayumi realized that he was not stopping. “Get out of here everyone!”

Saki did not know what was going on, but trusted Ayumi’s words enough to flee. However, Hiroshi was still confused as was his friends leaving them stuck where they stood. Ayumi raced over to them as even larger stones rose up from the earth to cover on top. Layers upon layers were being summoned to encase Yuki with them losing ground fast. “You three got to run now!” shouted Ayumi in a demanding voice that they had never heard before. They blinked for a moment before acknowledging her command and sprinted away. It was just in time as the earth underneath them was torn violently away with larger blocks of stone.

Slowly the earth stopped shaking allowing the dust to finally settle. Once it was finished a massive pile of rock and earth nearly half as tall as the school was stood where Yuki had landed. Most of the students were across the street keeping their distance from where only a part of their school still stood, a hemisphere cut out of the building barely larger than the stone that surrounded him. Saki and Ayumi ran up to the edge. It appeared that the school and earth were almost merged together with how closely they were to each other.

Saki pounded on the stone trying to reach Yuki buried inside. “Yuki! Can you hear me?! We’ll get you out!” Ayumi grabbed Saki’s shoulder with her hand pulling back her attention. “Ayumi, what’s going on? Can you do anything?”

“This is of his own doing, Saki.” Ayumi thought back to the time that she was first training him. She had seen this defense used by him before. It was difficult for her to crack his defense even focused. ‘I don’t know if I can’t break this.’

Saki turned around facing her, with Hiroshi unknown to her joining them. “You can use your power to cancel this, right?! That how it works, right?”

There was a pause in Ayumi’s words, not the quick reply they were expecting. “It’s different this time. Normally, Yuki’s field stretches out to its usual length. However, it’s barely larger than mine right now. He’s subconsciously focused his field into a smaller area to strengthen it. His field strength is already unnaturally high, like this he’s made the perfect defense. I’m not strong enough to cancel this.”

“What?!” Saki exclaimed in panic looking back at the stone mound. ‘…why Yuki? What’s wrong? This isn’t like you…’

“You know what’s going on don’t you?” Hiroshi said stepping up finally addressing both Ayumi and Saki. There was a determined look in his eyes expecting an answer from him. However, Saki only turned over her shoulder with sorrowful eyes.

Ayumi raised up her hand to Hiroshi’s face. “This doesn’t concern you!” she said as prepared to release her field. An explosion behind her took her by surprise knocking her into Hiroshi and sending the three of them to the grass. The black cloud burst over them covering the entire school grounds. A dull ringing was left in their ears when everything passed. Ayumi turned over to see the stone unaltered. Her eyes narrowed for a moment in calculation.

As the wind blew out the smoke an aged man in a businessman’s suit stood on the school ground. Demosthenes had made his appearance and Ayumi remembered his face. She had let out a low tick from her mouth in annoyance at seeing him alive still. “You just don’t know how to die, old man…” mocked Ayumi as she stood up. Her snow field was immediately released around her and sword in hand.

“The young woman from last night,” Demosthenes mused from memory. His grass field appeared quickly covering a significantly larger radius compared to Ayumi. A spear was held in his hand, politely waiting. He rubbed his chest recalling what had happened before. “I can admire your resolve to a quick battle, but you’re not my opponent. I’m only here for the false King.”

Saki understood the way their powers work well enough to see that Ayumi was out classed by this new assassin. She ran up alongside Ayumi taking to a defensive stance. There was a momentary look from the corner of Ayumi’s eye at Saki. “This guy’s beyond you. I’m not about to let you do this alone. We’ll protect Yuki together!”

“Hrmph…do what you want.” Ayumi ran over to place herself between Yuki and the assassin. Her sword was held out challenging Demosthenes. “He’s the true heir! He’s your King, our King! And I won’t let you kill him!”

“Yuki’s my friend! I won’t let you hurt him!” said Saki joining Ayumi at her side. While her words sounded sure her body questioned their resolve. She did not know what to expect from this assassin. Saki only knew that he was the strongest that she had seen.

Demosthenes closed his eyes briefly carrying a warm smile to his face. He opened them and focused on the two girls that stood in his way. “I commend your resolve and bravery. However…” The words trailed off as he sprinted forward with his spear in both hands. His eyes held firm with no mercy to be given.

‘You’re safe in here, my son.’

‘…mother…’ Yuki smiled warmly in the comforting arms of his mother. He was able to feel completely safe with her like he had not felt since his powers had awakened. Nothing would be hurt by him.

‘And I won’t let you kill him!’ whispered Ayumi’s voice through the stone dully echoing in the tiny chamber. It sparked a moment of doubt in Yuki’s heart.

‘Yuki’s my friend! I won’t let you hurt him!’ came Saki’s voice weakly.

Yuki turned his head up, his mother’s arms still wrapped gently around his shoulders. Painted roughly on the wall was the scene outside. He could see Ayumi and Saki standing in front and between them Demosthenes further away running towards them. “No! He’s too strong for you! You can’t win!” Yuki tried to stand up to reach out to them, but he was held back.

‘…You’re safe here…’

“I-I’m safe…” He began to close his eyes once more, but was stopped by the sound of weapons clashing. Demosthenes exchanged several quick parries with Ayumi before he caught an opening in her and ran her through the stomach. Blood sprayed across the stone as she collapsed to the ground struggling to get to her feet. Saki was next with only speed keeping her alive, but only for a moment before she was cut down, a deep gash lining from her shoulder down across her chest. They were both taken down with almost no effort and Demosthenes stared finished in his stance looking through to Yuki. Yuki’s eyes were shaking violently seeing them both lying there. “Saki! Ayumi!”

Ayumi fought to get back to her feet unwilling to give up. She coughed up blood that dripped against her sword that shook in her weak hand. Barely able to stand, Saki staggered forward with stubborn determination. “No! Stop you two! P-please…” Yuki struggled against the arms that held him back trying to reach for them. All he was shown was a flash of the spear as blood sprayed through the air with both of them collapsing. “NO!”

‘…Yuki…’

“…mother…I-I…” Yuki collapsed to the ground with tears beginning to build in his eyes. The helplessness that he felt grew into a weight in his chest against his pounding heart. He could not look anymore.

‘You call yourself a man! Attacking two girls like that!’ Hiroshi voice shouted dully through the walls.

‘We won’t let you hurt our friends anymore!’ Kazuhiro declared standing next Hiroshi.

‘This stops here!’ Tatsuya added standing opposite Kazuhiro.

“No! Guys stop! W-why?!”

‘I-I won’t let you hurt Yuki!’ Yumi bravely said suddenly joining them.

‘Right!’ said Katsumi smiling.

‘Yeah! Yuki’s our friend!’ Kaede announced jumping in beside them.

‘You’re violence ends here!’ Fumiko roughly spoke standing behind them and still being seen. They were soon joined by others from Yuki’s class and other students. All of them gathered in front of the school standing to protect Ayumi and Saki who had fallen with Yuki behind them.

Yuki did not know what was happening anymore stunned by the sudden surge of classmates that were standing up for him. Everyone that he thought just ignored him was standing to defend him. They were protecting him. He could not move. “W-What should I do, mother?”

Demothenes outside narrowed his eyes seeing the changing situation. He pulled back his spear letting it rest at his side. Then he closed his eyes taking a long moment of pause. Those around him waited uncertain what was going to happen next. The tension in the air slowly built as the man remained ever still. “Time’s up…” he said softly snapping his eyes back open staring into the crowd. “For the King!” He had thrust up his hand into the air bringing attention to it before he snapped his fingers together echoing a pulsing sound through the crowd. Suddenly, the charm on Kazuhiro’s bag that hung at his side lit up before exploding violent in the crowd.

“NO!!!” Yuki screamed in horror.

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

“NO!!!” Yuki screamed in horror. He was unable to do anything, but watch as his friends and classmates were all consumed in the explosion. His hands began to shake violently. The view was too much for him to look at and he turned his head away burying it his knees. “W-Why?! They were innocent…”

At his side on his left appeared a faint image of him from a year ago. ‘I killed her! It’s all my fault! I killed mother!’

Yuki dug his face further into his knees not wanting to hear the truth any longer. The images of his mother on her dead bed haunted him making him want to close his eyes even more than they were already. Wrinkles along his eyebrows grew with the pain of hearing screams of his friends. “I killed mother! And now I killed my friends too!”

‘Everything’s my fault! I’m the cause of everyone’s pain!’ The ghost of himself was becoming frantic throwing his arms out. There was nothing it could do to save itself.

“I don’t deserve to keep living when all I do is take…” A slow resigned breath escaped his lips as he let the thought sink in. He had thought that he was living for his promise, but it had become so heavy. All he brought with him was sadness no matter how much he smiled. It had to end.

Chapter 58 – The Soul of my Brother

‘That’s right!’ Another partial image appeared by Yuki on his right as a child from when he was younger.

The view of the outside faded away from him leaving him in darkness with only the two selves to be with him. In the blanket of the void that he hid his heart only sank further with each thought only reaffirming his own worthlessness. “They’ll be better off without me…”

‘Yes, they can stop protecting you!’ the boy said to him again.

“Protecting?” said Yuki dully having to think. As he recalled with each assassin that had come after him someone was always protecting him. “Always protecting me…” The portal to the outside returned shining a bright light on Yuki forcing his gaze up towards it. However, unlike before there was no view of the school grounds with his friends. When the light faded away he could see a scene from his memory; the first assassin that attacked him had him cornered and would have killed him.

The man charged in with his sand surrounding the high jump mat and pole quickly staring down Yuki. Yuki did not try to flee. He drew up his sword from the sand once more pulling it back with both hands to thrust through Yuki for the final blow.

Yuki closed his eyes waiting for the blade to strike. It was over. The blade came in for the kill and time passed on. Yuki winced in pain, but he then looked around to see someone in front of him. Someone had actually come to save him. It took him a moment for him to stare at the person’s back to realize who it actually was.

“You?!” Yuki eyes widened in surprised to see that it was her that came to save him. He did not think that there was anyone near that saw them. “Ayumi…why?” Ayumi struggled with the assassin’s strength using a sword of her own to hold back the attack that would have kill Yuki. While she held her ground against the attacker she divided some of her attention to Yuki. “I told you before that I will be here to protect you. While I’m here no more harm will come to you.”

Yuki nodded to himself as the memory faded away leaving the portal empty. “Ayumi saved me that day. She’s always saving me. It’s her job…” Seeing the memory did not help him making his mind feel heavy still. He wanted to turn away, but there was something new playing for him. It made his eyes widen in shock and pain. “That night…NO! Don’t show it to me!” The night that the second assassin attacked and hurt his family began to run for him. Momoko was forced to stand up for him that time fighting the man that threatened them because Yuki was unable.

Momoko turned part way from facing down the assassin to see what had happened. They were trapped from leaving and every time they moved there were even more obstacles in their way. She turned back to the assassin charging towards him not certain what she was going to do. “Leave children out this!”

“Well at least you have more of a spine than him,” he said with Yuki over his right shoulder hanging helpless. Momoko slid down in the blood soaking her clothes as the man took a swing at her with his bare hands. She attempted to rise up to hit him from behind, but he was already taking his evaded swing completely around as he rotated his body to face her again.

Momoko did not see the change fast enough to react. The man’s fist connected with her face as she was coming in for her strike knocking her to the ground a few feet away. Her lip was cut starting to bleed down her chin with a deep red bruise starting to appear. She pulled herself up halfway sitting in the pool staring back while she wiped away the blood. A moment later she stood up to her feet feeling the blood that she was soaked in dripping from her clothes.

“Not bad. However…”

Momoko body arched forward as her eyes widened in shock. There was a wet dull sound from behind her that left Yuki shaking violently to break free. Ken and Jun turned to Momoko seeing her slowly fall down face first into the pool of blood. Behind her several spikes of blood from the pool that had been hardened retracted back into the pool. “K-Ken…” she said slowly stretching her arm out towards them. Her body would not move for her. “J-Jun…” Momoko gasped for air breathing desperately for one more minute to come. “Yuki…save…your…broth-“ Her eyes faded away as the last movements of her body came to a sharp stop. The last ripples from her body pushed out.

“Momoko!!”

“No more!” Yuki shouted getting up to his feet. The memory was gone, but it seemed to be relentless. He tightened his fists together becoming angry. “I should have been the one! Not her!”

“But you’ve done nothing!” the child said to him again. A new memory surfaced in front of Yuki. It was the plant assassin that had kidnapped Saki and her friend. “Your friends still kept protecting you even when you had the strength!”

“Yuki lookout!”

Yuki turned his head catching that the attacks had suddenly changed from Ayumi to him. There was several vines flying straight at him and Ayumi was caught up by some other vines keeping her from being able to intervene. His eyes widened in shock as he knew that he was not going to be able get out of way in time. All he could do was protect himself with his arms bringing them up to take the hits with the fairy flailing in his hand panicking.

Blood and the slicing of flesh echoed around Yuki’s ears as he was knocked to the ground losing his hold on the fairy, which flew away to safety in the rafters. Yuki took a moment, but realized quickly that he was not hurting. He opened his eyes seeing Saki in front of him with her arms bleeding from being hit by the vines. “Saki!?” Yuki leapt to his feet to get to Saki in time, but she put her arm out stopping him. He was taken aback by her endurance to be standing still.

“Yuki… I made you a promise. I’m not about to break it now!” Saki narrowed her face staring down at the man in vines ready to challenge him.

“…Saki…why…you don’t need to remember that promise we made! I’m not worth it!” Yuki shouted to the fading memory futility. Each memory was making him angrier than the last. His fists were shaking at his side barely held together.

“Yet they keep saving your life!” came the child’s voice once more. Seiji was standing on the portal in front of Yuki drawing up another unwanted memory.

Yuki went to grab Seiji’s arm to pull him back, but he was stunned when Seiji stepped in front of Yuki standing between the assassin and him. “Seiji! What are you doing? You’ve got to run!” Yuki ran to Seiji to get around him, but Seiji put out his arm stopping before Yuki could get the chance. Yuki pressed against Seiji’s arm trying to plead with him to run. “No, Seiji! You can’t take him! Run away! Seiji!”

“Yuki!” Seiji shouted back making Yuki close his mouth and snap up quickly like he had been scolded by a parent. “Just stand back and let me handle this, Yuki.” Seiji stepped forward leaving Yuki behind to come face to face with the behemoth of a man.

Yuki rushed forward a few steps towards Seiji still hoping that he could convince Seiji from his decision. “Seiji… Please, you have to get away!”

Seiji turned his head a little to look back at Yuki. “Then who would fight him? …I’ve known, Yuki. I’ve known for a while.”

“What are you talking about, Seiji?”

“You’re different now. I know that. I’ve been trying to find a way to talk to you about it for a while, but I’m no good at these things. You can’t fight anymore. I understand that. So I’ll return the debt I owe now and for here on. I’ll fight in your place, Yuki.”

“Seiji…you didn’t…” He turned his head down for a moment trying to keep his whole body from shaking. It was becoming too much for him to hold in. “All I’ve been doing is calling for help.” Another memory was calling him and he turned up his eyes with them starting to narrow.

‘No more defenses… Nothing’s stopping her!’ The assassin pulled up her sword swinging it to cut him in two through the waist. Yuki could only watch the moments tick by seeing the sword coming for him this time with death riding behind it. His vision seemed to blur for a moment as he saw a strange shadow pass in front of him before a massive amount of blood sprayed everywhere. He suddenly knew who it was protecting him again. “Ayumi!”

“…Ayumi…you keep giving your life for me…what have I done…” He could feel his heart pounding fiercely no longer willing to keep taking it. “I can’t let this continue…” The end of his duel with Demosthenes showed up for him still being a painful reminder.

Demosthenes turned looking down at Yuki. “I respect your will to live, but will is not enough to make you worthy of his power.” He pulled the spear back up raising it above his head to bring it down for the final blow to end Yuki’s misery. The blade shined brightly as it sailed through the air spraying blood from the deep wound. The last breath of life was exhaled.

Crimson liquid flowed through like a river from a shattering wet thump. The life was quickly extinguished at that moment pierced through the heart with a long blade that was soaked in blood left held out the front of the chest. Demosthenes’ wide eyes were left frozen as he collapsed to his knees with only the blade of a sword keeping him from hitting the ground. The metal was retracted from his corpse falling slowly to the street, the field fading away.

Yuki’s eyes were held wide open in shock seeing the man that had effortlessly beat him taken down by a sneak attack. Out of the shadows of night stepped Ayumi with a cold empty expression in her eyes looking down upon Yuki. “…worthless…”

“…I have been worthless…but no longer! I can’t just let everyone keep protecting me! I have to fight for myself!” Yuki could feel the burning in his body that was agreeing with him. The shaking in his hands had finally come to a stop. He was feeling certain with the last of the memories having ended.

“No! You can’t fight!” said the younger version of him from a year before. His phantom interjected into the scene with protest. “It was your fighting that made mother sick! She died because of the fighting! You can’t fight!”

“…mother…I promised…”

The child snapped in suddenly silencing the boy. “You can’t even remember your promise clearly! It’s become blurred by your guilt!”

“What?!” Yuki said turning around facing both of his phantoms with confusion. “I know what I happened!” He leaned over toward the child lifting up his left hand squeezing his fist with certainty. However, the child looked back at him holding a stare in his eyes that made him question it.

“…Yuki…is that you?” said a shallow voice from the room. Yuki could never forget his mother’s voice and nearly became paralyzed hearing it. He turned back around towards the portal not certain what it was going to show him.

Yuki pressed himself into the entry way feeling a sense of dread crawling up into his legs. “…mother…”

“…Yuki…you can come…in…” his mother said in a weakening voice. There was little strength left in any part of her as she simply lay in the bed. It took great effort for her to move even her hand.

Yuki rushed into the room having been beckoned and seeing how much she was struggling to greet him. She was trying to pull herself up out of the bed for him. “It’s alright, mother… I’m here. You don’t need to get up for me!” Seeing how she was pained and how desperately she was struggling made Yuki feel like he was covered in needles all piercing his skin leaving it all numb.

She eased back into her bed resting her hand on Yuki’s hands at the side of the bed. She had managed a smile for him with her half closed eyes looking over at him. “How are you…doing, dear?”

“I-I’m fine! Get some rest so that you can get better!” Yuki was on the edge of pleading with his mother. It was too much for him to see her in such a condition. He was completely helpless to do anything for her.

“How’s…school?”

Those words had made him freeze stiff. The pounding of fear that had been starting to fade was renewed with even greater crushing strength. “School?” questioned Yuki weakly wishing that he could avoid the subject, but his mind was already painfully reminding him. All he could manage was to place his hand on his mother’s hand for reassurance. “…it’ll be alright...mother…you don’t have to worry anymore…I won’t fight anymore mother! So please get better!”

“…Yuki…” His mother’s eyes closed slowly followed by a long exhaled breath. It pulled him up on his legs leaning in towards her fearing that she would never open her eyes again. The shallow, quick breathing came to a rest as she opened her eyes to look back at Yuki. “Yuki smile for me just once more…” It seemed to be getting more difficult for her to even speak bringing her short of breath with each word.

Yuki hand’s were tightening up wrapped firmly around his mother’s. His fears wound as tension in his fingers through his silent prayers. “Mother! Please! Don’t talk like that!” He was dragged in towards her feeling her hand suddenly become loose. It felt as though the life was slowly being pulled away from her forced to keep her core barely alive. “Mother?! Please! I won’t cause you trouble anymore, mother!”

She coughed a couple times and coming to a long quiet rest. Her half opened eyes looked on him softly. “Yuki…please …” The labored breathing from her became further drawn out as her eyes closed once more. She struggled to open her eyes waiting for Yuki. Yuki with tears in his eyes he weakly pulled up a smile as his mother requested. She was able to see it and be filled with warmth that passed to him growing his smile until it became pure. Her eyes closed with a smile on her face.

He pulled a little at her hand tightening his hands around her hand hoping for a sign that she was still with him. “Mother! Mother…” His head hung low looking away from her. The words that she had spoke to him spinning in his mind.

The fading warmth in her body was able to smile softly to him. “…th..ank…you…” A constant ringing filled the room. There was a moment of silence as Yuki froze.

He snapped his head up towards her breaking away the tears that sprayed through the air trying to see that his mother was still alive. “Mother! I’ll keep smiling for you if you just open your eyes! So please! Please…open your eyes just once more for me…” There was no response from her apart from the lasting smile that was left on her face with the ringing in his ears. “Mother! Please just once more…open your eyes! I promise! Mother!” Yuki head fell into the sheets weeping and screaming until his throat ran dry. Yet he continued even when his voice gave out. None of the doctors or nurses dared to enter the room. After his voice had been lost and his tears dry Yuki stood up and left the room in silence. It would be a silence that he kept for a month with no one able to understand what he was thinking.

“No! That’s a lie!” the boy shouted trying to deny what Yuki had just seen.

“It’s the truth! You never made a promise with her to stop fighting! You made with yourself!”

“It was me?!” Yuki said still not able to believe what he had seen. He had thought that he knew his memories, but they had become twisted somehow. As the realization suddenly set in there a massive weight released for him and a new light shining that he had not seen in so long.

A distant voice from his past came whispering him. “You got into a fight again, Yuki? Remember your fists are to protect others. Promise me, you’ll use them to protect the ones you love, Yuki.” The voice belonged to his mother when Yuki was still young. Yuki was able to remember how she had always scolded him about his fighting and that she made him promise that every time got into a fight.

‘That’s right! It was after father died and I started fighting anyone I saw. She would always make me promise even though I kept getting into fights. When mother got sick I blamed myself; I thought that it was because I hadn’t kept that promise. But now I remember the truth!’ He could look forward once more with a clear heart and mind. “I will, mother! I have the power to protect my friends and I will use it!” Yuki shouted up to the ceiling with the ground suddenly shining. The cracks began to appear in the earthen wall that protected him. Violent waves were issuing forth from feet with each coming faster than the next. The boy held a worried look on his face before he faded away. The child faded away in silence with an almost sinister grin on his face.

Outside Demosthenes began to march forward not waiting for the dust cloud to disappear. However, he came to a stop when he felt the ground shaking suddenly. Soon beams of light burst from the cloud followed by pulsing waves. “Is it…” A wind broke from the epicenter pushing away the cloud. The stone fortress that had protected Yuki was developing numerous cracks making Demosthenes’ eyes narrow in concern. A moment later the entire field shattered to pieces vaporizing into the air as Yuki stepped out.

The wind blew up again spiraling around Yuki as a light covered him. Pulled into the center were particles that laid upon his body shining brighter until shattered away to reveal new clothes. He was wearing a distinctly more Asian inspired wardrobe that crossed between a formal robes and a fighter’s gi. Yuki had a new look in his eyes as he stared down Demosthenes with unseen determination. “I won’t let you hurt my friends any longer, Demosthenes. I promise will protect everyone!”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

Monou High School stood in silence with not even a stone tumbling. A hush had been drawn over the land for the moment that two fierce pairs of eyes exchanged looks. The sun high above looked down about the battlefield with anticipation as the two stood unmoved for seconds. A strong gust was the signal to break when Yuki turned away from Demosthenes towards Saki lying on the ground still desperately fighting to stay conscious.

He knelt down to lift up her head seeing her light blue eyes defiantly staring up to him. A gentle calm came over his eyes as he watched. “It’ll be alright, Saki. Let me protect you now. You’ve been protecting me for long enough.”

She could not answer him immediately, but through the pause gained some strength. “…Yuki…please…”

“I know, Saki,” he said brushing aside a few strains of her black hair that had gotten in her face. “But I can’t stay by and watch my friends be hurt because of me. You know how much that hurts me.”

Saki coughed before her closed her eyes momentarily in understanding. As she stared at him there was a different look that she had seen in such a long time. ‘Yuki’s willing to fight, but it’s not because he’s doing it to enjoy it. There’s a kind, gentle look in his eyes like when he was much younger. Please stay like that, Yuki…’

He laid her back down on the ground. Yuki stood back and closed his eyes for a moment. Green waves burst from his feet quickly expanding out beyond the school faintly disappearing. Particles of energy lifted up from the grass, sidewalk and wall filling the air with a dancing show of lights. The energy began to be drawn into groups as it hovered over students that lay on the ground and entering their bodies filling them with warmth. Wounds, scrapes and bruises were all quickly mended together restoring vitality to them. Voices were murmuring across the school grounds as the light faded away.

“Everyone listen up!” Yuki declared across the field with a loud as possible voice. “Once you can move please run away out of the school.” There was a pause in his words as he thought back to what they had all done for him to protect him. “I’m grateful that you protected me, but this is my fight to deal with now. I don’t want anyone else to be hurt because of me.”

Demosthenes watched on monitoring the skill of Yuki having become curious. He could clearly tell that he was no longer staring at the same child he had faced the day before. The change that he had undergone was sudden and drastic; if he moved without knowing his enemy it would only mean inviting death. ‘He’s able to heal this many people at once? Does he truly bare the power of the King?’

Saki stood up walking over to Yuki once she had been healed. “Yuki, let me fight with you!” She was clinching her fists tightly trying to hold down the boiling emotions that were threatening to rage with her.

“This is his fight, Saki,” Ayumi said flatly as she approached from the opposite side. Her stance was completely ignoring the fact that she had been injured previous, while many of the student felt compelled almost to hobble away.

“But I—“

“Hey, wake up man!” Hiroshi shouted in panic as fear was woven through his voice. They all turned around running over to Hiroshi’s side where Kazuhiro was laying. Kazuhiro’s still body was unmoved by Hiroshi’s shaking. All of the wounds that he had suffered were repaired, but he still remained unconscious.

Yuki knelt down next to Hiroshi staring at Kazuhiro emotionless face trying to find life. He turned back over to Ayumi to looking for an answer from her. “Why isn’t he waking up? I healed his injuries!”

Ayumi joined them on the opposite side examining his body before checking for a pulse at his neck. She looked up at Yuki once she had finished. “He’s dead,” she hollowly said.

“What?! But I healed him, Ayumi! He should have been fine!”

“You can’t bring back the dead, Yuki. You can fix his body, but not his soul.”

“What are you talking about?” demanded Hiroshi looking between them. He was still holding on to his friend’s hand. Tatsuya had finally joined them hearing the worried voices. Hiroshi was barely keeping his voice from failing him hearing Ayumi’s declaration.

Ayumi stood up starting to walk away from the scene. It was not her place to be. However, Hiroshi grabbed her wrist quickly holding her from leaving. “What do you want?”

“Fix him, damn it! I-I…” Hiroshi’s features were wavering under his emotions. His lips were quivering from the thought that his friend was really dead. “I know! I know about you! I don’t understand it, but you can fix him!”

Everyone froze when Ayumi loudly slapped Hiroshi across the face. “Dead means dead! We aren’t gods!” There was hidden emotion behind the words that she spoke with a meaning that only she could understand.

Hearing the words had hit Hiroshi hard as he collapsed to the ground next to his friend. Tatsuya remained quiet trying to hold back tears. “…Kazuhiro…”

Yuki stared down at Kazuhiro’s body feeling his own emotions raging out of control. They were causing his arms to begin to shake soon followed by his body. However, it was not fear that made him quiver so; anger was boiling in his blood. He had been calm before thinking that he could save everyone and defeat Demosthenes, but it was different now. ‘He killed Kazuhiro… He killed my friend…’ Yuki started to turn slowly away from them towards Demosthenes, his head tilted down with his dark blue hair hanging over his eyes blocking them for view. ‘This was just supposed to be about me… How could he…’ His body felt warm as though a fire was burning in his blood. ‘I can’t let this continue any longer…’ The pounding in his heart was all he could hear through the echoes of Kazuhiro voice screaming out to him.

“Ayumi…Saki…” Yuki said softly through tremendous control that still was barely enough to keep the shaking from his voice. “Take them away from here please.”

“Yuki! I’m not leaving you!” Saki screamed starting to run for him only to be stopped by Yuki.

His head tilted over his shoulder with only one eye connecting with her. Deep despair surrounded by an immense fury glowed in his light brown eye. It had frozen Saki in her step. “I’m sorry, Saki. I don’t want anyone to see me like this.”

The emotions that were being transferred through his eyes were choking off her voice. ‘He’s struggling…that’s why I should be here!’ However, her own body was not acting as he wished, still paralyzed. “You don’t have to face this alone, Yuki! I know—“


“Please!” he shouted interrupting her quickly feeling the flames in his body getting fiercer. “I can’t protect you like this…and I don’t know…what’ll happen right now. Ayumi…” Yuki appealed to her hoping that she would understand and grant his wish.

“I understand,” she said calmly.

“Ayumi?!” questioned Saki turning around.

The snow field had suddenly activated for her and raising a wall around her perimeter shutting off Saki from Yuki. Dull pounded from Saki could be heard through the semi-opaque ice barrier as it began to move with Ayumi forcing the others to move. They were soon out of sight having gone straight through the school.

Yuki returned to face Demosthenes with waves of energy starting to pulse from his feet through the ground as an ill omen. Demosthenes had been patiently waiting the entire time just simply watching. It made Yuki feel even more enraged as though he was just an observer rather than one that had actually killed his friend. “…Demosthenes Alexander…”

“…Yuki Hayashi…”

Chapter 59 – The True Awakening

“So it seems you’re finally ready for our duel. Prove to me that you deserve the title of King!” His field had been up the entire time, but an intensity seemed to glow from it as a couple waves pulsed from his feet. He tightened his grip on the spear in his hands waiting for Yuki to summon his field.

A wind drew down to Yuki like a tornado seated atop him acting like a funnel on the clouds in the sky. It poured the clouds out into the ground rapidly to hit like an explosion. Pulsing waves issued forth stronger from Yuki’s feet passing by Demosthenes and continuing beyond him. ‘He’s got a flair for the theatrical it seems, but his range…’ The forced feed clouds hung like a fog creating an uneasy tension that concealed the raging torrent.

“No…” pierced Yuki’s voice through the fog as it began to evaporate into the air. “This won’t be a duel!” Yuki’s face was narrowed in uncontrollable emotions once he was revealed through the dissipating clouds. The pulsing waves became thicker as they were being released from his feet as though they were clumping together. The slowly vibrating earth beneath them seemed to be responding to his fury that was barely being held in check by Yuki. “You killed Kazuhiro! You killed my friend! I won’t let you think this is a duel anymore!” There were thin streams of tears in his eyes as he was shouting the words. Then as though his declaration had been the final lock on the cage of his heart the earth leapt into the air. A wave of earth broken apart by the unnatural bending rose from Yuki shooting out like a shockwave at blinding speeds. Everything it is wake was completely altered as the wave did not seem to stop. No buildings were left as far as the horizon could be seen just a vast field of tall grass and infrequently placed trees.

The old man had barely been able to defend himself from the release of the field. It had only been his own field strength that dampened it enough for him to brush it off as an illusion. He had no time to react, it had such speed. ‘Such power…I can’t see an end to his field…it’s been a while since I’ve seen such power displayed…’ Demosthenes reaffirmed his hold on his spear staring down Yuki.

“…Yuki…” Saki nearly whispered as she watched from what Ayumi had declared a safe distance. She was still keeping them from leaving, but allowed a clear barrier for them to be able to see.

Ayumi narrowed her eyes in concern as she analyzed the scene. ‘His field is far larger than it’s ever been… There’s something wrong with this field…’

Yuki stood in the grass unarmed still wearing the white pants of a gi that hung loose on his legs. The white formal appearing robes over the upper part of his body were separated into layers. A longer sleeve form fitting undershirt extended out from the robes to a little past his elbow. Held over top was the second layer to the robes held loosely to his body with a thick obi around his waist up to his stomach. The third layer of clothes fell over top the two bound layers like a long vest-like coat. Laid out upon the silk material were pale organic designs stitched to produce a raised surface on the clothes.

Across the grass in a lower cut grass field stood Demosthenes with a couple spare weapons littered in his field. “You need a weapon for us to begin,” he beckoned out to Yuki.

“For this fight I don’t need a weapon!” retorted Yuki as he charged forward into a full sprint.

Demosthenes could see that Yuki was serious about take him on with only his fists and accepted his resolve. The spear sung through the air as he made a slicing swing once Yuki came in range, but Yuki evaded the attack by changing his movement. ‘His reflexes are faster…’ Another swing at Yuki was dodged as he was keeping him at a distance. A quick series of swings from the spear left them still unchanged. Yuki was avoiding any attempt gaining barely any ground in reaching him through the range of the spear. Tactics were changed as an opening was found allowing him to thrust at Yuki.

There was a dull ring of the blade’s metal at the spear came to an empty stop. It caught the old man off guard seeing Yuki stopped the tip of the spear with merely his palm. A faint wave echoed from his hand as it held back the spear at no more than a centimeter from piercing his skin. Their actions were paused there as Demosthenes gauged what had occurred.

The spear retreated back and took another swing down at Yuki with it being suddenly blocked by his crossed forearms. Once more the blade was held a short distance away from his skin never making contact. Demosthenes continued to test out Yuki’s defenses never able to make it through to wound him. In the last thrust Yuki blocked the blade with his left hand coming in close to Demosthenes and gripped it bare. His right hand then rammed through the shaft of the spear slicing it in two as he spun around. Baring out the spear head, his left hand clasped the shaft at the end of the blade head rotating to run it into the old man’s ribs.

Demosthenes staggered back a step taken aback by how swiftly he had been countered. He had been unable to remove the spear in time and now blood was slowly dripping from his wound. The pain was stabbing deep into his chest from spear as he ripped it free from his body. Even through the pain his mind was still trying to understand what Yuki was doing. “You…You blocked everything. How?”

Yuki adjusted himself to face the man still with rage filled eyes that had been staring at him the entire time. “It’s nothing that a dead man needs to be concerned with…” He raised up his hand with his fingers aimed flat. A moment later the tensed muscles released burying the hand in the chest of Demosthenes. Yuki pulled his hand out trailing blood through the air with is coated fingers. There seemed to be a release in his features as Yuki stepped back.

The old man collapsed to his knees before falling over, shock still etched into his face. Yuki closed his eyes taking in the moment. His mind was still holding images of Kazuhiro, playing repeatedly for him during the fight. “I’m sorry, Kazuhiro…please forgive me…” A stream of tears fell down his shut eyes as he pulled his head back to face the sky.

Cold wind suddenly blew through the area pulling Yuki’s eyes open. There was something inside him that was telling him something was wrong. It broke through his sorrowful emotions trying to clear his mind. Yuki alerted himself scanning the area seeing nothing, but a large circle of shortly cut grass embedded in his own. “What’s with the grass here?” he said slowly realizing that it did not make any sense. He marched forward searching everywhere trying to understand what was going on.

“It would seem you’ve found your strength,” a bodiless voice declared.

It only took Yuki a moment to recognize the voice as Demosthenes. He turned back towards the body, but it was no longer there. The body had disappeared completely. “Where are you?”

“Right here.” The source of the voice became visible as though a mirage had been lifted from the area. It was the old man standing completely unharmed by any of the attacks from Yuki with a renewed spear in hand.

Yuki narrowed his eyes in confusion. “What are you immortal? I’ve seen you killed twice.”

“Seen yes, but no I’m not immortal. I simply created a weak copy of myself to test your worthiness.” He lowered his spear down into an attacking stance.

“Weak copy?”

“Yes, I’m the real one. So the real battle begins now!”

To be continued…