His eyes opened as slowly as when he went unconscious. Surprisingly, it was not hard for him to adjust to the sunlight that protruded into his eyes.
The reminiscence started to flow in his mind.
Where was he?
Instead of the hard ground he felt before he lost consciousness, his back felt more comfortable now. He was on the bed laying as he stared at the ceiling.
Then he fully remembered.
He sat up and shouted.
"Thank you very much!!"
The people present near him jolted with shock.
The boy started to get embarrassed as his surrounding became more apparent. He was in the infirmary and beside him was the nurse that was relieved.
"Looks like there won't be any problem."
Another boy that was present there sighed and muttered, "Thank god..."
He was familiar because he was the bullied student that he tried to save.
After recognizing one of the people. He noticed another two people. A familiar girl and an unknown man beside her. It was clear though that the man was also a student.
It was Kouki but they haven't met each other before so it was understandable.
The girl though, was the real saviour of the day. The boy called out to the girl.
"...U-Umm..."
She understood what the boy wanted to know so she uttered.
"It's Fukuyama. Fukuyama Kana."
"Ah...Ehto. Fukuyama-san, thank you..... for saving me."
Kana replied indifferently, "No problem."
The nurse intervened as she wanted to ask further questions about his health. He did not feel any headache or any pain inside his body for the moment, however, he still was instructed to rest.
Meanwhile, Kana and Kouki were discussing among themselves.
"Quite the weird friend you got." Kouki initiated the conversation.
"He is not my friend."
"Eh? Then is he your boyfriend?"
Kouki felt a chill when Kana glared at him. Her tone was frightening.
"Neither of them."
"...Calm down. I'm just joking."
She did as he said and returned to normal.
"Still, Harue would not be happy if he heard that you fought somebody."
Her face changed again, this time with annoyance and disgust. She was constantly thinking about how much that irritating brother of hers would be nagging her and educating her about non-violence.
After all, he does not support any fighting in his family.
His personal opinion affected Kana a bit but in this case, she thought that fighting was justified. Just that it would be a pain to explain it to him.
"I will make sure that he will not know about this."
"How are you going to do that?"
"We just make a story with me not being involved in any fight."
"Hoh."
Kouki comprehended what she was going for. He waited to see what she was plotting to do.
The nurse did a final check before leaving the boy to rest. He was now with the 3 other students. They were all here because of him.
He still was abashed when he regained consciousness.
Why was his outburst so thankful?
The memories were coming tardily and soon knew the reason. He stared at Kana with the intention of voicing out his somewhat late appreciation
"Umm. Sorry for the late introduction. My name is Eiji Kisano. Fukuyama-san, I can't exactly repay you for what you did."
Kana started her plan right away.
"It's okay. All I did was bring you to the infirmary. I cannot just ignore a battered person laying on the ground."
""Eh?""
Both Eiji and the other victim was confused at what she was saying. Eiji probably misheard but he wasn't sure what Kana said so he asked.
"U-Um. I was talking about those bullies."
"Ah them? I already informed a teacher about them. I was surprised that you brought down those two yourself."
"Wait a minute. I do not remember-"
"Yes, maybe you still haven't recalled everything but it is indeed the truth."
Kana passed over the blame to Eiji. Well, it is not exactly like that but let's just say that she transferred the responsibility of the results.
Eiji was still not convinced at what Kana was stating. Even the other boy refused to believe such a lie because it all happened in front of his eyes.
He was about to open his mouth, unveiling the truth. Until Kana intervened him.
She was fast to catch on. She needed a witness to support her lies.
"You should be more grateful to your saviour, shouldn't you?"
Her eyes were threatening him to go with the flow. The boy did not know what to do. Her glare was becoming scarier and scarier as seconds went by.
He wondered why she doesn't acknowledge the result she herself brought upon.
Eiji was waiting for his responses because he was the other person that can confirm what really happened back then. So he relied on his information.
Eventually, the fighting prowess Kana had, made the boy surrender to her demands. There was a reason why she was doing this and the boy knew to a certain a degree.
Otherwise, Kana wouldn't be doing this. He expressed his gratitude towards Eiji.
"Eiji-san... I am thankful for coming to save me. If it wasn't for you then, my life would have been ruined by those bullies."
Kana was happy with the result. She turned towards Eiji and waited for his reaction.
His memories were fuzzy. As a result, he hesitantly went with the information in hand.
"O-Oh, it's nothing..."
There was a silence shrouding this small group, but it was broken shortly after by the bell.
*Ding* *Dong* *Ding* *Dong*
Kouki took this chance to leave.
"Then, we'll be taking your leave. Rest well and don't worry about your class. I'll inform the teacher about your situation."
He announced and walked away with Kana. The other boy too exited the infirmary. It was time for class so they would be reprimanded if they arrived late.
The 3 individuals went outside the infirmary and started headed to their respective classes.
But before they separated, Kana grab ahold of the boy by the shoulder and squeezed it.
"...I-It hu-"
"If anyone tells you anything about this case. You stick with 'my' story. You tell the truth, I'll beat you worse than those bullies. Got it?"
Her indifferent tone conveyed the message, nevertheless, it was menacing. She had credibility over her strength to which the boy knows too well.
The boy instantly nodded to which, she let go of her grip.
She let him go to his class and left the two alone.
"What are you? An overlord?"
"It had to be done. For my sake."
"There wasn't the need to scare him off. You could have just told him nicely."
Kana started walking to her class. Kouki followed.
"It was quicker and more efficient."
Kouki let out a chuckle seeing her working so hard, just to not let Harue know the truth.
"You are taking this way too seriously."
"If you were on my end, you would've done the same."
"Mah...You have to understand Harue's worries."
"It is exaggerated. He will preach me long speeches and may even surveil me himself."
Kouki again chuckled at Kana's behaviour.
"He is already doing the latter through me."
Kana stopped and thought about what Kouki blurted out. Her brain felt like she found one unturned stone.
She veered her attention to Kouki and proceeded to confront him.
"Now that I think about it. Kou-nii, you are Nee-chan's servant, right?"
Kouki twitched his eyebrows and frivolously requested.
"Kana-chan. Please stop calling Harue Nee-chan and more importantly, stop giving me weird titles."
He pleaded but Kana shrugged his response off and asked with an intimidating stare.
"You are not going to tell him, aren't you?"
Kouki paused for a moment, meaning that he was planning on doing something along that line. Kana squinted her eyes to make Kouki spit out his response.
He was obligated but he still stood by his decision
"I might. Look, I cannot lie with Harue."
"Why?"
Kouki pressed his finger onto his lips, doing a shushing pose.
"It is a secret."
Kouki was a handsome man so the way he behaved right now would trap many girls into loving him. But not with Kana because she knows him till she was 11 years old.
Additionally, she knew what kind of man he was so she was unimpressed with his act at the moment.
To be honest, Kana was very much intrigued by this 'secret' he brought up between him and Harue. She digressed a bit. She beseeched in her own way.
"You can keep your secret but can you keep this a secret too?"
Kouki was getting unsure on how it was going to be a good decision if he does as Kana says. In the end, he is getting pushed by both siblings.
As always though, he preferred to side with his best friend.
"Sorry, Kana-chan. Harue trusts me. I do not want to change that."
Kana sighed and made up her mind to settle this matter with one last resort. Kana reinstated her threatening glare and dropped a bomb on him.
"Should I tell the principal about the multiple relationships you are in with girls at this school?"
Kouki maintained a confused expression and chuckled at her attempt.
"Come on Kana-chan. You don't have to be so desperate and spout lies about me."
High schools do not condone any sexual relationships between students or teachers. It is extremely strict so if words gets out, indeed the punishment would be severe.
It may even result in expulsion, that's how strict the school is.
"Whenever you would come home along with Nee-chan, you would get calls but not answer it if anyone is around."
Kouki displayed his poker face as he listened to her.
"And I always overheard the multiple girls' name too. I can list them right now because as you already know, I have a retentive memory."
"....."
*Sigh*
Kouki had enough of this discussion. He wanted to end it but he knows that Kana won't let him go unless he agrees.
That's what he did.
"Alright. I will not tell him."
"...Good. I'm going to go now."
Kana went to her classes and Kouki slowly climbed the stairs. This was the start of the day when Kana and Kouki would both cooperate in hiding a small truth.
Not only that but the next day, Kana got a visitor at her class during lunch.
It was Eiji Kisano.
Kana was alone since it took time for Kouki to climb down the stairs from his class. Eiji just arrived and entered the classroom.
Kana thought that Eiji would be a lot less involved, but the sight she saw just proved herself wrong.
"What?" Kana was annoyed at his presence.
"I know that I did not even scratch those bullies. Last night, I remembered clearly. It was all you."
He sounded so deflated as he brought the truth up.
Kana was now a little scared because she did not want anyone to hear about this matter. If so then words would get around and eventually, into Harue's ears.
So she got up and told Eiji to follow him. He obediently did so.
Kana stood at the end of the corridor near an opened window. She leaned her back on the edge of the window.
"Did you talk about it with anyone else?"
"....No."
'Thank goodness. It would've been all pointless.' Kana's mood lifted for a bit for the day.
She continued.
"Make it that way and don't blabber it to everyone."
".....If you do not want any trouble then I understand."
'Oh?' She was surprised that he gets what she really wants.
"That's right. So just do not involve yourself too much with me."
"...."
Eiji was reluctant but he had something to say more. It was something that was stuck in his mind that he wants to let out since last night.
"Fukuyama-san, which club did you join?"
"Tsk! Didn't I tell you to not be involved with me?"
She was getting irritated. Now he was getting clingy to her, which she hates.
'I guess he wants to be safe and protected by staying with me.'
It was all what Kana contemplated. However, what Eiji said next contradicted her thoughts.
"Fukuyama-san. I want.....to be strong."
"....."
"The way you dealt with those seniors, I could not believe my eyes. Speed, power and technique, you had all. I was wondering if I could also attain those attributes.
".....Hmm."
"It is not like I am jealous or desperate for strength but..... I at least want to protect someone even better than previously....."
"...."
Kana silently stared at his determination she scratched her head as if a burden appeared. Nevertheless, she was going to toss that problem to the club.
"It's the Karate Club. Do what you want."
...
"So you mean that you saw him collapsed on the ground, took him to the infirmary and since then, he is attached to you?"
"Hishimi-senpai, he is a clingy type of person. He is not attached to me."
Kana corrected Hishimi with the utmost urgency. As much as it sounds disturbing to Kana, she did not want any misunderstanding, especially of that Eiji.
Hishimi kept on pressing using facts.
"But you said that he joined the Karate Club and was mostly with you."
"As I said, he is clingy. Well, I feel like partially, it was the seniors' fault who paired us up."
"I think they also think as I do."
Hishimi had a cat face, seemingly knowing every corner of the matter with Eiji and Kana.
Hishimi veered to Harue and teasingly spoke.
"Looks like Kana-chan got a boyfriend before you got a girlfriend."
"Hah!?! Are you still going on with this?!"
"I am just saying..."
"Well, thank you for the information." Harue was bothered by Hishimi's comment but more than that, he was concerned about Kana.
He again glanced at Kana and wanted to assure the veracity of what she said.
"You did not do anything else, did you?"
"You can ask Kou-nii if you want. He was there when I met Eiji-kun."
Harue stared into her indifferent eyes until he backed out. Hishimi covered for the small awkward silence.
"Oya? Harue-senpai, are you getting jealous?"
"Mind your own business."
The quarrel started between the two with Kana being relieved in her mind.
She is glad that she does not have to deal with Harue's lecture.