Sakura was on the bleachers waiting for Yukika to finish her track practice so she could finally go home. Yukika was on the race track, sprinting again and again. Sakura secretly admired how methodical Yukika was about it. She knew when to speed up and when to conserve her energy. Her body was almost mechanically calculated to push herself forward. At the same time however, one could tell that she brimmed with a fighting spirit, a fire in her eyes no one could extinguish.
She shifted around on the bleachers. Only about half the students were left in school, most of them lingering in class and around the school fields. She looked up at the evening sun setting in the sky. She should be back at home already, immersed in a new game show. But of course, she had to be stuck waiting for Yukika.
"Hey look, there she is now," Angie pointed out.
Her gaze dropped to the sight of Yukika getting off the race track, flanked by admirers from down below. They swarmed her with water bottles and towels. She could only imagine their grating offers and compliments with varying levels of sincerity. As usual, she paid no attention to them as she walked away from the track.
"Jeez, that girl..." Sakura muttered to herself.
Now that practice was over, she was finally free to leave. She slung her heavy schoolbag over her shoulders and jumped off the bleachers with Angie. Sakura turned to her.
"Let's get outta here," she said, jerking her thumb towards the gate. Angie saluted.
"Aye, aye, chief."
They jogged between the empty bleachers down to the field. She wanted to get out of the stuffy school so badly. The only reason she even stayed was that they went home together ever since they were babies, a tradition Yukika refused to break. It was as if there weren't a million other admirers willing to walk with her.
She waved and called out, "Hey! We'll be at the gate, but if you don't hurry up, we'll leave you!"
Yukika looked her way and nodded nonchalantly. Right at that moment, a girl came running up to Yukika with her uniform in her arms. Sakura could almost see the stars in her pupils. She scoffed and turned back.
"She obviously doesn't need me to walk her home. This is just a waste of time."
"I don't know," said Angie. "I think it's nice of her to want to go home with you, she's trying to keep you safe."
Sakura rolled her eyes. "Probably. She barely lets me out of her sight."
Angie elbowed her. "Aww, your bestie cares about you," she teased. Sakura blushed furiously. A light smack landed on Angie's back.
"Please, I'm only her 'bestie' because she doesn't have time to make any other friends."
"That's so mean," Angie pouted.
"Don't you think it's true?" Sakura asked.
Angie thought for a while. She giggled and smirked as she responded. "Yeah, maybe you're right, everyone else would run away before making you their best friend. Unfortunately, I can't run."
She rolled her eyes.
"Now you're the one being mean."
They stepped between the trees lining the path toward the school gate. Dry leaves crackled under their shoes. They stopped in their tracks at the back gate. Angie stared at a lone car cruising by while Sakura leaned against the brick wall, a sigh escaping her lips.
"Are you really that tired?" teased Angie.
"Maybe a little.."
"You're not the one who had track practice," prodded Angie. Sakura narrowed her eyes. She flipped her short hair defiantly.
"Excuse you, being as cool as I am is super tiring," she joked.
"You're right, being a loser sounds like a full time job," she replied. Sakura punched her shoulder before they both laughed.
Before she could give another snappy response, an unusually strong breeze swept the air. She felt the hairs at the back of her neck stand. The air was charged with a strange energy that chilled her to the bone. Her spine jerked.
"Did you feel that?" she asked.
Angie didn't reply. She was staring at the sky. Sakura followed her gaze. A black bird was visible among the orange clouds. With every flap of its wings, the clouds parted. It was swooping down, getting bigger and bigger. The wind produced by its wings blew her brown hair back. She was too stunned to do anything other than stare. Before she could run or even scream, it knocked them both against the trees.
The air was knocked out of her lungs. Her back hit a tree and a pang of pain shot up her spine. She slid to the ground. Her heartbeat strained. She laid there, staring at the sky. More black splotches dotted the sky. Her vision blurred. Everything slowed down. Her breaths were shallow.
What....?
She blinked once. Twice. She could hear screams. One heartbeat. Two, three. Everything was black. She had to do something.
Four. Angie trying to get her up. She could feel the blood rushing under her skin. She bent her fingers. She wasn't paralysed, at least she hoped so.
"Come on Sakura. Come on, please, please be alright."
Five, six, seven.
What...
She turned her head and saw dead leaves. Brown leaves, with a splotch of white. Her arms. Another gasp of air. Her blood was rushing in her ears. Everything was rushing back. Eight. Nine.
She was still alive.
Ten.
Sakura stood up shakily. Angie kept her standing straight, propping Sakura against her tiny figure. They walked along the path back into the school buildings. Her legs were jelly, but she forced them to move. One foot then the other. They had to work together to get somewhere safe.
"Thank you, Angie," Sakura whispered. Her voice was reedy in her throat. Angie nodded, holding her close.
"It's okay. You scared me," words frenzied out of Angie's mouth. "I.... thought you were gone."
"Heh." She coughed. "It'll take more than that to get rid of me."
That sentiment made them both smile. But it wasn't for long. They could see dead birds littered all around them. Red blood splashed across the green grass. There was no more screaming to be heard, however. Angie looked up again, and so did she. Dozens of birds were suspended in mid-air. She couldn't take her eyes off them.
"What the hell?" Angie asked. There was an odd cold hanging about the air. They could tell it was coming from the field. They wobbled back to find Yukika, going along a trodden path as to not trip over any trees. They didn't know what to expect. They definitely didn't expect what happened, though.
When they approached the bleachers, a few dozen people were running away, bumping into them several times. They found Yukika, surrounded by a crowd of astonished onlookers. They could see her clearly, because she hung in the air, enveloped by white energy. Her back was to them, and her hands were outstretched. White strings shot out of her hands, wrapping around the birds.
Sakura finally realised that Yukika was the one keeping them from falling. She must have been the one responsible for the cold as well. She stared in awe at her. She looked amazing, levitating in the air like that. How was she doing it? And why did Yukika never tell her? She felt a tinge of sadness in the midst of her admiration.
Angie tugged on her sleeve.
"Her body can't take it much longer," she said. She was right. Upon a closer look, her veins were beginning to show against her pale skin. They were glowing blue, and the glow grew stronger with every second. Panic spiked in her stomach. Disregarding her pain, she ran forward to get to Yukika. Angie immediately followed, calling for her to stop.
"Yukika! Stop it!" she yelled. Yukika turned around. Sakura was dumbstruck. Her brown eyes were a coal-black. She wasn't looking where she was going, and she fell on her stomach. Seeing her fall seemed to bring Yukika back to her senses. Her gaze focused solely on her.
"Sakura," she mouthed.
Her arms dropped to the side and the white energy was retracted back into her hands. Both Yukika and the birds slowly fell to the ground. Angie helped her up again. They both rushed to Yukika's side. People were surrounding her. Their cacophony of questions made her head ache. Another cold gale blasted everyone. Sakura pushed everyone away from Yukika. She knew her childhood friend didn't want to be surrounded.
Yukika was crumpled up on the ground. The glow was starting to go away, but her veins were still extremely visible. There were still a lot of people around her. A teacher, Mrs Fukui, came around to disperse them, shooing away anyone else trying to stick around. She helped Yukika up and began leading her to the nurse's office. Sakura followed her.
"Mrs Fukui, what are we going to do about this?" she asked. Yukika was hanging limply from her shoulder. She turned to her and sighed.
"Since this appears to be a spirit matter, we'll have to call the Spiritual Union to manage this. Unfortunately, there are quite a few students attacked by those birds, they'll have to treat them as well. Can you help the injured ones to the nurse's office?"
Sakura nodded and made her way back to the field. Her heart was racing. There were others helping injured people up. Angie was helping a junior, Izra to her feet. Sakura told her to go to the nurse's office, and she nodded. If the office was full, there was always a room lined with beds where students could go rest. She helped up a classmate who had been struck in the forehead. Her mouth murmured a word of thanks.
After helping a few people, Sakura then sat on the edge of Yukika's bed. She was already able to sit up, with her veins barely visible. However, she stayed quiet. Angie had already left as the principal made an announcement for any student that was able to leave, to leave immediately. She decided to wait for her mother. She didn't feel safe taking a train back to G-9, knowing that another incident could happen.
The door to the nurse's office opened. She turned around and saw a man with a light green jacket with a big emblem emblazoned on one side. A gold sun held in a silver hand and within the sun was a white heart. He was a S.U.N. healer. He gave her a regretful smile.
"Looks like we've got ourselves a serious case here."
A woman pushed past him. It was her mother, her hair wild and eyes wide. She had seen that look on her face far too many times to count. However, it looked strange to see her that way in her nurse outfit rather than in regular clothes. She rushed to their side.
"Sakura, Yukika! What happened to you two?"
The man walked over and put his hand on her shoulder.
"Don't freak out too much, Haruka. The white haired one just needs some rest and medication, but she'll be fine. I'll let you have a moment, but we have to focus on healing the others first." He knelt by Yukika and pulled a medicine bottle out of his bag. It was filled with white tablets. Sakura stared at it curiously. He started to explain.
"This will help with the strain of using your powers. It will also help flush any spirit residue in your system. Don't worry, your spirit dweller won't be affected." He finished speaking and turned to her mother. "Three minutes, alright?" he stated.
Her mother scanned them both. Satisfied, she nodded. She took the medicine bottle from him. The man smiled in relief and walked to the side of another student. A few more healers came in. They took off their jackets and went to work. She calmly looked at Sakura in the eye.
"Now, tell me exactly what happened."
Sakura tried to tell her what happened to the best of her ability. Her mother's eyes went wide at hearing how she fell, and she nearly panicked again. After another inspection by her, she went on about how she found Yukika. Her mother went silent and looked at her. She seemed to be fairly back to normal, if paler than usual.
"I'm glad you used your powers for good," she started. "But next time, please don't overstrain yourself. You've never had to use so much of it."
Yukika nodded. Sakura became even more confused. She looked at Yukika and back to her mother. There was a guilty look in both their faces.
"Wha... you knew about Yukika's powers? That she's a spirit soul? And neither of you told me?" she asked in frustration. Her mother put a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Sakura. Yukika was afraid of her powers. We thought you would have been even more afraid of them."
Yukika finally spoke. "I didn't want to burden you with it. You seemed happy to not think about dealing with spirits. I just wanted to use my powers to protect you. I never thought... I'd have to do this."
Sakura went through a myriad of emotions at once. Sadness, anger, disbelief. How would have she reacted if she knew she had powers? She didn't even know if she wanted herself to know, let alone others. In the end, she had to accept it. Spirits were already confusing. She didn't want to add onto Yukika's strain by pushing her away.
She hugged Yukika. She stayed still in surprise, but then she hugged her back. Her mother smiled. She got up and went to tend to other students.
"Thank you, Sakura," Yukika said. They sat there, talking about all the spirit encounters Yukika had. Sakura was stunned at how diverse and strange spirits were. Yukika revealed that lots of spirits would try to kill them, though she had no idea why. She felt upset again that Yukika didn't tell her this, but she swallowed it down. She just wanted to know everything.
Soon, they could finally go home. They gathered their things and went to the car. Her mother blasted all of their favourite songs, and they sang along louder than the wind rushing through the windows. While she stared out of the car into the rushing traffic, Sakura thought of something.
"Did Dad know, too?"
Her mother nodded. She slumped back in her seat. Did everyone know except her?
"It's alright, Sakura. At least you know now. You should tell your father what happened today," she smiled. "I'm sure he wants to hear all about it."
Sakura sighed. She felt a bit sad at the thought of telling her father, but her mother was right, she should tell him. She held the thought in her head as the sun set in the sky and they finally arrived home. She forgot about all the shows on TV and the bag still hanging from her elbow as she raced up to her father's room.
There was only darkness awaiting her when she opened the door. She flicked on the switch, and the lights turned on. Her father sat in a corner, wearing his favourite red shirt and worn-out jeans. He stared out of the window. Sakura knelt beside him.
"You'll never guess what happened today, Daddy," she said, smiling at him. His stare remained out of the window. He didn't respond. Sakura's smile faded. He might never respond. Fighting her tears, she told him all about the day's events. He stayed still, forever facing the window. His expression never changed. When she finished, she was sobbing.
"Next time, tell me when you're coming back, okay?"
She hugged him, trying to stop her sobs. He remained stiff. She turned off the lights and closed the door. He didn't need the lights on.
"Goodnight, Daddy."