Two hours later, Shōhei had fallen asleep on Korū's shoulder, but Korū was still wide awake despite pulling an all-nighter.
"Have you tried contacting her yet?" Linda asked.
"No. I don't feel like having her pain half-kill me again."
Alina sighed. "I'm pretty sure Jo would have finished her stuff by now."
"Mh. She'll mindlink me if she's conscious." He glanced at Shōhei, then leaned back in the seat. Damn it, he was just so flipping tired but he couldn't sleep. Anyone else has that problem?
"Can we call Jo?" Cayne asked.
"She's probably crashed. I'll mindlink Hikari." Alina said. Searching through her mental landscape, she found Hikari's door. She knocked on it, and slid a mental message through the gap under the door. "Are you okay now?"
Hikari was sleeping, and didn't respond.
Just then, Kumori mindlinked anyone who was conscious in the car. "My brain is dying. Help. A wall just went crazy on my packmates. Thanks to some witch called Joanne."
"Heh, the witch did it, huh?" Korū snorted.
"No." Joanne said, prancing her way into the mindlink.
"No my ass," Kumori snarled.
"She's seriously pissed. I'm out." Korū didn't leave completely, he just hung around to listen. Kinda like Alina's one-way thing.
"Tell me what wall did wrong." Joanne sighed
"...The wall's not a person, stop talking as though it is one! It nearly fucking crushed Akashi and the other guy!"
Korū blinked. "It nearly crushed Akashi?" he snorted.
"Kumori would probably have done a better job crushing him, I admit. But he didn't crush him and the friend in the end."
"THE WALL'S NOT A HE, DAMN IT!" Kumori was straight up annoyed. "And stop defending the thing. Seriously, the point of a mediator is to talk my packmates into not fighting, not forcing them to "shake hands and make up" like some elementary school kids. Shit doesn't work like that."
"Sounds effective. I'll get Wall to work on that next time."
"NO. SCREW OFF."
Korū was like, "shit she's scary".
"I'm not gonna stop you from getting your ass out of bed next time, don't worry."
"Someone your age shouldn't be allowed to talk like that, Jo. It sounds weird." Alina said.
"Fuck off. Leave the mediating to me."
Korū sighed. "Just ignore her and get on with life, Kumori. You don't have to be bothered by her status or whatever."
Joanne blinked. "Hmm? I never said anything about anything."
"All that Council bullshit. And who the heck said you had to say something to be ignored?"
"Council?" Kumori questioned. "What?"
"She didn't tell you?" Korū was clearly unimpressed. "What the hell?"
"What what the hell?" Joanne asked, also slightly confused.
"You didn't tell them you were one of those Council people?"
Kumori was like "nani?" also coupled with a lot of confusion.
"Why would I?"
"It's basic? Like, you don't just waltz in there like any random witch tryna throw her weight around, command a wall to half-kill my packmates which isn't part of Kumori's job, by the way, and not tell her anything?"
Joanne was silent for a while. "I didn't tell Wall to kill them. He was just trying to help, and he only came close to killing them by accident, because you made him sad, anyway. And I don't just waltz in, announce my position and start commanding people around. The respect I need to earn comes first. And you can't change a person's mindset and make them love each other like you have been running around, trying to do everyday. That calls for self realisation that may or may not come in their lifetime. The way Wall stopped them from fighting was more efficient than talking to them, and letting them walk away, only to find somewhere else to fight. Furthermore, both are surface level."
"THE WALL. IS NOT. HUMAN." That was Kumori flipping out. This person was just invading her territory and taking it over. "And the point is, what I do is try to calm them down, not stop fighting completely, because we aren't Bloodmoon if we don't fight. And all your wall was was just a temporary barrier. They're back to fighting, by the way."
"Then what is the point of your job, even? I admit that I've never been to your pack before, but I'm not totally inexperienced in keeping peace. In fact, when I'm not running around doing my duty as a Council member, I'm doing my duty as the head of my coven, which is even larger than your pack, with rowdy teenagers sniping each other with a long-distance spell every two seconds, just for fun."
"The point is we're Bloodmoon, we do things differently, so screw off."
"Okay, fine. If that's what you want." Mindlink Joanne flickered and disappeared, leaving behind the faint smell of chocolate.
"Oi, Hikari, wake up, Kumori needs a hug." Korū mentally nudged his sister, deciding to take the risk that she was still hurting. She was apparently okay.
Hikari woke up, gave Kumori a much-needed hug, and went back to sleep.
"Joanne needs a hug too. But there's no one to give it to her." Alina muttered quietly, such that no one, not even Linda from beside her, could hear.
Kumori flopped back into her bed, ignoring her "pack radar" because it was Akashi again, and she'd given up on him.
Joanne was packing up to head to the next pack for the investigation. For some reason, Alina had a suspicion that she wasn't telling Joanne about, which was bothering her to no end. She would have to call Alina to see if she was willing to share any information. It might assist her. Joanne didn't even know what Alina and her friends were doing, seeking out the Fujihana family, but she trusted that whatever it was, it was important.
Shōhei woke up, looking up to see Korū's low-key annoyed face. "Something wrong?"
"No."
"I'm restless and bored. Again." Alina said.
"We're more than halfway there at this point." Linda told her. "In fact, we're reaching soon."
"Isn't there still like three hours?"
"That's pretty close for me." Linda replied.
"...okay."
"Eurgh." Alina groaned, before she fished out her pendant from under her shirt and glanced at it before putting it back, sighing.
***
"We're here."
"Where?" Alina asked, glancing around at the landscape.
"We're stopping here to see if we can find anyone that will let us in. Korū also wants to see the forest."
Shōhei glanced around. "Why?"
"You've never wondered why people wanna die here?" Korū questioned.
"Uh, no. Why would I?"
"I'm disappointed in you." He bounded off into the forest.
"Korū?"
No response. Shōhei sighed and went off as well. Just to see what in the world was in the dang forest.
Everyone also followed after.
"I still think my kitchen is a better place to die." Alina muttered, looking around.
"You want to die?" a male voice asked. Shōhei and Korū just assumed it was Cayne and didn't question it.
Alina and Linda, on the other hand, whipped around to find the source of the voice.
"Did any of you say something?" Cayne asked from behind, confused.
Korū turned. "No." His eyes narrowed as he glanced around. "Whoever the fuck you are, come out."
"We thought you did," Shōhei said.
Alina face palmed, sighing. "It's obviously not any of us."
A man with spiky, graying black hair emerged from the shadows, a smirk on his face. Korū saw him and stiffened, unsheathing his katana.
"Is that how Korū will look in the future?" Alina asked jokingly, glancing around discreetly.
"I guess you're not going to pretend you don't know me," The man's smirk grew wider, "Grandson."