Alina turned her head to focus on a movement in the corner of her eye. Akui. She sprinted towards the shadow as it fled. Faster. Move just a little faster, and you'll get him.
She forced her legs to push her forward. He had too much of a head start, but Alina launched herself forward in desperation as he jumped off the balcony, which they discovered while waiting for Cayne, Hikari and Shōhei to come in through the portal, trying to grab hold of him as he shifted.
She failed. He got away.
She resisted the urge to howl and destroy everything in her close vicinity as frustration filled her. She had let another person die.
He'd left something behind, though. Korū appeared behind Alina, grabbing an earring in the shape of a blue-jay feather off the carpeted floor.
Alina bit back another frustrated growl as she turned. She forced herself to relax before mindlinking Korū, "What is it?"
"Why the hell would he keep this?" Korū muttered, staring at the earring, not registering anything Alina said.
Alina blinked and waited for him to return to reality.
Korū pocketed the earring, then turned to face her. "What was that?"
'What is it?" She repeated.
"My mother's earring," he responded curtly. "Let's go." He stalked away without waiting for a reply.
Alina sighed before following him.
Hikari met them in the halls. "Hey, what are- what happened?"
Korū said nothing, just pressed the earring into her palm because she'd use it better than he would.
"Why are you shifted?" Linda asked Alina, eyeing the twins carefully.
"Tell you later." Was the reply through mindlink. She didn't want to ruin everyone's mood, but she would have to tell Shizuoka and Rihito what happened as soon as possible. Alina then walked off the shift and put on some clothes.
Hikari stared at the earring for a while, then asked, "Are we gonna dump ice water on Cayne? We're fifteen minutes late."
Alina walked back into the room. "That's a little brutal, don't you think? I was thinking more of a party popper in his face."
"Brutal? C'mon, you did that to us, too," Hikari protested.
"After you refused to wake up when I asked nicely."
"She has a point," Korū muttered. Hikari glanced at him, "You're supposed to be on my side." He just shrugged.
"So what are we doing?" Alina asked.
"Cold water," Korū and Hikari said simultaneously.
"That's basically the same, minus the ice cubes." Linda stated.
"Are we gonna just leave his body there?" Alina said suddenly, turning to Korū. Would be a little weird to leave the body of a dead relative lying around the house without the hosts knowing.
"Body-?" Hikari's eyes widened and she glanced at Korū.
"I'm getting another coffee," was all he said.
"I need some too." Alina said. "Tell you guys what happened after I get a drink. Also, don't go to the living room."
"What?" Linda was also mildly confused, "Did something happen to- oh, something happened to Tsukiyama, didn't it?"
"Mh." Korū kept his face neutral while Hikari fiddled with the earring in her hand.
Linda frowned, "How? Shizuna said she did a sweep."
"Who knows? He managed to break into Bloodmoon's caves undetected, and our security system is nearly perfect," Hikari said.
"Fuck him," Alina grumbled, at her wit's end.
"Please don't."
Alina choked on the water she was trying to drink and glared at Hikari. "Damn it. Where's the coffee?" she said when she recovered, glancing around the kitchen that they were now in.
Korū passed her a cup of coffee while gulping his down.
"Thanks." She said before tossing it back. Never mind that the liquid was scalding hot.
"We have a habit of making ourselves very comfortable in other people's houses, don't we?" Linda commented.
"Why are you all up so early?" Cayne mumbled, appearing in the doorway.
Hikari jumped, "Oh shit!"
And Korū choked on his coffee.
"Happy birthday?" Alina supplied tentatively, holding up a glass of water like a peace offering.
"Wait, it's my birthday- holy shit." Cayne blinked a few times as his eyes focused on Korū. "I'm eighteen."
"No shit." Alina muttered.
Hikari missed Korū's cup as it crashed to the floor, what was left of the drink spilling out onto the polished marble. His eyes were locked on Cayne's, his mouth agape.
Linda looked between the two of them for a moment, before a grin spread across her face.
"Cayne- you-" Korū's voice chose that moment to fail him. Disappointing.
Linda started herding everyone else out, "Where's Shōhei, by the way?"
"In his room?" Hikari guessed, allowing herself to be dragged away.
"Let's make sure." Linda said, throwing her arms around her friends' shoulders.
"Uh, okay." As Hikari passed Cayne, she gave him a push. Gently. But not really.
"This is like a breath of fresh air." Alina sighed.
"Mhm." Hikari agreed. A moment passed, and there was no sound from the kitchen. "Are they still staring at each other?"
Linda snickered, "Probably."
"How did it go for you?" Alina asked. Linda was the only one present that was mated, after all.
"We realised we were mates when I was fifteen, during pack training during the holidays. Not much contact before that, so we went on a few dates. The moment I realised I had a mate was a mix of daunting and happiness."
"I wonder how it'll go for them, though." Hikari glanced back at the kitchen. "It'd be nice to see Korū actually happy again."
"Mhm." Alina and Linda both responded.
"You know... I realised we never did make Shizuna and Rihito drink the truth potion and swear that they weren't on the same boat as Akui and Tsukiyama." Alina said after a moment. Fucking careless.
"Why would they be, though?"
"Why wouldn't they be? It's only right that we be paranoid at this point." Alina said.
"You could ask them. I personally don't think they are." The girls reached Shōhei's room and Hikari knocked on his door, pushing it open to reveal Shōhei with a shirt half-on.
"You could wait for me to respond before opening the door," Shōhei said dryly.
Alina instantly slapped her hands over her eyes and Linda turned away.
"I don't think so either. But there's always a possibility." Linda said.
"Guys, it's just a shirt," Hikari said. "You're overreacting."
"I'm not looking 'cus it's hideous." Alina muttered, "Anyway, I don't think his future wife or husband would appreciate anyone looking."
"Your face is red." Linda told her.
"Yours isn't much better." She shot back, although her hands were still over her eyes. She was just guessing.
Linda sniffed, "I don't think John would appreciate me looking."
"You're just as shy." Alina stated.
"'Wife or husband'?" Shōhei grinned. "What makes you think I like guys?"
"Possibility. Anyway, are you done changing?" Alina said.
"It's just a shirt. You can open your eyes now."
Linda turned back and Alina removed her hands from her eyes. "None of us were actually closing our eyes though." Alina pointed out.
"Sure. Why are you dragging me out of bed at four in the morning?"
"Well, Akui killed Tsukiyama, so it's been an eventful morning. Also, Cayne's eighteen today." Alina told him.
"He's dead?" Shōhei didn't seem to care much. "Cool. Where's Cayne...?"
"With Korū." Linda answered.
"Very helpful. They share a room."
"Mhm." Alina hummed.
Shōhei's extremely confused gaze flicked from Alina to Linda to Hikari and back again.
"Let's just chill and see if anything explodes." Alina said, making her way into the room. "And Tsukiyama is still chilling in the living room."
"Okay, so basically Cayne's found his mate," Hikari explained.
Shōhei blinked twice, then went, "Oh," when the realisation struck him.
"Yeah, oh." Alina said, mimicking Shōhei. "Is no one else concerned about the dead body?"
"Uh. Later." Linda said.
"Screw the dead body," Shōhei said calmly.
Hikari gaped. "Did you just-"
"Yes."
"No necrophilia, please. I find it creepy." Alina said, like Hikari had implied minutes ago. A lot had happened in a few minutes.
"You know I didn't mean it that way," Shōhei responded, rolling his eyes as he stared at Alina under a new light. So she was an Okhrana. And not just a random one, for that matter.
"You don't know if we don't know that you don't." Alina retorted. She added in a disappointed tone, "Hey, we didn't get to wake Cayne up violently."
"I what now?"
Hikari snickered. "Just be glad you weren't woken up violently with a bucket of ice water," she laughed, nudging Shōhei.
"It was fun. I miss the time when we just casually raided your fridge for alcohol before crashing my house." Alina commented. "Seems like so long ago."
"You know you're-" Shōhei started.
"Yeah, we're underage, we know, but we don't care," Hikari responded.
"...okay, sure. What do you think Korū and Cayne are up to?"
"Not sure, but-" Linda was going to respond, but was interrupted by the sound of rapid footsteps, before Shizuna poked her head round the door that was ajar.
"Why is Tsukiyama dead?"