Kaori's resident.
Yamaken and Kaori walked into the living room through the portal as it vanished into thin air behind them.
Kaori let out a sigh of relief, "That was close, I almost forgot about school! Why didn't you remind me?" She gave Yamaken a smack on the arm.
"Sorry," He rubbed his hurt spot, "I forgot, as well-"
"Oh my, you did a good job," She said sarcastically before stretching herself, "Ahh, let's get fresh. After that-"
"Let's eat, I'm hungry," Yamaken cut in.
"Ok. Then-"
"Let's play games," Yamaken cut in again.
"No!" Kaori reached her limit, "You'll be going home after eating, got it? Go back to your home. There's no place for you here, no way, no, no."
"But this house is so big!" Yamaken whined, "Just this once, ok? Let me sleep in the guest room-?"
"I said no!" Kaori yelled, making Yamaken flinch.
After a moment of silence, he sighed - making a sad face, "Okay," He mumbled quietly.
Kaori let out another sigh, "I'm sorry, Yamaken. But I prefer living alone."
"Okay," He replied quietly yet again.
"Go get freshed in the guest room, I'll get fresh, too. Then let's eat, ok?" Kaori gave a small smile before living Yamaken standing there alone.
"Okay..."
*************
Yamaken came out of the guest room after getting fresh and walked towards the kitchen in order to eat.
As he came nearer to the kitchen, he could smell the delicious fragrance of food being cooked.
His tummy growled in hunger in order that he walked quickly and reached the door only to see Kaori moving here to there inside the kitchen.
He peeped inside through the crack of the door, watching the girl inside move about.
She was moving the pan with her left hand while she added sauce in the mixture of something that was being cooked on the frying pan with her right hand.
He frowned as he watched her, "She cooks herself? I thought-"
After cooking for some more minutes, she turned off the stove and took the pan over to the table, putting it on the mat that was lying on the table.
She quickly took off her cooking apron and took out some bowls and some fork.
"It's time for me to make my appearance," He smiled to himself and entered the kitchen, making Kaori look up.
"Oh, hey, you're here," She said, "The food is ready," She pointed at the pan.
It was fried noodles. Fried noodles with vegetables, egg, meats - everything you could ever think of adding in a fried noodles - visible in it.
"It looks yummy," Yamaken took a bowl and a fork, sitting down on a chair.
"I know," Kaori also sat down before him and served herself some hot fried noodles.
"Thank you for the food," Yamaken also served himself some.
The two friends began eating.
***************
For some time, the room was filled with eating sounds until Yamaken decided to speak.
"Kaori," He called, munching.
Kaori took another bite of her noodles, "Yeah?"
"The reason you forgave your grandfather for.." Yamaken began, making Kaori look up and stop herself from feeding.
"Um, doesn't the same thing go for Fujinuma-?" He asked hasitantly.
Kaori put her fork on her plate, looking directly at Yamaken, "Why are you hasitating?"
"Huh?... Well, I-"
"If I think I should forgive him, I'll forgive him."
"...."
"But then again, he killed my best friend, I won't let him off so easily. He'd better have a good explanation," Kaori smiled at her own joke.
Yamaken also smiled awkwardly, "Yeah... Right."
Kaori then all of a sudden, asked him, "Did you like him? Or did you also think that he was a bad someone just like Haru did?"
Yamaken was taken aback by the sudden question but he answered, "I actually cared very little about the others.."
Kaori broke out to a laugh, "Yeah, you're right, you were totally like that."
Yamaken smiled, "But Haru never really hated Fujinuma, though."
"Huh?" This time, Kaori was taken aback by the news, "What do you mean?... He literally couldn't bare Fujinuma."
"Nope, it wasn't like that. The only thing he was sad about is that you always gave Fujinuma all the attention and you were getting diverted. That was all," Explained Yamaken.
"Is.. That so?" Kaori said thoughtfully.
Yamaken hummed as he began eating once again, leaving the other one in a daze full of thoughts.
*************
"Thanks for the food and for everything else," Yamaken thanked the girl who was standing before him, expressionless.
"Yeah, yeah, you're welcome. See you tomorrow," She said monotonously.
"Oh, so many things happened in these two days. We'll have to fill the others in about them," Yamaken said enthusiastically.
"Yeah and they'll fall from the sky," Kaori laughed a little, "Anyway, go now. Bye."
"Hey, Kaori?"
"What is it again?"
"Do you remember that the second term exam starts tomorrow?"
"..."
[Kaori having flashbacks]
(𝘖𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘮 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴)
"Okay students! The student council president had a meeting with the principal who decided to have the second term start from the next week! Be prepared!"
(𝘉𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥)
"The second term examinations start after this weekend! Don't forget and be prepared!"
[Back to present]
"Yamaken you-! Why didn't you tell me earlier?!" Kaori yelled on top her lungs.
"Heh, this is so fun," He smirked mischievously before waving the other goodbye, "See you tomorrow."
"I'll kill you! Damn you!!!"
*************
The next day, Kaori appeared in school with dark circles under her eyes.
"You seem like you pulled an all nighter," Yamaken wiggled his eyebrows.
"Shut up," She snapped at him as she walked to her desk.
She slammed the window open and breathed some fresh air in, "It's been some time."
"It's been only two single days," Yamaken blurted.
"Didn't I tell you to shut up?" Kaori snapped at him again, making him flinch.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Willia walked over to the pair. As she neared towards Kaori, she squealed, "Kaori! I missed you!" She hugged the other girl tightly.
Kaori huffed, "I missed you, too, girl. Lemme go- Can't breath-"
Willia quickly let her friend go, "Sorry about that. So what happened? Why were you two bickering like lovers?" She asked with an amused look on her face.
"What's with that expression?" Yamaken asked blankly.
"More than that, what's with the name?" Kaori remarked, clearly annoyed, "This annoying guy here didn't remind me that we have second term exam starting from today."
"I did, though," Yaamken defended himself.
"At tomorrow night," Kaori scoffed, "Great job."
Willia hasitated before asking, "Since when did it become Yamaken's duty to remind you about school stuff? I mean, it's okay if it's things about your world," She whispered.
At this, Yamaken suppressed his laughter while Kaori looked like the temperature in her body had increased that she became red.
"Whatever," She huffed angrily.
Wood, Dylanthy and Robin came in soon. While they were talking with each other, Tom and Melissa came into the classroom, too.
"It's almost time for the bell to ring," Robin checked his watch.
Kaori asked, "The seats will change, right?"
"Yeah, but not everyone's. The examiner on duty will change the seats on his own choice," Wood replied.
"You guys, if I get to be anywhere near you, please help me!" Tom begged, "I'm so hopeless!"
Kaori couldn't help but laugh at this, "Sure, I'd be glad to help a friend."
Tom's eyes lit up, "Yes! I hope I'll be with you."
All of the other seven laughed at this.
Then, the bell rang.
**************
"Okay, everyone! No cheating! If I see anyone looking around, I'll cut off five marks each time!" The examiner warned the class before giving out the question papers.
Kaori was sitting at her desk but Tom was in Yamaken's desk while Yamaken was at the desk before her. Most of the students were exchanged but Wood, Robin, Willia and Kaori were not any of them.
"Now, begin!" Said the examiner on which the students flipped the paper and began their exam.
"Good thing, I know them all," Kaori smiled, taking out her pencil to get started with her writing.
"Kaori!" Tom whispered from her side, making her surprised.
She glanced at him, "What is it?"
"How do you solve the question number four?" He asked desperately, "And also nine and thirteen and twenty?"
𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘺...
"I uh- you use the quadratic formula to solve the math question on the twentieth one and in nineth, you'll have to use the cube formula first then the square formula and then you'll have to find the root of the answer. About the four number, it's a trigonometric calculation-"
"Kaori, speak english please," Tom said blankly, making Kaori groan.
"Tom, you should start with the fourth-"
"You two in the back!" The examiner roared, making Kaori shut her eyes off, daring to think that he was talking about them.
"What are you doing? Focus on your exam paper!" He ordered strictly.
"Sorry," Kaori murmured to him, focusing on her paper, thinking that Tom would do something else and not ask for help now.
But... she was wrong.
After about half an hour, Kaori was called by him again.
"Kaori!" He whispered, "I still have fourth and nineth left to do! Please help me!"
"Why, did you finish doing everything else?" Kaori asked, surprised.
"I have five other questions including the fourth, nineth and twentieth," He replied promptly.
Kaori let out a sigh before beginning, "Listen-"
"You two!!!"
"Not again-"
"What do you think you're doing, huh?! What's the matter over there?" He walked up between Kaori and Tom.
"What's wrong?" He asked Kaori.
"I.. Need to borrow some pencil lead," Kaori stuttered.
The examiner gave it a thought before pointing at Yamaken, "Borrow from him. Don't turn towards this boy again. If I see you do that, I'll cut off five marks from you."
He turned around and walked up to the front of the class again.
𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱-
Yamaken had taken out his pencil leads and handed them over to her. As he did so, he asked briskly, "What happened?"
"Tom needs my help but I can't-" Kaori was whispering back but got cut off midway.
"Use your power," Yamaken said abruptly before turning away back to his test paper.
Kaori was surprised so she was going to ask, "Wai- are you really-" but she couldn't, because Yamaken had already turned away.
She glanced at Tom, seeing him in a broken stage. As if he was disappointed in himself for not being able to answer three questions.
𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘧 𝘐'𝘮 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘮
𝙆𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙡𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙩, 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙡𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚. 𝙎𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨.
****************
Tom was sitting aimlessly on the seat. He had already finished writing every answers except for those certain three.
He couldn't ask for help anymore either.
"What should I do?" He pouted.
He felt like crying, "I should've studied harder. I'm such an useless person. I feel so disappointed in my self. I should just-"
"Wait, what's this?" He stopped.
He could see something.
Yeah, they were getting clearer, he could see them clearly now.
Wait, it's the answers! The answers to the questions were visible to him! But how-
With a jolt, he turned his head towards Kaori who was writing smoothly on her paper.
He couldn't help but smile as he watched her.
He then let out a sigh and picked up his pen again.
𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘒𝘢𝘰𝘳𝘪, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦
****************
"Ahhh," Kaori stretched herself, "That was some good long exam!" She welped out.
Her friends had already gathered around her. They gave three exams of three different subjects today and it was end of school now. They were going to go back home.
"How were your exam everyone?" Kaori asked curiously.
"It was so-so," Melissa said.
"Ok," Dylanthy nodded.
"As usual," Yamaken shrugged, making Kaori pissed off, "Who asked you to answer?" She snapped.
"You asked everyone, I'm one of everyone," Yamaken shrugged again.
"Not to me, you aren't! You are one of nobody!" Kaori yelled at him childishly, still huffing in anger.
"You know, I've been meaning to say this - Kaori and Yamaken are close aren't they?" Melissa said thoughtfully.
"Yeah, yeah, totally," All the others agreed.
"Who said we're close?!" The two yelled at once.
"Oh my, so close," Melissa grinned.
Wood suddenly asked as he saw the coast clear, "By the way, how is everything in the clan?"
Kaori nodded, "It's clear, not bad. Anyway, when is the exam going to be over?"
"Um, on Thursday, I think," Robin replied.
"Wait, didn't the council say that the school trip is on Friday?" Said Tom.
"School trip?" Kaori asked.
"Yeah, the school trip is held after second term. The third term is the shortest," Dylanthy nodded.
"Oh, I thought it's held at the end of the year," Said Kaori.
Melissa shrugged, "It is the end of the year, though."
"Ah," Kaori nodded.
"What's wrong?" Wood and Yamaken asked the question at the same time.
"It's been almost years since Haru died," Kaori smiled nostalgically, "I miss him," She sighed.
"Anyway, what is going to happen in the school trip?" Kaori asked curiously, ignoring what she stated earlier.
"I only know we're gonna go to the village side," Wood muttered, "I know nothing else other than that."
"That's really poor information," Kaori blurted.
"You didn't have to say it out loud," Wood mumbled.
"Okay! Let's just look forward to the next exams and do our best! Then we'll treat ourselves with the school trip," Kaori laughed out loud while the others joined her.
"Yeah, let's do that," They replied.
**************
Kaori's resident.
Kaori was studying in the evening when Yukine appeared, "Headmaster," He showed respect towards her.
Kaori waved her hand, "Don't be so formal. What happened?"
"Kazuma-sensei thought that I should let you know this," Yukine said as he sat down on the bed.
"What is it?"
"It's Fujinuma. Some of the underrated shinki(s) and masters were astrayed and they joined his force."
"What?!"
"Yes, the shinki(s) betrayed their own master and handed them over to Fujinuma while the some new students of the clan couldn't blend in with their abnormalities, so they went over to the evil side," Yukine reported, "I and some other shinki(s) looked into the matter and unfortunately found out that-" He stopped midway, thinking if he should say the rest.
"Say it," Kaori ordered.
"They were all possessed and killed by corrupted spirits. All six of them," Yukine said dryly.
There was a pin-drop silence in the room before Kaori broke it, "Fujinuma, seems like you want to die so badly that even if I decide to let you go, you always do something else to provoke me. Fine, let's have a handful of each other."
"What should we do, headmaster?"
"Prepare. Prepare to kill, or be killed."
**************
On Thursday after the examinations were over.
The examiner was gathering the test papers on the table and took them up in his hands, "Okay, class! Your second term exam ends here!"
Lots of sounds of joy followed.
"The three day school trip starts from tomorrow! Be ready and meet up at the entrance of the school tomorrow at 10 in the morning! We'll head to our destination by bus from the school!" He announced before saying, "Now, class dismissed!"
The students' joy knew no bounds as the examiner left the room. They were talking in groups all over the class while Kaori, was sitting absentminded at her desk.
"Is everything okay?" Yamaken asked her quietly.
Kaori shook her head in response, "No, Yamaken. Nothing is going as I want it to.. I feel lost, all of a sudden."
Yamaken wasn't being able to make anything of what Kaori was saying but a deep frown appeared on his face as he heard her say, "I feel like.. Something bad is going to happen, soon.."
*****************
On the other side.
In a dark, dusty, old, giant room, there was a big raised platform on which there was a throne like seat.
On it, sat an adult man with silver hair, his legs crossed, his face laced with fury. It was Fujinuma Hiiro.
Before him, were bowing hundreds of corrupted spirits.
"How dare you!" Fujinuma boomed, "How dare you to disobey my order! I told you not to attack them now! I told you to wait! But you dumb greedy insolent little-"
"We-are-sorry. We-were-wrong," One of them said.
"Of course, you were wrong!" Fujinuma roared, "You almost destroyed my whole plan! If you ever disobey my orders again, l'll kill you all by myself! Is that clear?!"
"Yes-lord-Fujinuma," Another spirit replied.
"Now get out of my sight!"
The spirits dissolved into thin air one by one.
𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵-𝘺𝘰𝘶-𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵, 𝘸𝘦'𝘭𝘭-𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩-𝘺𝘰𝘶-𝘢𝘯𝘥-𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘦-𝘵𝘩𝘦-𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥-𝘣𝘺-𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷e𝘴. 𝘞𝘦-𝘤𝘢𝘯-𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘶𝘱𝘵-𝘴𝘰-𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺-𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦! 𝘞𝘦-𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭-𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘦-𝘵𝘩𝘦-𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥! 𝘐𝘵-𝘴𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘴-𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦! 𝘐𝘵-𝘴𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘴-𝘴𝘰-𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦! 𝘐𝘩𝘪𝘩𝘪𝘩𝘪𝘩𝘪𝘩𝘪𝘪𝘪𝘪!
⭐🌟⭐❤⭐❤⭐❤⭐❤⭐❤⭐❤⭐🌟⭐