After four more days of Kaori regaining consciousness, she had finally been able to be discharged as she had fully recovered. The doctor had thought that she'd at least need several weeks or maybe even months to heal fully but it turns out, Kaori was a whole different case.
After she got out of there, she met up with her dear Kazuma-sensei first and foremost. She darted into the room, calling out, "Sensei!"
Kazuma hugged her in tears and she hugged back - the reunion of the student and the teacher after the student came back from almost death's door.
After the reunite, Kaori sat down on the chair in front of him as he took a seat, too.
"Did you hear from Maki?" Kaori asked as soon as they sattled down, "We destroyed the main entrance to the corrupted spirit world."
Kazuma nodded, "Yes, I did. All of you did a great job, I'm proud of you."
Kaori smiled, "I'm glad to make you so. I was here to ask you something."
Kazuma studied her face before he telling her to continue.
"All of this thing, this incident happened during our school trip. We disappeared in the middle of it and I was wondering what happened afterwards? Did you take any actions for it?"
Kazuma nodded at the question, "Yes, I did. The moment I heard the whole thing, I had to help you out so that nothing goes wrong on the other side. As for what I did," He continued, "I gave a call to my old friend, your principal, and he gladly obliged to cover you guys up. He said that he will take care of it all."
"Phew!" Kaori huffed, "That's a close one. I was scared that I had given my identity away."
"No," Kazuma smiled at her, "You didn't. Now tell me what had happened in there. I have already heard it from the other's angles, I want to know it from your perspective now."
And so, Kaori began.
****************************
Stting at the garden alone, Willia was recalling the incident at the infirmary of that certain day.
[Flashback]
"Who was that boy that sat by my side when I was unconscious?"
As the question left Kaori's lips, both Wood and Willia's eyes widened in astonishment.
𝘒𝘢𝘰𝘳𝘪 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴? 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘨𝘰.
Willia spoke first, "What do you mean, Kaori? That was Yamaken, of course! Don't you remember?"
Kaori looked confused as her face screwed up a bit as if she was trying hard to remember something that she had forgotten. "But I don't remember anyone by that name.." She said uncertainly.
Both of the others stood up in utter shock.
𝘖𝘩 𝘯𝘰.
"Wh-what d-do you m-mean, Ka-Kaori?" Willia stuttered in horror.
Kaori stared at the two in confusion as well.
Wood immediately asked away, "Do you remember who we are?"
"No, no, I do remember you," She objected, "I just seem not to know that Yamaken person only. Otherwise, I remember everything perfectly or so I think."
"That's weird," Willia mumbled lowly, "How can you only forget about one person?"
Kaori shrugged, "I don't know. I just know that I don't know him. He's totally an unknown person to me."
She took a breather as she continued slowly, "But the way he was holding my hand so tightly even when he was asleep, the way his eyes lit up when he looked at me, the way he looked so happy when I was awake... He must be someone close to me, huh?"
While Willia gaped at her friend, Wood said like a wise owl as he nodded gravely, "Not that he must be, he is. He is important to you just as much as you are important to him. So Kaori, hurry up and remember him. You don't know how much hurt he might be if he finds out about this."
Kaori was surprised by Wood's words but she replied thoughtfully, "I hope I can."
[End of flashback]
"Thinking back on those," Willia murmured, "Why did she just forget Yamaken? Or did she forget some other things, too?"
"Yo!"
Willia turned her head to see Wood smiling at her.
"What are you doing here all alone?" He asked as he took a seat next to her.
"Nothing much," She replied indifferently. "What about you? Why are you here?" She asked him back.
Wood smiled at her question, "I didn't have anything to do so I thought of spending time with you. Then I started looking for you and here I am!" He grinned widely like a child which made Willia look at him with slightly wide eyes.
That's when her eyes narrowed as she remembered something, "Hey, you."
"Hm?"
"Why did you say those to her?"
Wood turned to look at Willia, "What?"
Willia eyed Wood to see if he was trying to act like an idiot or something but she saw he was truly confused. So she explained, "You said that Yamaken was someone important to her just as much as she was important to him. What did you mean by those words?"
A smile crept up to Wood's lips as he leaned towards Willia playfully, "What do you think it means?"
Willia leaned back from him as she answered, "How would I know?"
Wood let out a breath as he went back to his proper position, "It means what it says."
As Willia waited to hear something more, he continued, "From my point of view, I think that Kaori always had feelings for him more than the way she sees him as. But she just doesn't notice it herself."
"..."
Wood glanced at the girl beside him, "Won't you say something?"
"Kaori.. Likes Yamaken? As in that way?" Willia muttered, emphasizing the word 'that'.
Wood tilted his head, "Then why don't you tell me? What do you think? Does she like him or does she not?"
As a silence fell between them, memories of Kaori's words about Yamaken started to play in Willia's mind.
"𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘮. 𝘚𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦. "
Her overprotective behaviour towards him.. But she's like that towards everyone she cares for, right?
"𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵."
The sadness in her voice whenever she states this..
"𝘠𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯? 𝘐 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩."
Even the straightly given answer seems to sound confusing right now..
"𝘏𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦."
The latest statement that Kaori made. It sounded like she was sad to have had lost the memories of someone special. Someone special...
Willia snapped back to reality as she heard Wood calling her name, "Yes?"
"What 'yes'? Answer my question! Did she ever tell you that she had feelings for someone in the past?"
"𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘐 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸."
"Ah?" Willia mumbled, "Yes, she did say that kind of something."
A wide smile spreaded across Wood's face, "Then, my theory has chances of being correct."
"What do you mean?" Willia turned at him.
"That Yamaken used to be someone Kaori liked. The old feelings never leave, Willia, specially if it's for someone you're truly close to. It will come back to you eventually and you won't be able to help but fall for the same person again. And my theory is that it's doing the same thing with Kaori."
*******************************
Kaori was walking in the corridor when a boy appeared before her.
"Yamak-" Kaori had started quite loudly but she lowered her voice as she realized how loud it was, "-en.."
Yamaken looked at her in surprise, "En?" As he leaned towards Kaori, she stepped back.
"I mean, Yamken! What are you doing here?" She asked nervously.
The boy observed her before replying, "I heard about you being discharged so I went over to the infirmary. But I didn't find you there so I was going back and now we meet along the way."
"Is th-that so?" Kaori tried to smile but failed.
Yamaken's eyes narrowed, "Kaori?" He called cautiously.
"Y-yes?"
"Why are you so nervous before me?" He asked blankly, "You look like-"
"What?" Kaori asked back sharply.
At this, Yamaken let out a sigh and just shook his head, "Nothing. Anyway, are you feeling better now?"
Kaori smiled automatically, "Yes, I feel much better. Thanks for asking."
As the two walked at the corridor side by side, Kaori first asked Yamaken, "Where are you heading to now?"
Yamaken answered promptly, "I have to see Maki. He was looking for me earlier."
Kaori stopped walking to ask, "What is it about?"
A brief moment of silence followed as the two read each other's eyes when Yamaken replied with a pleasant smile, "It's nothing serious. You just got discharged so don't give everything too much thoughts, okay? We'll handle it if anything goes wrong."
Kaori gave a dissatisfied look. "Fine, whatever," She said with a small pout as she huffed.
Yamaken couldn't but laugh at her cute reaction. He was going to say something but someone interrupted.
"Yamaken!" Yukine called from afar as he ran up to them in the corridor.
Yamaken turned at the boy with a questioning look on his face.
"Hey, Kaori," Yukine greeted Kaori with a bright smile who smiled back.
Then he looked at Yamaken and informed, "The headma- I mean, Kazuma-sensei is looking for you."
Yamaken immediately became active. He turned back at Kaori who was standing there with a poker face. He gave a small smile at her as he nodded, "I'll be leaving first then."
Kaori nodded back, "Okay, see you."
Yamaken turned away to walk off and Yukine followed him. As they started for their way, their conversation could be heard until a limited distance.
Kaori watched until they were out of her view. So now she was standing here all alone again.
"What should I do now?" Kaori muttered. She was bored because everyone was trying to keep her away from all kinds of worries and works for the moment. She could understand their feelings for her but she was bored here with nothing to do for this reason.
"Ah," Kaori spoke out, "Isn't third term exam coming soon? I should study!"
She was staring to walk back to her dorm room but stopped, "Eh, I don't feel like studying... So frustrating!" She grabbed ahold of her hairs and whined as she turned away from the direction she was facing, to see the entrance to the forest that was situated at the back of the headquarters.
"Ah," Her eyes lit up, "Let's go there! After all, Nothing is more helpful than nature when it comes to lifting your mood up."
****************************
Upon entering the forest, Kaori heard countless birds chirping melodically. The sweet song of theirs filled her ears and made a smile automatically grow on her lips. She hummed a song as she hopped along the forest pathways. The sun spreaded its soft, warm light all over the surface of the forest as the day rolled on.
Kaori stopped walking to look up at the trees and observe her sorroundings. As she looked around the forest, memories started to fill her mind. Suddenly, she started feeling dizzy and she couldn't take breathes.
The memories of that day when she and her mates had to strain themselves in order to make it out of that corrupted place alive, made her tear up. She tried to catch hold of her breath when she heard a sound of dry leaves being crunched as if someone was stepping on it. She snapped her head towards the direction to see a small ball of light.
As she looked at it, she heard the mild hum that it was singing.
With narrow eyes, she took a careful step towards it.
No doubt, it's that spirit again.
Kaori folded her hands and let out a sigh, "You really are following me, aren't you?"
The tune of the soft hum changed a tiny bit, as if it were a code that was working like a language between the spirit and her.
"Who are you?" Kaori's voice suddenly turned cold and stern, "I've protected you then but that doesn't mean I'll just let you follow me as you please. Show me your true form," She ordered.
As soon as the order had been made, the ball of light started to waver and change its shape. And soon enough, a young girl could be seen in its place.
The girl looked cheerful but her posture was also very formal, one could say it by taking a single glance at her. Her pink eyes were fixed on Kaori's clear dark brown ones. Her almond coloured long, wavy hairs were falling down her shoulder. The girl looked as if she was very experienced in everything.
As the young girl saw the enquiry in Kaori's eyes, she kneeled down, surprising the other girl.
Then she spoke in fluent Japanese, "Greetings, headmaster Kaori. I am your appointed loyal subject, Tsugumi Haruhi."
Kaori got flustered by the actions of the girl who was kneeling before her. She asked her back in Japanese, "Er, what do you mean? Why are you speaking in Japanese? And please don't-"
"I refuse to listen to you, headmaster," Haruhi cut in, "I cannot mark myself as a disloyal sacred guide. Haru-san would hate me for that. As for why I'm speaking in Japanese, I unable to speak in English. I apologize for my inability. "
Kaori stopped. In fact, her whole time stopped as she heard the words. She didn't care about whether the girl could speak in English or not. It was the other thing that caught her attention.
"What?" She stuttered, "H-Haru?"
Haruhi smiled, "It seems that I have a lot to tell you, headmaster."
⭐🌟⭐❤⭐❤⭐❤⭐❤⭐❤⭐❤⭐🌟⭐