While Kaori and Haruhi were having an explanation round, a heated conversation was following in the training room. A lot of the students and staffs had learned about Kaori's illness within a short amount of time and they were here now to know about what was going on.
"She can't stay as the headmaster if she becomes like this," Mabuchi muttered audibly.
Yamaken turned at him sharply, "What?"
All the others heard this, too. They were surprised to hear this from Mabuchi so they waited to hear something more that would explain what he just said.
Mabuchi met Yamaken's eyes, "If Kaori looses all of her memories, won't she be a nobody? She can't rule a clan like this"
Touma spoke up in a cold tone, "We are here to talk about how we can help her, not to talk if she can rule the clan or not, now that she might loose her memories gradually."
This worked, shutting Mabuchi up. Yamaken gave a satisfied glance at Touma.
𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘬𝘪𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦.
"But then again," Touma said in wonder, "If that does happen, I'll be the next headmaster, huh?"
Yamaken's satisfied glance turned into an annoyed glare in a minute.
𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵? 𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘬𝘪𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦!
Suddenly, Touma looked over at Yamaken and smiled, "Did you really think I would say that? Nope, I am on her team now, too. I believe we will bring her back to normal and she will stay as the headmaster. If anyone opposes this, we will think of that as an act of treason towards the current headmaster Kaori. And you know what the punishment is." The aura around him turned murderous.
Maki stepped out to stop the clash among the two, "Enough. Let's just find Kaori first and talk to her about this. She ought to know what is going on. Now where is she?"
Wood, Willia, Dylanthy, Robin and Tom were present, too. They didn't meet with Kaori today so they couldn't say anything about her location. When they saw that none were speaking up for a whole moment, the feeling of dread started to take them over until Yamaken spoke up.
"I was walking in the corridor with her when Yukine came to bring me to the doctor. I think she went somewhere after," He informed honestly.
"We have to find her," Maki said in hurry, "We'll find her and then-"
"Maki!"
All the eyes in the room turned to see the owner of the voice who was entering the room as she ran in. Saki huffed as Damien caught up with her.
"You won't believe what we just found out!" Damien informed hastily.
Maki was disturbed by the hanging information, "Don't beat around the bush. Spill it out."
Saki spoke this time, "It's an intruder alert! An outsider has entered our headquarter's boarder!"
"What?" A mild hum followed the sudden information.
Damien supported Saki's statement, "Yes, it's true. More than that is that Kaori has been tracked there with them!"
The spacious room fell in pin drop silence. Some started to whisper to one another.
Mabuchi was the first to break the silence, "Kaori has got herself in trouble. You know what it might mean if she's tracked with an outsider."
"It might be a misunderstanding!" Yukine yelled outin objection. He hated the way Mabuchi was suddenly behaving.
"Take us there," Maki ordered, "We'll find out on our own."
*************************************
"How?" Kaori asked Haruhi eagerly when Haruhi told her that she could help her regain her memories.
"I have your memories since you shared them with me. The shared memories lay intact," Said Haruhi, "If I can share them with you, you will get your memories back again."
"That's great!" Kaori yelled happily.
"But," Haruhi continued, "I don't have any ability to share them with you."
All of Kaori's excitement died down instantly, "Oh.."
"Still," Haruhi continued, "I don't know if I should be saying this but I am your assigned treasure guide and I also live as a free spirit. I don't see why you can't take me in as your shinki."
At an instant again, Kaori's eyes lit up brightly, "You are willing to?" She asked, almost screaming out.
"Yes," Haruhi smiled, "If it's for my headmaster, I will be more than willing to."
"Thank you!" Kaori hugged the latter, "Thank you so much!"
Haruhi smiled with slight tears in her eyes, hugging Kaori back.
"If you take me in as your shinki," She said to Kaori, "My memories will naturally be shared with you. I hope my idea works."
Kaori stood up, "Let's do this then."
Haruhi also stood up before Kaori and nodded.
As Kaori rose her right hand and pointed at Haruhi with her index finger and middle finger attached, a blue light glew up on their heads.
"I, Izumi Kaori, summon you, a free spirit, to serve me as my shinki," Kaori said fluently as she began drawing something in the air, leaving some marks to glow brightly, "I give you the Power Clan as your home. I give you me as your master. I give you my family as your family. I am taking you in as one of my own. Loyalty, love, friendship and the bond of family may make our union grow stronger. I hereby, owned you by giving you the name...."
"Come, Hikki!"
The bright light and sudden gush of wind made Kaori close her eyes with her hand still strached out to Haruhi.
While the letter 'Hikki' was visible before her in the air, glowing brilliantly.
*************************************
A team that contained all the residents of the clan, was heading towards the forest. Kazuma was there, too. He was praying hard that Kaori would be safe. Will his wish even come true?
They reached the squirt that was situated at approximately three kilometer distance from the headquarter building when they felt a strong wind and saw a light illuminating in the forest.
Yamaken had stopped in his tracks as he saw this. He knew very well about these signs.
𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘒𝘢𝘰𝘳𝘪 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪?
*************************************
As soons as Kaori felt something wrap around her hands, she jolted her eyes open. A pair of long black gloves were now covering both of Kaori's hands.
"𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴?" Kaori had a dumbfounded expression on her face as she observed the gloves. She hadn't expected this at all.
They didn't look like normal gloves. They had beautiful designs carved on the surface of the clothing. As Kaori moved her fingers, the gloves changed its colour into blue.
"Whoa," Kaori said on her own, "Let's see."
She moved her fingers in different ways and the glove changed its colours in different ones. When she did a certain move with her fingers, the gloves slowly disappeared.
"Stealth mode?" Kaori said in admiration, "Cool!"
She was about to say something to Haruhi when she felt something in herself. As if something invisible had slapped her hard on the face and made her smile falter.
She felt her breath hitch as pictures and incidents flashed past in her eyes.
"𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘨𝘰. 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯. 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦," A boy said who was lying on the ground, covered in blood.
"𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘶!" She remembered how she had run to the body and held him in her arms.
Kaori's eyes teared up as she tried to catch her breath. Her body had bended forwards to do so.
"𝘠-𝘺𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯, 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶?" A tear left the dying boy's eyes.
A gasp left from Kaori's throat as she lost control of her balance and fell. Her temples were showing on her skin as her chest went up and down, trying to catch hold of some oxygen. Sweat drops were shining on her forehead and neck.
"𝘒𝘢𝘰𝘳𝘪," The black haired boy's green eyes had the most kindest look on them that Kaori could ever see.
"𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘵. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦."
Sobs left Kaori's lips as she remembered what he had said back then. Her weak hands grabbed ahold of a tree branch that was lying on the ground. Her nails dug into the earth as tears fell down from her eyes.
"𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯," She remembered how she had told those to Haru, "𝘐𝘧 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳."
Kaori tried her best to fill her lungs with fresh air and control herself but she couldn't. She couldn't breath at all. It felt like the more the memories were coming back to her, the more she felt like she was being suffocated to death.
"𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦, 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶?"
"𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦, 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺. 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥. 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶."
"Haru.." Kaori sobbed and cried, "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"
"𝘒𝘢𝘰𝘳𝘪, 𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐'𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵. 𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥. 𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺, 𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺. 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦."
"Revert, Haruhi!" Kaori finally yelled out loudly.
At once, Tsugumi Haruhi was back to her human form. As soon as she did, she ran to Kaori's aid, "Are you okay?"
Kaori was finally breathing properly. She gave a weak smile, "Yeah. Thank you, Haruhi. Your idea worked."
Haruhi supported Kaori from the sideways as the other stood up, "You remember everything?"
"Yeah. I remember that I have a business to take care of," Kaori muttered.
"Huh?"
"I have to talk to the people of the clan," Kaori looked up at the confused looking girl, "Besides, they must have tracked me by now since they shouldn't be able to find me anywhere."
"They must know. The whole clan should know by now that I'm with an outsider."
*************************************
While everyone waited to grasp what was going on, dissatisfaction was created among some of the clan residents by Kaori's actions. They were murmuring about it among themselves lowly when one couldn't help speaking out loudly.
"It's no wonder that she's stepping out of line now. She has never cared about her actions! No one bothered to pick it out either!" A senior student spoke up with rage.
Hums of agreement followed.
An elderly woman now spoke up, "She has always been like that, that's right. She killed, she did whatever she wanted, she broke rules and what not. The clan must be a joke to her!"
"Yes! Why did everyone agree on her being the headmaster in the first place!" Said a young man.
"Yeah!"
"Enough!" Maki got angry. He couldn't tolerate the mean behaviour of the others. "Who are you to judge her like that? She has been the greatest headmaster among all! Do you even have eyes?"
"Greatest headmaster, my foot!" Another resident, an old man of the clan said fiercely. He was known to be a good old grandpa who was always nice to everyone and was liked by everyone, too. "She doesn't even run the errands that was supposed to be done by the headmaster! Kazuma has been doing her jobs all along! Why would she be the holder of all the power?" He demanded.
"Yeah! She's trying to make a fool out of us! Let's do a revolt against her!"
Touma roared, "Will you guys shut up?!" "Listen to yourselves! Such awful fools! Do you know how she would feel if she heard these? What didn't she ever do for you, huh? You guys here are like her one and only family. She killed, why? Because she had to protect you! She broke rules, why? Because she wanted you guys to live better! And you are here badmouthing her! What do you think of yourselves, huh?!"
Most of the other's were frozen by his sudden rant but a middle aged man rebuked.
"What do you know, you kid?" Said he. "You are new here. How can we believe what you say? You were against her at first, too!"
"I have to something to say," Mabuchi said calmly, "She's been tracked with an outsider. Why aren't you suspecting anything? Is it because it's her? She could be plotting against us or something."
"Kaori would never do that," Saki mocked him, "I don't understand why you are saying these when you know Kaori yourself. She would never do that," She stated boldly.
"People can change, too," Mabuchi sneered, "Who said your so called good old Kaori wouldn't be greedy for power, too?"
"Mabuchi!" Gin yelled, "Is that the way you talk about her?"
"Headmaster or whatever," Mabuchi continued indiffrently "She broke a severe rule, so she must be punished. Who is with me?"
Almost fifty percent of the people shot their hands up in the air.
William and the others eyed them with disgust. "How can people be so disappointing?" He muttered.
Saki tried to make her master, Mabuchi change his mind, "Mabuchi, why are you doing this? Think what you are acting on, please!"
"I know what I'm saying," He spat back coldly. "Now, if anyone tries to let her go without being punished for her crime, we'll go against you. You don't want a war to break out among ourselves now, do you?"
The other people who were in his team yelled from the back, "Eliminate her! Take her down from the headmaster's position!"
Kazuma was standing straight and stupefied as if he was frozen on his position. He couldn't make what was happening before him. He thought these people loved her, but they were just snakes - acting good on the outside when on the other hand, trying to smash her under their feet when she's helpless.
Maki tried to gulp and make his dry throat wet, "Mabuchi, you know what will happen to the clan if we do this, right? Kazuma-sensei can't be here all the time. Touma still has a lot to learn. Kaori is the only one who's completely ready to take the position. We need her, Mabuchi. We need her to lead us."
"Why are you requesting me?" Mabuchi smirked. "They were the one to ask for the punishment," He pointed at his teammates. There were many elders among them, many were students, too. Mabuchi's smirk grew larger, "Besides, a headmaster who have broken such a severe rule doesn't deserve the power to lead."
Yamaken's hands were balled into fists, "𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴?"
He finally opened his lips, "If anyone dares to touch her, I'll grant you an instant death."
As he said this, all the others except the ones who took Mabuchi's side, came over to him and stood with him as if they were protecting Kaori behind themselves.
Before anything rolled further, sudden clapping sounds could be heard behind them.
Everyone turned around to see Kaori standing a little afar and clapping, "Bravo! So beautiful." Kaori walked up to them slowly, "I'm impressed!"
She gave a bright smile at Mabuchi and his huge team. "So, if you had problems with me, why didn't you come solve it before I became the headmaster?" She asked coldly, deadly serious.
They were surprised by Kaori's sudden appearance and now they were even more surprised by her change of act in a matter of minutes.
Even Mabuchi gulped at her inquiry, "What do you mean? You broke the ru-"
"Yes, I broke the rule, so what?" Kaori asked indiffrently, "If everything was supposed to go along the rule, do you think this clan would still be in its place? You are here accusing me of breaking rules and things while you are the biggest culprit yourself," she stated blatantly.
"What?"
"Do you think that I don't know?" Kaori walked up closer to him, "There have always been a bug along the clan residents, you thought I didn't know?" She gave a powerful glare at him, "If you thought so, then let me inform you that I did know. But I acted like I didn't. If you also think that I don't hold any responsibility as the headmaster, then let me prove you wrong on that, too."
"You were the bug! You were the spy! You have worked for Fujinuma all along!" Kaori yelled at Mabuchi, "You've hid yourself well. But you can't hide from me. You told him that I was made the headmaster. That's why we were attcked in that forest, weren't we? The reason why we were trapped in the corrupted spirit's world was because of you!"
"What?"
"Oh my God!"
"Really?"
People started to whisper again. Nobody knew anything about this.
"You tried to kill me through the help of them. And after that, I think you would have stepped on them, too, wouldn't you?" She scoffed at Mabuchi as she continued, "But when that little plan of yours failed, you couldn't think of anything else. Then, this thing came up and you're now trying to use this opportunity to take me down." "I was always wondering why we were suddenly transported to the main entrance to the corrupted spirit's world. Now I know," She shook her head in disappointment.
Mabuchi started to laugh, "What nonsense are you spouting? Do you have any evidence on this?"
"Evidence?" Kaori smirked. "Yukine-kun," She called.
"Yes," He stepped out.
"Show it to him."
He tapped a few times on his wristband and a video appeared on a large screen before them appeared for everyone to see.
It was Mabuchi in the video. He was talking to someone in his room. From his conversation, it was clear that Kaori was right. He was a spy that everyone trusted.
Kazuma said in a heavy, enraged tone, "Guards! Take Mabuchi away to the dungeon for attempting treason and lock him up!"
At once the clan guards arrested him and he was sent to the deepest section of the prison.
All those who had taken his side had kneeled down and apologized to Kaori for taking his side without knowing anything. Kaori of course, forgave them with a smiling face. By that, everyone had finally understood that Kaori was truly the best headmaster they could get.
Yamaken gave a pat on her back, "That was a good show you did. I thought we would have to spill some blood."
Kaori smiled at him, "Isn't it better to deal everything like this? I think it's time to come out of my shell and show everyone what I'm truly capable of."
"Yeah," Maki came forwards, "You should do that sometimes."
Kaori then remembered something that she had missed, "Oh! Everyone!" She called out to the residents before they could break apart, "I have something to share with you."
"Meet Tsugumi Haruhi," As Kaori called, Haruhi appearrd out of thin air, surprising everyone.
"She's my treasure guide that I took in as my new shinki."
⭐🌟⭐❤⭐❤⭐❤⭐❤⭐❤⭐❤⭐🌟⭐