Two years later.
The life of the residents in the headquarters became busier. In the school, one year graduated and another year advanced toward it. There were no groups of students which weren't going to missions that was to destroy the corrupted spirits and help the human beings. The amount of fieldworks increased when one became a senior student. The boring life had now turned to an engaged life for all now.
Kaori was being her usual self without any change. She was still feared by the people of the clan. And her relationship with everyone, along with her headmaster and friends went totally downhill. Even though she and her team went to missions together, they barely spoke to one another - the friendship of Kaori and Saki aside. However, she always reached out to them when they needed help in the fields.
Again, It was even a worse case between her, Haru and I. Kaori never felt the need of sparing a glance at us anymore.
In the end, Haru wanted to resign from the post of obeying Kaori as his master. He wanted to be released. But I was able to make him half heartedly change his mind.
I couldn't talk to Kaori about this either because she rejected strongly every time I called her out. But I did tell Saki to somehow carry this news to Kaori's ears. I don't know if she did it nor what Kaori did when she heard about it.
At my times, at the times we run into each other in coincidence or have to be somewhere at the same time, though she sees me, she wouldn't look back at me for a second time.
I was really frustrated by her behaviour and it saddened me much. However, there was nothing for me to do. So I waited for the time to fix everything back.
************************************************
One day, in the headmaster's office.
I was checking the progress papers on the students and my secretary came in.
"Headmaster," He greeted me with respect.
"What is it?" I asked, not looking up from the papers.
He stayed quiet for a moment before informing me, "Team Turquoise was sent to Yokohama on a mission and is requesting for backup. They seem to not be able to tackle the situation alone."
I looked up at him through my spectacles and then had a moment of thought.
"Send in Kaori," I said, looking back at the papers.
"Her alone? Or should I send the full team?" He asked of me.
"That girl alone is enough," I said.
"Okay, sir," He bowed one more time before leaving the room.
I looked back at the paper that was in my hand.
There, a copy of Kaori's profile and her progresses throughout the years were listed. A smiling photo of her was attached to the paper on the top left corner.
I looked at the lines of progressionใ ก
"๐๐ด ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ช๐น๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ. ๐๐ข๐ฑ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ง."
"๐๐ช๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ญ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด."
"๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ณ๐ฆ๐จ๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ด. ๐๐ฑ๐ช๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ. ๐๐ญ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด. ๐๐ด ๐ง๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ - ๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ด๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ."
"๐๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ '๐๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ง' ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ช๐ฅ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฆ๐น๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ - ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด."
"๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ."
"๐๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ญ."
More followed by but I stopped there while thinking, "What is 'Famous Four'?"
I signed her paper and flipped over for the next one. But I stopped again as I saw the bright, grinning face of Xeno as the profile's picture.
I suddenly became sad, remembering his actions and the things that might've happened to him regarding Kaori before he left.
"๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฐ... ๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ก๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ข ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ? ๐๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐จ๐ถ๐บ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ข๐บ" - was all I thought before letting out a sigh and signing his paper.
************************************************
Days passed by like this again.
When it was passing by, it didn't feel so eventful. But now that I recall it, a lot of things happened back then. Even words are faling to describe this happenings.
Kaori's unfair behaviour towards Haru grew more and more. But I saw a change in him.
He had gone impatient by her at first, as I said before. But now, I saw him calm. He smiled when she glared at him, he talked to her politely with respect despite her sharp tongue towards him.
Somehow, when I saw them together, my heart ached so hardly that I felt my eyes burn in sadness.
Kaori continued to hold Fujinuma high and be protective of him. But while she was neglecting her other shinki(s), they were slowly withering away by the anguish in their heart. Haru, specially.
Back in the early times, Haru was everything Kaori could ever ask for. The bond between them, left everyone envy Kaori. But now, they pity Haru.
"๐๐ข๐ต๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด, ๐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต'๐ด ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ."
"๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ข๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต, ๐'๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ข๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด, ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด. ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ญ๐บ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ."
Haru's unheard thoughts stayed unheard forever. The pain he felt and his feelings, were all unheard by the master he adored.
While the story of agony rolled on, another story of Fujinuma Hiiro unfolded.
With multiple stories and events continuing alongside in such short time, months later, a chaos destroyed all of Kaori's pride.
Fujinuma had betrayed her and as the result, that one time's 'pitiful' Haru died.
And then, Kaori finally realized what she had done.
************************************************
A month later after Haru's death and Fujinuma's escape.
Inside the headmaster's office.
I was meeting with Yamaken. He had told me that he wanted to leave the headquarters and I was left with surprise.
"Why?" I asked, "Why do you suddenly want to leave?"
He looked so scrawny these days. He certainly had lost tremendous amount of weight and was probably not eating properly.
I didn't see him in classes when I went for inspection nor had I seen him in his regular training sessions in the afternoon.
"I had enough of this life," He said, "I'll try to start anew."
"What do you mean?" I asked, dumbfounded.
Yamaken said in despair, "I was given a family. But I couldn't protect it from falling apart, I couldn't hold it together. All I did was watch from afar. And now, look at what happened."
"My brother," His voice broke, "Haru, he... I..." He sobbed and started crying.
I watched with tears in my eyes. I could feel the pain but I couldn't think of what to do.
I put my consoling hand on his shoulder and gave him a few pats of assurance. "It's okay, my boy, it's okay," I said in a hoarse tone.
Yamaken shook his head, "No, it's not. Please, headmaster, this is my last wish. Let me leave."
I read his face silently before asking, "What about Kaori?"
His expression turned sorrowful.
"Headmaster," He looked up at me, "Will you take care of her for me?"
I sighed, "Of course I can but she will be very disappointed. Right now, you are the only one she has, Yamaken."
But he smiled, "I'm not."
I was taken aback by his answer but I gave him my words that I'd look out for her.
And then, Yamaken walked out of my room, as a free soul - unbounded by the headquarters.
************************************************
Kaori met Yamaken in the corridor when he was rushing through.
"Are you really leaving?" She asked when he was passing by her.
Yamaken stopped and looked back, "I didn't think you'd find out so soon... Yeah."
Kaori scoffed in disbelief and ran her fingers through sleek short hair, "Can't you stay? For me?"
Yamaken was lost for words.
It was obvious to him that Kaori wanted him to stay genuinely because she needed him. But her way of saying that out loud was very lame. It made her sound selfish.
Nevertheless, he didn't point anything out to her.
"I can't, Kaori," He said, "I can't stay here anymore. You know why. This place makes me feel suffocated."
As Kaori didn't say anything else, he took it for the conversation to have ended and then he walked away, leaving her standing alone in the deserted corridor.
************************************************
Three months later after Yamaken left the clan and went traceless.
Inside the headmaster's office.
Kaori was facing me, her eyes casted downwards.
I was looking at her, my one and only disciple - whom I didn't get to see properly for years.
Memories were flooding my mind, everything that happened until now clouded my brain.
But I didn't like the silence that hovered between us. I wanted to talk to her again.
However, I didn't know what to talk about. Because of what she said to me earlier, my mind turned blank.
It felt like Yamaken all over again.
"Are you sure?" I asked quietly, "Do you really want this?"
Kaori nodded, still not looking up.
"Look at me."
After a whole minute, she raised her head and I met the teary eyes.
I knew why she was shedding tears. The death of her friend still remains fresh in her memory. She didn't have anyone beside her to tackle this situation with. And this certain thing was breaking all of the people I care for.
I couldn't hold the urge of hugging her.
Houtarou Haru was my disciple's first shinki and her first guide. For this, a bond had grown between us. Through this bond, I got quite close to him. And I liked him much. I wasn't much older than them but it was like a relationship between a father and a son.
I can't forget the pain of loosing him, either. It was like something had torn me apart from him and I can never get back.
Kaori hugged me back, "Headmaster, I want to break free of this. So please allow me to."
I sighed, "Will you not stop being so distant from me?"
I felt her hand clutch the back of my shirt.
"Sensei," She said with quiet, guilty tone, "Will you ever forgive me for the things I did?"
I laughed with wet eyes, "Don't applogize to your teacher. Because a student is bound to make mistakes when he's learning."
Kaori looked up, "Really?"
"Yeah," I smiled, "You should forgive me, for not being the best teacher for you."
Kaori shook her head, letting go of me and then she bowed, "You were the best one I could ever get, Kazuma-sensei."
I sighed, "You still want to drop out?"
Kaori nodded. "Yes," She looked up at me fully, much more confident now.
Her eyes were still teary and puffy from all the crying. She looked tired and stressed.
The girl who's standing before me is the 'Black Wolf' everyone was afraid of. But right now, she doesn't look scary, she looks pitiful.
I let out another sigh, "If you insist, I have no other options but to let you go. However, you can go, after we have the last match between us."
Seeing my smile, Kaori unserstood what I was pointing at.
A proud smirk rose on her lips, "Fine, but this time, I'll win for sure."
"Yeah, I know," I smiled warmly.
Kaori was surprised by me. "What?" She asked, "Why are you saying that? Shouldn't you be all smirky and say - 'Yeah, we'll see about that'?"
I laughed, "You make it sound so bad! But I said that all the time to provoke you because it was my only way to bring out the best of you. Plus, I knew back then that you were going to loose."
"What did you say?!" A vein popped in Kaori's forehead as she raised her angry fist at me.
I completely ignored her and continued, "But now, I know that you'll win," I smiled again.
Somehow, I was feeling complete right now. Maybe it was because Kaori was finally going to graduate from me. After this match, my disciple will defeat me, her master. She will no longer be my disciple, I'll have to let her go. And then she will leave this place as she wishes to. I don't know if I'll ever get to see her again.
It's a bittersweet feeling.
Kaori's eyes had windened at my words. Her rage was gone. She, too, was able to grip what was happening.
And she must've felt the same as she had smiled back at me - that warm smile that I didn't get to see for years, that genuinely happy smile.
************************************************
All the residents of the clan had come to the training ground to watch the last match between the headmaster and his disciple.
That day, I lost to Kaori.
The girl I started training was frail and weak. But I knew then, I had become successful. Izumi Kaori had faced a dramatic change.
************************************************
When I was with her, I would always end up debating with myself about whether I'm the teacher here or I am the student.
"Sakagami Kazuma-sensei!"
I entered the reality again as I looked up at Kaori, whose hands were on her waist.
"Yes?" I asked her unconsciously.
"You didn't hear what I said?" She asked me in disbelief, "I knew it. I said, we need to go back!"
"Go back? Where?" I asked again, clueless.
When I looked at you, I was always reminded of that person, my sister who used to be caring, protective, loving, respectful, kind and a good hearted person. I realized how much I regretted that I didn't stand up for the things in my life, how much of a coward I was.
"Back to America!" Kaori answered like a child, throwing her hands upwards.
I smiled at her childishness.
That was the reason I didn't want her to turn into someone I became, why I taught her all the things I knew, why I wanted her to be a better person, why I wanted her to live a life unlike mine, why I was always worried for her. But I only found out that...
"Of course," I replied, still smiling. "You have to go back there after all."
There wasn't anything to worry for at all. She knew way better than me. And I was the one that needed to learn from her, not the other way around.
Because by the time I was debating myself how I could turn her into something invincible so that nothing in this world could hurt her like I was, she had already changed in her own way. A much better way of invincibility.
The teacher and the student smiled at each other when suddenly, someone barged into the office room.
"Headmaster!" Maki yelled as he banged through the door.
Both Kaori and I replied in unison, "Yes?"
Then we both looked at each other, dumbfounded.
Kaori apologized quickly, "Sorry, you're the acting headmaster..."
"No, no," I apologized, too, "You are the original headmaster. I replied out of habit."
"Hey!" Maki said impatiently, "Don't you want to know what I have to say?"
"Yes, Maki what is it?" I asked first.
"Zenna and Xeno are back!" Maki exclaimed, looking at Kaori.
Kaori's eyes widened in surprise.
She recalled the small boy in big clothings, the sea blue eyes, mane of white hair and a bright grin.
๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฐ!
โญโคโคโญ๐โค๐โญโคโคโญ๐โค๐โญโคโคโญ