'8:30, and he's not back yet. What's going on?' Chiyo glanced at Ruri, she had not been in her usual mood ever since she brought in that letter. Her face was drawn into a serious and sober expression, she had also been quiet for a long time as well.
'Was there something in the letter I missed?'
Chiyo was also worried about Toshirou. The blue-haired teen had yet to return and if judging from the news about her school being electrocuted, wasn't going to be back for a while. Chiyo could only pray for his safe return.
The silence stretched on between the ladies. Chiyo felt a warm hand wrap around her own and a sense of peace overcame her. Taking another look at Ruri, she sighed softly and leaned into an embrace with her which she readily received. In that moment of comfort, they heard footsteps drawing nearer and closer towards the front door of the house.
"It's Toshirou-kun!"
Both Chiyo and Ruri ran to the door and slid it open.
"Toooshi-kuun?"
His shirt was painted with splashes of red, no, his entire body was marked in blood. He was without his blazer and his tie was loose around his neck. He carried someone in his arms - a female to be exact - whom both Chiyo and Ruri recognized.
"Takezawa-sensei/Misaki-chan!!"
Ruri immediately rushed to the kitchen to get a cloth and a bowl of water. Chiyo stayed by Toshirou's side as he set Takezawa down carefully on one of the couches in the living room. They did not talk. There was no need to do so. He unbuttoned his shirt and set it beside him, leaving him only in his trousers and a white short-sleeved vest also stained with blood.
Chiyo felt that she had to say something.
"Toshirou-kun?"
"Hm?" Was the reply, his sight still stayed on his teacher beside them.
"Are... you okay?"
Taking a second to reply, "I'm fine."
"Is Sensei going to be okay too?"
"Yes, she'll be."
Chiyo pursed her lips, getting irritated at his short responses.
"What happened out there?"
There was a pause. "Nothing."
Her brows drew together in frustration. She took some locks of his hair and pulled it sharply with all her strength.
"Ow! What the hell Chi?!"
"No! What the hell you?! Stop giving me those short answers like nothing extraordinary happened! You tell me to go home, lightning strikes our school, you come back late at night with blood all over you and our unconscious teacher and you tell me nothing happened?! Do you know how worried we were?! Do you know how our hearts were set on edge?! No, you don't! So don't give me some stupid, nonsense stiff response like everything's fine!!"
Toshirou widened his eyes in surprise at her lashing out. Never before had Chiyo shouted at him. Not even once. Although he knew some things he did should've gotten her angry, she had never lashed out at him. Sure, she had scolded him more often than none but getting angry, is something she had never done.
By this time she had stopped. She was breathing heavily with tears in her eyes, her chest rapidly rising and falling in her annoyed state.
Toshirou averted his eyes from her in shame. "Gomen'nasai, Chiyo. I didn't realize I caused you some much worry."
Her features softened when she saw the dejected look on his face. Coming closer to him, she leaned gently on him with her head resting on his shoulders and her hand in his.
"Chiyo, what are you doi-"
"Sorry for lashing out like that."
He whipped his head at her then looked away, allowing her touch to comfort him.
"No, I deserved it." He said.
The two accepted each other's warmth and though Toshirou knew this is something that only couples did, he couldn't deny it felt nice having her body against his.
"We should do this more often," Toshirou said.
"Mmm," Chiyo smiled and closed her eyes, "we should."
Meanwhile, Ruri stood, hidden behind the entrance of the living room with her hands on her heart and a smile on her face.
...
Due to the unnatural occurrence that happened at Fujimoto high school, all classes were suspended for the time being. The amount of damage done to the school would take up to two weeks to be repaired considering that the construct had been struck by lightning.
Luckily and miraculously, no one was hurt. Well, except for a dead body whose body parts, most notably; the eyes and ears had been missing. The school environment was off-limits for normal citizens and only the police could come to the area. A lot of investigation went on at the school which, needless to say, was futile. There was no explanation for the sudden turn of events like the unexpected change in weather and the lightning that struck the building. All of it seemed unreal which highly troubled the Japanese police and the residents of Fujisawa.
As for the Aosaki household, things were not going to be the same anymore.
Well, that's what Toshirou thought. Because of right now, some things were still the same as ever.
"You damned woman! Get off me!"
"But Toshi-kun is still recovering. Okaa-san is going to make you better with her healing hug." She hugged him even more firmly than before.
"Huh?! I'm perfectly fine, just get the hell off me!!"
No matter how much he struggled against her he realized, she would never lose to him in a contest of strength. He always wondered if it was because he subconsciously lowered his strength so as not to hurt her, but no, Toshirou knew that wasn't the case. It was like that for all kids, no matter how tall or strong you were, you will always still lose to your mother.
"Tch! A little help here Chi?"
The girl in question simply giggled while watching their silly antics.
"Nope." She said, putting much emphasis on the 'p'.
"You sneaky little-"
"Oh my, it seems you're in good shape, Toshirou."
All three looked in the direction of the voice. Takezawa stood at the entrance of the door, gazing down at Toshirou with a smirk on her face.
"Sensei!"
"Misaki-chan!!" Ruri left Toshirou and lunged towards her longtime friend, hugging her stomach like a little child. Everyone in the room sweatdropped at her actions.
Takezawa sighed softly at her. With a compassionate look, she pets her head gently like the child she was.
"I'm so glad Misaki-chan is okay." Ruri sniffed into her stomach.
Feeling her blouse get wet, she smiled gently and continued to pet her hair. "Arigatou ne, Ruri-chan."
With all playfulness gone from him, his heart ached when he saw this touching scene between his mother and his teacher. He had vowed a long time ago to never make his mother cry and yet, over a small number of events, she had been brought to tears by almost losing another cherished friend of hers. He would never forgive the bastards who did this. Even if it meant that he should kill, he would do everything in his power to protect her and Chiyo. Her life was almost in danger because of some rogue monster, Takezawa-sensei was almost killed in the process and Okinawa was a step away from death's door. No, he was a thread away from death's door, any moment longer, he would've lost his life. Just how far were they going to go to get rid of the both of them.
'Tch!' Toshirou clicked his tongue. 'Like I'll accept that reality like I'll sit here and wait for my family to be hunted down. The hunted will be the hunter and the hunter will be the hunted. And I'll.. be the one doing the hunting.'
"Daijoubu? Toshirou-kun?"
Chiyo's voice brought him out of his musings. He looked up at her and noticed Takezawa and Ruri, gazing at him with puzzled expressions on their faces.
"Daijobu desu." He stood up and stretched his body. Taking a glance at the wall clock he read the time and let out a sigh.
So it's that time already, huh.
"Let's get going, Chi. We're supposed to meet Taichou at the hospital."
"Hai." She stood up as well and headed over to the door with him.
"We'll be back in a bit. Till then, please don't bring down the house. And Sensei, you have some explaining to do when we get back." Toshirou said to his mother and his teacher.
"Yeah, but where are you going?" Takezawa asked him.
Toshirou looked at her over his shoulders.
"To see Okinawa."
...
"Sorry for bringing you out here, Arisugawa-san." The class president of Class 2A bowed to Chiyo in gratitude for coming to the hospital to see her.
"No, no, no, it's fine Shiori-san. If anything, I'm grateful you told me to come as well. Please raise your head."
Slowly, she did as she was told.
"Where is he?" Toshirou asked.
A still quietness came into their midst. The atmosphere was solemn and sober. With a deep breath, Shiori lifted her hand and pointed towards room 015.
The three of them entered the whitewashed room and watched over Okinawa. Laying on the hospital bed with an oxygen mask, there Okinawa was.
"He hasn't woken up ever since that day., Shiori said, dabbing her eyes to remove the tears in them.
Chiyo couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor girl.
'Shiori-san.'
Toshirou stared at the green-haired boy laying peacefully on the bed. Bandages were wrapped around his chest area - where he had been pierced. He couldn't help but feel guilty knowing that his carelessness is what caused him to be in such a predicament. With clenched fists he swore to himself, 'I won't let this happen again.'
"Let's go, Chi. Toshirou said as he walked towards the door.
"Right now?"
"Yeah. And Taichou,"- He looked at Shiori with expressive eyes - "I'm sorry all of this happened, please take care of Okinawa. If you have any problems, don't hesitate to call me or Chiyo. Okay?"
"Hai." She sniffed.
He bent down and pat her on the shoulders, "It'll be alright, I promise you."
She nodded and stood up with him. Escorting the both of them to the door, she held them by the hands and hugged them.
"Arigatou." She said.
Chiyo and Toshirou returned the hug.
"You're welcome, Shiori." Toshirou said.
...
"I want you to start from the top. Every piece of information is valuable to me."
"Yes, I understand."
Toshirou had arrived home not too long ago. Seeing Okinawa only reinforced his desire for answers concerning everything but first things first, he took Chiyo home. She had already been involved enough and Toshirou felt the urge to keep her in the dark in regards to the events of the past few days. This, he felt, was the only way to protect her and her family. He had succeeded in avoiding any contact between her and Kuroma which is a feat in itself and preventing any slip up on what actually went on in school that day. He knew Chi would be sad that he kept these things from her and he felt guilty about hiding them from her. But if this was the price to pay for her safety and comfort, he would gladly bear with all that pain.
Toshirou looked at his mother and his teacher. The three of them sat in the living room with Takezawa opposite Ruri and Toshirou. With a deep breath, he spoke. "I'm all ears."
Takezawa nodded and began to speak. "I'm sure you already know a great deal from Ruri but of course, I have my side to tell. I am not human. To put it in the right terms, I am one of the monsters sent to chase down you and your mother."
Both Toshirou and Ruri did not comment on this, so she continued.
"Shortly after the death of your mother's friends, she vanished with you in her arms. Unfortunately, two of the creatures were caught up in the disappearance and the only objectives on their mind were to kill the infant and its mother. Those two monsters were myself and Kuroma. Around the time your mother appeared in Fujisawa, Kuroma and I also appeared in a different city. We caused quite an uproar over there and so we went into hiding till we could learn the language of the people of this world and manifest their appearance as well."
"Why did you go into hiding? Why didn't you just 'kill' the humans who crossed paths with you?"
Takezawa winced, knowing the meaning behind Toshirou's words. It hurt, very much so.
"Our only objective was to eliminate the child and its mother. We had no business attacking other humans."
She looked up at Toshirou but he averted his eyes from her. She did the same with Ruri but her gaze was out the window.
She sighed before she proceeded. "After a short while, we were able to fully master this world's language and we were also able to change our appearances to that of humans. Then, we decided to search for you. Eventually, we found you here in Fujisawa and we both decided to finish off our job."— she looked down at her hands on her lap — "Due to our overstay in this realm, we began to develop emotions, something which creatures such as myself could never have or achieve even if we tried. That's why, when I saw Ruri and Toshirou, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I forfeited my objective and told Kuroma that we should leave you alone but he disagreed and we fought over it. I still remember that day very clearly. We fought and fought until one of us couldn't move anymore. I won the battle and Kuroma ran away and didn't show face until recently. I took it upon myself to watch over the both of you and do everything I could to keep you from harm. I'm sorry I could not live up to expectations."
Neither mother nor son said anything. The silence gave way to suspense and Takezawa's anxiety increased. She knew how it must feel, having a close friend tell you they had been sent to murder you all of a sudden, and to be honest, she didn't blame them if they chose to hate her and have nothing to do with her. The thoughts made tears well up in her eyes.
Suddenly, she felt warm arms envelop her. The arms held her in comfort and rubbed her back gently.
"Don't cry, Misaki-chan. You didn't do anything wrong."
At this, the tears burst out fully.
"B-but I-"
"Daijobu." Ruri interrupted her. "I know Misaki-chan, Misaki-chan is a good person. Despite whatever she did, despite her horrible past, despite being sent to kill us, you still watched over us and protected us. Misaki-chan will always be my best friend. Her heart is in the right place, I know it. So don't cry, it'll ruin Misaki-chan's pretty face."
Takezawa chuckled slightly hearing her last statement. It warmed her heart to be friends with such a sweet and lovely person.
"She's right you know."
Both teacher and mother looked up at the blue-haired teen.
"It doesn't matter what you did in the past. The only thing that matters is what you are doing right now." — the boy stared straight into her eyes — "Earlier you called yourself a monster, but I would like to reverse that. You are NOT a monster. The only monster around here was Kuroma. You, however, are not one, and will never 'be' one. Not under my watch."
'This kid really is something, isn't he?'
"Yeah." Takezawa wiped her eyes and gave a smile. "Thank you, the both of you."
"There's no need to thank us. We're friends, aren't we? And besides, there's no way I could hate the one who saved my life now, is there?"
Ruri rapidly nodded her head in agreement.
"I do have one favor to ask of you," Toshirou said.
Takezawa cocked her head to the side. "What is it?"
"Teach me... Teach me how to wield a blade."