~~~OTHERS~~~
It was a bright beautiful morning in bloom as the door to the temporary headquarters suddenly opened and the person the SPR crew dreaded to see, greeted with his usual condescending grin.
Matsuyama-sensei stepped in with smugness, his eyes darting around the room— must have already heard of Akemi's incident as well as the broken school property; despite all the tragic events, the Gym teacher seemed to be proud as he has shown himself in pride. "Well, aren't you all ready to leave yet?"
~~~AKEMI NARU~~~
"Is it awful that I wasn't so shocked at this reveal?" Akemi let out a hesitant smile as she sat up her hospital bed, the doctors and nurses already concluding that all she had was a minor sprain and are willing to let her out the next day.
"Even I was not surprised," Naru nonchalantly speaks, taking a sip on his brewed tea; sitting beside the chair next to Akemi's hospital bed, the heiress twiddled her fingers together while Naru kept rereading the case papers on the folders open on his crossed knees, flipping the pages once he was finished reading.
Akemi cleared her throat as she glances beside her, "I saw your brother, you know?"
— FLIP!
Naru's response was quick: "You did?"
"Yeah, he was quite handsome..."
— FLIP!
"That's what they all say."
"Well he is the only one I can see clearly. So do forgive me if my word would be different on a different circumstance."
"We are highly identical."
— FLIP!
"..."
"You are not getting a 'clear' appearance from me, Akemi."
"Pfft! I sure hope to never see your appearance either, Professor Davis." Akemi giggles, unaware of the slight nudge of Naru's lips just before he took another sip of his tea. Knowing that for the two of them, basing in appearance is too overrated to start a relationship; Yet might be enough to incite a thought.
"So what is the plan for tomorrow?"
"Do you still have any strength left?"
Naru asked a simple question yet it led Akemi now standing at the very center stage of the high school gymnasium. She was just about to kneel after removing her wooden sandals when the door to the gym opened to revealing an irritated aura from Naru and a slightly tired yet solemn from Lin's, noticing their emotions Akemi decided to dismiss such things and smiled at the newcomers.
"Well, here to watch?" Akemi made sure to keep her elbows close to her sides with her palms facing up; a precaution to keeping herself clean as she slowly knelt before the 'students' and have her beads and catalpa bow or also known as azusa yumi in front of her reach. "I might as well start, don't you think?" Akemi this time moved her head to gaze forward seeming to have talked to someone else, lifting her chin up as her eyes and lips closed with a light smile plastered on her face. The air around her changing into something more divine.
Her silvery waves was lifted to an up-do, leaning more on her lower left side with trinkets that fluttered along her head with her little movements. Her hairstyle kept any of her locks from coming forward her face, revealing her unblemished skin that Naru thought to resemble a soft boiled egg. The thought of it amused him, he could never see a boiled egg the same way.
When Akemi let out a breath, Naru moved his gaze towards her action. Her sensuously rosy lips complimented her pale skin well, making Akemi poise as a winter fairy or something more majestic that Naru could never name with how graceful she maintained herself in the middle of a school gymnasium; wearing an overall white kimono that Akemi stated to Naru was a traditional wedding dress for the Japanese— yet what she wore bore the Maruyama clan emblem and design.
Pure white, a kind of white Naru had thought to never see as it almost seemed impossible, she looked to be glowing from the color despite her pale skin tone. Akemi wore a lot of layers, yet it didn't seem to propose a problem for the heiress. Naru couldn't tell but Akemi must have been wearing different textures of cloth, portraying different colors of pure white yet he was sure the last layer that hugged Akemi's figure was silk. The embroidery fooled him to believe it to be just simple designs, it was not until he focused more did he noticed the intricate design to reveal a Japanese crane surrounded by white Sakura petals, despite the same coloring, the embroidery seemed to flow out of the cloth with its shine and art. Almost alive and reaching out for him to touch. Unaware that Akemi's gentle touch managed to reach within Naru's walls, holding and never letting go.
Naru and Lin remained on the side, observing her actions to cleansing all the spirits. With focused eyes, Naru watched as Akemi's candle-like fingers reached in to touch her instrument that resembled a bow though it was converted as a hitting instrument it seems; Akemi explained that it was what most Itokas used in their rituals and so Naru made sure to study them last night.
With a gentle lift of her other hand in a half-handed prayer— her clear white beads wrapped around it, Akemi lowered her chin and kept her luscious lips recite the verses she has memorized by heart. Successfully banishing the curse,
Unaware of the damage she unknowingly instilled inside Naru's thoughts.
Akemi was gone to change when Mai already barged in the messy gymnasium, though with her ankle still lightly sprained she found it a bit hard to change. So when she finally finished— due to Ayako founding her flustered around the school bathroom— Akemi and Ayako walked out just in time for Mai and the others to check the students' status.
"-You never invoked Orikiri-sama, right?" Mai asked towards the receiver of the telephone. "Yes, yes. Alright, thank you... and done! There's no more, we did it!" Mai cheered as she placed the telephone down as the call ended.
"Well thank goodness everybody is alright~" Akemi chimes right where she sat to avoid adding weight to her healing sprain, a genuine smile on her face— lightly tilting to the side as she did; holding the checked off names of the students they have called one by one.
Hearing her voice made Naru lift his gaze towards her, Akemi noticing this and innocently blinked at him before lifting her two fingers, widening her smile with a 'V' sign right next to it as though posing for a picture,
Naru ignored this and ordered Mai and Lin to pack up the equipment, Akemi deciding to give off even a little help by taking in the papers and placing them in a box for her to easily lift in one go but the heiress noticed the closed look coming from Mai, the high school student deep in her thoughts.
'Naru had this all planned out...' Mai thought to herself as she followed Naru with her gaze, the boy walking out the room as they packed. 'Ever since he decided to reverse the curse, it was all planned from the beginning.'
"Go to him," Akemi weakly smiles, knowing the dispute the two had as she could hear it when she was inside the gymnasium. The accusing words Mai barked at Naru and Lin, trying to stop them from what Mai had misunderstood from the beginning. Akemi sadly smiles, she hated it when the two fought.
"W-what?"
Akemi repeated her words, nudging her head towards the door where Naru left. "Go."
With such a simple word, Mai beamed an understanding smile. Finishing her work quickly than the others and chased off where Naru went, wanting to mend things between the two. While Akemi continued to arrange the papers into a small box, her eyes constantly glancing over the 'empty' corner where her parents stood.
A whole new understanding washing over Akemi as she knew it was time. Time to finally let go,