"You're in y-your apartment." Oka walks over next to Daisuko. "D-Daisuko carried you here."
Shosuko starts to relax. As she does, she notices that she's lying down on a bed. She's lying down on her bed, to be specific.
"...I see. Thanks, I guess." Shosuko tries to run her hand along her hair but she doesn't have enough strength for even that. "Where did The Batter go?"
"I don't know, she ran off after I fired at her." Daisuko starts pacing around the room, laying her dirty fingers all over Shosuko's stuff too. "Strange. I'm pretty sure she could have taken us both on and still won."
"Th-The Batter has always been a m-mysterious agent. Wh-who knows what she's planning?"
Daisuko shrugs. "Well, one way or another, the Umi Alliance's top brass just ran away from a fight. That's not gonna be great for morale."
"I-indeed. We can crush them like i-insects now." Oka adjusts her glasses. As she does, something strange glints in her eyes. It looks almost like glee, but much darker, much more schadenfreude. "Thank you, Shosuko. If you had died, i-it would have been a great blow to the K-Kuze Clan."
"Whatever." Shosuko sighs. No matter how they paint it, she still lost. Her injuries are nothing compared to how damaged her pride is.
"We really do mean it. Truly, the Kuze Clan sends its thanks with full honors." Both Oka and Daisuko lower themselves in a traditional Japanese Dogeza.
"...I'm flattered." A soft blush creeps up on her cheeks. She tries to fight it back but that only quickens its ruthless invasion. She supposes she can forgive herself for losing. Just this once. But only because she was asked so nicely. "Thank you."
"Anytime, champ." Daisuko stands back up as she shoots Shosuko an award-winning-smile, as if she didn't just leave Shosuko to fend for herself.
"Shut it." Shosuko delivers the weakest of punches to Daisuko's stomach. "I was talking to Oka."
"I-it's no problem. I'm happy to h-help." Oka bows one last time before standing up herself. "Sorry that your a-aunt couldn't come see you, Shosuko. She's busy leading the ch-charge against the U-Umi alliance."
"Heh. So she's the type to lead from the front." Shosuko manages a smirk. "Glad to hear it."
"I-indeed." Oka nervously touches her index fingers together. "M-mother has always been a bold warrior. It's just that h-her sister, err, your m-mother was always been bolder so… people tend to f-forget that."
"My mom, huh?" Shosuko closes her eyes and tries to think back to what her mom was like but all she manages to recall are vague sounds and smells. It can't really be helped, she was only ten when her mother died. But still, Shosuko wishes that she had at least some good memories with her parents. She knows that would only make the pain of them being dead worse, but still, she can't help but wish for something to cling onto sometimes.
"Anywho, we gotta go help out at the front lines." Daisuko ignores every rule of gun safety and spins the guns on her fingers. They're both ol' reliable M19A11's, only one's a black nylon-polyester and the other one is a bone white. Ebony and ivory. She calls out as she's halfway out the doorway. "See ya around, Shosuko. I'll look forward to working with you again soon enough."
"G-goodbye, Sh-Shosuko." Oka bows one last time before stepping out the doorway.
"See ya." Shosuko calls as the door shuts. Phew. What a day. Just thinking about everything that's happened tires her out. She turns her head to look at the clock on the wall. Squinting, she barely manages to make out that it's three in the morning. Maybe it's because she just woke up from being knocked out but no matter how hard she tries, she just can't fall back asleep.
She tries to get up to busy herself but she quickly realizes that she doesn't have nearly enough strength or blood in her body to do that, her legs giving out on her before she even puts any weight on them. So doing anything other than lying down is out of the question. But lying down is boring. Trying to sleep is boring. Stewing endlessly in her thoughts is boring.
She's about to tear her hair out when she hears the door to her apartment open. There's a momentary mystery that hangs in the air before she knows exactly who's going to come round that corner. She holds her breath. Please don't be like an assassin or something, she thinks. Her only means of defense right now would be to flop around like a fish. Thankfully, her worries are dispelled the moment a young-looking boy's head peeks around the corner.
"Hallo!" He has a cheerful expression on his face. "I'm Yuuji, it's nice to meet– ah!" He points at Shosuko. "It's you! The delinquent from school!"
「Yuuji Vasilyevich Rozhdestvensky」- The Cute Guy From Shosuko's School in Minaminagi He's a little guy, about two full heads shorter than Shosuko. She can't believe he's actually a high schooler, much less two months older than she is. He wears a blue sweater vest on top of a white button up. It pairs exquisitely with his natural brown hair, if Shosuko says so herself.
"Y-Yuuji?!" Shosuko sits up, anemia be damned, and tries to make herself as presentable as possible. As presentable as one can be while missing half the blood in their body, anyway. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm from here! I only decided to move back cause my family needed me here. What about you?"
"I ended up here by chance–" Now that she thinks about it, her ending up right in this city, where the Kuze Clan is, was probably no coincidence. Just how long have they been pulling the strings?
"Well, talk about crazy coincidences, am I right? Ahaha…" Yuuji laughs as he scratches the back of his head.
"Um, Y-yeah…" Shosuko does the same, minus the scratching since she can't even lift her arms yet.
"A-anyway. Um, I heard from big sis Oka that you got into a really bad fight with a stray Oni and you lost a lot of blood in the process." That wasn't a stray Yokai. Not even close. The Batter hits at least ten times harder than any Oni club ever could. "So, I'm here to help nurse you back to health."
He gives her a brilliant smile that almost melts her stoic expression. Almost. Those Kuze Clan bastards, they did this on purpose, didn't they? On one hand, it's scary that they've even managed to figure out the guy she likes. On the other, it's the guy she likes. Holy shit holy shit holy shit
"Are you hungry? I brought some food." He raises a small grocery bag he was keeping in his other hand. "I'll have to cook it first, though."
"That's fine with me." It's like they're already married or something. Shosuko feels her face turn tomato red so she painstakingly tears her eyes off of Yuuji and starts staring out the window. The city skyline seems so boring in comparison.
"I brought some bok choy and ground beef cause I heard they're good for anemia." He starts setting out the ingredients. "I can try and make some improvised vegetable and meat rolls for you, if you like."
"Anything's fine." He could literally just throw everything into a pot, stir it for a bit, and shove the results into her mouth and she would still be on cloud nine. Watching someone cook has never been more… Shosuko can't find the words for it but it's like your whole body's on fire. She so desperately wants to eat his cooking right goddamn now, but at the same time, she could watch him cook forever. It's an inexplicable paradox where every move is both winning and losing.
"Aaaaand done!" Yuuji arranges the rolls around a plate before taking it to Shosuko. "Say ahhhh."
God, if you're out there, thank you. "Aaaaah." Shosuko gleefully opens her mouth as Yuuji spoons her some food. The beef isn't overcooked, the bok choy has softened up nicely, and the two come together in wonderful harmony to lift Shosuko up to heaven. Well, that's only half true. The cooking is pretty average, it's just that Shosuko's too focused on Yuuji to really notice.
"How was it?" Yuuji smiles as he gently sets the plate in the sink and starts washing. "Not too bad for a beginner cook?"
"Perfect– I mean, it's pretty good, I guess." Reel it back, Shosuko, reel it back. Guys like it when girls play hard-to-get. She doesn't know how she knows that, it's like it's just instinct.
"Hey… um…" Yuuji starts fidgeting. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Y-yes?" Shosuko's heart is in her throat. "Anything."
"Do… Do you like me?"
Time slows down for Shosuko. "You mean… as a friend?"
"N-no. I mean like, do you like me? In that way?"
"What do you mean?"
"Y'know." He grips his shirt. "Do you like me as a man?"
"..." Shosuko is silent both inside and outside her head. Then, the dam bursts. Holy shit. Did he just say what Shosuko thought he said? She opens her mouth to ask him to repeat what he said but then suddenly thinks better of it. What does she say? Does she just admit it? She's not ready. Not even slightly. But if she turns him down now… no, no, no, she can't even bear to think of that possibility. Stewing in her own thoughts isn't going to do her any good, so she does the next best thing and charges forwards recklessly.
"Yeah." Shosuko clenches her hands into a fist. "Yeah, I do."
"I see." Yuuji smiles awkwardly, though that only makes him cuter in Shosuko's eyes. "I like you too!"
Suddenly, there are fireworks.