'Are you feeling unwell?' Gōjun asked me. 'You're not eating anything today either.'
I looked up at his face for a second, before I lowered my eyes very quickly to onto my bentō box again, avoiding his look. Both Shunsui and he were watching me with their eyes full of concern.
'Do you have a fever? Let me check!' he declared, and unexpectedly, he got up to onto his knees and leaned forward to place his palm over my forehead and press his own forehead over the back of his hand to compare our respective temperatures.
I blushed madly.
'Gōjun… Wha- What are you doing?' I stammered, panicking.
His face was so close to mine! I could feel his breath on my skin! And our lips… They were almost touching!
He ignored my reaction, and gave me an intrigued look as he pulled away to say, 'No. You don't have any fever. That's weird.'
'You've arrived late at school today,' Shunsui pointed out to me. 'Is there a particular reason for that?'
'Well, I've been working till late at the service station last night,' I replied, in a murmur. 'I had some difficulty to wake up for school.'
'The service station? I thought that you had found work at a supermarket!'
'Yes, at the supermarket, but also at the service station. The boss at the service station has accepted that I join in immediately.'
The two young men exchanged a look with each other.
'Hime, I don't think it's a good idea to work so much,' Shunsui asserted, in a worried tone. 'It might hurt your health. I have the impression of having an ex-Natsui Mizoroge sitting in front of me!'
Closing my eyes and smiling forcefully, I assured him, 'It's alright. I'm sure that I'll be able to manage! I only need some time to get used to my new routine!'
But, none of the two looked convinced.
***
Later…
As we came out of the gate of the school after the end of classes, I was about to greet the two of them goodbye when, unexpectedly, I caught sight of Tetsuya Tsurugi and the men of yesterday. They were holding themselves on the other side of the road, just around the corner of the street. The three males were pretending to be talking amongst themselves, but their eyes were fixed on me, with their expression set in a sneer.
I froze into place; petrified with fear.
'Is something the matter, Hime?' Shunsui inquired, as he caught my expression, but before he could follow my eyes onto Tetsuya Tsurugi and his men, I looked away immediately.
'No-No,' I stammered, nervously, and saying goodbye to Gōjun and him rapidly, I rushed out of sight, leaving the two young men standing there, intrigued.
When I had nearly reached the supermarket, I turned onto an alley on the side of the street to wait for the brown-haired young man there, my heart palpitating. I knew that his men and he were following me. And indeed, they caught up with me onto the alley.
'I really hope that you've got something to give me!' Tetsuya Tsurugi declared.
Opening my bag, I took out the small packet of money in it to hand it over to him with trembling hands.
He opened the packet and started to count the money.
Both my boss at the supermarket and the service station have accepted to pay me on a daily basis. It was all the money that I had earned on the previous day from these two jobs.
'Is this all that you have to give me?! Ah! The boss is not going to be very happy!'
'I'm going to have a talk with my boss at the cleaning company tonight to see if he can pay me on a regular basis too, and if it would be possible for me to obtain my pay for the last two weeks.'
'You'd better do what you've got to do very fast!' he stated, threateningly. 'Today, we've found our way to your school! Tomorrow, it's going to be your home!'
My whole frame shook.
Laughing to himself at my reaction, he pushed me roughly backward with his hand, and I cut my left upper-arm onto something as my back hit the wall. It was a piece of metal that was sticking out of the wall behind me, and it sliced my flesh.
Falling into a sitting position on the ground, I clutched my bleeding arm in pain, wincing, while the three males walked away, talking and laughing loudly amongst themselves, their booming voices resonating in my ears.
***
The following day...
When I reached school the next morning, Shunsui and Gōjun had already arrived and they were waiting for me in front of the gate of the school. The two young men immediately noticed that my upper-arm was bandaged. I lowered my eyes instantly, stiffening.
'Oi! How did you hurt yourself at the arm?' Gōjun demanded at me.
'Ah, that!' I giggled, pressing my eyes shut and scratching the back of my head, nervously. 'It was just... a small accident. Nothing very serious. Doesn't even hurt! See!'
I stretched my arms in front of myself to show this to them, but only to wince in pain as I did this movement.
'Oi!' Shunsui uttered, anxiously.
'Well, finally, it hurts a little!' I was forced to admit, my attempt to reassure them failing completely.
We headed to class after that, and the whole day went by in the same fashion as the two previous days, though I was feeling way lot more panicky today. The fact was that I had not been able to speak to my boss at the cleaning company the night before. I was unable to concentrate on our lessons for even single second, and when school was over, I went to meet with Tetsuya Tsurugi and his men before I would head to my work at the supermarket.
'Are you kidding me?! This is the same amount as yesterday!' the brown-haired young man snarled at me, and grabbing me by my wrist with one of his hands and seizing me by the jaw with the other, he shoved me against the back wall violently to pin me there.
'Itai!' I winced in pain.
His grip on my jaw and wrist was so tight! And I couldn't move my hand from where he had pinned it against the surface of the wall.
I struggled a little, even if, I knew that it was useless.
'You know,' he declared, in a sadistic tone, bending into one of my ears, 'I know a good place where you could earn a lot of money in no time! A beautiful doll like you should not have any problems to make a lot of money there!'
I froze into place, tears welling up my eyes, my heart skipping a beat.
I knew perfectly well about what kind of place he was talking about!
'And it doesn't matter if we have to drag you and keep you there by force!' he added.
Even if I could not see his face, I could feel him grinning lasciviously.
'Please, no! I beg of you!' I pleaded, pressing my eyes shut, my body shaking violently with terror.
'Well then, you'd better have more money to give me tomorrow!' he declared, in a cutting tone, throwing me to the ground in a shove.
'Your biggest mistake would be to take me too lightly!' he added in a last warning, and on these words, he flung around and walked away with his men, while I remained sitting there against the wall, sobbing frantically.
***
Meanwhile...
A knock came down on the door of Tsubasa Shigeizumi's office. Lifting her head up, the blonde woman was surprised to see Shunsui enter the room.
'Shunsui!' she gasped.
She had been about to spring up from her seat to jump at the reddish-brown-haired young man's neck to rub her cheek affectionately against him when, she caught the anxious look on his face and went very still instead, her throat tightening.
'Is everything alright?' she asked him, worried.
'I don't know. It's Hime,' the young man replied, averting his eyes and scratching the back of his head a little.
Her heart skipped a beat.
'What is it?' she breathed.
'She's been behaving very... strangely during the last few days. And she has taken two other part-time jobs. I have the strong impression that she'd hiding something from us.'
Looking at the blonde woman again, then, he inquired, 'Do you know if her grand-parents have any financial hardships?'
She cupped her chin thoughtfully.
'Not that I know. Ryutsuki-san has not told me anything. As to the medical bills of his daughter...'
She had wanted so much to take care of Kozue Kirigakure's medical bills, but the man had politely refused when she had proposed it. And she knew that she couldn't insist on it, without hurting his pride as a father.
'But, I'm going to have a talk with him and see if I can learn anything!' she declared.
'Yes, please, do that!'
Shortly after this, he left her to head directly to his house to wait for her phone call. It was very late in the evening that he heard from the blonde woman again.
'Did he tell you anything?' he asked her, the very moment he picked up the call.
'I've been able to talk to him but, apparently, he has no special problem in regards to his finances. He had seemed very sincere to me. Of course, I didn't tell him anything about Hime.'
Shunsui became silent.
He was fully convinced that the dark-haired girl was hiding something. But what? He had absolutely no idea.
***
The next day, I arrived late at school. The first lesson had already started when I entered the classroom.
'Ah, Kirigakure-kun!' Moroboshi-sensei declared, when he saw me appear in the doorway. 'If I'm not wrong, this is the second time that you're arriving late to school this week. I can excuse you for today, but this kind of behavior will not be tolerated anymore. You'd better be more serious.'
'I will, Sir!' I whispered, and bowing down, I presented to him my most sincere apologies.
'That'll be alright. Now, hurry up and take your seat!'
I nodded and did as he said. I could feel Gōjun and Shunsui's eyes on me, but I didn't dare to lift my head up to look at them.
When the bell rang at lunchtime, I tried to put on my best smile, in order not to worry them.
'Ah! I'm so hungry today!' I exclaimed, casually, getting to my feet. 'I can't wait to dig in!'
As I was about to grab the multi-storied bentō box to head for the door, abruptly, Gōjun grabbed me by my lower-arm, stopping me, stating, 'Wait a second!'
'Yes, what is it?' I asked in surprise, turning back around to face him.
'What are those marks on your wrist?' he demanded, frowning deeply at the marks that I had there.
My heart jumped to my throat.
As he looked up at my face again, suddenly, he seemed to notice the marks that I had on my jaw and neck as well.
'Oi! What are those marks on your skin?' he shouted, his voice angry, and Shunsui demanded at me, in the same tone, 'Hime, who did this to you?'
My mind was working at a million miles per second now, so much that, I was unable to form a single thought.
'Gōjun… Shunsui...'
'Answer us!' Gōjun snapped at me, tightening his grip on my lower-arm. 'Yesterday, you came with an injury at your upper-arm! And today, you have these marks on your skin! We want to know who has done this to you!'
I stared at their faces, breathlessly, frantically, completely voiceless.
'Hime, what's going on?' Natsui demanded at me, worriedly, as she drew in closer with Yūsei Nishoji. 'We have noticed that you've been behaving very strangely since the beginning of this week!'
I looked at her face, then back at Shunsui and Gōjun, my mind absolutely unable to function normally.
'Will you say something?!' Gōjun shouted at me.
Ceding in to panic, I pressed my eyes shut to shout at every one of them to stop it and leave me alone, and somehow managing to break out of Gōjun's grip, I ran for the door, breaking into tears.
I didn't stop running until I had found myself a small hiding place where they wouldn't find me, and sitting myself there in a ball, I covered my face with my hands to cry to myself. I had no idea how to explain to them what had happened, what was happening; I was so much ashamed of myself, not to forget that I didn't want to get them involved into this!
I didn't get back to class until lunchtime was completely over, and the teacher had arrived. As I moved to take my seat, I could feel their eyes fixed on me, and on several different occasions during our lessons, I almost thought that Gōjun or Shunsui was going interrupt the class to demand from me an answer to their questions.
The last lesson was sports class and I avoided the two of them, as well as Natsui, as much as I could. But the ginger-haired girl managed to approach me at some point to tell me, in a deep worried tone, 'Hime, you know that you can talk to me, right?'
'Natsui...' I whispered, my mind hazy.
I was not feeling very well, in all of a sudden. I was feeling extremely weak and my face and limbs felt so cold. And my head was dizzy.
Even before I could understand what was happening to me, I collapsed on the ground, my vision going black.
'Hime!' I heard Natsui cry out, but I couldn't open my eyes; I was barely conscious.
I could hear several pairs of footsteps running towards me, and I heard Shunsui and Gōjun's panicked voices in my ears, just before I felt my body left the ground.
The last thing that I remember was a strong pair of arms holding me and Gōjun's scent.
***
When I came back to myself, my mind was bathing in confusion. It took me several minutes to realize that I was at the infirmary of the school.
'Hime, are you awake?' Shunsui asked me, softly, and I looked at him where he was sitting on a chair at my bedside. Gōjun was standing right behind him.
'What happened?' I croaked.
'You passed out in sports. The doctor said that it's because you don't eat properly and you lack sleep. You passed out due to fatigue.'
'I… I see.'
My head was still a bit dizzy. As I lifted my hand to touch my forehead, I winced as it pulled on the IV tube attached to the back of my right hand.
'Itai!'
'Be careful!' the reddish-brown-haired young man told me, and grabbing my hand gently, he placed it down onto the mattress again. 'I'll go call the doctor to see if we can remove the IV.'
I nodded, and getting to his feet, he started to make for the door. Just as he had reached it, it opened on its own and Natsui entered with Yūsei Nishoji.
'Hime, how are you feeling?' the ginger-haired girl asked me, worriedly, as she moved up to me with the blond-haired male.
'I'm sorry that I scared you,' I told her, apologetically.
'If you're really sorry then you're going to have to show it to me by getting rid of those dark circles under your eyes,' she said, giving me a faint smile. 'Okay?'
I averted my eyes to nod once.
A heavy silence fell in the room after that. Neither Gōjun, nor the ginger-haired girl asked me any questions anymore. I guessed that they didn't want to push me too much and were afraid of another outburst like the one from lunchtime.
And when we left the infirmary, the boys and she didn't look happy at all to learn that I was going to work, but they still remained silent.
***
Gōjun Shoran had planned to visit his dōjō that day, but he preferred to return home instead. He was in no mood for that. He couldn't take his mind off the dark-haired girl.
He felt completely angry when he thought about the marks he had seen on her skin. And he felt even more furious that the dark-haired girl wouldn't tell him anything.
What is going on? What is she hiding?
He was sitting on his bed, playing with little Yamcha when, his cellphone rang. Grabbing it, he saw that it was Byakuya Nosaku who was calling him. He was a bit surprised. The older male only rarely called him.
'Yo! Byakuya!' he said, as he picked up the call.
'Yo!' the latter responded, before going completely silent.
'Byakuya?'
Gōjun was truly intrigued now. Such silence didn't resemble the blond-haired male.
After one long minute, the latter finally decided to bring himself to speak.
'Gōjun,' he declared, hesitantly, 'There's something that I wanted to talk to you about. I don't know if I should but well- Listen! It's about your girlfriend, Hime.'
Gōjun would have certainly blushed at the dark-haired girl being referred to as his girlfriend if he was not feeling this agitated.
'What is it?' he demanded, jumping to his feet and frowning at the floor, his heart picking up speed.
'I saw her talking to some very shady guys the other day. I think your girlfriend has some big problems. Did she tell you anything in this concern? I was hesitating to tell you about it, but then, I told myself that it could be dangerous for her to hang around such people and, therefore, I decided not to remain quiet anymore.'
'You did well to tell me about it. Have you any idea who those guys could be?'
'Gōjun... I think they are loan sharks!'
***
Shunsui Shigeizumi's eyes tightened at the dark-haired girl. He was sitting in the backseat of his car, observing her secretly from a good distance away. There were three men who had approached the dark-haired girl on the street by this instant. They seemed very shady to him. His doubts were now confirmed. The girl has been hiding something from them and he was absolutely positive now that she has serious problems.
He saw her take a small packet out of her bag to hold it out to one of the men- the one with brown hair. The latter pushed it back rapidly to look athwart of himself to ensure that no one was looking at them, before he started to usher the dark-haired girl onto the small alley behind them to complete the transaction away from any curious eyes.
Hime… What's going on? Who are these guys? What are you trying to hide?
Shunsui's cellphone started to ring at that moment. He picked up the call without looking at the identity of the caller flashing on the screen, continuing to follow the dark-haired girl and the three men with the eyes.
'Hello?'
'Shunsui! Are you at your house right now?'
It was Gōjun.
'No, why?'
'We need to talk.'
'I'm heading home immediately. I'll meet you there. I need to talk to you too.'
They both hung up.
The dark-haired girl was nowhere to be seen anymore. She had disappeared in the alley with the three males.
'Takara-san,' Shunsui declared, looking to the front at the man, 'To my house immediately!'
'Hai, Wakatono!' the old man answered, and he started the engine on the spot.
***
'That's good!' Tetsuya Tsurugi declared, gloatingly, as he counted the money I had handed over to him.
I had been able to talk to my boss at the cleaning company and he had given me my pay for the last two weeks of the month. He has also accepted to pay me on a daily basis.
'But it's a bit of a shame, you know?!' he asserted, and cupping my chin with his hand, he brought his face closer to mine, smiling sadistically.
I kept my eyes down, too scared to breathe.
'I would have liked to see you in a bro****! With your beautiful face...'
He trailed off.
My whole frame shook.
Letting go of my chin then, he turned around and walked away with his men.
***
Yūsei Nishoji watched the ginger-haired girl anxiously. The latter was sitting at the low table in the kitchen of the small apartment, with her knees drawn up to her chest and completely lost in her own thoughts; her expression dead worried.
'Natsui,' he murmured, and making his way up to her, he plumped himself down by her side to send his arm around her shoulders and hold her tightly against his chest. 'Shunsui Shigeizumi and Gōjun Shoran are there, right? They'll know what to do. They won't let anything bad happen to her.'
The girl looked up into his eyes, feeling a bit reassured at this.
She knew that Shunsui and Gōjun were people on whom one could always count.
'Thank you,' she told the blond-haired male.
Blushing in a mixture of embarrassment and confusion, he stammered, 'Why- Why are you thanking me?'
She chuckled. 'Thank you for knowing how to reassure me.'
The whole face of the young man had reddened now, and averting his eyes, he scratched the back of his head with his free hand, feeling even more embarrassed.
Thank you for reading!
Glossary
Sensei - teacher