Staring at the wooden floor where he stood in the corridor, Shirane replayed the scene in his head over and over again.
He had rushed onto the site of the abandoned building to find one of Shun's kidnappers bowed over on the ground. He had been about to intervene when that guy- the guy with the red eyes- had showed up and beat the truants brutally, before turning onto the red-haired girl.
Shirane's legs had turned to jelly and by the time he had recovered enough from his emotions, Master Kagami had arrived and prevented Shun from being whipped a second time.
The boy felt sick as he remembered the expression of terror on Shun's face at the time. It made him think of an injured animal. He had never seen anything like this before.
Tsunan came out of Shun's apartment into the corridor at that moment, and Master Kagami's head snapped up at him.
'How is she?' the dark-haired man inquired, deeply concerned.
'I've injected her a tranquilizer,' replied the doctor. 'She's going to sleep for a few hours.'
Breaking out of his trance-like state, Shirane jerked to his feet from where he had been sitting in a ball. 'Dammit! What's going on?' he exploded. 'Who was that demon? It was well a demon, wasn't it? Why was he there? He seemed to know Shun very well! So, tell me, what the hell is going on!'
None of the two older males answered him, staying mute, and Shirane gave them an incredulous look, clenching his teeth together.
It was clear that they won't tell him anything.
Furious of being kept in the dark, the red-haired boy flung around and flounced away.
As he came down onto the street, he thought over those crimson red irises of the demon; the terror that he had himself felt at that moment.
And when he thinks that Shun has affronted one such creature before- the said Kaiken! It was exactly this that made it strange, though.
Why was she so terrorized?
Why did that demon take on her?
Who is he?
***
A whole while later…
I opened my eyes slowly and blinked several times.
Where am I? I wondered, my mind hazy. My apartment, yes.
Suddenly, I heard some movement in the room and my eyes zeroed onto the dark figure sitting in the couch in the dim light of the setting sun.
My reaction came spontaneously.
Letting out a choked cry, I sat up in a bolt and jumped out of bed, falling onto my back on the floor when one of my feet got tangled into the quilt.
I was too frozen to move anymore and I stared frantically at the dark figure which had stood up, calling at me in a familiar voice, 'Shun!'
At the same time, another dark figure arrived by my side rapidly from the kitchen and I flinched away in a panic.
'Shun, calm down! It's only us!' said the familiar voice again and the lamp on the bedside table became switched on.
I realized that it was Doctor Tsunan who was standing on the other side of the bed and that the person holding me by my shoulders was Master Kagami.
They were both watching me with concern.
My mind became clearer.
'Are you alright? You didn't hurt yourself at least, did you?' the master inquired as he helped me to my feet.
Flustered, I shook my head from all sides, before I brushed my hand over my clammy forehead. 'I'm sorry. I- I...'
The master sat me onto the edge of my bed. My knees were buckling.
Doctor Tsunan uncovered the glass of water on the bedside table and brought it to me. 'Here! Drink some water!'
I took the glass from him and noticed that my hands were trembling too.
The doctor nothing the same, helped me to drink slowly, while the other male shifted slightly away to leave me some space.
It took me a whole moment to finally calm down a bit.
'That demon, is he the one that I'm thinking of? It was Tadashi Honjō?' Master Kagami asked me, staring seriously, and I nodded, my eyes watering. 'Why didn't you tell us that he's persecuting you? It wasn't the first time that he has re-appeared ever since you came out of prison, am I wrong?'
Bowing my head, I broke into tears and began telling Doctor Tsunan and him about Tadashi's recent visits.
They knew that he used to visit me in my prison cell where he psychologically tortured me. We had all believed that he would lose my trace after I came out of prison, but it wasn't the case.
Unexpectedly, a hand came down onto my head to pet me comfortingly, and I looked up into the master's eyes in surprise.
'Don't worry, Shun! If he shows up again, we'll catch him this time!' he reassured me, speaking for both of the doctor and he, and I nodded, shedding my tears, feeling warmth in my heart.
'And my kidnappers?' I inquired, and flinched when I recalled the brutality with which Tadashi had taken them out.
'They're in the emergencies but their lives are not in danger. They'll be sent directly to prison after they come out of hospital.' He paused. 'We know that it's Mr and Mrs Saihara who have their hands to do in this, even if, the bandits are decided to protect the name of their clients-'
'I don't intend to file a case against Mr and Mrs Saihara,' I interjected. Lowering my eyes, I murmured, 'No matter the way they are, they remain Gakkuri's parents. And I don't think that they're going to try anything again anyway.'
Doctor Tsunan and the master looked at each other for a minute, before the older male sighed, 'Alright! Take some good rest! And sorry that we didn't tell you that Gakkuri and Shirane are relatives. We didn't want to stress you with that.'
'I understand,' I murmured, sincerely.
He turned around to leave, and the doctor walked him to the door.
'She's not very well. I'm going to stay with her tonight to keep an eye on her,' he told the older man and the latter nodded.
After having closed the door after the master, Doctor Tsunan walked his way back to me.
'You don't have to stay with me, you know?' I whispered. 'I really don't want to bother you.'
'Oh, but it doesn't bother me at all!' he assured me, and I gave him a grateful smile.
'You must be hungry. You didn't eat anything since this morning, ne?'
'There are bento boxes in the refrigerator I have bought from the supermarket. They're going to expire if we don't eat them today. They only need to be heated.'
I stood up to make for the kitchen when, he told me, 'I'll take care of that.'
I paused down. 'Oh-uh, alright! Thank you!' I looked down at myself then, feeling a bit dirty. 'I'm going to take a quick bath.'
He nodded.
Grabbing some fresh clothes, I disappeared into the bathroom while he heated our dinner.
When I was done, I stepped back into the kitchen, drying my wet hair and I was surprised to see that the doctor was waiting for me to eat, having put the food on the table.
I couldn't help but smile.
Pulling the chair opposite of his, I sat myself down to eat.
Bowing my head and clasping my hands vertically while I held my chopsticks horizontally between my thumbs, I said, 'Itadakimasu!'
We bit into our food then, enjoying it in silence.
***
The doctor remembered something abruptly while they were eating.
'Oh, Shun, I wanted to ask you, what is the brand of tea that you use?' He averted his eyes as he admitted, 'The tea you've prepared last time was really good.'
When the red-haired girl didn't reply, he looked up at her and found that she had fallen asleep right in the middle of her meal.
This brought a small smile on his lips and he waited for her to wake up to ask her the question again.
***
I watched Doctor Tsunan as he took off his coat and pleated it in two, hanging it over the armrest of the sofa in which he sat. He took of his shoes and his tie next, then undid the first button on his white shirt.
'Thank you for staying with me,' I told him again, as I handed him a pillow and a thin quilt.
I was feeling a bit guilty for letting him sleep on the couch. I had proposed him to take the bed while I would sleep on the couch, but he had insisted that the couch would do for him.
I went to switch off the lights then, before getting into bed with Kōmori-san, the latter having had its dinner too.
As I lied down on my side, for one long moment, I gazed at the sleeping figure in the couch bathing in the light of moon, appreciating what he was doing for me.
I rolled onto my back then, lifting my bandaged forearm up in front of my face to stare at it, feeling disturbed.
It was the first time that Tadashi had physically hurt me. I had never seen him this furious before. I wondered if it had something to do with the fact that I had killed Kaiken- someone of his race.
***
The next day…
I got up before Doctor Tsunan and after having washed my face and prepared some tea, I decided to wake him up.
The doctor was sleeping so profoundly that I hesitated for a moment. But then, getting down onto my knees by the couch, I shook him slightly.
Rubbing his eyes, he sat up and I greeted him, cheerily, 'Good morning!'
He greeted me back, before he seemed to become conscious of his looks. 'I should get back home and change.'
His hair was ruffled and his clothes quite crumpled.
I chuckled, standing up. 'Have some tea, first!'
He accepted readily and after he had washed his face, we enjoyed our tea together in the kitchen.
After that, I walked him to the front door. He was about to leave when he stopped in the doorway suddenly, and turned to me, to say, 'Ah, by the way, today's Friday. Do you still want us to go to the cinema together?'
'Yes.' I smiled, shyly. 'Shall we meet there?'
'Okay,' he nodded.
The day went by in a jiffy as I wondered what I was supposed to wear for the occasion and if I needed to do something with my hair. In the end, I ended up clothing myself up as usual in a kimono, but opted for my favorite one though, and leaving my hair loose as I always did.
Taking in my reflection in the mirror, I wished I could wear some lipstick; red, maybe. I wondered if it would have suited me. But I didn't have any lipstick. I never thought of buying one because I had never worn any make-up in my life. I didn't even know how to do a make-up. I found it funny that I was thinking of this right now.
Greeting Kōmori-san goodbye, I went out to meet Doctor Tsunan.
The sun was setting when I arrived at the meeting point and I realized that the doctor had already arrived and was waiting for me in the open square in front of the cinema hall.
Wounding my way through the crowd, I arrived behind him and he turned around to face me instantly.
'Hello!' I greeted him, shyly.
'Hello!' he greeted me back, with a tiny smile as we gazed at each other.
He was clothed as usual too, in a suit and tie, except that he was wearing a gray vest over his white shirt.
'Am I late?'
'No. I arrived before time. I've already bought us our tickets.' He showed them to me.
I dug into my purse at that moment and took out the money for my ticket to hand it to him.
He put his hands up, refusing politely, 'No. Keep it. It's me who's invited you; it's on my cost.'
I deliberated about it a minute.
If I insisted, I feared it might hurt his manhood, so I decided to give in.
'Alright! But it's me who buys the popcorn!' I declared, but then hesitated a minute. 'You like popcorn, don't you?' I inquired. 'Apparently, everyone eats popcorn when they go to the cinema!'
'Yes,' he replied and grinning at him, happily, I headed to buy us our popcorns.
The film lasted two and a half hours and the sun had long set when we came out of the cinema hall, satisfied by the séance.
The square wasn't that crowded anymore.
Gazing up at the starry sky, I rubbed my hands together to get some warmth. It was cold tonight.
Unexpectedly, Doctor Tsunan took off his coat and wound it over my shoulders.
'Thank you,' I whispered, blushing hard.
I had paused down and he moved to stand in front of me. 'There's something that I wanted to talk to you about,' he said, his expression very serious. I waited for him to continue. 'Right, I wanted to ask you if you'd accept to move in at my place?'
Thank you for reading!