'STOP!' I all but shouted, jerking to my feet, launching an attack with my Godai shakujō at the younger Jikininki.
But I missed him. No, in fact, he skipped it.
He simply vanished from on top of the older male only to appear right in front of me.
And even before I could blink, he kicked me in the gut.
I flew backward, crashing against the back wall where I hit my head and blacked out.
***
Heihachi- in his bat form- glanced at the unconscious girl lying on the floor next to him, then back at the Jikininki who had gone back to devouring his brother in an act of cannibalism.
Heihachi had been lucky that he managed to fly off in the nick of time, avoiding himself from being crushed between Shun and the wall in the collision.
He wasn't sure about what to do.
If he transformed himself, he doubted that he could make an escape with the redheaded girl. The Jikininki- Yuri- was going to get to her once he was done with his brother.
He had no weapon to use against the creature.
He had to go fetch Shuda Yagari!
The Jikininki- Yami- hadn't closed the door when he had entered the room.
Providence was on their side.
Without losing a second, Heihachi flew out of the door, only receiving a swift, uninterested look from the feeding Jikininki.
***
A few minutes later…
The first thing that I saw when I opened my eyes was the large pool of blood at the other end of the room with chucks of flesh floating in it and my stomach churned.
I sat up instantly, ignoring the mild pain in my shoulder, my eyes scouring the room, searching for the creature which had indulged itself into such a twisted and macabre act.
'I've just eaten and yet, I'm still hungry!'
The sound of the voice came from the far corner of the room and yet, half a second latter, the Jikininki Yuri was standing in the middle of the room, facing me.
I stared at him, frantically for what he did to his brother.
'That insatiable hunger...' he drawled. 'At least, there'll be no one to refrain me from now on! Something tells me that eating the living is a greater delectation than feasting on dead human corpses or another Jikininki.'
I shuddered.
Out of the blue, Shuda appeared in the doorway, calling out my name, catching the the Jikininki's attention for a second.
It was all that I needed.
Breaking out of my trance-like state, I activated my Godai Shakujō and attacked the distracted Jikininki on the spot.
Blood splashed on the ground as the five shakujō impaled him and his unanimated body hit the floor with a loud thud.
I remained frozen where I was for a whole minute, staring at the remains of what was left of the older of the two siblings, still very much shaken.
Heihachi flew up to me and I took him in my arms, getting to my feet jerkily.
'Are you hurt?' Shuda demanded at me, and I shook my head, replying, 'No. No, I don't think so.'
I had a mild pain in my left shoulder but I was sure that it was nothing serious.
Unexpectedly, a fire broke in the room, starting from the remains of the older brother's rests.
'I don't think we should stay here any longer!' exclaimed Shuda and we ran out of the room without delay, rushing out of the building as fast as we could.
Within barely a minute or two, the whole manor was the prey to wild flames.
To our astonishment, the fire lasted not more than five minutes and when the flames died out, there was no manor, no ruins, not even ashes left.
The manor had simply vanished out of thin air as though, it had never existed and with it, the corpses of the two brothers and their mother.
***
With the mission over, we headed back to our hotel in town to grab our bags.
'Time to get back to Toda,' I said, as we came down onto the street.
'I think I'll go visit that guy- Shimoji- before leaving,' declared Shuda, abruptly.
I turned to him in surprise.
'I know that I don't have my word to say about their relationship, but I believe that he deserves to know that his fiancée has got no grudge against him; that she doesn't hold him responsible for what happened.'
He looked at me.
'If you want to leave on your side, I'm not stopping you.'
'No,' I told him. 'I'll come with you.'
That feeling of guilt was going to eat Hideyuki Shimoji up. I was of the same opinion as Shuda.
***
A moment later...
'So, she doesn't hold a grudge against me?' breathed the brown-haired spectacled young man, his expression fazed.
'No,' I whispered, lowering my eyes on the floor of the living room. We were at his house. 'She believes that because of her condition, she'll only be a burden for you.'
He remained motionless, where he stood in the middle of the room, without speaking. It was, as if, his mind had gone blank. He didn't even seem to be breathing anymore.
Getting up from the sofa, Shuda, Heihachi- bat- and I left him.
As we made our way down the street, I took a glance over my shoulder at the small house, wondering how Yachiru Aragami and Hideyuki Shimoji's relationship was going to end.
I looked at Shuda Yagari who was walking next to me then.
Behind his nonchalant attitude hid someone warm, who had empathy for others.
I opened my mouth to say something, but then thought better.
'If you've got something to say, say it quickly!' he muttered, watching me from the corner of his eye with an icy look.
'I… I don't have the pretension to say that I know everything about your accident with Yasu Gushiken some years ago,' I murmured, looking down, 'but I wanted to tell you that no one thinks that it's your fault. Tsunan and Hatsu told me themselves.'
I risked a glance at him, half expecting him to throttle my throat for taking Yasu Gushiken's name.
He looked back in the front instead, his expression undecipherable.
'Yasu and I have known each other ever since kindergarten. My parents were very poor and one day, when I woke up in the morning, they were gone. They had abandoned me. When she discovered that I lived in an old disinfected building, she informed her dad about it. Master Kagami and Yama-san have practically grown me up like their second child. Yasu and I have spent our whole scholarship together.'
He swallowed the lump in his throat.
'The day of the accident, my father had showed up in town. Yasu and I were out on a date when we came across of him and he began to tell me that he wanted us to form a family again. I got worked up. I got onto my bike to get out of there. Yasu tried to stop me from taking the bike due to my emotional state. When I didn't listen, she got on the bike with me.' His voice strained, laced with guilt. 'I should never have ridden in my emotional state. Master Kagami and Yama-san lost their daughter because of my carelessness. I wanted to leave the organization after that. I didn't dare to face Master Kagami anymore but he prevented me from leaving. It must have taken him all his courage to do that; in his place, I don't think that I would have been able to do it. Yama-san has cried and remained prostrated for a very long time after the accident. I haven't spoken a word to her ever since the funeral.'
During the annual festival in Toda, I had noticed that he was avoiding Yama-san and her gaze. Everyone had spoken to her, apart from him, that evening.
'If I'm not being too impolite… How was Yasu?'
I wished I had had the chance to know her. I was sure that I would have appreciated her.
'She was extremely timid and would hide from people. But once she's grown used to you, you'd discover just another person who would talk freely and flamboyantly.'
He half-smiled but then, he seemed to grown self-conscious, all suddenly.
I guessed that this was half-due to the fact that he never talked this much; the other half being that, I was his interlocutor.
We didn't exchange another word after that.
***
Later, on the other side...
As dark figure appeared in Yachiru Aragami's peripheral view, in all of a sudden, her head snapped to the side at the person, who intruding her hospital room through the window.
She was about to scream for help when, she realized who it was and lost her tongue.
The young man stood there in front of the window in the light of the setting sun one long moment, gazing at her.
'Hideyuki...' she breathed, utterly shocked to see him. Tears threatened to flow, but she held them back. Shaking her head, she scolded him, 'Hideyuki Shimoji! Have you got a death wish?!'
'Why are you saying that?'
'We're on the third floor! What if you had had a fall off while climbing your way up here?!'
'Oh, that!' He giggled, making an innocent face.
Her heart almost sank at that moment.
'You didn't really leave me the choice. They wouldn't let me in.'
Turning her face away to hide her expression, she lowered her voice into a murmur as she asked him, 'What are you doing here?'
He moved onto the other side of her bed to face her.
'What are you doing?' she said, turning her face into the other direction towards the window again. 'Go away!'
'No. You can shout at me or refuse to talk to me all that you want, but I'm not moving from here. I'm not going anywhere anymore. I won't let you push me out of your life ever again.'
She stared at him, her heart beating so fast that she thought it was going to explode. She supposed that the monster-hunters she had encountered had relayed to him all that she had told them.
'Hideyuki, listen! I really don't think that it's a good idea that we continue to see each other. It won't be good for you.'
'Why don't you understand?' he demanded at her, clutching her hands, frantically. 'I love you! Imagine that the scenario was different. That we didn't know each other. I can see myself coming to visit someone at the hospital and entering your room by accident. We would have talked to each other and became friends. And I would have fallen in love with you! Because you're you!'
The tears he had been able to hold back till now began to fall and he sank down onto his knees, resting his face on the bed.
'You can't prevent me from loving you! Stop pushing me away!'
She broke into tears too, utterly moved by what he had said.
She lifted her hand to place it on top of his head, caressing his hair lovingly and soothingly.
'I'm so sorry,' she sobbed. 'I won't hurt you anymore.'
***
It was past midnight when we reached Toda, and Heihachi accompanied me back home, leaving me only when I was safely within the walls of the Hitachiin's family compound.
As I entered the house, I was surprised to see that the lights in the genkan were switched on. I supposed that Tsunan must have left them on in case I'd return back home in the middle of the night.
I smiled, touched by the attention.
***
The following day, in the afternoon, I went to hand over my report of mission to the master at the organization, before I headed to his house to visit Gakkuri after her return of school to spend some time with her.
'She's in her room,' Yama-san informed me, 'And she's got something important to ask you.'
I could read nervousness on the dark-haired woman's face which was very unusual of her. This made me a bit nervous too.
She directed me to Gakkuri's bedroom and knocking once, I entered the sumptuous room.
It was very big, with two large windows that went up from the floor to the ceiling. The curtains were made of a thin white fabric, allowing light to pour into the room without obstruction. A large bed sat against one wall, with lots of pillows and stuffed animals on it. The floor was covered with a faded pink mocket, which went perfectly with the white and pink flower-patterned tapestry on the walls.
The other furnitures in the room included a low table, a wardrobe and a set of shelves with tons of manga and novel books on it.
Gakkuri, who had been sitting on the floor by the bed playing with some make-ups, sprung to her feet and ran up to me when I entered.
'Ane-ue!' she exclaimed, joyously and grabbing my hand, she led me to where she had been playing, making me sit down too.
'It's Yama-san who gave me these cosmetics!' she told me, showing them to me.
Gakkuri was a soon-to-be teenager. it was normal that she was becoming interested in cosmetics.
'How was school?' I asked and putting on a tough look, I declared, 'If somebody troubles you, you let me know and Burabura and I will take care of them.'
She chuckled.
'No. Everything's alright,' she assured me, before she gazed at me, fondly, telling me, 'I think that some lipstick would suit you. Red. Yes, red would look great on you.'
I blushed.
I had never worn cosmetics before and I had always wanted to try some red lipstick.
'Do you want to try some?' she asked, putting a lipstick up in front of my face.
'No,' I replied, in a panic, running a hand into my hair. 'Yama-san told me that you had something to ask me.'
The girl's expression became agitated at that moment.
'Yes,' she murmured, looking down. 'It's my mom.'
My breath caught at the mention of her mother and I found myself stuttering, 'Wh-What is it?'
'She wants to see me. Tomorrow. At a café in Shibata. She said that we need to talk.'
'I see,' I whispered.
I could read her anxiety on her face.
Gakkuri's parents hadn't visited her or talked to her ever since she had moved in with the master and his wife.
It was every child's desire to be loved and cherished by his or her parents. I was sure that, deep down, Gakkuri still hoped that things could get better between her parents and her. But she was also, at the same time, scared to face any one of them and hear what they had to say.
I understood better why Yama-san had appeared to be nervous; she was nervous for Gakkuri, and so, was I.
She looked up into my eyes then, asking, 'Do you think- Do you think that you could accompany me, please?'
She grabbed my hand, giving me a pleading look.
For a second, I hesitated. I doubted that her mother would appreciate to see me, of all people, by her side. But I couldn't let Gakkuri down either.
'Yes. I will,' I nodded, putting a comforting hand down onto her shoulder. 'Everything's going to be fine, you'll see!'
'Thank you,' she whispered, giving me a creaky smile.
After an hour, I decided to head back home and I left her to herself and came downstairs to leave.
I met Yama-san in the living room.
'Are you leaving, Shun?'
'Yes. Tsunan will be back home soon,' I replied, with a shy smile, before telling her, 'Gakkuri told me that her mother called up to say that she wishes to see her tomorrow and Gakkuri asked me to accompany her. I'm feeling extremely nervous for her.'
'So, am I,' she admitted, her shoulders tensing.
Without thinking, I closed the small distance between us and hugged her.
She had, without any doubt, grown attached to Gakkuri. And if tomorrow Gakkuri's mother said to the kid that she wanted her back, she wanted them to start afresh, and Gakkuri left, I was sure that Yama-san would feel a certain lost.
She didn't say anything and simply let me hug her.
When I moved back and looked up, she seemed content.
'I'm sorry. It was probably awkward,' I said, apologetically. I had behaved on instinct.
'No. Thank you for caring.'
Thank you for reading!