That morning, Agasa Tsudzuri didn't wake up at the ring of her alarm. She awakened before the set time and switched it off.
She couldn't keep into place so much she was excited.
Today, wasn't going to be an ordinary Chocolate Day. She had something planned for Tsunan.
Her mind drifted to her last mission where she has encountered a monk selling all kind of mystical items.
*Flashback*
'I think I know exactly what you need!' declared the young monk with the takuhatsugasa, putting a finger up at her.
He ruffled through his bag and took out a box of chocolate.
'The chocolate festival of Toda is for very soon, right?'
She nodded, giving him a bewildered look.
'The chocolates of this box are all of a different flavor, except two, which are of almond. The rules are very simple. The person who interests you must be the first one to serve himself. In this way, if there are other people present, it'll work only for him. If he gets the almond flavor, it means that he has romantic feelings for someone; he's in love. The second person to obtain the same flavor is the object of his affection, and it also means that, that person reciprocates his feelings.'
***
Looking at the box of chocolate resting on her bedside table, Agasa let out a diabolical laugh before she grew self-conscious.
'Why am I laughing diabolically?'
Shaking her head and clearing her throat, she jumped out of bed and began to prepare herself to head for the organization.
Hopefully, it'd be her. And if it were to be Cho or Yanagi, she was ready to accept it...
Like every year, Master Kagami had set a table at the foot of the staircase with tons of chocolate on it that everyone had brought.
There wasn't any member of the organization that was missing.
Agasa's face twisted when she saw Shun Shutsuki standing next to Tsunan, the two busy talking to each other, but she scolded herself in her mind almost immediately. It was supposed to be the most beautiful day of her life. She wasn't going to let that she-devil's presence affect her and ruin this marvelous moment.
'I want you to start with mine first!' she exclaimed, eagerly before anyone could get started and she offered everyone who was present a chocolate each, starting with Tsunan. 'They're all of different flavors!'
She had butterflies in her stomach as she watched the doctor unwrap his chocolate and bit into it.
Holding her breath, she asked him, 'Which flavor did you get?'
'Almond,' he replied and she had to control herself really hard in order to keep herself from jumping in jubilation. Unwrapping her own chocolate, she closed her eyes, opening her mouth to taste hers.
Almond. Almond. Almond.
'Mine, also.'
Agasa's eyes blew open and she felt all color drain out of her face.
No!
She stared at the person to whom the voice belonged to and that person was none other than Shun Shutsuki!
No! No! No! No!
NOT HER!
There must be a mistake!
'Oh, mine is of almond too!' declared Master Kagami who came up to them.
Eh?
Agasa's mouth went fully agape.
'Oh, mine also!' called Shirane.
Wah! What's going on?!
'I think that they're all of almond!' said Hatsu.
Crouching down, Agasa held her head in-between her hands, sobbing bitterly.
That bloody monk! He conned me!!!
'Don't put yourself into such a state!' Cho told her as she moved up to her, putting a comforting hand onto her shoulder. 'Almond or not, they're very good!'
She let out a moan.
If only she knew...
***
Later, the same day, our "monk" was sipping a tea and gazing up at the sky from under the veranda of a house he had found refuge for the night. (NOTE: It was this same young man in monk's clothes and wearing a takuhatsugasa who had sold the Hangonkō to Sekien Hitachiin.)
He let out a heavy sigh.
Apart from a box of magical chocolates, he hadn't been able to sell anything lately.
Thinking of the box of chocolate, he realized something, abruptly.
In fact, he had made a terrible mistake. All the chocolates in the box were of almond flavor, in the exception of two, which would designate two people who are in love with each other.
'For once that I have sold something genuine that was no gim-crack... I blundered!'
He exhaled, shaking his head in disappointment.
***
Meanwhile...
'Oh, these are the chocolates Agasa has bought!' said Tsunan, as we came down in the hall, and picking the two last remaining ones in the box, he took one for himself and handed me the other.
We didn't wait to bite into them.
'It's of strawberry flavor!' I said in surprise, looking at Tsunan.
'So, is mine!' he told me, equally surprised. 'Finally, all the chocolates in the box weren't of almond...'
***
In the evening…
'Here's your tea!' said Yama and she put the cup down onto the office desk where her husband was standing, consulting some documents.
Kagami took a glance at the tea, before he turned to face her and wounding his arm around her waist, he bent down and pressed his lips against hers in a gentle kiss.
'Thank you,' he murmured, gazing at her fondly.
She locked gaze with him for a minute, before she lowered her eyes, telling him, hesitantly, 'Kagami… There's something I wanted to talk to you about.'
'Yes, tell me!'
'It's about Gakkuri. I was thinking that we could become her legal guardians.'
She looked up at him to see his expression and found him staring at her.
'Alright,' he said. 'I'll contact her parents and talk about it with them.'
Her eyes moistened.
'Really? You'll do that?'
'Yes,' he nodded with a soothing smile. 'I have to admit that I'm fond of that little kid too!'
***
Meanwhile…
'You're leaving on mission tomorrow with Agasa Tsudzuri, aren't you Shun?'
'Yes,' I replied, before I looked at Heihachi, asking him in bewilderment, 'You're not going to accompany us?'
'No,' he replied, putting the plates he was carrying in the sink for me. Leaning against the counter, he explained, 'Tomorrow, it's the fiftieth anniversary of the Sho's newspaper. Hatsu's parents will be organizing a party to celebrate it and they have demanded that he attend it. I don't want to abandon him.'
'I see.' Hatsu and his parents didn't cope well due to his sexual orientation and the blond male needed his support. 'Feeling nervous?'
Hatsu was going to present him officially as his boyfriend to his parents tomorrow.
'Hatsu's worse. He's talking about it with Tsunan outside.'
'Take care of him and yourself, okay?'
'I will. And you? Do you think that it's going to be alright if I leave you alone with Agasa?'
'Yes. Don't worry about me,' I reassured him.
'I doubt that she tries anything knowing what Hatsu has reserved her and her two friends if they ever attempt anything.'
My eyes widened at him in puzzlement. 'What are you talking about?'
He went pale, breaking into cold sweat. 'Oh crap! Hatsu's going to kill me for spilling the beans!'
'Heihachi...' I stared at him, waiting for an explanation.
***
A short while later…
'Excuse me, can I speak with Hatsu in private, please?' I asked Tsunan, politely, as Hatsu and Heihachi were preparing to leave.
His eyes shifted from me, to Hatsu, then onto Heihachi- who was scratching his cheek nervously- and back again; the doctor's expression perplexed.
Nodding uncertainly, he moved away.
When I was sure that he was out of ear shot, I asked Hatsu, in a murmur, 'Did you blackmail Cho, Agasa and Yanagi because of me?'
His eyes grew huge at me and he began to say, 'Shun, please listen to me! Don't get angry! I-'
Closing the distance between us, I put a hand down onto his forearm, telling him with a smile, 'Thank you!'
He stared at me in astonishment, Heihachi wearing the same expression.
'I don't approve what you've done but I know why you did it. You wanted to help and protect me. That's why, thank you! You're a true friend!'
The blond male stared at me for a whole minute before he patted my head and let out a small chuckle. 'God! You're truly incredible!'
'Huh?' I gave him a bewildered look.
His expression scrunched up, in all of a sudden, and he muttered, 'But let me guess! You want me to give you all the pictures such that you can hand them over to the girls?'
'That's exact!' I told him, cheerily, and he exhaled, shaking his head.
***
The next day...
Agasa and I left early in the morning for the village of Ogita by train.
It was raining cats and dogs when we reached the train station that was the closest to the said-village. This, was found on the other side of the mountain standing ahead of us, and to reach it, we had to go by foot.
'What's going on?' Agasa called at the group of men, who were setting a crash barrier on the small mountainous road we had taken.
One of the men ran up to us under the rain, informing us, 'I'm sorry, misses, you can't go any further. The road is closed due to the heavy rainfall; there are risks of landslides.'
'Oh no! Isn't there any other way to reach Ogita?'
'No. You have no other choice but to pass through the mountain to reach the village. But come back tomorrow! The weather is supposed to get better during the night. The road should be open by daybreak tomorrow.'
Agasa took a glance at me, her eyes throwing daggers at me. 'Alright!' she exhaled at the man. 'Is there any inn in the area where we can find lodging for the night?'
The man kindly indicated us the way to an inn. It was the only one in the rural and secluded region. It was wooden in structure, standing two-stories high and was surrounded by deep forest.
A middle-aged man and woman were the only personnel of the inn and apparently, we were the only clients for the day or rather, since a very long time.
The woman left us in the reception hall to go prepare our rooms, while the man went into the kitchen to inform the chef that they had clients and discuss about our dinner.
I looked at Agasa who had her back turned to me.
It was probably the right occasion.
Digging my hand into my bag, I took out the envelope of pictures.
'Agasa!' I called, and it was only when she turned around to face me did I realize how enraged she was about this situation.
'Shut up!' she snarled at me in a furry, fisting me by the collar of my kimono, startling me. 'Just shut up! I don't want to hear a word from you! Who the hell do you think you are? You're a bloody psychopathic murderer, so stop fawning over Tsunan! Stay away from Cho and the others! You shouldn't even be part of the organization! People like you shouldn't be free; you should be kept within the four walls of a prison! Or even better, you should be executed! But you're there, always looking so cheerful; it pisses me off to see you like this! I don't know what's stopping me from smashing your face!'
She put her fist up to hit me one.
I blenched away, but the blow never came.
Lowering her fist, she shook her head at me, her expression filled with disgust as she gritted out, 'Just look at you! You're an authentic monster! You only have to take a look at your dual-colored eyes!'
My eyes watered.
She released her grip on my kimono in a shove and I hit my back against the wall behind me, the packet I had in hand, slipping my hold.
Breaking into tears, I ran out of the inn, into the rain, entering the forest.
I didn't stop running until my legs had grown tired.
I was soaking to the skin.
Slowing to a walk, then to a full stop, I tried to contain my tears without success.
When my cries finally quietened into sobs, I took a look around of myself, realizing that the inn was nowhere in view.
I didn't even remember from which direction I had come from anymore and the rain had already erased all the traces.
I walked for a moment, trying to find my way back to the inn desperately, but I had to admit to myself that I was lost. I came across of a small dirt road at some point and my eyes fell onto a hokura on the roadside.
Since I didn't know which way to go and the rain wasn't stopping, I took shelter within the hokura, tears threatening to fall again.
***
Agasa noticed the packet Shun Shutsuki had dropped after the latter had rushed out of the inn.
Picking the envelope up, she opened it and she was astounded to see that it contained the pictures Hatsu was blackmailing Cho, Yanagi and her with; the negatives were there too.
She stared out of the entrance door after Shun Shutsuki.
Did she want to hand them over to me? she asked herself with a pang of guilt. She shook her head then, thinking bitterly, No! I'm sure she wanted to blackmail me with it to go by her whims.
But why bring the negatives? Wasn't a bit risky?
She was still torturing herself with the same questions an hour later.
Shun Shutsuki wasn't back yet and it was about to turn dark in no time.
The visibility was already reduced because of the rain and the mist it had roused, now in the dark…
She had seen her enter the forest. Did the redhead get lost?
Tsk! It's not my problem! She may die in a hole, I don't care!
A few minutes ticked by and Agasa shifted her position on the sofa in the entrance hall, growing impatient.
That freak forgot to take her umbrella!
She took another look at the stuffed envelope.
Darn! Why haven't I burnt these pictures yet? And why am I waiting in the hall like an idiot?
Another few minutes went by before the dark-haired girl jerked to her feet and rushed out of the inn, unable to believe it herself that she was going to search for Shun Shutsuki.
Decidedly, I'm truly an idiot! No one in their right mind would go look for a girl like her!
Thank you for reading!
Glossary
Hokura - miniature Shintō shrine