"Why did you help me?" Done dealing with Hero and Kenta, I continued on my way to the track field to meet up with Akane. Walking alongside me was Hakumi who was about to leave school and go for her part-time gig as a girlfriend for hire.
"Would you have preferred if I left you to deal with those idiots on your own?" She asked with a snarky smirk on her lips.
"You told them to trust me on your behalf, that means you trust me too, that's what I'm a little confused about," speaking my heart, I really wanted to know if I'd made some progress with her.
"Hmm…" Humming lightly, she began walking towards the school gates. "Maybe, I'm not sure yet, but I do trust you more than Matsuri and Kimura."
"Doubt those or are very high standards," taking a glance to the left, I caught a glimpse of Akane and the other girls still practicing on the track field.
"Well, then I'm glad my savior meets them," as I looked back at Hakumi, she was chuckling to herself while walking away with her hand waving at me. "Stay out of trouble."
"As if that's possible," I replied before making my way to the sports region.
The very first thing I noticed upon getting there was not Akane, however, it was the school nurse Kumori and Mister Deji the sports teacher standing beside each other near the tracks. With a bright smile on her face, the dark-eyed nurse seemed uncharacteristically joyous. As for Deji himself, he seemed to enjoy telling her about his students and how they were all performing in the current season.
'Hopefully, the guy likes her too.' Since it was clear as day that Kumori liked him, I prayed that the reverse was the same. Because if not, then I doubt that woman was the kind who would easily move on from a heartbreak.
"Oi!" Breaking my attention, Akane's voice called out to me.
Shifting my attention in the direction of the voice, I saw her coming towards me with a bright smile across her face. Seeing her in the track outfit after so long felt somewhat nostalgic, not to mention a little entrancing. Around the edges, I could even see her tan lines lightly pouring out of her clothes.
"Back where you belong huh?" I said.
Gesturing her to the far side of the sports region, I had her accompany me to the corner so we could talk without being overheard.
"What happened?" I asked.
The smile on her face was slowly breaking every time I brought up the topic. She was clearly uncomfortable with something, but at the same time, I needed to know what changed all of a sudden to allow her back into the track team.
"The principal, he called me to the office yesterday. There, he told me he's handled Kimura and that I can return to track," crossing her arms, Akane looked to the side with a weary gaze. "My scholarship is confirmed too. I don't know what happened or what changed but he seemed more than willing to strike down anything against that bastard all of a sudden."
'Something definitely happened, but what?'
"I can sneak into his office and find out," Mizuki offered.
'I thought you were tired?' I asked.
"I'm not tired, you told me to shut up and leave you alone for the day, didn't you?" Remembering back to our walk to school, I did say that to her.
'Fine, but school's over so we'll have to do it from tomorrow.' Giving her those orders, I brought my attention back to Akane.
"Does this mean you're no longer interested in bringing these bastards down since you got what you wanted? I can totally understand if that's what you choose, a regular life I mean," having died already, I knew to some extent what great value there was in leading a normal life and ruining it just for my ambition would be cruel to Akane.
"What? No! I'm still with you, this changes nothing," her willing response, however, filled me with glee.
"Alright, that's good to know-"
The sudden glimmer of something over Akane's shoulders had me biting down on my words. Struck with disbelief, I blinked a few times to make sure I wasn't hallucinating.
"Is that…" Gently moving Akane to the side, I moved a few steps forward to get a better look.
"Mikato, what the hell is she doing here?" Mizuki finished voicing what I couldn't.
Standing at the other end of the track field, all adorned in a traditional floral garb, Mikato was staring at me from under the shade of a translucent pink umbrella. Breaking her eye contact as we noticed her, she turned her gaze to the sports teacher Mister Deji who was rushing in her direction already. And although we couldn't hear what they were talking about, a deep bow from Deji shocked us all regardless.
"What are you…" Following my line of sight, Akane too focused her attention on the mature woman across the track. "Oh, the trusty, you know her?"
"Trusty?" I blurted out.
"Yeah, she's the one who sponsors our team, the scholarships, and other fiscal-heavy events in our school," Akane explained, her tone indifferent to the demon in human clothing.
'She doesn't know, obviously.' For a moment I wondered if I should tell her, but then Mizuki quite literally screamed into my ears.
"Don't you fucking dare! Involving a non-master human in this is a violation of the rules! If anyone finds out she knows of my existence both of us will burst like a pair of blood-filled balloons, so I suggest you not to make this worse!
'Fine! Just shut up.' Reevaluating the situation, I decided to only watch what happens before doing anything harsh.
However, just a second later Mikato was done speaking with Deji and she left through the main gates as quickly as she'd appeared. Even so, I could hear the sound of her wooden sandals as she marched away outside the school.
'Should we follow her?' I asked Mizuki.
"She probably wants us to." She replied.
"Akane, I'll talk to you later something important came up," biding my byes, the two of us began following Mikato's tale.