Chapter 39: Manifestation of Emotion
Chapter 39: Manifestation of Emotion
“NO.”
“But, Kouya—”
“I can’t agree.”
“Considering the situation, attending school is the best option—”
“I don’t mind tying you up, you know?”
“I hope you will spare me that much…”
An extremely disgruntled Kouya and a stumped Azusa faced each other as they fought a war of words. The digital clock read 8pm. They returned home to have a lively exchange of opinions in the mansion lounge without changing or eating dinner.
Azusa planned to accept Tsukiharu’s deal. Kouya wanted to stop her. They had hit a deadlock. Subaru and Ichi learned of the situation by being in the same room. They helplessly looked on as the other two argued in a world of their own.
“Think about it. Do you believe that guy will honestly keep his end of the deal?”
“But a bunch of people might be put through some terrible stuff if I don’t go. I’ll regret not going for the rest of my life if that happens! …Besides, he might actually keep his promise and not do anything to me.”
“Can you seriously say that after what he did to you already?”
“For now…”
“I’ll tie you up.”
“Eek!”
His eyes were dead serious. He wasn’t smiling.
“Now, now, Kou. Chill out. You shouldn’t tell women you are going to tie them up. You’re not in bed with her,” Subaru interjected to help out, only to receive a face full of Kouya’s fist. Subaru, along with his chair, flipped several times before ending with him moaning on his back. Blinking away tears he dragged his chair back over.
“Your last sentence was unnecessary,” Kouya growled.
“You deserved that one, Subaru,” Ichi icily approved.
Subaru rubbed his swollen face and brought things back on topic with teary eyes, “…Well, all jokes aside, the real question is: what are you actually going to do?”
“Subaru and I will subdue the kid tomorrow. You don’t need to come,” Kouya ordered as if it were already set in stone.
Azusa frowned with annoyance over how he took control. She felt as if she were being treated like a nuisance. Of course, she knew he was trying to protect her. But this was her problem too. If anything, it was her problem and hers alone. It seemed weird for her to be the one left out.
“You need to make sure no one gets hurt. Can you do that?” she asked.
“…I can—”
“Not happening. At least some casualties will come from it,” Subaru said, cutting off Kouya. Kouya glared at him, but Subaru ignored him with a devil-may-care attitude.
“In the first place, he’s an anomaly. I asked Master Akashi, but he didn’t know anything about the research into the Ancient’s body or about Tsukiharu Hiragi. He’s currently got a team looking into it, but it’s not like they’ll get the results anytime soon. If we take what he said at face value, his power level is on par with Kouya—or higher—even though he’s in a pre-awakened state. Were they to go all out against each other, the resulting damage would be enormous. Even if we successfully get everyone out of the school, the damage would likely extend to the surrounding homes.”
“……” Kouya averted his eyes at Subaru’s calm deduction of the situation. He knew some degree of victims couldn’t be avoided.
“What do the two of you think is the best course of action?” Azusa asked Ichi and Subaru.
“…I think believing that Tsukiharu guy will keep his promise is the method most likely to avoid widespread mayhem.”
“Subaru!” Kouya snarled.
“It’s not like I want her to go either, but that’s the best choice to keep casualties to a minimum. Right now we’re only dealing with the Tsukiharu kid, but imagine what will happen if that viper Shiro joins him in the fight against us. The two of us alone can’t stand up against them and protect people. We can’t even gather people in time before school tomorrow. Even if we were capable of rallying some people, if they aren’t strong enough, it’ll be like sending a lamb to the slaughter. Let’s not forget Azusa’s blood is a highly classified secret. Only some of the highest ranked nobles know about it aside from us. We can’t get people to help even if we wanted to.”
Subaru’s reasoning was sound. Azusa felt it gave her the push she needed.
“What about you, Ichi?”
“…I do not want you to go, but I am of the same opinion as Subaru… I’m sorry, Azusa,” Ichi answered, looking down.
Azusa shook her head and spoke with forced cheer, “Thank you. I’m okay! I’ll run away if anything happens, and I actually wanted to keep attending school! It’s so agonizing to be bored out of my mind every day!”
“Azusa…”
“Nothing happened today either. It went by surprisingly normally. I was just thinking how much I would love to enjoy my long-awaited high school life again—as long as that guy behaves.”
Kouya loudly clicked his tongue. Azusa looked up—his ruby-like eyes glowed a deeper, more sinister red than usual. His eyes narrowed with utter disgust before he averted them from her. He turned on his heel and left the lounge without another word.
BANG! A loud crash came from the hallway. Azusa wondered what happened as Subaru ran out of the room with an exasperated look.
“Dude, don’t take it out on the furniture. Or the walls. Or the floor! Or MEEEEE!” Subaru’s flustered voice could be heard along with several more crashes.
“…Kouya,” Azusa whispered.
***
“THIS is it, right? Kouya’s room.” Azusa stood motionlessly in front of the room given to Kouya inside the mansion. A dinner tray rested in her hands.
Since their argument, Kouya skipped dinner and refused to come out of his room. Subaru was supposed to bring him dinner, but Azusa took it on out of a desire to apologize. The servants were wary of Kouya and kept their distance, which eliminated them candidates to bring him food. Azusa arrived at his door, but couldn’t bring herself to knock.
How do I apologize to him? What is there for me to even apologize for? Sure, I angered him, but that doesn’t mean I can choose not to attend school now. So what do I say to him then? I want to apologize, but I can’t. Azusa paced restlessly in front of his door, mulling over what to do.
“…You aren’t coming in?” Kouya’s voice came from the other side of the door. The door slowly opened, revealing Kouya with his trademark expressionless face. “What were you doing in front of my door for ten minutes?”
“You noticed?”
“…What do you think we contracted for?”
Oh yeah, I forgot contractors can detect where each other are, Azusa only now remembered.
“I brought you dinner.” She held up the tray of chilled food. Kouya quietly stepped back from the door.
Did that mean she could come in? She could have just handed it to him at the doorway, but she genially entered the room because she wanted to talk to him.
The room was tidy and organized—it didn’t seem lived in. If Azusa’s room was once a noble’s guest room, Kouya’s must have been a spacious study or reading room at one point. All the furniture was made of the same black oak, giving the room a dim and gloomy aura.
“Where should I put it?”
“On the table is fine.”
She knelt down to put the tray on a low table in the center of the room and heard the squeak of springs behind her. She looked over her shoulder to find Kouya had sat back in a large, leather upholstered chair with gnarly wood armrests. She was mistaken to assume he lacked expression when she came into the room—his face clearly revealed his soured mood now.
“Um, I’m sorry.”
“About what?” Kouya grunted in a low voice.
“Uh, about earlier. You were only worried for me and I acted that way…”
“Did you change your mind?” he asked. Azusa slowly shook her head.
“…I plan on attending school tomorrow. I can’t sit still and do nothing when I know people will get hurt because of me.”
“Even though you were so scared you cried today? What part of the day ‘went by surprisingly normally’ for you?”
Azusa sucked in her breath. The conversation with Tsukiharu consumed her thoughts to the point she completely forgot she had clung to Kouya’s chest and let him wipe away her tears. Fear had enveloped every fiber of her being that she thought nothing of it at the time, but thinking back on it turned her cheeks a deep red.
“I did not cry.”
“You did too,” he instantly retorted. She had nothing to counter with, because she really did cry.
“By the way, what were you doing there?”
The school was in the center of town. Azusa wondered why he had been at the school gates when he rarely ventured into town.
Exasperation filled his face as he sighed, “…I thought it was obvious I was there to pick you up.”
“You were?”
“While we’re on the subject, I’ll continue dropping you off and picking you up from school. If you plan on going tomorrow, interact with him as little as possible. And be smart about it. Keep conversations to a bare minimum. I’ll let you go if you can do that.”
“Let me go? …You know, I’ve been thinking this for a while, but while you’re normally a man of few words, you’ve got quite the temper and a wicked tongue on you, don’t you?”
“Huh?”
“Also, you’re a bully and click your tongue at the slightest annoyance.”
“…..”
“But more than anything else, you are incredibly kind.”
Kouya looked like someone who was just shot in the face with a spitball. His forehead wrinkled over how to take her comment.
“Thank you very much. I would be happy to have you escort me to and from school. I may have acted brave with Ichi, but I really am scared… I’m pathetic, aren’t I? That’s why it would really reassure me to have you with me.”
“I see.”
“I have to pump myself up to handle things tomorrow! Ah, I’m sorry, I’ve been rattling on about myself. I’ll go back to my room now,” Azusa said, opening the door to leave. Kouya grabbed her hand. She looked over her shoulder at him.
“Call me anytime you need me. I’ll make sure I’m able to go and save you at any time… Thanks for bringing dinner.” Kouya pat her on the head, perhaps as a sign of his gratitude, and let go of her hand.
Azusa felt the heat rise to her cheeks the moment the door shut behind her.
“It’s kinda hot… Did I catch a cold?” Azusa fanned her face with her hand and walked down the hallway to her room.
Now that I think about it, Kouya stopped avoiding me… Azusa tilted her head in puzzlement over the bubbly feeling rising in her—it was the first time she had ever felt this way.