Vol 2 Chapter 4 (1/2)

Mission 4

It was right after the “surprise party” when Fus.h.i.+mi heard that Fus.h.i.+mi Niki had pa.s.sed away in the hospital during his hospitalization. Just like the doctor had told him in November that it would be difficult for that guy to enter the new year, his death day was the 29th December, just as the end of the year was approaching.

Accepting his last few days that had been like a sentence and dying in a meek manner, wasn’t that the only thing in his whole life that had been ordinary? - that was the first thought that came into Fus.h.i.+mi’s mind. He didn’t care if people who knew absolutely nothing reproached him for being coldhearted or disrespectful.

The funeral was held with only the relatives present. Because he had been a man without a job he didn’t have any acquaintances from work. n.o.body in the family knew if he had any private friends.

Since Fus.h.i.+mi didn’t want Yata’s parents to pay a visit of condolence he was relieved that the funeral was only for the relatives. He didn’t want to show this ordinarily at peace, ordinarily nagging, ordinarily bothersome family his own relatives. He really didn’t want to have this conversation with Yata either. After all he still didn’t like how Yata had suggested with a good-natured expression on his face that he should go visit that guy when he was hospitalized. Fus.h.i.+mi absolutely didn’t want Yata to be concerned about him because that guy had died, and if he would have said something absurd like “Cheer up!” he probably definitely would’ve punched him.

Even if Yata knew to some extent of the situation Fus.h.i.+mi was in, he’d never be able to understand that Fus.h.i.+mi was genuinely relieved that that guy had finally died.

Because that man had been a strange, abnormal weirdo even among the relatives there were no tears in the attendees’ eyes. In the banquet hall too did n.o.body reminisce about the deceased. The conversations that were exchanged were idle complaining or bragging that had nothing to do with the deceased one, and the only thing that had to do with him was the bargaining of the inheritance.

Bored, Fus.h.i.+mi sat in a corner of the banquet hall with his arms around his knees. There wasn’t even anything he could eat because nothing but sus.h.i.+ and beer had been arranged. The smell of the cigarettes, the alcohol and the sea products, and the awfully high temperature in the hall made him feel sick.

Fus.h.i.+mi Kisa was tied up with the elderly and had been put in the middle of a juicy inheritance story. Here, Fus.h.i.+mi Kisa held the position of what they call a “wife”. But she was a woman with a lot of pride so even though she was in front of her husband’s family she didn’t submissively bow her head over and over. She wasn’t frantic about the Fus.h.i.+mi family’s a.s.sets and there was no need for her to cling to them because she had build a fortune through her own strength. With her usual att.i.tude she went along with the sake poured into the cups one after another. Only in that point Fus.h.i.+mi reevaluated that woman just a bit.

The relatives’ interest got also directed to Fus.h.i.+mi, who had by status the inheritance rights.

“Saruhiko-kun, the entrance exams for high school are soon, right? At which school will you apply? Maybe you should really go to Tsubasagahara, they’re the best in the Kanto region. If you need a housing then there is still our place left…”

The elderly cozied up to him with favor currying smiles glued to their faces. ‘Saruhiko-kun’, huh… he had heard that when that guy gave him that kind of name for fun all of the relatives laughed, saying, “He’s the one with the funny name.” Fus.h.i.+mi hated the one who had given him that name the most in the whole world, but for the other people he felt much the same.

Die, all of you, he thought while answering,  “I am not applying anywhere.”

Even though you’d normally judge a middle schooler if he’d oppose a suggestion and answer bluntly the way Fus.h.i.+mi had, the atmosphere didn’t become any more appropriate because the elderly were generally insensitive.

“What do you mean with that? Ah, maybe you’ll wait until fall and study overboard. I heard that you are an excellent student. Your uncle also has experience with studying overboard so if there is anything you’re worried about then you can definitely discuss…”

Within the sea of black mourning clothes that looked like an a.s.sembly of bugs and made Fus.h.i.+mi feel sick was another person wearing Himuka Middle School’s deep red blazer just like himself. It was Oogai Aya sitting in a corner diagonally from him and just like Fus.h.i.+mi she had her arms wrapped around her knees with a bored expression on her face. She wore her black-green gla.s.ses today too and now that he thought about it, she seemed to be in the same mood as him. When Fus.h.i.+mi saw that Aya said a few words to her mother who was close by and then stood up, he too stood up because he couldn’t breathe properly any longer. He didn’t reply to the elderly still talking next to him anymore.

Fus.h.i.+mi stepped on the black shoes that had been left jumbled at the entrance of the j.a.panese-style room, shoved his toes into his own loafers and stepped out into the corridor.

“Hey.”

When he turned at the end of the corridor and called out, the small back clad in the deep red blazer flinched.

“Was there some kind of agreement to target me? Or was it just out of your personal spite?”

Fus.h.i.+mi tapped the right arm of his gla.s.ses lightly. The big gauze had been removed but under the gla.s.ses’ arm was still a band aid. It seemed like his eye had been injured through the party popper attack and according to the eye test results the eyesight on the right had dropped slightly. Well, it had been bad from the start so it  wasn’t like much changed.

“If it was out of Aya’s personal spite then what, like, would you do? Will you get back at Aya?”

Haughty, Aya turned to the side but her profile was twitching.

Does she think I’ll do something and that there is no use in arguing about it or what.

“Not really. Though with this we’re even so I won’t apologize either.”

This is enough already, right, Misaki… he muttered in his mind. If anything then the damage I received is bigger than hers. I’m not complaining and I’m replying gently, aren’t I?

He hadn’t told Yata that Aya had been in the mob that had a.s.saulted them. Yata probably believed Aya hadn’t partic.i.p.ated at all.

“I’ll give you an advice for now. Stop using «jungle» any further. It isn’t a mere social network or a game. In the center of it is…”

“A 'King’, right?”

Fus.h.i.+mi was actually surprised at Aya replying before him and it left him dumbstruck.

“All of the ones at the top of the ranks know. If the king likes you he will give you 'power’. Aya will, like, collect more and more points and get 'power’ from the king and then Aya will finish you off.”

“«jungle»’s king isn’t necessarily your ally. Wors.h.i.+ping him just because you want to defeat me, just how naive are you?”

“You don’t say that!!” yelled Aya all of a sudden and glared at him.

The corners of her mouth rose with an almost enraged look in her eyes. An odd smile that reminded him of an amphibian appeared on her face.

“It’s both. It was out of Aya’s personal spite but there was also the agreement to go after your face. The painful experience of opposing a King and losing, it serves you right. You’re so lame. Ahaha- ahahahahahahya–”

Her laugh pierced through the air and quavered in an odd way.

This is enough already, right, Misaki… he repeated in his mind like a spell to restrain himself and with his fists on the sides of his body he somehow managed to hold back.

Sometime soon I might wring her neck.

“Are you, like, angry? Did I hit a sour spot? Are you vexed now? Was your complete defeat frustrating? That you, who, like, has never lost before has been humiliated so much serves you juuust right.”

“……enough already. You, don’t talk anymore.”

Aya’s face was red with a flush that might have come from her being possibly drunk because she got hit by the banquet hall’s alcohol stench. Her face twisted and resembled the laughing face of Niki who shook people’s emotions and basked in the joy of it. Fus.h.i.+mi had until then never liked or hated her as an individual and just didn’t really care about her, but in that moment he felt clear hatred towards her.

“You will go to the 'red monster’’s place, right? If so then Aya will become your enemy. Because…” For just a moment her pupils, wide and fixated at him, seemed to quiver. “…you aren’t looking at Aya.”

Mission 5

“Can you take my hand?”

The “Red King” turned to the two of them and casually held out both his hands.

It was a hand with thick veins on the surface and many sc.r.a.pes, almost like a boxer’s fist, and you could guess that the man this hand belonged to had struck at many people and maybe even things with it and survived until now.

“Y- yes.”

When Yata was about to shake his hand, nervous but still determined, in that moment – did flames wrap around the man’s fist. It was a real fire that tinged the surroundings in a vivid red and emitted strong, pale light from the center of the fist as if it was the head of a matchstick.

Yata unintentionally flinched and stopped his stretched out hand and looked at Fus.h.i.+mi with a hesitant expression. They exchanged glances and swallowed hard. But they made up their mind, nodded to one another and grabbed Suoh’s hands at the same time, Fus.h.i.+mi the left one and Yata the right one.

The fire spread from Suoh’s hand and in no time it wrapped their entire bodies. The image of his own body being burned spread in Fus.h.i.+mi’s mind with high speed. The blood in his whole body evaporating, his skin melting, his hair burning, his internal organs boiling ― he thought he was really going to die. There are usually people who die of shock from something like this, right? If he had been a.s.sailed by this kind of sensation for just a bit longer he probably would have fainted. The flames that in just a moment rushed about every nook of his body disappeared like they were an illusion.

No…. it condensed in one point and remained within his body. Throb, throb, there was a hot and aching spot.

“Hmph…”

Suoh let out his breath and huffed a laugh almost incidentally before he let go of their hands.

The man around them who had watched with slightly worried expressions let out their breath in relief. Here and there rose applause.

“Very nice, very nice. It wouldn’t ’ve been very funny if two middle school candidates were burned 'n killed.”

“I believed that it would work out somehow. Congrats, you two!”

The impression that his whole body was burned still lingered in Fus.h.i.+mi’s mind and while he felt his body still shake slightly he nervously dropped his eyes to the throbbing spot. When he pulled down his collar, he saw that a red mark symbolizing a flame had appeared under the collarbone on his left side. Rather than that it looked like it had been pasted on his skin from the outside, it seemed like something that has originated from within his body had naturally penetrated his skin from beneath it. The red light flickered together with the sharp pain that still hadn’t left.

As the pain subdued the light got weaker and settled gently within his body.

He looked at Yata next to him. Yata looked back at him in the same moment. Yata too looked like he had thought for a moment they would actually die, and he made an expression as if his soul had left his body. After they looked at each others’ faces they dropped their eyes and saw that the mark had appeared for both of them on the exact same spot, on the left collarbone.

“…it’s in the same spot!”

“It really is…”

They inspected their marks in wonder and then looked at each other again.

“Hoh? Isn’t this the first time the 'mark’ appears in the exact same spot? Mikoto, did ya do that on purpose?”

“I can’t control where their marks appear.”

Suoh, Kusanagi and the others of the group were a bit surprised themselves.

Yata made a fist and crouched a bit before he jumped up and landed on the floor with a loud thud as if his body was overflowing with joy.

“Alright! With this we’re genuine partners!”

“Eh, did you until now not think of us as partners?”

“Ehh!? I- I did! Of course I did! But y'know, didn’t you also want some kind of item that proved it!?” explained Yata eagerly to Fus.h.i.+mi who had pointed that out with half-closed eyes.

“You two sure get along well,” friendly laughter came from the men surrounding them. That they had unintentionally been laughed at made them make a sour face, but then they grinned at each other.

“Saruhiko.”

“…yeah.”

They stretched out their arms and put their fists on the other’s mark.

At that time they still didn’t doubt a bit that they had received this power through their hands and accepted it within themselves with the same thought and the same goal.

Period 2 (another side)

Himuka Middle School’s graduation ceremony in March was on a day on which cold rain fell.

After homeroom had ended Aya went back to her mama’s car. When she stepped out through the students’ entrance with her newly bought umbrella held up there were the guardians’ cars forming a long line in front of the school gates and she had no other choice but to go looking for the car.

“Oogai.”

She stopped when somebody suddenly called out to her from between the cars. A boy stood in front of the fence with the hood of his raincoat pulled over his eyes. He had one foot on a skateboard.

He tugged at the hood and showed his face.

“Yo. ’s kinda been a awhile,” he said shyly but in a bright voice.

“What does the dropout group need from me?” said Aya bluntly and looked at him with eyes full of disdain.

“Ah, um, you don’t need to worry. They said they let Saruhiko and me graduate. If we take the test during spring break, that is.”

“Who is, like, worried? Either way you’ll be a dropout if you graduate from middle school. Aya, like, made it to Tsubagahara’s high school. It’s the best school for girls in the Kanto region. Mama is veeery satisfied. Well, Aya isn’t satisfied at all. If it’d be, like, a boys’ school the level would be much higher, but Aya can’t go to one. Just why is it that only boys receive preferential treatment in education?”

“Oh, ohh, suddenly you said a lot. You don’t have to list all those things for me. It’s not like you want to be acknowledged by me, right?”

With an embarra.s.sed expression Misaki-kun ducked his head.

Misaki-kun is normal, is what Aya thought. His parents have remarried, but that wasn’t that rare and he had been born into a normal family and been raised normally; he had a normal mind, and that was all. His only strong subject was P.E., and music and art, let alone the subjects from the entrance exam were awful. He didn’t harbor any peculiar angry thoughts. He acted tough but when Saruhiko wasn’t there it was a simple badness where he could do not more than rebel halfheartedly. Despite being the kind of shy where he was unable to talk properly with the girls in cla.s.s he could talk with Aya fairly well. Aya knew that was only because when he had realized that Aya wasn’t making him into her opponent, he had stopped being nervous. Or, to put it the other way around, because he thought the girls were aware of him he can’t talk to them; he was an overly self-conscious, normal boy in middle school.

It was mysterious to Aya and she couldn’t understand why this normal person was the only friend of Saruhiko, who since young age had never have any friends.

“Sorry to stop you in the middle of the rain, but this will only take a moment. It’s kind of meddlesome from me I think but because we won’t meet again I thought I should say it, y'know…”

After he said that Misaki-kun hesitated a bit, and as if to gloss over that he rolled his skateboard with his foot fore and back.

“His, well, y'know, father affects him, but, well, you probably know that better than me, I wonder why he doesn’t understand… he can only interpret your behavior as direct malice, he doesn’t understand that you’re trying to get his attention. He kinda does that thing where he only lets negative feelings grow in his mind…”

“What are you, like, talking about? 'Get his attention’, what is that supposed to mean? Ridiculous. That’s right, what else is there but malice? Aya, like, hates Saruhiko. Ever since he’s been born he has been a thorn in Aya’s side.”

“Um, yeah, okay, if I’m just misunderstanding then you can ignore me. It’s also not like I could understand a woman’s heart, but, y'know… ah, whenever I mention Saruhiko’s family his mood gets bad so I wouldn’t say this in front of him, but, maybe it’s because you’re too smart? And I don’t get why things turn out like this, but… Wouldn’t it be good enough to say things normally, and honestly? That’s definitely a weak point of his.”