Chapter 6: The Sapphire Hunter
It was late day now as Ushio sat
in his bed in a white T-shirt and black boxer, staring at his cell phone and
wondering what he could do. Since he learned about Nobuki he had lost all will
to get out of bed, and left Asano confused when she sat off for her date. It
was she he was worried about, her, the headstrong girl he had known since grade
school that he couldn’t possibly tell about the untouchable boy. He knew that
it was important, and that it was what the response to his text was asking
about when it said “What next?” and yet he sat there bemused, and a little
disgusted by the late day. “What next?” It sounded like such a patronizing
question when he said it in his head, and it felt more condescending than that
when he said it out loud, but he knew that was because he didn’t know what do.
Even if a magical way presented itself; even if some mystical arm gave him a
blessed touch that’d actually allow him to harm Nobuki, he knew that the lad
was untouchable in more ways than one. “What next?” he asked himself as he
considered that, and as he pondered responding to the text he realized there
was only one thing he could do.
“I’ll find out more.” He
resolved and his daylong melancholy escaped him as he hopped out of bed and put
on his pants.
Far away from the hotel, Ushio
and Asano had set up in; Rin sat quietly in her class, running her fingers
across a keyboard. It was 3:15 now and in five minutes, the school day would be
over, but in the back of her mind, she considered staying longer to get an
essay done. It was February now and in a month, the school year would be over.
Her first year of high school would be up, and she’d be preparing for what the
last two years would bring, but the last thing that was on her mind was
preparing for that in Asabi. Rin had big goals for herself, goals she had told
her parents Eiji and Reina, and even told Masaru who had always rooted for her.
She hadn’t told him yet, or even her parents but those goals had compelled her
to do something recently, that required her to get an expert essay done. The
bell suddenly rung and she knew it was time to go, but still her fingers danced
across the keys while begging her to jump to the mouse and click save.
“Rin-san,” A girl nudged her as
she ran over to her and the flustered cheeks that Rin saw when she looked up,
made her stare with surprise. “There’s a cute guy outside the school looking
for you.” She said and Rin smiled a little, wondering if Masaru had stayed
behind to walk her home. “It’s great that you traded up from Masaru-kun.” She
said and in that instance, Rin’s wonder went away, as finally she saved her
project and pulled her flash drive from its port.
After a stop by her locker where she pulled
her cerulean duffle coat over the dark blue blazer of her school uniform, she
walked through the double glass doors into the brisk afternoon. It took a few
moments as she walked across the grounds, till she saw the cute boy her
classmate had mentioned, and wonder why anyone thought Ushio was cute at all.
As she stared at him and into his smoky dark eyes, she wondered if she could
ignore him at first until he raised his hand up.
“Ushio-san,” She greeted him
with feigned surprised.
“Rin-san, we need to talk.” He
said, and the girl who had told Rin about him cooed a little till his eyes
turned to her. “Alone if you don’t mind.” He smiled and she completely swooned.
It didn’t take Rin but a moment
to figure out what he was going to say, and quietly she led him away from the
school and down the road that’d take her home. One after another, they passed
quiet houses till Ushio was sure they were alone, where he reached out his arm
and took her shoulder in hand. It stopped Rin and made her turn to him, where
once more she stared into his eyes and wondered if her suspicions were right.
“Rin-san…” Ushio turned a walked
away a bit. “When you said good bye to us that evening, you said something
peculiar. It’s not the type of thing you say on accident either, so I’m sure
you know why I’m here.” He said and Rin nodded, and silently laughed at
tricking herself. “How much do you really know about Yui and Masaru-san?” He
asked and Rin let her gaze fall.
“It started at the new year’s
festival a month ago. Masaru, I, my mom, and my dad had gone to the shrine
where we were going to make a new year’s wish when something went down.” She
answered.
“What do you think it was?”
“For a while now I didn’t know,
but after you and Asano-san explained Tae Yui’s powers I realized, that was it.
I don’t know how I wasn’t affected but everyone else had gone into a daze, and
it was at that point that someone descended. I remember it so clearly, a
beautiful woman with long black hair.
Her eyes were deep, engaging, but deceitful because despite that, they
were very cold. She had come dressed in black formal wear, looking more like a
business woman than someone going to a celebration, and…”
“And?”
“Nothing. She just pulled a bell
out of a bag and began to ring it, then she was gone and everyone returned to
normal. The people after Masaru-chan appeared after that, but that was pretty
much it.”
“That can’t be right!” Ushio exclaimed.
“If Yui had Masaru-san where she wanted, with even you in the way she wouldn’t
have hesitated to kill him then unless-“
“Well she did!” Rin stopped him.
“She just rang the bell and left.”
“Unless someone got in her way.
Someone unaffected by the current clause of her cosmic contract, someone she
wouldn’t have even suspected.” Ushio pushed and Rin began to take a few steps
back. “It makes sense of course, your warning was just too foreboding to mean
anything else. You got in her way Rin-san, and that’s what slowed Yui down. You
consistently got in her way, and that’s when Nobuki came in!” He connected the
dots and Rin punched a sign.
“No… He was there from the
start.” She said and Ushio’s expression sunk.
“But why? Why hide it from us,
we’re on the same side as you.” He asked and Rin shook her head.
“Are you really? You come in and
barely tell Masaru-chan anything then say that you’re on our side. For all I
know you could have been just another one of Yui’s goons!” Rin roared and Ushio
recomposed himself.
“There’s stuff I can’t possibly
tell you.” Ushio gaze fell as he hung his head.
“Then I’ll make you tell me!” Rin exclaimed as a triangular sapphire emerged from her head and released several ribbons of light.
Ushio watched half-surprised as
the ribbons spun into the air and wrapped Rin in a sapphire cocoon, while his
other state of mind created his spear. As the cocoon tore, Ushio found his eyes
set upon Rin again, where he saw her hands wrapped by sapphire gloves and the
white of her eyes dyed dark blue. She was upon him before he could finish
taking in her form, and he was forced to jump back as her fist came out. When
his feet came back to the ground, he had to throw himself to the right, just in
time to dodge her kick, but moving himself into the path of her punch. He
blanked out as the pain reverberated and forced him to grind his teeth, before
he kicked the shaft of his pole arm and made it and jab Rin’s side. She winced
as it hit, but jumped right as the spear came down, and was once more upon
Ushio again, where she tripped him up and slammed him into the ground. For a
moment, Ushio fought, but then he looked into her eyes and realized something
was wrong. His spear suddenly went away, and by surprise Rin let him stand up,
where once again she met his smoky eyes and took a few steps back.
“I’m not your enemy.” He said.
“I know that these secrets won’t make you believe thatm but I beg you to trust
me when I say it’s important they stay secret. Think about why you couldn’t
tell Masaru-san about Yui’s attacks.” He pleaded and Rin’s eyes bounced from
the ground to him as she thought about it before making her transformation go
away.
“Then answer one thing for me.”
She stared with intent and Ushio shook his head. “Why won’t you tell us
everything?”She asked and saw a flash of melancholy in those smoky eyes.
“Because learning everything corrupted
me and Asano’s lives forever.” He said, and by foreboding alone Rin understood
and submitted to never getting to know.
“I… see. I won’t stop fighting
Yui’s goons though.” She said.
“And I won’t ask you. You’ll
have to tell Masaru-san though, so that you can protect him more actively.” He
replied and Rin shook her head in agreement. “There’s one thing I will ask you
though.”
“What’s that?”
“For as long as possible, do not
tell Asano about Nobuki.” Melancholy went away and in his eyes, Rin saw the
remnants of regret.
“I won’t.” She understood the
regret, and their alliance was made…
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