Chapter 28: The Ice Queen and the Sunshine

"You are early," Ayako says again, her voice flat, the sound cutting through the noise of the mall fountain. "And you have company."

Hina, who is all sunshine and smiles, finally seems to register the temperature drop. Her smile falters, and her hand slips from my arm. She looks from Ayako's icy face to my "oh-crap-I-am-dead" face.

"Oh, um, hi!" Hina says, doing a little bow. She is just so nice. It is like a golden retriever trying to greet a panther. "I am Hina Aizawa! Are you the classmate Shou-chan is meeting?"

Ayako's eyes narrow just a fraction, but I see it. It is the nickname. "Shou-chan." It is the same look she gave the knife in my arm, a look for something foreign, something she cannot control. A messy variable.

"I am Ayako Katsumi," she says, and her voice is the "Student Council President" voice. Polite, cold, and distant. "And you are correct. Minatawa-kun and I have... business."

She walks forward, her heels clicking on the tile, and she does not stop near us. She stops right between us. She is a half-step in front of Hina, forcing Hina to look at her back. It is a total, brutal power move. She is now facing me.

"Your punctuality is noted," she says to me, but her voice is for Hina to hear. "But your choice of company is problematic."

"Hey!" Hina says, her cheerful energy instantly turning defensive. She steps around to face Ayako. "I am not 'company'! I am his friend! We go way back!" Hina beams at me. "Right, Shou-chan?"

I just want to teleport. "Uh... yeah. Hina and I... we are old neighbors."

"Neighbors," Ayako repeats, the word sounding like an insult. "How... quaint. A 'historical' attachment. That is irrelevant to current proceedings."

Hina just blinks, her smile completely gone. She is not used to people like Ayako. No one is. "I am sorry, Katsumi-san," Hina says, her politeness strained. "I do not think I understand. 'Irrelevant'? He is my friend."

"He is," Ayako says, turning her head just enough to pin Hina with a glance, "my asset."

I groan. "Ayako, do not."

"Asset?" Hina's voice is sharp now. The sunshine is gone, and there are storm clouds. "What is he, a stock? A piece of property? What kind of person talks like that?"

"An efficient one," Ayako says, her voice bored. She turns her full attention back to me, dismissing Hina completely. "Our 'procedural update' is now behind schedule. We must acquire the necessary items and depart."

She is unbelievable. She is literally trying to just grab me and walk away, as if Hina is just a stray dog.

"You cannot just 'acquire' him!" Hina says, and she is properly angry now. Her face is flushed, and she plants her feet. "Shou-chan, what is going on? Is she... your boss? Is this that 'Student Council' thing you were talking about?"

"It is... complicated," I mutter, shoving my hands in my pockets.

"No," Ayako says, her voice like steel. "It is not. It is very simple." She looks at Hina. For the first time, she sees Hina not as a piece of furniture, but as a rival. A competing claim. Ayako decides, in that terrifying, analytical brain of hers, to win.

"You are Hina Aizawa," Ayako states. "You are attached to the past. You call him by a childish nickname. You believe you have a claim."

"I... what? I..." Hina is stammering, taken aback by the direct assault.

"I," Ayako continues, "am his present. He is my anomaly. And our complications are far more significant than 'old neighbors'."

Hina is not dumb, and she is not weak. She is a detective's daughter. She sees the challenge.

"You talk a big game, Katsumi-san," Hina says, her voice losing its warmth but gaining a new strength. "But you do not seem to know Shou-chan at all. He is not an 'asset'. He is not 'efficient'. He is... he is a good person. He is kind, and he is protective, and he is a total idiot who gets himself hurt!"

"Yes," Ayako agrees, her voice a deadly purr. "He is an idiot. He does get himself hurt. That is why he requires... correction."

"Correction?" Hina repeats, horrified. "You sound like you are... training him!"

"I am."

The two words drop into the air like stones. Hina is speechless. She looks at me. "Shou-chan... is this true? Is this what you have been doing? She is... training you? Like a... a dog?"

I wince. "She... calls me a dog sometimes, yeah."

"That is horrible!" Hina yells, taking a protective step towards me. "Shou-chan, you have to get away from her! She is... she is a psycho!"

"Your assessment is noted," Ayako says, her voice bored. "And... incorrect. He is not a 'dog'. He is a 'pet'. There is a difference."

"I... AM... NOT... A... PET!" I roar, my face exploding.

"See?" Ayako says to Hina, a tiny, tiny smirk on her lips. "He is flustered. His cardiovascular system is highly inefficient. He is... unbalanced."

This is a nightmare.

"You," Hina says, her voice shaking with rage, "are a cold-hearted, manipulative... witch."

"And you," Ayako counters, "are a loud, emotional, and... irrelevant... variable."

"Oh, yeah?" Hina says, her eyes flashing. "If I am so 'irrelevant', then why is he..."

"Hina, do not," I warn, but it is too late.

"Why is he blushing?!" Hina yells, pointing at me. "He... he likes me! He always has!"

I... I... my face is just gone. It is a supernova of heat. "I... Hina... that is..."

Ayako just watches. She watches me melt down. She watches Hina, all fiery and protective. And then, she delivers the killing blow.

"A blush," Ayako says, her voice amused. "A 'historical' attachment. How... cute." She turns to me. "Minatawa-kun."

"What?" I gasp, just wanting to die.

"Show her."

"Show... show her what?"

Ayako sighs, as if dealing with a particularly stupid child. "Show her... what a real cardiovascular anomaly looks like."

And before I can react, before I can even breathe, she steps right up to me, ignoring Hina completely. She looks me dead in the eyes. "You are," she whispers, her voice only for me, "a terrible, messy, fascinating... distraction."

She reaches up. Her hand is warm. And she rests it, palm-flat, right on my chest. Right over my hammering, stupid, inefficient heart.

"You," she says to a stunned Hina, "make him blush." She then leans in, and her lips brush my ear. "I... make him stop breathing."

She pulls back, and that smirk, that tiny, smug, predator smirk, is on her face.

"Our relationship," Ayako Katsumi says, "is clearly... on a different level."