Arrangements

“No,” Yua said in haste, “no, no, and categorically no.”

Sammy and Eita both turned.

“Is there a problem?” Sammy asked.

Yua, who realized she had become the center of attention, started to turn beet red.

“I mean,” she stammered, “that is to say...”

“What is it?” Sammy asked

“H-have you seen Eita's home?” she asked.

“No,” Sammy admitted,

“Then keep it that way!” Yua said. “I mean, um, you could probably stay with my family instead.”

As she said it, Yua lit up, as though she'd suddenly hit on a good idea.

“That's right!” she said, “We have a few spare rooms, and you said the shrine was good for you, right.”

“It is-”

“So I'll tell mom and dad that your dorm got bombed too. And then you don't have to worry! And...”

Penny stepped up.

“Motives aside,” she said, “I'm sure we'd all be pleased to accept.”

There were no objections, and soon enough a plan was drawn up to get Azalea vaguely presentable and to make the introductions.

By evening, every family had heard, and Eita was busy being fussed over for the first time in a long time. His parents both worked, and long hours at that, but they both found their ways home that evening.

Between it all, they left the news on, and reports and updates on the “school bombing” were frequent and pretty much the only thing the local news wanted to talk about.

Late in the evening, Eita took stock of what felt like the last report: school would be out for the foreseeable future, but that wasn't the most important part. The news was reporting seven injured, three in the “initial blast”, three from the panic of the escaping crowd, and one said to have a deep cut possibly caused by debris. They also said there were no known fatalities, with neither bodies nor body parts discovered in the building.

That stuck with Eita, nagging at him, but he felt too drained by the day to put it together. It didn't help that there were more questions circling in his mind, trying to demand answers.

There were the questions that Penny had raised. Why weren't angels old in appearance? He'd heard Sammy's story before, of discovering the source of her own creation in the Weaver's Heaven, but he hadn't thought about it. Did that mean that Sammy and the others were more like ghosts than angels, the remnants of those who died? And if so, how had she lived and died the first time around? Eternally seventeen, she had said. Did she even want the answer to that kind of question? To know who she'd been before she was Samyaza? And did it matter to Eita, as her friend, where she came from?

And if that question was thorny, there was the more sinister one, the one that Penny had called out as important. What, really, were the Angels meant to fight? They had great power, but they kept themselves in the shadows, avoiding making scenes or causing incidents like the one that Munkar had just caused. All for what? Before knowing them, Eita had seen, or at least sensed things. A wisp of shadow with nothing to cast it, a hint of what someone would call aura. He'd never thought much about it, but there were more things in Heaven and Earth than were usually accepted... and more even than the angels might know.

The next day, though weary, Eita decided to pay Yua a visit.

Her house was about as busy as could be expected. Yua had a large family to begin with, even aside from frequent visits from extended relations, but now it seemed there were four more guests at her place, with Azalea, Penny, Sammy, and Yomi all in evidence. Yua's mother smiled and laughed more the more chaotic the living room became with residents and guests alike emerging to greet Eita as he visited. It was hard to believe a place as peaceful as the shrine was organized by a family as loud as the Jinguushi household.

Yua was, essentially, the last to show up. When she did, her siblings quieted down, and Penny quickly pulled Sammy aside.

“Eita,” Yua said, “I'm glad you came.”

At least she wasn't adding honorifics, Eita thought. She couldn't be that mad. With quiet excuses, they found their way out to the yard to talk in peace.

“How are you holding up?” Eita asked.

“Well enough,” Yua answered, “even if last night felt more like school than school because of it, Penny and the others kind of explained things to me.”

“I'm sorry I didn't tell you,” Eita said.

Yua sighed, and looked up to the sky.

“That's okay,” she said, “I mean, I wish you'd felt like you could, but... well, now I know why you'd been so off since Golden Week. It's not an easy thing to reckon with. And I can't say, if I were in your shoes, that I'd have done different.”

Eita breathed a sigh of relief.

“Although,” Yua said, “why did you chase after Sammy in the first place? Before you knew?”

“Ah,” Eita said, “I thought she was being bullied.”

“Bullied?”

“And that afternoon, I saw her head up to the roof. I was worried.”

Yua crossed her arms.

“Well,” she said, “when you put it that way I guess I can't be mad.”

“What did you think?” Eita asked.

Yua looked away.

“I didn't.” she said.

“Well,” Eita said, “I guess you can't accuse me of doing much of that either.”

Eita shifted awkwardly at his own bad joke, unsure of how to continue, how to ask any of the things he actually wanted to know.

Unbidden, and likely thinking in the same lines, Yua more or less began to answer the unspoken question.

“I want to help them,” Yua said. “They're our friends, and that Munkar...”

“If you're scared-”

“I'm furious.” Yua said with a low growl. She took a deep breath, clapped her hands, and then scrubbed her face in the nervous sort of way she often did when she couldn't make up her mind.

“That's that,” she said, “and it's enough. I don't care if he's an angel or a shinigami or a ghost, if he thinks he can get away with this he's got another thing coming.”

Eita smiled, but he suspected there was going to be far more than determination needed to make that happen.