Beatrices Shop (Part 1)

October 19th - Kimura Kiyomi

After the weekend we were back at school and for the moment things seemed to be unchanged. Suzuki, Reiko and I got along fine it seemed the high spirits that we felt during his birthday celebration were still with us for the time being. Kento arranged for all of us to meet the person he wanted to introduce us to on Wednesday and we arranged to meet at the old clock tower, which was a prominent meeting spot. For couples as well incidentally. This Saturday I had my date with Suzuki and I was also thinking about having us meet here, so going there now felt a bit more tense than it probably should have. It should be mentioned that the clock tower wasn't actually a tower at all and it was just an affectionate nickname. It looked more like a over sized grandfather clock and apparently was brought to Japan many years ago from England. I never thought much about that story, but it made me wonder what Sophia thought about it, given that it hailed from her homeland. I was hoping to see Suzuki first, so maybe I could prepare a little bit for how it would feel on Saturday, but when I arrived at the clock tower, the only person to be there was Reiko. She seemed to sense that I was disappointed, because she couldn't help but tease me.

“Oh, hey Kiyomi. Sorry I'm not Suzuki, but I'm sure your prince is right around the corner.”

“I'm sure he is just tying up his horse.” I replied in a rare moment of wit. It made Reiko laugh at least. But now I was really wondering where Suzuki and Kento were, since the time we agreed to meet was already past and they were nowhere to be seen.

“What gentlemen, making two pretty girls wait,” Reiko said in an annoyed tone of voice. I agreed with her, but didn't really have anything to add, so I just nodded and now even the ever talkative Reiko seemed at the end of her wits and so we stood there all dressed up with nowhere to go for the moment. I was wondering whether I should tell Reiko about my date with Suzuki, but knowing her she couldn't help but tease me and Suzuki until Saturday if I told her, so for the moment I just enjoyed the thought of having a date with a cute guy on my own. Also, if things turned out to go less than ideal, I had a lot less backpedaling to do, so not telling her for now seemed like the most enticing option. If things went really well I probably wanted to tell her first though. After all she was my only real friend besides Suzuki. The thought made my heart a bit heavy, because even though I didn't really plan on doing anything to daring on Saturday, if our relationship suffered as a result of our date going wrong, it would probably be difficult to stay friends, even though we still had to work together as a team for the foreseeable future. Just when my mind was about to go to places I didn't want it to go, places filled with mental images of rejected confessions and Suzuki laughing at me after I told him I like him, Kento and Suzuki finally showed up and the sight of Suzuki immediately made all those bad thoughts vanish and I just wanted to spend more time with him. But at some point I might have to take that risk and live with his answer, whatever it may be.

“Sorry for being late,” Kento apologized and both Reiko and I couldn't help but be swayed be his effortless charm. Suzuki on the other left it with a simple greeting.. Although I also couldn't help but be swayed by his charm.

“Anyway, the shop of the person I want you to meet isn't far from here, I'm sure you will find meeting her very interesting,” Kento continued as we started walking in the direction he pointed at. After a couple of minutes we arrived at our destination. It was a seemingly very small bookstore. Somewhat fitting I thought, as we were here to gain some information. As we entered the shop a bell was softly ringing and from somewhere in the back the person we were supposed to meet appeared. As I saw her I was stunned. Somehow I had expected this person to be some sort of grandma that would exude an air of wisdom, but the person was actually a stunning looking lady that looked to be no older than her thirties. Reiko and Suzuki seemed to have similar reactions and the lady seemed to notice that as well.

“Oh, I see Kento didn't tell you anything about me. What a rascal he is.” Her voice sounded about as elegant and beautiful as she appeared and as I looked at Kento I could that his face was slightly red. So even he could get flustered.

“Well, I might as well introduce myself. My name is Beatrice. I'm not human in case you are wondering, I'm actually a demon. But I can take any human form I like, so I choose this one, it's quite the look, isn't it.” She said those words with utter confidence and I couldn't help but agree that she choose her form very well. Although Beatrice didn't sound like any demon I had ever heard of.

“So, remind me again, what is the purpose of your visit today?” After we all had sat there stunned for a couple seconds Beatrice apparently wanted to get things going again.

“Oh yes,” Kento somewhat awkwardly began whilst pointing at Reiko “Our friend here happens to be a Yoki-Oona, but her powers only recently awakened and we were wondering whether you could give us any helpful advice. Especially since she could help us fight the Kälte.” After Kento mentioned the Kälte Beatrice facial expression ever so slightly changed, apparently she wasn't too happy to hear it mentioned.

“What an interesting case. Do you happen to be from the Tanaka family?” Beatrice asked whilst looking Reiko up and down.

“Oh yes, how did you know?” Was Reikos surprised answer. Beatrice started smiling and she became even more stunning as a result. I couldn't help but look at Suzuki and he seemed quite enamored. I wasn't too happy about it.

“Quite easy, there aren't many families around that carry Yoki-Oona blood and you happen to look just like Grandmother when she was young.”

“Oh, you knew here? I have never actually met her.” Reikos voice sounded a little sad.

“Oh yes, many decade ago when her powers first started to show. She was quite scared because she had no friends who were willing to help her and at that point there hadn't been any Yoki-Oonas in her family for a long time, so n one there did want to have anything to do with her either. So you are in a good place Tanaka.” Beatrice smiled again and everyone else was smiling, too. I had thought that it was only natural to help a friend in need, but maybe I was just thinking this way because I already thought ice monsters and traded Mana with Suzuki. How would I have reacted if this had happened a year ago? What would I have even been able to do for her? The thought of her just succumbing to a snowstorm of her own creation because no one was there to save her was quite sobering.