Side Story - Kazuya and Shiori (2)

After that, my dull and monotonous days started gaining more colors.

Shiori never hesitated to talk to me whenever she saw me, even outside the library. At first, the whole class was frozen stiff when Shiori came to my desk and started chattering like she usually did in the library. But after seeing that I replied to her cheeky remarks just like any other person, they slowly got over their shock. And of course, Shiori didn’t miss this change to get me to blend in with the rest of the class.

“Ah, Aya! Great timing!” Shiori waved at her best friend, who just arrived that morning. “Come here for a bit! I need your help!”

The petite-bodied childhood friend froze, most probably because Shiori was currently occupying the seat in front of me. Even as Shiori beckoned her several times, Aya didn’t move from the door.

“Aya, didn’t you hear me?” Shiori ran out of patience and ran over to her friend before half-dragging the pitiful girl toward me. “I’m having trouble with the Classic Literature homework, and Kazuya-kun is being mean by not showing me his homework! You’ve got to help me, Aya! Aren’t we childhood friends?” Shiori pleaded even as she sat Aya on the empty seat next to me.

“U-Um…I…” Aya stole a glance at me, clearly still afraid of me and my fearsome reputation.

“It’s your homework, so it’s your problem. Why should I show you mine when it has no merit for me whatsoever?” I replied coldly, and Aya flinched upon hearing it.

“Oh, come on! It’s called helping out other people, you know?” Shiori fearlessly charged ahead, unfazed by my cold voice. “Pretty please? It’s on the second period, and I haven’t finished writing mine!”

“What do you think, Kugisaki?” I turned toward Aya, who instantly froze under my stare. “Should I show my homework to her?”

“Aya, you tell him too that it’s fine!” Shiori encouraged her.

“Uh…I…I don’t…” Aya’s gaze alternated between me and Shiori, clearly bewildered.

“It’s fine for you to speak your thoughts.” I said slowly, taking great care not to sound so haughty nor intimidating. “It’s not like I’ll bite your head off.”

Aya flinched once again, but it seemed to be working as she timidly offered her answer, “I-I think that you shouldn’t copy other people’s homework, Shiori… you should write whatever you think is best.”

“Wha—?!” Shiori was dumbstruck that her best friend also sided with me. “Aya, how could you?!”

“W-Well…you always got carried away if you’re spoiled too much…so I have to make sure that you’re not spoiled.” I noticed that Aya’s speech gradually returned to normal as she grew used to my presence.

“Hey, what’s happening here?”

Out of the blue, a boy just popped up into our conversation with frightening ease. I frowned, trying to recall his name.

“Whatever it is, it sounds fun, so count me in!” The boy grinned carefreely.

“Hagiwara-kun! Help me out here!” Shiori being Shiori, she wasn’t surprised at all by his sudden intrusion. “These two meanies won’t let me see their homework!”

“Aah, I’d love to help you out here, Shiori-chan, but I also haven’t finished that homework.” The boy, whose name that I finally recalled was Hagiwara Kenshou, scratched his cheek apologetically.

He was the class’ mood maker, the one who always cracked a joke and got accepted by everyone, but also didn’t belong to any caste in the class. I couldn’t understand why Kenshou would suddenly join in our conversation, unless that he had another goal. Was he trying to get closer to Shiori?

“Why don’t I help you with requesting their assistance? Then I can also copy—I mean, take reference from their homework!” He suggested while I was eyeing him suspiciously.

“That’s—you’re about to say ‘copy’, aren’t you?!” Aya retorted with a huff. “It won’t do you any good if you don’t do it yourself!”

I watched their heated exchange quietly. I didn’t realize it by myself until Shiori noticed and raised her voice.

“Ah! You just smiled!” She announced it so proudly, as if it was a great achievement. “Kazuya-kun, you finally smiled!”

“I’m not. What are you talking about?” I frowned and touched my lips. Was I really smiling?

“Hehe, I saw it too.” Kenshou smirked, as if he just saw something amusing. “Kazuya, so you’re also a human who can smile like everybody else, huh?”

“You saw wrong. And since when are we so close that you can drop the honorifics?” I retorted reflexively.

“U-Um…I saw it as well…” Aya quietly offered her opinion, despite her fear of me. “…sorry.” She couldn’t help but add the last part.

“Haa…” I sighed, sensing that I was soundly defeated by the three of them. “Fine, then. I’ll show you my homework if you get off my case.”

“ “Yay!!” ”

Shiori exchanged a high-five with Kenshou for their small victory.

“Kagura-kun…you actually have a soft spot for Shiori, don’t you?” Aya asked me in small voice.

I was about to refute her strongly, then I recalled her timid attitude and changed my mind.

“…does it look like that?” I returned the question.

Aya smiled softly. “Yes, it does. Shiori always have a way to get into everybody’s soft spot. But then again, she herself also has a soft spot for people who need help, so I guess it’s inevitable.”

“…maybe you’re right.” I chuckled lightly.

With the addition of Aya and Kenshou, my peaceful school days got a bit more boisterous.

*****

It was said that a soldier’s mindset was completely different from those of normal people. A soldier was constantly on alert, searching for any threat that needed to be disposed of. It resulted in them seeing everyone as enemies, but it also helped them react faster in the face of danger. On the other hand, normal people faced no such threat in their daily lives. So when they finally faced danger, they wouldn’t know what to do.

Recently, I felt like my mindset gradually shifted into those of normal people’s instead of a soldier’s. My reaction speed slowed, and my battle senses dulled. It wasn’t enough to be noticed during training, but I knew it would hamper me during missions. Just as I decided to do more training in hope to fix the problem, Kazami gave me a new mission.

“P-P-Please…! D-Don’t…don’t do this…! I’m begging you…!”

A man with rotund body pleaded desperately with me, as if his life was on the line—well, his life was on the line here.

I stared at him coldly, unmoved by his words. The man was a corrupt politician who abused his status to help a rival yakuza group grow in influence. Kazami took care of the yakuza group by himself, and he let me take a handful of his subordinates to deal with the politician.

“I-I’ll give you anything you want…! You can use my wealth, my influence, anything! You can even have my daughter serve you! Just please, please spare my life…!”

The man’s pleading started grating on my nerve, so I raised my dagger and silenced him forever.

Slash! Thud!

His lifeless body fell to the floor with heavy sound. Tetsu and the others were sweeping the whole house, making sure to silence all witnesses and making it look like he was attacked by the yakuza group he allied with. So I let my guard down as I ransacked his room to make it look like a fight just broke here.

The sound of door swinging open reached my ear.

“Ah, Tetsu?” I called out without turning around. “Are you finished—?”

“Kyaaaa!!!”

At the unexpected high-pitched scream, I quickly looked to the door. A girl, younger than me by few years, was staring at the man’s corpse with pale face. The hue of her brown hair matched the dead man’s perfectly, making her identity clear in a single glance.

Before the daughter could escape, I already lunged at her and grabbed her thin shoulders.

Bam!

I pinned her to the wall with one hand, and my other hand reached out for my knife. The girl cowered in fear as I raised my dagger to reap her life. Her black eyes locked gaze with mine. For an instant, I saw not a trembling girl but another girl in front of me. A girl with gentle eyes and courageous heart.

“…!”

When I realized it, I’d already lowered my knife and backed away from the girl. I just needed to swing the dagger once and my mission would be completed perfectly, yet I couldn’t do such simple movement.

No…I didn’t want to do it.

I could never bring myself to hurt someone who looked like her.

“I-I’ll avenge Otou-san…!”

My tumultuous thought was interrupted by the girl’s scream. I looked up, right when the girl charged at me. I belatedly noticed the gleam of knife in her hand before it buried itself in my stomach.

“Akh…!” I staggered away from her. Shock and disbelief washed over me. How could I let my guard down so low that even a civilian could injure me? And more importantly, where did she get a knife?!

As I pulled out the knife from my stomach, the girl turned and ran for the door. However, she wasn’t able to take a step out from the room.

Slash!

The girl turned into a lifeless corpse just like her father in a matter of second, as Tetsu ran into her on his way to this room.

“Young Master, was she the one who screamed just now…?” Tetsu walked into the room, then he paused at the sight of my injury. “Are you injured?!”

He quickly walked to me and examined my stab wound.

“I’m fine…she just took me by surprise.” I waved off his concern. “She came in when I killed the target, so I failed to react in time. It’s nothing big. You don’t have to tell Otou-sama about this.”

Tetsu’s worried face relaxed as he judged that the wound wasn’t fatal. “I see. We’ve finished dealing with the rest of the house, so we can go back once we deal with her body too.”

I nodded. My body felt numb, perhaps from shock that a girl who looked similar to her had just been murdered cold-bloodedly. I’d never cared for other people’s death, but if she were to die in front of me, I wasn’t sure that I could keep myself sane.

Tetsu turned his back to me and approached the girl’s corpse. “I’ll take care of it, so Young Master can go back first—”

The rest of his sentence was rendered into meaningless noise as my sight darkened and I lost consciousness.

*****

“Hngh…” I stared intensely at the classroom door with a deep frown on my face.

I’d been scowling at the door every morning for a week by now, as if the door had killed my parents. But no matter how long I waited, the person I wanted to see the most had never walked through it.

“Shiori…” Aya, who had been watching me worriedly, tried to speak up.

“No, Aya, I appreciate your concern, but I can’t stay calm until I’ve seen him myself.” I already knew what she was going to say, for she had said it multiple times this past week.

Aya sighed and gave up persuading me. She’d known me long enough that she knew when I decided on something, I wouldn’t give up until I went through with it.

The said door slid open and a boy walked through it. My expression brightened up, until I saw that it was just Kenshou.

“Oh…it’s just you.” I couldn’t help how deflated my voice sounded.

“Uh…what? I don’t know what happened, but I kinda feel offended?” Kenshou looked around in bewilderment, but I didn’t feel like explaining.

“No, don’t mind me. It’s nothing.” I shook my head.

Kenshou shrugged and headed to his seat. “Speaking of which, Kazuya had been absent for how long now? Has it been a week already?” He went straight to the topic that I purposely avoided.

“Yeah…and he said nothing about it.” I rested my head on my desk. “I wonder if he’s okay…” I mumbled half to myself.

“Nah, cheer up, Shiori-chan! Don’t worry about him!” Kenshou said carefreely. “I mean, he’s the heir to Kagura Family, you know? Surely there’s no one that could hurt him! He’s probably just sick, or has to take care of family matter.”

“Yes, I know, but still…” I pouted. “He could’ve said something. It’s not like he doesn’t have my number, so a simple text won’t hurt, right?”

“Then, why don’t you text him instead?” Kenshou’s suggestion made me falter.

Kazuya had always seemed so cold and distant, as if he was on a completely different level from everyone else. It was true, of course, since he was poised to inherit the fearsome Kagura Family. But behind his cold façade, I sometimes saw a hint of loneliness in his eyes. He’d stare with a silent yearning when the other classmates were having fun. That was why I adamantly tried to breach his walls and drag him out of his isolation.

Despite my bold and courageous façade that I put up in front of him, I was still a maiden at heart. Being told to text my crush first was…embarrassing, to say the least. If I were to face Kazuya directly, I’d be able to hide my feelings by poking fun and teasing him. But wouldn’t my feelings be easily read when I talked to him through messages?

As I agonized over how to answer Kenshou, the first period’s bell rang. I set my sight on the classroom door for the last time and let out a disappointed sigh. It seemed that he wouldn’t attend class again today.

Just as that thought crossed my mind, the door slid open and the person I’d been waiting for walked inside.

“H-Huh…?!” I sat up straight when Kazuya strode toward his usual seat and sat down with indifferent look on his face, as if he didn’t just disappear for a whole week without any news.

I sprang to my feet and rushed toward him. “Kazuya-kun! Where have you been?! Don’t you know how—”

“Kirigaya-san.”

I froze when Kazuya’s cold voice abruptly cut my sentence off. He sounded like a complete stranger that I had a double-take at him. I noticed that Kazuya looked a bit thinner than I remember, but more importantly, he never once looked at my direction. His expression, which had softened lately thanks to my relentless effort, was now as cold as it used to be. But what hurt me the most was his way of addressing me.

Kirigaya-san.

It was as if he’d reverted back to the person he used to be before we met—the cold, distant heir of Kagura Family.

“The class is about to start, so you should go back to your seat.” Kazuya continued in flat tone.

If I were to pay more attention, I’d be able to discern the faint concern in his voice. However, my mind was fully occupied with the fact that the Kazuya I knew had disappeared, replaced with a stranger.

“K-Kazuya…” I opened my mouth again, desperate to find any trace of the Kazuya I knew.

“Kirigaya-san!” This time, another voice called my name. “Are you going back to your seat or should we wait until you finish your talk with Kagura-san before we start homeroom?”

My homeroom teacher stared pointedly at me from the lectern. His fingers were tapping on the class roster impatiently.

“…I’m sorry.”

Left with no other choice, I trudged back to my seat while stealing glances at Kazuya. He never looked back at me.

*****

I was a bit discouraged that morning, when Kazuya blatantly rebuffed me. Both Aya and Kenshou seemed equally bewildered by his sudden cold treatment. But I shrugged it off, thinking that he might need some time to adjust to his usual self. When the lunch break arrived, I figured that it was time for another attempt.

“Kazuya-kun! Won’t you have lunch with…” I turned toward him, only to find an empty seat.

Kazuya had disappeared right when the bell rang, as if he was avoiding me.

“Okay…maybe he goes to the library like usual.”

I bolted to the library, determined to find Kazuya and choke—make him spill what was going on with him.

But contrary to my expectation, the library was empty save for the librarian. According to her, Kazuya hadn’t come here today.

“How strange…” I furrowed my brow. “Where did he go?”

I spent the whole lunch break trying to locate Kazuya, only to fail miserably by the time the bell rang again. I plodded back to my class and saw him sitting on his seat nonchalantly, like nothing happened.

“Kazuya…!” I marched toward him, ready to blow up, right when the next period’s teacher entered the class.

This teacher was known for being stickler for rule and a ruthless teacher, so I changed direction and sat on my seat quietly. There was no way I would put myself on danger just to vent on Kazuya. I soothed myself by thinking that I’d definitely flagged him when the classes were over.

Unfortunately, Kazuya’d already gone when the last period was over.

“What?! How?!” I stomped my feet in front of his empty seat.

“Uh…he jumped out of the window right when the bell rang.” The boy who sat next to Kazuya awkwardly explained. “Did you two…have a fight or something?” He timidly added, unable to restrain his curiosity.

“That’s what I want to know as well!” I huffed in anger.

This ridiculous situation kept happening from that day onward. I was barely able to talk to Kazuya, since he opted to disappear the moment the bell rang. I’d tried chasing after him, but he always managed to shake me off.

In the end, I had no choice but to acknowledge that he was really avoiding me. To be fair, it wasn’t just me—he also avoided Aya and Kenshou. But the two respected his decision and stopped pestering him, leaving me as the only person dissatisfied with the current situation.

“Seriously, what is his problem?!” I vented my frustration at Aya during a lunch break, when Kazuya once again vanished into thin air. “If I make a mistake or make him angry, then he should just come out and say it straight! Why would he keep sneaking around and avoiding me like this?! Hey Aya, what should I do?”

“Umm…even if you ask me…” Aya averted her eyes, unable to come up with a good answer. “I mean, I can’t imagine Kagura-kun being mad at you. Maybe he just has a lot on his plate right now, so he can’t be bothered?”

“So you mean I’m being a bother to him?!” I immediately lashed back, causing Aya to shrink away. “A-Ah, sorry, I just…” I quickly realized my mistake and lowered my head.

“I-It’s fine…I know this is frustrating for you, Shiori.” Aya, always an angel, shook her head and forgave me. “If only you can sit down and talk properly to him, maybe we can figure out why Kagura-kun is acting like this.”

“Yeah, but he never sits down quietly unless it’s in class…” My voice trailed off when I stumbled upon a solution. “That’s it!” I jumped to my feet excitedly. “Aya! I know how to catch him now!”

I leaned closer to Aya and whispered my strategy to her. I didn’t want to risk someone else overhearing and passing the intel to Kazuya. Aya scrunched up her brow when she heard it, but she didn’t reject it outright.

“Well…I think it will work, but…are you sure, Shiori?” Aya confirmed with uneasy look on her face.

“Yep! I won’t let him escape from me again!” I grinned confidently.

“Ugh…whenever your eyes glint like that, it’s never a good sign…” Aya sighed in resignation.