Echoes of Motion

As the sound of the doorbell echoed through the confines of Naomi’s family apartment, Eiji stood back, waiting for someone to answer.

It wasn’t the first time he’d taken the route toward her home, as he’d driven her there on multiple occasions, but it was the first time he’d actually gone all the way up. It was also likely the first time Eiji had visited the house of an acquaintance his own age, and frankly, he wasn't comfortable with the idea.

As the silence stretched further with no answer in sight, Eiji had half a mind to turn around and leave. *Was he really this socially awkward?* Never mind, Naomi would probably be fine, he concluded.

Just as he made up his mind to bail, the front door creaked open, and a young woman peered through. ”Uhm, can I help you?”

The door opened further, revealing her completely.

*Talk about not being cautious at all...* Eiji almost scoffed at her carelessness. Judging by her behavior, her big, curious honey eyes, and her expression, she was either Naomi’s older sister or her mother. She had long, straight brown hair falling loose at her back. She looked too old to be a sister and too young to be a mother, so Eiji let the speculation rest.

“Hello, is....” Eiji froze for a fraction of a second as a realization dawned on him. He had never actually called Naomi by her name before. “...Is Naomi here?”

“Naomi?” The woman cocked her head, taken aback. “Oh, you must be her friend!” A smile sprouted across her face. “Eiji, was it?”

“Ah, yeah. Kanzaki Eiji.” He nodded slightly.

“It’s nice to meet you, Eiji-kun. I’m Mizuno Shiori, her mother.” With a curt, earnest bow, the woman introduced herself. “Naomi has told me a great deal about you! Come in.”

With a slight spring in her step, Shiori-san led the way. “Have you come to check on her, by any chance?”

“Something like that...” Eiji replied, shuffling into the living room behind her. The house wasn't fancy, but it was spacious and well-maintained—perfect for a family as large as Naomi’s.

“Here.” Eiji offered up the plastic bag. Shiori-san cocked a quizzical brow but accepted it, sifting through the contents on the dining table.

“Fever meds... a packed omelet... and strawberry juice?” She examined the items before a silent chuckle escaped her. “You didn’t have to, Eiji-kun. Naomi’s all right; she was just really tired is all.”

“Ah, I see.” Eiji nodded. His lack of experience with social visits meant he couldn't imagine arriving empty-handed, hence the convenience store run.

“Hehe, you’ll never catch us!”

“Woohooo!”

Two young boys came rushing through the hallway like racing cars.

“Come back here, you little daredevils!”

Naturally, a girl emerged a second later. With her black-and-red bangs held back by a fluffy pink headband and an oversized, wooly hoodie reaching her knees, Naomi burst into the room, dead-set on arresting the speed-limit breakers.

Then, her eyes fell on Eiji.

“S-Senpai...?” she muttered. “EEEEHH?!”

She bellowed loud enough to rattle the windows. “What are you doing here, Senpai?!” She quickly shuffled toward the kitchen. Upon closer inspection, she’d clearly recovered from yesterday’s lightheadedness.

“Don’t tell me....” Her face turned grave. “My mom is a specter!”

“She’s not, dimwit.” Eiji narrowed his eyes. Her weird remarks never failed to trigger his urge to roll his eyes.

“I’m a what now...?” Shiori-san furrowed her brows. “Is this some new teenage slang?”

“Then why ARE you here, Senpai?”

“Eiji-kun came to see you, Naomi.” Shiori-san crossed her arms with a knowing smile.

“Senpai? Came to see... me? Is this a dream? A hallucination? Are you really sure someone in here isn’t a specter?”

“Calm down, already...” Eiji was already growing weary of the theatrics.

“It is true,” Shiori-san confirmed.

Naomi turned to Eiji, who just shrugged. “I guess.”

At once, Naomi’s face exploded into a grin she couldn't hide. Her cheeks flushed a deep red as she snickered. “Hehe, Senpai...”

Her eyes wandered to the kitchen counter where the "gifts" lay. “What are these...?” She scanned the meds, the juice, and the omelet.

“Eiji-kun was kind enough to bring these,” her mother said. Naomi’s eyes grew so wide they threatened to pop out of her head.

“S-Senpai... c-cooked an omelet for me?!” Sparkles and stars practically flew across her yellow irises. Her face was radiant enough to put a thousand suns to shame.

“Ah, actua—”

“No, no! Senpai, you don’t have to say a thing! I completely understand!” Naomi nodded vigorously. “You missed me so much you had to cook for me and see if I was okay, right?”

“Haaah...” Eiji sighed. He was already regretting his concern. She was clearly back to her usual sky-high spirits.

“Mom... who’s Eiji?”

One of the boys asked, tugging on his mother’s blue house robe.

“That’s your big sister’s friend, Hiroshi.”

“Onee-chan’s?” The other boy, sitting beside his brother, looked up at the tall Eiji in marvel.

“Yes.” Shiori-san patted both their heads.

“Introduce yourselves,” Naomi urged.

“I’m Hiroshi,” the first, braver one, said.

“And I’m... Soma...” The last boy, almost identical to his brother but with glasses far too big for his head, followed.

Eiji nodded. “Kanzaki Eiji. Nice to meet you.”

“Well done, boys!” Naomi clapped.

“Eiji-kun, would you like to have dinner with us?” Shiori-san proposed, checking the oven.

“Uhm, I wouldn’t—”

“Yes, yes he would!” Naomi replied for him, earning a sharp glare.

“Oi.”

“That’s settled, then!” Shiori-san clapped her hands, completely ignoring Eiji's protest. Turns out being overbearing ran in the family.

Just as Eiji was about to resign himself to his fate...

“Mom, where’d you put the—”

Another girl, looking like a mini-Naomi with longer hair tied in a ponytail and the same sunset-colored eyes, came trotting down the hall.

*How many people did I have to meet?* Eiji wondered.

The new addition froze. “We’re... being robbed!”

“Oye, Kazusa! Just because Senpai looks like a thug doesn’t mean he is one!!”

“I look like what?” Eiji muttered.

The peace was shattered by Naomi's younger sister, Kazusa, who was debatably even louder than Naomi herself.

⌁◉⌁

“I’m sorry!” Kazusa, the oldest of Naomi’s siblings, bowed deeply once the misunderstanding was cleared and she realized her home wasn't actually under siege. She was a dead ringer for both her sister and mother, despite only being in her second year of middle school.

“No prob.” Unbothered as ever, Eiji shrugged it off.

“So, you’re having dinner with us, uhm... Eiji-senpai?”

“Don’t call him Senpai, Kazusa. Only Onee-chan gets to call him that,” Naomi interjected, proudly gatekeeping the title from her sister.

“Then... Eiji-san?”

“Too formal,” Naomi corrected again.

“How about... Onii-san?”

“Ho, I like it. It puts you in the 'little sister' role, which means you’re out of my territory.”

Eiji decided not to ask what "territory" she was talking about.

“Whatever’s fine by me...” He shrugged again, sinking into the sofa as the group relocated from the kitchen to the living room.

“Onii-chan!” Hiroshi chimed in, jumping around animatedly. “Let’s play a game!”

Apparently, the Mizuno family didn't need more than half an hour to decide you were part of the furniture.

“A game?” Eiji raised a brow just as Soma held out a controller.

“Oh, be careful what you wish for, guys. Senpai is a monster at this!” Naomi chirped from the sidelines.

Kazusa cocked her head. “He is?”

The two boys weren't about to back down. “Let’s have a great match, then!”

“Yeah, let’s...”

As Hiroshi and Soma nodded in sync, a familiar street-brawler game booted up on the console. In no time, the action was underway. While Soma was a decent opponent, his skills lacked the polish of Eiji’s lethal arsenal.

Eiji was a master of the digital arena.

“I-I’m losing!!” Soma muttered, distressed, mashing buttons in a panic.

“What a fierce battle!” Naomi’s eyes were glued to the screen.

Seeing his brother taking a beating, Hiroshi decided to stage a tactical intervention. “Take this!” He lunged forward, jumping onto Eiji’s shoulders and covering his eyes, completely cutting off his view of the TV.

“Hiro!”

“Hey, quit it!” Kazusa and Naomi chided, but Eiji kept mashing buttons, totally unfazed.

“Senpai?”

“Hm.” Eiji smirked. He didn’t need to see his opponent’s character to win. He could sense the timing—hear the rhythm of the combos amidst the frantic clicking of Soma's controller.

“Woah, Senpai is unlocking his latent potential!” Naomi looked on in awe. Click—she snapped a picture of Eiji like a paparazzi scoring a career-defining shot.

“Onii-san is amazing...!” Kazusa watched, mouth agape, as Eiji’s character delivered a flawless finisher.

“Too strong...” Soma collapsed backward as if he’d been mortally wounded in real life. The words P2 WINS flashed across the screen.

“Amazing...” Hiroshi withdrew his hands, staring at the screen with eyes like saucers.

“Who’s next?” Eiji surveyed the room cockily, watching his potential rivals cower.

One brave soul stepped forward. “I... I will defeat Onii-san!” Kazusa declared passionately.

She didn't.

Eiji beat everyone. Twice. He beat Naomi more than thrice, leaving her pouting all through dinner about how her "gaming training" had been a waste of time.

At the dinner table, the atmosphere was lively and warm. The Mizuno family clearly knew how to have fun, and even though Naomi’s dad was away for work, her mother matched the kids' chaotic energy perfectly. For the first time in a long while, Eiji wasn't eating alone or just with Naomi. He was at a family table—a family that, if only for a moment, made him feel at home.

“So, how’s the food?”

“Delish!”

“Oh, Hiro, how’d you get rice on your nose?” Naomi sighed, reaching over with a napkin to wipe her little brother’s face. “Hmf!”

“And you, Soma, don’t eat so fast...” She sighed again, watching over the little rascals.

Eiji stayed quiet, simply watching the scene unfold. Naomi really was a big sister when she needed to be. Her mother seemed to notice him watching; she flashed Eiji a knowing, gentle smile.

“Kazusa, stop passing me your vegetables.”

“But they taste like dirty socks.”

“Shh, Mom’s gonna hear you!”

“It’s not Mom’s fault... it’s the broccoli’s fault!”

Chiding the last of her rebellious siblings, Naomi continued her meal. As Eiji watched her, something finally clicked.

Ah. Wasn’t this exactly how Hifumi used to act with him?

With a sudden, sharp pang of nostalgia, Eiji finished the last of his dinner.

⌁◉⌁

After the last meal of the day concluded, Naomi somehow managed to drag Eiji to her room under the pretense of catching up on the exorcist information she’d missed.

“Is that all…?” Naomi raised a brow in disbelief, hugging a Pokémon-shaped pillow to her chest.

“Why would I lie?” Eiji shrugged, his gaze wandering.

The space Naomi called her own was split down the middle with her sister, Kazusa. It felt like someone had ripped the room’s soul in half with a scythe. One side was a chaotic explosion of pink and yellow stickers, anime prints, and figurines; the other was a dark, moody gallery of classic horror movie posters. It wasn't hard to grasp which side belonged to Naomi.

“Then why aren’t you making any moves, Senpai?”

“I decided against it. For now, we need to be patient.”

“Heh. You said we….”

As Naomi giggled, Meh flickered into existence, hovering over her cluttered desk. “Oh, Eiji-dono! Look! This looks like you!”

The shikigami’s cry caught Eiji’s attention. Despite himself, he leaned over to peek at a sheet of paper on the desk. It was a hand-drawn sketch of a young man wielding jagged bolts of lightning, his unkempt blonde hair swept back in a familiar, unruly style. It was only a pencil sketch, but the likeness was unmistakable.

“H-Hey!” Naomi snatched the paper away, her face flushing crimson. “I-It’s not finished yet!”

“Finished?”

“Yeah! There’s still coloring, and polishing the outlines, and—”

Naomi launched into a lecture on her drawing process. Eiji watched her, remembering the sketchbook he’d bought her weeks ago. He felt a quiet sense of relief that she hadn't dropped the hobby.

“I was going to show you when it was done, but Meh-chan spoiled it…” Dejected, she set the drawing back down.

“Apologies, Mizuno Naomi…” Meh squinted apologetically, drifting lower.

A knock at the door interrupted them, and Naomi’s mother stepped in. “Eiji-kun, it’s getting late. Would you like to stay over for the night?”

“No, I—”

“Yes! Yes, he would!”

“Oi!”

Once again, Naomi had taken the liberty of answering for him.

“Then it’s settled!” Shiori-san chirped.

Resigning himself to his fate once more, Eiji just sighed. There really was no saying "no" in this household.

⌁◉⌁

The next morning, Eiji and Naomi headed out for school. Shiori-san waved at them from the doorstep.

“Have a nice day! And don't come back too late!”

“See you, Mom!” Naomi waved back energetically.

“Thank you for having me.” Eiji gave a polite bow, though it felt slightly out of character. He’d been genuinely well-taken-care-of by the Mizunos.

“Don't sweat it! Come by anytime, Eiji-kun!”

And with that, they were off. How long had it been since someone had sent Eiji off to school? For that matter, how long had it been since he’d actually attended Saturday classes? The day was already stacked with surprises.

It was strange—no one in that house had judged him for his rough appearance. They’d accepted him as just another student. It seemed the Mizunos really lived by the "don't judge a book by its cover" rule. Well, excluding Kazusa’s "thug" comment.

“Hm, hm, hm…” Naomi hummed a tune as they walked.

“What?”

“It feels like we’re a married couple, Senpai! Waking up, going to school together like this!”

“Married couples don't go to school, idiot,” Eiji retorted, unamused.

“Oh, they do! My mother was seventeen when she had me!”

Seventeen, huh? That explained why Shiori-san looked so young despite having four kids.

“E-Eiji-dono!”

The peaceful atmosphere shattered as Meh emerged, his tone vibrating with urgency. Eiji caught the vibe instantly.

“What is it?”

“The malevolence! It’s rising again! But this time it’s massive! Something grave is about to happen!”

“Eh?” Naomi blinked, bewildered, as Eiji suddenly bolted down the road like a shot from a gun.

“Point me to it! Now!”

Was it Takenaka again? A Specter attack in broad daylight? That should have been impossible. Kicking off the ground, Eiji followed his shikigami’s lead. Seconds later, he saw her.

Honoka Takenaka was standing at a crosswalk, the sole pedestrian waiting for the light.

Tch!

Eiji pushed his legs even harder. He saw the trajectory before it happened. As the light turned green and Honoka stepped onto the asphalt, a red sports car came screaming down the road, defying every law of speed and logic. The driver wasn't even touching the brakes.

Time seemed to freeze. Honoka’s foot touched the road; the car edged closer. She was a second away from being pulverized.

She would have been, if not for Eiji.

With a massive leap, Eiji tackled Honoka across the street. They went flying, clearing the car’s path just as it roared past, a blur of red metal and screaming tires.

“AH!” Honoka winced as they hit the ground with a heavy thud.

“Phew…” Eiji sat up, exhaling in relief as he watched the car disappear into the distance.

Honoka remained paralyzed on the pavement. She looked at the road, then the car, then back at Eiji. Her pupils were the size of pinpricks.

“H-How did you…?” she whispered, her gaze locked on his.

“Senpaiiiii!!!”

Naomi came rushing down the street, her voice echoing off the buildings. Eiji ignored her. He turned to Honoka, his face hard with a mixture of seriousness and urgency.

“I’m an exorcist,” he said, his voice dropping low. “And you’re coming with me.”