Betrayal in motion

A surge of energy rushed through Kaito; he was close now, he could feel it. An idiot they called him; they laughed, well, he’d be the one laughing soon enough. After all, he’d witnessed her transformation with his own eyes; now all he had to do was get it on tape. Kaito never went unprepared, his plan was going to be watertight. He combed through all the material he could find: forums, blog posts, videos, anything and everything related to the occult and the supernatural. What was she? He had a few guesses, was she a demon? Cursed? Perhaps even possessed? So called “experts” on online forums dismissed his findings, too narrow minded to recognise his revelations as true. Yet here he was, not only had he recognised Haruka as what she really was, she’d even referred to him as a friend. He felt like he was on the front lines of unexplored territory. Like any great scientist and pioneer, he’d have to conduct his own research.

He set about making a lunchbox of his own for her: yes, the plan was brilliant. He hid large flakes of salt inside a seemingly innocuous sandwich, cramming whole bulbs of garlic into its filling. Kaito sliced it, saving half for himself; since of course every great experiment needs a control group. He drew the evil eye on a napkin and placed it into the bento box intended for Haruka. He even filled up a bottle with holy water he made using an online tutorial. He let out a laugh, impressed with his own genius. When he convinced her to eat it in public, she wouldn’t be able to hold in her transformation; he’d have a whole room full of eyewitnesses willing to back him up.

                                                                        ***

It was lunchtime; a week had passed since Kaito and Haruka had begun eating lunch together. Kaito wasn’t much of a conversationalist, but today he was more nervous than usual as the pair sat down. 

“Hey Haruka. Thanks for sharing your lunch a little while back.”

“Oh, that’s no problem my adherent,” Haruka began “You know I don’t like anything too salty, you were doing me a favor, really.” Damn, Kaito thought, he’d completely forgotten she didn’t like savory things.

“Well anyway, to uh thank you for it, I made you a little lunch today.”

“A tribute you say? Never before has sustenance been offered unto me by a mortal, a morsel of kindness amidst the tempest of mundane existence!”

Haruka set aside her own lunch and opened the lunchbox; inside was a sandwich, ham and some sausages Kaito had attempted to cut into octopus shapes, with most of their limbs having fallen off in the process.

“I love the doodle you did on the napkins, I can almost feel its arcane energy!”

Damn, looks like protective wards have no impact on her Kaito thought, Haruka took a bite of the sandwich and winced. Kaito watched intently, hoping some kind of reaction was about to start. Instead, his subject put down the sandwich and started on the sausages. Somewhat disappointed, he started on his own lunchbox. The combination of salt and garlic in the sandwich made him gag when he bit down into it.

“Looks like the garlic was a bit much for you too,” Haruka said, failing to hold back a chuckle. “Is this your first time cooking something? I shall instruct you sometime. Anyway, you know-” Kaito zoned out, Haruka had a habit of going on too much once she started talking he thought. He had brought a small mirror and peered through it as she was talking, he could still see her reflection looking right back at him.

“Worm!” Haruka exclaimed. “Are you even listening to me?!”

“Er, um yeah.” Kaito replied sheepishly.

“I know you weren’t. URGH, sometimes I feel you never really listen to anything I’m saying.”

“Well sure, I’d love to learn to cook.” Kaito said fiddling with his glasses, trying to salvage the situation.

“That’s not even what I was talking about! The sports festival is in a few days and I’m in the track team. Did you at least get that part?!” Haruka replied in annoyance, a shadow falling over her features as her expression darkened.

“Yes! of course!” Kaito said, trying to force a smile as he lied.

“Don’t lie to me!” Haruka yelled, Her eyes pierced into Kaito as she glared at him, her irises had turned into swirling pools of abyssal darkness, her features had contorted, horns curling and wings raising. Kaito panicked, startled by her sudden transformation, he braced himself, shielding her from view with his arms.

Kaito sat in place, unsure what to do, should he go after her? Was it even safe for him to do so? Not only had he gathered no useful information other than what doesn’t work, he’d upset a friend. She was upset, that must have been it! He thought, taking out a notebook to scribble down his observations whilst attempting to stomach the rest of his lunch. It looks like it was back to the drawing board for him.

   ***

The day of the school's sports festival had arrived. Kaito would usually be indifferent to this- it would mean a day with no afternoon classes, but he would be sat around doing nothing. But this year was different; he wasn't competing, but Haruka was. Kaito had convinced Sports Reporter to lend him one of the school papers cameras for the day, making him swear he wouldn't do anything "weird" with it. He went round the events, taking photos of unimportant people competing in unimportant races, long Jumpers jumped, discus throwers threw, gymnasts - did whatever it was they did. People were coming up and posing, often with friends. Kaito was having to talk to more students in a day than he probably had in the rest of the year combined. They soon left as soon as he took a shot.

"My nemesis! You dare encapsulate mortals whilst the harbinger of doom stands behind you!"

Kaito turned around to see who could only have been Haruka, dressed in her sports uniform.

"Oh hey Haruka, are you ready for your relay race?" Kaito asked, taking photographs of her, making a point of getting multiple closeups of her horns and wings.

"It wouldn't be right to not give a henchman of mine the chance to wish me well before I start."

"Well good luck then, I'm sure you'll be running rings around them." 

"Of course, such things are barely an issue for a supreme being such as myself, our victory is already assured." Haruka put her hands on her hips and let out a laugh. 

Kaito made his way to the starting line, luckily for him Haruka was running second to last, giving him an excuse to take plenty of photos from not too far away.

The shot rang out from the starting pistol. Kaito zoomed in on the teams, taking photos as he had been instructed. Haruka’s team were doing well; by the time it was her turn to run, they were ahead of the other teams. Haruka started out strong, maintaining the team’s lead. She ran in quick yet somewhat awkward strides, her tail flipping around in every direction, and wings bobbing up and down with each step forward. She was almost to her finishing point, her next teammate extending their arm in anticipation, When Haruka fell, tripping on her own tail. Kaito could hear her cry as she fell to the ground, and the exasperated yell of her teammate as she eased herself back up. Haruka ran the final stretch to her teammate, but it was almost too late; the fall had cost them their lead. The final runner sprinted down the track, trying to regain the lead. Kaito snapped the winner as they passed the finish line. Haruka’s team came third. She looked dejected as she walked her way back. Kaito tried to figure out what he could say to make her feel better, his brain drawing a blank. Yet before he could open his mouth, Haruka’s teammate stormed up to her.

“What the hell was that?!” She began.

“I was running fine, I tripped, and that was outside of my control mortal.” Haruka replied, her eyes welling up as they darkened.

“Well, maybe you wouldn’t have if you weren’t so insistent on wearing your cosplay for literally anything freak.”

“It’s not cosplay!” Haruka yelled, Fangs now protruded from her mouth, gleaming with otherworldly luminescence. Spikes erupted from her spine, tearing holes in her sports kit. Her eyes burned with an infernal light as her shadow expanded. The runner took a step back, alarmed by their teammate’s sudden change. People were looking now, standing and staring as Haruka’s wings unfolded and horns lengthened and curled outwards. Kaito wasted no time in filming the transformation, taking in every feature, running to get shots from different angles, briefly zooming in on bystanders to add to believability later. 

Haruka came to her senses, realizing that she was being filmed. She began sobbing, burying her head in her hands “Kaito, what are you doing! Don’t just stand there and film!” she ran off towards the sports hall, Kaito’s camera following her escape.

Kaito had done it. A sense of accomplishment rushed over him. He had done what people said was impossible. He had video evidence of the demon girl’s transformation, eyewitnesses too. No one would ever doubt him again after this.

Yet his victory felt bittersweet. As Haruka ran off, her sobs echoing in Kaito's ears, he stood there, camera in hand, watching her retreat. Guilt washed over him like a tidal wave, threatening to pull him under. What had he done? He had betrayed her trust, exploited her vulnerability for his own gain. How could he have been so blind, so selfish?

He followed her to the sports hall. She still hadn’t returned to her normal form, despite their darkness, it was still obvious from her eyes that she’d been crying. She looked at him with a mixture of anger and hurt, betrayal written across her face.

"Why did you do it, Kaito?" she demanded, her voice trembling with emotion. "Why did you stand there and film me like some kind of freak show?"

Kaito looked up at her, his heart heavy with regret. "I'm sorry, Haruka," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "No one believes me when I tell them what you are, I just want proof, I want people to stop acting like I’m weird and crazy. I never meant to hurt you, Haruka. I never meant for any of this to happen."

Haruka stared at him for a long moment, her anger slowly giving way to sadness. "You don't get it, do you, Kaito?" she said, her voice barely a whisper. "You don't get what it's like to actually be different, to know you can’t do anything about it."

Kaito felt a lump form in his throat, a knot of guilt and shame. "I'm sorry, Haruka," he repeated, his voice breaking. "I'm sorry."