Mio's Dawn

Itsuki wandered off in search for Kanade, which is not really Keita's concern. The one Keita wants to look for is Mio, who said that they were friends back then. He felt guilty for just forgetting everything, at least checking up on her is fine, Keita thought.

"Senpai, are you in here?" Keita knocked the art room's door. No response. Keita then left and checked on class 2-B.

"Excuse me, is Shiroyuki-senpai here?" Keita asked.

"Ah, is she not in the art room? She's always in there during lunch break. Maybe she went elsewhere?" A student replied.

"Thank you, I'll take my leave then." Keita excused himself in search for Mio. He checked on the art room again, sliding the door open after a few knocks. Unsurprisingly, the door is not locked.

"Hyaah!" Mio shrieked.

"Senpai, what are you doing here... What are you doing?!" Keita shouted as he noticed Mio is holding a razor blade.

"Don't come close to me!" Mio said.

"Alright, I'll leave." Keita said as he slowly move backwards.

"No, don't leave!" Mio threatened. It took a while for the blood bleeding out from her wrist to be visible to Keita, who is on the other side of the room.

"Senpai! What is the meaning of this?!" Keita asked.

"It's all my fault!" Mio said. Keita, who understood the atmosphere, closed and locked the door.

"What are you doing?!" Mio asked.

"I don't think you want other students to know about this. So I locked the door." Keita said. His relaxed from the tensed stance when Mio suddenly surprises him with a razor blade. Keita is surprisingly calm and started walking towards Mio.

"What are you doing? Stay away!" Mio threatened. For some reason, Keita knows that Mio wouldn't do anything to him. He single-handedly snatched the razor blade and grabbed her bleeding hand.

"Ouch! That hurts! Let me go!" Mio shouted.

"It's just a matter of time when this little wound will cost you your life." Keita said solemnly. Mio relaxed and allowed Keita to stop her bleeding.

"So it's not your first time doing this. Did you lost your mind? You're a painter aren't you? What will Kana-nee feel if you just give up your life like that?" Keita asked.

"No...! It's all my fault!" Mio cried. Keita sighed and put her in his arms. His hand touches her short hair and rests her head on his chest.

"...!!!" Mio twitched, her petite body is unable to resist Keita's bold move... Or is that she never bothered to try?

"I'm not sure what happened, but not everything is your fault. To hurt yourself like this, I believe it must be very tough." Keita said. The two of them sat on the floor for a while.

"I can't paint anymore." Mio said. This surprised Keita, as he thought she was very devoted to painting that the art room is like the only place she can be found throughout the school.

"Impossible, what could you have been doing in this room if you cannot paint?" Keita asked. He saw a canvas covered by a cloth at a corner of the room, which happens to have a stool next to it.

"Is that yours?" Keita pointed to the canvas, which Mio reluctantly gave a nod.

"May I have a look?" Keita asked.

"I don't mind..." Mio said. She proceeds to reveal the painting she's working on. It's pitch black, along with some colours that lacks saturation. They all formed a gloomy dark colour on the canvas, there is nothing other than the scribbles formed by a paintbrush using the aforementioned colours.

"It looks gloomy. Is that how you feel all the time up to now?" Keita said. Mio looked at Keita, surprised as her eyes were wide open. Tears started flowing down her cheeks.

"I did it...?" Mio uttered as she began wiping her tears with her sleeves.

"You did what?" Keita asked curiously.

"You understood the message I wanted to deliver through my paintings... I did it...!" Mio said. She was always wanting to do this since she was encouraged by her friend years ago. To think that the friend who haven't been able to tell anything from the paintings she showed him suddenly understood her painting, she is happy.

"Kei-kun finally understood my painting... I'm so happy..." Mio uttered.

"Glad I helped." Keita sighed and caressed Mio's head. The bell rang, which indicates the end of lunch break.

"I will see you again, please refrain from doing that kind of thing again. Please." Keita said as he left the room. Mio nodded and smiled back.

"I think I will paint a new one." Mio said as she removed the canvas from the easel and sets up an empty canvas. It's a mystery, but Mio suddenly found the reason to paint again. She skipped class the entire day to sketch her painting. It's no longer gloomy and redundant, instead every stroke is done gleefully.

Keita walks back to his class with his heart beating like crazy.

"I could've died right there!" Keita thought as he walks back to class. Maybe that is what he felt, but being that intimate and close with a girl like that is somehow the cause instead.

Keita gulped down half of his bottle of water as he got back to class.

"So how did it went?" Itsuki asked.

"... Did you heard everything?" Keita asked.

"Yeah, I was gonna barge in and prevent a murder scene, but you locked the damn door. So I assume that you'll be fine." Itsuki said.

"Wow, if I ever die in there, I'll haunt you first." Keita said.

"Ahaha... I know a very famous exorcist in Hoshido, I'll ask him to send you to the underworld ahaha..." Itsuki said.

"Kurosaki Junichirou huh?" Keita asked.

"You do know a lot of stuff huh?" Itsuki said. The fact that exorcists were supposed to vanish from history long time ago, an exorcist appeared and solved a lot of odd cases in Hoshido that even the police force are unable to tackle. His name was Kurosaki Junichirou, he is also a detective in his younger days. He is said to have been retired for some years now.

"My heart is beating like crazy from all that shock. I'll need some proper rest else my heart couldn't take it anymore." Keita said as he rests his head on his desk.

"Don't tell me..." Itsuki thought to himself.