Chapter 71: Fated Burn (27)

So are you going to open the door or... Tsujin trailed off as she wondered what was the holdup with Rea.

Rea and Tsujin stood in front of the door to their house on the second floor of a two-floor Japanese apartment. If Rea were to give a brief description, she would immediately call it a dump that can barely be called a habitable living place...but also one where she begrudgingly ended up growing attached to it after years of living in it.

Yeah, yeah, just... Rea sighed. Give me a second.

Rea breathed in and out to ready herself for the inevitable scolding she would receive from her aunt. Ok, let's do this!

"I'm here with the groceries, open the door!" Rea waited for a full minute before she remembered. "Please." Rea breathed through her teeth and rolled her eyes as she muttered that.

When those words got out of Rea's mouth, the door to her house opened halfway and revealed Rea's aunt, Manabu Kibishi, dressed in a cheap shirt and shorts, contrasting her professional look when teaching. Manabu welcomed Rea with an unamused look. "You're late." The person who was both her aunt and teacher stated unsurprised.

Rea sighed, knowing that her day wasn't getting any better."Yeah, I know."

"Care to share why?" Manabu raised an inquisitive eyebrow at her niece.

Rea tsked as she looked away from her aunt."A student of yours. I think her was Nakagawa Nozomi? She's the reason I ended up late."

Manabu stared at Rea for a few seconds before the former looked down at the plastic bag of groceries. With a tired sigh, Manabu opened the door fully so Rea could step inside before closing the door behind the delinquent. "Come on, if we're going to eat today, we're gonna have to prepare it now," Manabu said before turning her back to Rea and going straight to the kitchen.

Uh...that went better than expected. Did her mood get better? Commented Tsujin as she carefully moved her hands from her ears.

The delinquent raised her hand for Tsujin to wait. Hold on...

"Oh, I almost forgot, you're doing ALL the dishes for coming home so late! And I want them sparkling clean, are we clear?" Manabu asked Rea from the kitchen, out of view from the delinquent.

And there it is... Rea mentally sighed before replying."Sure, whatever."

Tsujin groaned. Urgh...all of the dishes? That's going to take forever! Tsujin complained.

I don't know why you're complaining, I mean, I'll be the one doing all the dishes. Rea pointed out as she made her way to the kitchen.

Tsujin's eyes widen in realization. Oh, yeah, I almost forgot...wow, it's a good thing I'm here and you're there, ah ah!

Rea directed a scowl at Tsujin, almost succumbing to the temptation of punching the ghostly individual, even if she knew such action would be in vain.

Is it though? Because the way I see it, wouldn't that mean you also would never get a taste of food again? Rea mentally spat back, soon growing a satisfied smirk when Tsujin hung her mouth open in shocked realization.

Nooo... Tsujin bemoaned with a sad expression.

Their banter was cut short when they entered the kitchen and laid eyes on the giant hole in one of its walls that had been covered mostly with duct tape. Said hole was caused early today by the accidental fight between Rea and Manabu when the former had enough of Tsujin and tried to punch her and hit her aunt instead, escalating into a full-on brawl that ended up with both crashing through the wall and landing outside on top of a bush.

Although Rea would be lying if she said the fight hadn't been fun...the scolding she received from her aunt for the rest of the day didn't make it worth it.

Oh, yeah...almost forgot about that. Rea remembered as she frowned at the giant hole she and her aunt made.

Do...you think she's still mad about it? Tsujin nervously asked her other self.

...There's only one way to find out. Rea simply replied to Tsujin before she went to help her aunt Manabu with dinner.

All things considered, Rea found dinner to not be half-bad, it might not have made up for the day that she had in her opinion, but still was good enough for her mood to improve.

"So...thoughts on your new school?" Manabu asked before occupying her mouth with the food in her bowl.

Rea was tempted to answer, You tell me, you've been keeping an eye on me almost everywhere I go! But she swallowed her food and replied with a boring, but harmless answer instead: "It's fine, I guess."

Manabu slowly nodded. "I see...did you make any friends?"

Rea was about to say no when an idea struck her. The delinquent almost lost control of the smirk that threatened to grow on her face as she felt THOSE names could make her life easier if Manabu's reaction to it told Rea anything."I guess I did...you know that chick, Nakagawa Nozomi? Yeah, I guess I'm friends with her now."

Manabu frowned in suspicion at Rea's words."You ARE friends with her, right? Like, ACTUAL friends?"

Rea blinked a few times before tilting her head at Manabu, wondering if she had made a mistake. "Yes? Are there any other kinds of friends I'm unaware of?"

Manabu's frown deepened."What's her other friend's name?"

"Kettei Yoshino?" Rea guessed as it was the only option she thought was possible. "What's this all about?"

"No reason." Manabu brushed off Rea's question before focusing her attention on the rest of the food on her plate, ending the conversation there.

"...Ok then." Rea wasn't sure if what just happened was something good or bad...but she soon decided that it was future Rea's problem before turning her attention to the delicious meal in front of her. Said meal became tastier when the delinquent noticed Tsujin staring at her with gluttonous eyes, clearly wishing to at least have a taste of it if Rea had to assume by the tiny drool leaking out from their mouth.

After aunt and niece finished their meals, the former turned to Rea when they were about to leave the kitchen."Remember, sparkly clean." Soon after Manabu left, Rea heard the voices of strangers speaking from the living room, probably from the TV.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Rea waved her aunt's concerns off before cleaning up the dishes in the sink.

"Ok, this one first..." She muttered before grabbing the first plate to clean and...

CRACK

Rea and Tsujin's eyes threatened to pop out of their eye sockets in shock at the shards of the plate she had just broken after applying the smallest pressure on them.

W-why did you do that? Tsujin muttered in horror.

Shit! Rea mentally cursed while gritting through her teeth. Although the delinquent was aware of her strength compared to the average person, she had long since learned how to control her strength with only brief instances where her control faltered...this was different.

WHY DID YOU DO THAT!? WE ARE SO DEAD! AHHHH! Tsujin screamed in distress, raising both hands to her face.

SHUT THE FUCK UP! As if I would do this on purpose! Shit, ok, uh, let's see... Rea carefully, restraining as much strength as she could, picked up each one of the shards of broken with two of her fingers and threw them in the garbage can where they would be lost among the food waste and never be found, or at least, the delinquent hoped that would be the case.

After Rea threw the last shard in the garbage can she took a deep breath. Ok, apparently, it seems I've gotten stronger...somehow.

I...suppose that answers how we jumped higher than normal. Tsujin, now slightly calmer, pointed out how to save time, Rea had forgone the stairs and tried to immediately go from the first floor to the second in one swift jump. But instead of the second floor, she went high enough to reach a non-existent third floor.

At the time, Rea hadn't paid much mind since there were more urgent things on her mind.

Oh yeah, I kind of forgot about that... Rea slowly nodded in realization.

Wait, I just realized...won't she notice how there's one less plate on the dish rack? Tsujin asked concerned.

Rea looked around the kitchen for a solution until her eyes landed on the dish cabinet. Hmm...I think I have an idea.

After Rea replaced the broken plate with one that wasn't broken from the dish cabinet, she pretended to clean the already cleaned plate before putting them to dry on the dish rack. Alright, that should do it, now... The delinquent's eyes trailed off to the rest of the dishes she still needed to clean. We just need to carefully not break anymore of them. Rea sighed, tired from just imagining how long it would take while carefully making sure not to break anything else with her newfound strength.

Rea would have LOTS of choice-y words for the only ones who could be responsible for this tomorrow.