Chapter XXVIII.

In the morning…

I looked athwart of the street, searching for Shunsui with the eyes.

It was strange that he had not arrived yet. The bell was about to ring. 

'Hime!' I heard Natsui call, suddenly, and looking back on my left, I saw the ginger-haired girl arriving.

'Are you waiting for the boys?' she asked, as she half-ran to meet up with me, where I was standing in front of the gate of the school.

'Gōjun will be absent today. Shunsui hasn't arrived yet.'

'Maybe he has arrived earlier today, and he's already in class. We should go upstairs to check.'

'Yes, you're right,' I replied. It hasn't been a long time since I had arrived. Perhaps, I missed the reddish-brown-haired young man's arrival.

We headed for the building of the school together and after having changed our shoes in the genkan, we moved upstairs to join our classroom. But, when we entered it, it was only to see that Shunsui was not there; his seat was empty.

Did he get late today? I wondered. 

The bell was ringing now, announcing the start of classes.

Just at that moment, I received a text message on my cellphone and saw that it was from Shunsui. I opened it immediately. It said that he was not feeling too well today and would not be coming to school.

He's not feeling well?!

I became alarmed.

I should go to see him immediately!

As I turned around in the doorway, thinking about bunking school, abruptly, I came face to face with the director.

'Young girl, may I know where you were thinking to run like this?' he demanded, and I flinched.

'No-Nowhere!' I stammered, breaking into cold sweat.

'Well then, you'd better get to your seat!' he stated. 'Your teacher shall be here soon!'

I bobbed my head up and down, and turned around mechanically, preparing to make a run for my seat.

'Kirigakure-kun…' he said, unexpectedly, and I looked around slowly, nervously. 'I'll be keeping an eye on you!' he warned me, and all color drained out of my face.

It's all Shunsui and Gōjun's fault!

I rushed to my seat without losing another second after that, while Natsui- who had witnessed the whole scene- smiled awkwardly, moving to join her seat too.

I guessed that I had no other choice now, but to wait for the end of classes to visit Shunsui. I felt so worried about him and hoped that he'd be fine again very quickly.

Our teacher arrived by the next minute and we all got to our feet to greet her. 

'You may sit down,' she told us.

And, we did. 

'I have an announcement to make to you!' she declared, and her eyes shifted in direction of the door, for her to call out, 'You may come in!'

At this, entered a young man whom none of us had ever seen at school before, but, whom neither Natsui nor I failed to recognize. It was the same blond young man of the other day in the metro who had defended Natsui from the old pervert!

The ginger-haired girl and I looked at each other in surprise. The young man seemed to recognize us too, his eyes widening a little at us.

'This is new student: Yūsei Nishoji,' our teacher announced. 'He has joined our school only today, and will be your classmate from now on. Treat him well!' 

She indicated the young to an empty seat in the front, and the latter headed for it, taking his earphones off as he sat himself down.

Natsui and I exchanged another look with each other.

Oya! Oya! Who could have imagined that Natsui would meet her savior again?!

I smiled.

The day seemed to go by slowly, but it was especially during lunchtime that I felt Shunsui and Gōjun's absence the most on that day.

It's strange, I said to myself, while I was sitting at our usual spot, eating all alone. At first, when Shunsui and Gōjun had started to sit with me at lunch, I would find it a bit awkward. But today, when they were not here, I felt like that there was something terribly missing. I had not even realized when I had grown so much accustomed to their company. I understood, at that moment, what was that something that I had always found quite not right all these years- it was exactly this lack of company, the gaiety of sharing one's lunch with others.

On her side, Natsui never took her lunch with us. The ginger-haired girl had too many part-time jobs to have the time to do her homeworks outside school, and therefore, every day, during lunchtime, she would find herself a quiet corner to eat while she would work on them, and I decided not to bother her.

When Osoji time arrived, the boys' absence could be felt anew. Shunsui and Gōjun would always kick it during Osoji and would climb onto the roof to smoke a cigarette, and I, I would be given the near-impossible task to go fetch for them and drag them back, by our fellow classmates, who would be terribly unnerved by their antics. 

It was only after I had sighed many sighs that the final bell rang at last. I didn't lose a minute to get out of my seat and rush out of the door to head directly for Shunsui's house to see him.

***

Meanwhile…

'Oi, what's going on with Kirigakure?!' uttered Kōsuke Kimizuka.

Yūsei Nishoji, just like his new friend, followed the dark-haired girl with the eyes, equally puzzled. The latter had bustled them as she had dashed past them in the doorway and was now running down the school corridor like there was a fire.

'Anyway,' the young man Kimizuka carried on to say, as they continued to walk, 'I was telling you that… Since you've joined school a bit late, there's some catching up you will need to do! How are you going to manage?'

'Ano… Excuse me...' a small, feminine voice came, suddenly, from behind them in the corridor, and the two males turned around to look at the ginger-haired girl who had approached them. 

The blond young man recognized the latter without any difficulty.

'Hello,' he said, 'your name is Natsui Mizoroge, right?'

The ginger-haired girl nodded once, while she kept her eyes lowered, squirming a little. 

'I'm sorry that I didn't come to speak to you earlier. I wanted to, but there were so many people around you,' she told him, timidly. 'I wanted to thank you for having come to my rescue the other day in the metro.'

And on these words, she bowed down respectfully, saying thank you.

'It's okay. It was nothing,' the blond young man replied, and she looked up at his face instantly, straightening up.

'No. It was not nothing!' she asserted, before telling him, 'I wish to thank you properly. I've overheard your conversation just now. I know that you're late on your studies. If you want, I could give you tutorials for a few days to cover all the lessons that we have learnt during these past two weeks. It'll be my way of showing you my gratitude. Please do not say no.'

He stared at her thoughtfully for a minute.

He didn't have the impression of having done anything special towards her. But…

'It's true that it'll be extremely helpful if you could do that,' he said, smilingly.

Her eyes widened at him a little. She guessed that this meant a yes, and she smiled back at him, joyously.

'Well then, see you as from tomorrow itself at the local public park! It's always very quiet in the morning; it's the ideal place to sit and study!'

She informed him of the time she would come, and exchanged her phone number with him, in case he couldn't make it for whatever reason, after which, the ginger-haired girl parted with the blond young man and his new friend.

'Well, that's very kind of her, man!' Kōsuke Kimizuka exclaimed, while Yūsei Nishoji stared after the ginger-haired girl's retreating figure. 'That how Mizoroge is!'

The blond young man looked back at the other male, and the two resumed their walk.

'You seem to know a lot about her...'

'Oh, not that much! In fact, Mizoroge is a scholarship student. And so, is the dark-haired girl who had bustled us earlier. There were a lot of problems at first with the scholarship students and so… Anyway, it was really something, I tell you man! And you see, Mizoroge is friends with that girl I was telling you about- Hime Kirigakure. And Kirigakure, she is, in turn, friends with Shunsui Shigeizumi and Gōjun Shoran, the two big guns of our school. Though, I don't know if I really can call them as her friends. In my opinion, Shunsui, Gōjun and Kirigakure are in a threesome together!'

The blond young man made a small cringe away at the last part, his face flushing tomato red. But then, he shook his head at the brown-haired young man, his expression becoming cynical. 

He had noticed that the latter seemed to have a very broad imagination, which had a tendency to end up in wild, improbable conclusions that always seemed to contain a perverse element. 

'What?!' Kimizuka demanded, cringing away too.

The blond young man continued to shake his head at him, replying, 'Nothing!'

***

'Eh? That's very interesting!' Hiyori Miyatsu said to herself. 

The minute she had seen the ginger-haired girl approach the new student, she had backed up against a wall in the corridor to eavesdrop on their conversation.

She grinned maliciously as all kind of plots came to her mind, and on these prospects, she walked off, thrilled.

***

When I arrived at Shunsui's house, I found him resting on the sofa in the living room, with a thin quilt pulled up to his waist.

'Ah, Hime, you're here!' he said, his voice sounding faint, as he looked up from the magazine in his lap.

'Shunsui, how are you feeling?' I inquired, worriedly.

'I'm fine. It's just a small fever. I should be back to feet in no time,' he replied, smilingly, and holding his belly with his hand, he whined, 'Ah, I'm more than famished! Will you prepare me something nice to eat? As well as something sweet? I have been dying to eat something sweet since this morning!'

I smiled back, feeling a bit reassured. 

'I'll do that right away!' I told him, with a smile, and without losing a second, I rushed for the kitchen to get to the stove. 

I was in the midst of cooking when, abruptly, Shunsui's voice came, asking, in a strained tone, 'Hime, can I get a glass of water, please?'

Instantly, I turned around to look at him where he had appeared in the doorway of the kitchen, and I was deeply worried by the look on his face, as well as the posture he had taken. 

His expression didn't look good, and he was leaning against the door-frame to hold himself up. Very urgently, I turned off the stove, and picked up a glass to bring it under the tap. Just as I was turning around very swiftly to rush to his side, in all of a sudden, the reddish-brown-haired young man fell onto his knees on the ground.

My heart shook.

'Shunsui!' I cried, and setting the glass of water onto the table, I ran up to him and got down on the floor to hold him up before he would fall all the way to the ground. His breathing was coming out into pants, and he was perspiring a lot. Immediately, I pressed my palm over his forehead to check his temperature, and my heart skipped a beat. He was boiling! He was having very high fever!

Sending his arm around my neck and holding it firmly into place, I sent my own arm around his waist and pulled him to his feet. He was very heavy. Even if he was not as huge as Gōjun, he was no less than a giant himself, especially to someone of my size. His eyes were half closed and he could barely walk. However, we managed to make it to his bedroom successfully, and I made him rest on his bed.

'I need to call a doctor!' I said, deeply alarmed, but he reached out and took my cellphone away from my hand. 

'No, don't!' he murmured. 'I should be fine very quickly!'

'Shunsui...' I whispered, watching him agitatedly. 'I'll call Tsubasa-sama, then!'

'No! I don't want to worry her!'

'But Shunsui-'

'Hime, please...' he said, giving me a begging look.

A lump formed in my throat.

Shunsui…

'I'm going to rest a bit,' he told me, closing his eyes. 

I stared at face for a whole minute, dead scared for his health, before I rushed to the kitchen and grabbed a bowl to fill it with water. I searched for a small towel after that, and brought everything back to his bedroom. 

Sitting myself down by his side on the edge of the bed, I plunged the towel into the bowl of water for a few seconds and after having squeezed it tightly until it was no longer dripping, I folded it up, to bring it over the reddish-brown-haired young man's forehead.

His eyes cracked slightly open.

'Hime… What are you doing?' he asked, his voice barely audible.

'Shh, it's alright,' I whispered, and slowly, his eyes drifted shut again.

***

Meanwhile, on the other side...

It had started to drizzle when, Yūsei Nishoji reached home.

'Tadaima!' he called from the genkan, and taking his shoes off, he entered the house, heading directly for the dining room to find Naoyasu Hanabusa. 

The latter was a man of average height, and of muscular corpulence, aged twenty-seven, with slightly tanned skin, and mid-back level, red hair, that he always kept tied in a low pony-tail. It was at the long, low table of the dining room that the older male would usually sit in his kimono to work on his laptop while he would sip his tea.

Just as Yūsei slid the door of the said-room open, suddenly, he jerked to a stop, his heart skipping a beat at the sight of the man who was sitting next to Naoyasu Hanabusa at the table.

The latter was a man of the same age as the red-haired male, though he was slenderer, and was a lot taller. His skin milky-white, and he wore spectacles. His short, blond hair was combed very neatly, and he was clothed in a tie and suit.

Yūsei had no doubt about the identity of this man. 

Even if it had been a little more than nine years since he had last seen the face of this man, he recognized him instantly. 

That man was none other than his older brother, Sōken Nishoji!

But why is he here?

Yūsei knew that his brother and Naoyasu Hanabusa- who was apparently an old family friend- had known each other very closely at university, and he knew that the red-haired man had kept contact with the other male even after they had completed their studies and Naoyasu had returned to the country.

Yūsei had always thought that he'd never see his older brother again in his life; he had never expected that he'd return to the country someday.

So, what is he doing here? What brings him back? Is he back for good?

His brain was working at a million miles per second now. Thousands of questions came to his mind, and they became mixed up with painful memories. His thoughts became confused. He couldn't think straight; his emotions in turmoil. 

Unconsciously, he had dropped his school bag to stare at the face of the two men. 

And then, his body reacted on its own. 

Even before he knew it, he had swung around and ran out of the door of the house, in the rain outside, and into the woods. 

***

The two men jerked to their feet, a bit startled.

'Yūsei' Naoyasu Hanabusa called out, and jumping to his feet, he was about to run after the teenaged young man when, suddenly, he was stopped by Sōken Nishoji. 

'No, wait!' the latter told him, and the red-haired man looked at his face, immediately, demanding, 'But why?' 

'He must be very shocked to see me. Give him some time to recover!'

Naoyasu stared at the blond male's face for a minute; he could read the angst in his eyes. 

Looking back towards the door then, he rubbed his palm over the back of his neck, deeply troubled. 

'I'm sorry. I wished he had reacted differently.'

'It's my fault!'

The red-haired male took a deep breath and sighed.

***

It was now pouring heavily.

But this did not stop Yūsei Nishoji. 

He ran with all his force, wounding his way immeasurably deeper into the woods until, at one point, he tripped over the visible root of a tree and fell. 

He winced as his chin hit the ground, but this was nothing compared to the state of his feelings. Pushing himself up on all fours, he stared at the moss-covered floor of the forest, panting hard, not so much from the run as from his suffocating memories afflicting him from all sides.

How could he forget that that man had abandoned the eight-year-old boy that he was nine years ago?! 

Even if Sōken Nishoji had always shown himself cold towards him, he had thought that he could count on him, but, Sōken, he, he left him, all alone, completely at the mercy of their family members, and not even caring that things would get far worse after that for the boy that he used to be.

Lifting one of his hands off the ground, he ran it over his forearm, pulling the sleeve of his jumper up to look at the scars that he had there. Despite the years that had gone by, they were still visible. They acted as a painful reminder of that terrible period of his life.

His jaws clenched with pain, and pressing his eyes shut, he held his face with his hand, trying to block out the memories, but to no avail.

***

An hour later…

'He must have gone upstairs in his room,' Naoyasu Hanabusa murmured, in a saddened tone, as he took a look over his shoulder towards the staircase.

He was standing in the genkan with Sōken Nishoji. The latter was preparing to leave.

'Are you sure you don't want to stay for dinner?' he asked the blond-haired male, when his eyes shifted back onto him. 'You could at least wait until the rain has ceased.'

'No,' Sōken replied, with a poor smile. 'Maybe some other day.' 

'Alright! See you later, then!'

Naoyasu watched him drive away until his car was completely out of sight, after which, he decided that it was probably time for him to go to the kitchen to prepare tonight's dinner. 

He had taken only a few steps in direction of the kitchen when, he paused down to look back into the direction of the staircase again. 

He wished so much that things could arrange themselves between the two brothers, for the sake of both. And, at this, he decided to go upstairs to check on Yūsei first before going to the kitchen to see how he was doing. 

'Yūsei? It's me,' he called from outside of the door of the teenager's bedroom, knocking once. 'I'm coming in!'

Reaching out for the door-knob, he turned it and opened the door slowly to peer his head inside, but it was only to find that the room was empty; the blond-haired teenager was nowhere to be seen. 

Instantly, Naoyasu became alarmed.

Where is he gone?! I thought that he was in his bedroom all this time!

The red-haired man descended the flight of stairs rapidly, his heart pounding in his chest. He was about to check into the bathroom when, he ran into Yahiko Saitama- his twelve-year-old cousin and other lodger- just outside the door of the bathroom. The latter had just finished taking a bath. 

Naoyasu stopped him immediately, to ask him, urgently, 'Yahiko! Have you seen Yūsei anywhere?!'

'I saw him run out of the house to enter the woods earlier,' the boy replied. 'But why? Isn't he back yet?!'

He went outside in this rain?! 

Naoyasu was fully alarmed now. 

'He must still be in the woods!'

Without losing a minute, he took out his cellphone and dialed Sōken's number. 

Since the latter was most definitely still driving home, he took some time to answer the call.

'Hello?'

'Sōken, we have a problem! Yūsei is not in his room! I really hope that he has not made a fugue!'

There was a small silence on the other side of the line, marking the instance of shock, before the blond-haired male recovered himself enough, to breathe, 'I'm coming back immediately!'

Hanging up, Naoyasu darted for the genkan. 

His young cousin followed after him, asking him, anxiously, 'But what is it? Did something happen?'

'I don't have the time to explain!' the red-haired man answered, grabbing an umbrella. 'If Yūsei happens to come back, call me on the spot! I'm going out to look for him!' 

Just as he had turned around and walked out of the house to onto the veranda, suddenly, Naoyasu caught sight of the teenaged, blond-haired, young man. The latter had appeared out of the woods into the yard. 

'Yūsei! Where were you gone?! I was coming to search for you!' the older male told him, in a dead worried tone, climbing down the few steps into the yard. 

The rain was calming down into a small drizzle now.

The blond teenager averted his eyes to ask him, in a murmur, 'Is he… Is he gone?'

Naoyasu held his breath for second or two, before he stated, stoically, 'Yūsei, I wish to warn you already! Sōken is an old friend and he'll come as frequently as he wants!'

I'm sorry, Yūsei, but if I want things to arrange themselves between the two of you, I'll have to go a little hard on you!

The blond young man's eyes widened at him, his expression a bit startled. 

Naoyasu decided to stand firm.

'I see...' Yūsei murmured, lowering his eyes, his tone afflicted. 'Just- Just give me- some time. Once I find another house, I'll- I'll shift out.'

And on these words, he half-ran past the red-haired male to enter the house. Naoyasu stood there, frozen, for a minute, his mind, as if, refusing to process the information. When it finally did, he exclaimed a big "What?!', and ran after Yūsei to catch up with him in the genkan.

'Wait up!' he exclaimed, his tone alert, and catching hold of the blond teenager's forearm, he yanked him to a stop. 'What are you talking about? You're not leaving this house!'

'Naoyasu, let go of me!' Yūsei told him, his breathing accelerating. He tried to break out of the older male's grip, but without success.

'No! We need to talk! But, first, we need to treat that injury at your face! You're coming with me! And, my god, Yūsei, you're soaking!'

'Naoyasu, let go of me, I tell you!' the teenaged young man shouted, and the older male gasped at the frantic look in the blond male's eyes.

He realized that his action has triggered traumatic memories of abuse in the teenager, and instantaneously, he released his arm. 

Yūsei, who had started to struggle more wildly, fell backward on the floor. 

Letting out another gasp, Naoyasu was about to reach out for him to help him up, but he managed to stop himself just in time; it was not wise to touch the young man again when he was in this state.

Yūsei stared at him for a minute, before his eyes shifted past the red-haired man's shoulder to look at the person who had appeared behind him, his breath catching a little. 

Naoyasu turned half-around to look at Sōken who had arrived and witnessed the whole scene. 

When he looked back around at Yūsei, it was only to see the blond teenager spring to his feet and ran upstairs to his room.

'Yūsei...' he murmured after him, before he turned around again, this time more slowly, to face Sōken Nishoji. 

The two men held each other's look for a minute, before they lowered their eyes onto the floor, their expression afflicted.

'Uh, can somebody explain to me what just happened?' said Yahiko Saitama, at that moment. 

The latter had been standing there all along.

'Yahiko, go to your room!' Naoyasu stated, firmly. 'And don't you bother Yūsei!' 

'Huh?' The boy gave him an incredulous look. 'I can't believe it! No one ever tells me anything about what's happening in this house! Well, whatever...' He shrugged. 'It's not my problem, anyway!'

Rolling his eyes and shaking his head, he made his way upstairs. 

Naoyasu and Sōken exchanged another look with each other, none of the two knowing what to say after this. 

Thank you for reading!