Bloodstained Memento (2)

"So... what's his name?"

Fuuka teases.

"Wha- who?"

Mizuki a bit cautious to answer, already suspicious of her mom's expression.

"Your boyfriend of course"

"Didn't he already told you his name? And it's not like that okay!!"

"I know~!! I just want to hear Mii chan say it~!"

A mischievous gaze shots out of the young mother's eye. Teasing her daughter's first experience.

"He's just a classmate who walks home the same way, okay! We just got out at the same time..."

"That's no good Mii chan, love is a girl's battlefield. If you leave him hanging for too long, he might start looking at another girl"

"That's..."

Paused on her response, she recalls Daisuke's interaction with Kirei before. Feeling a bit threatened but refusing to acknowledge it.

"That's none of my business! That guy can do what he like I suppose!"

She starts furiously munching on her dinner, biting aggressively like a lioness shredding it's hunt. She tries to sound indifferent but her eyebrows form valleys and hills, seriously worrying about it.

"Hmmmmmm? Ok-kay... a good answer, I can accept that. Still, at the same time?"

"Like I told you it's not like that!! Stop reading too much into it!"

Flailing her arm in the air trying to swipe away her mom's suspicion. Mizuki is desperate to stop the conversation.

"Hahaha... okay okay, I won't ask any further. By the way, what did Dad sent you?"

Finally having enough fun teasing her daughter, Fuuka changes the topic.

"Oh that! wait I brought it down with me just now-"

She reaches to the empty seat next to her. What would normally be her father's spot now helps to seat the parcel she fetched earlier from the station. She hurriedly disrobe the package and takes out what seems like a jurassic fossil, a sharp protruding bone almost like a giant teeth. Despite how mysterious the object looks, the young girl on the other hand is nothing short of enthusiastic, brimming as she raise the fossil to show it to her mother.

"Look at this! What do you think it is, Mom?"

An almost rhetorical question because she's waiting for a chance to explain it herself.

"Let me see... looks like an animal teeth. Oh no, this must be a dino-shark teeth!"

A wild guess, just to have fun with Mizuki's trivia session.

"Boop boop! 0 points! This right here, is actually a claw."

"Ooh, my second guess would be a bird's claw. But then it must be a very big dino bird"

Fuuka defends her answer.

"Hehe you're close. It does resembles more like a talon. But this is actually mammalian, more specifically a flying mammalian. More accurately a bat! Raahh!"

She mimics a dracula with her finger. Getting a good chuckle out of her mom.

Then she continues to explain the exquisite detail and minute differences between a talon and a bats claw and what she theorizes on the unusual size. Easily gets absorbed in her own theory and imagination that she most likely forget she's talking to her mom. Instead, it's almost like she's presenting her newest finding to a large audience.

Fuuka just stood there in silence, entertained by her daughter's passion. Even if half the things that come out of Mizuki's mouth is completely alien to her, it's always enjoyable for her to observe Mizuki being excited about something and talking way too much about it.

Before Mizuki departs for school the next day, Fuuka stands by the door to send her off.

"I'll come straight home after club activities so don't start without me okay?"

"Oh? Is that boy also in that same club?"

"Like I told you it's not like that!"

Mizuki hides her face away while denying.

"So he is then, have fun!"

She grins teasing the young maiden's shy response.

Seeing the familiar front lawn where she spots Mizuki with the boy yesterday reminds her of something notable he did at the time. She recalls Daisuke reacting to her worried face yesterday.

"Mii chan, he's a good kid..."

A send-off message framed by a warm smile as she waves goodbye, not a hint of teasing but in the manner of an advice.

"I-I get it already, Mom... Then, I'll be going"

During recess at school, Mizuki escapes her usual lunch spot in the class so she can avoid seeing Daisuke during school period.

She recalls herself getting worked out about an earlier scene where a female classmate calls out to Daisuke to help with carrying some papers from the teacher's office.

Which immediately that is when she decided to left the class and have her lunch elsewhere.

"Hmph! That doesn't bother me at all! I just need a quiet place to eat today!"

She speaks out loud convincing not a single soul in this abandoned lunch spot of hers. She's the only person in this old rarely used building, a forgotten monument of the school's first erected building. At least during recess as even the students who have classes in here goes to the next building for the cafeteria.

A bit bothered by what Fuuka told her yesterday. Even just imagining the scenery of Daisuke getting all chummy with another girl from her class today is getting her all irritated.

Angrily finishing off her lunch bread and rushingly getting herself off the ground. To which she accidentally scared a few small critters scouring about a few meters further from her spot. Originally attracted by the smell of her lunch, her sudden big movements scared them back into the bushes not far behind the building.

"Th-this place really gives me the creeps during recess... maybe this was a bit too much.."

As she's trying to clear her mind off of that,

'this tune... do I know this song?'

A very faint melody registers in her ear but it's so further away that it's unclear what kind of instrument is playing it. Strangely so, almost drawn to it despite the eerily quiet atmosphere.

At first she just ignores it

'probably the broadcast club...'

Though after turning quite a few turns and unknowingly reaching closer to it. Evident from the slight imperfections in it, it's definitely a human's whistling and not something from a radio. It gets louder and louder as she's walking but even after looking around there's not a single soul nearby to be the source. That is until the final turn at the end of the old building's first floor.

Presented before her is a girl on her knee, both arms resting on the floor. But her head, locked in place, not visible from where she's looking from. Blocked, specifically by the wall. Her head is stuck inside a shallow opening, an awkwardly low window, barely above the ground, barely big enough for a child to fit into much less a highschooler. Mizuki can vaguely see silhouette of the girl's head on the other side of the window with how dusty it is, not to mention that it's riddled with tapes and some papers. A history in itself of the several attempts made to seal the architectural oddity across the years.

However the more pressing matter here is the compromising pose the girl is in. A suggestive situation if found by the wrong crowd.

"This is surely an odd scene to trigger a flag with..."

Mizuki mutters to herself.

Not wanting to start any weird route herself, Mizuki spontaneously takes a step back. Though, hearing the footstep Mizuki made, the girl's head jolted upright.

"Is... IS SOMEBODY THERE?!!"

She shouts so loudly from the other side of the wall that even Mizuki's startled by her voice.

"Wwaaaaaahhh! You don't have to be so loud?!"

"That voice! Kitahara san? Ah what a godsend! I always know I can count on you in my times of hardships! You truly are an angel in the middle of this bleak desolate land."

"I get it I get it already! You don't have to make such a scene about it!"

The elaborate praise is making even her cringes listening to it.

"Ah our long promised saviour from another realm, as foretold in the prophecies of old. Please rid our people of this calamity and ye shall be rewarded handsomely for your deeds. We'll present you with the fairest of our princess to be taken as your bride."

"I'll... go get some help..."

Mizuki offers. Half wanting to get someone stronger to assist, half wanting to escape the awkward situation.

"Wait wait no! Please! You're the third person to say that! I'll talk normally so please just stay with me, Mizuki chan!!!"

She starts frantically pleading with only her 'headless' body gesturing to stop Mizuki from leaving, almost like a headless chicken suddenly moving about and begging for it's life.

'...she's already calling me chan...'

Reluctant to leave the girl in such helpless situation, Mizuki decides to stay and offer help even if by herself.

Mizuki positions herself besides the girl to loosen the girl's body around the edge. And then proceeds to pull her backwards.

"That's it Mizuki chan! Just a littl- ahh wait wait wait it kinda hurts!!"

Despite the girl's last minute plea, Mizuki manages to pop her out of the small hole. The force she exerts however drags both of them to the ground behind them.

"Ahahaha you're pretty strong Mizuki chan. Maybe a little too much for my neck..."

As the girl gets back on her feet to thank Mizuki. Something else about her stopped Mizuki's next sentence. She's somewhat speechless, but at the same time unsure of why that is so. Was it something on her face? Was it something off about her nose? Her brain definitely picked up something wrong about the girl but she can't consciously make out what is bothering her mind.

"Mizuki chan?"

Maybe it wasn't anything wrong with her face per se. Maybe the girl just reminds her of something, someone else she'd seen somewhere. A familiar face. However, she can't quite recall where she'd seen the girl's face, perhaps on the news channel, perhaps on the net.

But then it strikes her, for that moment the hairs on her skin stands. it's the same girl, the same face, as seemingly impossible as it is. She recalls the scent of incense, that somber atmosphere from home. The ripped picture she'd seen on the altar yesterday, and the girl standing and talking in front of her. They share the same stare, the same face. Her eyes widened.

"What's wrong? Mizuki chan?"