Queenfisher

I decided to put the chibi picture of our heroes in the beginning of the chapter because it ends in a sinister manner, so chibis being there won't fit at all +_+. But there are fluffy and cute moments in the first half of this chapter, too, so I really wanted to share a pic of those.

So here, under the spoiler.

Spoiler

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Chapter Thirty-Nine

Victim

Part 1 of 3

"Neko, do you want to do some girly stuff for a change?"

"...girly?"

"Mn. You can tell me. I won't laugh. We can do it together, too."

The courtyard was cool in the early spring. The two boys sat back to back against each other for warmth, studying homework under the redolent, dappling branches of the garden trees.

"Come on, Neko. Don't be shy."

The second year in Izumo passed by much more pleasantly after Nekohiko's Nagare seal had been lifted. Now Spirits paid attention to him. Sometimes the wild ones outside of the Shrine snapped at him and sometimes they outright attacked him. But rarer after the first time he had learned to shoo all the pesky Spirits away with the simple glare his aura could give them. He didn't need to do much inside the Shrine grounds, though. Ashflake reigned the Shrine grounds and wouldn't allow any of the Spirits to harass children under her guidance. Especially Nekohiko.

His studies had blasted through as well. No, he wasn't the smartest or the most adaptive of pupils. But due to how low the expectations for his talents had been before, all the teachers finally breathed in relief when he became not even average -- but good. The Imperial techniques? Done! Passed all the exams on the first try. The Nagare? Done, too. Albeit not as smoothly. But done nonetheless which was all that mattered.

Right?

Alas, he was a bit scared of using Nagare techniques. The Imperial techniques were about assembling and connecting and fusing things. He felt there was nothing too dangerous or evil to do with it, so he could let his Binding flow freely and unrestrained. The Nagare technique and the others were combative. They were about attacking and defending and deflecting. He needed to know how to do all of them properly or each could run too tragically due to how enormous and uncontrolled his Binding potential was.

In the end, he had decided that he didn't need to use anything other than the simplest fusing and assembling techniques. Had there ever been a reason for others? Not when he was so well-protected and cared for.

And especially not when Abihiko was around to do all the fighting for him. Which was constant. Abihiko never left his side. Not that Nekohiko cared but...

He did care. He cared a lot.

"Why would we do girly stuff?" Nekohiko asked, perplexed.

"Because. Aren't we always doing only what I enjoy? Like martial training, or vehicle toys, or sieges and naval battles with dummy armies?" Abihiko turned to him, a look of pure concern on his face. "I know you don't complain because you never complain about anything. But I realized how unfair it is. Perhaps you want us to do something girly at least sometimes? I wouldn't mind, if so."

Nekohiko didn't even bother to come up with something. He only shrugged. He thought this would be the end of the discussion.

But then... over his shoulder, something stirred his long hair.

Petrified, he turned his eyes to see.

Abihiko was slowly gathering his hair strands into three sections. He smiled when he noticed Nekohiko watching. "You can braid mine, too."

He didn't know whether it counted as being touched. He had often brushed his fingers against Abihiko's hair due to how much time they spent together -- some passing touches were inevitable. The boy's overabundant mane always got everywhere when they were playing or studying and Nekohiko stopped fighting his discomfort of constantly brushing it aside from his pages or his clothes.

But to welcome this kind of intimate touch and then do it to another person? He was stumped, thoughts whirring in disarray as he stared at Abihiko's nimble fingers weaving his hair strands into a thick little braid.

Then Abihiko distracted him even further. "Happy Birthday, Neko."

Nekohiko balked. "...how did you know?"

"It's been a year since we were tied to one another with the Fox Thread. Don't you remember? Your birthday was around that time, so of course I know when it is." He frowned, disgusted with Nekohiko's shock. "Do you think I'm some kind of an airhead? This time, I even have a present."

A present...

Odd as it were, Nekohiko had never received a present from someone who wasn't forced to be his guardian -- Saho, Hachiro, Kusaki, then the Head Priest and Kotone. All people who had no choice but to take care of him. The presents they had given him were very respectful. A bit impersonal. Definitely something one could use daily. A comb, a Binder's starter kit, a mirror, a pair of good chopsticks, a writing set.

Part of him was dying of curiosity about what a present from someone else would be like. Would he like it? Would he feel uncomfortable to receive it? But the other half was only annoyed. And he couldn't even say why.

"Ta-da," Abihiko said lamely and produced out of his sleeve a... leaf.

A simple red maple leaf.

Nekohiko took it with a blank expression and gave it a good stare. "Thank you."

"Hold this," Abihiko said, pressing Nekohiko's braid he had finished into Nekohiko's fingers. "And give me the leaf for a moment. I'll show you the real present."

Abihiko raised the leaf to Nekohiko's eyes. Gently, he swept his fingers across the leaf and when they came off, a translucent hue of red exactly like the leaf's lifted along with his fingers. The filmy red had the same pattern as the maple leaf and was the aspect of its form and color.

The essence of a red maple leaf.

After the year of the Nagare technique had ended a couple of weeks ago, the year of studying the technique of Hisome family began. It was spring, and the oncoming end of the school year, and almost everyone talked about Binding classes: Nagare, Hisome, Towa, Hira...

Even right now, there were plenty of pupils -- mainly adepts and seniors -- who ran through the courtyard the two boys were in. The disciples came only in two flavors: those who chatted about drinking and gambling later in the town, and those who had meltdowns about the studying and the end of the year exams.

Nekohiko wondered just how much harder could the Hira and the Utsuro techniques be that most disciples looked completely frazzled with their Binding practice.

But Hisome class was very laidback in comparison.

So far, Nekohiko hadn't had many Hisome lessons -- mostly theory and history. But of course Abihiko knew how the Hisome method worked already. It wasn't that hard, he had told Nekohiko many times as the two of them practiced outside of class.

The gist of Hisome method wasn't in the passion or the conflict like Nagare. It was in the mists and illusions. The Binding made of lies.

Stealing such symbolic concepts as the form of a maple leaf was pure Hisome goodness. There was no real essence to a maple leaf, yet humans perceived that there was. It was an illusion but one welcome by the feeble human mind. Channeling the Hisome technique, one could use this seeming visual in any way they wanted.

Abihiko smiled. "Close your eyes."

"Why?"

"Do you trust me?"

Nekohiko closed his eyes instead of replying. He felt the soft caress of the Binding energy descending on his eyelids and eyelashes and frowned.

"Open."

Now, to Nekohiko's eyes, the entire courtyard they were in, was like an explosion of color. Where before there had only been the still-largely naked branches of plum trees with only the popping buds of flowers emerging, now there were leaves of searing red. Star-shaped, filigree, exquisite maple leaves on every single tree in the garden. And so many of them.

The courtyard was burning in shifting, breeze-kissed red. Even beyond the courtyard, all the trees, previously bare, now blazed in red leaves like the most festive of decorations. Under the direct hit of sunlight, the leaves even lit up like small paper lanterns.

It was no doubt only an illusion for Nekohiko's sight -- no one else's. But a beautiful illusion nonetheless.

"Do you like it?" Abihiko was still busy with Nekohiko's hair, pinning the braid he'd made in the back. "Happy Birthday."

"Thank you." Nekohiko reached out a hand to touch the maple leaf that Abihiko had pinned into his hair. Not knowing what else to do or say but feeling like he should, he timidly took a few strands of the other boy's hair in turn. If Abihiko liked braiding so much... sure. He could pay him back.

"You can't see what I see, though, yes?" he asked Abihiko after a moment.

"It's enough that you can. Myself, I'm enjoying the fact that you are not scowling or looking comatose for once. That's a rarity worth staring at."

Nekohiko's braiding faltered. "I look... comatose?"

"Mn. Not comatose. Just, uninvolved." Abihiko struggled with the precise word. "Aloof, maybe? Actually, you have quite an intimidating appearance if one doesn't know you very close to see that you're merely quiet and shy."

That didn't help Nekohiko's mood much. Quiet? Maybe. But shy?

"I'm not."

"Sorry. I meant constipated." Abihiko grinned, then reached out with his fingers poised for an attack on Nekohiko's sides. "And repressed as all hell. You need more joy in your life! Tickles or tackles?"

The glare Nekohiko gave was bound to freeze one.

Luckily, they didn't get to that part because a high girly squeal came from the adjacent courtyard. One that jolted Nekohiko out of his daze and one that made Abihiko gasp and clutch his heart in exhilaration.

"THEY'RE here! They are here!!!"

Nekohiko frowned in the direction of the noise. "Who's here?"

The girls seemed to have gone insane, all at once. So much high-pitched weeeees and "I'm gonna faint, oh my heavens!" to the background of stomping and giggling as flocks of girls, both very young and those much older, dashed through the galleries. Some ran toward the front cloisters of the Shrine, while others took care to run to the back dorms and yards to share the news with all the fellow girls in there.

One such girl rushed past Nekohiko in a flurry of her yellow robes of the third year's. "The Hisome Wayfarers came back!"

"The Hisome Wayfarers came back!" Abihiko echoed her, jumping in animation. The girl and Abihiko gave each other a "fellow fan" looks before the girl ran further.

Nekohiko felt very much over this entire event. He wanted to go back to his dorm and lay down and hide from the overexuberance that would follow throughout the day. He'd experienced this already last year but only up to the point when it had become apparent that Hisome Wayfarers were a few important faces short that time. The sole reason most every girl in Izumo was so excited about the Hisome Wayfarers today was that Morokata, the sole son of Takarashi, Lady of the Mists, had been missing last year. He'd had issues back at home during the examinations. And once they ended, he had simply gone back to his Wayfaring across the Empire. 

Today would be the first time he came to Izumo in two years. At fourteen, most every girl said, he had been as inhumanly beautiful as a celestial being. So at sixteen, people who had met him during the Wayfarer quests said that...

His effect was ever more pronounced now. Hence the girls going insane en masse. Hence all the boys being both confused yet intrigued.

Hence all the Abihiko's wide-eyed glee.

"How do I look?" Abihiko roared at Nekohiko to snap him out of his reverie. He straightened his clothes and tossed his long ponytail left and right as though to make it appear effortless. The half-done braid Nekohiko had been making on him swung with it but Abihiko didn't notice it there.

"Dazzling," Nekohiko ground out and turned to go back to the girls' dorm. But before he could, a shackle of a hand grabbed hold of his wrist over the sleeve and yanked him after Abihiko.

The agitation in the first cloister was even greater than in the back. Nekohiko fought his desire to throw his head back and stare at the sky, so bored he felt by crowd worship. Even Lord Okinaga hadn't garnered the same level of adoration when he had been here -- and Lord Okinaga deserved it more than some heir who wasn't even the Lord of anything! More than that -- Lord Okinaga was stately and impressive. And Morokata was...

Honestly, Nekohiko had no idea. He only knew he already disliked him, for whatever reason.

"Ow!" Girls winced at Abihiko when he pushed them aside to get himself and Nekohiko through. "Dickhead!"

Even Nekohiko hadn't expected to hear such inappropriate words out in the open -- let alone a senior girl further in the crowd. Kotone heard the grave offense and immediately turned, face paling in horror.

"Yata! We do not speak such words for no reason!" Then, as though realizing, "Or ever!"

Happy to see at least one familiar face in the crowd of cheering people, Nekohiko wriggled out of Abihiko's hold and ran toward her. Kotone had given him her Birthday present this very morning and he wanted to show it off on his feet. A new set of floral-pattern socks!

But Kotone was not on his side today. "Ah, you also came to see him, didn't you? I have a good spot, don't worry. He'll definitely pass through here and you and I might even get a word to him."

Nekohiko's face fell.

Kotone, too?!

She was in the same year as Morokata, so he assumed she knew the youth well. Unlike Morokata and other Wayfarers, Kotone belonged to those who wanted to stay back in Izumo and teach after graduating, so even if she and Morokata had begun in one class, their paths had to diverge at some point. Like all sixth years, she wore dark purple robes, the color of leaves gone fully mature and saturated. Doubtlessly, Morokata would wear the same ones.

But however somber her clothes were, her face was lovely -- glowing with a soft pink that spread to her cheeks and her ears by turns. Nekohiko could hardly recognize the same reserved, calm girl he thought he knew so well.

"What's up with him, anyway," he grumbled. "He's just a person."

Kotone let out a dreamy hum. "Yes. But also..."

And she dwindled out, too overcome by a timid emotion to finish. All Nekohiko could see was that her cheeks burned up and her eyelashes dropped over her eyes.

Damn it. Now he was intrigued, too. This Morokata must have the effect Suminoe had on Nekohiko if so! Majestic, supernatural. Divine.

But the curiosity passed by quickly. He could get caught into other people's passions but it never came from within him. He simply didn't care about how people looked and how one could be attracted to another. He had heard about love and desire and even jealousy as the primary drives of human nature but none had stuck as something he believed in. It all seemed story-like and made up. Yet now, surrounded by all these girls who breathed so wistfully and smiled so expectantly, he wondered if something had indeed been wrong with him all along to be forever so unaffected.

When the Hisome Wayfarer disciples showed up from the doors of the main Shrine, Nekohiko's attention went to Abihiko instead. The way the boy looked, the way he smiled. The way he rolled his eyes at the girls beside him with how stupid they were bouncing up and down and squealing to have Morokata notice them.

Which one was Morokata supposed to be?

Nekohiko trailed his gaze through the rows of dark-red and purple-clad youths of the senior classes. About a dozen of them, all weary and out of sorts after their long homecoming ceremony in the Shrine. Bunched up in small groups, they talked to one another, barely giving the gathered crowds a glance as though bored with this whole mess.

And then, behind them, a group showed up -- somewhat more organized and tight than those before. Several slender, immaculately-dressed girls, their faces cut as though from ice with such precision of shape and elegance. But the glares those girls gave to those around them weren't icy. They were disgusted. Even loathing as the girls winced from a particularly loud fan yelling out Morokata's name.

In the middle of these sour-faced girls was a single youth in purples so dark they nearly seemed black. Abihiko's intense stare at that youth gave even Nekohiko a desire to glimpse this famed beauty.

But alas.

Morokata, if that was him, was covering his face behind a feminine round fan with a spattering of lilac petals on its front. Cries of undying love and loyalty and pleas to drop the fan came from all the sides. The youth and his cohort of arrogant young ladies sped up down the cloister.

Abihiko's little smirk had all the promise of a prank. With a subtle motion, he flicked his wrist, and a gust of wind rolled through the cloister toward Morokata's fan.

The Hisome girls snapped hands to stop an attack on their Lord. Morokata shifted aside as though to cower behind his protectors. But Abihiko had no desire to pay heed to guard dogs. He was a talented boy. Tricking a couple of stuck-up girls with his diversion Nagare technique wasn't that hard. The girls must have expected him to dodge them with the typical Hisome distractions since most would find it easiest to do. But no. Abihiko wove a Nagare technique into a Hisome pattern.

Like a swift snake, the wind threaded through all of the girls' defenses and tore the stupid fan out of Morokata's hand in a matter of seconds.

Nekohiko couldn't help his disappointment. Morokata couldn't even grip his fan better to avoid this humiliation in front of everyone? Some Wayfarer, he was. Not only he hadn't tried to Bind to defend himself, he also was so weak, a gust of wind was stronger than him?

Pfff.

No wonder most people only talked about how beautiful this person was. Had he even had anything other than his face to display?

It was a fine face, though. Even twisted in a grimace of dismay, Morokata's fair complexion and exquisite features came across nicely. But at the same time... was it glamor shimmer wavering around him?

Glamors that improved a look of something were easy to cast and easy to discern once a disciple was trained in the basics of Hisome methods. The red maple leaf pattern that Abihiko had cast upon Nekohiko's sight was one such glamor spell, while charming one's visage to be prettier than it actually was would be another common one. The thing was -- everyone in Izumo would be able to see it was a spell, so most people preferred not to use it so blatantly.

Yet Morokata was?

Nekohiko flinched when the crowding girls erupted in applause and screeching because Morokata let out a sigh and waved at them defeatedly. His smile and nodding at those he noticed had so much tired serenity in it, even Nekohiko forgot about his earlier doubts in regards to him. Morokata had a certain quality about him. A way to make people enjoy themselves in his presence.

"Morokata, it's me," Kotone called from beside Nekohiko. In her hand, she held an old calligraphy brush she was extending to Morokata. "Thank you."

Morokata was close enough that he heard someone thanking him. He blinked at the brush, perplexed.

"You lent me this, remember? When I needed one."

"I did?" Morokata smiled most charmingly. Several other voices were calling him and his attention was clearly torn between them all.

Kotone nodded, beaming. "Mn. I promised I'd give it back. So... I just wanted to tell you that it meant a lot--"

"We still have unpacking ahead," one of the bitterest-looking Hisome girls cut, catching Morokata's elbow to push him forward. The rest of the Hisome girls were busy freeing the way through the cloister to the gallery they needed. "Come on, or we'll be here all day."

In the rush of many voices, Kotone's was drowned out. But, surprisingly, Morokata heard her and some other girls that kept telling him some random things as he walked past them. He answered a few in passing acknowledgments. Then he glanced back at Kotone, too.

"You can keep it if you like it. Or you can bring it to my room if you don't. Up to you!"

It was such a short conversation -- a few heartbeats and Morokata was already too far away to see Kotone's reaction. But Nekohiko wasn't. He sized her up and down, too surprised by how ecstatic she was from this tiny speck of Morokata's attention. She smiled ear to ear, squeezing her stupid brush to her chest with both hands along with other girls also tittering to each other to share their joy. 

Nekohiko felt dizzy from all the ruckus and high emotions, so he fled the gathering to air his head somewhere else. What an... ugh.

The maple leaf brightness still worked its magic wherever he looked, so his mood hadn't completely deteriorated. He went back to the spot in which he and Abihiko had abandoned their books and notes and sank down under the same plum tree. He tried to study alone but it wasn't quite right without Abihiko, so in the end, he dosed off under the rustling, dappled canopies of gorgeous red.

Content Warning: allusions to rape (of a side character)

***

Abihiko crashed into his shoulder with his own as he plopped down beside him. But Nekohiko didn't wake up from that; he only felt so much more comfortable sleeping on because now he had a shoulder to lean on as he did. When he woke up, it was already dusking, and Abihiko had to light up the writing in their books to be able to see it in the murk.

Speaking of which.

"Oh. I've promised, haven't I?" Abihiko said when the darkness descended further.

Out in the distance, singing and music wafted here due to all the many festivities the older class disciples were having to welcome back their Wayfaring comrades. There were also lit lanterns in those parts of the School grounds -- yet none here. Abihiko poked his fingers at Nekohiko's maple leaf in his hair and after a small incantation, the maple leaves that Nekohiko was still seeing around him -- all lit up with a gentle crimson glow.

Nekohiko wanted to laugh, not knowing whether a grove of glowing red trees was beautiful or... incredibly sinister!

"Now it's a real Birthday event, yeah? You definitely wouldn't forget this one now."

"Uh," Nekohiko said, trying not to make it sound like he hated it. Because he didn't. It was still a certain flavor of beautiful, even if slightly macabre at the same time. "Thank you. I love it."

He was so amused with this little Hisome Binding trick, he even ate his dinner with Abihiko while sitting outside under the glowing red foliage. A meager feast but one hard to compare to anything he'd ever had before. Gratitude and strange tenderness filled him as he looked at Abihiko.

He wanted to give Abihiko something back, too.

A compliment, perhaps.

"You are much more powerful than the heir of the Lady of the Mists," he said impressedly. "I can't believe that your wind Binding against him worked so well. Congratulations."

Abihiko's eyes brightened. "You saw him, yes? What do you think?"

About what?

"Do you think I have a chance?" Abihiko angled an eyebrow. "I do, don't I?" And he tossed his hair over his shoulder, gracefully. "Just wait four years or so, and he won't know what hit him. Or actually... he and I can become acquainted even earlier so that in four years, he would already be so close to me, he would trust me like a friend."

"..."

Nekohiko already regretted starting this conversation.

"Because being friends first is much more fulfilling when you suddenly become a couple, yeah? You already know each other's tastes and thoughts, you already are in tune, you already have shared so many moments together. And the earlier it begins, the deeper your connection would be." Inspired by his turbulent ideas, Abihiko jumped to his feet and dragged Nekohiko up, too. "So he and I should begin, like... right now!"

"How exactly are you going to be friends with him?" Nekohiko felt dazed with Abihiko's speed and blabbering. "I don't think one can force their friendship on others just because you want to?"

"I have a perfect plan! Come on!"

The plan apparently involved torturing Nekohiko because the first thing Abihiko did was barge into the girls' dormitory where Nekohiko's bed was ostracized in the farthest corner. But here, Abihiko didn't find what he was looking for, so he ran to the study rooms and classes instead. The two of them stomped in the galleries, spooking slightly drunk or simply oblivious older disciples into yelling insults after them as they dashed.

It was evening, so no actual classes were in session -- only the private lessons and the self-study groups. Abihiko opened classroom doors and poked his head inside as though searching for a specific person. When he didn't find them, he slammed the doors back into place to the aggravated shouts from those left inside.

After the fifth such interruption, Nekohiko's patience depleted. But luckily, the sixth classroom was it.

"What is the meaning of this?" the lanky, toothy girl snapped at them when Abihiko dragged Nekohiko inside the room. The girl's name was Kiyoko, and Nekohiko was too well acquainted with her shrill voice and unrestrained fists. "This is the room reserved for Hisome Second Years' studying!"

Abihiko ignored the girl, solely focused on the timid figure who was desperately trying to stay hidden amidst the other Hisome girl classmates.

The shy little Sakami -- Morokata's cousin, Nekohiko knew.

Abihiko strolled over to her, giving a faint smirk to the other girls. That made them blush instantly and let him through with no further questions. Sakami still wanted to dissolve into the woodboard on which she and the others had been writing the matter splitting equations for the next week's exam. One glimpse was enough for Nekohiko to see how wrong they were. He would have solved this in moments, of course.

Abihiko leaned over to Sakami and put his hand on the woodboard beside her head. The girl first paled, then flushed furiously. Abihiko gave her a special, irresistible smile. "Hey. You and me. Date tomorrow. Yeah?"

Sakami's eyes were so huge she looked doll-like. "Uhm..."

"We're classmates, but never really hang out. Isn't that weird?" Abihiko went on. "So I figured you and I should get acquainted more. Actually, you can invite your cousin to attend, too. For the good of the realm."

"The g-good of the realm...?"

"I am of Hira Lordship, you are of Hisome. Hiras and Hisomes should interact more and establish more connections between us, mmm, for the brighter future of the Empire. Don't you agree?"

Sakami's lips trembled. She averted her eyes. "Why would you... with someone like me... I don't think you will like being friends with me..."

"Awww. Don't be so hard on yourself. You are amazing, Saka...ki."

Nekohiko was in pain just from having to listen.

"Her name is Sakami," Kiyoko growled.

"And if you're shy, we definitely should meet up with your cousin. That way, it won't be so scary for you anymore, yes? In fact, we can go ask him right now." Abihiko's fast speech gave Sakami no opportunity to reject him, let alone think about what he was saying. He already gave her a half-hug and flourished his hand to the exit, gently pushing the girl in the back. "It will only take him a moment if we just went and asked!"

"Dear Cousin doesn't like it when I bother him--"

"Nonsense! Let's hurry up, then!"

Why was Nekohiko following them?

Nekohiko had no idea. He tried to slip out of Abihiko's grasp when Abihiko and Sakami turned a corner into the gallery that led to the guest houses in the front of the School. But Abihiko gave him such a trickster wink that part of him still wanted to see how the boy would convince that busy, popular, tired-looking Morokata to be friends with him.

A couple of Hisome girls were following Sakami, so it was probably because of them that Sakami could maintain an appearance of bravery. Otherwise, Nekohiko was afraid she would collapse from running so fast or from being so close to Abihiko who obviously gave her poor heart a squeeze every time he smiled.

Their run came to a halt when Nekohiko heard something.

A muffled sob.

He stopped, turning toward the sound. Amidst the glowing red of the maple foliage, he saw an outline of a figure, bent down and hugging themselves so miserably, he couldn't pretend he saw nothing. Even if, on a usual day, he would walk past someone crying because of his awkwardness, now he couldn't.

"Come on, stop dawdling!" Abihiko yelled from some feet ahead.

The person who was sobbing became quiet as though frightened of attention. Nekohiko's spine chilled when he realized that the person's voice was familiar to him.

Too familiar.

"Kotone," he whispered and darted around the shrubs to see.

A face full of smeared tears and reddened eyes glanced at him only for a moment, then quickly averted in shame and pain. Kotone bit her lips down and tried to pull with her trembling hands the collars of her robes up because they were almost entirely off her shoulders and back.

"Kotone!" Nekohiko screamed.

Abihiko's and Sakami's footsteps faltered when they heard.

Nekohiko fell to his knees beside the older girl to peek into her face and ask her what happened but Kotone shook her head vehemently.

"Please don't," she sobbed into her knees raised to her chest. "Please go away. Please don't look at me..."

In her fingers was the calligraphy brush Nekohiko had seen earlier today. The brush was snapped in half, both ends tight in Kotone's hands. When he saw it, the streaks of tears on Kotone's face, and the partly-torn off robes on her back -- a horrid realization struck him.

"What did he do?!" Nekohiko cried at her. From the side, Abihiko and Sakami were slowly approaching as though afraid to disturb whoever was hiding here. "Did Morokata do something to you?"

Kotone watched him, stricken. "No," she whispered, but new tears poured down her cheeks and she had to cover her face with her hands. "Please don't tell anyone..."

"She was meeting him tonight," Nekohiko told Abihiko, rage brimming in his voice. "That precious Morokata of yours!"

Abihiko's eyes darkened against his pale face as he regarded Kotone's figure in the grass. Sakami and the other girls were faster than either of them -- they flew to Kotone's side at once, worried and spooked and trying to hug her.

"Kotone, what's wrong?" Sakami asked, shivering.

"Nothing. Nothing is wrong!" Kotone looked up at Nekohiko, a strange gleam of terror in her eyes. "He didn't do anything! It's not his fault! Please don't tell anyone!"

But Nekohiko wasn't really listening.

"Let's go," Abihiko told him.

Between them, there was no need to say where. Or to whom. Or why.