Chapter 3 – Protector

Mika did not feel at all rested when she woke up the next morning. Laughing silhouettes with knives in their hands still danced in her vision every time she closed her eyes. All she wanted was to curl back up and go back to sleep. Instead, she hauled herself from her bed and got ready for school.

Mika hesitated at the door, wondering if it was alright if she walked alone to school. There were plenty of people out on the streets. Surely in broad daylight she didn’t need to worry about people jumping her.

She threw open the door, locked it behind her and had gone a whole two steps when she caught sight of a person leaning against the fence that wrapped around the house. Mika jumped, and was shifting her weight to flee back into the house when said person turned his head just enough for Mika to see the corner of his blue eye.

The tension left her immediately. “You scared me,” she murmured softly, covering her chest with her hand as if that would help slow down her racing heart.

“Sorry,” Kaito apologized, though he didn’t sound particularly earnest.

“Why are you here?” she questioned as she stepped onto the sidewalk beside him.

“That’s not already obvious? I came to make sure no one got at you on the way to school.”

Mika gave a short laugh. “Somehow I feel like I’ve unintentionally acquired a bodyguard.”

“If you want to think of it that way, that’s fine,” Kaito replied with a small smile.

“Not that I’m complaining, but why do you care this much about me? We just met the other day.” She was more grateful than she could say for his company and protection, but it still struck her as odd that he’d care about a classmate he didn’t know.

“If it had been someone else in the class, I would’ve done the same,” Kaito admitted. Mika tilted her head in curiosity, silently prompting Kaito to continue his explanation, but instead, he gave a light sigh and let the topic drop there.

Again, the silence enveloped the two. It wasn’t quite as awkward as the previous night, but that didn’t mean Mika was comfortable with it. Trying to focus on other things, Mika let her eyes wander and take in the scenery.

The road was mostly lined with small businesses and convenience stores, but occasionally they’d pass a park with blooming flowers and a line of sakura trees. The petals were beginning to fall, so the slightest gust of wind would send them spiraling into the air.

“Kana.”

“What?” Mika turned to stare at Kaito, whose vision was focused on something ahead of them. Following his gaze, Mika did see the vague form of a person standing at a street corner about three blocks ahead of them, but at this distance, she couldn’t make out the specific features of the individual. Using the scenery to orient herself, Mika realized that the street corner was the one that branched off onto Kana’s road.

Two blocks later, they were finally close enough for Mika to verify Kaito’s statement. Mika waved, and broke into a little jog to meet her friend. “Kana! You weren’t waiting here for me were you?”

“Good morning Mika.” She dipped her head in a light greeting. “I thought I might wait. I figured if you left your house at the same time you did yesterday, I might run into you. Although,” her eyes drifted to Kaito who was following a few strides behind them, “I didn’t expect you to already have company.”

“I didn’t really expect to have company either.” Mika gave a hesitant laugh. “Actually, yesterday evening was really crazy.”

Mika drew a breath to launch into the story, but Kana cut her off. “Would you like to wait until Ayako joins us? Then you won’t have to repeat yourself. I’m sure she’ll want to know all of the details.”

Kana gave a light smile, which Mika returned wholeheartedly. “Okay!”

It turned out though that Ayako was not particularly eager to join their party. She was already waiting on the street corner when the group of three arrived, and the moment she saw Kaito, the mood of the group plummeted.

“What the heck is he doing here?!” she yelled.

“I take a similar route to school. I don’t think it’s surprising I’d end up running into you all on the way.”

“But that’s not what –” Mika started, but her words weren't heard as Ayako’s voice rose.

“You think you can act all high and mighty getting close to my friends? You’ve got another thing coming!” She balled her fist, hobbled closer to Kaito – her ankle was still a bit swollen from yesterday– and swung at him.

Kaito dodged her incoming attack easily by sidestepping. “Honestly, are you really going to start this so early in the morning? You’d have a better chance of doing damage with your obnoxiously loud voice than with your fist.”

“Why you –”

“That’s enough!” Kana cut between the two, grabbed Ayako roughly by the wrist, and began pulling her down the street.

This left Mika standing awkwardly beside Kaito while her two friends disappeared into the crowd ahead. Looking at Kaito, she found only a bored expression covering his face. She wondered if he had any intention of ever getting along with Ayako. But why? Why such hatred between them anyway?

“We’ll be late if we don’t get moving,” Kaito said as he moved ahead of Mika.

“Yeah…”

The first few classes were agonizingly slow. All Mika wanted was to get to lunch and have the chance to explain everything that happened yesterday, and maybe, just maybe she’d be able to smooth things out between Kaito and Ayako.

When the lunch bell rang at last, Mika all but leapt from her seat to meet Ayako at her desk, and they headed up to the roof together. During the walk, Mika told her prelude to the story: she’d been asked to clean the classroom and Hattori had just left on her.

They were sitting down in their spots on the roof when Mika was reaching the climax. “And then, Hattori just appeared out of nowhere, and was walking toward me with this devilish expression on his face. I didn’t even want to know what he was going to do, but when I turned to run away, I ran straight into Kaito, and he –”

“Wait. Him?” Ayako broke into the story as her eyes flickered up to the lump of Kaito on the top of the roof to Mika.

“Yeah! And he scared Hattori off. I was so grateful.”

“Mika.” Ayako’s tone and face were so serious that it caught Mika completely off-guard. “You shouldn’t trust him,” her voice was lowered to the barest of a whisper.

“But why?” Mika could only look quizzically at Ayako. Nothing he’d done had given her a reason not to trust him.

“I don’t know… I can’t really say how, but something about that guy really bothers me. Like, why was he there the exact moment you needed him?”

“I don’t…” Mika trailed off. It was spectacular timing. She had been so grateful for the help, she hadn’t given a thought as to why he was there at such a perfect time. “Maybe he had something to do after school,” she suggested, though it was a half-hearted attempt at best.

Ayako shook her head. “He always goes straight home. He’s not a part of any club. You really should stay as far away from him as you can.”

A flurry of movement above them caught Mika’s attention before she could come up with any other ideas. Kaito had stood and was gazing over the side of the roof with a strange expression covering his face. He stayed frozen in place for a minute before he hopped off the platform and headed down the stairs without a word.

Mika, Ayako and Kana all looked back and forth between each other before they turned to the fence to gaze out at the surroundings.

“I don’t see anything, do you?” Ayako asked.

Kana and Mika both shook their heads before returning to their seats.

“See? It’s as I said, the guy is just weird.”

Kaito didn’t return for class after lunch, but did make it to the P.E. to finish the day. Daisuke had spent the first five minutes interrogating Kaito as to where he’d been, but he didn’t answer any of the questions, nor did he meet Mika’s curious gaze.

When the day had finally ended, Mika opened her mouth to ask her own questions about Kaito’s disappearance, but he had collected his things and left the classroom before she could even think about where to begin.

“Hey Mika, what are you going to do this weekend?” Ayako asked on their way home. “Would you like me to show you around the city? You haven’t gotten out much have you?”

“Thanks for the offer, but I think I’ll spend the weekend resting and catching up on a bit of homework.” Mika cast her friend a polite smile, but Ayako had already sighed and turned her head.

“Geez, you’re just like Kana. Just sitting around the house reading all the time.”

“You’re just too rambunctious Ayako,” Kana said lightly. “There’s nothing wrong with preferring to stay indoors.”

“But it’s so much more exciting to be outside!” she protested, “and the weather this time of year is perfect.”

Mika had to agree with that statement. The forecast predicted mild, partially cloudy days throughout the weekend. It would have been a perfect time to see the sights. She did want to get out and explore around Shibuya a bit more, but with everything that had been going on, she really needed the rest and relaxation first and foremost. “Perhaps next weekend?” Mika suggested.

Ayako perked up immediately. “I’m going to hold you to that! There’s so many awesome things to see around here, and there’s a couple of nice, cheap restaurants, karaoke bars, parks…” Ayako continued to list activities until she had to break off to head down her own street.

“Ayako can be rather exhausting. I’m sorry for that,” Kana spoke as they moved on down the road.

“Oh no, you don’t have to apologize.” Mika quickly waved off her concern. “I find Ayako’s endless energy refreshing actually.”

“She can be hard to keep up with, but she’s an incredibly valuable friend, and loyal beyond belief.” Kana smiled down at the sidewalk as her gaze focused on a distant memory.

“So you’ve known her for a while I take it?”

“We met in our third year of primary school. I would usually spend recess reading a book by myself, and a few others thought it would be amusing to ‘bother the bookworm.’” Kana exhaled with a short laugh. “Ayako came over and beat one of them up so badly they had to be sent to the nurse’s office, and she ended up suspended for a day, but we’ve been friends since that incident.”

“Oh wow. And you’ve gone to the same schools since then?”

Kana nodded. “We live close by so we were zoned for the same junior high school, and I helped her as much as I could with high school entrance exams so that we could attend the same high school as well. What about you Mika? Did you have close friends back home?”

Caught off guard by the sudden question, Mika inhaled sharply. Kana didn’t miss the movement. “My apologies. I’m sure it’s still difficult for you to talk about.”

“No, it’s alright,” Mika said slowly, gathering her thoughts before she spoke again. “I did have two pretty close childhood friends. We hung out a lot through primary and junior high, but this year, I had to spend a lot of time taking care of my grandmother, so I stopped hanging out with them as much and we sort of drifted apart.”

“I see.” Kana stopped at the edge of her road, and bid Mika farewell before turning to go her own way.

I haven’t thought about them in a while… Mika mused as she envisioned her two friends back home. She’d seen them at her grandmother’s funeral, but she hadn’t been in a state to talk with anyone. I hope they’re both doing alright.

Trying to push thoughts of the past from her mind, Mika threw herself into her school work, focusing particularly on the English and history homework. By the time she had completed the worksheets and small essay, the living room was already dark from the setting of the sun.

“I guess I should work on dinner then...” she mused aloud as she dug through the cabinets and refrigerator. “I almost have enough for yakisoba. I could make a cold soba dish, but it’s still a bit chilly at night for that. A tonkatsu dish? But I don’t have enough pork.”

Mika rambled quietly to herself as she pulled out various foods, and tried to brainstorm possible dinners before putting them back again. Unfortunately, it seemed like a trip to the store was inevitable. She had only found one grocery store thus far, and she’d stumbled on it by accident while lost. She didn’t have the confidence to find it again in the dark, nor did she want to wander around alone looking for a store.

She had a suspicion that Kaito’s disappearance during lunch had something to do with Hattori, but she had no idea if the problem had been taken care of or if he was still a threat. Regardless, she definitely didn’t want to spend any more time than she had to on the streets after dark.

It’ll have to be the conbini then, she thought, grabbing her small purse from its spot atop the shoe rack. , she thought, grabbing her small purse from its spot atop the shoe rack. It was no more than a block away. She could get enough ingredients there to make dinner, and if for some reason they didn’t have what she needed, she would just get a bentou box for the night and work on getting more substantial foods at the grocery store tomorrow.

<continued>