Finally laying down in his bed, Hisashi stared at his bedroom ceiling, at the lantern hanging from the wall. His brain was working like a steam machine, but at the same time, he didn’t think of anything. The quarrel with Akai Ryu, the Shuryo Inu, the mayor, it all seemed so distant to him now. Finally having his nose out of the book, he started feeling tired, although his mind was trying to keep him awake.

Closing his eyes, he slowly breathed in and out, tensing up the muscles in his legs, holding, and then relaxing. Pulling in his stomach, holding his breath, then letting his lungs fill with air, blowing his tummy. Then breathing out. Curling up his hand to form a fist, feeling his arm muscles tense up, holding, and letting go.

He didn’t even get to his face, when he felt himself completely relax, and fall asleep.

Standing in an old house, Hisashi looked around himself. How, why couldn’t he see anything clearly, everything was so blurry. The furniture had foreign designs, the table in the room was so dark and low, he couldn’t differentiate it from the floor. The walls were so light, in stark contrast to the furniture, and the picture on the wall.

Hisashi neared the picture, seeing the rich blue hues mixing at the bottom, creating the sea, and the ugly black ship on that sea. The clouds over the sea depicting a storm.

And he gasped.

There was only one place where he’d seen that ugly painting, panic rising in his chest as he swung his arm, knocking the painting to the floor, falling right next to the stuffed dragon toy, red in color.

The sound of a whip slashing through the air paralyzed him.

“Being disobedient again, eh?”

Slowly, he turned around, knowing he shouldn’t have. The familiar towering figure with dark, hateful eyes was there, waiting for him. Slashing his whip at him, Hisashi screamed.

“OH, WHAT THE FUCK AGAIN?! KEEP IT DOWN, WILL YOU?!”

Jerking up, Hisashi grabbed the shirt he wore, gasping for air. His eyes were wide, drops of sweat rolled down his forehead as he looked around his room, finding nothing out of the ordinary. The moonlight was bathing his room as usual, the only thing disrupting the peaceful night were the angry stomping sounds from upstairs.

Calming his breathing down, Hisashi walked up to the window, opening it to let some fresh air in. The night wasn’t cold like the previous one at all, the air was thick and warm, making his head hurt even more.

“Hisashi.”

The voice somehow didn’t make him feel at ease at all, as he turned to look at its owner.

“I’m sorry. I know I tormented you before, but I had a fucked up nightmare.”

Arika denied. “Are you okay? Do you need to chat?”

Staring at her, Hisashi swung his head after some time. “Nothing to talk about. Nothing you don’t know already.”

“Don’t you dare go study right now. Is there something I can help you with?” Arika said carefully, nearing him. Hisashi denied it as he hugged her.

“Just get some rest. I’ll bother you again in the morning.” He felt her giggle in his arms.

“Call for me if you don’t manage to fall back to sleep, Hisashi.” Her brown eyes met Hisashi’s silver ones. Lastly, he nodded, knowing he was lying to her.

“Thank you for trying. But go to sleep, we’ll look for Yoru tomorrow. Maybe I’ll throw apples at his head again.” Arika giggled, and Hisashi briefly smiled, knowing that his smile is fake. He hated that feeling, hated lying to her, but what he hated more was the feeling of burdening his beloved ones with his problems.  

He sat on his bed, watching as Arika exited his room. He waited for the clicking sound, a sound marking that Arika closed the doors to her room.

And the sound marking his move.

Sauntering over to the kitchen, Hisashi made himself a cup of coffee, hearing crickets screeching outside. The rest of the house was so peaceful. Such a shame he had to live with little pests here.

Drinking from his mug, a mug with a fox and the tail forming the handle, he strolled to the living room, turning the TV on.

The title of night news made him spit out his coffee.

“BREAKING NEWS: Akai Ryu set ‘Lectio Caritate’ on fire!”

“Oh, no. Shit!” he growled, emptying the contents of his mug, before running off to his room, already dressing up.

Putting a light green shirt on, he intended to knock on Arika’s door, but something held him back. Peeking through a small rift between the doors and the doorframe, he smiled as he heard Arika lightly snoring. So he slowly turned away, grabbed his car keys, and drove off towards the library.

Sitting in the kitchen, Yoru stared numbly at his tea which had gotten cold long ago.

“Yoru…” Yuuma compassionately called him, but Yoru swung his head.

“Please, I need some time alone. Please. I’m sorry, everyone. I wish I’d done something.”

Luna and Kyoshi exchanged soft looks. “It’s not your fault, what happened to Ai, Yoru. We all know how you feel; we feel the same. She was our friend. She chose to protect us.” Luna slowly comforted him.

Yoru nodded, but didn’t say anything. He only spoke after a few moments of silence, “I need to be left alone now. Please. I need the time to think.”

He knew they all had their eyes on him. But he couldn’t bring himself to look at them. Not after being unable to do anything once again. He failed.

Slowly the members of Akai Ryu rose from the table, one by one, until Yoru was left alone in the kitchen. Or so he thought.

“Yoru, I can’t just leave you alone. You’re always there for us, the least I can do is just sit here in silence to comfort you. Even if you don’t wish to be vulnerable around us.”

Yoru rose his look up to the freckled girl in front of him.

“I don’t want to bother you, Ryo. I just need something to get my mind off of all…this. I can’t even name what the hell happened. How did they find us? Why did they kill Ai? I got too many questions.”

“How about we go spar then? Even if it doesn’t get things off your mind, at least you’ll be able to vent out. You won’t even have to say anything. And I know you won’t be able to sleep because of this, so maybe it’ll help you be less tense.”

Sighing, Yoru said, “That’s actually a good idea. Come on, let’s beat each other up.”

Ryo got up, grinning. “After you, mother.”

Yoru snorted.

Locking in a fierce battle, Yoru felt his frustrations getting released with each strike, each swing, each block. He loved sparring with Ryo. The girl was strong, witty, and she knew how to handle every weapon.

Their bodies began to sweat on the night heat, they would separate only to clash their swords together again, going back and forth, pushing each other back. Yoru recognized something eerily familiar.

Ryo stroke, the bokken aimed towards Yoru’s neck, aimed to kill. Slowly backing him up, Yoru felt the thrill of the fight coursing through his veins. Blocking each attack, Ryo was versatile, dealing him unexpected blows from below, only to hit him from above the very next second.

Yoru stroke with bokken, putting more and more strength in each attack. His emotions going wild, he attacked and attacked, until his bokken grazed Ryo’s carotid artery. And he felt the wood press against his neck.

Heaving, Ryo smiled widely. “Always a good time spent sparring with you, boss. Has this eased your mind just a bit?” Yoru nodded.

Bringing her bokken down, Ryo raised an eyebrow. “Yet something else’s on your mind right now. What is it?”

“I just have a bad feeling about something.”

Ryo smirked. “Is it regarding Shuryo Inu?”

Sighing, Yoru nodded. “Is it about Fujiwara Hisashi?”

Yoru snorted. “…Might be.” He managed after a longer pause, feeling the summer heat burning his cheeks and neck.

Ryo grinned widely. “Thought so. Why are you so concerned about him?”

“I am thinking something, which may or may not prove to be true. But I’ll keep this one to myself, because I don’t want to speculate. He’s probably so overloaded with work, while nobody else from there does anything. I only ever see him and that girl. That will take a toll on his psyche.”

“Again, why is that any of your concern?”

Yoru looked away. “Now that I think back, I did save him that night, from that mayor’s hyena. Why did I do that? Ryo is right; why do I care about Hisashi?”

Remembering their fights so far, Yoru came to a conclusion. Every time he saw Hisashi, the guy had such a sad expression on his face. Even if he had fire in his eyes, being determined to capture him for whatever reason he might have, Hisashi is deeply unhappy about being there.

“Who made you like this?”     

Stopping in front of the library, flashes of blue and red lights fell upon Hisashi as he exited his car. The huge fire has been tamed, the firemen have put out most of it, and only a part remained. Hisashi felt his chest tighten. He’d been fond of the large library, and the librarian was always so kind.

Reaching the policemen, he asked what happened.

“It was the Akai Ryu. Now it’s not just the bank, the news reporting building or something else. Now they got the library as well. Why, I don’t know. Nothing seems like a justified reason.”

Hisashi hummed, “Well, Yoru seems to be a pyromaniac. They don’t usually need a specific reason; they might just get aroused when they see things on fire. But that might not be the reason, just a possibility.” Taking a flashlight, he stepped into the ruins of the building he once adored so much.

Walking through the burned building, he reached the sooty counter, flashing the light around. The darkness soon engulfed him, and Hisashi put a hand on his stomach. “Breathe in. And breathe out.”

Taking a turn, he followed the once-hallway towards the broken doors. Just a slight push was enough to make them fall and crumble, and Hisashi entered. The study seemed to be isolated, for the scholars who wanted some peace and quiet to study, probably. “I wonder what Yoru studied here.” Hisashi thought to himself, reaching the table, which was only half-burned. And a half-burned book on that table.

Putting on a pair of gloves, Hisashi picked the book up, gently pulling it towards himself.

“I assume it’s hopeless to expect to find anything here, but, it’s worth a try.”, he mumbled to himself.

Reading the pages that weren’t burned, he realized something. “It’s a checkbook. Now that is interesting. Wait.”

Stopping on one page, he noticed his surname.

“Fujiwara… what the…” Leaning forward, Hisashi read the page. Whatever could be read.

“Paid to Takeshi… 100 000 wyrettes. Who… nobody from my family has that much money on them!” Bewildered, he continued reading. How on earth did Yoru get his hands on this?

“Fujiwara..sahi. It just says this. Let’s see…” Hisashi mentally went through the names in his family.

“No, it can’t be him. Anyone but him. There has to be somebody with the same name ending…”, he mumbled panicky. He put the book down, carefully closing it.

“Fujiwara Asahi. That’s the only person who could…”

Breathing fast, Hisashi took a plastic bag out so he could put the book inside as a piece of evidence. And hopefully, he’ll convince the police he has nothing to do with that check.

Cold wind blew into his back, making the hairs on his neck stand. The night was dark, the fire was almost put out.

Getting up, Hisashi felt shooting pain in his head and ringing in his ears. The earth seemed to sway under his feet, he couldn’t see clearly anymore.

Falling to the ground, only darkness surrounded him as he closed his eyes.