*****
Hisao
*****
It's been a few days since the attack that inspired rumors of a new Piper out on the prowl. There haven't been any incidents after (thank goodness), and because of that, the excitement and fear eventually died down and life had mostly gone back to normal.
Well, I say mostly gone back to normal, but not everything.
"What the hell is that cop's problem?" Omoyo yelled, giving her desk a frustrated smack.
With no volunteer work scheduled, we were all chilling in the clubroom doing our own thing when she suddenly lost her temper. The "cop" that got her all vexed was Serimachi.
Ever since that first meeting with him when he questioned us about the attack, we've all spotted and run into him many times. He mostly just said or waved "hi" to us in passing, but for some reason, it got on Omoyo's nerves.
"That guy's totally stalking us," she claimed.
"Are you sure it's not just your imagination?" I asked. "I mean, that attack did happen close by our usual way to and from school. He could just be doing his job by canvasing the whole area, looking for clues, all that."
"All the way here?" Omoyo said, referring to the school. "No way. He's definitely stalking us. The way he looked at us sometimes, it's like he thinks we're criminals or something! We need to watch out, especially you, Isaneko."
With a smile, Isaneko replied, "Aw, are you worried about me, Homura? I'm so touched. You must really care about me, a lot."
Omoyo scowled and said, "I'm being serious here." She turned away as if to hide her face, which was looking a bit red. "It was obvious from the get-go that cop doesn't like you. I wouldn't be surprised if he tries to do something to you. Speaking of which, what did you do to him? It sounded like you guys got history."
"In a way, we do have a bit of history," Isaneko admitted. "His wife is actually a member of my cult."
I blinked and wondered, Did I hear her right?
"Isaneko, you have a cult? Like an actual cult?"
The others looked at me funny.
"Yes," Isaneko said, rather slowly and deliberately. "But you should know that already. We talked about this a while back. Don't tell me you forgot."
"Well . . ."
"Unbelievable," went Omoyo. "How do you forget something like that?"
I shied away feeling somewhat embarrassed and defensively said, "Give me a break. If it's been a long time, I'm going to forget, okay? So, does this mean that you got people bowing and praying to you, stuff like that?"
"Occasionally," said Isaneko. "It's surprising how stupid people can be. Just because I showed a little bit of supernatural gift, they believe that I'm like some kind of divine savior. I have to pinch myself to keep a straight face every time my followers sing me praises. It's just too hilarious."
She had a dark smile plastered on her face as she spoke with rising evil elation.
"I take back my concern," said Omoyo. "It's no wonder that cop hates your guts."
Isaneko shrugged. "I'm already bored with all that worship, to be honest. I've been trying to phase those kinds of meetings out, but Mother was adamant about keeping them going."
"Okay," I went, standing up. "I think that's enough of an info dump of things I'm probably better off not knowing."
"Oh, is it that time already?" said Mirai, glancing up at the wall-mounted clock stuck close to the ceiling.
"Yeah," I replied back. I hit the snooze button on my phone, ceasing the alarm buzzing and stuffed it back in my pocket.
Ever since the attack a few days ago, my parents had become increasingly worried about mine and Yuna's safety, so they had us coming home earlier than usual. They also didn't want us going out during the weekends, which didn't really matter since all the weekend volunteer work events the club always joins have been canceled for the foreseeable future. I was also more of a homebody, anyway. Still am.
As I grabbed my stuff, I asked the others, "You guys coming with?"
Mirai shook his head. "Nah. You guys go on ahead. I must consult the dark forces for the next harvest of souls."
I'm not even gonna bother trying to translate that.
"I'm gonna stick around too," said Omoyo. "I just remembered I'm scheduled to help out the Library Committee today."
"I'm also scheduled to help out the Library Committee," said Isaneko.
Omoyo raised an eyebrow and said, "You are? Since when?"
"Since right now."
"Oi."
"Then I guess it's just you and me, Yuna," I said. "Let's go."
As Yuna and I casually strolled through the usual streets and roads, I noted how there were more people around compared to when we usually walked down this way. I was just about to turn a corner, when Yuna suddenly tugged on my sleeve, stopping me.
"Is something wrong, Yuna?" I asked her.
She pointed at the corner and out walked a boy our age from another school. I think Yuna must have sensed the boy coming and stopped me from walking into him. He happened to glance at us, and his eyes almost immediately lit up.
"Hisao? Is that you?" he said.
"Shinji? Wow, it's been a while!"
The boy grinned and replied back, "Yeah, it has."
Shinji was a friend of mine back when we were kids. We used to hang out together all the time until middle school.
"Look at you," he said. "Did you lose weight? I hardly recognized you!"
"Must be all that Kendo practice," I said.
Shinji did a double-take. "You and Kendo!? You, the guy who did nothing but watch anime all day and night? You joined the Kendo Club?"
"Did you have to say it like that?" I pouted in dismay at his reaction. "But no, I'm not in the Kendo Club. I'm in the Community Service Club. I just get sent there to help out when they're short on people, which seems to happen a lot for some reason. Never joined them in any contests though."
Shinji raised an eyebrow. "You get sent there? What? Did your mom bribe your club prez or something to make you exercise?"
"You know?" I said. "That would not surprise me."
Yuna yanked on my sleeve again.
"Oh! Right!" I exclaimed, realizing something. "Sorry, Yuna. Hey, Shinji. This is my cousin, Yuna. Yuna, this is Shinji, a friend of mine from middle school."
"Pleasure to meet you," Shinji said with a grin.
Yuna smiled back and bowed without a word.
"Not much of a talker, huh?" Shinji whispered to me. "Even less than you."
"There's . . . actually a reason for that," I whispered back.
"A reason?"
"It's complicated," I said, thinking better than to elaborate on my cousin's past without her say-so. "Anyway, what about you? Are you still doing Kendo yourself?"
"You know it," said Shinji, glancing back at the long bundle of fabric slung behind him. "Got a match coming up too."
"With who? Megugami?"
Shinji shook his head. "A different school, which is too bad. I'd love to spar with you some time. I bet it'd be fun."
"Pft! I doubt it," I said with a short. "I can barely hold my own against the latecomers. I won't last a second against you in a fair fight, Mr. Middle School Kendo Star."
"Aw, don't say that," said Shinji. "Who knows? After all that practice, you might even be good enough to give me an actual workout."
"Ha ha," I laughed mockingly at his sarcasm. "Very funny. But seriously, I'm not even in the Kendo Club. Like I said, I just help out from time to time with practice. No contests or anything like that. Anyway, it was nice talking to you, but me and Yuna need to get going."
"Why? What's the fire? You guys got a doctor's appointment or something?"
I shook my head and replied, "No, nothing like that. My mom just wants us home early because of that thing that happened a few days ago."
"Oh, that," said Shinji. "It's crazy what's been happening in town lately. First, the Piper shows up. Then we had those fires. Now this. Did you hear? The guy that got attacked was the ace of his school's Kendo Club! I know the guy was probably taken by surprise, but to put him out of commission like that . . . Whoever the culprit is, they're strong. I hope they catch him soon."
"You and me both," I said. "Well, see you."
"See you around," Shinji said.
We parted and went our separate ways.
A few minutes later, while me and Yuna continued our walk home, Yuna suddenly stopped and tugged on my sleeve again, this time rather frantically.
"What is it now, Yuna?" I asked.
Yuna aggressively jabbed her finger the way we came again and again, and then wildly waved her hands around. I didn't really understand what she was trying to say.
Giving up on hand signs, Yuna hurriedly pulled out her phone and typed in it as fast as she could before practically shoving the device into my face.
On the screen, I read: "Shinji following trouble maybe"
I repeated the words a few times under my breath, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Which wasn't easy for me, let me tell you. But I got it soon enough.
"You think someone's following Shinji and he might be in trouble?"
Yuna gave a vigorous nod.
A terrible image suddenly flashed in my head of Shinji lying face down on the ground and I felt something surge from inside my stomach. It was both hot and unpleasant.
And then, without hesitation, as if someone else had taken me over, I ordered Yuna, "Take me to him. Quick!"
Yuna seemed surprised at my sudden change in personality, but recovered and nodded.
Together, we ran back the way we came. Yuna led me down the road Shinji had taken and it was a straight shot forward. Along the way, Yuna nearly tripped, but I caught her before she could hit the ground and scooped her up in my arms, carrying her the rest of the way.
"I just need to keep going straight, right?" I asked her.
She timidly nodded in response.
I didn't notice at the time, but Yuna was pretty flustered when I picked her up. I wasn't sure why. We were in a rush and it seemed like the sensible thing to do to save time.
I also normally wouldn't have the strength to carry another person, let alone carry someone while running. But thanks to my Psy-Armor, Yuna was as light as a feather, and I could run for miles and miles. Thankfully, I didn't have to go that far.
In just a few minutes, I caught up to him. I spotted him a few feet away just slowly making his way home without a care in the world.
I stopped just a few feet behind him and set Yuna down. As far as I could see, we were the only ones around.
"Yuna," I whispered, "you sure he's being followed?"
Yuna nodded and made circle motions with her finger before pointing ahead. I think she was trying to tell me that the guy following Shinji had circled around and is now waiting ahead of him.
"Great, now what to do?"
As I tried to figure out my next move now that I was there, Shinji suddenly cried out.
"Whoa!"
Yuna and I looked up, and I saw Shinji fly up, like a guy in a cartoon slipping on a banana peel.
"Shinji!"
I kicked off and leaped. A cluster of psychic energy gathered at my feet and exploded, propelling me forward as I leaned down. I managed to get beneath Shinji just in time after skidding across the ground, which felt surprisingly slippery and cold for some reason.
He went "Guh!" when he landed on my back and rolled off. I, on the other hand, didn't feel a thing thanks to my Psy-Armor.
As we picked ourselves up, I asked, "You okay, Shinji?"
"Forget about me!" Shinji cried out. "What about you? I probably shouldn't say this about myself, but I'm pretty heavy on muscles thanks to all that Kendo."
"Oh, I'm okay," I said. "Didn't even feel a thing."
Which was the complete truth.
"Were you always this hardy?" Shinji asked with an incredulous look.
I shrugged and replied, "You're not the only one who's built some muscle."
I couldn't really blame him for it, but the doubtful look on Shinji's face was really hurtful. But moving on . . .
"You still haven't answered my question," I pointed out.
"A little sore, but nothing serious thanks to you," he said.
I breathed out in relief. "That's good to hear. But that seriously freaked me out, the way you suddenly flew up like that. It was like something out of a cartoon."
"You're telling me," said Shinji. "But there's nothing funny about this. If you hadn't caught me, I might have conked my head and it'd be lights out for me. Forever."
He took a look at the ground.
"It's weird though, how the ground just suddenly got all slippery. Wait, is that . . .?"
I followed his gaze to the pavement and was astonished to see that quite clearly a section of it was covered in ice, something that should be impossible this time of year.
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