Chapter 2 – Target
Mika left the house bright and early that morning. She slung her school bag over her shoulder and set off. She felt slightly uncomfortable in her short sleeve and mini skirt she had for a school uniform – she'd had a slightly longer one in her old school. She had found the package after arriving home last night. It had been placed outside the door just right so when she walked in, she tripped and had done a face plant into the floor.
As she walked along she began to think of her new friends. They contradicted her own personality, but that didn’t matter. Some of her best friends back in Hokkaido were opposites of herself. Ayako was very outgoing and drew attention to herself. She seemed to like being the center of all happenings. Kana was quiet but she didn’t really give Mika the sense that she was shy. She just didn’t waste unnecessary words on unimportant things. Mika on the other hand, was indeed shy and usually quiet. She could stand up for herself when need be, but she’d much rather just fade into to the background and seem like she didn’t exist.
Mika looked up from the ground and a figure ahead immediately drew her attention. Even though she had only known her for a day, she recognized the figure standing on the corner of the street. She ran up to it. “Kana!” she exclaimed. “Were you waiting here just for me? Have you been here long?”
Kana dropped her eyes. “I’ve been waiting for an hour at least.” Her tone was deep and serious.
Mika stepped back horror-struck. Before she could even gather her thoughts, Kana giggled and looked up happily. “I’m kidding,” she said smiling. “It’s only been a couple of minutes or so.”
Mika realized she had stopped breathing, and took a deep breath of air. “That was mean,” she mumbled, but she couldn’t keep the smile off her face. The two of them started off to school together. It was surprising that even though they hadn’t even known each other for twenty-four hours, it seemed like they had been friends for months.
Ayako met them at the intersection of the two streets and the three happily walked to school together laughing and giggling all the way there. It was still early when they got to school, so Ayako led the group to a place under a large sakura tree.
“We like to sit here in the mornings when we have a little extra time,” Ayako explained. “It’s really pretty when it is in bloom.”
“I bet so,” Mika commented. She wished it was a cool spring day, but the heat and humidity of the day wouldn’t let her forget that it was only the beginning of the summer. Mika imagined how good it would feel when fall finally set in.
“Mika? Mika!”
Mika startled at the sound of Ayako’s voice. “Huh?”
“Were you listening to anything I said just then?”
“Ah... oops...” she quickly apologized and sent Ayako into laughter. Kana followed shortly after giggling, and Mika joined last in the merriment. Too soon, the first bell rang indicating students should begin moving to their classes. The girls sighed and headed in the building to begin the school day.
As Mika walked she had the feeling someone was watching her. She turned around and stared into the bushes. There was a slight rustle and she froze. A squirrel jumped from the bushes and onto a tree a moment later. “Must have been nothing,” she muttered to herself still feeling a little on edge.
“Come on Mika! Class is going to start without you!” Ayako called from the front door. Mika held her bag tight and ran up the stairs to join the other two. They ran to class and made it just before the bell rang. Mika hurried to her seat and sat down panting from running to get to class on time. It was after she sat down, that she realized Kaito was not here yet. She looked around but didn’t see him.
The bell rang, and the teacher came in, and that’s when he walked in as well. He was right behind the sensei*, who apparently, had no idea that Kaito was behind him, and he took his seat without the teacher ever knowing he was late. Mika noticed that the boy sitting diagonal to her, across from Kaito was staring at him. Kaito had also noticed his friend and smirked. He could tell exactly what he was thinking by his glance.
“Why is it that when I’m late I get in trouble and no one notices when you come in late?”Kaito replied to the unspoken question with a glance of his own.
“I’m just awesome like that,” he smirked.
Daisuke glared, but couldn’t help smiling. He rolled his eyes in an overdramatic way, and then faced the front. Class was extremely uneventful as always. Mika couldn’t help finding her mind wandering as the teacher droned on and on. She had already covered English up to this point in her old class, and was also pretty good at catching onto foreign languages.
The next class was math. Although, depending on the day, this period would either be math or science. Math was scheduled on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, while the Science classes were scheduled on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Mika was pretty decent in math as well. She solved all of the problems correctly, and ended up getting called to the board to solve a problem once, which she did correctly, to some of the students’ amazement.
Literature was the class was after that. It was probably Mika’s worst academic class, but she didn’t do terrible in that either.
The lunch bell rang after the class and people began to disperse, exiting the classroom to find a suitable spot to eat lunch with their friends. Ayako and Kana met Mika at her desk, and they all headed up to the roof to eat.
The three ate lunch with minor conversations between each other. Near the middle of the lunch break, Mika became aware that Kaito had taken his place on the uppermost part of the roof. She wasn’t sure how long he’d been there, she just knew that he had gotten up there without using the ladder, which was near where Mika sat, and he had gotten up there with no noise or anything to draw attention to himself.
The bell rang again and they headed for the door. Ayako faced the lump that was Kaito and said, “You’re going to be late again if you keep sleeping! Just like you were this morning!”
An incoherent grumbling came from Kaito.
“Lazy bum,” Ayako muttered under her breath, and he moved so suddenly, that it was a blur. Mika jumped back in astonishment when she saw him jump and land right in front of Ayako. The jump was about three meters out and two down. How he did not hurt his legs from the impact of landing, Mika had no idea. However, he landed lightly and without a sound as if he were jumping off of something that was just several centimeters instead of meters.
Ayako stumbled backward a few steps, astonished, as he landed right in front of her. She blinked, and he smirked at her baffled face.
“Now then,” his voice was soft and honeyed, but it had the slightest edge to it, “who were you calling lazy?”
“I...Y-you could hear that?”
Kana took a couple of steps toward the two. She pushed her glasses up on her nose and said, “If we don’t get a move on, we will have a repeat of this morning, except Takahiro-san will not be the only one late.”
Ayako huffed, spun around, and took dramatic, marching steps to the door and down the stairs. Kana nodded her head to Kaito and also followed with Mika beside her. Kaito sighed and followed after them.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
It was finally the last class of the day, but Mika was dreading it as she changed. Ayako saw her concern and asked if she was okay.
“I’m just really bad at P.E.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Ayako encouraged. “It really doesn’t matter how good or bad you are. As long as you do something you get an A for the class.”
Ayako and Mika walked out onto the field together, and joined the rest of the class that had already gathered there. When all of the class had joined them, the coach walked up holding a soccer ball. “Today,” he spoke in a loud booming voice, “you will be playing soccer. We will need two teams and two captains, so who wants to be a captain?”
Ayako’s hand shot up and she glared at Kaito. It was obvious in her eyes; she was going to challenge Kaito for what he'd said on the rooftop earlier. He sighed and consented, raising his hand.
“Now then, divide yourselves in half and join a team!”
Most of the girls migrated to Ayako’s side and the guys headed for Kaito’s team, and the game began. Mika noticed immediately how athletic Ayako was, but then again, Kaito was just as athletic. Despite there being so many team members, it still seemed like a one-on-one battle between Kaito and Ayako.
After ten minutes, no one had scored a goal, but also as Mika watched, she noticed that Kaito was not playing seriously. His expression and movement in every way indicated he was playing around with her. As Mika watched, he snatched the ball and kicked it across the field to Daisuke who headed straight toward Mika. She froze knowing she needed to move, but couldn’t, and then he flew by her without a second thought and kicked it into the goal.
Mika saw Ayako panting and dripping sweat, scowling at the goal. As Kaito walked passed Ayako he whispered just loud enough for her to hear, “You’ll never beat me. You won’t even score.”
Ayako was lost for words, but her expression became furious. The game started back and didn’t leave her time to think about his words. The more the game went on, the more desperate her movements. She would pass to a teammate only to have someone steal the ball. When she kept it, Kaito would block her movement forward and steal it back. Once he started running with it, getting the ball back was hopeless. He was the fastest in the school, Mika decided, and no one could catch him.
The game ended with four to zero, Kaito’s team completely dominating Ayako’s. Everyone trudged back to the locker rooms. Mika walked until she realized Ayako wasn’t coming. Mika saw her kneeling down still on the field. When Mika got to her, she realized immediately something was wrong. “Ayako?” she asked hesitantly.
Ayako smiled up at her, however, Mika noticed the strain on her face. “I’m fine,” she said, but when she stood it was awkward. She put all of her weight on her left leg and pushed herself to her feet, when she took a step forward on her right foot, she crumpled.
Mika tried to grab her arm and support some of her weight, but she soon realized she wasn’t strong enough to support someone who had no use of one leg. Ayako’s face was clearly pained now, and Mika began to panic. Mika looked up, and noticed someone walking toward them. She waved her hand hoping whoever it was would come over to help. She immediately regretted her actions. It was none other than Kaito. Naturally, it had to be him.
Ayako gritted her teeth and stood up, trying not to appear weak. She went to take a step forward and for a moment held herself on her right leg, but before she could take the step onto her left foot, the right one gave, and she began to fall. He was under her in an instant, grabbing her right arm and putting it over his neck. Ayako regained her balance on the left leg, but as soon as she saw who had grabbed her she began trying to pull away.
He glanced at Mika as he held onto the flailing Ayako. “You should go back to class. Homeroom will be starting in less than a minute.”
Mika hesitated, glancing at Ayako and looking for any indication of what she wanted. Mika sighed when Ayako paid no attention to her and ran off toward the school. She didn’t change seeing as she was very nearly late. She ran into the room a second before the bell rang without her bag and still in her P.E uniform. She took her seat quietly.
The teacher began to go through the list of club meetings and upcoming events. As the final bell was about to ring, he said, “Hanashi Ayako and Hatori Tatsuya will be in charge of the cleaning this evening.”
Mika raised her hand. “Sensei, Hanashi-san hurt her ankle in gym today. I don’t think she can clean...”
“I see, well then Minamoto –san, you will be in charge of cleaning in her stead.”
“Yes sir,” Mika said quietly.
She glanced at Hatori across the room. She had never really noticed him, but now she studied his appearance. He had longer, wavy, dark brown hair that fell over his eyes. It didn’t really look like he brushed his hair, but at the same time, it didn’t look like it was knotted. One couldn’t see his eyes because of this hair. He looked like he would be strong, but she wasn’t entirely sure seeing as the uniform covered his arms.
The final bell rang and interrupted Mika’s thoughts and she watched as the class poured out into the hall. Mika stood up but didn’t leave her desk. Hatori-san also stayed across the room, but as soon as the teacher was gone, he turned to Mika a glint in his eyes. “I’ll leave the cleaning to you then, Mika Minamoto.”
Unable to say anything, Mika watched as he left the class and listened to his footsteps fade down the hall. Mika sighed and looked out the window at the flood of students pouring out of the school gates. She then faced the classroom and began to gather any trash that had been left in the room. She tied up the trash bag and set it near the door to take out later. She cleaned the white board and wiped off the desks.
By the time Mika was done, the sun was getting lower in the sky. She grabbed the trash and headed down the stairs and the hall and out the back door of the school. She threw it in the large trash bin, and then headed back into the school. As she was walking, she realized that she was still wearing her P.E uniform. She headed in the direction of the locker rooms on the other side of the school. Thankfully, the door had not yet been locked, although, many of the club students had already gone home.
Mika changed quickly back into her school uniform and grabbed her bag from the locker she had set it in a couple hours before. She headed back down the hall once again, hopefully for the last time today. As she walked, she began to feel as if someone were watching her. The feeling was much like it was this morning. A chill rippled down her spine. Mika looked around but saw no one there. She took a step forward and then heard it, footsteps heading in her direction from behind.
She whirled around, and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw the figure. Then, upon recognizing him as Hatori, she relaxed and took a deep breath. Mika was about to open her mouth and comment on how he had scared her just now, but she hesitated upon seeing his eyes. Even through his hair, she could see that they gleamed with bloodlust.
He walked steadily towards her, and for each step he took forward, she took one back; however, he was still closing the distance. Before she knew it, he was nearly within touching distance. He was smiling in a mad sort of way like an animal that had gone rabid. He took another step and reached out toward her face, and Mika immediately took a leap backwards.
In the middle of her mad leap for freedom, she hit something. Knowing it could only be a person, since the end of the hall was still another ten meters or so away, she flung herself against the wall on her right. The scene that she saw in front of her, took several seconds to process. Two men stood before her, Hatori was of course one, but the other caught Mika off guard. Kaito stood there before her, his hand holding the wrist of Hatori which was outstretched toward Mika.
Hatori’s body had gone rigid when he realized who it was. He ripped his hand out of Kaito’s grasp and dropped it to his side. Mika was utterly speechless upon realizing how much power Kaito really did hold within the student body, even though he was a freshman. Somehow she could feel that anyone and everyone were under Kaito in ranking. He was stronger, faster, and smarter than anyone else in the school, and he held the respect of everyone else.
Kaito straightened himself and glared at Hatori. “Go home, now,” he commanded in a low voice filled with utmost authority.
Hatori did not make eye contact with Kaito, but he walked around Kaito and down the empty hall.
Kaito turned to Mika who was still shaking slightly against the wall she was pressed up against. “Are you alright?” he asked studying her.
She nodded but seemed unable to speak. After a couple moments, she managed to ask, “How’s Ayako?” her voice was shaking still but she was beginning to get herself under control.
“Eh, she’s alive. It wasn’t really that major, just a twisted ankle.”
“Oh...” Mika finally pulled herself away from the wall, and dropped the bag she had been clutching to her chest, down to her side.
She glanced outside. It would still be light for another hour or so, she had enough time to get home. She turned back to Kaito and realizing that she hadn’t thanked him, she bowed. “Arigatou**, Takahiro – san.”
“Kaito,” he corrected. “You can call me by my first name.”
“Then, Kaito-san, arigatou gozaimasu.”
He nodded in acceptance of her thanks. “Are you headed home now?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll accompany you on your way.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Kaito and Mika walked down the street. Mika was leading slightly, since Kaito didn’t know where they were headed. She very nearly went crazy from the silence that seemed incredibly awkward to her, although Kaito seemed to be unaffected by it. “W-why did you want to accompany me?” she asked in an attempt to start up a conversation.
“Does it really matter?”
“I-I guess not...”
Attempt at a conversation: failed. She sighed and continued walking. Then, out of the blue Kaito spoke continuing Mika’s attempt for a conversation. “You of course, would not know; however, Hatori Tatsuya is part of a decently well known gang in this area. Not many do know this, but I have ways of getting information and I tend to be aware of the people in the school.”
Then he stopped, and Mika turned around to face him. He stared her straight in the eye. “This will not be the last time you see him, Mika. He will come with more forces if he wants you as badly as I believe him to. Be aware of your surroundings and the people in it. I would recommend not traveling down the streets at night and traveling in a group.”
Mika’s eyes went wide and she stiffened. “H-he-he’ll come back? But I thought you –”
“I have only chased him away for today. It won’t be permanent, but at least he shouldn’t go after you tonight.”
“But why is he after me?” she demanded. “I didn’t even know his name until today! We’ve never talked before!”
Kaito shook his head slowly, “I cannot answer that.”
They continued down the road with Mika’s mind in utter chaos trying to figure out what she would do if he did come back. They reached her house too soon and she stopped at the gate staring into the ominous black house.
“Well then,” Kaito said looking at the house that was obviously hers, “I leave you.” He turned to walk away, and without thinking, Mika took a step towards him. He glanced over his shoulder at her.
“W-would you like to come in for tea since you brought me all the way here?” Her eyes stared at the asphalt beneath her feet. “If you want to I mean...”
“I suppose I can, if that is what you want.”
Mika looked up and a relieved smile broke over her face. She opened the gate, led him to the door, grabbed the key from her bag, and opened the door into the dark house; although it didn’t seem nearly as lonely as it had. the previous night.
* Sensei~ Teacher
** Arigatou ~ 'Thank you', gozaimasu is used in more formal situations.
A/N~ Another Chapter, and it's a bit longer than the previous one. I hope the beginning with Kana didn't seem to weird, I felt like I needed to give her a little personality. She's just so stoic it's hard to do. ^^" Also, consciously using meters is hard! I figured since they were in Japan, I needed to use the metric system, but that's harder than I thought. lol
