For a moment he was disoriented. Why was he in Kaname’s apartment? How did he get there? Soon the memory of the previous night came back to him. The phone call, her initial irritation, his foolish behavior, their conversation, her concern, the warmth of her embrace . . . She seemed to have some sort of magical healing power. He had slept peacefully the rest of the night. No plane crashes, no rain, no toxic smells.
“Chidori . . .”
He looked around the room. His eyes rested on the bedroom door. It was open just a crack. He silently got up and made his way across the floor, hesitating a moment before carefully opening the door and peering into the room beyond.
Kaname lay sound asleep in her bed. She had changed back into her pajamas and was clutching her beloved Bonta-kun to her chest. The blanket rose and fell slightly with her soft breathing. Her face, half buried in the pillow, was almost angelically peaceful. Sousuke found himself transfixed by the scene. That now familiar feeling of longing rose in him.
After a little more hesitation, he was finally able to pull himself away from the sleeping girl’s doorway and walk back to the couch where he had spent the night. He carefully folded the blanket and put the large throw pillow back in its customary position. Next, he checked all of the security features he had installed in the apartment over the last nine months. Everything seemed satisfactory. He then stood in the middle of the room for a long time, staring at the folded blanket. A deep sigh escaped his lips. He reached down and retrieved the photocopied newspaper articles from the coffee table and began to head towards the front door.
He stopped. He walked to the kitchen instead and scribbled a note on the pad of paper Kaname kept next to her phone. He read it over once, folded it, walked back to the couch, and placed it on top of the blanket. Finally, he made his way quietly out the front door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Que! Kana-chan! Que! It’s morning! Que! Time to get up! You’ll be late!”
Kaname weakly dropped her hand on top of the squawking alarm clock. It was Wednesday morning. She couldn’t afford to sleep in. They had a test in algebra second period. Oh, how she used to hate algebra. Being Whispered did have its advantages, apparently. She, Kyouko, and Shiori had promised to meet before home room to go over their notes together. Kaname wasn’t really worried about the test, but she didn’t want to let her friends down. With great effort, she dragged herself out of her warm bed and into the bathroom.
The hot shower helped bring her out of her morning stupor. She felt almost alive as she pulled on her school uniform and tied the end of her long hair with its customary red ribbon. As she fastened her watch, her eyes drifted to the folded piece of paper sitting on the night stand. She picked it up and read the note for the millionth time.
“Stupid boy,” she smiled despite her words. “Just had to throw in all that otaku junk at the end, didn’t you?”Chidori,
Thank you for your understanding last night. I will try to make more of an effort in the future. Your friendship and faith mean a great deal to me. Enjoy your Sunday at the amusement park. I understand such places can be very crowded. Please avoid secluded areas where you could be easily cornered. Maintain a clear view of emergency exits at all times and consider bringing along something that could be used to fight off an abductor if need be. I believe you still have several small cans of pepper spray I gave you. Something heavy in your purse that you could swing at an attacker would also be affective. I hope the outing is uneventful and you will not need to use any of these. I will see you at school on Monday.
-Sagara Sousuke
She placed the note in the top drawer and headed off to school.
The past few days had been rather uneventful. Sousuke seemed to have returned to his normal, overly composed self. He hadn’t been called to the principal’s office, shot anything, tackled anyone, or blown anything up. He had done better on his English paper than she had expected. True, he was fluent in the language, but his stiff, strangely wordy style of writing usually lost him a lot of points. He also tended to completely misunderstand the assigned topic and somehow make it about military tactics, weapons, or security. Lucky for him, this paper had been on current events. He had written on the conflict in the Middle East, something he understood better than most people. He scored an A-. Kaname had gotten an A+ herself, but that was normal. She was fluent in English, too, after all!
She smiled to herself as she rounded the corner and walked the final block to Jindai High School. Kyouko ran to meet her at the gate.
“Kana-chan! Goodmorning! You look really happy. What happened?”
“Hey, Kyouko! It’s nothing. Just in a good mood. No real reason.” Kyouko eyed her suspiciously. “Ready for the test?”
“Are you kidding?! I’m in terrible trouble! I couldn’t study at all last night! My mom is going to kill me if I fail another test! You have to help me!”
“Oh, me too!!” Shiori ran up to them. “When did you get good at algebra, anyway, Kaname? Didn’t it used to be your worst subject? It’s really not fair for you to be good at it all of a sudden.” She gave Kaname an evil glare.
“Oh, really I’m not!” Kaname protested. “I just got a good tutor and I’ve been trying harder at it, I think. It’s still tough. I studied my brains out last night.”
Actually, she had spent the night watching a Sailor Moon marathon, but she couldn’t tell them that.
They made their way into the school and to their classroom. Shiori had some great gossip about two of their classmates who had supposedly started dating. They laughed and speculated about how long the relationship would last. (Two weeks, tops! She’s way too good for him!) They pulled three desks together and started going over the practice questions from their book.
About five minutes after they started their study group, out of the corner of her eye, Kaname saw Sousuke enter the room. He had probably trailed her to school as usual. What a weirdo. As he was unpacking his things at his desk, his phone began to ring. Out of habit Kaname tried to listen in on his conversation.
“How did you get that answer? I don’t get it.”
“Sagara here.”
“That one’s easy. You just have to think of it like this . . .”
“I see, and what did they discover?”
“No no no, that’s not how the teacher said to do those. Look, in my notes it says to . . .”
“And you believe they may still be there?”
“I think you wrote that down wrong, I have this . . .”
“I appreciate that, sir.” He wrote something in his notebook. “I have it.”
“Kana-chan, what did you get for number eleven?”
“Thank you, Commander. So do I.”
“Forty two”
“Yes, I will be sure to tell you my results.”
“Oh me too!”
“Thank you, sir.” He hung up.
“Wait, that’s not what I got . . . oh, I see what you did!”
What was that call about?
“That’s so easy! I finally got it!”
Does he have another mission?
“How about number thirteen?”
How long will he be gone for?
“Kana-chan, what did you get for thirteen?”
Will he get hurt?
“Hello, Kaname, you still with us?”
He can’t keep missing so much school.
“Kaname!” Kyouko and Shiori glared at her.
“Ah, oh, sorry. I guess I’m kinda spacey this morning. What did you say?”
“Hmmm . . .” Kyouko and Shiori smiled knowingly at each other. They had noticed Sagara enter the room, too.
“Number thirteen, Kana-chan. What did you get?”
“Oh, thirteen? Let me see . . .”
“Excuse me, Chidori. May I speak with you a moment?” Sousuke had walked over to them without her noticing. Kaname started a little when he spoke. Shiori stifled a giggle. Kyouko grinned.
“Uh, okay, what do you need?” Kaname tried to hide her embarrassment.
“Uhh . . .” He looked at the two other girls. “It is somewhat . . . May I speak with you alone?”
“Oh!”
It’s probably about his job, stupid. Pull yourself together!
“Yeah, okay, I guess.” She stood up with as much dignity as she could muster and followed him into the hall.
“So what’s going on?” She began to feel concern rise in her again. She hoped it wasn’t a dangerous mission. He’d just barely escaped death a few weeks ago on the Christmas cruise. This was really too much!
“Would you be willing to accompany me somewhere after school today? There is something I need to do, and I would greatly appreciate your help.”
“Huh?”
“For my history report. You had offered your assistance before.”
“Oh, yes, of course. I’m not doing anything. Of course I’ll help you.”
“Thank you.”
“Is that all?”
“Pardon?”
“There’s nothing else I should know?”
“I do not believe so.”
“But the phone call . . .” She blushed. She’d as good as admitted that she’d been eavesdropping.
“Huh? Oh, that was to do with the assignment as well. Lieutenant Commander Kalinin has managed to pull a few strings with the intelligence department for me.”
“Ah, I see.” She felt the worry drain out of her. “I though it might have been a mission or something.”
“Oh . . . no. It’s just as I said.” They stood awkwardly silent for a short time.
“Well, I’d better get back to my study group. They’re lost without me.” She smiled. “Are you ready for the math test?”
“Yes. It’s not a problem.”
“Hmm . . .” She walked back in to her friends. Kyouko gave her a questioning look, but Kaname just shrugged. As they got back to studying, she began to wonder just where Sousuke would be taking her that afternoon. What had he said on the phone?
And you believe they may still be there?
