IEGO || Heart Catcher

『 CHAPTER 38 』

Your disheveled appearance, combined with Shuu's testament to your situation, horrified your teammates.

It didn't take long for everyone to fret over you vocally. Aside from Tsurugi, the adults were able to keep their cool and calmed down your teammates.

You sighed throughout all this. Not only did you missed your first day of training, your makeup was messed up, and you were covered with dirt. With a huff, you approached Sangoku and pulled on his sleeve. He turned to you.

"What do you need [Surname]? A medkit? Food? I can spare you my clothes."

"First, please calm down. Second, I'm going to need lots of bandages. My makeup is off. Third, where do I clean up?"

"Where do you ⸺ oh." Sangoku sucked the air through his teeth. Thoughts ran through his head.

They were in the wilds. [Nickname]'s a growing girl. Scratch that, she's a zombie girl. Darn it, why didn't I ask Mr Yuukoku regarding this kind of situation on what should I do?

Haruna nor any of the girls were around. You were surrounded by boys and men. Sangoku weighed his options.

He approached Fubuki. "Oh, is there something Sangoku-kun?" Fubuki asked.

With a straight face, Sangoku answered, "Yes. [Nickname] wants to clean up. Where can she clean up?"

The boys froze. Kabeyama, Fudou, Kazemaru, and Endou looked to Fubuki. Fubuki, retaining his smile, sweated.

"Ah, I didn't think about that," Fubuki answered.

"Is there something going on right now?" Shuu had appeared.

Kariya coughed. Like the boys, his cheeks were rather red. "[Name] is in need of, ahem, a place to clean up."

"Oh, I know a place."

"You know one?!"

♡ --- ♡ --- ♡

Kariya ate a plate of curry, but try as he might to just focus on eating, his blush hadn't dissipated when his ears could catch the sound of water splashing in the calm stream. He groaned. Steam emitted from the redness of his face. "Why am I here?"

"On guard duty. The real question is," Sangoku said, "why are you here while eating? Please go back lest you might spill your plate across these grounds."

"I'm not going to litter, if that's what you mean," Kariya huffed. "By the way, why are you here again?"

Sangoku lifted up the bag of spare clothes and rolls of bandages for you. He shook it in front of Kariya. Kariya sighed: "Alright alright, I get it. You can stop shaking those things in front of me."

"You're welcome." Sangoku puts away the bag again.

The water splashed once more. Then, a pebble stumbled in between Sangoku and Kariya.

"A pebble?" Kariya asked.

"Oh, that means she's done."

"Already?" Kariya turned behind him to be met with ⸺

"GAAAAAAH! IT'S THE RING!"

Sangoku immediately caught Kariya's plate, while Kariya trampled and rolled away. You, whose wet hair covered your entire face, giggled as you stepped out of the stream with a towel over. Sangoku shook his head with a sigh once he caught your shaking shoulders from your giggling.

"Really [Nickname]?"

You giggled again.

♡ --- ♡ --- ♡

You had to make do with the bandages. Your reason for this was your skin allergies were acting up again (well, that's somewhat half true; your skin almost peeled off when you needed to wash off your makeup).

"Is everything alright?"

You jumped. You turned to Shuu, who gave you an apologetic look.

"Ah, my bad. I didn't mean to scare you. Let me ask again. Are you alright?"

You nodded.

"That's good to know. Are you ready for training?"

You nodded, with more excitement this time.

Shuu laughed at your sparkling eyes. He led you over to what was a tall wall with markings. You recalled that Sangoku explained to you that there were rural monuments, evidence that there was, once, a civilization.

You understood what Shuu meant when he defined himself as dead then. And now, you wondered, what was the cause?

"[Surname]?"

You snapped out your wondering. You realised you hadn't listened to what Shuu said, and bowed down apologetically.

"It's fine, it's fine. This makes us even now, doesn't it?

You smiled a bit at that. Shuu explained to you again what you hadn't listened to. As you weren't good with water, or so he heard from your peers, he suggested that the best training for you was sandboard and wall climbing. He added an extra training regimen, and that involved forest parkour.

You got to it.

Under Shuu's supervision throughout your training days, bit by bit, you were getting used to your training. You mastered sandboard first, which made Fubuki proud, and then you were able to master the forest parkour.

Today, as the evening sun set, you were able to climb to the top of the wall. You cheered once you were able to stand up.

Shuu clapped. "Congratulations [Name]!"

You gave him a thankful smile. You stretched your limbs out. You realised your bandages had come loose, so you sat down to fix it again.

"Ah, may I help?" Shuu offered.

You mulled about it. As Shuu had guessed, or knew from the bat, what your actual living status were, you nodded.

Thus, Shuu sat beside you. You turned to Shuu so it would be easier for him to unravel your bandages. His fingers reached out for the two bandages piece that you held out.

Carefully, he peeled the bandages off. The bandages fell limp around your neck. Shuu's eyes widened when they landed upon the sight of your face.

You felt flustered under his gaze, and turned pink when his thumb traced across your stitch from your chin to your cheek.

"What did it take...?"

You tilted your head at him. His eyes held a darkness to it. He frowned, too. He looked down, muttering:

"What did it took ... for you to come back?"

The wind whistled.

Slowly, you grabbed Shuu's hand. You unfurled his fingers to reveal his palm. You traced your answer on it.

"It took ... his eyes...?"

That was your answer, yes. That was the truth. However, when tears travelled down your cheeks, Shuu realised the other truth.

Shuu wrapped his arms around you. He pulled you closer when you wrapped your arms around him back.

You cried and cried and cried until you couldn't anymore, which was when you fell asleep. As you did, feeling Shuu's hand patting your head while he lay you on his lap, your mind wandered back to Shuu's question.

To Yuukoku, all it took were his eyes. But to you, it almost took his life.