The Golden Pear [YA - Featured]

♫~Notes 114~♫

 Ueno waved her, not sure how to phrase her greeting as all of them sounded too friendly. Maybe she wasn't ready to form an honest friendship. 'But I can try.'

Freya answered her the same way, adding a smile. The kittens ventured outside, begging both girls to play with them or feed them snacks. In no parallel universe, they could refuse their meowing, so they sat down.

Freya already had her questions written, so she only handed them to her senpai.

Ueno's eyes shot open as she read through it.

"So, Kagetsu-san had awakened. That's good." She scratched Kuro, the black kitten, behind the ears. "And, yes, I've seen Taiga return wet that day. I thought one of the gardeners poured water on her. But it was that son of a—!" She spurted onto her feet.

Freya jerked her head.

"I'll get him for this!"

The younger girl waved with her arms as if she tried to navigate a ship through swirling waters before she formed the T gesture.

"What's there to wait for? I need to press him against the wall! I bet he did it to cause trouble for me!" She bit her thumb, gnawing on it, providing Freya time to formulate her thought.

"Do we have proof?" she wrote into her new communication notebook.

Calming down a bit, Ueno assumed her place. "No, but I bet somebody saw him. I'll dig around the school. He has this group of kids around him."

Freya wasn't sure if this was the right action, but they needed to be sure of this.

'It could all be just a coincidence.' Yet the memories of their only interaction left her bitter. Torturing an animal didn't seem to be against his nature.

\\_(''>_<'')_//

Meanwhile, in the hospital, Kagetsu woke up. Despite the days' long sleep, he didn't feel refreshed. He needed to move, to get up and dash into school. Even chemistry seemed to be a better option than this.

"So tired."

The doctor urged him to not stress his body and keep relaxing, but Kagetsu couldn't rest as his mind searched for answers.

Was everything just a dream? It felt so real he could still hear the woman's voice and smell the static electricity. The warmth left by his fear also still lingered. And what happened to Ri's arm? Was it his fault too?

He gnawed on his lip when the door to his room opened. Expecting nurse to check on his vitals, his face brightened when it wasn't her.

"Dad!" He lifted his body a bit.

"Ka, it's great to see you, but don't stress yourself." The older man hurried to be by his side.

"But that tires me even more." His youngest child puckered his lips.