Eya cooked the lunch and they had their lunch at twelve. After she was done cleaning, and the Vr-cade was open again, she went to the staff room, leaving the counter in Kakashi's hands.
Although their sales were hampered whenever Kakashi took the counter, she had no choice, because she had to tell Reon an important thing– the next step of her plan.
Eya knocked on the door and pushed it open. She searched the room for Reon and saw her rolling in her bed.
When Hitori had agreed o Reon in the morning, that made her day. She did not snap out of it even after four hours of it happening. She was rolling in her bed, muttering to herself, "Finally, finally! If things go right on track, maybe I will make him plot a plan against Onogi pretty soon."
Eya heard her and she thought Reon's goal was valid– he did kill her love interest– so she knocked on the door again, this time making sure Reon hears her. And she did. She sat straight in her bed and cracked an awkward smile.
Eya cleared her throat and tried to act like a big sister, but she failed– she could not apply what she would have applied if it was Kakashi instead of Reon. So she did what anyone else would have.
She ignored and pretended 'Reon spending her alone time,' never happened. She walked to Reon, telling herself it was not a big deal, we all do silly things like that, and took a seat beside her.
Reon was blushing, Eya noticed, not that she could help her with that, so she ignored it again. "Uh, Reon, I want to tell you something."
"Yeah, yeah, sure, I am listening," she said.
Eya continued, "I am going out for a while– maybe two hours at most."
Reon's embarrassment vanished immediately. She widened her eyes and looked at Eya. But Eya answered before she could ask.
"Do not worry, Kakashi will be here with you. I am just going to get some groceries and… and some weapons," she whispered that last part.
Reon nodded, serious all of a sudden. "Alright. I understand. I will stay in the Vr-cadr."
Eya smiled. "Don't worry, Vr-cade is the last place they will come to."
Reon asked, "What is the place they will most likely visit first?" She already knew the answer to that question.
Eya gulped and said, "The house."
They stared into each other's eyes for a moment before Eya broke the silence. "I will go," she said as she got up and walked to the door. "Bye."
She waved and Reon waved back at her. She was looking for Kakashi as soon as she closed the door.
The counter was empty and Kakashi was missing. Horror struck her. She thought twice about her judgments.
They won't come here, will they? They would not, right? They would hit the house first, yes they would. Or would they?
While she was dealing with her thoughts, Kakashi appeared from the aisle and walked to the counter.
He noticed Eya staring at the front door, he gave the door a glance as he walked behind the counter.
"Are you going somewhere?" he asked.
She snapped from her thoughts and looked at him, she was relieved to see him.
Eya gathered herself and nodded in response. "Yes, uh, I am visiting the lair," she said.
Kakashi's face remained unchanged. "Alright, be back before the sunset."
"Oh, I will be back before the sunset, unless something happens."
"That is exactly my point, do not let something happen to you. Take care," he said and with that, he bid her goodbye.
Eya came out of the Vr-cade, she did not stop or turn, she teleported and left. It took her fifteen minutes to reach the Ministry building. She checked in as quickly as she could, she reached the end of the safe area, did the trick with her card, and then jumped into the thick fog.
Once again, without Kakashi and without any knowledge of monsters lingering in the dense woods. She tried to teleport and avoid taking a look on either side, but when she caught a glimpse of the dark green woods, she thought she preferred the cold, withered version of the forest.
After five minutes– a new record– of teleporting and running without pause, ignoring the monsters she met on the way, she reached the destination.
Before leaving the lair last time, Kyoryu had discussed a rhythm with Eya. If she used those beats, then he would know that it is her. She found it amazing– as expected of Hiro's right hand– she could not copy the beats, no one could take it from her like a password, so the beats were perfect.
Only she knew the sequence. She had not even shared the rhythm with Kakashi, and that made her feel special for some reason. She lifted her hand and rested her knuckles on the barrier.
She was going to use the morse code to send a message saying: It's Me. She lifted her knuckles off the barrier and knocked twice– I– then she rested her knuckles on the barrier– T– she gave two long beats– M– and for the last alphabet, she lifted her knuckles and was about to knock when she heard something rustle behind her.
Eya jumped back, breaking the rhythm, she drew her wand and held it in front of her. At first, she thought it was a monster, but then her doubt shifted from a monster to a human– someone had followed her, she thought.
"Come out!" she shouted, "I know you are following me, come out!" she shouted. Perhaps the person fell behind while following her, because she created a new record, and the person caught up with her at last.
Then came a voice, it said, "Oh god, is that you, Eya-nee?"
She loosened her eyes, but her grip remained strong. "Akira?" she said with a frown.
She lightened the tip of her wand with fire and saw in the dark a face she well-remembered. Green eyes and an early teen's innocent look. It was him and she noticed he was wearing black robes– the academy's uniform. But she was relieved to know it was not an enemy, she sighed.
"Are you really Akira?" she asked.
Akira had been running and using teleportation to get to the lair, so he was exhausted. He was panting with his hand on his stomach, beads of sweat running down his cheek, and his hair all over.
"Of course, I am," he said, "why were you in a hurry?" he asked.
Eya still could not digest that fact. She loosened her grip on the wand but still held it in front of her. "Why did you follow me then?"
"Follow? Who was following you?" he said, getting his breath under control. "I messed up huge this time and was on my way to the lair when you suddenly went past me– almost pushing me into the river."
Guilt covered her, if he had fallen into the river, only luck could save him. "I, I am sorry, but I still…" She thought telling him she thinks he is not real will hurt him, so he said, "sorry, would you please open the barrier then?"
"The barrier? Why?" he asked. "I mean… wait…" He realized. "You do it, Eya-nee."
"You think I am an enemy? Akira, take a look at this," she said as she raised her wand. "I can use magic. I am totally a witch. And I know the rhythm too. You followed me, so prove it."
"A wand? See this then, I have one, too—" He did turn around to grab his wand from the sheath, but he grabbed nothing. His face went pale. He pushed the robe and found the sheath was gone. "Damn!!"
She saw his wand was missing. Although he took time, she realized his wand must have fallen due to her. She was running at a fast pace and the air force did push him to the side.
"Ah… it must have… yeah, it must have… oh god…" She saw he was getting worked up, no enemy would act so good, so she decided to give him a chance.
She took a deep breath and said, "What are you running from anyway?"
"I am not running from anything," he said, still searching for his wand on the land. "Aniki busted my plan, the bully I hired lost it AFTER the payment. He suddenly appeared in front of aniki and started shouting at him."
"At Hitori-san? Why?" she asked, "It thought you gave up after that fail… when Hitori-san was fired by that spell."
"Yes, exactly!" He stopped searching for his wand and looked at Eya. "I made the payment and he was good to go, but then he dared to use that spell again at him. And before he did that, that fool revealed my plan. Now aniki has a strange image of mine. Of course, you know what he did next– he fried the bully."
She covered her face and sighed. "Things backfield," she said, "by a major scale."
He nodded. "I ran before he could confront me, I do not think I am going to the academy for the year."
She removed her hands and stared at Akira. She remembered how mad Kyoryu had got when she told him they had kept Hitori in the dark. She was not ready to hear that again, she was determined to reveal the important things to Hitori.
Still looking at Akira, she shook her head. "No, you are coming to the Vr-cade with me. If we explain it to him, maybe he will understand and get that image of yours out of his head. You will officially meet your brother tonight."
Akira kept staring at her without knowing how to respond. He could not reject it, but he could not accept the fact either. That was happening too fast for him, he was not ready to meet him.
"I, uh, let us talk with Kyo-san and see what he says. Whatever decision he makes, I will be down for it," he said.
Eya smiled and nodded. "That is fine with me." Because she knew what Kyoryu was going to say.
She turned to the barrier and raised her fist– then stopped again. She turned to Akira, he was ready to enter the lair. "Uh…" she said, "you should do it, after all, Akira." She lowered her eyes to avoid eye contact. This was turning awkward– how could she not believe him even after that?
He frowned first, then Akira sighed. "Alright." Eya took a step back to give him the space to send the morse code. But he raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
She stared as the barrier opened a path for them. Her eyes widened, and she glanced at him in surprise. "What the…?"
"You know that I created this with him, right? He can do it alone, but I offered my help," he said. "So you see now, if I were the enemy– I would have killed you even before having this conversation– I would have killed you as soon as you stopped, even before punching more than half of the morse code."
She shuddered. Damn, she thought, kids do learn fast. Akira went inside the barrier and stopped to call her, "Come on, Eya-nee, or I am closing the barrier."
She followed him to Kyoryu.
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