𝚂𝙰𝙼𝙴 𝙻𝙾𝚅𝙴 ♕ ʜᴀɴᴀᴍɪʏᴀ ♚

12

Furuhashi was out of the country, his whereabouts being a mystery even when confronted with Kou's resourcefulness. At least he was alive, that was also some sort of information... Once Yamazaki was singed out from the hospital he has bunkered himself in his summer house in Karuizawa, so getting to him was too much of a fuss... There also was this guy... what was his name...? Hatsumomo? No, that was that geisha. Mastumoto Akatsuki.
Close enough.
So the guy was still on the surgical ward, currently lacking his spleen. The lone thought of getting herself again to yet another hospital, made Kou cringe with disgust. What's enough, that's enough.
The last members of the team, who stayed in Tokyo after the assault, excluding Hanamiya, were Hara and Seto; and since her relations with the latter left much to be desired, Hara became Miho's only option if she wanted to find out what exactly happened that night.
"I'm talking to you! Kou-san?!"
"What?!" She snapped harshly, too preoccupied with her thoughts to remember she was sitting in the school, in the middle of a math class.
Innocently raising her eyes at the teacher, who was cut off his guard by such an unusual remark, the girl straightened in her seat and faked interest in something she already knew in the middle school.
"You need to pay attention, Kou-san." The older man chided, closing the book in his hands. "It's a waste of both your's and mine time to sit around doing nothing while your classmates are busy with the topic. You'll never learn anything new if you keep sleeping during my classes."
Kou stared at the man before her and snorted, a smile immediately lifting the corners of her lips.
"Oh dear... you're right, sir. I also believe it's a waste of my time to sit here and listen to your rumbling." She confessed and gathered her stuff to her bag. "I, indeed, will not learn anything new during your classes, sleeping or not." Kou swung her bag over her shoulder, thinking she had already spent enough time in the school building for today. There were things she had to take care of before she returned to the hospital in the afternoon.
The teacher's mouth went agape, as the girl walked past him without any further word of explanation.
"Return to your seat this instant, Kou-san!"
In flash Miho was facing the man, her head tilted slightly.
"Make me," she dared, by now feeling rather impatient with the teacher's behaviour. When the man regained his composure and opened his mouth, Kou suddenly felt like stirring the atmosphere a little bit more. "Please do give my best wishes to your girlfriend, sempai." She smiled and tapped her chin thoughtfully, "She's turning sixteen this week, right?"
Feeling the gobsmacked glances of her classmates' walking her over to the class exit, she left.

♕♚♕♚

Standing at the entrance doors to a house she had seen the first time in her life, Kou wondered if maybe she accidentally fell through a looking mirror and found herself in a Wonderland, because the tall boy who opened the doors was definitely not Hara. Kou scanned the figure before her from the toes up to his head, her gaze lingering on the part of the face the Hara she knew, surely was missing. The boy's head was neatly shaven, uncovering his round, blue eyes. His left arm was bandaged and covered in a sling. That, however, wasn't the most disturbing. The thing that caught your attention was a row of dozen angrily red stitches linking the corner of his right eye and the tip of his ear.
"K-Kazuya?"
The boy's already large eyes widened at the sound of Kou's voice, and suddenly, he jumped forward, pulling her in a tight hug. The girl stifled, the edge of the cast on his arm digging in her ribs.
Why lately has everyone insisted on invading her personal space?
Kou winced it was just Hara and she was just about to smack him over his head, her hand however stopped halfway, when she heard the words leaving his mouth.
"It's you, Miho. Thank goodness..." he mumbled in her hair. "You're alive... I thought you were gone."
The last part knocked the air out of Kou's lungs. She pulled away just enough, as Hara's arms wrapped around her shoulders and looked at him.
"Of course I'm alive!" She exclaimed. "Besides, where else could I be? I live in Tokyo."
Hara let go of you and stepped back, laughing dryly. "Graveyard maybe?"
Kou gave an exasperated sigh. Hair, or no, in the end, he was Hara.
"Speaking of graveyards, I came to talk to you, Kazuya." She informed. "I need you to tell me what happened and it would be nice if you could do it now." She tried to force herself past the boy, but Hara blocked her way with his healthy arm.
"It's a waste of your time, Miho." He said with an unusual for his lack of emotion. "I don't remember anything from that night and I don't feel like remembering."
"Fret not, Kazuya." Kou dug under Hara's arm, marching in the direction you assumed the living room was. "I wouldn't be here if I thought it'd be a waste of my time. And it won't take long."
She heard the doors shut; Hara followed her with a morose expression on his face. The girl plopped on the couch and watched as her companion swayed on his heels before taking a seat on the couch on the opposite side of her. Without his shaggy hair, Hara's face seemed oddly... spacious. Those blue eyes made her feel quizzical; maybe it was for that disturbing faint gleam in them... This or the fact that once Hara's bangs were out, Kou assumed that the part of his face above his nose would turn out to be bones coated with skin.
"Are you alone?" She asked, looking around. No sound was heard beyond the living room the two of them were in.
"I can't be if you're here, now can I?"
"I'll take that as yes." Kou sighed. "So let's get this over with. Tell me what you remember."
"I already said I don't remember anything."
"You must remember something."
"Well, I don't."
"Where did it happen?"
"Don't remember."
"How many of them were?"
Hara shrugged. "Can't tell."
Miho rolled her eyes in annoyance. "What did they do? Who send them?"
"I. Don't. Know." The boy uttered. His healthy hand travelled up the cast on his left arm. Kou stared as Hara started picking on the white mass.
"Kazuya, I'm just trying to help... if you don't talk—"
"Will you make me?"
Kou frowned at him in surprise. Forcing the information out of him was not her intention.
"No. But if you don't talk, to me it basically means you're okay with what those bastards did." She explained tilting her head to meet Hara's gaze; he was stubbornly staring at his cast, his fingers trailing circles over his elbow.
Hara's silence was slowly getting on Kou's nerves and if he insisted on being so goddamn difficult she certainly wasn't going to grope around. Shifting in her seat, Miho propped her elbows over your lap.
"It's not that you don't remember, Kazuya." She stated. "You do, but you'd rather not. Everything reminds you of that night, right? Short hair, cast even I... You know what? Soon enough you may gain another reminder in form of a marble stone on a graveyard."
Hara twitched, slowly rising his huge eyes at her. But Kou wasn't done, yet... she had only just begun.
"Hanamiya's in the hospital. And the life-supporting machine cannot keep him alive forever. Once he's gone you'll be responsible for his death."
"N-no!" He protested meekly. "It's not my fault... I didn't do anything!"
"I'm not so sure about this anymore." She stated, examining your nails. The cuticle on your pointing finger was sticking out, so Kou tore it, a small trail of blood-forming over the wound. "Maybe it was you who ratted those idiots out. You definitely came away practically unscathed from the fight."
Out of the corner of her eye, Miho could see Hara clutching his shaven head. He'd definitely tear some of his strands out if he had any left.
"Say something for fuck's sake, Hara, because it doesn't look good... Should I blame you for ruining my people? Someone could have died and frankly speaking Hanamiya still can, so—" The voice cut inside of her throat, as she heard Hara start to laugh.
Kou frowned.
Hara's shoulders were shaking, his face covered with his hands. At that moment she wanted nothing more than to punch him. Hard. Kou was about to stand up and turn her thoughts into actions, when Hara straightened up, locking his big eyes at her. A dull gleam in his gaze made the girl's stomach drop, all intentions of smacking Hara until he couldn't see straight, evaporated.
"He knew. He said it can happen." The boy gasped clenching his fists, "He knew— it's not my fault. We all knew— Just. Keep. Quiet. About. It. He said."
"What are you talking about? Who knew?"
"I didn't say anything— it was supposed to be— but he knew and we went out. And they were already there..."
"Who are you talking about?! What happened?"
"Ha-Hanamiya... he knew." He informed, before resuming his babbling.
Kou was just staring at him, completely gobsmacked at what was going on. Kazuya was a strong lad and even though he enjoyed pushing all her buttons down, she didn't like to whom had he been turned into. Obnoxious, disgusting, most of the time annoying, but Hara was one of her own and the one who succeeded in breaking Kazuya like that deserved special treatment from Kou.
Miho tugged on her lower lip and bit off a small piece of dry skin, feeling a taste of blood filling her mouth. This wasn't a situation she was prepared for, especially not with Hara... Feeling awkward as hell and by the way, irked that she found herself in such a situation, she gingerly walked over to the boy. Not only will the culprit pay for breaking her team, but also for forcing an emotionally handicapped person to suddenly begin acting all tender and stuff...
Forcing herself not to grimace, Kou slowly outstretched her hand and patted Hara on the shoulder, in a manner that she thought was pretty comforting, but in reality, it looked as if she was beating a carpet. Miho wanted to say something soothing, but apart from 'there, there' nothing had come to her mind, so she decided to keep quiet.
"I can't remember, Miho. I want to forget." Hara raised his wide eyes at her, making her feel very uncomfortable. "It all is— we had no chance, Miho. Ha-Hanamiya knew that and he said..." His voice trailed off and his body started shivering.
Kou winced inwardly, thinking that was the very last thing in the whole world she needed now... Spotting a blanket that hung over the backrest of the couch, she grabbed it and tossed it over Hara's shoulders. She plopped on the seat beside him, already feeling resigned. Well, maybe she went a little bit too far this time...
"It's okay now. You can forget, Kazuya." She assured, leisurely slinging her arm over his shoulders in something that could be called comforting. "It's just the past. Nothing important."
As the proximity between Hara and her was enough to be called an embrace, while still letting Kou keep the minimum of her personal space; all of that was gone when the boy out of a blue wrapped his arms around her and rested his head against her shoulder, hugging Miho like a life-size teddy bear. She grimaced.
Well, perfect, she thought, I'm definitely not destined for that...
But it really looked like Hara didn't mean ill, so after a moment she sighed and wrapped her arms around him.
"Everything's going to be fine, Kazuya. I promise."
♕♚♕♚

It wasn't the responsibility Kou felt when calling her driver to get over to Hara's house, but more like solidarity. Wealthy families rarely did give a damn about their children and Hara's parents weren't an exception, leaving him alone while he was apparently still not over what has happened a month ago. This and maybe the fact that she really went too far with her rant, forcing him to face his memories in order to get information.
It didn't work and now she was alone with an unstable teenager and no progress whatsoever.
"Wait here, until Fuyumi gets here." Kou ordered, brushing her jacket from the cast's dust. She knew her maid well enough to say that she would be able to handle Hara; after all Fuyumi had extensive experience with dealing with Miho and she was still alive.
Shido looked over her shoulder, making Kou curiously follow his gaze. He was staring at Hara who was sitting on a couch, a mug of tea in his hands, his eyes blankly staring in the space. She sighed and turned back to her driver.
"Right... make sure he—" she jabbed your finger in Hara's direction, "doesn't do anything stupid. If he keeps being catatonic, that's fine, but if it happens you won't be able to handle him, before Fuyumi comes, call doctor Matsuyama."
The man didn't seem so convinced if staying with that strange boy was neither a good idea nor particularly safe. Especially when calling a psychiatrist was being mentioned.
"But, Miho-sama, Matsuyama-san is the head of the ward." Shido pointed out meekly while observing Hara. Boy's scars neither did seem so appealing to him. "He surely is a busy man—"
"Just say I send you."
"But what if he—"
"He won't." Kou asserted, passing Shido and heading to the front doors. In such a turnout of events, there was no way for her to omit the visit, she would much rather avoid it completely.
The cool wind blew the folds of your open jacket, as you took out your phone and called a cab.