A/N: I forgot to mention this to you guys… starting from this chapter—or a certain event a few chapters later, everything about Kohana’s past may be revealed… which means that there’s always an important clue in each chapter. The problem is: I lose my mind when I’m writing… so I’m not very confident about knowing my limits.
I’m 78% sure about one thing, though: There may be a third book to the series… and I think it’s going to begin before the invasion arc… or after.
“Osamu, don’t be so difficult! I just came back from my mission and when I finally get to see Kohana, you of all people won’t let me?” Bunko nearly raged, struggling against Osamu’s firm hold around her torso.
The man sighed and kicked the front door shut with his foot, pulling Bunko’s back towards his chest as she continued to squirm in his arms. For now, she didn’t seem to care about the humiliation that came with the position they were in at the moment—for that, Osamu was glad for. It just came to show just how important Kohana really was to Bunko. So for that same reason, he was preventing her from visiting his pupil.
He leaned forward and opened his mouth from right next to her ear, suddenly feeling Bunko pause at his actions.
“Don’t be so noisy; you’ll disturb the neighbors.”
Bunko scoffed, her face turning red from outrage and a little bit of wariness from the proximity. Her heart pounded like a hammer in her ears, and she was sure that Osamu could feel it as well.
She mentally shook her head.
‘Definitely not the time for that.’
Breathing deeply through her nose, she pushed forward, relentless with her pursuit of Kohana’s face.
“That’s all you have to say? If you’re not even going to explain—as if you even have an explanation—then let me go!” Of course, she could always try to hurt Osamu to get him to let her go, but she wasn’t so desperate as to maim her closest… friend.
The silver-haired man sighed once again, his arms slacking just a little bit. However, this was still no sign of resignation.
“Kohana is facing an emotional dilemma as we speak. Believe it or not, she’d stared at her old team picture for hours when I last visited her.”
A little skeptical towards Osamu’s words, Bunko moved her head to be able to glance at the serious man. “When have you last visited her?”
In all seriousness, he replied, “Just this morning.”
Bunko’s shoulders sagged, suddenly feeling a weight that was just as heavy in her heart. From the letters Osamu and Kohana had written to her during their time of absence, and mostly the personal letters Osamu himself had sent to her, she’d figured that Kohana was perfectly fine. She’d assumed that Kohana had things figured out and that she wouldn’t allow any more problems to affect her too much or that her ability to resolve things had gotten much, much better. Unfortunately, Osamu’s subtle elusiveness was not because he just didn’t feel like talking about it, but because the signs Bunko thought she’d noticed in Kohana’s letters didn’t mean that her hypotheses were even right in the first place.
Maybe she expected too much of Kohana. After all, the girl was just a teen; there was no way things could be clear enough to cause her a long period of comfort.
The only reason why Kohana hardly faced any emotional conflicts over the two and half years she was gone was because there was no one at the moment to cause problems for her. Osamu was there to protect her, and now that he just couldn’t stick around as often, she’d be on her own for most of the time.
