Marionette

Cosmos, Chapter Thirty Six - Yukue Fumei [行方不明]

Amaya's night spent desperately trying to keep her temper from lashing out of her control was probably the most uncomfortable she'd had in a very long time. The short and frantic stint of speed-shopping as soon as she'd gotten her siblings home and into bed didn't help subside the oceans inside her from bubbling and frothing away.

With two sick children and a third possibly coming down with symptoms, she spent most of her time trying desperately to not create any noise and wake them up, which meant she had next to nothing she could do but sit there in her egg-chair and occupy herself outside of the times she wandered down to check up on them. Reading while on the verge of snapping was impossible in all honesty, though that wasn't to say that she didn't try the whole time she was up there.

When she finally emerged to check on her siblings at usual wake-up time that next morning, she found no sign of Karma anywhere, though she didn't bother to look to know one way or the other.

One by one she checked her siblings conditions, to find that while still a little under the weather, they were for the most part, in far better condition than they had been the night before. Yuta appeared to have dodged a bullet and was in near-perfect health and condition in comparison to the starting symptoms he had the night before.

But even though their conditions had improved remarkably, Amaya was still going to force all three of them to continue on their bland diet of unseasoned, steamed fish and vegetables with ice and ginger water. She had intended to stay home to keep watch over them, however Yuta intervened and managed to talk her into going to school, if only long enough just to see how the plan with Irina and the birthday present actually went. She made him swear to call her the very second she was needed, though.

The remarkably silent walk towards school didn't fail to come to Amaya's notice as she wandered on her own, though she absorbed herself more in her thoughts than anything else. A chill had begun to sink into her bones, bringing her to don one of the very few jumpers she had left.

She wondered how the plan with Irina's birthday present went in spite of the sinking feeling in her chest. She hoped in spite of what she was expecting that it really did go how the class wanted, and Irina was as happy as can be, relishing in the assumption that Karasuma had actually been the one who arranged the present.

However, when she arrived at the main campus and looked over to the faculty carpark, she found herself noticing the absence of any of those various sports cars that usually showed Irina's presence at the school.

Arriving at the satellite campus was no better, either. There was no Irina when Amaya dropped off those two pieces of paper Karasuma had instructed her, and definitely not in the classroom, either.

The classroom was mostly silent by the time Amaya walked inside, and those that were talking appeared to be almost whispering among each other. The few looks she received from a few who had either been present when Amaya refused to help, or overheard actually looked away from her when they saw her walk through the door. The glum and rather guilty looks written upon the faces of the more impressionable of Amaya's classmates said it all, enough so that all Amaya could honestly do was shake her head and take her seat without a word.

'A-Amaya-san...?' Came Okuda's meek voice after a few seconds, bringing Amaya to lift her gaze from the top of her desk in response. The bespectacled girl had turned to sit sideways on her chair right in front of Amaya, and the she wore a painfully apologetic look right across her face.

Amaya knew what the girl was going to say and regardless, she didn't want to hear it.

Though she let out a low breath as she leaned back in her seat.