The Golden Pear [YA - Featured]

♫~Notes 113~♫

Crossing his arms, he racked his brain. "I ended up in the garden, and then..." His eyes went blank as if he got lost in his mind.

Their hairs stood up, expecting trouble.

And it arrived.

"Kitty!" Kagetsu shouted, jerking into a sitting position. "Is it okay?"

Aiyoku caught him under armpits, preventing him from leaping out of the room.

"Ka!" Rigaku shook with him as Freya held his hospital pajama from behind. "Calm down."

Yet his words had fallen onto deaf ear since Kagetsu shrunk, curling. Ragged breath escaped him as he remembered the freezing embrace of water.

The bubbles rushed around him, blinding him.

The invisible hand pushed him deeper and deeper.

His body turned into a rag doll at the mercy of a bratty child.

The cry for help pierced his ears.

He waved his limbs in an unfamiliar fashion.

His hand grabbed a wet ball and threw it over the pool edge before everything turned dark.

A piercing pain shot through his shoulder. A few moments later, his body turned soggy, and his breath calmed down.

The nurse laid him back into the bed and gestured the rest to leave. Before they could, Kagetsu muttered, "There was a cat in the pool, I couldn't..."

Outside of the room, they looked at each other as if those words made little sense.

"Did Ka jump into the water..." Rigaku started.

"... for a cat?" Aiyoku finished.

The oldest Kamini pushed up his glasses. "I mean, he always liked animals. I don't remember any freaking him out except for Rocket."

"True. But to overcome his panic fear of water for a cat... it's... hard to believe it."

Freya remained silent with her gestures. Her own thoughts rotated in a twister. 'Cat...?' The image of Taiga came to her mind. 'Could she slip into the pool?'

Another flash pierced her mind, reminding her Mori-san from a few days back. 'Those scratches... could they really be...?' Unsettling feelings bothered her all the way to the car. Could Mori-san be connected to all of this?

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

Wednesday came, and despite the warm weather and only a few clouds, Freya couldn't smile. The awakening of her friend brought her fresh energy and turned the burden on her shoulders into dust.

Yet, the feeling of more behind this didn't let her celebrate with the brothers. She shared with them her story regarding Mori-san's approach to her, and how he had cat scratches on his forearm.

Rigaku immediately found the connection suspicious, and all of it added to each other. However, he couldn't find a proper reason for Mori-san to throw a cat into a pool except for a twisted fun.

Aiyoku had found many stories from animal shelters for cats and dogs, where animals suffered crippling injuries from kids. One cat lost both of its eyes, and another suffered burns.

Cases of broken bones and cuts were too common, and nothing could be done with it. No law could punish the kids due to their young age, but more often than not, there were no witnesses or leads to the culprits. Only a handful of people noticed and cared for stray animals.

"It's hard to think he would torture an animal," Aiyoku said the evening Freya shared her story, but she excluded Mori trying to get her under his control. They had enough to worry about. "But then again, that's what he can use to his advantage."

"His family owns a chain of hotels across Japan and China. I've heard they are building a few branches in Europe too," Rigaku added. "He has it all. I wouldn't be surprised it was nothing but a game for him, or he could try to see if cats have nine lives."

"Whether or not it was him, the culprit is going to pay."

Aiyoku's face darkened, and despite Rigaku had no visuals signal of raising anger, his eyes could cut diamonds. Animal cruelty made them sick of their stomach, but their brother got caught into it, and who knew what consequences it could have.

Freya shook her head, shooing the memories.

'I need to ask Ueno-san if she noticed something.'

Before finishing the thought, she texted her, and they met a few minutes later by the hut.