When The Time Comes

Twenty

  Terasaki-san was walking a little behind us as usual. Shibata-kun was telling me about college. It was a pleasant evening all-in-all. The shrine festival was in a week and somehow, we ended up planning for it.

"How late can you stay?" He asked.

"Decently late." I replied. The shrine grounds were safe, right? "Not too late but late enough."

"There are a lot of things that I want to do- starting from eating at all the stalls to playing all the games." He said enthusiastically. "I promise you a fun evening."

"I'm looking forward to it too." I smiled.

"Will Terasaki-san be following us around then as well?"

"I guess not. We should be fine."

"What? Your pursuers are religious?" He chuckled. I just sheepishly went along with it. I had no answer to give him. "We'll have fun. Mark my words!"

"Ah."

"How good are you at Gold fish Scooping?"

I beat you last year, love. "Good, I'd say."

"Hm." He mused. "Well, you do seem capable of a gentle touch."

"Challenge me and you'll lose." I shrugged.

"Oh? Really now?"

"Really." I nodded, trying to come across as being as humble as I possibly could.

"Fine. It's a challenge. We'll see who's better. Oh! The winner gets to have the loser do something for them."

"What? No."

"Oh, come on!" He stepped in front of me and began walking backwards, facing me. "Nothing weird."

I thought a moment. I could get Shibata-kun to do something for me, huh? "Fine. Fine. Challenge accepted. Don't complain later, okay?"

"I won't." He grinned and then his eyes shifted to behind me. "Hm? Where's Terasaki-san?"

"What?" I turned to see.

He wasn't there.

I was aware of his presence though. Where could he have gone? "That's weird."

He frowned. "Akane?"

"Uh..." When I tried to focus, I also became aware of the negative presence, along with Terasaki-san's. He had probably gone off to take care of whatever that was.

But what do I do know? Do we stay put or do we continue walking?

I remembered how Terasaki-san usually sent me home whenever he decided to engage by himself. If he went ahead to fight without informing me in any way... maybe we should just keep walking?

I took Shibata-kun's hand and urged him to walk. "Keep walking."

"Huh? Oh." He stumbled to keep up. In between that, just as he turned, he happened to bump right into someone, letting out a little yelp. The next thing I knew, there was a tug on my hand as he fell to his knees, clutching his chest.

"Shibata-kun?" I turned to attend to him. The sight that I saw made me freeze.

Blood.

"Argh." He collapsed onto me when I crouched before him. His blue shirt was getting increasingly stained red at his chest. A tear. An open wound.

Had he been stabbed?!

I panicked and by the time I turned to look, I couldn't see or figure out whom he had bumped into. The street was already crowded but it became all the more so because people were now stopping to see what had happened. Just then, more importantly though...