Time passes relative to it's conception and the time between the exchange event's conclusion to the eve of Suguru's threat passed rather idly. Tension only prolongs its suffering; it stagnates the air and prevents any sort of forward movement whilst stirring apprehension. Relaxation was difficult to come by, but since moving into the student dorms nearly a month ago, Haku had found something to ease their mind aside from sitting in the zen garden.
Cleaning was a task Haku seemed to enjoy, to lose themselves in the work of improving the space around them. In fact, since Haku began living inside the student dorms, everything was kept spotless; there was never a mess or untidy section to be found.
Still recovering from the exchange event, Haku had been doing just that on the chilly, winter's morning of December 23rd. On the deck outside, Haku had been scrubbing it thoroughly on their hands and knees; it was a mindless task that kept them busy without sitting in agonizing wait.
"Haku. It's cold outside. You should come in."
Interrupting Haku's spaced-out daze of cleaning, Maki had appeared in the doorway to the dorms. She watched as Haku continued to scrub without a care, barely paying her any attention.
"I'm scrubbing the floors," Haku replied listlessly.
Maki refused to move as she tried again. "You'll catch a cold. Come inside." This time, her tone was absolute, demanding rather than a simple suggestion. She went back inside without waiting to check if Haku would follow her orders.
Haku hated whenever Maki did that— truthfully they were still scared of her and there was no refusing Maki. They gave in, cleaning up the last section of water they had splashed on the deck's surface and going inside like Maki had commanded. Inside, the first years are the only ones home at the moment and they were all gathered in the common space.
"Haku you're all wet!" Panda exclaimed as he got up immediately and grabbed a random blanket that had been draped over a chair. He rushed to Haku who had just closed the door behind them; with care Panda wrapped the student in the blanket to hopefully prevent a cold.
Haku's entrance gained everyone's attention as they all noticed their clothes were splashed with water. Inumaki got up and disappeared down the hallway. Panda lead Haku to the couch and together, they took a seat. Without looking up, Haku could feel Yuta's concerned gaze from across the common room.
"I was scrubbing the floors outside," Haku admitted without Yuta needing to ask.
Inumaki had returned, walking into the room with a stack of clothes in his hands that he shoved in front of Haku's face. Haku looked up at the boy who said nothing but persistently gave the stack of clothes in his hands a shake, telling Haku to accept them. Which, they did cautiously and Inumaki went over to taking a seat beside Yuta across the way.
A few moments of silence passed, no one daring to move as Haku stared dejectedly at the clothes they received from Inumaki. All of them could feel the tension in the air as tomorrow's events loomed in agonizing fear. It was a solemn weight that burdened everyone's shoulders. Panda couldn't help but feel guilty towards their classmate as they wrapped an arm around them and pulled them closer.
"You moved in almost a month ago, but you still don't spend time with us," Panda sighed.
Haku kept their gaze on the floor, but didn't shake Panda's arm away, "That isn't on purpose."
Maki looked at the two as she sat on the floor, "I'll admit, it's nice that you actually speak to us now, but you speak really formally with all of us. That makes me feel super weird."
They shrugged, "It's a habit that I have."
"Why is that? I wanted to ask you about that too." Yuta asked from curiosity.
Haku set Inumaki's clothes beside them on the couch as Panda dropped their arm, giving Haku the space they needed. From around them, Haku pulled the blanket tighter as they fidgeted uncomfortably, "It's probably because of my mom. My family owns a public bathhouse in Sendai. I've been helping out there ever since I was little. My mom would scold me if I didn't speak properly with guests."
"Really?!" Panda exclaimed out of shock that Haku was actually talking about themselves for once. "If we ever go to Sendai, we should visit!"
"I'd rather not." Haku quickly retorted.
Panda's eyes drooped, "Why?" he pleaded.
Haku glanced off to the side, avoiding anyone's eyes, "I don't think I can handle that."
Once again, like earlier, a hushed silence fell upon the group as they realized why Haku might not be excited for something like that. The students had forgotten that Haku hadn't come here willingly like them, but was forced to by Gojo and their existence has long since been erased from their family's minds.
Panda gave Haku's shoulder a pat, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have suggested it."
"It's fine." Haku dismissed, keeping it brief to not prolong the awkward air.
"You must miss them." Panda mistakenly continued once again.
"Panda, shut up." Maki glared, hoping this time he would gather some sense to drop the topic.
Finally raising their head, Haku looked Maki in the eyes as they kept their expression still, "It's fine I said." Their flat tone was rather scary despite the words supposedly being reassuring. Haku then turned to answer Panda, "Yeah— a lot."
Knowing the most about Haku, Yuta tried to ease the mood, "You said you have an older brother?"
Haku nodded, however their eyes dropped to the floor once again. They knew if they were to meet Yuta's kind gaze now, they just might start crying and that wasn't something they wanted to do right now in front of everyone after insisting they were fine.
"What's his name?" Yuta asked, since he was the only one Haku might answer the question for.
Haku's hold on the blanket tightened as their fists shook slightly from the harsh grip, "Sen." their reply was barely above a whisper as they forcefully swallowed their urge to cry.
"Kohaku and Sen? Interesting names," Maki blurted out without thinking twice.
Panda smirked, "I don't think you and Mai are ones to talk."
"Shut up you overgrown stuffed animal." Maki shot back.
Even though they were looking towards the floor, Haku's lips curled up slightly in a smile remembering their brother, "Everyone called him that. It's short for Senichirou— 'A thousand and one cheerfulnesses'."
From his seat across from Haku, Yuta could see their slight smile. The sight made him smile as well since it was rare for Haku to do so, "Kohaku is amber like the gemstone. Is there a reason your parents chose that name?" he asked, seizing the opportunity with Haku's change in mood.
However, that was short lived as Haku caught on to what everyone was doing, "What's this about names all of a sudden?" they snapped, lifting their head to look around the room with a cold glare.
In a carefree manner to help Haku calm down again, Panda wrapped his arm around the student, "We're just curious about you since you're never willing to talk."
"I wonder why," they murmured under their breath, slightly annoyed by everyone's questions.
Haku took a deep breath that Panda could feel by the accentuated rise of their shoulders and swift fall as they exhaled. That breath helped and their mind felt a bit clearer knowing their classmates weren't asking to be a bother. Haku rarely talked about things like this, but if they were to ever chose a moment to dwell on a past that will never come again; this might as well be the time surrounded by the ones who helped to make them feel like they had a place to belong to once again.
"My name didn't come from the gemstone. It was actually for the river my parents fell in love at and got engaged at," Haku revealed quietly.
Panda gave Haku a squeeze, "That's super cute! Aw!"
"Tuna."
"The Kohaku River?" Maki asked, putting the pieces together.
"Is that also in Sendai? Maybe since we can't visit your family, we can visit the river!" Yuta's eyes lit up at the possibility.
Haku shook their head, "The river is gone. It was paved over to make room for an apartment complex years ago."
"Damn," Panda sighed. "We really can't experience anything you did hmm."
Haku shrugged, "I don't have fond memories of the river anyway. It's fine."
"What happened?" Yuta asked.
Haku groaned, dropping their head to look towards the ground as they uttered, "You're all really pushing your luck today."
"Sujiko." Inumaki answered for everyone's sake.
This was more sharing than Haku had originally anticipated. Just when they didn't feel like they could continue to linger in their memories of the past, Panda's shoulder pats of comfort started once again; it calmed Haku like before. Quieting their urge to run away and never bravely confronting these feelings again.
It took a bit of reassurance, but Haku began, "When I was five my family had a picnic at the river. My brother and I were playing near the riverbed when I slipped and fell in. I was carried by the current until my brother rescued me. I was fine, but I lost one of my favorite shoes. It floated down the river and I never saw it again."
"I know that's supposed to be a sad story, but it's so cute! I can imagine a baby Haku pouting about losing your favorite shoe," Panda cooed as he squeezed Haku tightly.
Haku didn't seem to mind Panda's overbearing reactions and just continued, "I was so sad that any time my name was called, I would start crying because I missed my shoe. So then my brother started calling me 'Haku', to not remind me so much of the memory. Since then, rarely anyone has called me 'Kohaku'. It's only the walking hazard now."
"Ah," Yuta replied in understanding. "Is that why you said hearing your full name is a bit strange?" in reference to that night he and Haku had first spoken in the zen garden.
"Partially," Haku sighed.
"Hakuchan!" Panda called out, hugging Haku to and fro from their seat on the couch.
"Don't call me that."
•
That afternoon, with barely any time remaining, Gojo Sensei was promptly summoned to the underground meeting chamber of the higher-ups to discuss a feasible course of action for the next day's anticipated attack as well as the outcome of the exchange event.
"Is this a joke to you, Gojo?" A masked figure's voice echoed throughout the hollowed hall.
He smirked, "Always— everything."
"What was the meaning of holding the exchange event? Clearly Namie is stronger than you've claimed— injuring Yaga Masamichi and a student. Also Okkotsu fully summoning Rika against orders, that's unacceptable."
Gojo feigned amused laughter as he shook his head in disbelief, "You're all so hasty and anxious, it's laughable."
"How can you be so carefree when a serious threat of terrorism is being plotted for tomorrow's eve?" A woman's voice demanded an answer.
Not Gojo, but another member of the council had spoken up instead, "The answer is the White Dragon! It always has been!"
"God you're all so wrong, I want to sacrifice you myself," Gojo whined. It was beginning to become insufferable to hear the same claims repeated over and over again when he had proven his point long ago that this was not the answer.
"Do so and you'll become a terrorist within the community as well and be exiled."
Gojo smiled, "Sounds pleasant, but may I remind all of you that we are still missing key elements of the prophecy. Therefore, this isn't the tragedy spoken of and something far worse awaits us beyond Geto." Adjusting his posture to fully take in the panel before him of cloaked figures, he went on, "Also, Kohakuchan performed brilliantly to my expectations."
A figure from the outskirts waved their hand in a dismissive matter, "Yes yes, Namie has displayed vast amounts of positive energy and scored the majority of the points in the exchange event so I'm still uncertain as to why you're so against using Namie in what could be the most dangerous situation we're encountering within the past hundreds of years."
"My expectations of not being strong enough that is," Gojo elaborated. "Recall the white light— it exorcised every remaining curse immediately, as well as attacked the cursed energy within Kamo and Yaga to the point of being incapable of moving for several minutes."
Having the panel's full attention, he explained what he knew of Haku's technique from their intensive one-on-one training sessions and experience having overseen their past missions, "That white light is Kohaku's strongest move aside from their maximum technique."
"And it's proven to be quite fearsome, hasn't it?"
Gojo nodded in agreement, "Indeed. But if that's the case, at the peak of their strength, that move should've done far worse than merely rendering a Semi-Grade One Sorcerer and a Grade 1 Sorcerer incapable of retaliating. It should've vanquished all the cursed energy they possess and they should be dead or bedridden in a comatose state for unimaginable lengths of time— but it didn't."
The room remained quiet, pondering what Gojo had stated. He knew he had them thinking and reassessing; it was exactly what he wanted.
"A perfect example that Kohaku's physical capabilities can only handle about 60% of their full power. Also if you recall, the only situations they've been able to execute this technique is when they're vastly overwhelmed and it becomes a panic response. It's not something they do of their own volition and it lacks all precise control." Gojo further revealed of his analysis.
"Are you seeing my point now?" He asked with a menacing grin.
From the center, a cloaked figure brought their hands firmly together, "Then what do we do?"
Having thought about this for quite some time, Gojo suggested, "We'll spread all available grade 2 and above sorcerers into the two cities as planned. Something about Geto's plan unsettles me and I think there's an underlying cause to it so I'll need to ascertain that for myself tomorrow and regroup as needed. As for Kohaku and Yuta, they'll remain here under the protection of Master Tengen's barrier. It's far too risky to send them into the fray."
"Are we certain this is the best course of action?" Someone asked.
With a cocky attitude, Gojo declared, "This is the only course of action."