ᡕᠵ᠊ᡃ່࡚ࠢ࠘ ⸝່ࠡࠣ᠊߯᠆ࠣ࠘ᡁࠣ࠘᠊᠊ࠢ࠘𐡏
"Leaving already, Inumaki?"
He nodded along with Panda who stood beside him.
Kaori looked up at Panda as she pulled her striped jacket around her stomach, switching her eyes back down to the blonde with eyes full of worry. "Come find me when you get back, okay?"
Inumaki and Panda both nodded. "Don't worry 'bout us, we'll be back in no time," Panda said, stepping forward to ruffle the girls hair.
She stepped back with a smile as his claws tangled up her locks. When he removed his paw, the brunette jumped forward and hugged the corpse. His reassurance wouldn't stop her from a goodbye hug. Inumaki's eyes widened as the girl turned to him next and trapped him in an embrace, her arms locking his next to his sides. She let go quickly as to not delay their departure to Kyoto any longer, and as she turned down the hallway to her dorm, she waved at the two with a final, "good luck!"
ʚ♡⃛ɞ
Kaori sighed as she mindlessly stared out her window once finishing reading a book for school. The sun was setting and the campus grounds were covered with a pink haze of light. As the sun disappeared, a bright-white veil fell over the haze, startling the teen as she scrambled to grab a weapon and head outside. As she unlocked her case, footsteps flew past her door and hurried Kaori along even more. When she had a gun in hand and her key stuffed in her pocket, she threw open her door to see Maki at the other end of the hallway.
"Maki! Wait up!" she yelled at her classmate as her pulled the mid-range to her chest.
The green haired girl stopped in her tracks upon hearing her name. Her head snapped to the side and when she saw Kaori, she shouted in return, "get outside!"
Kaori wasted no time to get to Maki's side and follow her to where an intruder had resided. The early night air tickled their legs as their lounge clothes both consisted of shorts and a jacket covering a tank top, but even with the chill they continued.
At the center of the veil was the target, Suguru Geto. He turned his head to the girls as they joined him in the courtyard. "So... your here."
"That a problem?" Maki asked, lifting her weapon along with Kaori at her side.
"But what exactly are you doing here?" Kaori asked, pointing her barrel at the curse user.
"I don't need to waste my time on you two." Geto summoned a large curse, and with the outreach of his hand, it flew towards the girls who charged at it. Kaori fired her cursed energy bullets, and the curse evaded them by burrowing under the concrete. Maki stood still a moment, shouting "jump!" as the rock below them broke into pieces. Their reactions had been too slow, for the moment the curse shot up into the air both of the girls had suffered a crippled leg and a blow to the whole body. They both landed at the far end of the courtyard, unconscious and badly wounded.
As Inumaki and Panda arrived later, they suffered a similar fate of being blasted into the walls and knocked mostly unconscious. The final student to arrive was Okkotsu, and what he saw triggered a fuse inside him to snap.
ʚ♡⃛ɞ
One visit from Shoko and a boss fight later...
Someone shook Kaori's bare shoulder as her jacket had slipped from her arm. Her leg had been healed by a reversed cursed technique, and she was slowly becoming more conscious as the ringing of her name echoed around her.
"Wake up!"
Green eyes shot open wide, her small pupil's growing larger as they adjusted to the night sky.
"Thought we lost you girl!"
Kaori's colorless face glanced over to Panda who was leaning over her, fangs showing happily as he was relieved. The girl moved her palm behind her as she raised her back off of the ground. Her legs moved closer to her core and she braced herself with each of her dirty hands.
"Glad to see you didn't take the easy way out."
Maki threw her arm around her classmate's shoulder and pulled the brunette into a side hug. Kaori stumbled to her side but leaned her head back to rest.
Inumaki was crouched in front of her the whole time, face pale and misted with sweat. Her eyes looked forward to see him, and she smiled upon seeing his concern for her.
"Thanks guys..."
"Not a problem," said Panda standing up straight and bringing a paw to his eyes as he stared into the distance. "But I think we should get going and find Yuta, that racket died down a while ago."
Maki nodded and pulled herself off of the ground as well as Kaori. The brunette struggled on her leg but was able to walk a few steps on her own.
Panda looked back and eyed her carefully. "Need a lift?"
She looked down and shook her head. "I can handle-" she tumbled forward and placed her arms in front of her to break the fall, but someone yanked her back up. An arm was around her rib cage and a second one supporting one of her elbows. Brown eyes gazed over her shoulder and she caught his stare.
"Tuna?"
Kaori stepped forward and leaned against Inumaki's side for balance, giving into the help.
"Guess I do need help.." she laughed to herself quietly.
"Salmon."
Inumaki moved her arm around his shoulder and his second hand to her waist. He kept his hand placed on her own as to not let her fall again.
Maki rolled her eyes and limped forward along with Panda who was giggling.
Not too long after, the group found their remaining classmate and began to wake him up as well.
"You guys..."
Okkotsu's eyes fluttered open, and once he was even a little bit conscious, he sat up quickly. Everyone jerked back at his movement.
"Your- your wounds!"
"No worries," Maki said, "we're in better shape than you."
"Thanks for saving us," Panda smiled.
Kaori stepped onto her good foot to lean towards Okkotsu, "great job!" she smiled.
"Yeah..."
A slightly familiar voice then came from afar, "Yuta..."
Everyone looked ahead to see Rika sitting down in the road.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Rika." Okkotsu stood up from the ground and walked over towards the curse.
Panda tilted his head, "what's wrong, Yuta?"
The spiky haired boy halted and turned around slightly sweaty. "Um... in exchange for her powers I... agreed to go with her..."
"Like death?!"
"What were you thinking?!"
Everyone shouted a question at him, turning the boy pale in embarrassment.
As he stepped forwards again, he halted one more time as the curse melted away and revealed a young girl in its place.
"Rika?" Okkotsu asked.
Someone clapped their hands and they stepped through nearby rubble. "Congrats. You broke the curse."
Everyone looked at the man, a tall white haired who none of them recognized to be their own teacher, Gojo.
"You were right about Rika too. Rika isn't cursing you, your the one who cursed her. And the way it looks now, Rika didn't desire any punishment for you, so naturally the curse was broken. But I assume you already knew that."
Okkotsu choked out his next words as he realized his fault in her curse. "So it was all my fault..." He muttered several things to himself as he crumbled to the ground. "All my-!"
The girl wrapped her small hands around his spiky hair. "Yuta... thank you. For giving me time and letting me be by your side. I was happier these last six years than when I was alive." She let go and smiled at him. "Be well. Don't come over too soon, okay?"
Okkotsu looked up and replied, "okay."
ʚ♡⃛ɞ
"Salmon!"
Kaori pulled her boots on as she stepped outside of the dorms. She looked up upon the fish name being called, and waved as a reply. Pulling her bag back onto her shoulder, she walked towards the blonde who was wearing casual clothes just like her.
Inumaki ran up to Kaori with a small package under his arm, and he pulled it out as soon as she had come close to him. She looked from the box to him a few times before she asked, "what's this?"
He gestured the box towards her, almost shoving it into her hands.
She retracted her hands at first but then held them out, "for me?" she asked.
He nodded and placed the box onto her palms.
One last hesitation and Kaori finally decided to pull off the thin string that held the lid on. She let the ribbon fall to the edges of the box and she removed the lid, revealing a scarf in her favorite color. Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open as she pulled the soft fabric out to see all of its glory.
"You got me a scarf?" she questioned, looking at the gift from every angle.
"B-bonito flakes?"
He looked at her worriedly, everyone else had liked his gift so far.
She returned his glance, but shook her head quickly.
"No I love it!" she beamed, pressing the material to her cheek. "Thank you!"
Inumaki sighed as he watched her wrap the scarf around her neck and nuzzle her face into its warmth.
"Let's go meet up with the others now, I can't wait for the cafe much longer!"