ᡕᠵ᠊ᡃ່࡚ࠢ࠘ ⸝່ࠡࠣ᠊߯᠆ࠣ࠘ᡁࠣ࠘᠊᠊ࠢ࠘𐡏 ♡
All the Tokyo students immediately rushed into the forest, discussing the plans one last time.
"Let's head for the middle, it's a good place to start looking for the curse."
"At the designated time we'll split into the Panda and Megumi teams like we discussed."
"Got it!"
As they continued to run, a spider like curse hung from the tree ahead. It was a grade three, which Maki had pointed out as she prepared to exorcise it.
"Stop!" Megumi yelled, referring to what emerged inches away from the curse.
"Good!" the topless man from a day ago shouted as he smiled widely. "Everyone come at me at once!"
"It's Todo!"
Without hesitation, Yuuji slammed his knee into Todo's face, distracting him as the remains of the group split and left Yuuji to fight off Todo as they had agreed.
"Split up!" Maki ordered, and everyone followed, breaking off into the Panda and Megumi teams.
Kaori split from half her peers, following Maki and Megumi into the woods away from the fight. She held her gun towards the ground, eyes flickering behind each tree waiting for an ambush.
Megumi shifted his hands, summoning his nue to take down the witch girl in the sky.
"Take her down."
The nue followed the order, rocketing into the sky and knocking the girl sideways and off balance. As the other two girls looked to the sky, another Kyoto student emerged from the woods. Maki was quick to stop the blue haired girl, and Megumi handled the second student that followed behind her. Kaori turned on her heel and steadied her aim, waiting for the moment to pull the trigger.
"Kaori!" Maki yelled her way, blocking the sword that was thrown towards her. "Continue with the plan!"
Kaori nodded shortly, dashing off once again to the center of the boundaries in search of the winning curse. Her travel through the woods kept her on high alert for more of the seemingly aggressive Kyoto students.
She hadn't fought another person seriously yet, so as she knew not a thing to expect, she kept her distance as the plan had decided. Her role was to stay away from the other sorcerers and hunt the main curse.
So as the woods thinned out, and the sun became more prominent in the sky, her nerves relaxed as the clear landscape gave her little to no surprises waiting to happen.
Her run continued, and later, a lone tree in the landscape hid a mutated curse behind it. Kaori could feel it's presence nearby, and as she halted her steps, she circled around the tree, the curse following as it continued to hide. It's body had molded to the width of the tree, making no part of it visible from the other side. Kaori continued to circle, quietly raising her gun to prepare an attack. She infused a bullet silently with a technique, blowing out a deep breathe as she pulled the trigger.
"Reflect."
The bullet flew out of the barrel, reflecting to the other side of the tree where the curse hid, blasting a hole through the tree and sending the top half hurling towards the grass. As the shade beneath the tree became nonexistent, the curse grew wider and bubbled up, creating a lumpy and uneven body.
Kaori pulled her finger to the trigger again, this time sending a normal bullet flying towards the curse she assumed to be another grade three. The curse didn't move, letting the bullet pierce a hole through its flesh. Purple blood splattered the ground as it stood still. Kaori readied another technique infused bullet, holding the scope to her eye line. As she peered through the glass, the curse was gone. She shot her head up and saw a shadow loom over her.
The curse had leaped into the air and had raised its fists to prepare to smash her down into the dirt. The brunette quickly dug her heels into the grass, dashing underneath the weight of the grade three. The curse tore its hands from the dirt it had smashed, slowly standing up. Kaori knew it would try its same trick again.
As she leaped into the air, pulled the weapon to her eyes, and shouted, "reflect," once again, her body switched places with the air on the other side of the curse. She ended up high into the air and behind the curse just as she had planned.
"Mirror!"
The bullet shot from the barrel once again, landing in the center of the curse's massive body. The bullet then tore the curse from the inside out with the same force the curse used on the ground. Within seconds it's blood covered the surrounding grass.
Kaori landed heavily back onto the ground, panting from how much she had used her technique. Without another second to waste, she started running in the same direction again, looking for the curse she was required to exorcise in order to win the event.
ʚ♡⃛ɞ
No other curses had yet to show up, but within the distance she could hear the clatter of wood and the shattering of windows. A door was thrown open to the building she stared at, so she entered to see if a curse had taken shelter there.
Walking through the hallways, she could see blood splatters, and it was red which meant it was a human. She walked briskly, following the spots and the arrows lodged into the walls. Turning the hallway to continue her search for the injured person, a sudden rumbling of the building shook her feet and made her unbalanced. She shuffled her way to the wall and leaned onto it as her heart jumped rapidly. She could hear more wood being snapped, and could hear fast footsteps above her. She followed the noises.
She could still feel the rumbling of the building beneath her feet as she ran towards the sounds. Her footwork was unsteady as the structure shook, but she kept running, wanting to help whoever was injured. Soon, she saw an open window with a smashed in celling. Knowing that this was her way out, she rushed over to the opening, seeing a few of her classmates already out on the rooftop, battered and bruised from whatever curse was causing this mess.
One of those classmates had his brown eyes glued to the roof above her. His bloodied mouth moved again, and she knew what the drill was. She blasted her ears with cursed energy, sensing that a full coverage was needed at this moment. She closed her eyes and backed away from the window, waiting for the impact of the falling roof.
When scraps of the roof and wooden beams tumbled around her, her gun was one of the objects knocked away from her. Her eyes flew open to retrieve the tool, but knew it was a lost cause when she saw scraps lying to the side of it. Her eyes instead flicked up to see Toge falling to his knees from exhaustion.
Her breathe halted, and when she saw Megumi stand his ground, she knew she had to be the one to help. With all the words Toge had apparently been using, she knew he had probably lost consciousness from bloodloss.
Her legs moved immediately, stepping over the unsteady debris and running full speed over to him. Her arms flew under his, and her knees scrapped the hard roof as she dove to catch his falling body. His head hung over her shoulder and she could feel the warm blood seeping through her shirt.
She panted slightly but pulled his body higher up as she attempted to stand.
"Tsukumo..."
She looked up to see Megumi looking surprised and concerned.
"Don't worry about us, get him out of here," he said, running behind her to help Maki.
Kaori saluted before he left her vision, and she carefully tried to pick up Toge. She'd never held another person before, so she grunted as she held him in both her arms like she would a bride. His arm dangled to the side of him, and she quickly ran to the edge of the roof. The weight from the boy she held and the weapons she had stored strained her arms and legs.
She couldn't go back down the stairs like she had come, but she had to sacrifice her own body to save another. As she stared down at the drop from the roof, she sighed heavily before stepping right off. Kaori twisted her body downwards and applied her technique one last time.
"Reflect."
Her back now faced the ground, and she had done it in the knick of time. Inches before she would have face planted and injured Toge even further, she flipped herself across the axis and instead landed harshly on her back, which still held her case. She winced sharply, but picked herself up again and painfully carried Toge to the edge of the barrier.
The impact had woken Toge from his unconscious state, and as he looked from her uniform up to her contorted face, he muttered a hoarse, "hey."
Her eyes left the landscape immediately to see the one she carried finally awake. With him conscious, she should be able to stop sooner than the barrier and still be safe, so she decided that was best.
Her eyes softened as she repeated his greeting, added on a reassuring, "I'll get you fixed up, okay?"
He nodded against her arm and pulled his second one up to his stomach, swallowing painfully as his head started to throb.
Kaori had now reached the edge of one of the forests, slowing down as she picked a tree to set up her medical supplies. She stopped a moment before letting him down carefully next to the tree. He let his hand run down the bark as he stood on his own, but quickly slid down the tree as his vision went dizzy. She lowered herself onto the ground with him, holding his arm as he leaned his head back.
He took a breathe, and Kaori immediately tossed her case onto the dirt to get out what she needed. First, a throat medicine to ease the pain, and then a few damp towels to wipe away the blood around his mouth.
"Drink this," she said, handing him a throat medicine bottle.
His eyes opened slowly as he turned his head against the tree, perking up his head as he saw what she held. This has to have been only for him, who else gets a bad throat?
He gratefully took the medication, drinking it slowly and feeling instant relief.
Next she held up the damp towel she for some reason had lying around. She placed herself in front of him, sitting on her scraped knees as she gently placed her fingers under his chin to guild his face to where she could wipe all the blood away.
His face bursted with color immediately as his mouth parted. She stared down at his lips while she rubbed the towel across the corners of his mouth. Next she wiped under his chin where the blood had dripped down.
"Open your mouth a little wider," she said, holding the towel by his lips again. "Like this." She opened her mouth partially, making sure he copied her actions.
When he did, she wiped the inner corner of his mouth before shuffling away to her case again.
His mouth continued to hang open as his heart beat faster. Her face was so close to his as she helped him, and her cold fingers left spots under his chin. He could still feel that lingering effect as he pulled his mouth shut, seeing her getting closer to him again.
"Sorry I didn't show up sooner," she apologized, frowning. "You wouldn't have gotten as hurt if I had been a little faster."
He shook his head, watching as she shifted her legs to the side of her. His eyes shot up again when she spoke.
"How's your throat?"
Toge nodded, bringing a hand into a thumbs up.
She smiled, "good."
He watched her closely, deciding to ask a question himself. Without words, he pretended to draw on his hand, wanting the notepad that she carried.
She shuffled away again after nodding, coming back with what he asked for. He took the items, writing down something before handing her the book.
"Are your knees okay?"
She glanced down and passed a finger over the ripped skin, "I'll be alright."
He frowned at the sight of her knees, tossing his hands in front of him along with the pen.
Kaori looked up again to see him looking like he didn't believe her. She wasn't a liar, so she tightly touched her colds fingers across the skin on his knuckles. This caused Toge to jump back slightly, yet his hand never moved as she started to speak again.
"I got hurt a lot when I was younger, so I promise I'll be fine. I'd rather worry about you right now, do you need anything?" she asked, flipping her hand so that her fingers touched his and her thumb lay across his knuckles.
Toge became more red, and Kaori could notice this. She stuttered an apology and pulled her hand away, "s-sorry I shouldn't have done that."
Her hand left his alone on the ground, but his arm launched towards her to get that feeling back instantly. His hand reached hers, holding it tightly as he tucked his face deep into the collar around his neck. If Kaori wasn't completely clueless about his feelings towards her, she would have noticed the deep blush on his face and what it meant towards her.
"Tuna mayo..." he spoke, his voice deeper than normal.
Instead of pulling away again, she inched closer to him, holding his hand securely this time. She smiled, and nodded her head to him.
After minutes of silence, Kaori decided it was best to keep heading towards the barrier. So she asked, "are you ready to go now?"
"Salmon."
She never released her hand as her second one traveled behind Toge's hair, pulling his head closer to her. She leaned into his shoulder, hugging him awkwardly before standing up and pulling him to his feet. Her hand released his for a moment as she packed everything back into her case. She tossed it onto her back, joining Toge again as they continued to the outside of the barrier. He zipped his collar, looking for her hand at her side only to find it connected to her other one in front of her. She tapped her thumb on her second one, continuing to walk as Toge put his own hands in his pockets.
Maybe another day.