More for you all! Have fun!
Golden light filtered into my room through the blinds over my windows, and I groaned slightly. The first thing I noticed when I came to was the pounding in my head. I reached up and felt my forehead to find no fever. Ugh, I have to go to school then. Yawning, I sat up and looked at the clock on my bedside table. I gasped and my eyes widened at the time. I only have ten minutes before I'm late!
Throwing off the covers, I jumped up and started rushing to get my school uniform on. I ran to the bathroom, quickly brushing my teeth and running a comb through my hair. I didn't have time to put anything in it to keep the frizz down so I had to braid it hastily. I knew I looked like a mess, but it didn't matter at this point. I grabbed my bag along with the essentials and headed toward the door. No time for breakfast! I thought as I literally hopped out the door, trying to get my shoes on.
I used the special key Mr. Pheles had given me and opened the door to the cram school before speed walking down the hall and into Mr. Okumura's classroom. Even Rin's already here! I thought as I entered the room. Suguro glared at me as I set my dropped my bag and sat down heavily in my seat.
"What's up with you?" Suguro grumbled. "Man, even Rin's here."
"My alarm clock didn't go off this morning," I muttered, just about fed up with his constant attitude, and the pounding headache wasn't making anything better. It took all I had not to snap at him. If I were back at my old school where I knew people, I would have already yelled, but I had promised myself and my brother that I'd start new. I rubbed my temples as the bell rang, and Mr. Okumura entered the room.
"Good morning class. I have news from Mr. Pheles; we're going on a mission today." I internally groaned at the news. Maybe I should have just stayed in bed this morning. "I apologize for the late notice, but I only got the orders this morning. We are going to be heading to a school in the next town over. There have been a few disturbances there within the past few days, and they've gotten increasingly worse. The principal contacted Mr. Pheles and he decided to send us in for a practice exercise. You will excused from the rest of your classes when we get back." The class got up and followed him out the door when he motioned for us to follow him.
Soon enough, we were aboard the train to take us to the next town. I leaned my head against the cool glass of the window and sighed, just then realizing I hadn't taken any painkillers. "Hey, (Y/N), are you okay?" I opened one eye to see Rin sitting across from me. He had a frown on his face and concern in his eyes. I closed my eye and nodded.
"Woke up with a headache this morning and forgot to take something for it," I told him quietly.
"Are you sure you should be here?" he asked, obviously worried. "I can always tell Yukio you're not feeling well." I shook my head at his offer.
"No, it's fine, really. It'll go away eventually." Rin didn't say anything to oppose my statement. I just continued to lean against the cool window with my eyes closed, hoping it would do something to ease my headache. Luck didn't seem to be on my side, though, as it never did die down.
When we got to our station, I followed Rin off the train without a word. We walked a few blocks to the school and stopped outside. Mr. Okumura turned to give us our instructions. "Now, we do not have details on what is causing the disturbances, but we are led to believe that it is a lower to middle class demon which should be easy for you exwires to handle. We'll be pairing up." Uh oh. " Miwa and Okumura. Shima and Moriyama. Takara and Kamiki. (L/N) and Suguro." Uh oh, I thought again as my fears were confirmed. Today is just not my day, is it.
I slowly meandered over to stand next to Suguro as Mr. Okumura gave us directions. Suguro crosses his arms over his chest and glared down at me. I played with my rings as I listened to where we're supposed to be heading. Suguro and I were taking the West wing of the school. "Come on," he grumbled when Mr. Okumura dismissed us. I almost had to jog to keep up with his long strides as we headed to our section of the school. He slowed his pace as we entered the school. I contemplated getting out a sword, but I didn't have a choice when Suguro said, "Aren't you supposed to be some accomplished sword fighter?" I nodded hesitantly. "Well where the hell is your sword? Don't tell me we're walking into a possible fight and you don't have a weapon," he growled.
"No, I do," I said and slipped the blue ring off my right middle finger. It transformed into its natural form. I gripped the handle tightly, weighing it like I did every time. Suguro looked at me with wide eyes, and I looked away. He didn't say anything more, but motioned for me to follow.
As we walked through the school, there didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary. There were a few coal tars here and there, but that was to be expected. They didn't cause any harm and didn't get in our way. We searched through our wing of the school, but found nothing interesting. We had finished making our rounds, and I felt like I hadn't done anything productive on my first field mission. Oh well, there's only so much you can do after you follow orders, I reminded myself.
"We should be heading back to meet the others at the entrance to the building," Suguro said. I nodded and followed him. "Let's walk through the main hallway and see if the others need any help on the way there," I nodded once more. He looked back at me, the normal scowl on his face. "What is it with you?" he snapped. I looked up him, startled. "Don't give me that. I've seen you talk with Shima, Rin, and Shiemi on the first day liked you've known them forever." That's what all this is about? Why does he care who I talk to? I thought he hated me.
"Well let's just say that you're not the most approachable person in the world," I said quietly, not looking at him. He grumbled something unintelligible under his breath. I stopped when something on the ground caught my eye. I knelt down, and my eyes widened at what I saw.
"Suguro?" I murmured. And he stopped and stooped down to see a little blood on the floor. I looked ahead and saw that there was a little trail of blood leading down the hallway. It wasn't a dangerous amount, but it was still concerning.
We followed the blood a few more feet before there was a unearthly screech, and a door banged open. A hobgoblin burst out of a room to my right, and before I knew what was happening, it latched onto my left leg. I shouted in pain and tried to kick it off me. I was afraid I would cut myself even further if I tried to use my sword. Before I was able to get rid of it, Suguro chanted the fatal verse and the goblin disappeared. I slumped against the wall, trying to keep weight off my leg. I slid down the wall and bit into my shirt sleeve, trying not to scream.
"Shit," I heard Suguro mumble. He dropped on his knees next to me. I could see his hands shaking slightly, clearly unsure about what to do. Through the pain, I could see he was thinking hard before he seemed to gather his wits. "I'm sorry, this going to hurt, but bear with me." I followed his gaze to the bottom half of my left pant leg. It was ripped to shreds and I blanched at the amount of blood that was leaking from my leg. He tore open the rest of the bottom of my pant leg to inspect the wound. His scowl deepened, and he grabbed a water bottle from the bag he'd been carrying. "It's holy water; we don't want to wound to get infected," he informed me.
Tears began to slip down my cheeks as he carefully washed the wound he best he could. He was quick and efficient. He unbuttoned and pulled off his button down shirt, leaving him in his white undershirt. "I'm sorry," he mumbled again and began wrapping my leg. My immediate reaction to the pain was to reach out with my free hand and grab the front of Suguro's shirt. "I know, but we have to stop the bleeding." I tried to breath through the pain, to distract myself, but it was to no avail. I leaned my head black against the wall and closed my eyes.
I opened my eyes when my phone started ringing. I blushed when I realized that I'd never let go of Suguro's shirt. I let him go and managed to slip it out of my back pocket, and I saw that it was Rin calling me. I quickly handed the phone off to Suguro; I didn't quite trust my voice yet. He wiped his hand on his pants and took the phone without a word. "Rin, it's Suguro. Look, we ran into a little problem." I rolled my eyes at his word choice. "A rabid hobgoblin got (Y/N)'s leg, and it's bleeding pretty bad. We're a few minutes from the meeting spot, but tell your brother to get some medical supplies ready." Suguro listened to Rin speak for a few moments before hanging up. He handed the phone back to be, and I put it away carefully. "There was a nest of hobgoblins on the opposite end of the school. They've destroyed it, so now we just got to head back." I nodded. "Do you think you can stand?"
"W-we'll see," I murmured. He stood and then offered me a hand which I took. He hefted me to my feet carefully, and I grimaced when I tried to put weight on my left leg. "I don't think I can walk," I told him, standing on my right foot and holding onto Suguro's forearm. He responded by placing my arm around his neck and a hand on my lower back, helping me stand. I blushed at the close proximity and looked away. It was incredibly awkward because of our height differences, and Suguro's back was bent uncomfortably to the side.
"Could you possibly be any shorter?" he grumbled, maybe thinking I wouldn't hear it.
"I can't help it, you moron!" I snapped, looking up at the boy. "If I could, I'd be your height!" He looked surprised at my sudden outburst. I was normally quiet around him, so I must have startled him. I was getting to the end of my rope. My alarm clock hadn't went off, my head was still pounding, I got attacked by a hobgoblin, and on top of that Suguro was giving me an attitude. I was about done for the day and quite possibly the week.
He muttered an apology before saying, "It's not your fault, this just isn't going to work." Before I knew what was happening, I was getting swept up in his arms, and I found myself being held bridal style. I squeaked in surprise as I felt my face heat up. I clutched the front of his shirt as he started forward. "I don't want to be doing this any more than you do, but this is the hand we've been dealt, so we're just going to have to work with it." I nodded, not saying anything.
"I'm sorry I snapped at you," I told him after a few minutes of walking. "It's just been a long day, but that's no excuse."
"It's fine, really, don't worry about it. I would say getting attacked by a hobgoblin is a pretty good excuse." I giggled at his response.
"Thank you, though." He only hummed and nodded. When we reached the meeting point, Rin looked like he had a mini heart attack.
"Oh my gosh, (Y/N), are you alright?" he shouted running over to us. Suguro didn't stop walking, heading over to where Mr. Okumura was digging through his bag.
"I'm fine, Rin, really. It's just a scratch," I told him as Suguro carefully set me down and helped me sit. Suguro grumbled something at my words, but I didn't pay any mind to it. I watched Mr. Okumura as he got bandages and water along with a few other items I didn't recognize out of his bag.
"Alright, Miss (L/N), we'll have you cleaned up in no time."