Seishun Gakuen...
"What exactly do you want from me?" Kourin coldly asked the woman in front of her. The woman was codenamed Themis.
Themis only laughed in a sinister manner. "Well, you should know that already, princess. We need to know where you keep the Celestial Succession Ceremonial Items. If you can't provide us with the right information—" she paused and took hold of something from her inner chest pocket. She took it out and revealed a handgun, a .45 caliber pistol to be exact. "—one of your friends will be shot," Themis said, and then smirked. "I believe it was known to you and the Miyuzaki clan about the content of the bullets that our agency is using right now. I think it would be best if I remind you that this is the same gun that I used to kill your beloved mother, Rina. Of course, you already know that she was the one known as the Purple Angel of the Shinomiya clan. That night, however, she was dyed in red—with her blood at that. And the chemicals inside of these bullets were containing the same component as those that almost burned your right hand when you touched your mother's body that night."
Kourin could only widen her eyes in disbelief. Only her uncle and aunt, along with Nanasaki Hotaru, knew that since they saw her did it. 'How in the world did she know that?'
"And in addition to that, this is the same weapon I used to somehow eradicate your guardian, Miyuzaki Shouko. I think her body would start to decompose by now if she hadn't escaped my bullet and made it out of the river," Themis added.
'That can't be! That can't be!' Her mind screamed those words over and over because she couldn't make herself utter a word after hearing all of it from Themis—one of the people that destroyed her happy life with her family.
"What did you do to Shouko-san?" the girl asked as icily as she could.
'I would enjoy doing this until you couldn't stand it anymore. I would enjoy seeing you hurt and suffer in pain. Don't worry, I'll have you join your family in hell soon enough.' Themis took a few steps forward. "Even if I tell you that she's dead, you wouldn't believe it, right?"
But before she could answer, someone called out Themis.
"Oi, Themis! Why aren't you killing her? That's what the boss ordered us to do and you're in charge of bringing him that brat's head. So why aren't you doing it?" the woman with short blond hair inquired.
"You shouldn't worry, Thea," Themis answered facing Kourin with a smirk on her face. "I'll kill her after I let her suffer some more. At least, she'll know how her family suffered before they heaved their last breath. I'll let her relive that night in her mind and make her suffer once again when I kill all of the people that she treasures. I'll let those people bathe in their blood and the princess could only watch it happen in fear because she couldn't do anything to protect them. She can't protect them in the first place. Am I right, Kourin-ojousama?"
Even if Kourin was shocked at what she had heard, her face was only showing a sad look.
'She's right...' With that realization, she felt her tears streaking down her face. 'I never did anything to protect my family... my source of strength. It was the other way around. They were the ones who protected me. I just watch them lose their lives that night to save me... to protect me... to let me feel their love for me that goes even beyond their grave... I don't have such ability to protect those that I treasure the most. I am useless...'
"You're wrong!" Ayumi shouted that bringing Kourin out of her musings. The princess turned around to look at her friend who shouted.
"Rin-san can protect those people she cares about the most in her way. Because if she doesn't have that ability in the first place, she wouldn't be able to rescue Ryoma-niichan from near death a week ago," Ayumi continued as she looked at the annoyed woman unwaveringly.
"Ayumi-chan..." Kourin could only say. But before she could say anything else, she saw the woman name Thea slap Ayumi hard which knocked the girl to the ground. She approached Ayumi immediately after she stabbed Thea's right leg with an ice pick that she brought out of her pocket.
The other kids rushed toward Ayumi and tried to help her stand up. The two boys were holding her on both elbows while Haibara dusted off her clothes.
Kourin stood in front of the knocked-down Ayumi and the other kids as she defended her with her arms spreading wide, blocking her enemy from hurting her friend any longer.
"Rin-san, don't do this. You'll get hurt if you keep this up," Ayumi warned.
'You're wrong, Ayumi-chan. I'll get hurt either way whether I protect you or not. But I don't want to make the same mistake again. This is for the best...' Kourin thought sadly and faced the Dark Rose members unwaveringly.
"You brat!" Thea grumbled furiously as she bear the pain from the stabbed right leg. But even if she was furious about what Kourin did, she could see no fear in the princess's eyes.
"I'm the one you want to destroy, right? So don't you dare include my friends in this? Kill me now if you want to. But I'm not going to let you hurt anyone here any further," Kourin said firmly without fear evident in her voice.
"Is she serious?" Momoshiro could only ask in disbelief.
"I think so. We don't know Kourin-chan that much but I can feel that she's serious about it," Fuji replied with his eyes open at the sight.
"But Fuji-senpai, that girl—"
"That girl saved and protected Echizen a week ago. She's just a girl, we all know that. But even if she's just a girl, she's staking her life to defend the people she can protect now."
All of them could feel from Kourin what exactly Fuji meant. The girl was staking her life to protect those people important to her now. She was doing something she never got to do during that tragic night. All of them could feel her courage to retort such words to the enemies like that even though she was just a kid—a nine-year-old girl who had experienced one of the greatest cruelty that the world could offer.
Thea sighed and then smirked. "You sure are brave to say that, brat."
But Kourin didn't even twitch from her position. She has to face her greatest fears if she wanted to survive this. Her friends shouldn't have to be involved in this mess. They've already done enough to break her out of her shell with the help of her cousin. It was time for her to repay them for doing that. And protecting them—even if she had to stake her life in the process—would be the best way for her to do that.
"I don't know what the hell you want from Kourin-chan at this point—" Momoshiro paused and approached the long-haired fourth grader. Kourin was surprised when she heard him speak. "—but do you think I would allow you to hurt her?"
"Momoshiro-san... what are you doing?" Kourin mumbled as she saw him slowly approaching.
"Momo, that's dangerous. Stay here!" Oishi warned but Momoshiro unheeded those words. Fuji didn't say anything, though. The tensai's eyes were open and staring at his kouhai with a different level of seriousness that even Tezuka felt was weird. But given the fact that he knew what had happened a week ago while the team was looking for Ryoma, then everything would surely fall into place. They knew the severity of the case more than anyone among the Seigaku team members.
"If what Fuji said that the girl saved Echizen, I guess Momo just wants to return the favor," Kawamura commented when he saw his fellow powerhouse player's face. It was completely different from what he usually sees from Momoshiro. "That girl already did a lot to protect us like this. We can't even help her at this point."
"But Kawamura-senpai—"
"Ah!" That loud yelp of pain caught almost every student's attention followed by the sound of several gunshots.
What they saw was a slightly bleeding Momoshiro clutching his right shoulder. Before any of the regulars could approach him, he yelled out, "Stay where you are!" with intensity. Of course, they were surprised to hear that. But they still did what they were told.
"Momo... Just what do you think you're doing, nya?" Eiji could only mumble in distress as he tried to calm down and stop himself from doing anything rash similar to what his kouhai did.
"Momoshiro-san!" Kourin shrieked and her eyes widened in surprise. "Don't! Don't hurt him! He has nothing to do with this!" And then she approached the younger powerhouse player. "Please! Just stay here, okay? Don't do anything rash anymore. I don't want any more people to get hurt because of me... Please..." Hot tears streaking down her cheeks soon followed her words of pleading for the person who saved her a week ago from those bullies.
Despite the pain coming from his shoulder, which was only grazed by the bullet, Momoshiro faced the girl with a grin on his face. "I'm doing this to return the favor. You saved Echizen which made you decide to create a lie to me and Fuji-senpai. It's about time for me to repay you for that... for doing that to my best friend and my kouhai."
"But why? You don't have to go this far for me. I'm just a stranger..." Kourin reasoned out. Her tears didn't cease to fall, though.
"I guess you're right... but you never treated Echizen like that, right?"
Her eyes widened in surprise. She blinked a few times along with that expression.
Momoshiro gently smiled. "Then I'll ask you. Why do you have to go to such lengths to defy them just to protect your friends? To protect everyone? You're not even showing fear in front of these bastards. Aren't these the people who took the lives of your family a year ago?"
She felt as if words left her at that instant. "I... I..." To say that she was surprised to hear those words was an understatement. She didn't know what to say to that at all.
But before she could answer it completely, she saw Iapetus was about to his Momoshiro with his katana catching both of them off-guard. The regulars, despite Momoshiro's warning, tried to rush toward the two. Kourin closed her eyes in fear. All of the students, even the Detective Boys, were shocked just by looking at it. They couldn't even look.
But all of a sudden, a soccer ball appeared and came flying from out of nowhere knocking the katana from the man's hands. He kneeled as he bear the pain. And before they could reach even further, they noticed some people entering the school grounds.
"You can open your eyes now, Kourin-chan." She heard Momoshiro say those words calmly. Then slowly, she opened her eyes, only to be relieved and surprised when she looked around to see the situation.
"They're here... Everyone's here..." she whispered as she saw the members of the Miyuzaki clan restricting the Dark Rose members' movements. As she looked around, even more, she couldn't help but show a smile of relief when she saw some familiar faces.
"Ryoma-niichan! Conan-kun! Shouko-san! Miyuzaki-sensei! Yanai-sensei!" she happily called out the names of the people who had just arrived at the scene. From afar, she could see police cars and their headlights. For some reason, she had a bad feeling about... something. Why were they standing afar from the school grounds?
When the Seigaku regulars and the other members of the tennis club—including Tomoka and Sakuno, and even Coach Ryuzaki—saw Ryoma standing along with Kourin's other friends, they happily called out Ryoma's name as they felt relieved.
"We're saved!" Mitsuhiko said in relief.
Kourin smiled at them and was relieved when she saw that everything seemed to have been under control already.
But then, she didn't know why her heart was beating abnormally fast. It was as if she was fearing for something else that was about to happen.
'Could it be...? I know and I can feel it. Something's wrong here. The Dark Rose wouldn't give in like this. Why?' And then she felt her heart by putting her right hand to her hand. 'Why is my heart beating this fast? Why am I fearing for something to happen? Why...?'
With that thought, she stood up and looked around one more time. A few seconds later, she set her eyes on the rooftop of the building about 300 yards north of Seishun Gakuen's school grounds. Doing so, however, only made her notice something that stunned her.
'No way! It can't be...'
-x-x-
I have to end this here for now. Cliff-hanger? I don't think so. What do you think is that Kourin saw on that building and to think it's about 300 yards away? Well, it's for you to find out soon. That's it for Chapter 14.