(A/N: You guys can still suggest what the Servamps and Eves and Shiro are going to do for the one week bodyguard trial! I'll be sure to promptly credit you for your contribution and I'll make a chapter out of it! So please suggest some ideas! >~<)
~{&}~
"Seriously? You saw him and talked to him? Like, had a conversation with him? A conversation that goes 'hey, how are you?' with actual words and not just hand-motions or whatever?" Yumikage gawked at the seated-Mahiru from his spot across the table as he pressed on for more details, to which the latter nodded, although reluctantly.
Mahiru grumbled as he nodded to their stupidity, feeling a sense of annoyance from how many times they asked this question; they asked him three times already after they ate their breakfast because he had told them after they ate since he felt a bit better talking about it with a full stomach. One question from Shuhei, one from Junichiro and the last from the questionnaire just now, Yumikage.
Tsurugi snickered at Mahiru's visible depleting patience from the trio who kept throwing him the same questions over and over again, and seeing the helpless damsel in distress be overwhelmed by the three knights who claimed to be her sole saviour, he decided to step in and save the day.
"Alright," He clapped his hands together and brought the attention to his form, not missing the twinkle of gratitude in Mahiru's eyes as he winked in return,"Mahiru-chan has said yes to your same question three times already. What more do you want from him? Isn't it obvious that he's already stressed out from what happened just now and you're adding more to the mix?"
The three then realised what they had been doing and turned to Mahiru at once. The brunette nodded to Tsurugi's direction, reconfirming his words, and they sighed together.
"I'm sorry Mahiru, but it just shocked us all. It would have been better if you had ran into the other Eves or Servamps, but due to your bad luck—" Junichiro decided to take the initiative to apologise for their behaviour and continued his speech, cutting off Mahiru's 'hey!',"you met Sleepy Ash himself. Are you sure you're okay? I'm sorry if we sound like overprotective moms, but we're just worried."
'Why do I get the sense of déjà-vu and the feeling that you've said that before? Wait, isn't that the exact meaning of déjà-vu? Never-mind, but I swear that you've said those same words before,' Mahiru noted down in his head, having the feeling that Junichiro said that in chapter eighteen or nineteen.
Wait, chapter eighteen or nineteen? What does that even mean? What 'chapters' was he talking about? Maybe he finally has gone delusional after all to describe moments in his life as 'chapters'.
Mahiru shook his head; maybe the others have been right, maybe he has been alone for too long that he was starting to get delusional. He sighed as he looked off to the side, getting lost in his own thoughts for a while.
Why had he said those words to Sleepy Ash on the rooftop? What was he aiming to achieve by talking to him? Why did he say his thoughts that he had buried a long time ago in fear of being outcasted and humiliated on? He had bottled his feelings up — more like he was forced and trained to — for the sake of fighting, but everything just seemed to gush out from that bottle once he saw Sleepy Ash alone.
He could've stayed quiet, like he has always done when he wasn't behind his mask of Shiro. However, it seemed that his vow of silence broke at that moment and he finally spoke his thoughts out loud, like a caged beast breaking out from it's confinement in the circus.
Sure, maybe he wanted to distract Sleepy Ash for awhile to make his grand escape, but something else nudged him from the back of his mind, telling him that no, that's not it and it was telling him something else.
It told him that he was just meant to unravel himself in front of Sleepy Ash as there was nothing to be afraid of.
He wanted to scoff at the notion. He really did. It disgusted him to think such a way. Him, not fearing his own murderer? Even though his sanity and moralities may have been crippled during his stay in the C3 already, he wasn't that insane to not fear his own murderer. A normal human being would fear a monster, and he was the same.
And yet, he couldn't dismiss the underlying feeling that told him yes, it's true, you don't have to fear him over and over again. It was there and try as he might (frustratingly), he could not get it to disappear.
He willed his spirit into not succumbing to that part of him that maybe, just maybe, he still had a bit of hope for Sleepy Ash to return and atone for his sins and wrongdoings. The temptation of hope was enticing and it may taste sweet at first, but he knew that if that hope was crushed, he would fall into a deeper hole of despair than he was already in.
What even caused that feeling of hope, a feeling he had already abandoned a long time ago to resurface in the midst of seeing the vampire himself after two years? He could not find an explanation to it.
Heart conflicted by the question, he sighed as he looked down on his lap and saw the faint but evident black engravings on his wrist, eyeing it a bit before an idea struck him sharply and his orbs widened at the sudden realisation.
Was... was the 'Eve of Sloth' inside of him that he thought he broke into a million pieces still intact and waiting for an opportunity to revive itself again, more so when Sleepy Ash has now been appearing by his side multiple times?
He thought he had already snuffed out that flame of his younger, naïve self that fell into the hands of a psychopathic vampire, he really did, but it seems not because if he had then why would the black engravings from their contract together from the past start to darken again?
Before, he was a bright and powerful flame. Admired by many. Untouchable from the darkness as it burned anything that tried to touch it. But slowly, after his mother's death, the darkness seemed to be growing and it managed to devour bits of his brightness. When the darkness (Sleepy Ash's betrayal) overwhelmed it, it was snuffed out to a small flicker, so small that he thought it was long gone and he truly had lost himself.
But he didn't realize that it was still there, battling the darkness with all it had as a small flicker of light, persevering through the harsh whips of cold air that whooshed past the abyss.
Even if it was small, it was still there, and all it took to ignite it back into it's previous powerful and beautiful blaze was just a bit of fuel.
He wasn't fully broken yet; there was still a part of him that shouted out for help, still clinging onto that small feeble hold it had on the word called 'hope' and he wasn't sure if he felt relieved or angered by the thought of it.
Shirota Mahiru, the Eve of Sloth, was still hidden deep between the cracks of Shiro's mask no matter how much the wearer detested him and tried to get rid of him to no avail.
Hope was like a cockroach. Difficult to kill and an eyesore; also something pretty terrifying. No amount of pest controllers could obliterate the whole colony of cockroaches in the world because the numbers keep popping up— like how if there was still someone, even if that someone was on the other side of the world, prayed and wished for you to get better, hope will renew itself over and over again.
And deep inside Shiro, the fox of C3, Shirota Mahiru was hoping for a new chance in life with Sleepy Ash by his side yet again, with them both smiling softly in joy together while watching the sunset.
Mahiru gritted his teeth at that realisation. No, he couldn't afford the luxury of hope. He has used it so many times only for fate to retaliate against him, as if punishing him for being 'too hopeful' in life and that he should just think realistically for once.
But couldn't he just be selfish and greedy for once, risking it all in a single roll of dice that's outcome would foresee his future as a truly broken boy or someone who had family by his side?
Life was a game of poker, and currently, life has given him a bad hand. However, it's not the hand that determines his victory or not. It was how he chose to play with his cards that would determine the winner of the game of life.
He groaned to himself audibly, causing the previous remnants in the room who were talking amongst themselves to turn their attention towards him, and he softly muttered while pinching the brink of his nose,"This is such a pain that it's giving me a headache..."
Tsurugi's previous cheerful demeanour changed as he frowned and walked over to the unsuspecting brunette, clasping a warm and comforting hand over his shoulder. Mahiru was woken up from his previous dazed state as he jolted but relaxed under the touch as he turned and saw who it was, to see the raven smiling softly in comfort.
"Hey, hey. You alright there?" Tsurugi made sure to use a tone that the brunette was comfortable with; not too playful but not too warm until it felt like he was just pitying him. He knew Mahiru was sensitive to the feeling of being the one pitied on, not the feeling of pitying others. It sounded condescending to the brunette and told him that he was just some dead meat lying around (which he wasn't in any way. He was valued as family by the C3 folks) and Tsurugi knew that too well.
Mahiru stared into his eyes, using his skill of detecting facial features to find out if there was any hidden intention subconsciously before finding none and that Tsurugi truly wanted to comfort him. Sighing in exhaustion, he leaned back into the comfort the raven offered, just like how a child would seek for their mother's consolation after getting an injury.
His eyes softened at that as he looked up to see Yumikage, Junichiro and Shuhei all staring at him with worry evident in their eyes. He then tilted his head up to stare at Tsurugi's orbs once more, to see that his intention was still the same.
Something then clicked inside of him, and he chuckled softly in content.
Ah... after so many battles with vampires, he has forgotten the reason why he came to the C3 in the first place. He realised that all this time, his mind was too clouded by bloodlust and it automatically went to the assumption that he joined the C3 just to take Sleepy Ash down, but his heart had been lying in the shadows, hiding the true reason of joining the C3 until the time was right.
It wasn't to kill vampires.
It was to find a new family that would take him in when he had no one else to go to and give him some hope that there was still something to live for in this world, that he was still of use, that there would still be someone in this world that needed him as much as he needed them.
And lo and behold, he has already found his new family here. Plus, it didn't seem that this family was going to betray him anytime soon as they had the same objectives as him.
He smiled softly in content, feeling the weight on his chest lighten and he could finally breathe normally, his mind relaxing a bit from it's usual train of thoughts that naturally brought him anxiety. As if sensing his thoughts, Tsurugi smiled as he gave him an affirming nod that yes, we are your family and we are never going to leave you and it made Mahiru's soul brighten as well.
Maybe... maybe he could allow himself to hope, even if it was for a different cause.
Mahiru turned his attention to the rest who were forgotten momentarily, and he asked,"Hey, promise me that no matter what, you'll always be by my side as family, right?"
Even though Tsurugi already gave him a resounding yes, he needed to know what the others thought as well. He needed to hear it verbally just to make sure that the rest viewed him as their own too so that he could silence those dark voices in his heart that told him no, stop hoping, it will just lead to an even more painful betrayal and such.
The others didn't hesitate and all smiled cheerfully at his question, answering it in unison:
"Of course! We'll always be by your side, Mahiru!"
Mahiru's eyes widened a bit before they returned to their normal sizes, and he grinned in response as he finally silenced those voices with a smug smirk at them while they grumbled in irritation, promising that he'd return to them once more.
Maybe he will in the future. But for now, he wanted to be selfish and bask in the love of what was called family.
"Thank you," He answered with a genuine smile on his face as arms from Tsurugi went to encircle his neck in a comforting pose that told him they would always protect him, and all five of them laughed heartily with joy in response.
"Anyways," Mahiru decided to break it off as he offered,"anyone wanna play a game of Uno or another game of that sort? The winner gets a prize. I know what I want."
"What do you want?" Junichiro question, intrigued by his offer and his statement as he browsed through his mind for answers. Mahiru merely smirked as a reply, and he answered,"Thank you for asking."
He proudly declared with a grin on his face as he fished out his phone and when he found it, he presented it to the group, including Tsurugi who turned his body a bit so he could see what was on it but still held his vice around Mahiru's neck.
"...That's just a picture of Angelina Jolie in her Maleficent costume," Yumikage's voice was deadpan as he stared at the photo then to Mahiru, as if reconfirming whether this was the correct picture but Mahiru seemed all too eager to present it to them and that it was the correct picture.
Hearing Yumikage's words, he brightened up as he pointed to it,"Yes! That is exactly what this is. It's Angelina Jolie in her Maleficent costume with her hair down. Isn't she perfect and beautiful? Her looks are simple but elegant. She is maleficent to mankind to be so stunning, pun not intended."
The four idiots were dumbfounded at his praise for Angelina Jolie, finding it irrelevant to the topic he brought up and supposed that he just wanted to show her off for the sake of it.
"And... how does that connect back to a game of Uno?" Junichiro asked again, but as if his statement sent a godsend of an idea to Tsurugi, Tsurugi widened his eyes as he perked up.
He claimed,"Ah, I see! I've connected the dots! You want—"
"You didn't connect shit," Shuhei challenged him as he shot an arrow through his heart, making the raven gawk at him with a face of betrayal as if saying 'how could you do this to me?!'.
"I've connected it!"
"I just said that you didn't connect shit!"
"But how do you even know whether I didn't connect shit if you don't even know what I'm going to say?!"
"Because whatever you say later will be utter bullshit and I just know it—"
"Guys, guys! No more fighting! Let Tsurugi continue!" Mahiru interrupted their bickering, much to their irritation. The room quietened down but the glare that Shuhei sent the raven's way was still prominent. However, it was progress! The younger brunette sighed as he motioned for Tsurugi to continue, and the raven sent a smug smirk towards Shuhei, to which the latter growled in fury.
Tsurugi decided to continue where he left off,"I think that Mahiru-chan wants us to buy the costume for him so that he could wear it and be more like Angelina Jolie! Right, Mahiru-chan?"
Mahiru just stared at him in disbelief, ignoring the 'see? I told you that whatever he was gonna say next was bullshit' coming from Shuhei himself, the man seemingly basking in his self-proclaimed victory.
Mahiru pinched the brink of his nose tiredly before politely shaking his head,"Uh, good guess, Tsurugi. However, it's not that. Sure, I want to be a bit like Angelina Jolie since she's an actual godsend, but I don't really want the costume."
"Then what do you want?" Yumikage asked again as he narrowed his eyes and folded his arms in a demanding way, as if expecting Mahiru to answer to his question immediately— to which, by his luck and in his favour, the brunette was willing to do.
Mahiru grinned as he pointed to the image yet again,"If I win this game of Uno, the person with the most number of cards will have to print out this picture in full colour and give it to me."
The rest seemed to digest his demand in for a couple of seconds before their faces turned into a seriously? That's your request? How simple and idiotic face, causing an irk mark to appear at Mahiru's temple. But seriously, that was it? He wasn't going to ask for anything else? Then what was the hype all up for?
Feeling disappointed and slightly irritated at Mahiru's irrational request, Shuhei protested,"It's a no from me. That's just plain stupid. Why would you make us go all the way to do that when you could do it with one of the C3's many printers instead?"
Hearing that, Mahiru's cheeks resembled something of a pout as he grumbled,"That's what 'getting someone to do something for you because you don't want to do it yourself' means! Moreover, there's a reason why I don't want to do it myself!"
"And why is that?" Junichiro questioned, causing Mahiru to flounder for a bit as he shied away with a pink tint dusting over his cheeks. The brunette resorted to playing with his fingers by continuously pressing them together, a very obvious indication of embarrassment.
Their eyebrows quirked up at the sight of Mahiru being overly nervous over such a small thing for once. The brunette usually did things by himself because 'it was simpler that way', but he was showing a different side of him now.
Feeling their eyes on him, Mahiru glanced back up and immediately regretted it as all eyes were on him and he squeaked back down. However, with the over-mounting pressure being laid on his shoulders to just get on with it, he burst out loud with a flail of his arms,"Fine, fine! I'll say it so quit staring or glaring holes at me!"
The rest nodded at that as he sighed and explained,"The C3's printers are connected to their own database to ensure that whatever is printed would be saved if the document became contaminated or burned. Most of our printers here can connect itself to a device and print out whatever the text needed to be printed is."
"And?" Yumikage retorted, instantly getting a glare from Mahiru that told him to shut up so he could continue, which the blonde shivered at so he ducked his ego down and nodded.
"However, the C3 has tweaked them so that they can also trace the IP address of the person's phone. So imagine if they find out that I printed a picture of Maleficent for no reason at all! That would be humiliating!" Mahiru finished with him hiding his crimson face in his hands, and the rest stared at him in disbelief that he could overthink so much when he told them that he was just a simple guy.
"So the moral of the story here is... someone else needs to take the fall for you?" Tsurugi decided to sum his intentions up, causing Mahiru to brighten up at that.
"Bingo!" The brunette even had the audacity to reply back to the raven's comment, and that infuriated Shuhei to no ends as he banged the table using his hands and stood straight up instantaneously.
The rest thought that he was about to berate Mahiru for his hidden intentions, saying something like 'That is outrageous! You cannot use us for your own profit!' or something of that sort, but no. The man blew their expectations for the nth time in their lives, and whether it was disappointing or not, it would be for you to judge.
The man roared with audacious boldness,"Why pick Angelina Jolie when you could've chosen Scarlett Johansson?! She is a beauty as well! Have you even seen the movies she has starred in?! Why not her instead? What you are asking of us to do is risky and shameful so the result should be something much more worthwhile! Pick Scarlett instead!"
Mahiru made a dramatic clasp of his hand at his heart and gawked at him,"Utter betrayal! How dare you simply ask me to change my queen just like that! I am a loyal and faithful person and it would take more than that to make me switch faiths!"
Shuhei, not backing down from a challenge, took it on with his pride on the line,"If that's what you want, then I'll give it to you! I'll make you switch faiths!"
"Guys—"
"Oh yeah? Bring it on!" Mahiru growled as he pointed at the other brunette with a beckoning gesture as if taunting him to even try to get his faith in Angelina Jolie to flounder even for a second.
Shuhei pointed at Yumikage and boldly asked,"Hey, Yumikage! I'll ask you one question. A simple one, alright? Okay, here we go. Angelina Jolie or Scarlett Johansson?"
Yumikage blinked twice at his question, surprised at the sudden attention he was receiving. He pondered about it for awhile before quirking up,"Scarlett. I've liked her role as the 'Black Widow' in the marvel cinematic movies for a long time now. Though, forgetting about what happened in Endgame..."
Shuhei nodded in empathy while he stroked his pride at having a new follower in his massive 'religion' of that sort, and he presented him to Mahiru,"See? Even Yumikage agrees with me. How's that?"
Mahiru growled lowly. Not liking the role of the loser, he turned up to Tsurugi, and once the raven noticed the eyes on him, he asked,"Angelina Jolie or Scarlett?"
Hearing his question, Tsurugi smirked,"Angelina of course. I liked her role of Lara Croft in Tomb Raider, although it's a pretty old movie."
Mahiru smirked as well as he pointed back proudly at Shuhei, having another follower in his own religion,"How's that, Shuhei? Tsurugi always has my back! He is someone that I can maybe trust with my life. Probably, but never-mind that. This is Angelina and Scarlett we're talking about. How will you answer to that?"
Shuhei snarled lowly before noticing one more remnant of this room who was staying quiet the whole time, and immediately turned to the unsuspecting pinkie, Junichiro. Junichiro squeaked at the eyes that were now boring into him and tried to back away slightly but was not spared from their wrath either.
"Junichiro."
"Y-Yes?" He asked— it was more of a croak than it was a question, and it was more of a whimper than it was his own voice. With a deep breath, Mahiru asked,"Angelina Jolie or Scarlett Johansson?"
Junichiro was now panicking in his mind as he frantically tried to search for an answer to the straightforward question but found none. He needed to choose an option. However, if he were to pick a side, then it would wage war on the whole C3. Curse Tsurugi and Yumikage for putting the weight of the final decision and will on their tombstones!
And then, the answer came to him. He didn't need to be straightforward and choose two of those options. He could make another one. And that way, he may end the war before it even happens.
With his mind fixed on a decision, he answered truthfully,"Brie Larson."
The rest stared at him as if he grew another head. The tension in the air was so palpable that you could cut through it with a knife. And yet, confusion was also mixed into the haze, much to his achievement. Such was his goal at the beginning.
"What? But we said Angelina or Scarlett. Not Brie," Dumbfounded, Mahiru tilted his head at him, and he almost scoffed at that but refrained from doing so, keeping the polite façade on.
"I know, but I like Brie too. She's strong, independent and beautiful as well, just like my wife," He distantly remembered as he smiled softly. However, the rest did not pick on the mood as Mahiru and Shuhei slowly turned psychotic.
They burst out like giant flames, Mahiru being the first to lash out,"Sure, Brie may be a strong and beautiful woman as well and we all love her for it, but we're talking about Scarlett and Angelina right now, not Brie! Brie is for another chapter or so!"
" 'Chapter'—?"
"Yeah, he's right! You can't pick Brie right now! So choose! Scarlett, or Angelina?!" Shuhei yelled as he got up and shoved his finger into Junichiro's chest, to which the latter was slightly regretting his decision and was trying to back away.
"Guys—!"
Shuhei was not giving him any leeway at this point,"Now choose—"
Their moment was abruptly cut off when a blonde suddenly burst into the room in a panting mess, and upon further inspection, noting the medium-length-blonde hair and feminine structure, their eyes widened at seeing who it was.
"Izuna?" Mahiru questioned with curiosity as he stared at her figure and noticed that Freya wasn't with her at the moment.
Now, don't get him wrong, it wasn't like he had gotten over his fear of the Servamps after what happened with Sleepy Ash. It was just that he actually liked Freya— most of the time, he found himself enjoying her company, finally having someone responsible to talk and complain to about the childlike behavior of the other C3 members and they also shared recipes with each other, with him of course being under the mask of Shiro to prevent his identity from being spilled.
Freya didn't know that Shirota Mahiru was in the C3; she didn't really show interest in him either when he brought it up in a conversation, and he was all too happy to keep it that way. She was comfortable to talk to and she regularly gave him advice and was there when he needed comfort from battles or just emotionally.
She would never replace the spot his own mother had carved into his heart, but she was a close second. She had this 'motherly' vibe to her that just melted all his worries.
At first, they didn't really talk to each other much— it was probably during the time when he was still recovering from Sleepy Ash's betrayal and he was still apprehensive of being near a Servamp or an Eve. But after Freya discovered him cooking in the kitchen with his fox mask on (he just came back at that time from a mission and was really hungry, okay? He wasn't a weirdo), they hit it off quite well and shared recipes with each other.
When he told her that he was betrayed once by someone (he didn't name who it was to prevent any identification), she became sympathetic and embraced him in a warm hug, telling him that it was going to be alright and that she would be there when he needed it. It was probably that moment where he decided to fully accept her as one of his family members, no longer being an outsider.
So, yeah. Freya was considered as one of his family members— figuratively, of course. And he was secretly rooting for Izuna and Freya to just get married at this point because they were so cute and perfect together. He still had that photo he secretly took of Freya draping a jacket over Izuna's shoulders after she dozed off on her table from an all-nighter on a project.
They were always together but right now, she was gone.
Huh, that was weird. She was usually with her, helping out with the small meagre tasks that she could do while the blonde worked herself to death (and the Servamp usually berated her for her behaviour, telling her that she'll die an early death if she continued like this and that she didn't want that), so where was she?
Maybe with the Servamps? That was a possibility. But it seems unlike her to just leave Izuna behind seeing that she was strangely overprotective of her Eve, unless... it was super urgent, urgent to the point that she would leave Izuna behind and would cause Izuna to arrive here a panting mess.
His senses became alarmed at the sudden profound realisation. What was so urgent it forced Izuna to run down here from... wherever she came from?
"Izuna, is something wrong?" He questioned warily, eyes naturally scanning the vicinity for anything that could impose danger onto any of them, his hand itching towards one of the daggers that he has hidden through his body because no way in hell would he allow someone from his family get hurt.
Izuna didn't answer verbally. Rather, she did physically.
And by physically, it meant her falling to the ground face first.
Mahiru, being the most alarmed and grounded of the bunch, broke free from Tsurugi's hold easily and rushed straight for her before her face implanted with the ground and his heart wrecked with worry and caution as he held her in his arms.
Shuhei was the next to respond, seeing as he was her childhood friend and he snapped out of his daze quickly and collapsed by Mahiru's kneeling form. He flailed his arms for a bit, unsure of what to do because nothing indicated of the reason why she would collapse, except her panting form.
However, his mind immediately locked itself onto that key and crucial factor. Her panting form that seemed to be sweating so much. Exhaustion? Was that the reason why? But why did she even run all the way here for?
Mahiru however was too panicked to try and analytically think of an answer as to why Izuna collapsed, unlike his senior who was trying his best to remain clam and figure out the reason why. Tsurugi and Yumikage was just in a state of shock while Junichiro had regained his senses but deemed running to Shuhei's side worthless because he may just be a burden to them.
"Izuna! Izuna, wake up!" Mahiru shook the blonde to stir her from her unconscious state, and his hands shook with slight fear as undesirable scenarios ran through his mind a mile per second,"Izuna, please wake up—!"
"Stop panicking already! It's disgraceful to watch and you'll just add more tension to the scenario! You have to calm down!" Done with Mahiru's panicky state, he slapped Mahiru's cheek while holding back so as to not elevate the pain, and it worked. Mahiru stilled for a couple of seconds, the pain grounding him back to reality, and time stopped.
Pain was always the thing that kept him moving and grounded to reality. It always sent an electric shock through his body, as if telling him you're here, you're alive and there is something bigger to focus on right now and the rest knew that well and utilised it to the best they could without forcing too much pain on him. And so, Shuhei acted on it.
Having gained back his senses, Mahiru nodded shakily to Shuhei as if thanking him, to which the latter nodded back in return and the former took this time to clear his thoughts. He focused on his breathing, making sure it was even, focused on his hearing, sharpening it to unknown precedence and focused on his sense of touch, feeling Izuna's body heat spreading throughout his fingers.
With a calming voice, he gently called out to the blonde again,"Izuna, please wake up. We're here. Please wake up."
Mahiru's soothing voice was the key to luring the rabbit out of it's cage in the deepest depths of it's mind, and it was as if a light had shone the pathway to freedom and warmth erupted in the rabbit's chest just from hearing it, further encouraging it to hop it's way to salvation. Izuna slowly opened her eyes and the rest seemed to visibly relax at that if their previously tense shoulders slumped out of relief was any given evidence.
The blonde needed a few seconds to adjust the drastic change of brightness that invaded her orbs, a flaring pain shot through her eyes when she opened them too quickly as a consequence, and she squinted her eyes back shut before slowly cracking them open.
"Ugh... sprinting all the way here was a bad idea," She groaned out loud, dragging the 'ugh' as a notion to her exhaustion and grogginess, and the rest chuckled at that.
"You don't say," Yumikage snarked with a smirk, trying to mask his relief that was still clearly evident on his face but nobody felt like stomping on his ego by pointing it out due to pity, allowing him to bask in the false image that he was doing a great job at it.
Izuna weakly laughed at his comment before gradually sitting up with Mahiru's help, uttering a quick 'thank you' to the brunette. She sighed one last time and honed her senses, making sure to focus on sight and hearing. She could pick up the slightest details, her retinas overpowering the blinding light and once she deemed herself mentally and physically enough to now think, she did just that.
Everybody was crowding around her but giving her just enough space to be comfortable, and she felt thankful at that. They knew her so well and she was grateful to have them by her side.
She closed her eyes for a bit, rummaging through her head to seek for her motive on running here before she promptly passed out due to exhaustion (she had to remember that physique wasn't really one of her many strengths; she preferred creating things instead of running over things).
Why did she even run all the way here for? She knew that she had important news to announce to the rest, important enough for her to stop Freya from following her and telling her to stay put in her lab (regardless of how much the beautiful and absolutely stunning woman protested, telling her that she'd rather be by her side than alone), but she couldn't remember what it was.
Wait... why did she even tell Freya to not follow her again? There wasn't much to hide from her, except Mahiru, that is, seeing that the Servamp did not even know that Mahiru was in the C3—
Hold on.
Mahiru?
Something clicked in Izuna's mind as she snapped her eyes towards the brunette, the latter squeaking at the sudden intense stare he was receiving as Izuna scrutinised each centimetre of his face, trying to grasp onto that feeling that she was onto something here.
That was right. She always brought Freya along with her unless Mahiru — not Shiro, seeing as he had a mask on — was involved, so that should mean that the reason why she ran all the way here had something to do with Mahiru, and an urgent matter as well.
But what was the reason why?
Desperate, she turned towards her childhood friend for assistance, the latter snapping his head towards her as if they had mind-reading capabilities, and she asked using his nickname she gave him when they were young,"Loki, was there something important that was supposed to happen today?"
" 'Something important'...?" Loki— or, Shuhei asked out loud, his sharp and calculative mind instantly searching through the archives of his brain in search for that 'event' and he subconsciously blurted out the first thing that came to his mind,"I mean, the 'bodyguard trial' that Mahiru has with the Servamps is supposed to start today—"
The chains that were binding Izuna's train of thoughts snapped in an instant.
She jumped out of her seated position so fast that everybody thought that she was in a cannon ball and she was the ball or whatever it was called and grabbed Shuhei by the shoulders, tightening her hold on them, making the brunette wince in slight pain from it and started to shake him.
"Izuna—"
"That's it! That's it! Loki, you're so smart! Thank you! Thank you so much!" She thanked the heavens as she shook the brunette with gratitude, making the latter confused and slightly befuddled by the way of how she was shaking him vigorously.
Tossing the male aside without a care in the world and against the said male's protests and whines, she turned to the now-standing Mahiru with a look that told him I remembered something and it's linked to you, causing the latter to tilt his head to the side.
She breathed in a deep breath, urging herself to calm her nerves down and articulated to him,"Mahiru, I now remember the reason why I came rushing to you. It was to warn you ahead of time so that you could prepare yourself."
"...Prepare myself for what?" Mahiru questioned wearily, not liking the tone of voice that she used— it usually meant that something grave was about to happen, like a premonition of that sort, and it just felt unsettling to hear from the usually bubbly blonde's mouth.
Izuna pursed her lips, as if contemplating whether she should really announce the news but seeing that comforting look on Mahiru's face that told her go on, I won't judge you for it just melted all her worries away. With a strong breath that had hints of shakiness around the edges, she announced:
"The Servamps and Eves are coming to the C3 soon and you'd ought to prepare yourself for their arrival now."
A sudden alarming noise screeched through their ears, clogging their minds with scattered thoughts. Danger, danger, it cried. Their sense of fight or flight were running through their veins at the news. Just the words of 'Servamps' or 'Eves' were enough to trigger such senses.
Cold shivers ran through their spines and to their arms, the tiny hair follicles springing back to life like electricity and the room's temperature seemed to plummet drastically.
The overwhelming rush of adrenaline was making Mahiru nauseous, and with a shaky breath while trying to hide his clammy palms, he glowered,"They're coming, huh..."
Izuna nodded with a grim look in her eyes, knowing how uncomfortable Mahiru was with the Servamps and the Eves (excluding her and Freya), and lowered her head at Mahiru, biting her head nervously in fear of having done something wrong.
However that was for naught when Mahiru clasped his hand on her shoulder, jolting her out of her dazed and overthinking state. She tilted her head slightly so she could see Mahiru's face clearly.
Mahiru smiled softly at her as consolation, sensing her thoughts and acting upon it,"It's alright. There was nothing you could have done to have prevented this. Stop overthinking. Do not think that you did something wrong; it's quite the opposite. You did the right thing for running here to tell me about it. I am grateful you used your energy just to warn me about their upcoming arrival. It shows your concern and I cherish it. Thank you."
A warm feeling erupted from Izuna's chest, melting all her worries away. She chuckled with small amounts of tears brimming at the corners of her eyes and used her hand to wipe them away. "Thank you," she whispered back softly.
Mahiru merely grinned and chuckled back in response.
Sensing this as the correct timing, Tsurugi decided to voice out his question that he had been keeping to himself after Izuna announced that the Servamps and Eves were coming,"And? What are you going to do now, Mahiru-chan?"
Shuhei, now having stood up and by Yumikage's side, nodded in response to Tsurugi's question,"Yeah, what are you going to do now?"
Mahiru shrugged with a compliant and half-hearted smile,"I dunno. Maybe I'll take Izuna's advice of getting ready right now. Gotta make sure my gear and disguise is perfect. Junichiro, Shuhei and Izuna, can you help with my disguise as well? Oh and, Tsurugi and Yumikage, if you both would like to help out, you can do so. I'll be your doll for today."
The people in question perked up at that, all now having profound enthusiasm and energy at hearing that they could dress Mahiru up for the day to cover his identity up and all rushed to where he and Izuna were, by the door.
They all slowly exited the doorframe one by one and walked down together down the hallway, bickering with one another on how Mahiru's disguise would be like; Tsurugi wanted Mahiru to look like him, Yumikage wanted him to look like a skateboarder, Junichiro wanted him to just look like a casual and simple guy, Shuhei wanted him to look like a formal and classy businessman while Izuna was in between Junichiro's and Shuhei's idea.
Mahiru laughed their comments off, finding their cheekiness and enthusiasm to be refreshing from the constant dark voices that plunged him into the abyss; the warmth was overflowing and ever-accepting, and he loved to bask in it's comfort.
For a moment, he caught sight of the black engravings that were on his wrist and stopped to inspect and scrutinize it. It was something that kept telling him of who he was back then, an identity that he tried to forget.
But did he really want to forget who he was before, when that same very identity was the one that shaped his current one?
Did he really?
"Mahiru!"
Hearing his name, his ears perked up and he looked up to see who called him; all five of the others were staring at him with cheerful expressions on their faces.
It was as if the spotlight was being shown on them, and they were inviting him to share their stage together. Overflowing, ever-accepting, his mind filled in for him.
"What are you waiting for? Let's go and dress you up!" Tsurugi exclaimed excitedly with a smirk as he extended his hand forward for the brunette to take, and it was as if, for that moment, the size of his flame enlarged by a little.
He couldn't and wouldn't stop the full-blown grin on his face that spread from ear to ear. That question that he asked himself earlier could wait. He had better things to do.
"Alright," He replied with a genuine laugh as he took the warm and comforting hand the raven offered, and felt the supporting hand from Yumikage at his back to nudge him further into their destination without looking back.
And within the enveloping darkness, the small flame he had shone ever brighter than before. He was feeling alive for once and he appreciated and cherished the moment.
Feeling alive, huh?
His eyes brightened at that.
What a beautiful thing to say.