Chapter 4
Same Day
Setsuna felt stupid.
As usual, it was mostly her fault that she felt that way. But she felt utterly stupid making a kite out of a plastic bag and a pair of chopsticks while sitting on the World Tree hill.
The Scotch tape kept folding on itself in the wind.
…It had been Shizuna’s idea.
Actually, after her initial protests and inquiries as to
why—to which Setsuna didn’t bother answering—the nurse’s first suggestion had been to write Konoka’s name on a rock and symbolically throw it into the ocean. It was a classic method to cast her feelings away and let the water wash her free, something like that. But Setsuna couldn’t quite bear the idea of chucking anything that had Konoka’s name on it like a piece of garbage into the sea, and so Shizuna had suggested writing Konoka’s name on a kite and letting it fly free.
Letting a kite go seemed a tad less crude than chucking a rock into the water, so Setsuna decided that she might as well give it a shot.
Setsuna couldn’t help but wonder if Shizuna had already thought of that alternative for herself before, as the older woman oddly had all the materials needed to make a kite in her desk drawer.
But those wild-mass guessing predictions were Konoka and Asuna’s territory, not hers.
Making a kite wasn’t that hard.
Cut the plastic.
Tape the chopsticks as frames to the plastic.
Tie and tape down the thin twine of kite-string—the oddest item by far that Shizuna-sensei
happened to have on hand.
Carefully, holding the plastic stretched out between her knees, Setsuna wrote “Konoka” on the sheet. Was that good enough? Adding “Konoe” would be more specific, but it felt too formal. But if she wanted formal, maybe she should have written “Ojou-sama”…but Setsuna wasn’t in love with Ojou-sama, but with Konoka…
Maybe she should have written “Kono-chan” instead…
Setsuna made to cross out “Konoka” but hesitated. Finally, she printed “Kono-chan” in brackets lower down and capped her Sharpie.
“Let her go, huh?” Setsuna muttered, picking up the roll of kite-string in her free hand. Honestly, she doubted that a psychological trick would get rid of her problem, but at this point Setsuna was willing to give try anything to help relieve some of the tension.
Slowly, she played the crude kite up into the air, tugging it back and forth in the wind until it whipped high above her head under the World Tree’s canopy.
Let it go.
Setsuna bit her lip, watching the kite flutter above. Maybe she should play out more line, she still had some of the string rolled up in her fist. She promptly did so.
Now. Let it go.
The wind changed, and Setsuna yanked on the string to tack the kite steadily through the sudden gust, playing out the rest of the line in a jerk.
Okay, now.
The string was biting into her palm.
Her feelings for Konoka—she just had to let go. Supposedly, she’d feel better afterwards. Like more of a resolution had been reached.
Let it go. Open your hand.
She sweated.
LET. GO.
High above, the kite suddenly dipped and blew sideways in a torrential updraft. A sharp slicing pain made her jump. “Fuck!” Setsuna swore as she felt the kite string slip through her bleeding palm and snap like a loosed elastic into the sky.
She stuck her hand in her mouth, tasting blood and the sting of torn skin.
“Why don’t I lick that for you?” a familiar leer came from above her.
Setsuna looked up, dropping her hand from her mouth. “Evangeline-san.” Ah, shit—the daywalker was holding onto her kite, a smirk on her young face. Setsuna winced.
“Oh, what’s this?”
“It’s just…don’t…” Setsuna hung her head.
Evangeline held out the plastic kite and smirked at the name written on it. “Letting go of your precious Ojou-sama, huh? Did it work?”
Setsuna stared, then looked down at her palm, still oozing a line of blood down her wrist. Suddenly she started laughing, red spittle dropping from her lips. What a joke! Laughter continued to shake Setsuna’s slim form as she collapsed onto the grass, still giggling.
“Hmpf,” Evangeline grunted, disturbed, and raised an eyebrow. She released her grip on the plastic bag kite. The crumpled kite fell a few feet before wafting open and catching a breeze that sent it tumbling away and into the sky. Evangeline dropped off a branch and landed gracefully on the ground. “If you’re done, I’m bored. Let’s have a match.”
Feeling her last few chuckles trickle away, Setsuna wiped her hand on the grass and picked up Yuunagi’s case. “Sure,” she agreed.
They walked towards Evangeline’s cabin, using the sly paths instead of the main ways. Setsuna knew all the side streets well from her middle-school patrol routes, and with newly-practiced ease she memorized the minute changes in architecture and landmarks as they walked.
“I see you’ve given up on your silly disguise,” Evangeline commented languidly. “Why?”
“The eyes keep people from looking at me too long. It’s how I like it.”
“Interesting,” Evangeline smirked, and Setsuna checked herself, wondering how much she should reveal to the vampire. If the worst Evangeline would do was mock her, that wasn’t too bad—but giving Evangeline too much information could possibly backfire on her in unexpected ways. Idly, Evangeline drawled, “But you kept dying your hair.”
“Easier to disguise myself. And it’s more intimidating.”
“More like more emo,” Evangeline taunted.
Thankfully they had arrived at Evangeline’s private cabin. Both of them headed towards the training area in the woods. Setsuna undid the ties of her sword case and drew out Yuunagi. “Rules?”
“What rules?” Evangeline grinned before she launched a sudden attack.
Setsuna caught the first punch on Yuunagi’s sheath, and despite her digging her heels in the blow knocked her back. Block then strike then block again, the two of them trying to draw the other out while gauging their skill level.
I can keep up with her, Setsuna marvelled, ducking a backhand from Evangeline and spinning into a roundhouse kick that missed as the vampire rolled away.
Unlike last time, I’m matching her blow for blow.
“OOF!” A blow to the stomach knocked the air out of Setsuna’s lungs for a split moment before she reacted and nailed the charging Evangeline with an elbow strike to the chin, gaining enough time to catch her breath again.
“Don’t get cocky now,” Evangeline warned, circling her.
“
I won last time,” Setsuna pointed out. “With you at full power too.”
“Shut it,” Evangeline growled, although she seemed more disgruntled than truly angry. Then her smirk returned. “Although this time, it seems you’re choosing the sword instead?”
Her eyes narrowed, and Setsuna lunged forward, drawing her blade in a flash of silver.
**O**
“Got you!” Asuna said satisfactorily as she latched onto Konoka’s wrist. Konoka grimaced—she knew that she risked being ambushed by Asuna if she stepped outside the conference room, but Konoka really couldn’t handle staying in that room any longer. The moment the break was called she had slipped out the door and was immediately caught.
“Alright, let’s go for a walk?” No one could be around when Asuna forces an explanation out of her.
They drifted to the gardens behind the high school. At this hour, school was over and so only a few students were left on campus as they participated in their various clubs around the grounds. There was no one in the garden though, giving them the privacy they needed.
Asuna didn’t waste any time. “Why did you lie back then?” She demanded. “You told me that you and Setsuna entered the outer ring of wards last Halloween.”
Konoka sighed, running one hand through her long hair. “It’s…complicated.”
While Asuna may have been the leader of the Baka-rangers, she wasn’t stupid when it came to logical deducing. They had all grown skilled in the Magical World, in the years following it. “You said that after you walked through the Wards and when Setsuna joined you, the Wards started going nuts. Setsuna called out her wings, didn’t she?”
Defeated, Konoka nodded.
“But demons have hit the Koyane Wards before without breaking them. So Setsuna grabbed you, and she must have been flying…then she hit the stone.” Asuna paused, her blue and green eyes narrowed. “And she broke it…because she’s a half-demon. That has to be it, if nothing has ever broken the Ward stones before. I’m right, aren’t I?”
“Please,” Konoka said.
“That’s also why she couldn’t enter the Ward’s outer ring later on, since she must have been channelling Demon at that time, and that…anti-demon barrier kicked her out, right?”
“We had suspected already that there’s probably some kind of anti-demon barrier there, and Set-chan just proved it for us. It seems like we can generalize half-demons with full demons in that case—”
“Why did you lie, then?” Asuna asked again, persistent. “Setsuna broke the stone uniquely because she’s a half-demon, but why could she enter the first time—”
Konoka fell to her knees in front of Asuna and bowed her head.
“What? Konoka!” yelped Asuna in shock.
“Please,” she whispered tearfully, clutching at Asuna’s sleeves as the red-head tried to get her to rise. “Forget all that. Just…don’t mention it again, and especially don’t let Set-chan hear.”
“Okay, okay, please get up!”
Konoka refused to budge, tightening her grip as she babbled on. “Asuna—you know how Set-chan is. Knowing that would break her into a hundred pieces. Please, she can’t ever find out.”
“But it’s not her
fault, if you explain it right—”
“Please!” Konoka begged. “I don’t care what my family thinks, but Set-chan
can’t know. You know her, Asuna, you know how she feels about herself! It would break her…please…”
Asuna crouched down, putting a hand on Konoka’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, I promise, okay? I won’t breathe a word of it again—except maybe to Negi, I think he could help, I really do. And you know he won’t tell anybody. Okay?”
Swallowing, the brunette nodded. “Okay, Negi-kun. But not another soul. Just Negi-kun.”
“Okay,” Asuna agreed, and Konoka recognized her tone as being deliberately low and calming, as if she wanted to keep Konoka from bolting like a frightened animal. “But Konoka…” the redhead hesitated. “Don’t you think that Setsuna would, um…that she might have guessed herself?”
“If she did, I’m not going to confirm it for her,” Konoka clenched her teeth, finally letting Asuna pull her up. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “I won’t let her guilt herself to death with that knowledge.
I won’t.”
She knew that Asuna didn’t approve of her secrecy.
But Asuna didn’t understand—Konoka had so little of Setsuna already. Nothing could entice Konoka to risk losing any more of her dearest person in the world.
**O**
*“I don’t want us to be just friends anymore…ne, Set-chan?”*
The blow to her face made Setsuna’s head snap back, and she followed through with the punch to protect her neck, falling onto her back. She shook her head to clear the white stars from her vision, panting and sliding Yuunagi into its sheath in a wordless forfeit. A trickle of sweat dripped down her cheek and Setsuna wiped it with the tip of her white shirt sleeve.
Evangeline stood in front of her, her hands on her hips and scowling. Bluntly, she said, “You let that one hit you. God, you
are a masochist, aren’t you?”
Setsuna’s eye twitched.
*“So pick—where should I stab one of these, or shall we go back to Fate’s Psychi Kinigi?”*
“Oh,
that got a reaction out of you,” Evangeline leered, eyeing her intently.
“Nothing Evangeline-san should be worried about,” Setsuna answered easily. “And speaking of things you don’t need to worry about, I’ll tell Asuna that you haven’t lost your edge a whit.” She rubbed her cheek. It was probably bruising, but it would be gone in a few hours.
Puffing out her chest, Evangeline said haughtily, “Of course not—did that stupid monkey hint at it?!”
“May I use your shower?”
“What?”
Setsuna tugged at her shirt collar, loosening her tie. “It was a pretty intense fight.”
“Fine,” Evangeline groused. The vampire stalked up her front steps. “You know where it is.” She flounced up the stairs, shouting for Chachamaru to hurry up with the tea.
Setsuna smiled, nodding a greeting to the unfazed Chachamaru as she entered. She walked into the bathroom and locked the door. As she had hoped, there were dark blinds on the window, which Setsuna promptly pulled down. Evangeline was a high daywalker—her blinds weren’t completely opaque, and although the sun was setting light still filtered into the bathroom.
Still, it was dark enough for that to be easily remedied—Setsuna carefully laid Yuunagi within arm’s length of the shower stall and closed her eyes. Everything went dark.
She undressed briskly, folding her clothes and laying them out in a neat row on the counter. It was too bad that she didn’t bring a spare change of clothes, but she hadn’t expected to get into a fight with Evangeline. At least she hadn’t ripped anything, sewing was always a pain.
Setsuna didn’t need to feel for the shower door, one glance around the bathroom when she had first entered fixed the location of everything in her mind. Perfect body coordination meant that she could move as if complete blackness was a brightly lit room. Definitely one of the handier skills she had picked up. Useful too in improving her fighting skills—Setsuna loved killing two birds with one stone, and she chuckled to herself at the ironic idiom.
She showered quickly, not lingering over her bare skin and towelled herself as long as she could bear before rapidly putting her clothes on again. Slightly damp skin under clothes didn’t even bother her anymore, and she opened her eyes to comb her wet hair before opening the bathroom door.
“That was fast,” Evangeline commented, now lounging on her couch while Chachamaru served her tea.
“Efficient.”
“Yeah right. You don’t like showers, do you?”
Setsuna felt herself twitch slightly. “I watched the movie
Psycho, and that movie would turn anybody off showering. You’re vulnerable.” Learning how to misdirect was difficult, and the hardest part for Setsuna was keeping her responses as close as possible to her normal style of speaking. Otherwise, it would be too obvious.
Evangeline just looked at her with her amusedly cruel smile. But below the surface, she was clearly adding up all her little observations about Setsuna’s behaviour and probably reaching conclusions that Setsuna didn’t want her to reach. The vampire waved a hand. “Sit down, and have some tea. You’re not due back until late.”
Gingerly, Setsuna sat down across from her and nodded her thanks as Chachamaru poured her a cup.
“Speaking of psychos,” Evangeline drawled, “I heard that a psycho bitch owned you a while back.”
The word choice brought a black wave in Setsuna’s head, but a few deep breaths calmed her turmoil once again. She lifted her cup and drank. “I mean to make her pay for that.”
“Hm. Could you even, when the time comes?” Eva asked slyly.
“I’m better than I was. And I’ll get better still.”
“Ah, yes, I did notice that.” Evangeline sipped at her tea. “In just physical fighting, mind, you should come back at full moon sometime…” She paused and tilted her head, running her tongue over her fangs. “You do have a different whiff around you.”
“…A smell?” Setsuna asked confusedly.
“Your aura. I’m getting all kinds of things from you.”
Setsuna shifted under the girl’s gaze. “…Evangeline, do you know any tengu?”
“Nope.” Evangeline refuted cheerfully. “And even if I did, kid, that ain’t what you’re giving off.”
“
What?” breathed Setsuna.
Snorting, Evangeline replied in disdain, “Please. Tengu aren’t stupid beasts. The demonic air I’m getting from you? That’s the stuff of dumb, raging demons full of nothing but all the fun nasty things of violence, hatred and a delicious tang of malice. You know—the kind you used to kill here.” Chuckling darkly, Evangeline winked. “How ironic, hm?”
Chilled, Setsuna dropped a hand to Yuunagi’s hilt. “I won’t,” she whispered.
“So you say. If you get your head out of your ass for just a minute, you’ll realize that you’ve got friends who give a damn about what you might become.” Tossing her hair back, Evangeline scowled, giving Setsuna her long-suffering
I’m surrounded by idiots glare. She crossed her arms. “Especially your precious “ojou-sama”, even though she’s got her own pile of crap to deal with. So as entertaining as all this angst is, why don’t you two grow a pair already and address it?”
That was oddly kind and logical from Evangeline, but Setsuna shook her head. “It’s not that simple. I wish it was.”
Apparently, that was Evangeline’s goodness quota of the day. “Meh, whatever,” she said lazily, kicking her bare feet onto a cushion. “I must say, it’s like seeing the old you again, but improved. Like the keen edge of a re-sharpened sword. A fight is much more fun that way,” she grinned.
“I’m glad to have been entertaining,” Setsuna said dryly as she finished off her tea.
Calculatingly, Evangeline said, “So you’ve chosen, then. The sword?”
Setsuna dropped the tea cup. It spiralled down towards the floor, the thin handle spinning, until she quickly caught it an inch from the hardwood floor. Setsuna firmly set the cup on the table, feeling the china creak under the force. “Respectfully, Evangeline—mind your own business.”
The front door opening distracted both of them, and Asuna bounded in. “Hey Fang-girl, let’s—oh, Setsuna? What are you doing here?”
“I was just leaving.” Setsuna picked up Yuunagi, her knuckles white, and stalked for the door. “We’re all departing soon Asuna, don’t be late back at the cars.”
Asuna watched the door slam shut behind the swordswoman. “Hm.” She turned and raised an eyebrow at Evangeline. “So, you guys were talking about her idiot dance with Konoka?”
“I’m about to give up on all you dumb losers,” Evangeline rolled her eyes, flouncing back on her cushions. “All self-sacrificing and frigging martyr complexes. No wonder you guys keep screwing things up.”
Asuna sighed. It was nice to have someone who agreed with her. “They’re both such idiots. Sometimes, I wonder who’s trying to protect who.”
“—
from who,” Evangeline finished, rolling her eyes. “Idiots.”