“I would happily step down from my position as retainer,” Shindo had said. Those words wouldn’t leave Satsuki’s mind. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say they were constantly echoing in her head. As a result, the tumultuous feelings inside her only escalated. It made the door to her heart swing open against her will and her powers lash out with unfortunate consequence.
“I’m awful...” Satsuki said self-degradingly over constantly dwelling on what Shindo said when it only upset her.
She was sitting at her desk in the Student Council Room with her left hand on her forehead. Her shoulders were slumped as if she were unable to bear the weight of her emotions.
It wasn’t as though she wanted to avoid Shindo. In fact, she wanted him to take her hand. She wanted him to talk to her. She wanted him to hug her tight. However, he wouldn’t be able to do any of these things in the near future. And the fact that he already made peace with that saddened her.
Shindo was constantly at her side. Why did she have to cut his presence from her life...?
“For the sake of your happiness...”
“My happiness...” Immediately after the words came out of her mouth, her lips formed a depreciating sneer. “How could this be...for my happiness...?”
Shindo said that he would quit as her retainer for the sake of her happiness. But he was the one who was always there to protect her, comfort her, and fill her with happiness. And now he was about to leave her side, all for the sake of her “happiness.” How could she possibly find happiness without him?
Pulling her hand away from her forehead, Satsuki raised her head and looked around the desolate Student Council Room. She lacked the gumption to attend class, but didn’t exactly feel like hiding out in her private suite. So her feet brought her here.
Only two weeks had passed since the gory mess Satsuki made here unbeknownst to the rest of the world. The air in the room was so gentle and crisp, it was hard to believe this was the same place where that nightmare took place. It never would have cleaned up so nicely without Shindo calling on the full might of the Tsujikawas.
She failed to keep her powers from going out of control back then. The fact that she killed a man still plagued her with nightmares. Each time one tormented her, Shindo would hold her in his arms, comforting her until she calmed down. He would soothe her by insisting it wasn’t her fault—she had no control over her powers when they went berserk.
With gentle strength, Shindo mended her heart... If it weren’t for him, Satsuki might have lost her hold on sanity after that incident.
“I...” As she absentmindedly turned her head to look across the room, Satsuki’s eyes fell upon a large whiteboard left on the meeting table. She barely reached out to it with her mind and... Snap! Pop...! Snap! Snap! The whiteboard made loud snaps as it split down the middle. Cracks ran throughout both halves, which crumbled to the floor! Broken and smashed, the sorry remains were scattered across the floor.
“I wonder...why...I have these powers...” Satsuki mused.
She never considered these powers to be a threat because she always had someone at her side who stopped her from going out of control. He protected her not only from outside enemies, but also from the greater enemy within.
“If I don’t have Shindo with me...” She tried to imagine what might happen, sending cold chills down her spine. If she didn’t have Shindo with her anymore, who would accept her for who she was, powers and all?
“Jeez, you pulled quite the number in here, didn’t you?” someone said from the glass doors right behind Satsuki. “I can’t believe you popped that weasel’s head off! Good going, Missy.”
Satsuki spun around. “Ah...” The tiny sound escaped her lips, her face tensing.
The Student Council Room was on the fourth floor. Although there was a spacious veranda on the other side of the glass doors, it wasn’t accessible from the outside. Nevertheless, that was precisely where he was standing.
“You look down in the dumps, Satsuki,” he drawled, sliding his finger across the metal frame. The supposedly locked doors popped open with a click. “Or are you just nervous with excitement for your birthday in two days?”
He stepped into the room with that characteristic sardonic grin plastered on his handsome face. The pressure change from throwing the doors open created a draft that stirred his soft, unruly hair.
Takemi Kaido stood before Satsuki.
✦ ✦ ✦
“SHE hasn’t come by the classroom?” Shindo repeated in disbelief. That was impossible.
When he went inside to check on Satsuki in the classroom, Alice seemed distraught when she informed him of her absence.
“When I asked our classmates, they said they haven’t seen Satsuki yet either. Perhaps she hasn’t made her way here yet?” Alice explained to Shindo in front of their classroom door.
Only ten minutes until morning homeroom started. It was absurd that Satsuki wasn’t already in the classroom by now.
After dropping by their private suite, Shindo came to deliver Satsuki’s bag. Finding she wasn’t here, he wondered where she could be.
“I’m sorry to trouble you, Miss Misakimori, but could you take the Miss’s bag to her desk for me?” After Alice took the bag from Shindo, he offered her a grateful bow and started to leave in search of Satsuki.
“Um... Mr. Shindo,” Alice called to keep him from leaving. “I, uh, would like to help you...look for Satsuki, that is...”
Am I being too forward? Am I stepping out of my place? As such anxious thoughts raced through Alice’s head, Shindo offered her a considerate smile.
“Thank you, but class starts in ten minutes. I’m afraid I can’t take you up on that generous offer, but I appreciate the sentiment,” he said with another bob of the head before setting out down the hallway.
Satsuki wasn’t in her private suite or the classroom. Could she be in the library? Or the nurse’s office? Or perhaps... Shindo’s mind raced frantically. Alice felt her chest constrict as she watched him walk away.