KA-BOOM! There was a burst of air that made the energy waves vanish in a sudden rush of air. The deadly shards inches from Alice disintegrated into sand!
With the sound of falling sand, the oppressive air returned to normal. The breeze entering through the open doors swirled about the room to purify the space. The room regained its tranquil atmosphere as if nothing had ever happened.
But Alice was unconscious on the floor. Satsuki stood ghastly pale. Takemi was staring daggers at her. Aside from these three, the room made for a perfectly normal sight except for the pile of sand on the ground.
“Don’t act like a spoiled little brat! Can’t you even control your own damn emotions?! I’m amazed you haven’t managed to get yourself killed by now!” Takemi shouted as he roughly grabbed Satsuki by the arm.
“Do you realize what would have happened if I wasn’t here?! You would have killed Alice, that’s what! Do you want to kill yet another person in this room?!”
Her face pale, Satsuki began to tremble. She was horribly shaken by the word “kill.” The sight of Satsuki’s blood draining from her face made Takemi click his tongue in annoyance. “...You’re way too pampered... Sheesh!”
There was no denying the fact that Takemi put a stop to Satsuki’s outburst. If it wasn’t for him, a repeat of the other day would have unfolded in this very room—this time to an innocent.
“I...” Satsuki whispered with teary eyes. She turned away from Takemi to behold the unconscious girl.
Alice was accepted into the high school through the general entrance exam while Satsuki bypassed it. The two girls were together from day one of their high school careers. As fellow members of the Student Council, it was fair to say they were particularly close.
With a gentle air of familiarity, Alice was a very sweet girl who cared for others. Although few were terribly friendly to Satsuki because of her status and demeanor, Alice was completely uninhibited, treating her completely normal. She’d say, “Satsuki,” with a beaming smile. And Satsuki just tried to take that girl’s life...with blind jealousy taking over her powers.
Alice was so honest to herself! She could openly confess that she “loved” Shindo. Meanwhile, Satsuki was forbidden to utter that very word. It tore at her heart. It filled her with so much self-pity.
“I...am...sorry...” Satsuki weakly apologized to Alice, her arm still in Takemi’s grasp. The tears streaming down her cheeks were shed over her own foolishness.
The door to the Student Council Room suddenly burst open. Before she had time to see who it was, Satsuki’s arm was torn from Takemi’s grasp. She was pulled into the embrace of another.
“I would appreciate if you refrained from placing your hands on the Miss.”
Holding one arm, the man who met Takemi’s icy stare with piercing eyes of his own was none other than Shindo.
“Haven’t you heard? I’m one of Satsuki’s suitors,” Takemi snickered while pointing at himself with his thumb. His voice rang boastful to Shindo’s ears.
“I’ve heard, but that doesn’t mean she has chosen you, Mr. Kaido. As you are still merely a candidate, please refrain from stepping out of line,” Shindo advised as Satsuki’s retainer and bodyguard, completely unfazed by Takemi’s arrogant demeanor.
A big smirk spread across Takemi’s lips. With the tip of his thumb, he tapped his lips several times, “Stepping out of line...eh?”
The implication behind Takemi’s words caused Shindo to raise an eyebrow and Satsuki to look at Takemi in horror. She was terrified he was going to mention the kiss right in front of Shindo. She couldn’t bear the idea of Shindo knowing another man stole her lips.
“Hey... Aren’t you that Shindo guy?” Takemi asked, proving Satsuki’s fears unfounded as he showed no sign of spilling her innermost secrets. Hands shoved into his pockets, he ran his eyes across every inch of Shindo’s body.
“The only son born to an upper-class Japanese family that immigrated to Hawaii. After losing both parents in an unfortunate accident at the age of twelve, you were alone in the world with no other family to turn to. Thereafter, you were received into the home of your old family friend, the Tsujikawas, as the retainer for their newborn daughter. I’ll admit, you had decent enough heritage and social status to make the cut to become the retainer for the corporation’s next in line. And thus, you’ve spent even more time with Satsuki than her own two parents these past eighteen years...as her attendant, retainer, and bodyguard... Does that about sum it up?”
“You looked into me? It’s an honor to have you take such interest in me,” Shindo replied smoothly.
After disclosing Shindo’s false background, Takemi’s eyes darted toward the girl held in her retainer’s protective embrace before returning his gaze.
“I don’t know how precious this princess is, but you’re spoiling her rotten. Can’t you see that?” Takemi spat.
“While I appreciate your concern, I must say, even in the eyes of a lowly retainer, the Miss is an extremely kind young lady who always remembers to treat those around her with compassion. She is by no means spoiled—”
“Spare me the exposition! I’m telling you up straight, you are pampering her way too much! You’re doin’ every single damn thing for her. Whatcha gonna do next? Teach her how to have sex?”
The one most taken aback by Takemi’s wild accusation was Satsuki. “M-Mr. Kaido!” she cried. She tried to pull away from Shindo’s arm to argue with him, but his arm didn’t so much as budge.
Meanwhile, Shindo was not about to let Takemi get a rise of out him. If he retaliated, the other boy would undoubtedly poke fun by jeering, “What? You’re the retainer constantly glued to the young woman!”
Apparently Takemi expected Shindo to blow up at him, so he looked a bit disappointed when Shindo simply replied, “I’ll leave that to your imagination,” with a bow.
“Look,” Takemi said as he squatted next to the unconscious Alice. He looked up at Shindo and jutted his chin toward Satsuki, still held in her retainer’s grasp. “Satsuki doesn’t know how to control her own powers because you’ve pampered her so much. That’s why she loses control of them. She nearly killed Alice a minute ago.”
“What?!” Shindo gasped and looked down at Satsuki in surprise before returning his gaze to Takemi.
“You may have kept an eye on Satsuki all these years to keep her powers in check, but that doesn’t cut it. If they went totally haywire, you couldn’t do a damn thing about it. Do you know why? Because you’re a normal person without any special powers of your own,” Takemi explained.
“How did you learn about her powers?” Shindo asked, figuring out Takemi knew of Satsuki’s psychic abilities from the way he spoke.
How did Takemi come to learn that Satsuki possessed special powers? It was a secret that only her parents and Shindo knew about.
The tip of Takemi’s lips curled into a smile. He shifted his attention to Satsuki, looking at her with an air of nostalgia. “I’ve met her before...”
Gentleness flashed across Takemi’s eyes as he gazed upon Satsuki. “A long time ago...Satsuki saved me...”
It was a precious memory he held dear. His expression briefly softened as he relived that memory only for his former stern countenance to swiftly replace it.
Takemi just claimed Satsuki saved him, but she didn’t know what he meant. She had absolutely no memory of ever meeting him as a child.
“You can’t remember, can you, Satsuki?” Takemi asked.
For the life of her, Satsuki couldn’t evoke any childhood memories of Takemi. She was thrown off balance, unsure what it could mean.
Seeing Satsuki wrack her mind in confusion, Takemi provided the reason as to why she couldn’t summon forth the previously mentioned memories. “It’s only natural you don’t remember. See, I sealed those memories away.”