Akechi Jubei stood outside Yoko Oni high school with the morning sun to his back. He tapped his foot as his patience drained away. A black cat ran out of the school and passed by him. Soon after, Haru walked inside the gate with Keiko by his side.
“You’ve finally showed up,” Akechi said.
Haru asked, “I’m not late for classes, so why do you care?”
“Because I wanted to talk to you. I expected you to show up at your usual time and you didn’t. Therefore, you are late,” he answered.
“Just tell me what you want to say.”
Akechi stated, “I’m giving you one last chance. Break up with Keiko now.”
“Go fuck yourself,” Haru replied.
“Then break up with him, Keiko,” Akechi turned to her. “Think about the school’s reputation and your own.”
“You know my answer already,” Keiko said. “We’re not backing down from this.”
“Very well, then. I hate that it’s come to this,” he sighed.
Akechi punched himself in the face. A black welt covered his eye.
Haru was shocked, “What the hell are you doing?”
“My other plans are taking too long, so I’ll take matters in my own hands. If you beat me up, then you’ll get expelled for sure!” he slammed his own fist into his gut.
Before Akechi could strike himself again, Keiko grabbed his arm.
She said, “This is insane! You hate Haru-kun that much?”
“It isn’t an issue of hatred,” Akechi spoke. “Image is everything, and the group is everything. Truth, justice, the individual, none of that matters. After all, aren’t people cheered for sacrificing themselves for the group?”
“They aren’t dragging innocent people into their sacrifice when they do that,” Keiko stated.
“Who cares if they are or aren’t? If people think that the person is guilty, the same thing is accomplished by them being sacrificed as if they are actually guilty.”
“Akechi,” Haru glared. “Maybe I really will kick your ass?”
“What? Why?” shock and confusion overcame him.
“If I’m going to get expelled for because you lied, I might as well actually do what you accused me of. That way, I’ll at least get to really make you pay for it.”
“Well, that’s good for me. It saves me the trouble,” Akechi smirked.
Keiko asked, “What are you doing, Haru-kun?”
“Trust me, Keiko-chan,” he told her. “Akechi, you said that you’d sacrifice yourself for the school, but what are you doing? You’re giving yourself a black eye and a few bruises. Do you know what I’d do to you?”
A hint of fear crossed into Akechi’s voice, “What would you do?”
“Broken legs, broken arms, pain for days. You’ll suffer. Are you willing to go through that?”
“I’ll…I’ll let you off easy this time,” Akechi turned to the school. “I’ll say that I fell down some stairs.”
When he was gone, Keiko asked, “How did you know he’d back down?”
“Because he isn’t doing this for the school, even if he says he does. Akechi’s doing this for his own ego. The school looking good makes him look good. I’m surprised he was willing to hurt himself for it at all,” Haru explained. “Now come on, we have a job to do.”
Akechi Jubei stormed through the school.
“Dammit,” he said. “Even if I report him now, he’ll probably attack me. Or was he bluffing? No, I’m not going to risk it.”
Moving towards his first class, Jubei saw that the door was closed and…the handle was gone.
“What the hell?” confusion flowed through him.
Jubei pushed on the door; however, it wouldn’t open. He pushed on it harder. It still wouldn’t budge.
“Dammit, how am I supposed to get to class?” rage welled in Akechi’s body. “First, that damn Haru and now this.”
Looking around, Jubei saw that a crowd had gathered. They were looking at the door and wondering where the handle went. As he marched to the teachers’ lounge, he caught a glimpse of red fur, but dismissed it as cosplay of some sort. The group of students followed him, wanting to find out about the handle too.
Akechi opened the door, only for a bucket of honey to fall down on him. He jumped back to avoid it. A sudden gust of wind came out of nowhere. It hit the honey and blew it onto Jubei. His entire body was coated in the sticky liquid.
The students around him started laughing. Jubei’s cheeks turned bright red. Then a barking noise came to him. Akechi turned and saw a fox running over. It ran over and jumped on his face, licking the honey off him. He tried to pull it off, but the animal growled when his hands got close.
“That fox, it’s attacking him!” a girl said.
Another replied, “No, it isn’t. It’s licking the honey.”
“This is priceless,” a boy pulled out his phone. “I’m getting this on camera.”
As some students took pictures and videos of the scene, a few more ran over to pull the fox off Jubei’s face. When they got close, he turned and ran with the fox still on his face.
“Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! What the hell were they trying to do? I’ll never live this down either way!” Jubei screamed.
The fox jumped off of him and ran into the distance, leaving the school.
After classes had finished, Haru and Keiko walked to the outskirts of a forest nearby the school. Hot wind flowed through it and towards them.
“It’s getting warmer out,” Haru noted.
Keiko replied, “Spring break is around the corner. So, we’ll have a bit of time to cool down then.”
He spoke, “I’m looking forward to it. Still, we should…”
“Hey, sis!” Hisa ran out of the forest. “That was a hella great trick! I got honey and the look on that guy’s face was hilarious!”
“Do you think we’ll have to worry about Akechi still?” Keiko asked.
Haru answered, “I doubt it. He doesn’t know it was us, and he’ll try to avoid being seen after being embarrassed like that.”
“We’ll still need to be careful,” she said. “We’ll be in trouble if Akechi figures out we’re the ones behind this, big trouble.”
“I know, Keiko-chan. Don’t worry, we can handle this,” he replied.
Hisa spoke up, “So, I heard you guys talking about Spring break. I still don’t know much about humans, so what’s that?”
“When us humans learn, we get breaks from it at certain times of the year,” Keiko explained. “So, we’ll be able to do whatever we want for a week this Spring.”
“That’s totally awesome! I’ll find a way to get a break from my job so we can hang,” the kitsune smiled.
Keiko said, “Haru-kun, do you have any ideas of what we can do over Spring break?”
“I don’t know. Travel isn’t an option with the curse on me, and I doubt your parents would let you stay home and play video games,” Haru stated.
“They’re fine with me getting out of their hair, but they don’t want me to enjoy myself in our household,” she confirmed. “And I really don’t want to go to your house again.”
“I’d rather stay out of there for a while too.”
Hisa smiled, “Hey, you have some time to think of it. Besides, you have me here. Even if I had a bad first impression of your mate…boyfriend, sis, I’ll help make sure that no one messes with you two.”
“Thanks, Hisa-chan, I appreciate it,” Keiko spoke.
Haru replied, “We’ll just have to think of something to do. That is, unless something important comes up.”
Ved'ma Story 