Chapter Text
It happened in a single night and rippled through the city of Iwatobi like a wave.
***
Miyako glided as quickly as the wind would carry her over the dark, quiet coastline, towards the inner city. Her clan had just said their goodbyes and were one by one going back to business as usual until only Hiro and Tachi, her closest friends, were left, watching her until her silhouette disappeared.
“Think she’ll be happier?” Tachi asked, finally moving towards one of two abandoned beach homes the clan utilized for storage. She pushed the door open, its handle long gone, grabbed two empty backpacks hanging on the wall, and gave one to her companion.
“She’ll definitely be less restless,” Hiro replied, maneuvering the backpack’s straps under his wings, over his shoulders and clipping them into place. “The city will keep her busy.”
Tachi adjusted her own pack. “I just hope she’ll be safe, I worry every time another one of us goes over there.”
“You two worry too much,” a burly grey tank of a gargoyle chuckled—the leader of the clan, Ono. He approached the house with a slow saunter as they came outside. “Don’t worry for her, have confidence in her! She’s not the first of ours to transfer to Samezuka and I doubt she’ll be the last.”
“I have no doubt the Samezuka clan will be safe, I’m hoping the Samezuka district is as kind,” Tachi stretched her green feathered wings a few times, pulling their muscles and testing the currents coming in from the waves.
“Well, Seijuro left and I haven’t heard any complaints from him. Between you two and me, the last I spoke to him, Toraichi said he was heavily considering our boy as his second.”
Hiro’s eyes lit up. “So soon?”
“It’s not official or anything, but Seij has proven himself more than capable of taking charge. Not going to lie, I’m kind of jealous, he was such a hothead before he left, guess city living humbled him.” Ono rubbed the back of his neck and looked out at the expanse of beach that lay before him on either side.
Right in the middle of the vast beach and small grassy hill were two beach houses that had been put up for sale and abandoned long ago. Gargoyles weren’t the best carpenters, but they did what they could to keep the homes as neat as possible, sweeping away dust and keeping their belongings organized. The paint outside had started to chip in some places, but that was of little concern. His clan was scattered throughout the beach, talking, playing, swimming in the waves, exercising their wings in the skies—this was where the Iwatobi clan lived, far enough from humans to live as they pleased without being on constant alert.
It was rumored amongst the clan that their ancestors came from the mountains and eventually migrated down to the coast.
The houses came some five or so years ago, and Ono was sure they would have to give up their beachside home, but the two houses were built, construction was halted before more could go up, and no humans ever came. The closest beaches occupied by humans were miles away, the clan protected by an uninhabitable rocky cliff to one side, and miles of wilderness beyond the beach on the other. The Iwatobi clan didn’t know much about human customs, save for what they bothered to learn from the fae folk they made supply runs to, and eventually the clan grasped enough of the concept of how humans used money to learn that the houses were too expensive for their own good, so they fell through and the clan was once again safe.
They now used the homes as an epicenter, storing supplies, food, clothes, personal items and occasionally gathering inside when weather inclined. Everyone worked to keep the houses tidy and the beach clean. The beach had long since been declared closed by the authorities and haunted by the locals and the Iwatobi clan rarely ventured into the city unless making supply runs, which Hiro and Tachi were assigned to tonight. Miyako grew up in this clan and at some point she found cleaning and swimming too dull for her senses and craved something more exciting; shortly after, she met Toraichi.
“Go on, you two, you’re wasting moonlight,” Ono said, as the pair climbed to the roof of one of the houses, caught a gust a wind and flew towards the city.
Iwatobi was a large but modest island city, connected to the rest of the world through bridges and ferries on the west side; it grew from infancy as a small fishing town and had since tripled in size, though not so much in grandeur. It had its checkpoints—choice restaurants, lovely housing options, and a downtown one could describe as bustling on the right day—but was rarely filled with excitement or experiences typically associated with a city of its size. Located in the heart of the city was the social hub known as the Samezuka district, an expanse of shops and noise that spanned about three blocks, where the other gargoyle clan resided.
Miyako tucked her wings close to her as she maneuvered between vacant streets and dark alleys, forced to be more wary of humans. She flew down into one alley, gliding silently over a passing car, and pressed herself against the cement wall. She watched as people yelled over the crowd, trying to hear themselves, keeping their eyes glued to the path in front of them or to the ground to avoid relentless salespersons. If anything new or exciting came to Iwatobi, Samezuka would find it first and spread it through the rest of the city like a literal heartbeat, pumping ideas, merchandise and the promise of something bigger, better, flasher. On the opposite end of the street, a large billboard was in the process of being built; another sign to sell another product. Miyako had never seen actual daylight, but she surmized Samezuka was just as bright. The energy in the street was invigorating, she was almost tempted to walk out and experience the rush for herself, but instead she sighed and scaled the wall, making her way to the roof.
In the short distance, she saw shadows moving across the rooftops—they’d almost be undetectable if she didn’t know what she was looking at—and her heart thrummed loudly in her chest when one of the shadows made their way towards her.
Toraichi was a built gargoyle with medium brown skin, his body covered in dark stripes outlined in white. His large batlike wings wrapped lazily around Miyako, bringing her closer.
“Welcome home,” Toraichi said, gently tucking a strand of long red hair out of her face.
They fell into each other’s arms like it was the one place they were always meant to be. Toraichi was the young leader of the Samezuka district clan, a caring and considerate leader who worked alongside his clan rather than ruled over it. He came to the city with a handful of rogues—gargoyles that lived on their own—some years before. They found a home in Samezuka, taking an immediate liking to how much busier it was than the rest of the city, and soon afterwards they were found by the Iwatobi clan. Younger members of the home clan, curious about the newcomers, would often hang around until some became a permanent part of it, and the ragtag Samezuka group of no more than five quickly grew to fifteen.
***
“And then shortly after is when we all showed up,” Rin said, crossing his arms in front of him with a grimace.
Rin and his rookery siblings were now all ten years old, and so much had changed in the city since then. Samezuka grew from three blocks to six and with the advancement of technology, came the fancier cellphones, the faster cars, and the finished installation of the billboards, all of which made the district ten times noisier than it had ever been. The Iwatobi clan still kept to themselves by the coast, the Samezuka clan still lived in the inner district, and the gargoyles, overall, despite hearsay and countless cameras that were now scattered throughout the world, were still an urban myth to the humans inhabitants.
The garden park of Iwatobi was a ghost town after midnight, and one of many designated playgrounds for the offspring of the Iwatobi and Samezuka clans. Gargoyle children are considered children of the whole clan and being children of nearby sister clans, the hatchings were blessed with twice as many guardians and rookery siblings. Rin—a light salomon-red gargoyle with darker, wide stripes outlining his face and body—sat before his rookery siblings pretending to look unimpressed with the stars in their eyes.
“Tell it again, Rinrin!” Nagisa, a yellow ball of energy jumped up, shaking Rin’s arm.
“No way, this is the third time you’ve heard it this month.”
“But it’s so sweet, it’s almost like a fairytale!”
“I guess. Come on, telling stories is boring, let’s race instead! Bet I can still beat all of you, what do you say, Haruka?”
Rin raised a spiked brow ridge towards the coalition of gargoyle hatchings before him, with expressions ranging from terrified to uninterested. Haruka—a light blue gargoyle with eyes the color of the ocean—was the latter.
“You’ve already proved you’re faster than us, Rin, isn’t it kind of boring to keep winning the same races?” Makoto, a green gargoyle with feathered wings he hadn’t grown into yet, said, nervously shuffling.
“Your wings are bigger than me, Makoto, you should practically be able to fly,” Rin said with a sly smirk.
“We can’t fly, we only glide,” Haru said dryly.
“Maybe you could teach us, Rin?” a pink gargoyle—Kisuimi—snickered.
“It’s going to rain soon,” Haruka said.
“So it is; come on, Rin, Gou, Aiichiro, Shouta—where are Kazuki and Takuya?” Toraichi came behind the children, counting as he role-called.
“Up here, Tora!” Toraichi looked up to find the two unaccounted gargoyles sitting idly on a high tree branch.
“I’m very proud of you two, you’re great climbers for your age! Would you mind climbing back down, though? You don’t want to be stuck in the park in the rain, or when dawn comes around, do you?”
“No, Toraichi,” the two shrugged, spread their wings and gently glided down to the ground with less than gentle landings.
“Always a pleasure, Toraichi; give Miyako and the rest of Samezuka our best,” a light green female said, gathering her brood with the help of a younger grey male.
“Same to you, Tachi; safe flight home,” Toraichi nodded.
“Ugh, fine, but this isn’t over! See you guys!” Rin waved to the Iwatobi hatchings and followed his Samezuka siblings.
Toraichi walked to a small hill and flapped his wings a few times, creating stronger gusts of wind in front of him. One by one, the hatchings spread their little wings and jumped in front of him, Kazuki and Takuya finding their balance as gracefully as they landed from the tree. Aiichiro gave a noble effort, having trouble at first but forcing his wings to straighten out. Kisumi, Gou and Shouta followed after and Rin brought up the rear, proudly extending his wings and catching the wind with ease. One by one, the Samezuka children glided over the grass, the wind provided by Toraichi propelling them high enough to catch natural gusts of wind, until they were all airborne and making their way back to the district. Once all accounted for, Toraichi took to the skies after them.
Toraichi flinched when the cold drizzle started to fall.
“Stay together, kids, it might pick u—”
It happened in an instant; he barely had time to process the sound before his chest felt like it was on fire. His hands scrambled over his body, trying to follow the blood to the wound. He’d been shot on the left side, missing his heart, but just barely.
“Toraichi?” Somewhere in the haze of pain and fear, he heard Aiichio’s dull whimper.
Toraichi commanded the hatchlings to fly higher, keeping himself between them and whoever was causing trouble this late at night.
“No matter what, don’t stop until you’re home, understand?”
“Toraichi…,” this time it was Gou. He felt his body waver, couldn’t concentrate on keeping his wings steady and slowly he felt himself fall.
He slammed to the ground, landing at the mouth of an alley, blood painting the street. The street was, thankfully, clear—a small collection of stores that were long closed for the night. His ears flinched, hearing voices no less than a block away. He dared to remove his hand from his chest to slink himself into the cover of the shadows, away from the streetlamps.
“Toraichi?” He looked up to see his hatchlings standing over him, frightened.
“I told you all to go home,” he hissed, collapsing to the ground again.
“Kazuki’s getting everyone, we can’t leave you,” Rin inhaled sharply, trying to steady his quivering voice.
“It’s not safe here! Climb to the roof and go home.”
Footsteps clicked outside of the alley. “I think I saw something go this way…”
No sooner did he hear him did three men turn the corner of the alley, walking slowly, taking cautious steps in the dark. They hadn’t seen him yet but they were coming. If they moved, they’d be heard; if they stayed, they’d be seen. Toraichi’s chest felt heavy. He was weak, but hearing the petrified gasps of the hatchlings behind him forced him on his feet.
“The fuck—what is that…?” another man said.
“Toraichi?” Gou whimpered.
Something clicked in the quiet. Toraichi gathered all the strength he had, stood tall, wings expanding as far as they could, bent slightly from pushing against the buildings on either side of him. Not a single one of his children were dying tonight.
“Toraichi!”
Miyako’s voice rang loud in the alley, bouncing off the walls and vibrating through Toraichi’s ears. He kept his wings expanded as she collected the hatchlings amongst a cacophony of wild gunfire. A single bullet grazed her leg as she forced them to scale the wall.
“Rin, don’t look back!” Miyako demanded, pushing her son to the rooftop and leading them back to Samezuka.
Seijuro and the rest of the clan few past her seconds later, half of them turning around to lead the hatchlings home and the rest diving into the alley and chasing the men away.
It happened in a single night and rippled through the city of Iwatobi like a wave.
Not one week after the death of Toraichi did the billboards start playing the video that rattled the city to the core: a loud, frantic video of black, red and brown blurs screaming out of rage and fear, on a rainy night, in a dark alley. It’s only for a second, when the camera is still enough to catch the clear form of Toraichi—stripes, wings, eyes blazing white as hellfire—approaching the man with the gun who’s standing before the man recording the whole thing with shaky hands. A shout, almost like the call of a name, is heard, a red blur moves in the background, then three rounds go off, the gargoyle yell twists into a sudden, raspy breath and the video cuts off. The video was just over five seconds long and it played constantly. On the news, on talk shows, on the radio stations people would listen to on their way to work. Starting in Samezuka, the city transformed overnight and people came from all over.
And they kept coming.
Eventually, Miyako couldn’t take it anymore. One night, she grabbed Rin and Gou without a word and she left.
***
“Miyako, I’m so sorry,” Tachi said, her voice tight with regret.
“They kept playing it, over and over,” Miyako held her arms close to her.
“I’m sorry,” Hiro—now the recently appointed new leader—said, then placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and pointed towards the sea. “Listen, Tachi and I have been discussing it with the clan for awhile, we’ve already moved all our things. Do you see that small island? We’re all going there tomorrow night.”
Miyako raised a pensive brow.
“The humans are coming in, most of the woods have been stripped down and I don’t think they’re stopping anytime soon. I know it’s a lot to ask, Miyako, but I think it’s safer, especially with…all that’s happened,” Hiro continued. “Once we get everyone on the island, I’ll fly back to Samezuka and offer for them to come with us; there’s plenty of room.”
“They won’t go,” Miyako said flatly.
Hiro eyed Rin and Gou as they slunk away from behind Miyako and walked to the oceanfront, their feet just out of reach from the waves. It’d been a few nights since Toraichi’s death and it was still weighing heavily on everyone. Gou sat, idly pushing her feet under the wet sand and tucking her knees and wings close to her. Rin kept staring at the ocean, at the black silhouette of the island. He looked at Gou sitting next to him. He didn’t need to turn around to know Miyako’s eyes were locked on them, keeping them, specifically, safe.
“Rin? Gou?” Makoto kneeled on the beach about two feet from them.
Rin sat in the sand. “Aren’t you scared of the ocean, Makoto?”
“Yeah, and I still can’t glide that well, but I don’t have any right to be scared about that now. I’m sorry about Toraichi.”
Somehow, Tachi convinced Miyako to rest in one of the houses while Hiro kept watch over the hatchlings. He walked down the three steps from the door, giving Miyako her privacy to grieve. One by one, Hiro noticed the Iwatobi hatchlings head for the beach.
Kisumi looked over the beach shacks, towards the inner city. “Where’s everyone else?”
“Miyako only took us,” Gou said.
“But why? What’s everyone else going to do?” Nagisa asked.
“They’re going to stay in Samezuka; I think she took us because we’re her children.”
“But that’s not fair, they’re all her children. Is the rest of Samezuka safe?”
“I wish we stayed,” Rin threw a pebble into the water. “Miyako’s worried Samezuka won’t be safe anymore, but we were attacked blocks away; does that mean no place is safe?”
“Hiro and Tachi think going to the island will keep us safe; they said the city’s going to keep expanding,” Makoto said.
“So that’s it then, we just keep running because the humans keep pushing in? We should be finding ways to work with them, not run from them.” A guttural growl found its way up Rin’s throat until it got caught in a sob. He aggressively tried to wipe the tears away before they came out, didn’t want to admit there was a reason to cry. “Otherwise, it’s just going to keep happening all over again.”
The hatchlings sat in the silence for the rest of the night, letting Rin and Gou cry, crying themselves. When the hatchlings tired themselves out and slept on one another’s shoulders for support, Hiro and Tachi carried them one by one into the beach house where Miyako slept. Once they were all gathered, the leaders looked out onto the island, the orange hues of the sun just starting to peak over the horizon.
“Maybe I should go with you to Samezuka tomorrow night; what are we going to do if we lose you, too?” Tachi breathed out.
“Tachi, you know we can’t leave this clan leaderless, especially now. I won’t be long.”
“You know they won’t go.”
“I know, but I want to let them know the option is available, should they ever want it.”
“Miyako shouldn’t have taken Rin and Gou.”
“No, she shouldn’t have, but that’s not my call, and I doubt Samezuka will want to force them back. If they ever choose to return to Samezuka one day, I won’t stop them.”
“I envy them sometimes.”
Hiro tilted his head slightly.
“Toraichi’s gone and they still refuse to run away. With the way this city is going, I think they’re going to thrive in it.”
“And us? Do you think we’ll thrive?”
Tachi looked at the island. “I think we’ll get by, like we always have. This clan’s too big and set in its own ways to start changing now. Maybe in the future.”
The sun rose over the beach. Hiro and Tachi took their defensive poses, alongside the rest of their clan, in front of the houses, as their skin hardened and turned into grey, solid stone, protecting their home even in sleep.
***
“Move out!” Hiro called out to his clan.
They were blessed with a clear night—no clouds, no rough waves, and since they weren’t on the shipping side of the island, thankfully, no boats, but it was no easy thing moving the forty or so individuals of the Iwatobi clan from the coastline to the island.
Tachi took the lead while Hiro took the rear to watch for stragglers. The small island was about ten miles from the main city which was just far enough that the young had a harder time making the journey. Sure enough, Makoto’s flight pattern started to fault shortly after take off; his wings were too big and he hated being over so much open ocean.
“Makoto, spread your wings more,” Tachi said.
“I’m trying, but I’m scared!” Makoto shouted, unable to focus enough to get his wings to cooperate.
“Makoto,” Haru said, gliding over to his friend with ease. “Can I show you something?”
Makoto nodded.
Haru held out his hand, waiting patiently for Makoto to take it. When he did, Haru quickly swung Makoto under him, forcing him to glide parallel to him, only able to see the night sky and Haru.
“You’ve got bigger wings than a lot of us so you can catch more air,” Haru said. “Try to think of the ocean as another sky.”
Makoto gulped once, steadied his breathing. Despite his back being to the sea, and knowing he couldn’t glide like this for long without Haru being there to catch the currents the right way, it was enough to make him regain his confidence and he outstretched his wings.
“Thanks, Haru,” Makoto said, flapping his wing so he was gliding the right way.
“Hey, Makoto, now that you got your glide back, we never got to have that race,” Rin said weakly, coming to Haru and Makoto’s side. The Iwatobi boys stared at Rin, the usual fire in his eyes trying so hard not to die out. “Race you guys?”
“Uh, yeah, sure,” Makoto said, daring to curl his lips into a smile.
Rin, Haru and Makoto raced ahead, of the clan, Rin expertly dipped close to the ocean to catch the wind gusts off the waves. Seeing the three of them excitedly dodge over the waves, Gou, Nagisa and Kisumi sped ahead to keep up, with the adults close behind. At one point, Rin knew Miyako told him to slow down, but he didn’t process it as words. He heard the gentle whisper of the waves below him, the laughter of his friends beside him, the wind trailing under his wings. For a brief second he chose to forget that he had to leave half his friends in Samezuka without being able to say goodbye, that some part of him felt like he was a coward for running away, even if it meant being safe, and that Toraichi wasn’t right behind him.
***
Makoto breathed a sigh of frustration as his claws dug into the cliff face.
“Hurry up, Mako, you want to impress Haru, don’t you?” Nagisa teased, jumping from one vantage point to the other with ease.
“Haruka’s not here,” Makoto blushed.
Nagisa somersaulted off the rock face, fell through the air until he was close to the thin strip of rocky beach below, then glided back to the rocks to start over. “Yeah, but he can still see you!”
Makoto gave a passing glance behind him, the mainland glowing like a star in the corner of his eye, the ocean an endless blue-black darkness only broken by the white trail of moonlight. Haru was somewhere in there, swimming with ease, probably watching him right now. Makoto envied his ability to feel so at home there, when he was still struggling to feel at ease on land. Even when he tucked in his wings, the wind would always seem to catch underneath them, and if it wasn’t for his claws anchoring him into the rock wall, he was sure he would fall.
Tachi would often use this cliff for teaching purposes when she was left in charge of watching the youngsters (though not so young anymore at twenty-six), training them to rely on strength and stamina rather than default to relying on their wings, keeping their stamina up, and keeping the restless ones out of trouble. Tonight, however, wasn’t a training session.
Rin zipped past Makoto with a determined huff, followed immediately by another gargoyle: Gou.
Rin clawed his way to the top, about to give a triumphant shout when he noticed two red feet standing before him.
“Next time, Rin,” Gou said with a laugh.
The rest of them eventually made it, with Nagisa coming in last, never taking the race seriously.
“Not really,” Rin panted out.
Gou’s body wilted. “Damn, I forgot for a second…so you’re really going.”
“Yeah; figured I’d get one more race in,” he stood up, pushing his deep maroon hair out of his face. He noticed her pout and quickly grabbed her in a headlock. “Try not to miss me too much.”
Makoto and Nagisa looked out onto the ocean. About twenty yards out, a blue, glistening figure drifted just underneath the surface. It rode the waves until they drifted too close to the shore, then disappeared into the darkness and came back up to ride another wave.
“Might as well say bye to him, too,” Rin said, jumping off the cliff and letting the winds glide him down to a collection of slick rocks, eroded by years of tides crashing against them.
The blue figure swam towards the rocks, propping his arms over one and keeping the rest of his body submerged. Rin kneeled down to meet his gaze.
“Gou won again, didn’t she?” Haruka smirked.
“Shut up. Gou was the only one giving it her all, you could have provided some needed competition.”
“Sorry; gliding I don’t mind, but climbing’s not really my thing.”
“Yeah, Tachi told me you always skip out during training.”
They fell in silence and looked at the Iwatobi mainland, the halo of light from the skyscrapers beckoning like lamps to moths.
“How’d Miyako take it?”
Rin had had a full night of heartfelt goodbyes and took this moment to really look at the future he was choosing for himself. He’d contemplated going back ever since the night Miyako brought him and Gou back to the Iwatobi clan, but now he was old enough and sure enough to go back.
“Alright, I guess. She was silent for most of it, almost cried, I think Tachi being there helped. She didn’t look so torn up when Kisumi left a few years back.”
“Rin…” Haru got out of the water and hugged him tightly.
Rin laughed, forcing tears back. “You couldn’t dry off first, could you?”
“Shut up, don’t ruin it, you’ll dry off on the glide over.”
Sighing, Rin stepped back and unfurled his large batlike wings. “See you around, Haru.”
The Iwatobi Rin knew was very different from the one he left. The beach where the clan used to reside was now stacked with beach houses, the original two demolished and replaced. Flying into the city, he had to rely on very faint muscle memory to guide him towards the district, for every other block seemed to have turned into its own version of Samezuka. It was overwhelming.
The district was still distinguishable, for as bright and crowded as the rest of the city was, Samezuka was still the brightest. The billboards multiplied by the tens, the noise was almost deafening, the mass of people below ebbed and flowed without pause, creating a singular, intimidating presence like the sea itself.
“Rin!” No sooner had Rin landed on a rooftop that he was knocked to the ground. When he caught his breath, he noticed the eruption of laughter above him.
“You look so old now!” Kazuki bellowed.
Sejuro, an orange gargoyle with an explosive personality to match his wild, spiky hair, stood before them, watching the Samezuka boys tackle Rin to the ground and reluctantly let him up.
“Come on, guys, he just got here,” Aiichiro—a pale blue-grey gargoyle with silvery short hair—said, helping Rin to his feet.
Rin caught his breath and smiled, beaming. “It’s nice to see you all again.”
“It’ll be nice for about a week,” Seijuro said, his hands on his hips, “then we’re putting you to work!” He’d taken Toraichi’s place as the leader shortly after his death, and seemed to fit into the role nicely. “Welcome back to Samezuka.”
***
“I’d like the first page of your assignment handed in first thing tomorrow, no excuses!” Rei called out, leaning over his desk to project his voice to the students that practically ran out of his classroom. Once everyone was gone, he slunk into his chair and sighed, taking a moment to clean his bright red reading glasses.
He had about five minutes until his next class arrived, so he scuttled through his wallet to find the last dollar he had and rushed to the vending machine down the hallway like his life depended on it.
“Don’t they have anything in here besides junk?” Rei put a hand on his hip and decided on peanut butter crackers. The machine made a taunting noise as the it pushed the crackers forward and refused to let go. “Oh hell no.”
A man with brown hair that flayed in every direction walked down the stairway and stopped when he heard loud, exasperated cries of “don’t have time for this,” “I didn’t even want them anyway,” and “I only have one dollar!”
Natsuya Kirishima turned the corner and held in a laugh, seeing a full-grown man wrestling with a vending machine with so much earnest. He pitied him. “You must be Ryugazaki.”
“Correct,” Rei said, leaning his head against the vending machine, his face turning bright red, defeated.
Natsuya took a dollar from his pocket. “Here.”
“Oh, no, please, I don’t want your money.”
“Just take it, I already ate today.”
Natsuya’s eyes were unwavering, and Rei reluctantly took the money. “Thank you,” he whispered.
“No problem.”
“We haven’t met, have we?”
“No, I’m Natsuya, I’m the guidance counselor, my office’s right down the hallway.”
“Rei Ryugazaki,” he held out his hand and Natsuya shook it. He had a hell of a grip for a high school guidance counselor. “New target practice.”
Natsuya couldn’t hide the laugh this time. “You’ll get the hang of it. Little word of advice: listen to your students, they know more then we give them credit for.”
“I’ll try, thank you.”
Rei pushed the dollar into the slot, watching it with pleading eyes. The loudspeakers throughout the school came to life with a harsh screech, followed by the pleasant but routine voice of the principal, sounding way too cheery for 8am in the morning.
“Good morning, students and faculty of Goro Sasabe High!” she started, going on about staying fit with the school’s new healthier options available in the cafeteria (Rei chuckled), the various clubs that were looking for members, and how everyone could create “a safe and clean school environment” by not writing graffiti all over the bathrooms. “And don’t forget, all students going on the school trip to Nightwatch Inc., please have your permission slips signed by the end of the week.”
“Ooooh, I forgot about that trip…,” Rei groans, rubbing his temples.
“You’re going?” Natsuya asked.
“Yes, I volunteered as a chaperone at the last minute, figured it’d help me ease into the job. That was before I worked my first day, though; I’m going to be exhausted.”
“That place really has grown over the years,” Natsuya said. Rei was surprised to hear—what was that? Pride?—in his voice.
“You’ve been?”
“My fiancée works there, helped build the place from the ground up. It’s a little tacky, but it does its job.”
“So it’s a tourist attraction? That specializes in what?”
“Urban myths, mostly, likes to put the idea in people’s heads of supernatural creatures living right under our noses! It grew damn near overnight after the video went up.”
“Oh, yes,” that video. The one that helped put Iwatobi on the map, first with the tourists, then the monster fans, then the general populace, until more than half the people that came to reside in the city didn’t even give a damn about supposed monster sightings, they just wanted a spot in the city that blossomed to life practically overnight. Rei wouldn’t have even considered Iwatobi—it’s reputation being it was big, but unusually empty—but then he saw the video (he wasn’t really sure what he was looking at but he knew people would be talking about it), and one link led to another, and Iwatobi didn’t seem so empty or dull anymore. He started looking up job listings, just for the heck of it, but then he noticed the positions were actually…full? Jobs were full, apartments were full, anything remotely close to Samezuka was out of the question. It was only through sheer luck—one last browse—that Rei stumbled upon a high school teaching position. “What do you suppose that was, anyway?”
“Dunno. My fiancée thinks it’s a hoax, but refuses to show it at the facility, says it’s ‘overplayed.’”
“Hell of hoax, to have this much of an impact on an entire city.”
“People like a good monster story and this one’s got pretty convincing evidence; if I was gullible enough, I’d definitely choose to believe it. Plus this city supposedly had a rough start, didn’t have much going for it despite how big it was, and now the whole world’s talking about it. If it were up to me, I’d be milking this thing for all it’s worth, too.”
The class bell rang and Rei jogged back to class.
“Rei.”
“Yeah?” He turned.
“Crackers,” Natsuya held them out.
“Right!” Rei pouted and met him halfway.
Rei practically ran back to his class, greeting his students as he made it a second before they did, Natsuya struggled not to burst into hysterics. He finally turned to go to his office when he caught the very last student to arrive to class: a boy with dark teal hair, suspiciously missing a bag or notebook of any kind.
Natsuya breathed out hotly, but continued towards his office. He’d have to deal with his little brother later.