Chapter Text
“Prowl in the night, for they will find you soon.”
-
It was a knock at the door, and she swung it open with a moment of hesitation. He had promised her that it would be movie night. Popcorn, the occasional soda, and candy– and best of all: the cheesiest movies to boot would be watched by her aunts, dad, and herself. Dad had always worked himself hard, and this particular case seemed to have taken up a lot of his time. Absent dinners, missing school festivals, and hardly any communication with each other. He would always go up to his room and would never come out until dawn broke. No matter how much his daughter tried to help him with late-night tea or that extra espresso shot of coffee every morning, Ryusei would still be exhausted and, at worst, distant. He promised her before he left that after tonight, it would be all over. He would tell her what he had been working on all this time, and that would be the end of it.
“I’m sorry,” said the officer, looking widening, worried. “Mifuyu…was it? Where are your aunts?”
The ravenette scrunches up her nose and looks him up and down. “They’re in the back. Where’s Dad?” She tried to peer over his shoulders, eager to see him behind the man, but he was not there. The setting sun creeps behind the overcast to shine behind the two.
“He’s-” The officer clears his throat and shakes his head. “I need to see them. It’s an emergency.”
All the wind is knocked out of her. It was the same situation all over again, yet she still acted she had never experienced this before. Usually, she would pry and keep asking him while letting the officer in her house, before he told her to stay in the living room. It was a ‘private conversation,’ but it was news that he would share later. The next moment, her silver eyes blink, and her aunts are next to her, weeping into each other's laps. She would sit there in total shock and look at her scarred hands. Then say:
“What do you mean he’s dead?!”
“This is a joke, right? A sick prank?!”
“Dad’s fine, he said he would be back by tonight!”
It felt like a second person was speaking for her, though she knew it was her in front of her own body. Mifuyu would still be sitting on the couch as she watches the scene play out like it does every time. Long hair in her face as it wildly splays about as she continues to yell at the officer, her aunts try to hold her back- and then a vase of lavender shatters to the floor, which jolts her body seemingly awake until she finds herself at another scene: the funeral. Dressed in black, everyone lines up to say their goodbyes. It was a rather large send-off for her Dad. All of the force was there, including the chief, and then his small family: two sisters and a daughter.
Mifuyu could not really stop her body from moving, even though she did not want to look inside the coffin. She knows she does anyway, but every time this happens, she tries to force herself away from it. Scream. Cry. Throw things. Anything to get her body to stop moving toward that grim reminder, but no matter what she did, her feet would be planted right there, and she was forced to look down at him.
Everyone disappears at the moment. Mifuyu was alone with the body- her father’s body.
He is dressed nicely too, with a red tie to show his favorite color. Even lying on his deathbed, he always had a weird sense of humor. His dark hair is combed back, and he has stubble at the bottom of his chin. Make-up highlights the gaunt cheekbones, and his eyes are taped shut. It was a shame because his eyes were the brightest of blue- like a never-ending ocean stretching far and wide. Looking at him a moment longer makes Mifuyu forget that he is dead. Without thinking much of it, she reaches inside the coffin to touch his face. It was quick when his hand rose to grab her wrist, tightly ensnaring her in his grasp. She tries to fight and pull away, but she couldn’t move. His eyes would open to stare right back at her.
He opens his mouth—
Mifuyu erupts from her sleep, hitting her head on her lamp. The sound of her alarm thankfully awakened her from yet another of the same nightmare. She slides the snooze button and leans back in her chair, hands on her face. She rubs her eyes and looks out the window to see the sun setting. When she swivels out of her chair, she is faced with the flowers she bought for herself and her dad- well, the shrine- sitting on top of her nightstand. It was a small bouquet of lilies. She needed to put those in a vase before she leaves for school. Mifuyu gets up, stretches, and heads to the bathroom outside her room, tying up her hair in a bun. Akari walks out of the bathroom as Mifuyu approaches, smiling softly.
“Ready for that test this week?” Her voice is light but cautious, with crinkled eyes looking at her niece.
“Um, yeah. Sorry- I kinda woke up late.”
Mifuyu mutters before moving past her and shutting the door of the bathroom. Akari does not try to say anything else and heads downstairs. A quick rinse, dry of her admittedly annoying long hair, and any other routine a girl would do before school, and she beelines swiftly back into her bedroom down the hall. She grabs her hung uniform and buttons up her white blouse, zips up her skirt, and throws on her vest. Tights, city shoes, school bag, homework. Anything to keep the mind preoccupied. She didn’t want to think about her Father’s face. Or his eyes. Or his death. Mifuyu walks out of her bedroom, almost forgetting the lilies. She grabs them in a hurry and heads down the steps. She was still on time; her escort limo wouldn’t be here for five minutes.
“Mifuyu, honey, I made your lunch for tonight,” Hina says as Mifuyu enters the kitchen, rummaging through the fridge to find an energy drink. Before she could protest the idea of having a bento box, Hina held up her hand.
“You need to stop that habit of getting everything from the vending machines on the way there. It’s not healthy.” Hina says with a sorrowful tone.
Mifuyu shuts her eyes in frustration and nods, begrudgingly taking the box. The truth is, she hasn’t been eating that much for the past couple of days. She didn’t notice until her stomach loudly growled in the bathroom one night at school. She didn’t want to starve herself, let alone be low on energy. Being low on energy means you’re tired , and if you’re tired , you’ll fall asleep , and if you fall asleep , you get nightmares . Mifuyu blinks several times before setting the bento box in her bag.
“I need to do a bit more studying for the test, that’s why I’m a little out of sorts,” Mifuyu says quietly to Akari, answering her question more directly from before. She looks skeptical, pushing some of her hair out of her face.
Akari does look like the spitting image of her late brother- they could almost pass as twins. Hina looked like their mother, though Mifuyu never really got to see too much, being that they were in America. She briefly nods and continues to eat her dinner. “Just don’t work yourself too hard.”
Mifuyu nods back and goes to walk out of the kitchen with lilies in hand. She steps over to the living room and to the small corner where a shrine of her father is seen. It was a small brown box with windows ajar, two incense sticks flickering with the smell of lavender. A picture of him is in the center with a cheeky grin and a wink, a thumbs up, sunglasses falling off his face. Mifuyu smiles and takes the small white vase next to him in her palm. It was the same one that she broke in an accident the day it happened but she ended up fixing it. Mifuyu placed one lily in the back of the shrine before she heard a honk from outside.
“Don’t worry about it, dear, just go ahead,” Hina says, coming from the kitchen. She doesn’t have time to talk to him like she usually does- but she bites her tongue and stands to walk out the door. Hina and Akari call out to her: “Be safe, have a good night!”
Mifuyu quickly puts on her shoes and does a peace sign. “Bye!”
It was half-assed, sure, but at least it would calm their already worrying hearts. Mifuyu jogs quickly down the small steps before almost tripping into the car and gets in, fixing her hair. The driver says nothing, and the car sets off into the sunset. She tries to brush it out with her fingers, but ends up stopping, opting to enjoy the vast trees and the change from evening to night.
Although most schools are set in the morning and end in the afternoon, Ryoutei Academy is a school where students can function on a nocturnal schedule. Not many students attend, but those who do come from well-off families of the middle and upper classes. Some students have families in the entertainment industry, or in medical fields, or –in Mifuyu’s case– law enforcement. Both her uncle Hiroshi and her late father, Ryusei, have worked with Kaminashi Police for quite some time. After the abrupt death of his brother, Hiroshi stays in the town of Kaminashi, opting to dig into his own work and spend less time with his family. Meanwhile, Akari is a freelance journalist. She often travels to other regions of Japan with her sister Hina, but is taking time off for obvious circumstances. Just thinking about how her family works all the time gives her a mild headache.
Finally, she arrives at Ryoutei’s gates. Mifuyu quietly thanks him and steps out into the brisk March air.
Many students exit their vehicles and start heading up the school staircase, walking by Mifuyu as she stares up at the several lights that adorn the building. She closes her eyes and steps inside, where a small handful of students are seen mingling with each other quietly. Some stare at the ravenette as she makes her way to her homeroom, and some even whisper behind her back. She knew what they were saying.
It’s so disappointing that she stepped down.
I know, right? He and she worked off each other.
Do you think she’ll try again?
Mifuyu keeps walking away from the student body, further and further down the hallways until she doesn’t hear their voices anymore. She feels like her body is running, but she continues to walk at a steady pace, admittedly a little more pep in her step than she is used to. Her eyes continue to stay shut as she clenches the handle of her bookbag. She didn’t want to be at school. If all she could do was say hi to her Dad like she always does, then maybe it wouldn’t be so bad of a night–
Trip! Plop!
Mifuyu falls hard on the floor, knocking herself out of her stupor. She quickly rears her head over her shoulder to find Shu Sakamaki lying his back against the wall, legs sprawled out in the hallway. She huffs in annoyance, clicking her tongue.
“Sakamaki, you need to watch where you’re sleeping.” She forces this voice she had been using recently. It was professional and firm- the very opposite of how she would truly react. Classes have not even started, and the last thing she needed was for everyone to think she was a hell-raising delinquent by kicking a seemingly defenseless, depressed student in the hallway.
“It is too tiresome…” Shu says in a low tone. “You also kinda hurt my legs with you tripping like that, so now I’m injured. I can’t even stand.”
Mifuyu shuts her eyes once more and stands, crossing her arms after she brushes some of her long hair out of her face. “You’re very funny…” She mutters before bending down to grab her book bag. Shu then smirks.
“Nice to see what you’re hiding underneath, though.”
Mifuyu stops organizing the items in her bag before raising her head. “Hah?” A slip.
“Didn’t think you’d be into lace, though. Seems a bit too lewd for someone as prude as you.”
Mifuyu smiles, but not in the way she would to her classmates if they asked her for something or thanked her.
“Why don’tcha try sayin’ that again? ” A rough yet casual voice comes deep from her throat as she brushes some of her hair behind her ear. Shu does a sly smirk. He opens his mouth to only be interrupted by footsteps approaching them.
“What are you both doing all the way out here? Satomi, Shu .”
Mifuyu looks up to see Reiji standing a couple of feet away from him, both arms crossed over his chest. It was not a tone of curiosity, but annoyance. The attitude that Shu heard a glimpse of is swished away when she runs a hand through her hair. She seemed a little flustered to be found like this. If she could be found by any other student, it would have been fine, but it had to be Reiji Sakamaki?
“I needed some space for the time being. I was just leaving.” Mifuyu says, her tone back to how it was before Shu provoked her.
She picks up her bag and looks at him. He looked the same as ever, uniform and all, not a hair out of place. Perfect as always. Stoic and cold, it was an icy chill anytime she would see his eyes look at her- but now the chill felt nothing to her. How could it when she already feels as numb as she does? Mifuyu looks to the side. Shu’s cheeky nature seemed to have evaporated completely, now pretending he was asleep.
“You tripped, I presume?” Reiji asks, to which Mifuyu purses her lips. “Good grief, how clumsy you always are.” A hint of something was in his voice, but she was too embarrassed to discern.
Mifuyu goes to look at him once more, almost as if she wanted to say something- but it does not come to fruition because of the bell tolling. Mifuyu shakes her head and steps over Shu’s legs.
“Gotta run, or we’ll be late-” It was that slip of her tone that was the last thing Reiji heard before she darted off before he could question her more. He turns to watch her go as her hair swings back and forth.
“Little Miss Ex-Prez has a little secret, don’t you know?~”
“Get to class, you good-for-nothing.” Reiji spats to Shu before disappearing along with him to their class.
That was the last person she wanted to face at the very start of the night. She always avoided him after she stepped down, and that was the first time they really had any semblance of a conversation since her resignation. Her face is aflame with embarrassment. As she focuses on her own two jogging feet, she bumps into somebody’s backside. Both yelp, though the former a bit more loudly.
“Ah, sh—“ She clicks her tongue. “Shoot. Are you okay?” The girl she knocked down is a brunette who encompasses her face, average height, and appears to be a second-year student she was not familiar with. Mifuyu holds out her hand, and the girl takes it, mumbling apologies.
“Don’t worry about it. It was my fault. I was lookin’ at the floor so that’s on me.” She gives a small smile to the girl.
“I didn’t hear you coming from behind- I’m sorry I scared you with my yelling…” Her voice is nervous, fidgety even. She shifts between both of her feet.
“It’s fine. Like I said,” Mifuyu replies with a shrug. “You’re a grade below me, yeah? We should get to class or we’ll really have it.” Humor was always the best way to get out of awkward situations or make them less difficult. As Mifuyu walks past the brunette with a brief nod of goodbye, her eyes linger on the ravenette’s backside.
Another night would go by without much to note. The English quiz was a little harder than Mifuyu anticipated it to be, but it should be an average grade, she thought. While her studies are far from below average, they have taken a bit of a dip this past month. Not that she minded too much. The instructors understood her circumstances. But maybe she expected some sort of pressure, presumed they would goad her into overworking herself. Any time her eyes would land on a person walking in the hallways or sidewalks, now she would assume they would have the wrong intentions or be out to get her specifically. She thought that situation was ‘fixed,’ but it just came up again.
“Ah, I see…your trauma is reacting again,” She recalls her therapist telling her. “Significant loss can reveal things about ourselves that we don’t expect to feel.”
“I thought that was gone, though!” Mifuyu would say through her tears. “All that work since I was a little kid and this is where it gets me…?”
“I understand that this is very hard for you. We will just work together again like we did before, to help you overcome this.” Her therapist would place a hand on her shoulder. “It never goes away, Mifuyu. But you can always make it better.”
She takes a deep breath and finds herself outside waiting for her ride to arrive. Multiple students were waving goodbyes to their friends, and others yawned and said they would hit up the twenty-four-hour 7-11 before they headed home. A sigh is released as she looks up to the almost full moon, hair rustling a bit with the wind. Despite the initial chill of the late winter air, she felt a pair of burning eyes on her back. She looks over her shoulder to find nothing. A crickle on her head.
( Weird. It really felt like something was staring…) She thought to herself. ( Ah, well, no use in worrying about it .)
The escort would soon arrive, a little after 4 AM. Mifuyu opens the car door and throws herself in the backseat, yawning and stretching as she shuts the door.
“Long night, Miss Satomi?”
“More or less,” Mifuyu mumbled.
As the car started to depart, the ravenette looked out the window to see the same girl she had run into in the hallway earlier tonight, standing at the entrance with one of the Sakamaki brothers. She believed one of them was Ayato, but the car was already speeding off.
( Didn’t know they were an item. )
An hour would pass by, and Mifuyu would arrive at her home, the security lights flickering on at her arrival. The neighborhood her family lived in wasn’t entirely upper class, but it is still a nice place to live. Quiet streets with bigger spaces compared to the old apartment they used to live in. She would enter quietly as she always does. Her aunts were asleep. Mifuyu’s head turns to see her Dad, still smiling like always in that picture. She smiles back and whispers, ‘We’ll talk tomorrow.’
She breaks free from the confines of her school uniform, hastily hanging it up in her closet and throwing on the most comfortable big t-shirt, plopping on her bed and crossing her arms behind her head. Doing the smallest things, acknowledging the shrine, made her feel better. It was eating at her all night, but now she could rest; that was one thing she did not have to worry about.
Though…
Didn’t think you’d be into lace. Seems a bit lewd for someone like you~
Mifuyu looks down and lifts up her shirt just a tad to, in fact, see the black lace underwear she unfortunately showed the Sakamaki. Even with black tights, how was he able to see it? What did he call her? A prude? Her face flushes a deep red at another worse thought: Did he tell Reiji?
But then she thought…
Why should that matter?
They don’t talk anymore.
She clicks her tongue and shifts to her side to stare up at the moon before lulling herself to sleep.