Aki Evedane's Story

Mr.Browning was being an idiot. School was easy for Sanya - there is no doubt about it. Well, at least to her, that is. Her friends, no - her court, giggled at his strangely excitable state, all waving hands and mindless prattle. She whispered to her friend on her left, shooting a glance towards the girl who normally wore skirts, Oskana, close by, “Any new gossip floating around?” Gossip was the lifeblood of Sanya, and the one thing that she was completely interested in. Throme was all fun and games anyways...

The girl gave Sanya a smile, happy at the attention from the Queen of Cenriel Academy. Her eyes shone with mirth as she rattled off the gossip that she had collected. “Of course. Evedane has come to school with an extra injury, and Haden hasn’t been able to make any friends lately - although there seems to be something different in her expression lately…”

Ruse gave a sad smile. “Really? That’s too bad then,” she looked at the girl, Haden, with pitying eyes as her mind turned this over. ‘Evedane was caught up in more Mafia activities, and over-achiever, bossy Haden hasn’t met anyone who would even bear her presence for a few days. Of course. Everything was just as excepted.’ “Maybe, you could be her friend,” she said with a smile, as though the thought had just occurred to her. “I mean, it’s horrible that someone would be excluded from the rest of the school like that. I can’t think of anyone who would deserve from treatment, you know?” She grimaced mentally, when she heard her own sickly-sweet words pour out of her mouth, but playing with her court was fun after all.

The girl grimaced, but the Queen’s word was final . “As you wish, Ruse. And, of course, the Vice President -,”

Ruse cut her off sharply. “Don’t mention that upstart. She thinks of herself as the Queen - and everyone knows just how she’s striving for my position!” This was one of the few things that she would cause her to allow her thorns to show… she was all sheathed claws most of the time… “Anyways, what do you know about the paparazzi over there?”

The girl looked and with a couple of swipes on her phone, she looked at Sanya’s blue eyes. “The mayor is here to give a speech about the new-coming statue. On that note, Damon Ito has a rehearsal tonight - .”

Sanya gave a small smile at this, before looking down at her purse. “Right!” She took out two white tickets, before looking at the girl, with a disarmingly large smile. “My father gave me a few tickets for the rehearsal - they’re opening it up for VIPs… who should I take with me?”

“What about Dave? Weren’t you two together?”

“Nah, we broke up a few days ago… His complete obedience was boring, although I have to admit that he was cute.”

“Then why don’t you get another knight? Someone who’ll shake it up a little?”

Sanya Ruse thought hard about this idea, and brightened up slightly. “Ooooh, I could always have some fun with that?”

The girl smiled slightly, before looking at the new boy. “What about him? He’s one of the few that hasn’t been graced with your attention yet?”

“Dante? The new boy?” With a smile, the self-proclaimed Queen of Cenriel Academy left the class, ignoring the teachers who was muttering something about a scavenger hunt. “He’ll become my knight, no matter what.”

Watching the brown-haired boy sit down and start reading a book, Ruse pat down her blond locks, and motioned towards her court to follow her. But, alas, her plans didn’t yet come to fruit as someone got there before she did. A certain someone - Toland of the Student Council. Ruse gave a sigh of irritation before leaving the scene. Watching others interact was never for her as she was the center after all. It was then that something caught her attention. With a smile, she strode off towards the Jazz Band - the one who was playing the saxophone surely sounded much better than usual.

Upon arriving at the scene, she saw the silver-haired Zensa Valobo in all his saxophone glory. Nudging a random girl of her court, she motioned towards him. “What do you think or him?” The lady of the court’s blue eyes stared innocently into Ruse’s as she nodded towards him again. “He’s hot, isn’t he?” The girl blushed violently, dropping her head. Sanya nudged her, with a knowing smile, “Come on! Get up there and ask him out!”

That slight bit of manipulating done, Sanya returned to see if her soon-to-be knight was ready to be graced with her presence. The pesky president had left to do something - what it was, didn’t matter - but at the very least it left her newest acquisition alone. Approaching the boy, Dante, with a cheerful smile, she gave a friendly greeting. “Hey, you’re Dante, right? I’m Sanya Ruse, Ruse for short. It’s wonderful that you’ve moved to Throme.” She sat down next to the boy, before placing her hand over the words of his book. “That won’t do…” she murmured to herself, before making an attempt to snatch the book from his grasp. “Now that you’re completely focused on me, the true fun will begin now.”

She licked her lips quickly, before turning to Dante with a wide smile. Her blue eyes held a touch of pride and mystery, at least to her, and she, then, tossed her golden locks. “You see… I am the Queen of Cenriel Academy, and all the queens of history have had a knight at their side…” her voice trailed off, as she folded her legs neatly to her left side, “and of course, who better than you to be mine?” She picked up one manicured hand, with pale pink fingernails, and gently stroked his hair. He was cute, after all.

The girl looked into his blue eyes with hers, before she started to lecture at him. ‘So…she’s not going to ask me these things?’ “To live in the interest of others? Is that what you have dedicated your public life to? Your apathy is hypocritical.” Aki could not bring himself to react to these comments, as they’ve come completely out of the blue for him. He could no nothing but to continue looking at the slight girl before him. “You,” it was then that she prodded Aki’s chest with one hand, “do not think any more of my thoughts than I think of yours. Everyday you walk through the halls of school with rumors starting like wildfire every time you take a step, and you ignore as if it were a gnat,” ‘an annoying gnat’. “I have to say, that could be counted as an admirable quality, being stoic.”

Oskana continued with her lecture, as Aki could do nothing but stare at her, his ears and mind working double-time. His fists slowly relaxed from their clenched state, but still a thread of anger still remained. “But. But you try nonetheless. As awkward as it was, you still offered me apologies and assistance; both of which I’ve accepted because they were an attempt at kindness. I couldn’t care less if you work for the Mafia or whatever, even with all your bandages. Being in the Mafia or having tons of ultra-cool scars doesn’t make a person interesting.” Strangely enough, even though her hands were waving through the air as though conduction some kind of musical ensemble, her voice was still light. Wait, what does she mean? . . . I don’t understand… what does she mean? I’ve never tried to be kind to her - she must be taking it the wrong way.’ This bewilderment caused him to be unable to do anything at all, stuck at looking at her with a strange expression on his face. Out of the corner, of his eye, he saw Coraline - the Vice President, waving her hand at him. Promptly ignoring that, he turned his attention back to this enigma of a person - Oskana.

She started to look towards the ground, probably embarrassed. There came to be a lull in the conversation, and Aki did not know how to get rid of the suddenly awkward pause. Just when he was about to speak, the wind started to blow. The pesky thing grabbed the words out of Oskana’s mouth. And, being the immature and overly-excited messenger that it was, it tripped and flung Oskana’s words in a warped state. “You ------- never in------- to--.” With that said, she pivoted on her feet and left, leaving Aki stuck in a state of confusion.

Aki started forward on his feet, towards her, one arm outstretched… before shaking his head and dropping the outstretched hand. ‘I’m not supposed to care that much - no, I’m not supposed to care at all. It’s just her opinion, who cares?’ But even that attempt to persuade himself to ignore Oskana failed utterly. He continued to look at her retreating back with a slight frown on his face. ‘Just exactly what is she thinking? And what did she mean? You never into? … Into what?’

It was then that a voice decided to interrupt his reverie. “Excuse me, Aki!” shouted Lucas Toland. Aki turned towards him, watching in silence as the slightly older boy ran towards him. Then, he, too, gestured with his hands and asked with haste, “Have you seen Coraline Starling? If you know her that is.” Aki looked at him, before arranging his features into a calm, collected smile, but his emotions were anything but. As an answer to the fellow junior’s question, he waved one hand towards the direction of where he had last seen Coraline. “The Vice-President was somewhere over there, Lucas,” he said quietly. “A few minutes ago,” he added as an afterthought, before turning away from Lucas. It was then that he realized who exactly he was talking to - the Student Council President, and one of those Maskies. ‘Shoot. If he finds out about my mask… I’m doomed.’ He looked back at the brown-haired boy and gave another attempt at a smile, although his eyes still remained annoyed. ‘Just please, please, go away…’

He was lucky he lived so close to Cherry Grove Park. The walk back to his home passed uneventfully, with many of the people giving him a wide berth. A police car trailed him for three blocks, trying to find any clues for suspicious behavior. Aki paid it no heed - why would he if the police were too stupid to realize the truth after months of this useless stalking? They hadn't figured anything out lately about what he really did to get his injuries, and he intended to keep it away.

“Welcome home,” called his father, holding a spear loosely in his hand. “How was school?” His last lesson with a spoiled five-year-old had just ended, and as usual, his father had a smile on his face. Also, his mother was nowhere to be found - probably dealing with stuff down at the embassy. She rarely had the time to even have dinner with them anymore.

“Same old, same old,” Aki replied, before heading into the kitchen, and coming out with a handful of cherries. His father must have stopped by the supermarket to pick up this goody. That done, Aki started to head up the stairs into his room. “I’ll just get to doing my homework then, Dad.” His room was, as always, neat. On the right side, there was a desk covered in neat stacks of paper, various colored pens, and a small basket half emptied of cherries. Dropping his handful there, he turned his attention to the far side of his room where there was a large window. Walking directly to said window, he threw it open.

Aki stuck his head outside, before sighing in relief as a breeze mussed up his normally neat hair. Looking back into the room, he placed his silver box on the desk, before falling onto his bed, messing up the neat blankets. With a sudden grunt, he sat up and got up from the bed, opening up the box for the first time in a week. There, his silver mask glinted up at him as if teasing him - and knowing the personality that it imposed over his own, it probably was. He picked it up, turning it over on his hands, before placing it over his face. “Gamble on my luck,” he murmured quietly, before that aloof smile on his face turned into one of mirth.

He, The Wheel of Fortune, grabbed a handful of cherries, before stuffing them into his mouth - causing them to be covered in a reddish stain. He closed his eyes slightly, relishing the taste, before running his tongue across his lips. Ignoring the visible stain on his fingers, he immediately rushed out of the window, before spitting out a stream of cherry seeds which fell onto the street below. He was left hanging there with one hand, his feet hanging meters above the ground. With a smile, he flipped through the hair, to grab onto the roof of his house.

Pulling himself up, he glanced around at the neighboring buildings, before leaping through the air onto the neighbor’s roof, laughing as he went. He looked towards the horizon, where the sparkling lights of the shopping district caught his eyes. Perfect. Just what he wanted. That little café with the NameChanging Owner would definitely have some cherry-flavored dessert that he just had to taste. After all, the absolute world of cherries, of heaven, really, belonged to him. But - what if someone saw him?

The Wheel of Fortune pursed his lips before cheering up - it was no fun without taking risks after all. His conscience sated for the time being, he made his way to Brio, leaping from building to building in his haste. A small brown-haired boy stared at him, tugging at his mom’s sleeve, and Aki had no choice but to duck out of sight. His eyes narrowed as he spat one word towards the pair, “Useless.” They were just putting a show on for his behalf. They shouldn’t even dare to look at him - he was just there to watch and be amused, after all. From a long ways away, he saw the crowds converging on Brio’s - sheep. Useless. Boring.

But there was someone that stood out to his eyes - a certain boy that he remembered. Why would he be going to Brio’s already? Maybe something interesting was going to happen - hopefully when he had cherries on hand, of course. Aki started to mumble under his breath, “You’re boring me… see you later then!” There was a black streak across the sky, as he hid into the boy’s shadow. The boy, with his unknown friend, then entered the room, but instead of sitting down at one of the tables like Aki thought, he went straight to the RedEyedTalkativeOne. When the boy asked him a question, said red-eyed worker pointed him towards the NameChangingOwner as Aki attempted to snatch a cherry milkshake off of a customer’s table. His snatching arm was blocked when a blond-haired, blue-eyed waitress, Rie, started to talk to the customer, blocking his reach. Aki glared at her back, before mumbling under his breath again. “Useless. Simply boring.” But instead of jumping out of the shadow to teach her a lesson as he wanted to, the boy moved away, and Aki had no choice but to move with him. He grit his teeth, before the NameChange Owner was seen in front of him.

Aki could barely even try to mess with the NameChange Owner before the boy dragged him towards a room. Inside was someone whom the Wheel of Fortune had never seen before… and thus, his curiosity was piqued for the time being. 'He looks completely ridiculous,’ was his only thought about the masked figure. How long this attention was captured depending on the next events...

A man looked around, before taking a brush and attacking his neat hair, before it was sticking up, just as he liked it. He walked, no, pranced around his building, with a careful eye checking the shelves to make sure that everything was still there. Humming a catching tune, he glanced around at the commotion that was going on before his shop front. Sensing that it had little to do with him - he looked up, catching the weak blue gaze of his favorite friend! Whose name was… A-Achy Every Dude? That sounded about right. He continued to prance around his shop, before a light tinkling bell caught his attention.

Now where did that nauseating sound come from…

His irritated eyes glanced up at the golden object that the officials of this Soggy Roll had forced him to put up, ignoring his beautifully innovative pots and pans that had been there before. Maybe he should get rid of it - it was a democracy after all. He could do anything whatsoever he wanted. Hmm. Yes, as soon as he had gotten rid of the bell, he would be able to get back to the way he wanted his shop to be portrayed.

“Excuse me. We need help!” called a young student, whom he had missed coming into his building. Ignoring him, and his favorite customer, Achy Every Dude, he continued to look thoughtfully up at the bell. A slight silence followed the dramatic entrance of the student. “Yes, that’s it. A hammer. Or a baseball bat.” Then, finally turning in the direction of the new boy, he smiled at Achy. He looked a bit paler than usual, but that was just to be expected. Red splotches were all over his body.

Maybe he had turned into a vampire.

Or the red stuff was ketchup.

Seeing at the student was in such a hurry, he should hurry up and help them. But he wanted to do whatever he wanted. Only those who mindlessly followed the orders of other people would have helped him immediately. Vault, for, yes, that was his name, looked at the boy, and with purposely elongated vowels, started to drawl out his opening speech. “Arturia,” his speech was indued with a slight accent, “is a heavenly pharmacy that exists in a mall named Soggy Roll.”

He peered around at Achy - he seemed to not be cutting him off as usual. How droll. It was only fun to watch him try to hurry him up with his irritated glowers. Fine, then, he would continue. “Now then - if you should be suffering from some unknown disease, you might have some knightly help here.” With an over-the-top gesture towards the fully stocked shelves, he made a mock knightly bow before standing upright. He had never gotten to this stage before in front of Achy, but it didn’t seem as though he was throwing a fit as usual.

He paused again, before realizing that his favorite customer’s head was lolling, and didn’t quite seem to be alive. Then, with an indignant frown, he turned towards the other student. “A body? You bought me a body for my birthday? I used to like that kid... Do you think he’d make a good advertisement? Something about zombies would be good, no? Maybe if we made him more purple-colored?” He dug in his pocket, and took out a handful of smelling salt. Placing the strong-smelling concoction under Aki’s nose, he waited there for a few moments. “I’m not going to work with a smelly body - especially if that’s ketchup I spy all over him,” he muttered as though trying to explain his actions.

Vault continued to stand there, watching the salt with interested eyes. Then with a cough, the limp body of Achy suddenly started to move. “You gave me a zombie?” Vault’s dark eyes brightened as he walked closer to the student, before opening his arms wide. “You’re so nice!”

WIth a sudden intake of breath, Aki gingerly removed his arm from Lucas, and stood by himself, albeit a little shakily. “Shut up, Vault,” he muttered. “Your annoying voice woke me up.”

The man only gave a shrug in return, before a wide smile arranged itself over his features. “It talks too!” Then, he bounced over to his shelves, and pulled out a large red hammer. “Now, zombie, take this amazingly beautiful thing and wander around Soggy Roll -.”

“Sagaro.” If Aki had the energy, this statement would have been accompanied with a rolling of the eyes and an irritated sigh.

“Soggy Roll and scare the living lights out of everyone, so they’ll run around amok.” Ignoring him, Vault continued on with his thoughts, before trying to shove the red hammer into Aki’s hand.

Ignoring Vault’s strange fixation on handing him a ostentatiously colored hammer, Aki brushed past him before collapsing on the bright orange armchair in the center of the room. He winced slightly - he had forgotten all about the wound on his back. Gingerly sitting back up, he looked at the boy who had helped him. This Kingpin continued to stand in the doorway, his blank eyes taking in the strangeness of the pharmacist in Sog - Sagaro.

It was true that Aki would rather have someone else in charge of this pharmacy, but it was the only place in Throme with the cherry-flavored pills that he so favored. Plus, strangely enough, Vault served his purpose in getting him to ignore the pain and aches that came with his injuries. Vault turned around and started to fiddle through one of his cabinets, this time pulling out a large cooking pan. The strange old man turned to Aki, before shoving the hammer back in his direction, and the pan held loosely in one hand.

Thankfully, Lucas stopped him from launching into some convoluted statement by speaking. “Excuse me, could you please give him some medical attention? You said this was a pharmacy right? If you need money for the supplies, I can pay at least part of i-” The Kingpin started to dig through his pocket, when he took out a cell phone. Looking at the screen for a few moments, he then gave them a small smile. “I’ll just take this call.” Aki wondered what exactly could have prompted such a reaction, but decided to ignore it. It must be student council duties or the like - everyone knew how Lucas was ever so busy. Anyways, it was better for him that he left, dealing with Lucas’ clingy attitude was so much of an annoyance. The call couldn’t have picked a better time to come in, as without it, Lucas would have insisted on staying for quite some time.

“Vault,” he called out, taking the offered hammer with one hand. It was awfully heavy for his weakened state, and with a muffled curse, he dropped it on the ground. The old man shot him a glower, before picking up the garish object with one hand. “I might need some help with the treatment. So there’s no point in any more of your pointless idiocy.” He figured that since he was already seen traipsing around Sagaro on the shoulder of the Kingpin, his pride may as well go and disappear into a hole: for now. “The highest quality bandages, and the cherry painkillers. You know I have the cash for it, so no complaints.”

Vault gave a smile, ignoring the comments. “Zombies don’t need to get medicine.” He tossed the heavy bat in one hand, catching it neatly. Aki frowned slightly - somehow, being with this man was akin to being tortured... he lacked any self control or even a mild sense of decorum.

“Vault,” Aki’s voice was cold in annoyance. It was just like the old man to do such an act when time was of the essence. At times, he couldn’t tell if Vault’s strangeness was an act or his real personality. “just get on with it.”

Vault gave a loud, and overly dramatic sigh. “What do you mean ‘get on with it.’? And if you’re turning into a vampire, could you please send me a picture of your fangs? That one forum…”

This is when Aki’s finely-held temper finally snapped. “I’m warning you. I need to get patched up, and immediately. I don’t care about your little forums or your strange taste in accessories. Just give me what I need, and then, I’ll leave and stop intruding on your Arturia.” His voice, while not necessarily loud, was firm, and with a burst of willpower and energy, he stood up, albeit a little shakily, and strode towards the closest shelf, and attempted to pick up a roll of bandages.

When his fingers slipped, Vault was immediately there with a mocking look shining through his dark eyes. “Now, that was the Achy that I was looking for,” he muttered, before picking up the bandages for him. “Get back to the couch - I don’t have time to be helping little kids who can’t even pick up objects properly.”

Aki sighed once again, but remained standing there. “I’ll be needing a few more of those for personal use, and painkillers.” His hand swept to the left, to the large pile of pills. “And of course, you’ll have to disinfect the wounds and everything.”

Vault frowned in his direction. “Now, now, Achy. I can realize that even when you’re so useless, you don’t want to admit it, but I’m too kind.” He gave a cheery, wide smile that stretched until it almost didn’t fit on his face. “You don’t know what I should do. So just go back to the couch and rest up. Let the intelligent people deal with the thinking. Humans know how to do stuff, you werewolf.”

“I thought I was a zombie.”

He flapped one hand nonchalantly in Aki’s direction. “Same thing, same thing.” Grabbing a mountain of objects and strange boxes with one hand, he grabbed Aki from his less-injured arm and almost forcibly dragged him into the back, where a large room, with a medical table stood in the middle. Far from the sterile appearance of hospitals, there were mountains of pans and boxes everywhere, even piled into the smaller sink on the opposite side of the room.

Aki untangled himself from Vault’s grasp and walked over to the medical table, before sitting on it with a sigh. “Glad to know that you’re still on Earth, Vault.” Casting an askance look at the mess, he muttered under his breath, “I thought the authorities told you to clean your storage area a while ago.”

Vault turned and looked at the full sink with a sigh. Placing the objects he was carrying on a small cart next to them, he started to work on cleaning it up, somewhat. ‘Achy would make such a big fit if he didn’t see me watching my hands.’ He stuck two calloused hands into the mess, and picked up a large dented pot. Frowning at himself, he dropped the objects in the sink, three pots, two pans, a fake sword, and a dented pail, on the ground, and proceeded to turn on the water. Now, where had the soap gone…

Ah, over there. He strode, as quickly as he could, across the room, and pulled the bottle of liquid soap from on top of an empty flower pot. He peered into the transparent plastic bottle, before smiling again. “Hey, Achy, it seems like I’m out of soap.”

“… Don’t tell me you’re serious.” Aki sat up even straighter, and started to peer at the near-empty clear bottle with worried eyes. “You’re not touching me with dirty hands. Who knows what you do in your free time.”

“Hm. Maybe there’s still a little bit left?” He shook it up and down, before peering at it some more. The minute bit of soap was a milky white, and difficult to see.

“Go and get more - and a brain, while you’re at it,” retorted Aki, irritated at the delay.

Vault pursed his lips in irritation, but continued to peer at the soap. “Nope, nope, it appears I spoke too soon. Some pixie or whatever must have borrowed it, and decided to return it just at this minute. There’ll be enough~.” Walking slowly back to the sink, he ran his hands under the still-running tap, before applying a small dash soap to them, lathering for a few moments, and then rinsing them again. “Now my hands are all clean, where shall we start?” Picking up a washcloth from the cart, he dried his hands fastidiously.

“You clean the wound.” Aki continued to watch Vault’s preparations with unflinching blue eyes. There was no knowing what the strange old man would try to do while his back was turned.

“What does a banshee know about healing people anyways? Achy, you need to get some friends,” he stated in a matter-of-fact manner, but with a grin plastered all over his face. He turned around, before picking up a plastic bottle and another clean cloth.

“Excuse me?” Aki could do little more than stare at the man with confusion in his eyes. Friends had nothing to do with anything - and they weren’t even necessary in the least.

“If you had friends, you wouldn’t have gotten beat up so badly.” Vault walked closer to the black-haired boy, before pushing him down on his back. Picking up the bottle, he uncapped it, and dropped the white cap on the ground. Aki gave a start towards the lid, before Vault used his now-free hand to push him back to a reclining position. “Stop moving, Achy.” Placing the cloth tightly over the opening of the bottle, he turned it upside-down. As the liquid soaked through the bottle, he tilted it back right-side up, and placed it on the ground, carefully so as to prevent spills.

Then, folding the white cloth into fourths, he rolled up Aki’s tattered clothing with a sigh, before unravelling the now red-bandage from the wound. Even though he had treated Aki before in the past, he sucked in his breath when seeing the wound itself. “Achy, I thought I told you that I wanted a zombie that wasn’t injured. What did you do to my wish?”

There was a period of irritated silence, before Aki finally deigned to shrug. “Whatever.”

Taking the cloth in one hand, Vault frowned irritated. “Now get yourself over here. I can’t simply wipe such a large injury. I would have expected better from you, Achy, even though you’re this zombie.” He pulled Aki up, a little roughly, before walking to the other side of the room, and picking up a pot, and putting it under the faucet… which was still running.

Aki stumbled closer, before standing halfway between the bed and the sink, balanced awkwardly on one leg. When the pot was full, Vault picked it up, strong, despite his age, and sloshed it over Aki’s leg. Aki winced when the cold, almost freezing water, hit his leg and soaked his pants as well. Vault then looked more closely at the injuries, and unravelled the other bandage, on Aki’s upper arm. He walked back to the sink to refill the pot, before heading to his little cart with a few more objects laying around on it.

“Do you want stitches or not?” he called, over his shoulder. “Zombies look better with stitches… so you’d better want them.”

Aki shook his head. “I’ll be fine without them.” He looked down - although severe, it wasn’t as bad as to necessitate stitches. Maybe. He didn’t think that Vault had the necessary training to do so either.

Vault pouted, before walking back over to the overflowing pot, and carried it over to Aki. This time he remembered to turn off the water. “Hold out your arm, Achy,” he grumbled, before pouring the water over the wound. “Now that everything’s all clean…” His voice trailed off as he dropped the pot on the ground behind him, and continued to manhandle Aki back to his medical bed.

Then, as Aki laid down, Vault took a look at the various wounds all over his body. Smirking slightly, he picked up yet another washcloth - this one was pink, and then started to pat Aki dry. After a few minutes of this painstaking action, he took out a few strips of sticky skin-closure tape and secured them firmly on the edges of the leg wound to keep it closed. Vault’s dark eyes narrowed in concentration before he turned his attention to the wound on the arm. All of the other wounds could wait until later. Repeating the same action, he, then, reached out with one hand and lifted Aki up from his prone state. “Achy - anywhere else that aches?”

Aki nodded, before turning to lay on his stomach. “Back,” he murmured, as Vault’s hands pulled up his shirt. Taking the white cloth that he had wet with the saline solution, he ran it over the blotchy skin there. Taking more of the skin-closure tape, he taped over the wound, almost with a hesitancy in his action. Then, leaving Aki alone on the bed, he left the storage room for a few minutes. His hands reached into his pockets, there had to be enough money to pay for Vault. His searching fingers met nothing but air and water, and he mumbled some irritated words under his breath.

When Vault returned, holding a roll of bandages, Aki opened his mouth to speak. “Forget this, Vault.” His cold smile showed a certain bit of pride, before he made ready to leave.

To his greatest shock, Vault simply gave a smile. “Are you an idiot, Achy? If you don’t have enough money now, I’ll just charge interest~ Plus, your little friend offered to pay for the supplies. I’ll just ask my pixie friends to collect it for me later.”

There was yet another awkward pause as Aki debated how exactly to answer this man. In his confusion, the old pharmacist managed to cross the distance between them, and tossed the roll of bandages towards Aki. It hit him squarely on the chest, and rolled off the bed, unravelling as it went. Picking it up, he started to roll it around his leg, winding it around and around…

Aki sighed heavily to himself. While his previous injury on his arm had healed enough for him to remove the bandage, his more recent - and far larger - injuries still ached with every passing step. The weather, being the disagreeable soul that it was, wasn’t helping any with its gusting winds and falling temperature. That wind cut through his clothing and caused a rising complaint from all over his body with every step.

Seemingly attracted to his pain, one of the counselors had spent the last week dogging his steps... and she was still there. The mousy-brown haired lady hobbled after him - she said she had arthritis - brandishing promises of a nice, friendly tête-à-tête. As if he was interested in the state of her children and god forbid, grandchildren. Still, he had to hand it to her that she was persistent at the very least. If only he could hand this interest in some other direction - maybe she could distract Vault from his also frequent dogging of Aki’s step.

Apparently, Vault wanted some payback for losing his zombie.

Aki sighed again, it seemed as though he was surrounded by those that loved to make his life a living disaster. With that mousy lady, his father’s current silence - probably upset that he wasn’t allowed to know why his son was walking around as though he had been in a traffic accident - and Vault’s frequent losses of sanity, Aki was extremely lucky to have not gone mad from all this. So, when was the lady going to gain a new brain and find someone else to bother. Someone who was actually happy to see her.

“AKKKKIIII~” came a loud shout from that said lady, brandishing one of her fuchsia-painted hands in his direction. He turned with an energy-conserving manner, before he gave her a admonishing frown. Really, was that proper behavior for an adult of her age and stature?

“Yes, Mrs.Haverland?” he asked, backing away from her excitement. The searching eyes of the students shot in his direction - really, it was obvious. However, as though they were embarrassed by their interest in him, a few of the less confident of the bunch glanced away when Aki’s blue eyes glanced in their direction.

“I was wondering if you had some free time. I heard that Brio’s having a special today - in order to get ready for the upcoming weekend. You’re not in any of the clubs, so I thought that maybe you could go with me.” Her voice was, while high in a ear-shattering manner, firm and self-assured. Almost as though she believed that he would agree to such a time-wasting thing. “Of course, it’s nothing really that important - just thought that maybe we could have a little heart to heart while we still have time.”

“No, really, there’s no need,” came the cold reply. “I have other commitments, Mrs.Haverland. I’m afraid that you’ll have to take one of the other students along with you.” Aki drew one hand over at the students that surrounded the pair. “I’m sure that Haden would be delighted to accompany you. Or the young boy genius. There’s nothing really that important or interesting about me for your attention.”

“You’re so harsh on yourself - I think that you’re very interesting~ But think at it this way, Aki. You have a little something called a college recommendation, is that not correct? Aren’t you going to be very upset if you’re given a bad recommendation by your counselor? It’s just a little something that you can do for me if you come to Brio with me.”

‘Old Miss Twinkletoe’s not going to shut up until I agree now, is she?’ “Is that blackmail I hear, Mrs.Haverland?” Aki stopped his backwards motion, before planting the soles of his black shoes firmly down on the ground, before drawing himself up to his full height. He towered over the shorter, and slightly pudgy adult, who didn’t seem to mind.

“Oho, Aki, I always knew that you were a smart one,” she twittered, before grabbing the junior firmly by the arm and leading him away. Aki, torn by his desire to stay out of the octopus-like grasp of the woman and his wish to not have to cause such a large commotion in a public area, allowed himself to be pulled away. “Now, this isn’t so bad after all, is it? It’s not as though you have anything else to do.”

…

He had a lot to do. His homework, for one.

And that was how the strange pair made their way to the crowded café. The faint aromatic smell of coffee pervaded the air, while waiters bustled here and there carrying drinks more fanciful than the last. The silver-haired one, Gwen, in particular, was looking extremely harassed… but then, of course, he always did. Ren was once again manning the counter, and his cheery smile seemed a little misplaced in the crowd. Rie, the blond female, was nowhere to be seen today - strange because she was usually here on Fridays. “SO, AKIIII~ Where will we be sitting?” asked the counselor again, pulling him through the hectic café. “Why don’t we get a nice comfy booth, huh?”

“Whatever you want, Mrs.Haverland.”

“Ah, children, children,” Mrs.Haverland waved her bright painted hand airily through the air. “They are the reason for my existence. My nephews are so cute! Aki, did I show you a picture of them before? They are positively angels!” Despite the irritated looking high schooler’s shake of the head, she preceded to dig through her wallet to pick out a slightly battered photograph. On it was a child, probably of no more than three years of age with a chubby pout carrying an equally plump stuffed tiger. “Can you believe that the oldest is now almost in middle school? How fast they grow! I always meant to -.”

“Mrs.Haverland. I believe we have gone over this topic perhaps three times in the last ten minutes,” interrupted the black-haired, blue-eyed junior. “If you have nothing of importance to say, would you mind releasing me? I am quite busy, and this is not the most effective use of my time.” He pushed himself out of the comfortable booth to leave, before the school counselor pulled him back into a seated position.

“Now, now, Aki! I am afraid that I’ll have to write a note about that.” She drew her hands up in the much-hated air quotes gesture that she was much in the habit of doing. “Impatient. Doesn’t listen to superiors talk. And how many times have I asked you to drop the formality? We have these conversations almost every week, so I don’t see a point in you calling me Mrs.Haverland. Just call me Sarah.”

“Mrs-.” There was no way that he would forego his formality for the sake of a simple woman who really did not understand the subtleties of emotion. Aki had the itching doubt somewhere in the back of his mind that she was only putting up his facade to bother him. He knew that the school would not, in any case, hire anyone claiming to be a counselor who did not even understand the very basics of their profession.

“Sarah.” She waved one hand in his direction as though swatting at a particularly annoying mosquito. “How many times do I have to -.” Since it took her this long to get something this easy, it might have taken her the entire of her life to get her degree… that is if she actually had earned one and not bought it. But enough was enough. Her mindless prattling was really getting on his nerves.

“Sarah Haverland,” said Aki in a tone that brokered no competition.

She frowned in what she thought to be a grandmotherly way. “Now, now, Aki. Please don’t make me do this, but I’m afraid that if you keep this up, I’ll have to write something about it in your recommendation.” The air quotes appeared again, and Aki barely managed to keep himself from walking off. “Doesn’t listen to those he should.” She took her time in taking out a embellished pen from her cheap-looking purse, before she scrawled something on the yellow pad of paper in front of her. It was already filled with her signature loopy purple handwriting. Looking down at it, she uttered, almost nonchalantly. “I see that we have much to correct for the end of this year - do you really want all this negative stuff to go to the colleges you’re applying for?”

In response, he merely caught the eye of a nearby harried waiter. The silver-haired one. “Excuse me, but could we please have our check?” He waved his hand towards the empty cup in front of him, holding a mostly-gone cherry Amerstall. He had spent the better part of his time attempting to explain the taste which he had only remembered through the blurry metaphors of his other’s faulty memory. Thank goodness that food seemed to pique its interest - people seemed lacking. It seemed pretty much the same, although lacking the peculiar taste of apricot.

It was around this time that he assumed he had stumbled upon the strange meeting, and although not stumbling upon anyone that he recognized (there were a lot of people who decided to spend their Friday afternoons in the crowded café, especially from his school), Aki was determined not to lose the opportunity to perhaps find the clue he had been waiting for. Such an opportunity only came once a week anyways.

“What are you doing, Aki?!” came an angry look from his counselor. Her arthritis forgotten when it no longer served her purpose, she stood up and called back the waiter. “Forget about your previous order from this upstart kid. We’re not leaving.” Such a statement ruined the ambience of the café. It was much too loud and much too forceful. Eyes were quickly drawn to their corner of the busy building, and Aki wished that he was anywhere but here. He hated the attention of those much too bothersome and dour to create their own entertainment.

The waiter, however, seemed only mildly affected by the confusing turn of events. He remained standing there, as though waiting for their little disagreement to finish. Seeing as Miss. Twinkletoes didn’t seem like she would drop the topic anytime soon, he decided to give in. All these eyes staring at him was, while not a strange occurrence for him, still a very irritating one. It was just like things to go perfectly against his plan. “Very well, we shall wait.”

“I’m glad that you actually know what’s good for you,” came the insipid reply, before Aki purposely turned his eyes away from the babbling, stout lady. She evidently noticed because she started spouting angry phrases, one after the other as though they were going out of style. “You! Aki, are you listening to me? Do you want me to write about this on your recommendation? Hm? Doesn’t think before acting? By this point, I don’t think that any of the universities that you were planning on going to -.”

Once she got started, the only thing that he could really do was to tune her out. Instead, he scanned the crowded café for the strange people that he had met last time. Then, catching sight of another person from his school, hurrying through the crazy business of Brio. Because there really was nothing to do (and that counselor showed no signs of shutting up any time soon) he followed him with his eyes to see him disappear into the curious back rooms.

Could it be…?

Could this really be what he was looking for?

And what were his classmates up to anyways?

Well, there was no way that he was going to allow such a clue to escape him. Ignoring Old Miss Twinkletoes’ increasingly loud protests, “Aki, is this is any way to treat a lady? You’re not leaving, are you? What are you thinking? You’d better be not leaving,” he got up to leave, just to be latched onto by the irritating counselor. Luckily for him, his weapons training finally came in handy for once, and he managed to unbalance her enough to slip away. The blue-eyed boy slipped into the stream of people, but kept his eyes firmly placed on the door that the guy from the park disappeared into.

Perhaps he was being quite the noticeable spy, but there was no way that he’d dare take out his mask in such a visible and prominent location. Mrs.Haverland stood on the very tip of her likely-fuchsia toes and tried with all of her might to find him again. He ducked down lower, pleading to whatever force of goodness in the world to make her go away, before sneaking into the very center of the swirling stream of people.

‘Now I wait…’