Luna was the last to end the sniffling as she struggled to wipe the stream of tears running down her cheeks as she finally calmed down from her emotional high as the song had ended mere minutes ago.
Looking of to the side, Luna took notice of Tadashi’s stoic statue under her critical eye. He unveiled no emotion almost convincing her that he was a robot.
Dante however, was a different case, his face was hard yet solemn as his eyes flickered constantly with emotion. He looked as though her was holding back a dam of emotions ready to burst any moment, and she wasn’t sure how fast it was eroding.
The class was like a funeral, all but her were bowing their heads in what she assumed was respect and all were silent. Not even the clock ticked, or the bell that was supposed to ring as the clock hit three-fifth teen rang.
Not a heavy breath or a sob or a sniffle, or a gasp for a gulp of air for it was too thick. Thicker than blood yet extremely thin and stuffy. It was only then that Luna realised how uncomfortable she was with the current atmosphere as she shifted focus.
A sharp cough broke the tension and Luna unconsciously turned towards the source. It was Mr. Mien, someone who she admittedly forgotten about during her convosation with Tadashi and Dante and then the song that had swept the energetic class into silence.
Following his gaze, she tracked them to Tadashi and in turned ended up being pinned under his molten gaze. Feeling preyed upon Luna turned away and instantly regretted it as his hot stare almost burned itself into her head.
“Dismissed.” Never had Luna been so grateful to hear the one word that her father constantly used in their household be uttered from Mr. Miens mouth. Instantly, Luna made a beeline for the exit, not daring to look back as she felt more eyes turn to her in attempt to pin her.
Her breath grew heavy and eventually each draw of breath felt like she consumed toxins, each step a struggle and each beat of her heart like an engine.
Unlike Luna, Pep was unaffected by the sombre atmosphere, but her head was bowed in respect. It was an unspoken tradition, at least to her, one that she still hadn’t figured out yet as it was extremely tight lipped that no amount of ease dropping could figure out.
Nobody moved during the dismissal, that’s how it had always been since she was here when the sad song had played, it was almost as if it was an accepted process of petrification that people had willingly participated in.
So, it had come to her surprise that she heard a rather loud rustle to signal movement at the back of the classroom. Who ever it was clearly didn’t get the memo of not leaving or moving and if it was one of Tadashi’s men then they were bound to be punished ruthlessly.
Curious, Pep looked of to the side and tracked the sound of movement. Her eyes widening when she saw Luna uncomfortably attempt to make a break for it and she felt a pang of regret hit her.
“Dang it, I completely forgot,” she said in thought as she debated in helping Luna. However, if she moved all eyes would turn towards her and would be a hundred times worse as she had been a student for six years.
Pep bit her nails, she had to save Luna she wasn’t at fault here, even if she mistakenly made an act of disrespect, she just wasn’t informed about the schools traditions.
Sighing in resignation, Pep bolted from her seat, grabbing her bag in the process and launched herself over the table. She landed as gracefully as a human could in a panicked situation and grabbed Luna’s arm. She ignored the eyes that turned towards her and wished upon her death as she dragged Luna out of the classroom and slammed the door shut.
Pep looked at Luna’s frozen form and sighed, she didn’t seem to be scared witless, but the sudden pressure caught hear off guard, so much so that you could hear her heart race.
Luna took large gulp of air now that she was out of the room, she was now able to think straight because the air was now fresh and clear.
“Are you ok?” asked Pep, now that they were what she considered to be far enough. During the walk she was able to lead Luna from the top floor to the ground floor and was quick to pass the receptionist that was curiously looking at them.
“What was that?” Luna asked aggressively as her shock left her, ignoring the question.
“I can’t really explain it,” started Pep before sitting down at the steps as she exited the building patting a space next to her which Luna dismissed as she stood in front of Pep arms crossed.
“Well you better explain it” Luna cried in outrage. “I want to know why I was glared at with so much hatred that my heart felt like it was going to burst!”
Pep scratched her brow, “the reason why I cant explain it is because I actually cant Luna”, she answered. “All I know, is that it has to do something with that song which is played. It has been like that for six years.”
“Ok, fair enough, but you could have told me before hand what to do when something like that was to happen!” exclaimed Luna as she swung her arms around in alarm.
“Yeah sorry about that suga’, I forgot…. And its Friday I didn’t expect that to happen,” her chuckle was littered with guilt as she winced. “Could have been worse though, they could have killed you,” she muttered.
“Don’t say that!” Luna said in surprise.
“Sorry suga’, ive had a bad week.”
“Want to tell me about it?” Luna asked as concern climbed onto her face as anger left her. She sat down next to Penelope, the same place that she patted earlier.
“No, its fine,” Pep finished silently.
As soon as the silence entered it left just as quickly as the feint sound of stomping and chatter replaced it, forcing Luna to put back her phone that she was taking out to play music.
The orchestra of stomps drummed louder, and the door had suddenly burst open as loud chatter drowned out the sound of feet hitting the ground. Quickly, Luna and Pep dived out of the way suddenly afraid for their lives and being caught in the army of people flooding out of the door.
Soon the wave ended with a trickle and it seemed to end with Tadashi, Dante and the scary man who she had met earlier.
Kaiser.
Luna shivered.
His presence completely drowned out both Tadashi and Dante. Neither were comparable. Not to him in the slightest.
Both boys happened to flank his sides with another boy who she hadn’t noticed earlier. He looked exactly like Dante except for a few small changes like muscle definition and different clothing. However, that didn’t matter when he commanded all the attention.
The dark-skinned short haired man, Kaiser, took small deliberate steps, much like he was stalking prey and it was her, unable to escape under the fierce, hungry gaze.
They almost were face to face or in Luna’s case shoulder to face, forcing her to look up. His height was a lot worse than Tadashi’s as she was at least neck to face with him, forcing her to look up and visibly gulp as his eyes burn through her.
She flinched and moved back. A hand instinctively reaching up to defend her stomach and fear riddled her eyes as she moved to defend herself. Simultaneously, Kaisers eyes flickered to her hand and he tilted his head slightly in what she guessed to be curiosity. Something indistinguishable filled his eyes yet his face was still neutral, no emotion to be seen as of yet.
He hummed in what she guessed to be curiosity and he took another deliberate step forward. Like a dance she moved back.
Afraid.
Afraid of him and what he could potentially do to her.
Step forward.
She took a step beck.
She shoved her other hand into her pocket as it shivered. Her lip almost trembling but she bit it, hard enough for pain to shock her slightly.
Yet all it did was make him excited going by how his eyes darkened.
Step forward.
Step back.
She bit her lip harder. Enough to draw blood.
She winced.
He looked down at her lips or the blood she wasn’t sure, but his eyes became almost pitch black. Complete darkness.
He licked his lips hungrily. Like she was his next meal.
She shivered. Her eyes flickered onto Tadashi’s into the distance. Her eyes pleading to his desperately before watching her predator carefully.
She took a step back.
And another.
And another.
And another, before she was suddenly behind a large body. One that she recognised, one that made her safe.
“Tadashi,” she thought as she sighed silently in relief.
“Watashi no koto o atsukau watashi no naka ni watashi wa anata ni ii tai to omou,” the confidence that oozed from him earlier disappeared in front of his brother. He was scared, and she couldn’t blame him.
Unknowingly to Tadashi, Luna understood every word he had spoken, causing her eyes to narrow slightly.
“Japanese? We’re in japan? but it looks nothing like it from my trips there.” Luna thought in concentration. “And what does he mean, he will deal with me?”
Unknowingly to Luna, Kaiser easily caught her small action as he was unperturbed by his brothers engagement to his time of curiosity yet made no physical action and instead, made a mental note before looking at his brother.
He nodded, looking at Tadashi straight in the eye before walking around him and Luna with the Dante look-alike glued to his side.
Luna’s eye’s didn’t leave his figure for a second and instead inched closer to Tadashi as Kaiser made way to pass her. She danced around Tadashi, something that Tadashi didn’t seem to mind as he rotated around her, defending her from his brother.
All shoulders sagged in relief once Kaiser and the boy that looked like Dante left, turning round a corner to disappear from sight.
“Well, that was something,” said Dante, rubbing his head in nervously, still at the top of the steps.
“I’m just glad that it didn’t escalate.” Said Pep sighing as equally as stationary. “Thank you for that Tadashi.”
Tadashi shook his head negatively, eyebrows furrowed as he mumbled something unintelligible, something which even with the closeness of Tadashi’s body Luna still couldn’t hear.
Deciding it was her time to start moving Pep headed for the gates passing by Tadashi who was still unconsciously protecting Luna. Trying to pass him, Pep stopped in front of Luna and gave her a pointed look.
“I need to go but call me whenever, okay suga’?” she asked, giving her a suggestive wink before spinning on her hills giving Luna no time to process what she said and walked off.
It was only when Luna snapped out of her lax attitude that her eye brow twitched as she had realised what Pep had done.
“You bloody bitch,” thought Luna as she slowly backed off from Tadashi.
Looking up, Luna’s eyes met Tadashi’s molten and she swallowed heavily, and Tadashi’s eyes darkened as a result making Luna feel feverish under his gaze.
Mustering up the courage that she slowly built, Luna spoke. “Um, I got to go. Mable is-“
“-Not picking you up,” interrupted Tadashi.
Luna’s eyes widened, “What do you mean she isn’t picking me up she said she would.” She gave Tadashi no time to explain as she went for her phone and quickly unlocked it before Tadashi suddenly stopped her.
“If you gave me a chance to speak,” he started putting emphasis on the last word, making Luna blush lightly. “Mable thought it was best if I showed you around town and then dropped you home.”
Sensing her hesitation, Dante quickly intervened rushing down the steps so he didn’t have to shout. “If you don’t believe us you can call Mabel if you want.”
Biting her lip, Luna went into deep thought weighing the pro’s and con’s of going with the two before making her decision. “Sure, why not,” she said with a small smile.
“Yes!” Dante cheered, pumping his fist into the air, “Let’s go to the car.” He pointed in a direction gleefully before taking Luna’s hand and speeding off in the direction he pointed, and Luna screamed in excitement.
Not one to be left behind Tadashi jogged after them. “Who said you could come huh?” He shouted after them.
“Luna do you mind if I come with you?” Tadashi heard Dante shout and he could almost feel Dante’s grin work its way to his face.
“I don’t mind you coming with Dante!” she continued to scream and laugh in excitement.
“See Tadashi, Luna doesn’t mind me coming!” He finished with a roar of laughter as he ran faster forcing Luna to move with him.
Tadashi face palmed.
“Gods.”
Luna could honestly say that she loved being around Dante and could even consider him a friend. He constantly made her laugh and blush at random moments as constantly teased her over mispronunciations when she asked to learn a few words of the language they were speaking. Something of which Tadashi protested heavily against but didn’t forbid.
She was tempted to ask a few questions along the way of course, a few innocent ones that she felt might take too long to answer, so she held them back so that she could enjoy Dante’s frivolous explanations and he even answered a few that she was pretty sure that he didn’t even know she was going to ask.
Soon enough it was getting late, so after some convincing from a determined Dante, Tadashi stopped at a fast food joint.
“This Luna,” said Dante as he swung his armed around her neck and pulled her in closely ignoring the pointed look he received from Tadashi. “This is Marcus’ mates marvellous marshmallows. We also call it M and M’s for short,” he finished with a shrug.
“Marshmallows? I thought this is was a place for fast food?” Luna asked confusedly.
“It is,” Tadashi growled his eyes burning holes into Dante’s arm. “They just love marshmallows and it fit with the name.”
Feeling that he pushed it a bit too far for now, Dante dropped his arm from Luna’s shoulder, but not before giving Tadashi a cheeky grin which he replied with a look that promised death.
“So they serve sweet food?” she guessed going by the name as she walked towards the entrance door.
“Not really surprisingly,” shrugged Dante as he opened to door for Luna. “They serve spicy food but it’s not hard to find something aka marshmallows that are spicy yet sweet.”
“Spicy marshmallows? Now that I got to try,” she said eagerly as she made her way to the till only to be steered away by Dante as he pushed her towards a seat by a window. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow, a clear sign of confusion as she sat down at the seat that he pointed towards.
“I will order the food and bring it here.” He started with a mischievous grin as he slowly started walking backwards. “You and Tadashi,” he continued pushing said person into the opposing seat while ignoring Luna’s blush. “Are going to talk.”
“Now wait a minute!” exclaimed Luna her face red jumping out of her seat.
“Cant hear you over the food I’m thinking about!” He retorted as he turned his back to a scowling Tadashi as he disappeared into the crowd of people.
Luna shifted quietly as an awkward silence overcame the two, at least to her. Taking a chance, she glanced at his face and was surprised to see Tadashi with a curious expression on his face while looking slightly lost. His eyes were no longer as intense as they usually were but were looking lost, almost like they were searching for something.
Luna coughed. “So..” she started but let it hang in the air.
Tadashi sighed as the soft song that he was listening to ended and his fingers twitched in attempted to unconsciously restarted his Friday playlist. “You have questions no doubt. Ask away,” he shrugged in a show of nonchalance.
“When I came here a lot of houses had symbol like things on them.” She stated as she bit her lip nervously in anticipation of Tadashi’s answer.
“Those symbols.” He paused, thinking of a way to describe it. “They are like offerings in a way. Each one represents a different word, a theme you could say which are important to the household. For example, trust, love or companionship.”
“But that makes no sense if just words are offerings, there has to be more,” Luna pointed out. “Does this tie into your religion somehow?” she questioned on a limb
Tadashi nodded as a small smirk worked its way to his face. “Smart girl.” He commented, and Luna felt something swell up inside her. “We offer our bodies to our Gods, Circel and Xchrtza.”
Luna stared at him blankly as the strange name flew over her head. “Come again?”
“it’s pronounced shurtsa, but it can also be said kurtza. Don’t worry about the spelling though, it’ll just hurt your pretty little head.” He chuckled.
“I can handle it.” She started confidently. For once she looked into his eyes brimming with confidence her usual anxiety seemed to disappear as his molten eyes didn’t seemed to intimidate her.
Tadashi chuckled again but shook his head when Luna sent him a confused look. “I just thought of something nice that’s all.” He said before leaning his face onto his fist lightly. “Any way we do this because we want our Gods to take action through us in cases of divine intervention. There are other things as well, but I think that’s enough for one day.” He ended, giving her a stern look as he saw Luna trying to ask another question about.
“Okay then, what about the shattered crown statue in the distance with the dead patch of grass?” She asked innocently
She surprised when she was no longer met with a smirking Tadashi, but an angry one. His eyes glowed and a growl tore through the light-hearted interrogation.
“You..” he started with a growl but was quickly interrupted by Dante and a girl which he hadn’t seen in sometime.
“Got the food” he cheered with the white-haired girl.
A confused plastered itself onto his face as he saw an angry Tadashi and an equally confused and lost Luna. “Did I miss something?”
Tadashi grunted before getting out of his seat and headed for the same way they entered. Tadashi sent Dante a look that forced a wiry smile from him as his shoulders slumped almost defeatedly.
Dante looked at the girl apologetically, which she seemed to understand as she to a second to peak at Luna and placed the few bags of food she was holding on the table before walking off to continue her job solemnly.
Dante then looked at the lost Luna seated where he had left her. “Come on,” he said softly. “I’ll drive you home.”
She nodded her head. Not attempting to speak as she lost her appetite.
Like the gentleman he was, he opened the exit door and the car door ignoring Tadashi who was in the passenger seat beside him.
The drive to her accommodations was quiet and tense and it was to her relief when she stopped at the house her father had sent her a picture and address of.
Quickly bolting out the car, grabbing the food that Dante held out for her, she shouted in a “Thank you” to Dante and dived into her bag in search of any key that she could use to open the door. Huffing in her failure she pressed the bell next to the door.
She didn’t have to wait long as the door instantly opened to present her with a spick and span Mable like always.
“I hope you enjoyed you night out ma’am.” She greeted as she quickly shut the door behind her and helped Luna out of her jacket.
“Yeah I did thank you” she smiled lightly, not wanting to think about Tadashi’s sudden change in mood. “I got take-away,” she continued lifting the bag for Mable to see. “So, I’m going to eat in my room, night.” She waved as she worked her way to the stairs.
“Night ma’am, also before you leave, I’m going to go out sometime soon so don’t worry if you cannot hear me around the house and don’t forget Lady Aiko is coming tomorrow.” She spoke quickly and increasingly louder as Luna’s distance increased.
“Thanks,” she shouted as she made way for her door. Thankfully her father always bought homes with similar layouts, so it was easy for her to figure out where her room would be. So, once she opened the door to what she believed to be her room going but the soft blue’s and pinks as she turned on the lights. She made her way to the window ignoring most the décor as she put down her take-away on a desk and sighed.
“Akiko huh?” she said solemnly. “It’s been a while.”
She looked at the dark forest that was her back yard for a minute before turning and switching off the light and instantly fell asleep as her head hit the pillows.
Had she stayed longer, looked harder, she would have seen glowing eyes look through her window.
“Find out all you can about her. I don’t care how its done just make it happen” said the voice strictly that commanded respect before switching off the phone.
Had she stayed longer she would have heard the sound of a crash by her road not to long after or the caw of a crow in the distance.
Had she looked harder. She would have seen a black feather.
Perched on her window sill.
ns 15.158.61.21da2
