NaNoWriMo7

“Nii-san!”

Yuichi immediately looked up from his work.

Kiyomi quickly walked into her brother’s study. The room was filled with an overflow of books. Books on desks, books on shelves, books on chairs, the room was thick with books. The vast majority were magical studies, records on mages, all the various things that Yuichi needed for his research. Between stacks of books sat Yuichi himself, along with his computer.

“Kiyomi?” Yuichi leaned back to peer at his sister, past a sizable stack of volumes detailing the nature and creation of homunculi. “Did you find anything out? I was trying to contact one of my sources.”

Kiyomi approached.

“Someone’s familiar attacked me,” she began, folding her arms. That still made her angry… “And there was a murder. Not just one… I think it was at least eight people killed in an alley.”

“Eight people? How did they die?” Yuichi asked, eyes widening in shock. He adjusted his glasses, leaning forward. “Was it the familiar? What did the familiar look like? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, nii-san, some familiar isn’t even going to be able to put a scratch on me,” replied Kiyomi, waving her hand. She was angry about being attacked, but something like a familiar? There was no way that kind of creature would be able to harm her. “I don’t know how they died. They were being taken away already… Even if they were just street thugs, they shouldn’t have died.”

Kiyomi paused for a moment. That made her angry, too. She had never killed a human being. She would never kill a human being. Not only was it wrong, but there was plenty of ways to non-lethally defeat someone. Though this wasn’t to say that she had never killed anyone, but… circumstances then had been different. “I… don’t think it was the familiar. It was small and kind of looked like some kind of shadowy person with tentacles. It wasn’t any bigger than a little kid. I destroyed it after it attacked me.”

Yuichi leaned back in his seat, furrowing his brow.

“Well… I’m glad you’re alright, Kiyomi,” he said.

“How many times do I have to tell you that you don’t need to worry about me? As if something like that was even a threat,” she replied, frustrated. She felt like she was always telling people not to worry about her, she didn’t need people worrying about her. “I just want to know if that sounded familiar to you at all!”

Yuichi sighed, and shook his head.

“If I had been there, maybe I would’ve been able to recognize it. I’ve done some reading on familiars,” he began, “But I can’t recall if I’ve ever seen that sort of familiar in any of my readings just from hearing you describe it. I’ll do some research and see if I can connect it to any mage.”

Kiyomi relaxed.

“… Have you found out anything else about Kurogane Masahiro?” she asked.

Yuichi shook his head. “I haven’t. That’s why I was trying to ask one of my contacts, I thought they may have more information on him. But I haven’t been able to reach them.”

With a sigh, Kiyomi turned away. Some dangerous mage with dangerous goals, and they knew so little about him… was it he who perpetrated the murders and created the familiars? Was there another dangerous mage in the city? She hated not knowing what was going on… “… Thanks, nii-san.”

Yuichi didn’t respond. Kiyomi left the room.

Her parents… they still weren’t home. To be perfectly honest, by this point, Kiyomi wasn’t surprised. Her mother and father were sometimes busy people, and while they were perfectly good parents when they were around, there was a large number of times that they weren’t.

But it wasn’t something to be too angry about, when Kiyomi considered it… She had better things to lose her temper over, and her parents being kept out late on business wasn’t one of them. Speaking of late, it really was getting pretty late… and Kiyomi was actually pretty tired. She’d been out later then when she normally got to bed, and she still hadn’t gone to sleep yet…

Kiyomi ascended the stairs. She paused, briefly, when she reached Chie’s room, and slowly opened the bedroom door. The lights were off… and among the stuffed toys was Chie’s bed. In bed was Chie, sound asleep and clutching a plush rabbit. The little girl was smiling faintly in her sleep.

Kiyomi smiled, and quietly shut the door. Well… it was good to know Chie was getting her sleep, at least. It served to temper her lingering anger, a little bit. She turned, and headed for her own room, pulling open the door.

… The window was open? Kiyomi didn’t recall opening the window at any point…

She quickly walked over to the window and shut it, narrowing her eyes. After the encounter with the familiar in the alleyway, she was suspicious. Was there something in her house? It likely hadn’t made it past her room, her door was still shut…

Swiftly, Kiyomi checked her room. In the closet, under her desk, under her bed… but it wasn’t there. Perhaps she was just a bit wary after that fight in the alley… Kiyomi took a deep breath, before heading over to her dresser and opening the drawers.

The pyjamas she picked were simple and light blue. Kiyomi undressed and set her clothing aside, before getting herself dressed in her pyjamas and tucking herself into her bed. She nestled herself under the blankets, and shut her eyes.

It was a while before she fell asleep.

~

“In your house?!”

Kiyomi could hardly contain her anger. Miko nodded. The… bastard who had created those familiars… he had sent one to break into Miko’s house?! How dare he! What kind of bastard… attacking her friend like that, how… how could they?!

“It’s fine, I’m alright, Kiyo-chan,” Miko said, quickly, able to tell quite easily that Kiyomi was angry. “I want to know what happened as much as you do, but I killed the familiar.”

Kiyomi’s eyes narrowed, and after a few moments of anger she took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. “… Well… at least we know it’s the same bastard who made the familiar they I found in that alleyway! Whoever it is, I’m going to make them wish they never did it! They’re going to hit the ground so hard they won’t be able to-

“Alright, alright, Kiyo-chan,” Miko waved her hands, smiling sheepishly, “It’s over now, I’m sure we’ll be able to find whoever did it, but you don’t have to get so angry right now, it’s okay.”

“-I’ll make sure they know just why they-“

Kiyomi abruptly found herself being hugged by Miko.

“… E-eh…?”
Kiyomi blinked. Her anger almost immediately cooled, and she found herself blushing slightly. Miko had just… hugged her like that? After such a serious discussion? Well… to be perfectly honest… Kiyomi didn’t mind, at all. She liked being hugged by Miko, and it had just… completely distracted her from her anger. Oh, it was undeniable that she was still angry, but… Miko suddenly just pressed up against her like that, and hugging her…

“… Um… what’s this about, Miko-chan…?” Kiyomi asked, her blush deepening slightly as Miko hugged her more tightly. Eventually, Miko let go.

“I just wanted to hug you,” replied Miko, cheerfully. Kiyomi wasn’t sure that it was the only reason, but… she wasn’t about to complain about being hugged by Miko. Not at all.

“I’m going to try and do more research, myself. Your brother didn’t find out anything new, correct?”
Kiyomi nodded. The hug, well… she couldn’t make any angry outbursts after something like that, even if the anger didn’t just go away. “He didn’t. He’s going to keep trying to talk to his contacts and see if they know anything, though.”

“Well, there’s not much we can do until we know more,“ replied Miko, facing forward as she continued to walk to school.

“I’m not going to wait for more information,” Kiyomi responded, folding her arms as she walked, “If I find Kurogane Masahiro, I’m fighting him until he can’t fight any longer. The same goes for whoever made the familiars, if they’re not the same person.”

“That sounds dangerous, Kiyo-chan. But you always do that kind of thing in dangerous situations…”

“There’s no way I’ll let them get away!” declared Kiyomi, raising a clenched fist as she walked. She was going to beat these bastards the first time she saw them, there was no question of it!

“For now, we should probably focus on our schoolwork, Kiyo-chan,” suggested Miko, “Even if you are pretty cute when you’re like that.”

“Eh?”

Kiyomi’s blush returned. It certainly wasn’t the first time Miko had ever said such a thing, and it never failed to make Kiyomi blush. She really couldn’t help like being called cute by Miko, though it usually left her with no idea of what to say. “I… I… oh… I…”

“You’re cute like that, too,” continued Miko with a cheerful smile, “I don’t even need a thank you, your adorable reaction is all I need!”

This successfully made Kiyomi’s blush grow even deeper, and she rigidly faced ahead. Miko giggled to herself beside her, attempting to stifle it somewhat with one hand. How is it that Miko’s compliments and teasing always made Kiyomi blush so much…?

She shook her head, trying to regain her metaphorical footing, as they began to approach the school.

“Well… well… um…” Kiyomi took a deep breath, “I s-still don’t know why you always say those kinds of things, Miko-chan…”

“Well, because it’s true, of course,” replied Miko cheerfully. If Kiyomi could figure out how to word it without embarrassing herself, which she wasn’t sure how to do at all, Kiyomi would return the compliments. After all, Miko was very, very pretty… but… that wasn’t something she should be focusing on! They had school, and there was the issue of the familiars and Kurogane Masahiro. As much as she… really liked being told she was cute by Miko, and how she wanted to tell Miko she was pretty, and deal some other feelings that Kiyomi couldn’t identify that were floating around at the moment, there was much more immediate things to be focusing on.