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The demon was already getting close to Sato but stopped suddenly.
"I've had enough human blood tonight that I no longer thirst for more,"His voice was deep and ugly. "There are only two people that have your scent on this earth: you and another man. I know that must be your father. If you tell anybody about what you saw here, I'll trace both of your scents and eat you guys," he threatened. He turned into liquid and left.
Immediately he left, Sato fainted on the spot! This time, he didn't feign the faint!
***
That same night, Jin and Midori were on the school's open football field. It was a starless night, but the moon shone brightly, making the night like day. One could move around and even read with a moon as bright as that.
Jin was sitting down on a football field, the ground was soft and the natural turf was well manicured. He was eating ramen from a plastic plate. There was an untouched one on the field, and there were also two Calpis sodas close to it.
Midori was standing. She was trying to memorize and, at the same time, act out a scene. She was holding a script in her left hand and was trying to demonstrate it. She was in the drama club in her school.
"My noble father,
I do perceive here a divided duty:
To you I'm bound for life and education;
My life and education both do learn me
How to respect you; you're the lord of duty,
I'm hitherto your daughter: but here's my husband;
And so much duty as my mother showed
To you…" Midori forgot the lines. She paused, trying to remember. "And so…" She opened the book and checked, then closed it back.
"To you… preferring you before her father,
So much… I…" she forgot the lines again. She sighed in frustration.
"I think your brain is lacking glucose. Why not sit and eat, then later you go back to it?" Jin suggested.
"I think you're right," she said, sitting on the field close to Jin. She started eating her ramen.
"Isn't that William Shakespeare's play?"
"Yes."
"Which one?"
"Othello. We are acting every scene, but not at once. A scene at a time. I'm Desdemona in the play," she revealed.
"Wow! You are not really good; why did they choose you to take the character of Desdemona?" he teased.
She chuckled. "I'm one of the best." She hit him slightly on his shoulder, but he felt like he was pounced on.
"Ouch!" He yelped
"What?" she asked, looking surprised.
"Are your hands now iron?"
"What do you mean?"
"Your hands are not how they used to be. Like, extremely painful. I felt like I was punched."
"Oh! Sorry. That wasn't my intention."
"It's fine, my Desdemona!" he joked.
Midori laughed. "Stop it, Jin!"
Jin chuckled.
"Go and get a girlfriend so you tease her like this," she joked.
"We are friends, so I'll continue teasing you. None of us are in a relationship," he shrugged.
"I won't, Jin. I don't feel like I'm supposed to get married, or that I would find joy doing that. I think my mission here is different."
"And what is that?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. Not clear to me. But there is something more than relationships or marriage. I'm not doing any of that shit."
Jin laughed. "You aren't serious, Midori."
Midori looked serious. "I am, Jin. I think Taku needs it."
"Why do you say so?" he asked curiously.
She shrugged again. "I don't know. I just think he needs one."
"He has us. And besides, I don't think any girl will want to be with someone who is a target of bullies. He wouldn't want a girl he loves to see such. For now, I don't think it's best for him to have a girl. I wish there was a way for us to deal with those bastards."
"I think they are lying low for now, but it won't be for long."
"Taku never offended them, so why are they doing this? I really feel for him."
"We all do. Those bastards can see he is weak. He can't defend himself. He is like their puppet, so he didn't have to offend them first. They just like to take out their frustration on a weak person, like us also. Taku seemed weak, but there is this force and energy in him that gives me this vibe that he had lived before in the Edo period before being reborn back into this world."
"So you believe when they said your great-grand-aunt reincarnated in your body?"
"Not entirely. She was a great woman who killed demons. She was a demon slayer. I'm not any of that."
"But do you believe when we told you your eyes had this light red color?"
Midori shook her head. "No, I don't. But there is something about Taku that we don't know. He is not just anyone. I have this feeling that we have met somewhere before, but not in this world."
"What made you think so?"
"Jin, I sincerely do not have answers to that question. The feelings and connections are just there."
"So what was he doing in that world?"
"I don't really know, but I feel he was someone great. Someone people respected. Maybe a demon slayer. A fearless one."
"You might be right, but you are talking out of what you feel. You need to know something as crucial as that, not feel it. You don't have answers to all these because you are only feeling. You should start knowing. You can't run away from who you are either. Look for your own. Maybe then you will be able to trace who Taku was then. Why not talk to Taku about this?"
She waved it off. "He wouldn't believe it, especially the demon slayer part."
"Same way you didn't believe us when we clearly saw your eyes change to light red. You weren't the one who saw it. We saw it. The class saw it. You hit me, and that's not the usual you. Get to know what's going on. Maybe if you can believe what we said, Taku will also believe you."
A shadow of melancholy touched her face, as a cloud dims the waving of golden grain. She quickly brushed it off, then a radiant look came over her face, like a sudden burst of sunshine on a cloudy day.
It wasn't like she didn't believe Jin . She decided not to believe it. She didn't want to start caring about that. She felt she wouldn't be the same again if she started trying to know why her eyes went light red in the class in front of everyone, why slightly hitting Jin could be really that painful.
She might find other strange things about herself that she feared greatly. She just wanted to be normal, but she wasn't. She didn't want to accept that either.
"I wish Taku and Sato would be boarding students like us," Midori changed the subject. She tried to be careless about what was going on with her, but for how long?
"Same here. I really want them to be present with us."
"There is nothing we can do about it. Maybe things might change, who knows, and we will all be sitting down here together either in a night full of stars or in a starless night like ours."
They chuckled.
"I hope so."
"I'm starting to feel really cold. The weather is chilly. So, so chilly." He rubbed both palms together.
"Same here. Let's go back to our dorm."
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