Chapter 16  When you leave home, you say “I’m off”

POV Katsura

"Was my only purpose to be in pain and suffering?" the ghost of Harry Freeman asks me.

He looks like me but younger. His hands are covered with blood, his face bearing a heavy expression.

"We had no choice, but to do as we were told" I try to calm him

"You are not the monster, I am. I should just go" he says

"None of us are. The people who made us this way are the real monsters" I say

"Do you think, she would like me?" he asks. His voice pained. I could hear a stifled cry in his voice.

"Yes…. You and I are the same after all, if she sees me, she sees you" I say, thinking after a while.

"She really changed us, didn't she" he says, forcing a smile.

"Yeah…. she did." I sigh.

"Should I just leave? I can only cause harm" he asks

"I want you to be happy too. Also, you need to protect us all, without you I am incomplete" I say.

"Okay then, I think I will hang around for a little longer" he says.

I wake up with a start. I feel tears in the corner of my eyes. I really want to see Hori-san for some reason. I don't know why. Probably something to do with my dream. Strange. I can't seem to remember what it was all about. I don't know where I am for a moment, the room is dark. Then I hear Kyoske breathing beside me. I slept here tonight.

I lie back down on my mattress, my heart beat slowing down again. I hear the door open.

Hori san enters the room. She looked like she was straight out of bed. Her hair was messy, she walked right on top of Kyoske. (Man! That must have hurt) and opens the windows to our room, letting the early morning breeze sweep into the room. The clock in my head told me that it should be somewhere around 5 in the morning. Did Hori san get up this early too. Through the faint light coming through the window, I could see her clothes. Was she in her middle school gym uniform?

"You are up early" I say groggily.

"Sorry, did I wake you up Zura?" she says

"No, I woke up before you came" I reply

"I woke up early too. I don't know why. I thought, I should probably open the windows, since normally we don't get to experience the morning breeze" she explains.

"I think I am going to go back to sleep" I say "Or do you need me for anything?" I add as an afterthought

"No, its fine, go back to sleep, I think I should get some sleep too, its not everyday that I can get some extra sleep" she smiles. Even in her sleep clothes, with unkempt hair, she still looked so beautiful. Her smile still the same.

She leaves.

I put my elbow on my face, blocking the light on my eyes, and try hard to drift back into sleep again.

8:30 Am

"Okay I am off" Hori san says, putting on her last shoe, to her mother.

Strangely enough, Yoriko san finally got a much-deserved break, so she would be home for a few days. Kyoske peeps from behind the wall of the porch

"Should I accompany you to school?" he asks

"Follow me and you are dead" Hori san says in a deadly sweet tone smiling, like her mother. I wouldn't want to mess with that.

"You guys will make a grown man cry" Kyoske groans, going back inside the house.

"Thanks for having me" I say to Yoriko san.

"Katsura kun, when you are leaving home, you should say "I am off"" she says

She meant it, when she said that this was my home too, it was only my stupidity that let me convince it otherwise, I am so stupid.

My eyes light up. "I am off…." I say.

"Have a nice day" she wishes us.

I stare at her; she smiles at me.

I smile back. And we both set off.

I see a few other students around the corner. I could see their surprised stares at us. After all two classmates of opposite genders coming out of the same house, should appear a bit weird to outsiders. Hori san doesn't see them and I choose to ignore them.

"Sorry about Kyoske, he is a bit too much to handle sometimes, that's why mom asked you to stay to act as a buffer between them, to remove the unpleasantries" Hori san says.

"Don't worry. He is a fun guy" I say

"Seriously?!" she asks me surprised

"Well… he may be a bit overexcited sometimes, but he is a nice person" I say

"A nice person huh…" she says, repeating my words.

Did I cross a line I shouldn't have? I don't know what really happened between them, and I don't want to know, to be honest.

"Should we stop by the convivence store to buy some lunch?" she asks changing the topic

"Sure" I say. Glad to change the topic.

At school.

I run into the very person I didn't want to run into. Ishikawa kun. I told him on phone that I confessed to Hori san and she agreed, he was quite normal then, but he is definitely bound to have weird feelings about me now. I am an outsider after all.

"Yo" I say, hanging my head a bit low, trying desperately hard to avoid his eyes.

"What's with you today? Are you still upset thinking I am mad at you?" he asks me upright.

Ishikawa kun is always like that. Honest. Honest and forthright. With a very big heart.

"I am sorry" I say, confused about what to say.

"Come on man, I have told you a thousand times, its okay with me. Sure; I was a bit sad at first but its all water under the bridge now. You don't have to be weird around me. We are still friends, nothing changes that fact" he says, exasperated.

I look up at him, in his eyes, they were telling the truth. He meant it.

"Thanks" I say

"Come on now, show me your History homework, I didn't do mine" he says

"Just a minute" I say, bringing it out.

I am relieved. I don't know why, but Ishikawa kun and Yoshikawa san are important to me too. Sure they didn't know my secret, or know me like Hori san, but they were nice people, who took me in their fold, without any reason too. All is good for now, and my 'Normal' life is going on in full swing.

POV Ishikawa

To think I was the closest to her and I still let her get away. Damn it Zura.

No… I shouldn't be mad. It was her choice after all. I look at the boy standing before me, fumbling into his backpack for his homework. I see the nice innocent smile of his. He definitely had something about him, that I could never have. His smiles hid his scars. But they were still there, I don't think I could have borne the same pain. Does Hori know about it all? Is that why she too fell for him?

I don't know the answer to that question. There are still so many things I don't know about this guy.

But one thing I knew for certain, was that he would keep Hori happy.

After school

POV Katsura

"What are those for?" I ask Hori san as she hands me a plastic bag of two ice creams

"You are going home with Toru, right? Give him one from me. I just felt like buying some. Yuki and I had some too" she says

"Thanks" I say

I wait for Ishikawa kun at the gate. It would take him a bit long as it was his turn to dump the trash.

I pull out the orange flavoured ice cream and start eating it. May as well do something while waiting.

"Hey, man sorry for keeping you waiting" Ishikawa kun says approaching me.

"No problem, it hasn't been that long" I say

"Here have one, those are from Hori san" I say putting the bag forward

"Really, from Hori, then I must treasure them" he says, his eyes glittering

He takes the bag from me and pulls out his ice cream

"Its lemon, I am allergic to this flavour" he says disappointedly.

"Ah, I am sorry. I didn't know that. I swear, I would have taken that if I knew" I say. Flustered

"Man, what a waste. Now you have to eat both of them Zura" he sighs

"No way I can eat both…. I have an idea" I say, spotting the very person I wanted to see right now.

Ishikawa kun looks along my gaze and spots him too.

POV Sengoku

"Prez, you have to help us" two guys leap right in front of me.

I jump back slightly at the suddenness of it all. My heart almost leapt out of my mouth.

"Guys, you are gonna give me a heart attack someday" I groan.

I finally identify them. Its that new boy. What was his name again. Katsura right? I didn't like him one bit he was scary. And with him is Ishikawa from Kyo chan's class

"What do you need anyways?" I ask, my voice still an octave higher than normal.

They explain the entire problem to me. We sit on the bench under the tree.

"So, you need to dispose off the second ice cream and I am your garbage disposal" I say jokingly.

"No, way it's just that we don't know what to do with the second one, and you are the only person we can give it to" Katsura says.

"Okay I will take it" I say

We three all sit in silence, me and Katsura eating our ice creams, while Ishikawa stares gloomily at the ground. It looked a bit weird, not eating one.

"I am sorry for what happened the other day. I swear, I am not a person like that. Not always" Katsura says suddenly. His tone was apologetic.

I look into his eyes. He wasn't kidding, he really was sorry.

"Don't worry, Katsura kun, it was our fault anyways." I say. It was our fault. Well mostly Remi's but still we all were to be blamed.

Suddenly I didn't dislike him that much. Most people of our age, don't really bother with stuff like this, but the fact that he apologised to me, meant a great deal, he truly thought about his actions.

"You can call me Zura like the others you know, since we are friends" he says

I look at him astonished for a moment

"We are friends?..... right?...." he asks suddenly unsure whether he said the wrong thing.

"No, no of course not, but you have a nice name already, why do people call you Zura?" I ask

"Its something Hori san started, and it stuck. I like it now. Almost makes me feel like a new person" he says smiling.

"Zu…ra.." I try to say it out loud. It felt a bit weird, saying it out loud. Nicknames like this could only come from the 'Ice Queen' aka Kyo chan

"Hey, both of you, you are making this so weird, are you two dating or something, cant you both be casual for once" Ishikawa shouts, stunning the both of us.

"Man! Why do you two get ice creams, while I don't get anything" he groans.

"I will buy you one" Zura says

"I want one from Hori san too" Ishikawa says, like a child.

Zura and I look at him weirdly.

I knew he had a crush on her, but did it mean she rejected him.

"Ishikawa san, did Hori san reject you?" I ask him bluntly.

"Ouch, could you at least be a bit empathetic, I am in pain" Ishikawa says, rubbing his chest as if he was pierced by an arrow.

"Well; I think you dodged a bullet there." I say.

He looks at me, his eyes signalling to Zura, what did he mean? Oh…. Zura was dating her.

"I mean, I well…" I fumble not knowing what to say to him.

"Don't worry, I know what I am doing and so does she. I chose to give her my heart after all" Zura says dreamily.

We don't speak again for a few minutes, the conversation got awkward.

"Prez, your tongue looks so green" Zura points out suddenly.

"Ehh…" I say extending my tongue out

It was green.

"Probably from the lemon food colour" I say

"Yours is bright orange" I say pointing to Zura's tongue

"It it…" Zura says, examining his tongue

Ishikawa whips out his tongue too, almost as if he didn't want to be left out.

"Wow, your tongue is super long" Zura exclaims

"What really, I never noticed that" Ishikawa exclaims.

"Its really hot today right" I say.

"Yeah it is. But you sure got it nice with the AC in the student council room." Ishikawa says

"That is actually a benefit of this job" I smile

"There sure are a lot of girls on the student council" Ishikawa points out

"Sengoku's harem" I see both of them mutter

"Its nothing like that!" I shout

"Well you guys are always welcome in the council room, that's the least I can do, since Kyo chan is always helping me out" I say

"Wait really?" They both excitedly ask

"Yes…" I say a bit unsure, about the reason of their enthusiasm.

We all get up, our ice creams were finished, and the conversation was over. I bid the both of them a goodbye and wait for Remi, she was sure late today, but I promised her I would walk back home with her today. I don't know why, but I feel like suddenly my close circle of friends have increased from just Remi and Sakura.