Chapter 9: Everything is going to be alright

POV Katsura

"Hey, man you alright?" Ishikawa asks me, concern in his voice.

"Yes… why do you I ask" I wheeze back. I was anything but fine. My stomach hurt like hell; my body felt stiff. I shouldn't have come to school today.

"You sure? You got bags under your eyes, and you look so pale" Ishikawa stares at me hard.

"Oh, I just watched a horror movie yesterday and I couldn't sleep after that" I say.

"Hori made you do that?" Ishikawa teases me

"Yeah, she kinda lent me the DVD and told me to watch it" I say. It was actually the truth. I just hadn't watched the thing yet. It looked super scary.

"Man, she sure can act very different from most girls" Ishikawa says

"She sure can" I repeat back

Hori san enters the class. I quickly turn away, trying to avoid her gaze. If Ishikawa sensed something wrong, she would too.

"Morning Zura" I hear her call out.

I jump a little with surprise as she spotted me almost instantly.

"Morning." I say, my voice an octave higher than natural.

"Man, you look tired today" she says looking at me.

"Its all your fault Hori you made the poor fellow watch those scary films you like" Ishikawa points it out

"Huh, Zura, you didn't like it?" She says surprised.

"I mean… I…." I stutter

Yoshikawa san enters the classroom

"Hey guys" she calls at us. Nice save Yoshikawa san. I owe you one

The others get busy talking. I cant pay any attention. I just pretend to listen.

POV Hori san

"Zura, you coming?" I ask

 Yuki and Toru would be waiting for us.

"Just a minute" he says, as he fumbles around his bag for something, he finally brings it out.

A small cylindrical container, more specifically a pill container. He takes out a singular pill and gulps it down in an instant. He takes a look at the bottle and groans "Man! I am out already!"

"What are those?" I ask, concerned

 "Are you dying ?! Please don't tell me that now, I have watched my fair share of tragic anime to know what a death flag is like" I burst out

 I suddenly feel scared, why did I feel this way. I have known him for only a few days, but in this short time, he has become an important part of my life.

Zura lets out a big laugh or at least he tries to, but he almost shuts up in pain. Thinking about it, since morning, he looks more tired than usual, did something happen to his injuries.

"Aha..Aha.." his laughter soon turns into a burst of coughing.

"Are you alright?" I feel concern rising in my voice as I grab his shoulder trying to support him.

He stops after a moment and looks at me, straight in the eyes. His eyes were tired, but I see a glint of amusement in them now. Was he happy? I see his lips curled in a smile

"It's not a joke I am really worried" I say, blushing, I grab the edges of my skirt and put my face down.

 "Hori san, I am not dying, it's just normal medicine for my wounds, look, I am sorry if I made you worry" he says.

 "It's just that, I never had anyone worry about me like that… I…" he trails off, I look at him, his eyes do that thing again. They look distant, into his mysterious past, he shakes it off and looks into my eyes, he gives me the same poignant smile.

 "Thank you, Hori san, I am lucky to have someone like you" he says.

His compliments weren't empty words. He meant it, all of it. I could see it in his eyes. Why does this make me happy? I don't understand him, or his pain, but how do I still make him happy?

Suddenly, I feel a bout of embarrassment sweep over me. Dummy. Who says such cheesy things in High school. Dummy dummy dummy..., he is a dummy.

 "Shut up, how do you always manage to stay so intense?! Dummy. Let's go, we shouldn't keep Toru and Yuki wait" I say, suddenly I feel so flustered

Where the hell did he come from, to be able to be thankful for such negligible acts everyone does. I can't even begin to imagine the pain he must have felt in his life, but I feel happy, happy to lighten his mood.

I pick him by his arm, and drag him away. "I will have to go to the hospital though" he says as an afterthought. "These medicines are pretty rare; I can only get them custom ordered at the hospital.

"So, you wont be coming today then….." I ask, suddenly feeling down all of a sudden

"No, I guess not" he says, it could be my mistake, but was that disappointment in his voice?

POV Katsura

After school I walk to the hospital, after a long time, I don't go to the Hori household after school.

I walk back to a part of the world I never hoped to return to. The doctor, Aizawa san knew about me. He was from our world. I didn't want to have anything to do with any one of them ever again in my life. Yet here I was.

I get my prescription ready as I stand in line in front of the que in the medicine store, my prescription has a special stamp from Aizawa for approval.

 "Katsura kun, is that you?" I almost jump out of my skin in fright.

I know that voice. She was the last person I hoped to run into, I turn back almost scared to do so and come face to face with Hori sans mother.

"Ah, Yoriko san, nice running into you here" I manage to squeak out.

"What are you standing in line for? You should have just come to my office, or you could have left me a note, I would have just bought what you needed" she says nicely

"Come on, now, come with me, give me the prescription, I will fetch these for you" she says firmly, grabbing my hand and pulling me out of the line. I could feel the jealous stares of the others in line. Hey don't stare at me like that, I would happily swap my place with you guys if I could.

"I.. I don't want to trouble you.." I say meekly, trying to put the prescription away, one look and she would get suspicious, those medicines are not for normal diseases.

She is far too quick and grabs the prescription from my hand, she reads it. I saw her narrow eyes widen with shock for a moment, her face looked so much like Hori san, I couldn't even believe.

"Come on now Katsura kun, go to my office, it's on the second floor, the first room next to the elevator. Wait there till I fetch your stuff" she said.

 She masked her feelings well. Others would have asked follow up questions immediately. The cat was out of the bag, I just nod my head guiltily, and go to her room.

After 5 minutes she comes in and hands me my package. In those minutes, I planned an answer, truth was the only way forward. "Katsura kun, I won't lie to you but I saw your reports, in Aizawa sensei's room" she said in a matter-of-fact way, her voice showed no emotion, it was as if she waited for me to explain. Like a mother waiting for the child to explain an unexpected behaviour.

I take in a deep breath... Here I go.

I blurt out everything, from the beginning of my life to the details of my torture, the nature of my injuries and finally my meeting with Hori san. I go up to the points of yesterday night and then I end the story and go silent. I know what she is going to say. I knew that for a long time now. The game of house I played needed to come to an end. I look at her face and see no emotion.

I bow my head politely and say "Sorry for all the trouble I caused. I will leave your family alone; you will never hear from me again" I say as I walk to the door.

"So…. You took those guys down, in your current condition, attended school today and even walked to the hospital to collect your medicine. What should I do with you?! In times like these, you should talk to an adult. You could have just told me this before, You need to rest…." She blurts out. Scolding me.

I turn back in surprise. Sure… I expected her to curse me for even thinking about mingling with her family, but this response was something I couldn't have imagined in a million years. "

I am shocked. I am stunned, for the first time in my life, I don't know what to say. Harry Freeman doesn't know what to say. I just stare at her with amazement in her eyes.

"You are a part of the family now, you should talk to me about things like this." She continues.

 "I am truly grateful for putting your life on the line for my family" she says. Finally stopping.

"I….but…..don't you hate me?" I ask

"Hate you? Why should such a thought ever cross your mind. What sort of a monster do you think I am?" she asks, clearly hurt

"But I am a killer…" I trail off

"It's not your fault, if anyone is to be blamed, it's the people who did this to you. Why are you beating yourself up over this" she says

I don't know what to say. All my life I have been told that I was a protector of the "Normal", not "Normal" myself. Normal people would run at the sight of a monster like me.

"But…but…I…" I am cut short, as she does something entirely unexpected. She hugs me tight.

I don't know why, but I am paralyzed. I have never been hugged in my life before, so shock probably had some contribution to it. I don't know what to say. I could feel tears swelling in my eyes, but I don't cry.

"Everything's going to be alright now" she assures me.

I never had a mother before, but I felt if I had, she would be doing the same thing.

I don't perceive how long our meeting lasts, but it felt too short. I go up to Aizawa's room to get checked.

"You showed her the reports deliberately ?" I ask him. I was not angry, just curious.

"Yes. So what if I did?" he replies. Curtly

"Why?" I ask

"I didn't want her family to be interacting with you, without knowing what you truly are" he replies with an air of nonchalance.

That's fair. He did something I never had the courage to do. A part of me felt relieved that the truth was out, now I only needed to tell this to Hori san.

He gives me a check up and writes some new meds. We don't talk again. I don't feel like talking

As I am on my way back, my heart felt considerably lighter, my body was still hurting but somehow weirdly enough I was glad things turned out the way they did. I didn't need to be "NORMAL". I just need to try my best.