February 15. Fourteen and a half years old. Japan.

‘Quickly, Tahro. We don’t have much time,’ Yuuhei said, as he tugged my sleeve and pulled me into the bathroom. The glistening marble floor and a wide mirror by the sink glinted off light to every corner of the restroom. A scent of lavender permeated the area.

He'd been stalking the place till everyone had left, and now the two of us stood alone beside the stalls. Yuuhei glanced back at the door, but no footsteps came from the corridor behind it. He brushed his bangs away and sighed.

I frowned. He'd been jerky the whole morning but wouldn't tell me what was wrong. As soon as lunch break had begun, he'd rushed me in here.

After a few more nervous looks at the door, he lugged out a phone from his shirt pocket.

My eyes widened. Using a phone in school was a surefire way to get detention. That sort of thing showed up in school records when applying to highschools. His future could be ruined.

‘What're you doing?’ I asked. My eyes darted back and forth between Yuuhei and the door. Gosh, if someone came in right now, he's done for.

He made a few swipes, typed something in and handed the device to me. ‘Here, you can read the new chapter now.’

I stared at him. He'd spent the whole day anxious, jumping whenever anyone had come too close, evading my questions, all for something I hadn’t even asked for? Of all the reckless things to do, he did this for me? Something warm, this time the kind that made me feel fuzzy inside, grew inside me. I owed him more than I could say.

I took the phone. ‘Thanks…but what if we got caught?’ Though I knew the answer already. Both of us wouldn’t be able to get into the schools we wanted. My mum might disown me if that happened.

He grinned, shark tooth poking out despite the tension around his eyes. ‘That's what bathroom stalls are for.’

I shook my head and stepped into one. This better be worth it. As I closed the door, a stall beside mine clicked shut too. It would be suspicious if Yuuhei just loitered around the bathroom instead.

My heart beat in a frenzy. The cramped space closed in on me, making me breath faster. I'd never thought this day would come so early. I could read again.

A drip drip of the faucet outside timed every second as I opened the first chapter I'd missed. I didn't have too long, perhaps fifteen minutes at best before we would be missed. Yuuhei was quite the socialite, and as good a liar as I was.

I flicked through the first two chapters, taking everything in like a drowning man gasping for air. Squad eleven got a replacement who wasn't me, but in the end, everything was much like what had really happened, with Ahio safe up in the trees and Kaede facing off the kidnapper.

I swiped to the next page, thumbs shaking. Though Yuuhei'd already told me what to expect, I couldn't shake off the hope that it would be different. The special squad jumped in and hacked off the kidnapper’s limb when he swung his axe at Kaede. I held in my breath and swiped to the next again.

Sure enough, the black haired man appeared, out of thin air like before. Whether it was the exhaustion, or a simple lack of reflexes, this time no one jumped in between Kaede and the man. This time, both of them vanished.

The door outside clicked open and a few students stepped in the bathroom. Thoughts swimming with paranoia, I positioned my feet as though I was sitting. What if they notice something is off? But they bantered and laughed, as they did their business and left. Phew.

With another gesture, I opened today's chapter. Please tell me saving her wasn't the wrong thing to do. Please tell me I didn't screw things up.

From within a dim-lit room, a woman stared out of a lone window. On her lap was a sword as tall as a full grown man. Gaze never leaving the landscape outside, she pulled a whetstone along her blade. Her dark hair formed a curtain around her form, pooling on the mattress she sat on. Hills and trees crowded beyond her abode, and a faint pitter patter of rain slapped the ground. But her brows remained knotted, as if she couldn't find whatever it was she was looking for.

Her sword made one more screech as she sharpened it, when two figures appeared on a hillock not too far away. One was a man with hair as dark as night and the other a girl frozen in fear. His hands held her in an iron grip as he pocketed what looked like a ring.

My eyes widened and my heart hammered into my chest. Kaede.

The woman's eyes, the shade of darkest ink, focused now on her sword. A crinkle formed around her mouth. For several more minutes, she sharpened the blade, her arms moving over it as if she'd done it countless times. As the shadows grew longer, her crinkles deepened.

Someone knocked on the door.

‘Come in,’ she said.

The door creaked open and outside stood a woman perhaps in her late twenties. She was short but plump, with a curly mass of hair. Her dress was long enough to sweep the ground, though her height was responsible for that as well. Her eyes, wide and still childlike, held in it a grimace. ‘Saeru is here. He has the girl.’

‘I know. And the stone?’ asked the other woman, her eyes narrowed.

Brushing her curly tresses out of her face, she sighed. ‘I'm sorry, Shuurai. It's a fire stone again.’

Shuurai placed the whetstone away and sheathed her sword. She stalked over to a wooden cabinet by her bed. Upon unlocking it, she lugged it open and counted something inside.

‘Eleven,’ she said. ‘Enough to find another child.’

From inside, she pulled out a ring, silver, with ancient letters engraved in a spiral.