A Mentor's Hand (文豪ストレイドッグス)

14

I gasp. I'm awake. In a moment, I'm on my knees, telling myself to not cry, because Mai is alive. Maybe if I can...

I gather my things: my knife, phone, medi pouch in case I'm injured, and my hat. I dash out of the house, ignoring Chuuya's surprised curse.

I run a couple blocks, then kneel down at the end of one because I forgot that I don't actually know where Mai is. Pulling out my phone, I call Daisuke.

"Mhmm?"

"Where are you?

"*sigh* on the train. She's a cab in front of me. Why?"

"Which train?"

"I don't know, but we are heading towards the port, like the one for oversea traveling."

"Expect me there soon"

"Ya ya"
Click.

Kiyo took the shortest route.

---

"Hey what are you doing?" Daisuke hissed. They were crouched in a dark corner. Kiyo had stood up.

"I'm going," she said "to talk to Mai."

A shadow passed behind Daisuke's eyes. "Kiyo-san, I don't think you're in the right frame of mind."

"That doesn't matter now, Nau-kun," she said in a low voice. Daisuke flinched - they never use last names. With that said, she fled.

There was barely anyone present at the port, just a brown haired civilian in a lighter brown coat.

Mai was looking out at the sea, her white hair flowing with the breeze. She turned as Kiyo approached.

"I've been waiting for you, Kiyo."

Now, the sun is bright. Kiyo hadn't realized it, but the day had been cloudy until now.

The rays rest like Gods on her hair. Kiyo can't help it. For the first time in... forever, she cries.

She can't believe that Mai is alive. She can't believe that she had been brainwashed to forget about it. At that moment, the question of Kiyo's existence is shoved aside as she gazes at her first, and only, friend.

Just like in a magical book, Mai comes up to hug her. They look at eachother.

Kiyo's alarms triggered. Mai's eyes are dead. There is nothing of the same joy she knew in them.

It's as if Kiyo is watching from a distance. Her consciousness surrounds them both.

She brings her hand up to touch Mai's face, as if to make sure she is real. Mai smiles, like how could I not be real?

Mai brings her own hand up, but it goes so wrong. Like a flash of lightning, she shoves her hand, her bare hand, into Kiyo. The world turns white.

. . .

Thick blood pours out of Kiyo. Her mind is temporarily blank until pain jolts her into the present. She hears herself screaming, bending over and clutching her own body.

Mai kicks her, making Kiyo fly backwards. She had been sure that Mai didn't have an ability. In her dream, she saw herself steal Mai's ability, which had resulted in her supposed death.

Kiyo leans backwards, looking at the still blue sky. Her eyes are clouded in tears and her mind can only think of its own instincts to survive.

"KIYO!" Daisuke shrieks, running to catch up to her at full speed. The man in lots of brown ran to her as well.

"Kiyo!" Daisuke exclaims, covering her so that Mai wouldn't be able to attack again. He reaches into her medical pouch, pulling out a roll of bandages, and hastily wraps them around her.

The man in brown meets them. "Sorry sir," Daisuke says awkwardly. "This is private business."

"Private business my foot," he states, leaning down to correct Kiyo's bandages. She shies away, but then sees that he is also covered head to toe in them. "Who are you?" She mutters, unwillingly obliging to his care.

"Osamu Dazai."

Kiyo stops for a moment. The name had a familiar ring to it. Surely somewhere...

"An executive?" Daisuke says, bewildered. Dazai winces, and tightens Kiyo bandages all the more harder. She grits her teeth, and grabs his coat to stand up.

Daisuke and Dazai talk back and forth, they're words are lost to Kiyo. She's looking over them, at Mai, who has still yet to move.

Kiyo stares right into those dead eyes, intruder being her only thought. Someone had stolen Mai.

Chuuya's red glow of his ability surrounds her. She had been storing it for two weeks.

Kiyo looks down at Dazai for a moment, who is staring at her himself, doing who knows what. She stares hard at him, and sees his nullifying ability. Not useful in this battle.

Careful not to touch him, she moves past and advances to Mai. She hears Dazai shout, only to be shushed by Daisuke. If Kiyo could think, she would have thought about thanking him. But she could not; her only thought was to destroy what had stolen Mai. To kill what had killed her.

The ground started to crack under Kiyo as she warms up to Chuuya's ability. She's fully facing Mai now, who is slowly walking up to her.

They meet eachother, and move so close that their nose's are almost touching. Mai tilts her head to the side. She is no longer smiling; all emotion has been evaporated. Kiyo fears that Mai is so dead to the world, that she doesn't feel at all.

"You said we were gonna play together, Kiyo."

Had she? The memory was fuzzy, but perhaps...

"Well we can play now."

To be continued...