Purotekuta

CHAPTER TWENTY

Akio turns around and faces the edge once more, not wanting to look at my face. I didn't think he would push me away like that. I thought he would take a step backward, away from the edge, but he takes a step forward instead. There isn't any room left for another step, so he doesn't take it. Instead, he turns around to face me and smiles sadly. There's something off about the look on his face, but I can't place it before I realize it. The realization of what he's about to do comes too late as I hear eight words whispered into my head. Let's see if you were telling the truth. If he falls from this height, he will be left with permanent injuries at best. Akio closes his eyes and spreads his arms wide as he leans back, and falls. The whole world seems to move in slow motion as I rush forward, beating my wings as hard as they will allow, using everything I have at my disposal to go as fast as I can.
          "Please, Akio! Don't die!" I am diving after him, but I can't seem to catch up to him. I close my eyes and activate everything at once. Wolf hearing, strength, speed, smell, sight, fire, my wings, everything. I am hit with a burst of speed and embrace Akio just before we hit the ground. I quickly turn around so my back is facing the ground, Akio on top of me, and I slam into the ground. The whole gym goes quiet as I lay there, clutching Akio in my arms, dust surrounding us from the impact I made on the ground. My whole body is on fire, and all my senses are enhanced. I can hear the ants crawling on the ground - smell my classmates running closer - but I don't feel any pain. Blue fire is surrounding me, but it doesn't burn myself nor Akio. My wings are showing, covering Akio as everything around us smokes and burns. I can hear Mr. Kaze yelling at the other students not to worry as he sprints toward us. I open my eyes and look up at where I was just a few seconds ago. I left behind a line of charred rock where we were falling, and once the smoke clears I see that Akio and I were lying in the middle of a dent in the floor of the gym. I release all of my powers and relax my body, but I never let go of Akio; scared that if I let him go he'll try to leave me again. He didn't have to do that, he could have just told me how he's been feeling. I get rid of the fire surrounding Akio and me, but my wings refuse to become invisible again. Mr. Kaze quickly places his hands on both me and Akio and teleports us out of the gym and to the nurse. This teleportation was no different from the last one. There is darkness for a split second, everything spinning, and then we're in a different place. When we appear in the nurse's office, Mr. Kaze is carrying us, not daring to remove Akio from my embrace, setting us down on the nearest empty bed. He rushes away and back in a split second, coming back with the nurse. She takes a look at me, but she can't see Akio's condition, so she goes to move my wings off of him. As soon as she moves to touch him I growl low in my throat, like my father, and she takes a step back. She turns to face Mr. Kaze and smiles.
          "Don't worry about them, Kazakhstan. They will make a full recovery!" Kazakhstan? That's his real name?" Mr. Kaze looks uneasy, but nods and teleports away, leaving us with the nurse. I sit up on the bed, leaning my back against the headboard and clutching Akio tightly with my arms, covering him with my wings. I hope nobody saw my wings, I don't need everyone knowing who I am right now. The nurse takes a few steps toward the bed and I growl at her again, not trusting her with myself, nor Akio. I retreat farther away from her on the bed, almost about to fall off the edge. My grip on Akio never loosens as he lay unconscious in my arms.
          "Stay away from us." My words have a lisp to them as I try my best to speak through the mouthful of fangs that are growing in my mouth due to the situation. The nurse smiles and sits at the end of the bed.
          "Don't worry, Hajime. I'm not going to hurt you, or Akio." My eyes widen, and I clutch him tighter, scared that if I let him go he will disappear and I will never see him again. "Hajime, I need you to show me Akio. I need to see the condition he's in or I can't help him." If she wants to see Akio, fine. I try my best to calm myself down and get rid of the fangs forming in my mouth, but it's a futile attempt.
          "If you want to see him, you'll need to see him through my wings. If I can't make them invisible, that's your problem, not mine." She nods and stands up from the bed. I close my eyes and relax my body. I imagine my wings disappearing, shooting power into them, slowly making my wings more and more transparent. It's taking longer than usual, but that's probably because I used up a lot of power when saving Akio. I open my eyes, my wings nearly invisible, but it's enough for the nurse to see his condition. She leans over us, looking straight through my wings and to Akio. Her eyes widen at what she sees, making me tense up again at what I might see. I look down but see nothing wrong. Realization comes only a second late as I realize that is exactly what's so surprising; he doesn't have a single scratch on him from the fall!
          "Well, Hajime. You do care about him, don't you? It's amazing how you two fell from that height and have no injuries that will even scar, you know?" My eyes widen, and I relax; the fangs that were once in my mouth retract, and my wings turn invisible once more. I unwrap my wings from around Akio and stand up off the bed. I stand there holding his shoulders with my left arm, and hooking my other arm under his knees. I turn to look at the nurse, and she smiles at me.
          "Are we free to go, ma'am?" She nods, and I turn around to walk out of the door. I hear the nurse's voice call out to me from behind, and I turn around slightly to look at her.
          "You can't see it, but there are more injuries on Akio than you think. His affinity hasn't been exercised in years, so almost all his strength is gone. He will need at least 24 hours of rest before he will fully recover." I nod, and walk out of the doors to the nurse's office, making a beeline for the dorms.