REVENGE「GOJO SATORU X OC」

TEN

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Chapter Ten: This Is Unfair.

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"AKI, if I tell you to get up again—"

"Yui, leave her alone. I worked with her late last night. She needs the rest,"

The girl cracked her eyes open. She shifted her arm away from her eyes, her gaze falling on the doorway. She saw her father standing in front of her door, his hand grasping the knob as he pulled it shut quietly. She sat up in her sheets.

"How many times did I tell you to stop doing that?" She heard her mother's muffled voice through the door. "I don't want my daughter to be like this!"

"She wants to do this—Yui! Yui, where are you going?"

She let her body slide forward back into her sheets. She exhaled heavily, face-down to her pillow. She wasn't shocked when she glanced at her alarm clock. It was seven in the morning. Her mother has probably been up since five. But Aki hadn't even crawled into her bed until almost three. She was exhausted from training last night.

She didn't understand why her mother was like this. However, she was used to it at this point. Since she began to train to be like her father and her uncles, her mother has been cracking down on her a lot. Even though she kept passing grades in school, it was never good enough. 'Demon hunting was bringing her down academically'.

Bullshit.

"Aki, why are you up? You should be getting some more sleep,"

Her father returned from outside, slightly surprised to see his daughter standing there. He heard the water running from the sink and the clinking of plates and glasses. Water rolled down her arm as she placed a glass off to the side to dry.

"It'll be fine," She muttered. "I'd rather save another argument with Mom."

His shoulders rose and fell with a sigh. He waited for her to finish the dishes before telling her to get dressed and get her shoes. When she did, she followed him out of the front door. Their car was gone, making her assume her mother had taken it for a drive to cool herself off.

She slipped her hands into her pockets as she walked beside her father, the both of them commuting into the city. She inched closer to him as they hit the morning traffic, weaving through people as they headed for the diner on the corner.

"Where'd Mom run off to this time?" The girl muttered, picking at the scrambled eggs on her plate.

"Aki," He sighed, placing his cup of coffee down. "Mom...isn't coming back."

She stopped. She looked up at her father, her eyes widening. "What do you mean, 'she isn't coming back'?"

"She got fed up with me," He said, his voice beginning to waiver. Aki dropped her fork onto the plate with a clatter. "She already had a bag packed."

"She planned to leave?" The girl asked, her eyebrows lacing together. "She planned to leave! She planned this!? Because of me?!"

Her father reached across the table and grabbed her hands, hushing her so as to not disturb the rest of the restaurant. He rubbed his thumbs over her knuckles. "This wasn't because of you, Aki. Your mother...she just...doesn't understand people like us."

"This is unfair," Aki whispered, her hands balling into fists. "Does she want everyone to die?"

"Aki," He said softly. "It's alright. We'll adjust without her...okay?"

The girl gritted her teeth. "I hope she never comes back."

"American breakfast is so weird," Gojo muttered, picking the sticky menu off the table. "What the hell is on this?"

"Syrup if you're lucky," Aki replied, tucking her arms under her as she leaned on the table. "And I don't know what you're talking about. This is the American Dream. Baltimore's finest."

Gojo simply shook his head. She smirked and gave a small chuckle. She turned her gaze to the window, watching the people pass by. It was easy to pick out the locals and the tourists.

"Did you even sleep last night?" Gojo asked, making her turn her attention back to him. "You have major dark circles."

"I don't sleep in places I'm not familiar with," She said. "Besides, I was too busy snooping through your house."

"Hey, did you happen to find a set of keys on a green lanyard?"

"Bottom drawer in the office," She replied, thanking the waitress as she filled her cup with more coffee.

"How do you drink that straight black?" He asked. "It's too bitter."

She shrugged. "I've always drank it this way. I used to drink my Dad's coffee when he wasn't around, and this is how he drunk it."

"Is that a flask?" Gojo asked, quirking a brow over his glasses at her. He watched as she tipped some of the amber liquid in.

"I need a little bit of the kick," She muttered. "Shut up, Gojo."

"And you claim not to be an alcoholic," He muttered back. She rolled her eyes.

"Once we finish here," She said. "We'll head to the storage locker. I can't promise how long we'll be in there. There's too much shit in there for us to be in and out. The police took everything, including the furniture, from our house and put it in there."

"So we need to do a bit of digging," He shrugged. "No biggie. But do you think we'll find anything?"

"Couldn't tell you," She scratched her cheek. "Dad was a compulsive guy. But he was an organized compulsive guy. He was also careful, so if there is something in there, it won't be something in plain sight. Knowing him, he made it some kind of puzzle, or riddle, or some fucking wild goose chase. But, he would do it for the safety of the sanctuary."

"What happens to someone who tries to get into the sanctuary that isn't a demon hunter?" Gojo asked.

"Well," Aki replied. "To put it in simple terms: they die. The guardians will kill anyone who tries to get inside. They get two warnings. Two strikes. Third strike and you're fucked."

"Sounds fair enough," He shrugged. 

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