Searching For You

Chapter 11: Who Needs Love

Yoku walked away from Kounoa's house. He turned the corner of a building as he pondered in his thoughts. The opossum slowed down after about a minute.

Someone's following me. He sniffed the air. It's Bou.

He turned around to see the shark woman strolling towards him. He rolled his eyes and headed over to her. "What the hell do you want?"

Bou's cocky look fell into a serious one. "Don't get too attached to Kounoa."

He turned around and growled. "We're literally her bodyguards! We must have some type of connect with her!" Yoku uttered.

Bou shook her head. "You just want to be in a relationship with her."

Yoku whipped himself around and faced Bou again. "You know nothing! Leave me alone and go patrol a fast food place or something!" He snapped.

"I know everything about this. Especially with the Raiser problem. We shouldn't focus on stuff like love. It's the same for caring about those close to you. We'll be in a lot more pain if they get hurt or killed." Bou explained.

Yoku turned around and walked off. "I'll just make sure no one else dies like Kounoa told us to!" He paused at the entrance of an alley. "You should do the same as well!" The opossum disappeared.

The shark woman shook her head before pulling a donut out of her cleavage and eating it in one sweet bite. She regained her everyday smirk on her face. "Guess I'll go help Suguru."

Bou walked off in another direction.

*

Kounoa woke up to an endless amount of pain. She opened her eyes to face the demon.

No... Not again. Please. She tried moving her head, but then realized something restrained her. What? The demon lifted its hand and showed a sharp claw covered in the red aura.

Kounoa attempted to speak, but she couldn't. Leave me alone! Don't touch me, you freak!

The demon struck its claw into Kounoa's stomach. Blood spilled out of her maw before she screamed in agony. She wanted it to end, but the demon didn't. It drug its claw upward and tore through her stomach and chest. Kounoa let out another bloody scream. Am I going to die here? Is this where my life ends?

The pain abruptly stopped. Kounoa stared the demon down as it looked puzzled. Heartbeats passed before it faded into the darkness, and the world around Kounoa turned into a pink clouded land with rose skies.

She looked at her body. Wait. The wound from that demon disappeared, and so did all the blood! I feel so relaxed now!

Kounoa smiled and cuddled against the pink clouds. She closed her eyes. Time passed before she woke up in her room again. Greeted by the face of Taida, who had her rabbit paws on her head. "T-Taida?"

The rabbit woman pulled her paws away from Kounoa. "Oh. I didn't notice you waking up."

"What were you doing?" Kounoa questioned.

"Soothing your mind. It looked like you were having a nightmare. I've been soothing my mind, but the pain from the loss of those in the hospital won't go away..." Taida's voice shook. Tears welled in her eyes.

Kounoa pulled Taida into a hug. "Hey, hey... It'll be all right. They're all in a better place now. We're gonna avenge them by taking down Raiser, right?"

Taida nodded and tightened the hug with Kounoa. "I want nothing more than to take down Raiser. We'll stop them no matter what."

Kounoa pulled out of the hug and wiped Taida's tears away. "That's right! They'll pay for what they did!"

"I really needed that hug. Thank you, Kounoa." The rabbit woman smiled.

Kounoa smiled back. "It's no problem! Let me make us some breakfast before I have to go to work!"

Taida nodded. "All right. Sounds good to me."

*

Kiiroibara made it back to Ignite University. "Ugh... Finally. I hate carrying this backpack. I feel like everyone else has a lighter one, but I don't?! Unbelievable!"

She strolled down the halls. "Good thing I made it back in time for my fashion design class..."

"Why are you so scrawny?"

Kiiroibara whipped her head over to three peacock ladies harassing a short dog man. He looks like he can't defend himself. The tanuki woman grimaced while she watched.

One peacock pushed him into the locker and punched him in the snout. The other two punched him as well. Kiiroibara dropped her backpack and headed over to them. "Hey. I suggest you stop attacking that poor dog. You'll all regret it."

The ladies didn't listen to Kiiroibara and kept their antics up.

I'm already late for class. This just pisses me off. Kiiroibara focused on all of them. She dashed at them at high speeds and jumped in the air. The tanuki punted one on the side of her head and knocked her to the side, then did the same to the other two and landed on her feet in front of the dog.

The vibrant birds got up and charged at Kiiroibara. Kiiroibara grabbed the dog and moved him out of the way. She turned and ran at the peacocks, evading all of their punches.

Kiiroibara barraged them in the stomachs with swift kicks. "You girls ain't shit!"

They got knocked back and got back up and ran at her again.

Are they doing this because of that Raiser person? That's a shame. This is too easy for-

One peacock grabbed her and threw her into the wall. The dog gained a worried look on his face. Kiiroibara groaned and rolled her eyes as she collected herself together. Right. I have to focus. Kiiroibara sprung herself off the wall towards the peacock ladies and fixated her eyes on them.

The peacocks got ready to fight, but Kiiroibara doubled her speed and knocked them all out with violent kicks to their heads. The scrawny dog watched in amazement as the ladies fell to the floor.

The tanuki walked over to the dog and held out her hand. He took it and she pulled him up. "Th-Thank you! Thank you so much! You saved my life!"

Kiiroibara walked over to her backpack and put it on. "Stay out of trouble and stay away from weirdos. Also, go to the principal."

The dog looked confused, but he nodded. "Okay..."

The tanuki walked off. Ugh... I missed most of my fashion design class! I hate that the others can end fights quicker than I can!