Distracting the Storm

XII - Please Be Careful

Although it was a weekend, there were still some students who chose to roam the inside of Hope's Peak Academy. Some of them wanted to get extra lessons, but others had simply forgotten something in their classroom and went back for it.

Yoruko belonged to the latter category, with one of her workbooks being left on a ledge while she tried to help Setsuka in class. She wasn't in a mood to go to class, she was already in the middle of something important by the time she realized her workbook was missing.

"What a pain, I shouldn't be so careless," the hostess scolded herself with a sigh. She turned a corner and went up a flight of stairs. "I was researching potential careers after my graduation too..."

Another corner later, she finally arrived at her classroom. She slid the door open, but looking inside surprised her. What she saw was Kokoro inside the classroom, sleeping at her desk. Yoruko quietly entered and closed the door behind her as to not wake her up.

After looking around briefly, Yoruko spotted her workbook near Setsuka's desk. She quietly sighed in relief as she picked it up again, thankful that it hadn't been moved. But as she made her way back towards the door, she looked over at Kokoro and hesitated.

After a brief moment of quietly cooing over how cute she looked while sleeping, Yoruko decided that it would be better to take her back to her dorm to properly sleep. Walking back over to the sleeping psychologist, Yoruko picked her up and resumed her trip out of the classroom.

"Emma probably has access to her room, I'll just ask her to unlock the door for me," the hostess muttered to herself, looking down at Kokoro in her arms. "She's so light, even someone like me can pick her up..."

As she walked down the stairs and headed for the exit, the silence was eating away at her. "Hey, Kokoro. You probably aren't awake to hear this, but what do you think I should do after graduation? I've been thinking about it."

Yoruko looked around to make sure no one else was listening, but continued to keep her voice low. "I know I can't hold onto a hostess job forever, especially not with my- Ah, our 'other job', but even so..."

"Am I even going to be able to survive until graduation? Fighting gets harder while I'm growing older, but I still want to protect others from witches, even if I'm not human anymore. I got what I wanted at the time when I made my wish, but it fell apart over time..." Yoruko sighed, leaving the school building. 

"...Should I try to escape this job? Trick someone into restoring my humanity with a wish? It would be easy, and I'd be able to secure my future," the hostess muttered, but didn't linger on that train of thought for long. "No, I can't. Forcing someone to take my place is unforgivable. How would I even be able to forgive myself if I did that...?"

Yoruko sighed and entered the residence building, walking over to the elevator. She'd had enough of climbing stairs. "Maybe I'll discuss this with you when you're awake. I should go find Emma and ask her to unlock your dorm."

***

The bell rang, and Yuki immediately put her books into her schoolbag. Slinging it over her shoulder, she began walking out of the classroom. Shinji wanted to jog around the school again, so it was better to meet up with her as soon as possible.

But when she was about to walk through the classroom door, she felt a tap on her shoulder. Yuki turned around and ended up face-to-face with Tsurugi. "Yuki, can we talk somewhere private for a minute? I promise it won't take too long," she requested.

"Oh, um, sure! Where do you want to go?" Yuki asked. A pit of worry started to form in her stomach, as much as she wanted to ignore it.

"Just follow me," Tsurugi replied, and she began walking ahead of the lucky student. Yuki nervously began following the police officer, who led her to a small closet in the hallway.