Honoured and the Damned

Chapter 9: Parasite

WARNING: DO NOT EAT WHILE READING THIS CHAPTER
TAKE HEED OF THE CHAPTER TITLE

Notes:

Please, PLEASE be warned.
If you are eating something then either stop eating or don't read this chapter.
MENTIONS OF MAGGOTS
and eating it.

I'm suddenly wondering what is considered to be GORE.

"You are LATE!" Aiko shivered when she finally arrived at the café. Satoru moved aside and sent her directly to the pit of fire known as their classmates, who were busy glaring daggers into her form. Shoko crossed her arms and looked at her from top to bottom as if trying to find a reason why she was late, aka, if she was stuck having to exorcise any curse because Satoru was petty like that sometimes. Satoru being the resident troublemaker shifted so that she covered his body from the glares.

"I plead not guilty," She said while keeping their bags on the table. Satoru made a fuss about sitting but she kicked the back of his knee and shoved him inside the small cubicle before taking a seat beside him. "In any case, it was not my fault. Satoru found some stuff that he liked so..." She shrugged in a typical 'what can this poor lady do?' way. She hid her smirk behind the menu when the collective stares of her classmates moved from her form to Satoru who cowered for a second before puffing up like a fish.

Aiko could bet half her fortune that he was thinking along the lines of "I'm the strongest! It's never my fault".

She rolled her eyes when realized that she could even hear his voice inside her head. Suguru shook his head at them all and told her to pick what she wanted off of the menu as they had already ordered. As she looked, however, a shiver threatened to force itself up. The feeling was extremely familiar to her. Her heartbeat picked up, and her breathing slowed down. She masked her face with a small smile and looked towards Shoko who was directly in front of her while she surveyed from the corner of her eyes.

Another shiver wracked up her frame as soon as she pretended to tie her shoelace. She was going to use that move to turn behind them and find just who was watching them— or more specifically her when Satoru asked her if she wanted something more from the menu. She raised herself up and shook her head at him.

"I think I forgot to buy something... do you guys want to stay here while I go and buy it back?" She stood up from her and wanted to use this opportunity to take care of whoever was watching them and get the book that she couldn't buy because of Satoru earlier. Two birds with one stone.

To her disappointment though, Shoko immediately held her hands while Satoru stuck to her side like a leech. Babbling about how they could all go together because she could be late again and since she was paying she should be there with them. After thinking about it for not more than a second, she took a discreet sweep of the whole café from the corner of her eyes and sat down after dusting her skirt.

"You are all becoming increasingly difficult every passing day." She snorted when Satoru huffed in reply. Suguru chuckled lightly, picking up his coffee while Shoko shook her head and said, "You must be talking about these two here, because how am I becoming difficult when I don't even go with to exorcise curses all that much? You three on the other hand are almost always on the move."

Aiko hoped that she did not flinch too noticeably in response, schooling her face into a small smile when a grimace threatened to show up. She felt disappointed, she told herself that she would try her best to be there with Shoko but she was still away often.