Blue Flames

Chapter 7: Memories (S1 ep9)

I grumpily sat down in a chair. Yukio had forced me to get checked out so now I was here with everyone else. Shiemi still hadn't woken up yet.

"Jeez, who would have thought that was a surprise test?" Rin asked. "We sure got tricked good, huh?" Suguro said. "We should have at least kept the possibility in mind." Shima responded. "Oh boy, I wonder if we made it?" Konekomaru said nervously. "No use worrying about that now." Suguro told him. "You and Shima will be just fine. Me on the other hand, I could barely stand up."

"I'm sure you guys will be ok." Izumo said. "Remember how Mr. Okumura kept reminding us, before the exam? An ExWire should have the ability to work well with others in battle, and in those terms, no one failed worse than me." Suguro looked over at her. "Hey, you weren't that bad, you know. Those guys just parked their butts on the sidelines the whole time."

I looked at the two people he was talking about, I didn't know either of their names. One was a blonde kid with a puppet, and the other one had a hoodie that obstructed their face and was always playing video games. "Yo, got anything to say for yourselves, huh?" Suguro said loudly.

"Sweet, I scored a dragon claw." The kid with the hoodie said. I had an inkling they did that just to piss Suguro off. "Huh? Shut up you little brats! What makes you think I have anything to say to you!" The puppet said. I gave a weird look at the talking puppet; the blonde kid hadn't even opened his mouth. "They talked!" Rin said, baffled. "I never knew what to make of those two."

I heard Shiemi move to sit up and I looked over. "Oh shoot, my bad, I woke you up." Rin said. "It's ok, I'm fine now. I feel a lot better!" She said sleepily. Speaking of sleep, I still haven't gotten any, did they expect us to stay up all night? I partially listened to what the others were saying. Only when I heard my name mentioned did I pay full attention.

"By the way Okumura, or both of you, I guess. How did you defeat that ghoul?" Konekomaru asked. "Huh! Oh... that... well I-" Rin started awkwardly explaining except it was gibberish since he couldn't mention the flames. "It was just luck." I said.

"Still, that's amazing! You two have the potential to be a knight then!" Konekomaru said. I sighed; he was just going to inflate Rin's ego. "What are you even saying? Could you be any more vague?" Suguro asked. "What can I say, I'm just full of mistakes." Rin said proudly. 

I stared at him, shocked at his utter stupidity. Shima burst out laughing. "It's mysterious dumbass!" Suguro yelled.

I turned to look at Izumo who was staring at me and Rin intently. She looked away when I noticed her. Shit, was she getting suspicious? Rin and I needed to start keeping a low profile.

...

I had trouble sleeping that night despite my exhaustion. Yukio had said that Rin would sleep in my room with no further questions. He had even sent Shiemi In here to stay with us, he most likely didn't trust us not to do something stupid. I didn't blame him, I always ended up going along with Rin's ridiculous plans.

I watched as Rin snored in the bed across from mine. Shiemi was sitting on the floor beside him.

I heard footsteps coming down the hall and I held my Katana tight. The person opened the door and walked into Rin and Yukio's room. I pressed my ear to the wall trying to hear what was happening.

"I thought you said you weren't going to kill him, Mr. Noihaus." Yukio said. I stayed deathly still, holding my breath so I wouldn't miss anything. "Well done, Yukio Okumura." He replied.

"Rin." Shiemi whispered. I heard Rin jump up in surprise. "S... Shiemi what are you doing here?" She shushed him and I was grateful she was keeping him distracted while I eavesdropped.