*:･ﾟHard To Love ･ﾟ:*

CHAPTER 22 - backslide

KOU
—❁—

⚘ THE PREVIOUS NIGHT ⚘

Teru and I eventually made it to the place that Teru remembered Natsuhiko staying at, and we were preparing ourselves for anything.

I felt terrible for leaving Sousuke like that, but this is some important business and I didn't want to risk getting him involved in anything too dangerous.

The place we eventually made it to was gated off, and I was assuming that Teru thought that it would've been open up to the public.

"So.. what makes you think he's here? I mean, what even is this place anyway?" I look over at Teru as he examines the gate that was keeping us from getting closer to wherever we were.
"It's an old broadcasting station. If either one of those two are working out of anywhere, it would be here. It's the last place like it in town and it wouldn't surprise me if they broke in just to use it." Teru rolls his sleeves up before stepping back, looking around for any other way in.
I then walk up to the gate and grab the lock that was keeping the place shut. "The lock doesn't look tampered with, and it locks and unlocks from out here." I let go of the lock and look over at Teru once more. "I highly doubt they have a key to this place."
"There has to be some other way in. I just don't see Sakura as the type to climb a fence, let alone one this high."
I shrug, "Doesn't mean we can't climb it."
"Let's just look for another way in first. Neither one of us can afford getting any broken limbs right now, especially since we may have another case on our hands."
I softly sigh and watch Teru as he begins to walk beside the fence. My hand reached up behind me and held onto my staff, which I retrieved from my family home before the two of us made our way here.
"You're right, we're gonna have to climb it." Teru walks over to me again. "There must be some other entrance elsewhere that we don't know about.. and we don't have the time to look for it."
"Right." I step back and usher for him to go first. "Be my guest."
Teru softly sighs before walking up to the gate, making his ascend all the way up it and descending down the other side.

It was then my turn. I figured that I could be totally cool about it, just to get some adrenaline pumping through my veins.. but I totally couldn't.

Right when I made it to the top, I decided to climb only a quarter of the way day before orchestrating a jump. It clearly didn't go the way I planned it to, as my foot slipped and I went flying all the way down to the ground.

"Seriously?" Teru steps out of the way and just stares down at me on the ground. "You really that you could be that guy, huh?"
My hand gripped my side as I angrily pushed myself up to a seated position.
"Why can't you ever just do things like a normal human being? Sousuke isn't here to see you be all heroic you know.. you don't have to do all this extra stuff."
"Ha ha.." I scrunch one half of my face as I grab Teru's hand and pull myself up. "Just ignore that.. you didn't see anything."
"Oh, no. Yeah—I saw it all." He dusts my shoulders off as I dust my frontside off, as well as my ass to make sure I didn't go on embarrassing myself in front of anyone who may catch us out here.

The two of us then began to walk up the hill that lead to the apparent abandoned broadcast station, keeping our eyes on our surroundings to make sure nothing were to jump out at us and maul us to death.

We eventually made it up far enough to where we could see the actual building, and once we saw that there were indeed some people in there we decided to go off and hide into some foliage so we could make a game plan.

"Alright.. how do you want to do this?" Teru looks at me.
"Me? No way bro, this is all you. You brought us here."
"Yeah, well I also didn't decide to call my brother this late at night so he could come out here with me so I could settle my nerves, did I?"
"You're so unfair." I look towards the building as I continue to hold onto my side.
"Hey man, he's your special friend.. not mine."
"What's that have to do with anything?!"
"Do you want to be able to tell him that you were brave enough to go and figure out this information yourself, or do you want to tell him that you had to get your older brother to go get the information for you?"
I softly sigh and look at him for a moment before softly and slowly shaking my head as I look off to the side.
"I got your back, no worries."
I exhale and look at him. "Fine—"
"Put me on a call so we can speak to each other."
I nod and call him, putting some wireless earbuds in my ears and quietly exiting the foliage that we were hiding in.

I was actually feeling pretty nervous about this, but I kept reminding myself that this was for Sousuke.

Once I made it up to a window, I looked back over to where Teru was and threw him a thumbs up before honing in on what was being talked about inside.

"I'm feeling pizza!" Natsuhiko exclaims from inside.
"You're always feeling pizza." Sakura responds in her more monotone, raspy voice.
"This place makes me hungry. It's so dark and freaky."
"What did you think it was going to be?"
"I dunno, when you said broadcast station I definitely didn't expect a hole in the wall like this.. metaphorically and literally."
"Were you able to convince him to come back here?"
"Who? That Mitsuba dude? Nah. He didn't budge."

My eyebrows narrow once I hear Sousuke's name get mentioned.

"Should I remind you what will happen to you if you don't bring him back again?"
"No.. I get it."
"Your job was to keep him away from the Minamoto's, was it not?"
"It was, but he was a difficult one to keep convinced. You should know that first hand."
"That's fair. How close were you able get earlier?"
"Not close at all. Y'know, I had to hit him with some force in order to keep him from fleeing me again."

Again? Just how long have these assholes been after him?

I glance over at the foliage again and see Teru, giving him a soft shrug before listening in again.

"You were advised not to use force."
"It was the only way he'd listen to me! Why am I always the one going after that pink head asshole?"
"Because it is the job that I have given you. Our most powerful apparition is gone and the only way we can bring him back is if we have him here, and you are the only one that Mitsuba will listen to."
"As if that's my fault! I shouldn't be punished for his gullible behavior."
"You're not being punished, you're just being scolded. There's a difference."
"These paper cranes are awful by the way, I deserve some new gear."
"You'll get new gear once you prove to me that you know what you're doing."
"I've been proving that for like.. a long ass time!"
"Not long enough."

Once I realized that the two of them were just going to be arguing for the rest of Teru and I's time here, I rushed back over to him and hung up the phone.

"So they need him back here in order to get Tsukasa back.. it makes no sense."
I softly sigh and look back over at the broadcast station, feeling just as confused as Teru does.

It really does make no sense.. I seriously need to figure out what they had him doing the whole time we were separated from one another.

"Maybe they figure that since 'Suke was under Tsukasa possession once already, he has a weakness to him. It's the only logical explanation right now."
"You could be right.. but I still don't get how they could possibly get Tsukasa back so easily. He's been banished, so there's no way he could just come back like that."
I shrug, "I don't know.. let's just get out of here though, this place is giving me mad creeps."
Teru nods, and the two of us quickly leave the spot that we were hiding in.

This is just getting more and more weird.. and Sousuke better have some answers.

While in Teru's car, I felt my phone buzzing continuously—it was Sousuke.

[Suke??!] : u idiot where the hell r u
[Suke??!] : not to sound like a mother but u do realize we have school tmrw, rite?

I let out a soft exhale before typing a quick response, bracing myself to be chewed out as soon as my message went all the way through.

Man I hope we get all these issues solved soon.. it's really becoming a pain in my ass.