Unravel the World

Ch XI ~ Mingling

A gold ray of sunlight awoke Iriai from the darkness of another identical nightmare.

She groaned a little and reached for her backpack, the one that had Akio's mask in it. When she found a person instead of a gas mask, she sat up and panicked a little.

Completely unsettled, she sat up and tried to remember where she was and why she was there. When a pained cry sounded from down the stairs, it got a little worse.

"Hey, are you okay?" a soft voice asked, a smile hidden somewhere there. Iriai looked up to meet the girl's eyes.

"Jiro!" she laughed, tackling her with a hug. She'd hardly recognised her without the navy blue hoody. Jiro was wearing a light blue tank top and a pair of shorts.

The person next to Iriai stirred and Iriai recognised him as Ichimi, the hoody who was usually in red. His spiky black hair had been completely flattened on the side on which he had been sleeping. Banjou and Sante were probably here, too, but there were sheets everywhere so she couldn't see them.

Jiro laughed and handed Iriai her backpack once she'd managed to peel her away.

"Ayato said you have training this morning," she said as Iriai took the bag.

"I'm barely awake," Iriai complained, but still pulled on her boots and walked down the stairs, being careful to not step on any sleeping bodies as she made an exit.

"Thanks, Jiro!" she whispered and shut the door.

**********

"Today, Iriai," Ayato's voice echoed through the almost empty hall, "we will use our kagune."

Iriai began to stammer that she didn't know how to use her kagune, but Ayato had already unfurled his wings, kakugan shining. He ran at her, performing attack after attack so quickly that Iriai had no idea what was even going on. She was cut in so many places that the pain made them all merge into one deep gash. After several minutes of this, Iriai gave up trying to keep track of Ayato's movements and just let her knees give way. Only then did he stop.

"Why didn't you try to defend?" he demanded, not bothering to wait for Iriai to heal.

"I - " she stopped for a second, trying to think of anything that wouldn't get her a kick in the teeth. "You were too fast. I wasn't ready," she said, looking him dead in the eyes. He looked angry and disdainful, as though he were going to give her a kick for good measure. She saw him consider it. But then he decided against it and walked back to his 'station' the other side of the room. Maybe she reminded him of his sister... Either way, something in his eyes gave away a deeper meaning in this lack of violence.

He waited for her to stand back up and regain her balance. Then the onslaught began again. Iriai began to evaluate every second, break everything down. Just like he'd taught her to do. She watched him run towards her, kagune glowing like dark embers. He began with a kick which she tried to dodge by jumping out the way. It turned out to be a feint and he was prepared with a blow to her face, knocking her sideways. Blackness tinged the edges of her vision. Before the dizziness had even a chance to fade from her mind, Ayato was there, grabbing her shoulders and bringing his knee to her stomach. She struggled to keep the bile down as it dug in sharply. He'd defeated her and he hadn't even used his kagune.

He chuckled a little, clearly enjoying the pain he was causing. "You okay?" he asked, voice sounding almost mocking. Iriai could practically feel the darkness emanating from the twisted grin. There was no way he was genuinely concerned for her. He was loving this.

"We might have to put you up against one of those scrappers..." he mused, staring out at the space between himself and Iriai, who was working on standing up straight. He still hadn't let go of her shoulders. She really wanted to know what a scrapper was, but they sounded very ominous.