A Demon's Fate

Chapter 5: Return

The next day of school was two weeks later. The surgery went well luckily, and I only had to wait on my recovery. I had plenty of time to think in that time.

It was only after that day that I'd realized how incredibly head over heels I was for Soma. Even though Wraithe, whom I came to know as Johnathan after that, stayed with me, Soma was all I thought about. Sleep was even worse. All I could do was replay that day in my mind, my love so tantalizingly close, but now far out of reach.

For a while after returning, Tamina-san seemed to refuse to speak to me, despite my being brutally dumped. Of course, I didn't exactly talk much for about a month afterwards. When Soma left that room, I burst with emotion just one last time before returning to my old ways. I felt like someone just died, and so I dealt with it like I would grieving. It didn't seem like a problem.

If I were to look back on it now, however, if I could look at myself during that time, I would see why she kept her distance. It wasn't only that I'd been recovered unconscious from a bloody classroom with a huge demon corpse lying in the middle of the room. After Soma ran out of that room, I was broken...

I'd returned to the pond several times during the two weeks I was at school, carving into the rocks and letting them pile up at the bottom. My scarf was the one comforting thing which held me together during that time.

Living with Soma was unbearable. I couldn't move out, even though Soma told me to stay away from him. I think he was starting to regret what he id at the hospital, but I was too blind to see it. He never said a word to me, and I kept to myself anyways. Some days, he would cook me breakfast as a gesture of kindness, but every time I would push it away.

Finally, a week after returning, Tamina-san found me in the courtyard. It had been raining often as of late, and I didn't particularly care enough to grab an umbrella. I stood out in the open, where the rain would fall and wet my hair and uniform. Then I saw her, running from the building with a purple umbrella open and ready. "Miyouko," she said, panting, "are you all right?"

I must have shot her a rude look because she suddenly cringed. "No," I replied softly.

She cleared her throat, I could tell it was difficult speaking to me seeing how dark I looked. "Tell me what's wrong then."

"I don't want to talk about it..."

"Don't give me that," she gave me a stern look, "Will you tell me if I guess?"

"..." I didn't respond.

"Is it Soma?" Despite my mind saying no, my body reacted, and Moi picked up on it immediately. "What happened? Did he confess yet?"

"Not exactly..." was my only answer.

"What does that mean? Help me out here."

"He was there, when I woke up," I started slowly, "and I was so happy to see him... I tried..." My voice was shaking and I couldn't go on.

I looked to Tamina-san to see if she understood, but her face clearly told me she needed more to go off of. "H-he told me to stay away from him... He yelled at me and told me to get away..."

I hadn't realized I had been crying as suddenly Tamina-san pulled me into a hug, holding me tight as the tears soaked her uniform. Maybe it was the rain. "...I'm sorry," she said softly.

We finally parted after a few minutes of silence, apart from the constant beating of the rain. It was calm, and neither of us wanted to break it yet, but we still had to go to class, late or not. "Thank you, Tamina-san," I said at last.