Friends Forever

Modern Era: Confusion

"To go about this sum, you need to the number of packages as X, the the number of dealers as Y......."

"This is the most boring lecture as ever..." Emi groaned as the maths teacher went on and on explaining how to do sums on Linear Progression.

Usually it was only she who attended this class, but now it was her and Ryo who shared this class together. The rest had got separated due to different timetables.

Emi was still thinking about the odd incidents that had been happening to her and those weird dreams which seemed to real..and now the appearance of Haruo and Ryo who looked exactly like the ones she had seen in her dreams!

Even their personalities were so similar. She felt a weird pang in her heart whenever she thought about Haruo, which increased her curiousity. Was this all just a coincidence? Or..was it related to what the priestess had told her when she was 14?

She felt a tap on her shoulder and she looked back to find Ryo holding a small piece of paper. He urged her to take it.

Emi opened the note and saw Ryo had scribbled something on it. 'R: Hello..'

She facepalmed, turned to him and raised her eyebrow . He passed her another tiny paper.

R: I saw you were getting bored so I decided to start a conversation!

Emi grinned to herself and scribbled down on the back of that paper. Folded it, and tossed it back on his table.

E: Ah you're quite observant. Why aren't you concentrating instead of staring at others? -_-

R: That's because I've already done this before..

E: eh?

R: yep! In my previous school they'd already taught this last year.

E: woah.. anyways. Why did you change schools?

R: Um..sorry. I cannot tell you right now..

E: you have been saying this for the past 6 months.. but it's fi-

The paper was snatched from her hand and Emi stared at the lady in front of her who was fuming.

"Out of the class"

"B-but madam-" Emi tried to explain but she wouldn't budge.

"And you too Ryouta-san. Both of you please stand outside."

They reluctantly got out of their seats and went along to stand outside the class.

"Woah it's the first time I'm caught doing shit" Ryo sighed.

"Think about me, I've always been a goody-good girl" Emi leaned against the wall.

---5 minutes passed in silence---

"So I've been wondering this for quite some time.. how did you know our names?" Emi suddenly asked, breaking the silence.

"Uh.." Ryo scratched the back of his neck, "You'd say I'm a crazy person if I told you.."

"Why? Are you a stalker? Cause then it's not being crazy but being a psycho-"

"What no!!" Ryo exclaimed waving his hands in front of him hysterically.

"Then?" Emi was curious now.

"It's something related to...past life..?" He dragged nervously.

"Huh?" Images of Ryouta in traditional outfits flashed in her mind. She shook her head, "Past life?"

"Like you, I'm not human either."

"Not human? Like me? What? Eh?" Emi was extremely confused.

Ryo sighed. "Leave it now, we need to talk after school, today anyhow."

"Why today?"

"Oh Arata didn't tell you before? Today is the day when the Kanshishas Emiko, Mitsuki, Kiyoko and Daichi perished at the Battle of Akatsuki, many many years ago.."

"Uh...so... Why are you telling these to me?" Emi was being confused now. Some of the names did sound familiar to her, she had heard and seen the people in her 'dreams'.

And she could recall the priestess saying something similar long back...

"Wait..you don't know who they were?"

"Umm....nope..?"

Just as Ryo was about to talk, the bell rang signifying class was over.

They put on expressions of guilt and waited for the teacher to come out.

Soon the door opened and Mrs. Yamamoto glared at the duo who stared at her feigning guilt and muttering apologies.

"Get in, it's your first time, so no detention. But if you get caught once again, detention for sure."

"Ah, yes ma'am!" They grinned and bowed.

It was the last class for that day, and soon the 6 friends met up outside in the school grounds.

Emi was silent and was pondering on the coincidences, when she accidentally bumped into Haruo, who caught her.

She came back to her senses when she found her youkai side screaming "MATE" and her nose filled with his scent.

"Ah.. gomenne!!" She blushed hard, and bowed low enough for her bangs to completely cover up her red face.

"Uh...it's o-okay.." Haruo looked away, a slight tint of pink on his usually emotionless face.

Surprisingly he had started to smile a little around Emi nowadays, after a lot of persuasion from his youkai, and Ryo and Arata that she was the same person.

Even Emi was surprised at first when he started hanging out more with her, but convinced herself that maybe he wanted to get close with her. Somehow she too felt a weird sense of closeness, sometimes her inner demon became wild, but she did feel that maybe... Maybe they were meant to be good friends..? Or maybe, "mates".. as her inner demon claimed? She wasn't sure as to why she felt that they were meant for each other.. but she knew that it was related to what had happened in the past..

"Hey Baka, are you even listening to what Ryo and Arata are saying?" Haruo's grumpy voice brought her back to reality.

She hadn't even realised that they had come all the way to the Komagata Shrine, the place where she and Keiko had accidentally bumped into the old priestess Akane, while on a school trip, who had told her that she was a reincarnation of a warrior of the past.. though she hadn't mentioned much, but she did say that she would be getting visions and her memories of past life back soon, because it was time for her to get to know as to who she is.

Akane had also said that it would be soon that a 17 year old confused Emi would find herself back at the shrine, with more questions, along with her new friends.

"Oh!" Emi exclaimed all of a sudden, as her head started throbbing. Images of when she fell off the cliff resurfaced..and this time, there was a continuation to it.

Her whole body was aching, Emi wanted to open her eyes but she didn't have to strength to do so. She felt weak..she couldn't move her limbs. She tried to turn her head but flinched, it felt as if her whole body had been broken into millions of pieces. Suddenly she sensed shuffling near her, someone held her hand and a voice whispered "Sweetheart....?" She knew who it was..then she felt something wet on her cheeks.. tears.. she wished she could wipe them off.. she wanted to hug him, kiss him, tell him she was fine, she had got back her consciousness..she wanted to tell him she was back..but her whole body was burning...and she drifted into sleep again..