Strike Zone!

Chapter 4: Another One

As of 7:35, Saturday. Hikari grabbed a cotton.

          "My, my! Who did this to you? It really hurts from the looks of it."

Hikari noticed the long running laceration from Eiko's left arm, blood flow still visible but dried.

          "Does it hurt? Don't worry I'll clean it.", as Hikari said while thinking triumphantly that she can finally use her knowledge on first-aid that she learned from the academy. Eiko nods again silently.

After this, she proceeds on doing it. She cleaned her wound and is now wraping it in bandage. 

She just noticed Eiko's unchanging expression on her face, looking like she is not feeling anything at all. Not only that, she is completely stationary. Hikari haven't sensed any movement from her at all aside from her facial expressions and way of talking. 

          "Uhmmm... can I ask something about you?", Hikari dared.

Eiko nods in response. Hikari proceeds.

          "How did you come stumbling here? Who did this to you? Where did you come from?"

          "Can I even trust you?", Eiko ask in advanced.

          "Well.... yes sure, you can count on me. I just want to know more about you."

          "If that's the case, I'm not interested in you."

Hikari is stoned. She cant even start a conversation with her. Desperate to catch her attention, she ask,

          "Well, you can ask me first about myself! In that way you can have interest in me. I don't mind."

Eiko looks straight at Hikari, then her gaze goes down a little bit on her clothes.

          "Why are you still in your uniform?"

          "Oh, I apologize. I haven't changed yet because of what happened earlier. Please excuse me and I'll come ba-"

          "Please stay. I just want to know where your school is."

          "Is that so? Well I attend at Daikan Academy."

After hearing these words, Eiko's eyes suddenly widened and her expression changed. It finally caught her attention.

          Eiko replied, "Da-daikan Academy? Isn't that a military school? Where the 3 Divas reside?"

          "Why yes! It's that exact school. They are pretty popular wasn't it? Why did you ask anyway?"

          "I guess that information alone is enough for me to trust you."

          "Wow, ok! That was pretty simple. Alright, may I ask why you are here in the first place?"

Eiko clears her voice.

          "I'm on a revenge mission right now. In order to do this, I left home. I'm not supposed to be discovered at all. But faith brought me here, and its inevitable."

HIkari is amazed on her discovery. On such a young age she thought of that?, Hikari wondered. But she realized something on what she said midway. And as soon as she realized it, Hikari's pulse quickens.

          "Wa-wait, you are NOT supposed to be di-discovered? Why is that so?"

          "Well, I left home. So technichaly, I'm missing. My household didn't agree on me doing this, so I escaped. Don't you dare call the police on me or everything is done between us."

After hearing Eiko's last lines, she knew,

She's done for.

She begins to stutter and her body shakes, grasping on what words to say to her. Then she remembers what the police she called earlier said to her,

Inhale....

Exhale....

She calmed down and smiles sweetly at Eiko.

         "Don't worry, I won't break your trust."

As soon as she said those words, police sirens can be heard nearby.

          "Liar."

Eiko's face shows disapointment and disgust. Hikari panicked more.

          "I-I-I can explain! I thought you are dead!"

          "Isn't it a basic protocol of first-aid is to know the pulse of the victim? You are not very good at this don't you?"

At this point, Hikari don't want to bother explaining anymore. Her only option now is to make Eiko escape on her own.

          "Y-you know... there is a fire exit here so hurry and run to it before they come here!"

          "I can't idiot. My whole body is numb right now so a can't even run, let alone stand."

Hikari is trying to propose another proposal but Eiko cut her short.

          "The only way you can help me right now is wipe the blood on the floor, hide my gun and cover me. If you did this, we can be friends again."

Friends? Hikari is relieved. Without thinking twice, she did what she's ask to do. Grabbing a wet towel, she hastily wiped the dried up blood in the floor. Now she proceeds on carrying the gun.

          "Holy crap, how did she even aquired a gun like this?!?" Hikari wondered as she readies to lift it up.

As she's lifting the huge 6 feet sniper rifle, Hikari grunted as she is lifting it up. Its not even suspended in the air yet and now she is feeling the gravity much stronger than before.

          "What!?! How can she even lift this thing around?!?", Hikari thought of dragging it behind the sofa to conceal it.

Police sirens is still ongoing. Hikari is done putting the gun behind the immobilized Eiko in the sofa. Now what's left is concealing Eiko, but how? Hikari panickly look around her house in search of a blanket, but she remembers it's upstairs.

Someone knocks at the door, presummably the police.

*Knock, Knock, Knock!*

          "This is the police. We recieve a call from you a while ago that a girl is found dead in your household, please comply immediately and open the door."

Even though the police noticed the door knob missing, they still patiently knock on the door.

  *Knock, Knock, Knock!*  

          "Hurry up, its almost time." Eiko exclaimed with a calm voiced.

Then there comes another voice coming from outside, its a woman's voice.

          "Mr. Officer! We should go in quickly! I'm very worried about Eiko, so let's barge in immediately!"

Upon hearing this, Eiko's voice changed from calm to finnicky. This person definitely knows her and now she's in trouble more than what she has expected.

          "Oh no! It's Mari! Quick slowpoke, cover me or I'll kill you if I'm able to move again!"

Hikari sprang back into action and is thinking rapidly. In the end, she opened her closet in a flash, then grabbed her neatly folded clothes into her arms. She then hurriedly tossed it into Eiko's body to cover her.

The woman outside is growing impatient, and the police officers can't keep her in bay.

She suddenly kicked the door open in frustration, with a wheelchair in her hand. Morning light rushed inside Hikari's house, revealing her instantly.

As of 7:41, Saturday. Eiko is smelling Hikari's sweet scented underwear in her face.

END CHAPTER 4