Sunset Ghost

Soul Sucker

サンセットゴースト
Sunset Ghost
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第14章
魂の吸盤
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After he'd filled in Yachi on everything that had happened, including the man's unnerving visit to the shop and Hinata's confounding news about his soul, she looked—ironically—like she'd seen a ghost. Kageyama was almost afraid to ask her, "Are you okay, Yachi?"

She looked up at him, and her face was pale and clearly shaken. "I— I'm fine." She let out an unsteady breath and held out a hand for balance, like she was in danger of tipping over. "This is just... not good news."

"What should we do?" Kageyama asked worriedly, wringing his shirt between his hands impatiently. He was still angry at himself for letting the man slip away. If he'd moved just one second earlier, the creep wouldn't have escaped. Now he was out there still, and who knew what he would do next.

His threat towards Hinata still echoed in Kageyama's head like a broken record. I didn't do anything to him... yet. What was he planning to do? It scared him so much, he wanted to throw up. It had taken him this long to realize that Hinata was more important to them than he'd realized, and if anything happened to him now, Kageyama wasn't sure if he could handle it.

"Are you alright?" A cool hand hovered over his shoulder and Kageyama was startled out of his thoughts to find Hinata staring at him with concerned chocolate eyes, his touch barely a whisper. At least he wasn't freezing anymore—that was definitely a good sign. Still, Kageyama had been terrified when he'd watched him get hit by those Shiki...

He shivered remembering the pain scrawled across the boy's face in vivid detail, like a scar in his mind that would never go away. I never want to see that again. Another thought, much worse, was: What would've happened if I hadn't broken the barrier in time? Kageyama could picture Hinata's body shattering like glass and disappearing right in front of him...

"I'm fine," he said quickly, shaking off the images with determination. He needed to stay strong. If anyone was going to catch this guy, it was going to be him. To confirm this, Kageyama nodded once to himself and then smiled at Hinata to reassure him. "Don't worry: Everything's fine now."

The redhead smiled back, his hand warming against Kageyama's shoulder. It turned cold again a second later when he frowned. "But... what about the wayline?" Both of them turned to look back at the congregation of psychics still gathered around the staff, which was progressively losing its glow. "Did breaking the barrier mess it up?"

"Luckily, no," Yachi intervened, standing beside them with her arms crossed. "They were able to keep it together, but the IBPA will not be happy about this. You seriously endangered their already volatile operation." She sighed. "Luckily, everything seems to have gone fine, but I don't imagine they'll be thrilled with you."

As if her words had summoned them, two IBPA agents broke away from the circle, where the reparation appeared to be wrapping up, and stormed towards them with glares. They stopped in front of Kageyama and he swallowed nervously, preparing himself for the harsh scolding he was about to receive.

"How dare you put my agents at risk!" It was Iwaizumi who spoke, jabbing a finger into Kageyama's chest. "What exactly did you think you were doing?" He held up a hand when Kageyama tried to respond and continued on, voice growing steadily angrier. "You know what, I don't even want to hear it." Gritting his teeth, he gripped Kageyama's collar and shook him. "I have half a mind to put you in a cell, you daft punk."

"Stop it!" Hinata exclaimed, startling both Kageyama and Iwaizumi as he jumped between them, shoving the IBPA agent backward in a gust of cold. He placed himself between the two of them defensively, almost seeming to glow like the sun as he shouted at the man. "It wasn't his fault! He was just trying to protect me!"