Chapter 11: Circus Seal
Kiyoshi's body fell on the couch as the girl closed the door with a dull thud.
"You have to be kidding me. There can't be a third player," he said, the words barely slipping between his lips.
He hid his face with his hands. His first target was gone. He had already considered he was at a disadvantage because the girl could take it at any moment, but this was worse. Her being suspected had nothing to do with him, but the manual had to be found. This isn't how he thought things would be.
There was little chance he could find it while not raising suspicions; he should focus in Back Tornado's manual instead.
His muscles relaxed a little when he decided, but he could still feel the strain. He was clenching his fists too hard, his nails leaving marks on his palms.
"But where to start?" he asked himself in an effort to focus; the loss was distressing. He considered asking Kensou but was reluctant. That jerk hadn't done anything yet, but if he was capable of scaring him like when they met, then he didn't want to get involved in his plans or him.
Kiyoshi jumped at the sound of the rattling door, his thoughts coming to a halt.
Kensou entered with a self-satisfied grin, making Kiyoshi grimace in disgust and imagine the worst that could put this jerk in a good mood. "What did she want?" he asked pleasantly, making his way deeper into the office as if he already knew the answer.
He hesitated, staring at Kensou wordlessly. Everything the guy said that was outside his duties as the treasurer put him on his toes.
"What did she want?" He repeated, barely able to contain his excitement as his smirk stretched and leaned on the vice-president's desk.
Kiyoshi raised an eyebrow. "You. . . seem to know already. It's creepy."
You have to be kidding me.
Kensou chuckled and took out a notebook from the drawer then flung it to Kiyoshi, grasping it swiftly. "That has to be worth something. It was a lot of trouble convincing the teacher to stay quiet," he said as Kiyoshi scanned the contents.
"Seriously?" Kiyoshi chuckled dryly, the words having flown over his head. "It's crazy."
Manual gone. The girl is suspected. It falls on Kiyoshi's hands. He gives it to the Coach. First round, his win. Was something terrible going to happen? Heck, Kiyoshi wouldn't mind if it did.
"This is great." He grinned, shrieking as the notebook was snatched from his hands.
Kensou gave him a half-smile, the stolen manual tapping his shoulder.
"Gi-give it back!" Kiyoshi screamed as he stood up, glaring at Kensou.
"I never said I was going to give this for free." The manual changed Kensou's hands and he plopped his ass on the sofa.
Kiyoshi growled, but this jerk wasn't intimidated at all. "What do you want?"
"Your mission, what is it?" The guy rested his arms on the backrest, the manual hanging in his hand.
Kiyoshi puffed through his nose. "Give it to me and I'll tell you," he glowered. He wasn't good at negotiations, but he tried.
Kensou smiled smugly. "Don't even think of running with it to the door. I'm faster."
That was a good idea. But this jerk would make him spill the truth by force if he did that. Kiyoshi had a better one. He glanced at Kensou and pounced as fast as he could at the notebook when he seemed to be unguarded.
The notebook swiftly disappeared from his hand, flying towards the wall behind the couch.
Kiyoshi stepped on the furniture and propelled himself towards it before his vision flicked to the ceiling. Under the white light, it took him a moment to realize he was falling. The red oni roared, urging Kiyoshi to do something. But even if his brain realized the danger, his body was too slow to react but a short yelp. His back slammed against the floor, an arm burying deep against his stomach. Coughing as the air was sucked out of him, acid began rising to his mouth; Kiyoshi swallowed it down.
Kensou's face at the bottom of his sight had a victorious grin, and the back of the sofa loomed at his left. "You don't have brothers, do you?" he asked.
"As. . . if. . . I can answer!" Kiyoshi wanted to yell, his throat burning from the mixture of acid and air. The manual had fallen at his side, but he didn't have the energy to move.
Eventually, Kensou picked it and dusted it off.
"What's your mission?" he questioned again before looking back and smirking at Kiyoshi.
Sprawled on the floor, Kiyoshi lifted his head gave him the finger, a replacement of "fuck you." He didn't have to suplex him. The bastard. But the gesture only made Kensou more amused. "You can tell me after you can talk."
Kiyoshi groaned loudly in protest, promptly coughing violently. Later, he begrudgingly told Kensou about his mission, snatched the manual off his hand, and stormed out of the room after telling him to go to hell.
He was on his way to print copies of the manual before giving it back to the soccer club, part of one of his original ideas. It's absence had created too much trouble, and he didn't have to give the Coach the original. Kiyoshi grinned. Plus, it would be fun to see Kensou's face when he told him the manual was back in the team's hands. As puny as his struggles were, going against that jerk meant he was his own person, not a tool.
Rubbing his belly where Kensou's arm plunged, Kiyoshi stopped abruptly and took out his cellphone, pulling the screen with the messages between him and Keima. They had been exchanging pictures every so often as a way of supporting each other, but now Keima hardly had the strength to back him up. From Kiyoshi, he kept sending pictures, mostly calming nature pictures taken the past year. They helped him a lot. The latest one had two snow bunnies side on white fluffy snow, although the bigger one seemed to be crying.
It was earlier than usual, but Kiyoshi wasn't sure if he would have time later. He would tell Kidou-san he got the manual and might want to meet that same day. That would be nice.
He typed a message with a sad, worried expression.
"How was your day?"
He had been asking Keima the same question every day since they went to the park and got real answers: he wasn't okay. Recently, Keima was having nightmares about Kin and was blaming himself for what happened. The more they texted, the more Kiyoshi remembered how much his friend had suffered.
Kiyoshi's lips trembled, tears at the corner of his eyes as he reminisced about Keima's self-depreciating texts. If Keima had to suffer because he was selfish, then Kiyoshi should be suffering more. He couldn't forgive he was covering his selfishness with kindness.
"It hurts but it's okay! I hate seeing you like this but I was the one who told you can depend on me. I'll accept that pain."
It was a fact the red oni helped Kiyoshi stand the emotional strain. However, it was Keima's loving and grateful gaze after getting a hold of himself that filled it. The red oni was hungry for intimacy, and it made Kiyoshi warm; it was becoming his drug. He wanted to be showered in Keima's love. The little he could muster that the moment.
"Being by his side is the only thing I can do for him," he said, voice wavering. "Keima needs me." Kiyoshi cleaned his eyes, sobbing. "I'm sorry for being selfish. I have to feed it. . . I don't want to suffer."
If the red oni wanted love, then what did Kin--the blue oni according to Keima--wanted? The only thing Keima would tell him is that his death was his fault, and he didn't deserve to have a future.
Originally, the blue oni was the one who helped the red oni get along with the humans; Keima fits as the blue oni in that aspect. To Kiyoshi, Kin seemed more like the dead girl in Summer, Fireworks, And My Corpse: a corpse one step away from him than an actual oni. They had been compared countless times, but to Kiyoshi, he was a shadow. He couldn't touch it nor understand it. He was just there. If Kiyoshi could understand Kin, maybe he could help Keima.
"Ah, Senpai!"
Kiyoshi jolted at the sound of a female voice coming from the stairs and blinked rapidly. A girl with thick pink braids and purple hair waved as she climbed.
He backed away a few steps and looked around. The hallway was empty.
"I finally found you!" the girl said loudly as she reached the last step.
Kiyoshi looked away as he noticed a sweet smell mixed with sweat and slapped himself mentally. Another headache mildly throbbed.
"Let me interview you!" The girl quickly approached, closing in the distance between their bodies.
He backed away further in haste, the girl pressing on until being a breath away. It smelled like fried chicken with spicy sauce.
"No," Kiyoshi stammered with utter confusion. Questions raced in his mind, but the girl acted too quickly for him to collect himself.
"It will be an hour of your time!" She bounced forward and he stepped back, her excitement unshaken after a clear rejection.
Kiyoshi's eye twitched, and he twisted his face to meanest expression he could muster. "I don't want to," he stated quieter than he intended.
"Please! Your fans really want this interview!" she insisted with a smile.
There was something increasingly annoying about this girl. Maybe her funky appearance, her scratchy voice, or her persistent request. Or everything.
"That's none of my business." He took another step back and hit the wall. Kiyoshi grimaced. He had no interested in pleasing those stupid girls.
The girl suddenly retreated and swished her hand as if she was presenting something. "Mysterious transfer student! What could be hiding behind those impeccable grades and pretty face?" she announced confidently, her thick glasses glinting under the sun. "What do you think?"
"What the hell? I don't have time for this." He stepped aside and walked past the girl.
"Wait, Ryuugamine-senpai! You are the hot topic of the school! I have to write about you!" she cried.
Kiyoshi's body went cold as he felt a pair of arms wrap around his.
"Don't touch me!" He pushed the girl away and hugged his arm, trying to calm his trembling body. "I-I don't care about an interview or those girls! Get away from me! Don't touch me with your dirty hands you-- disgusting woman!" Kiyoshi ran down the stairs, jumping every few steps.
Pressing his heels against the floor as a brake, he placed his hands against the wall he was about to crash onto. He ignored the students' yelp and tried to regain his breath, fixing his glasses.
"Ugh. Ew." Kiyoshi said shakily and rubbed his arm, trying to wear down the feeling. He will have to wash his jacket.
"That scared me. It's the transfer student."
"So cool~! Do you think he has a girlfriend?"
"Tch, I don't know. Ask him yourself."
"Eh~? No~. He's scary~."
Kiyoshi glanced at the students, grimaced, and entered his destination. The printer was close to the door, and there were only a couple of students around.
"Senpai!"
"Holy shit!" Kiyoshi's body shook to the core, and he took a fighting stance at the voice.
The girl stared at him confusedly, her pullover a little disheveled from the push. "Eh? Do want to fight?" She grinned widely. "I don't recommend it."
Kiyoshi looked down, noticing his stupid pose. Quickly retracting his arms, he placed the open notebook on the glass.
"Making copies of your class notes? I thought you didn't have any friends," the girl commented.
Kiyoshi grunted, hand falling to his side after hovering over the Print button. "It's none of your business."
The girl didn't move. Kiyoshi glared and the girl grinned back, her eyes flashing as if she understood something.
"Ah, it's that!" She took a step back, gesturing with her hand as she turned away. "Go ahead."
Kiyoshi's face went red. "Of-of course not! What the-the hell are you thinking?!"
Seriously, everyone in this school was idiots, and girls were the worst.
He pressed the button, moving his body between the girl and the printer's mouth.
"I haven't introduced myself!" she screamed, making Kiyoshi jump again. "Akasaka Megumi, first year, member of the Newspaper Club." She introduced herself with a loose military pose. She was so weird.
Kiyoshi looked away from her expectant gaze. "You already know who I am."
"Right." She laughed. "When can I interview you? The column goes out in a week so there isn't much time."
⚽️⚽️
Kiyoshi's patience was growing thin. He refused the interview enough times he considered beating her up to regain his daily peace. She had pestered him in the student council room, as he left the school, and came between breaks to his class the following day.
He brought her outside the classroom as she asked for him during the third time.
"I told you I don't give a damn about it!"
Even if this girl was a talent from the Newspaper Club, everyone hated her pestering attitude despite writing popular articles. She was like a circus seal, answering people's demands for mockery and fake praise.
"I have to write this interview no matter what! Everyone wants it!" she said with excitement.
Kiyoshi threw his fist to the wall, shutting up the girl and the whole hallway. She didn't flinch but looked a bit worried.
He hung his head low. After talking to Kensou about the Newspaper Club, he was debating whether he should use her. He had been mildly refusing her request until he set his mind.
Frustration seeping from his tone, he replied flatly. "I want to check the Newspaper Club's archive."
She was serious. She wanted to please her readers. Just like he wanted to please his classmates when he was little. And in the end, it was useless.
Her face broke into a victorious half-smile and raised her hand for a handshake. "The archives will be open for you."
Kiyoshi looked at her hand with dull eyes. "I'll tell you when I have time to spare for that thing." He walked back to the classroom, leaving the girl's hand in the air without looking back.
Circus Seal | End