R:“I can’t believe you’re walking with me to school, and you’re not in your car.”
J:”It’s not that weird.” J-chan said smiling to me.
R:”Maybe it won’t be, if you’ll tell me what made you to do it.”
J:”I don’t know..I just got a feeling that a walk will be good today...”
R:”A feeling? Like feeling hot?” I said, trying to make a joke.
J:”NOO! ..she replied kinda surprised. “What gave you the idea?” she asked me seriously.
R:”Ha-ha..it was a joke, relax a little. The fact is that it’s still cold outside and I don’t understand how someone can give up his warm seat in a car for a walk in the middle of winter”.
J:”Well then, how come you come by train and then walk everyday and don’t take a taxi or something... if it’s that cold? she asked me with her sarcastic voice.
R:”The train is faster.”
J:”Really?” she asked in the same tone. “Then how about...”
Suddenly we heard a scream. We went to check the source of it and we found a girl, about our age, covered in dirt and lying on the alley, with all her stuff scattered around her.
R:”Oh my gosh, are you OK?” I asked, trying to help out the poor girl. I wove my hand over J-chan, who was still standing a little behind to help me out with her.
The girl seemed to go to the same school as ours. She wasn’t really feeling well, so we didn’t have the chance to find out what happened. We only found out her name before she totally collapsed.
R:”Omg! She fainted!! What do we do? Let’s shout for help – HELP!..” I started , nervously, but J-chan stopped me.
J:”Let’s take her to your home…”
R:”Eeeeee!!?? Why my home? I asked her, in surprise. Let’s take her to the school’s infirmary ..it’s not very far.”
J:”Today’s Monday, remember?”
R:”Oh, all right… I’ll call a cab.” I agreed, seeing the expression on her face.
The ride was silent, none of us spoke and the girl didn’t wake up. We carried her up to my apartment and lied her on my sofa. The apartment was not that big and it was simple: a small kitchen with a bar to separate it from the living, a bathroom and a small room, who once belonged to Kai.
R:”She’s been unconscious for some time”.
J:”Um..” J-chan mumbled, still staring at the girl.
R:”Come on! Let’s make some tea”.
J:”I’ll stay with her, in the case she wakes up…”
R:”Come on J-chan! Don’t tell me you fell in love!..”
J:”What? What gave you this stupid idea?” J-chan finally looked at me, but somehow pissed off.
This was the second time my jokes didn’t work today. But I managed to drag her into the kitchen with me.
R:”Don’t worry” I said. “Shinigami will watch her.”
J:”Who?!” J-chan asked, almost dropping the cups.
R:”Shi-ni-ga-mi.” I smiled, mostly because of her reaction, probably thinking that there’s another person in there.
J:”What shinigami...?”
R:”Ha-ha, calm down, that’s just my pet’s name.”
J:”You have a pet?”
R:”Yeah, a raven. “
J:”Yeah...very normal...” J-chan mumbled at me, trying to find the corner were Shinigami was sitting.
R:”What? Don’t tell me you thought there was a real Death Reaper?” I joked, again.
J:”Of course not. But I’m surprised you named your bird like that. You said you don’t believe in God and that kind of stuff.”
R:”I said I don’t believe in KIRA.”.
J:”…right…”
R:”Look! Our guest here woke up. You go first, I’ll come with the tea after it’s done.”
After a couple of minutes, I joined them with the tea. The girl seemed sleepy and a little disoriented, but she was able to make a conversation now.
R:”Are you alright, Kat-chan? Here, I made some tea to warm up a little.”
K:”yeah, thanks.” I feel better now..”
R:”Sorry for making you miss your classes. Who was teaching now?”
K:”Morita-sensei.” She answered, sipping slowly from the tea cup.
R:”A! Morita-sensei. He’s a good teacher, he’ll understand if you explain it to him, you know how he’s like.”
K:”Yeah, you’re right”
J-chan looked at her in silence, with no expression on her face.
R:”So, what happened, anyway?” I asked her.
K:”Oh.. A man bumped into me and I easily collapsed because I’ve had a problem with the right leg for a couple of days...”
R:”You should probably see a doctor”
K:”No, I’ll be fine. I just need some rest. Maybe I’ll take some days off from school.”
R:”You do that” I said, smiling to her. “Too bad the weather isn’t as sunny as it was last Monday. I heard sun is good for your health, even if it’s cold outside” I said winking at her.
K:”I haven’t heard about that...” she replied, a bit surprised by my attitude. “Anyway, I should go back home now...”
R:”Right. Well then, finish your tea while I call a cab. Is that OK?”
K:”Thank you. You are very kind, Rei-chan”, the girl said, with a shy smile.
R:”Well, you know what they say: yasashii hitokoto wa fuyu no ikkagetsu wo atatameru- one kind word can warm one winter month”, I replied, smiling at her. “Although in this case it‘s more about the effect of the tea, and I don’t think it will last for a whole month.”
The girl smiled in the same shy manner and I left the room to make the call. When the cab came, we helped her out again.
R:”Well, maybe we’ll see each other at school.”
K:”Sure. Nice meeting you, Rei-chan, J-chan” she said, looking a little insecure at J-chan.
The car left after the girl said “Thanks for everything” , leaving the two of us behind on the sidewalk, in the cold.
R:”Have you calmed down a little now?” I asked J-chan, without looking at her.
J:”That girl isn’t from around here..Kat probably isn’t even her real name. But I’m surprised…I didn’t know you can act like that.” she said looking at me.
R:”Yeah, well..I saw that in a detective movie..hahaha…” I smiled, trying to find a good excuse for my ability. “Always wanted to try..”
J:”You should become a detective” J –chan finally smiled to me. “Anyway, I’ll go back home too. Thanks for that.”
R:”No problem. Well then..take care!”
J:”You too!”
I went back in and I prepared to take a bath. I left myself sink into the hot water until it reached my nose while thinking about today.
J-chan was right. ..
I haven’t planned on using trick questions on her, but seeing J-chan’s weird behavior, I thought of giving it a try. Even if the girl answered as expected, at least my friend would calm a little. But she didn’t. She first agreed that Morita-sensei will understand if she explained why she skipped his classes, while every student in our school knows that teacher isn’t at all an easy-going one. And there were even fewer chances of being a recently transferred school-girl, because she also agreed that she knows him. That’s weird. Why would someone act like that?
Then I wanted to know if she’s from Tokyo but, since she didn’t know that last Monday wasn’t a sunny day at all, I deduced she’s from another town which she hasn’t left for a long time. In fact, it seemed she wasn’t even from Japan from the fact that she didn’t react at the saying at all, when I replaced three months with only one.
No wonder J-chan acted like that, she saw through it from the very beginning. She’ll probably make her father take care of the intruder. But what about me?...The fact that she lied to us and acted like that made me curious. I want to know who she really is…
“Nee, Shinigami! What should I do now? Should I check out this Kat girl?”
The raven watched the colored soap bubble I sent flying towards it, and then popped it with his black beak, somehow delighted.
“That’s right. Let’s play a little detective-game” I smiled at him. “But for now, let’s wait and see what Issei has to say…”
Issei was the driver of the cab I had called a while ago.
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Me again...with no intention of writing this much. And omg!..KIRA is finally back and I'm way behind:-s...sorry 4the late post. I used the initials of the caracters in the dialogue so there won't be any confusions in which is speaking:)
