Chapter 5 - part one

5.

Two days passed since I fainted in the garden. I didn’t see Ryuu, nor Hiro at the school grounds. I even went to the garden in my breaks but Ryuu never came around. And I passed by the SA’s classes but both weren’t seen anywhere. How come I never came across them? Considering how special the students of those classes are and how much others fuss over them it was strange that I didn’t get to see them now that I got interested in them. In the past it was obvious why I never paid attention to them, but now that I knew two faces of the special class, and that I knew of such a big secret too, I was kind of curious about them. And I was looking forward to my next meeting with Ryuu. I still had so many questions to ask.

On that day after he went out with Hiro I sat there long in that room and thought about what he told me. When I finally had the strength back to my legs again, I got up and walked out of there. I didn’t even walk 3 meters before Sho came to fetch me. He was looking really worried, which wasn’t really surprising considering that Ryuu actually wanted to carry me to the infirmary but I never reached there. Because I couldn’t explain him all that happened I just told him that someone came to get Ryuu and that’s why I was alone and it took me so long to come towards the infirmary, though I wasn’t really walking there. But at least it calmed him down and he wouldn’t think that anything is wrong. After that I was sent home early.

Now two days later I was on class duty. My homeroom teacher made me carry some handouts to the stuff-room because he forgot to add something to them. When I passed the storage room where I was carried inside last time the door suddenly opened and I was pulled inside. Ryuu was standing in front of me. He closed the door after him.

“What are you doing?” I asked. Suddenly appearing out of nowhere, what was he thinking?

“You kept it to yourself right?” he asked back without answering my question himself.

What was he talking about? That he was controlling an imaginary tiger? No one would believe me and probably I would even get arrested for saying such strange things. Why should I tell that to people?

“I am not talking about the tiger!” he sighed. “Just don’t tell anyone that you can SEE it!” Just when I wanted to ask why he was telling me that, he covered my mouth with his hand. The next moment the door opened. Kuro-sensei, the homeroom teacher of the SA-class, seemed surprise to see us together. Because I was standing so near to Ryuu I felt how he stiffened. Through his expression I could see that he wasn’t that happy to see the person in charge of his class. I wondered why. Kuro-sensei was always really nice to everyone, especially to girls. He loved to flirt despite being a teacher, and he did it really often. “What are you doing here together in a small room?” he winked towards me. “Am I disturbing?”

I blushed and wanted to bring some distance between Ryuu and me, and shook my head at it. Ryuu held me back and replied: “Sensei! I wanted to be alone with my girlfriend. Is that prohibited?” what was he saying? Girlfriend? That was the second time him calling me this. I speechlessly looked up to him. He pinched my arm and I could see in his eyes that he was begging me to shut up and play along. I bit my tongue and nodded softly.

“It’s not prohibited” he said surprised “but people could misunderstand if you behave like this in a small dark room.” He grinned.

“We just didn’t want other people to find out about our relationship. That’s all.” I tried to explain. Something was wrong with this teacher. Even if I thought of him as pretty nice until now, he seemed completely different, almost terrifying.

“Ryuu-kun, don’t you have some tasks which have to be done? You don’t have much time left until...” he hesitated as if he was searching for the right word “the dead line. I think Hiro-kun is waiting for you.”

Ryuus facial features hardened. “Yeah I will tend to it soon.”

“I hope you will do it in time without letting yourself be distracted” when Kuro-sensei said that he looked at me with a really cold expression. But I just saw it for a second before his usual face popped out again and he showed a really stupid grin. Then he turned around and left the room. Right before closing the door I could hear him whisper “I’ll be waiting.” Then the door closed.

Ryuu was standing there for some time without any reaction. Right when I wanted to call out to him he kicked one of the desks and cursed. “DAMN IT ALL”.

I wondered what was wrong with him. “Ryuu-kun?” he looked surprised when I called out his first name, but he didn’t comment on it.

“It’s nothing” he said instead. “Anyway, now that Kuro-sensei saw you together with me you should take care. Whatever happens from now on, whoever asks you questions, you don’t know anything about a tiger, you can’t see it, you can’t feel it, nothing, you hear me?”

When I nodded he continued: “Good. I apologize for everything that could happen to you from now on.” And with these words he turned around and walked towards the door.

“Hey where are you going?” I asked.

“Lessons are about to start again” he simply replied.

“I still have some questions to you!” it felt like he was trying to escape.

“We’ll meet tomorrow, at the break in the garden. I also have a question to you.” He answered.

“What question?”

He opened the door and stepped outside. Then he turned around. “For example: how come you have a recommendation but you aren’t in the SA?” with this he turned left and walked off.

Chapter 4 - last part

“How about we bring her to the infirmary?” He stepped towards me but before I could react “Maru” grasped and lifted me up onto his arms. “I’ll do it.” Shosuke said but Maru put him off. “I already have her. You should run and tell the nurse.”

This guy just lifted me up as if I wasn’t weighing anything!

Silently, step for step, he walked towards the infirmary, taking care not to shake too much. He was behaving as if I was really precious and he had to take care that I won’t break.

At some point I couldn’t take the silence anymore. “Could you please start your explanation” I asked in a gruff voice. Maru looked down at my face and a little grin was seen at his mouth’s corners. I had the feeling that he almost never showed joy in his facial expressions. But it made my heart race.

“No.” he looked away. I was shocked. “What, no?” why was he behaving so proud?

“What do you want to hear?” he sighed. What was he thinking? He knew what I wanted to know! Why was he avoiding my questions? He had something to hide, yeah he did. Not everyone could make an invisible tiger appear. I understood why he had difficulties in telling me, but that was unfair. He owed me an answer. I understood myself how annoying I must have been, it could have happened that the guy would distance himself from me, that I could forfeit a chance with him, that he would think of me as exhausting and would avoid me. Why did I wish that he wouldn’t do anything of that? Why did I find myself being drawn to a stranger? At least it made it more difficult for me to convince him to explain everything. Even if I was convinced that I deserved to know the truth.

“Why was there a tiger?” I said through clenched teeth. He looked around if someone was near, stopped at the nearest door and went inside.

“Hey! What are you doing?” I shouted when I realized that we were in the storage room of the school between unused chairs and desks. Immediately he covered my mouth with his hand to cushion my voice.

“I definitely won’t explain anything which shouldn’t be of anyone’s business, to you if there are people around!” he replied irritated. Aha, I thought, it was a secret and what was more important: I wasn’t crazy! There really was a wild cat! And it didn’t cause a panic. How could that be?

A product of our combined fantasy? We could have been connected through telepathy and for some reason we imagined colourful tigers together. That sounded too strange, I sighed.

Then maybe a magic tiger, which just shows itself to people it liked. I feel flattered, I thought to myself, angered by myself, that I even thought of such idiocy.

I sighed again.

Maru also could have been an alien with his colourful tiger! Maybe I was...

“Heh”, I heard a suppressed laughter and looked at the face of the guy who was still carrying me.

Was he laughing at me? Did he just snort? What was he thinking? When he saw my confusion and how I slowly got mad too, he explained: “Sorry, but I could see that you were going through some weird logics in your mind.” He couldn’t hold back and started to giggle openly. His body was shaking and I shook with him. it was strange that he still held me, but until now I was too distracted to tell him. “You can let me down. I’m feeling fine already.”

He tried to recompose himself and thoughtfully looked down at my face. Wasn’t I getting heavy?

If he didn’t want to let me down then I’ll do it myself, I thought. It was hard to move in the princess-hold. The easiest way down, I thought to be when I put my arms around his neck to get a hold and then put my feet down singly. When he noticed what I tried to do he held onto me tighter. “Stop moving around so much or I’ll drop you!” he complained.

“Then let me down” I replied automatically.

He slowly put me down on my feet and I noticed, with my arms around his neck, how tall he was, at least one head taller. I was standing on my tiptoes to be able to hold onto him. I released his neck but he still held onto my hips with his arm. The moment I felt the ground under my feet again I slightly swayed but still restarted my questioning. “So what’s the business with the tiger?”

When he heard my question he winced. Before I could realize it he already grabbed me and lifted me up on a table where he sat me down. He put his arms right and left beside me and we were now at eye level. “What are you doing?” I asked startled.

“You were swaying and explaining to you while I have to hold you, and without being able to talk to you on eye level makes it kind of hard for me.” He showed me a smile which exposed that he gave in. “Whatever I tell you now, will be a secret. You aren’t allowed to tell anyone, not the guy from before, nor your best friend. Understood?” he asked. When I nodded he continued. “I am harbouring a tiger inside of me. Whenever I can’t control my feelings it bursts out. It feels exactly the same as me, it’s so to say the mirror of my emotions. But it’s not the only way to call it out. When I am in a dangerous situation I can call upon it myself and use it as a weapon. Even if no one is able to see it” he wavered when saying that and directly looked into my eyes “well no one other than you, the damage the tiger causes is still physical” he continued. I thought about what he said carefully. If that was true, and it had to be, I saw the tiger after all, then he was harbouring a supernatural tiger. It was a reflection of his emotions he said, so the changing colours and sizes were probably a part of it also. Every colour had to have a meaning! Right when I wanted to ask he looked at my ribbon. “You have a recommendation but aren’t in the special class?” he asked.

What did that have to do with everything? Weren’t we talking about his tiger? Did he want to change the subject again? I just wanted to remind him why we were talking here when the door opened. “Here you are.” Another person with a black shirt was standing in the door. “Kuro-Sensei is looking for you.”

“Tell him I’ll come soon.”

This new guy looked at me and grinned. “When did you get this aggressive Ryuu?”

So Maru wasn’t his real name. I thought so but Ryuu and Maru didn’t have any similarities. It all seemed confusing.

“Wait outside, Hiro” Ryuu seemed tensed with this Hiro-guys appearance. Without saying anything more Hiro left the room and closed the door after him. Ryuu sighed. Just now I noticed that he was still standing so near to me, leaning towards me with his arms right and left to me. When I finally realized the red colour rushed into my face and made me blush so deeply. His friend must have misunderstood completely. I hoped Ryuu would explain it to him afterwards. “Anyway, I have to leave now, I can’t tell you more right now, and believe me, it’s better like this.” He sounded determined.

“But...” I started but he interrupted me.

“Don’t tell anyone, when you see me somewhere when people are around don’t come to talk to me, just ignore me. I will do the same.” With this he turned around and left the room. 

Chapter 4 - Part two

“Nao!” I heard someone calling me.

“Nao...” another voice muttered, a male one, which I didn’t recognize.

“What happened?” the first voice asked, I recognized that it was Shosuke. “Why did she faint?”

“She just fainted. I don’t know what happened. Maybe anemia or her blood pressure?”

I tried to concentrate on the answer of the second person, who I still didn’t recognize. He sounded seriously worried. But the soft sound of his voice calmed me down.

“For now I wanted to lay her down and wait. If after a short time she doesn’t come to her senses then I’ll carry her to the infirmary. But then you came here.”

With closed eyes I tried to direct my attention to my surroundings. I felt something soft under my head, which was lifted from the ground other than my body, which felt like it was lying on the ground. I felt for the ground and grabbed something cold, grass. I was lying on a meadow, but why? I tried to remember what happened before. I was looking for something behind the school, in the hidden garden. Someone was there when I found it. Yeah, right, I searched for the handkerchief, and he got there, and claimed that it was his, Maru. Now the question was, why was I lying here? In front of my eyes the picture of a big cat appeared. The tiger! I fainted when it appeared out of nowhere. So I was still lying there where I fainted? I tried to open my eyes. The first thing that I saw was a worried face, which in addition was seriously attractive and way too near to my own face. Maru, my inner voice whispered and recognized him before my eyes could. I blinked a few times because I thought I was imagining him, but until the last blink he still was near me. His face showed his relief. I wanted to sit up because I wasn’t feeling comfortable openly lying on the ground, but he grabbed my shoulder and pushed me down, leaned downwards really near to my ear. “Stay” he whispered. I felt his warm breath on my cheek. His closeness made my head spin. In his words I heard the soft voice which I didn’t recognize before. He left his face near mine. Why didn’t he pull back?

To distract myself I started to feel the ground again. Something suddenly nudged against my hand and something cold, wet touched it. I slightly turned my head and saw a grey tiger. I flinched.

“Shh...” Maru softly stroked my shoulder. He probably felt the nervous twitch. Just now I noticed the reason for my head to be slightly lifted from the ground was him. My head was lying on his lap. No wonder that he felt my flinching.

“D...Ti...Tig...” I stuttered.

“Shh...” he repeated. “It won’t do anything.” He spoke really calmly and continued stroking my shoulder, but his face showed that something was wrong. Either he didn’t trust his own words and the tiger was dangerous, but I doubted that because his other hand was on the animal’s back, or something else was making him feel uncomfortable. What could be worse than a tiger? A grey tiger. Wait a moment, grey? Tigers weren’t grey! A hallucination of the both of us? I couldn’t hold back and reached out for the animals head. It was looking pretty sad. I could see the worry in its eyes. I started to ruffle the tiger’s fur. Its colour started to change. From grey to a dark grey tone, and with every passing second and every stroke it turned into a lighter colour, until it was covered in a shining yellow with silver stripes. I couldn’t resist the smile which was showing on my face when I saw the expression in the animal’s eyes. It was relieved – and beautiful, even when the colours seemed odd.

I tilted my head back to look Maru in the eyes and just wanted to ask why the tiger was here when he again interrupted me. He softly put his finger on my lips and slowly bended down towards my ear, he swiped it with his lips, probably by mistake, and muttered “later”. It was clear that he had something to hide, and I will have some explanation for something which seems impossible.

“Ehm..., if I could bother you...” I looked up to the voice. Sho was standing in front of us and watched me. I totally forgot that I also heard his voice. And when I saw how he lifted his eyebrow and looked down to Maru, I realized that I was still using his lap as a pillow. Sho looked like he was about to make a big fuss about it so I tried to sit up once again, but Maru still wouldn’t let me and used his hand on my shoulder to put pressure on it.

“Why did you faint?” Sho asked. “Anemia?”

“Calm down!” I said.

“Didn’t you eat anything today? Yesterday you were so shaken over a simple handkerchief!”

“Don’t worry. I know what I do.” I myself thought that I sounded a little bit harsh so I wanted to defuse my own words: “but thank you.” I seriously was thankful because of his worry. But I just thought it was embarrassing that we had to have this conversation in front of Maru, because of the handkerchief. And it seemed like Maru didn’t want to talk about the tiger anyway, and it didn’t seem like Sho saw the tiger.

When I noticed Sho still looking at us with his lifted eye brow I tried for the last time to sit up and this time Maru allowed me. I turned around to him and noticed for the first time that he was wearing a black shirt. That meant he was in the SA class, which meant he was special. I didn’t know anyone of that class, not in any of the other years either even though everyone saw them as special and wanted to know them. I didn’t even know one of the pupils’ names in those classes. Until now, though Maru didn’t seem to be his real name. When I looked at him I wondered why I never wanted to know anything about them. When I was still caught up in my thoughts Shosuke brought me back to reality. 

Chapter 4 - Part one

4.

On the next day at school I told Mia, that I had to disappear for a while at the lunch break and that she didn’t had to come with me.

“I wouldn’t be able to go with you anyway” she complained. “Our homeroom teacher wants to talk to me.” You could see her regret not being able to come with me.

When it rang for the break I ran out of the classroom, down the stairs and almost fell down if I hadn’t held on to the railing.

I ran directly towards the school-garden and didn’t stop until I reached the bushes. There I looked around if someone was near me who could see me fighting my way through the bushes. When I was sure no one was watching me I went through it and just a few moments after I found myself at the field.

At first I was stunned again by the beauty of this place but I remembered fast why I came here.

“Where is that hanky?” I muttered.

Systematically I combed the field but I didn’t see any sign of my lost item.

“That can’t be true. Did he remember wrong?”

Because I didn’t know what else to do I went to the flowers and knelt down before them to look at them. I really thought they were beautiful. I wanted to pluck one of them so I reached out with my hand when I noticed a white textile under the flowers. I softly pulled on it. It was the handkerchief.

Lucky me, it’s still clean. I thought, but I still wanted to take it home to wash it again.

All that searching just lasted 20 minutes so I still had 40 minutes until the break was over. I knew that I had to get back but this field was so peaceful I just couldn’t leave it yet. Next to the flowers i laid down on the ground, still holding the hanky in my hand. I lifted it in front of my face and inspected it more carefully. It was strange that the incident of how I got to the hanky seemed oddly familiar but I just couldn’t get a hold of the reason why it was. If I had seen the face of the guy who gave it to me then maybe I would know why it was like a Déjà-vu. My gaze met the stitched name. MARU. I really was curious about who MARU was. I thought about it for a while before I got up to leave the field. When I walked towards the bushes someone else came through it. It startled me so much that I stepped back, stumbled over my own feet and fell down on the ground.

When I recognized the person who was standing in front of me I got a fright. It was the guy from the Club. “You!” I said stunned. “So you really go to our school.”

He reached out to help me up.

“Seems like it” I heard his quiet answer. After I got up he let go of me and put some distance between us. I didn’t know what to say but because I had the feeling I had to have a conversation with him I blurted out the first words that came to my mind: “How did you know about this field?”

He smiled. It was such a sweet smile. This guy knew how to make hearts beat faster. “Almost every break you can find me here. All the flowers in this field were planted by me when I was still a kid. Together with my dad.” He shortly looked at me but turned his head away fast. “What are you doing here?”

“I just searched for something I lost here yesterday.” When he heard my words he swung his head around towards me.

“Yesterday? So it was you.”

“You saw us?” I panicked.

He nodded. “You should really take care where to be seen smooching with others.” I think he didn’t want to sound mean, but it seriously was a borderline comment. Why did he sound so harsh?

I blushed by the snappishness this comment was said with. “We weren’t doing anything like that.” I didn’t know why but I felt the urge of clearing the misunderstanding. I shouldn’t care what a stranger thinks right? But I cared! “He’s my brother’s best friend. We aren’t like that. He just tried to calm me down after telling me what happened after... you know in that Club...” He nodded again. Now his face was showing a soft expression. He got a glance at the handkerchief in my hand. “You searched for that?”

Before I could reply he came towards me and took it.

“Hey! That’s not yours!” I rebelled.

“You mean it’s not yours. Believe it or not, it’s mine.”

What did he just say?

“What, You are Maru?” I stared at him stunned.

He didn’t answer. For a moment it seemed like he was absorbed in thought. I wondered what was going on in his head. Before I could ponder on possibilities I remembered what happened two days ago. The way Kento attacked this guy. His frightening eyes. How the opponent slumped to the ground and could just speak in staccato speech. I still could see the cut in front of my eyes. All the blood. The thought made me feel really sick. I was speechless when I saw him standing in front of me. Wasn’t he feeling any pain? I hoped he didn’t, I already blamed myself about this incident, about his injury, about everything. I shouldn’t have overreacted, my brother shouldn’t have overreacted, over a simple kiss!

What now?

I wanted to ask him how he felt, if he even wanted to talk to me. The thought that he wouldn’t want to be involved with me an unpleasant feeling broadened in my stomach.

Hold it. This guy was a stranger!

Why did I have the feeling of not wanting this guy to turn his back on me? Something on him made me feel drawn to him. When I got a better look at him, the dark hair, the green eyes, he seemed vaguely familiar. The more I looked into his eyes, the deeper I was drawn inside their depth. Just when I thought his eyes were showing yellow spots, I heard a blop and a little animal jumped out of nowhere between us. A striped kitten, no, a tiger cub, with a strange colouring. Instead of gold with dark stripes it had light pink colouring with almost non-visible white stripes.

I felt dizzy, a moment after everything went black.

Chapter 3 - last part

“And I wanted to apologize to you” I ended my little speech. By now we were at the hospital to visit the injured person. Kento attacked a young guy in his twenties and left him an ugly cut. At least he was friendly enough to not show me his disgust too openly, he just smiled.

“Apology accepted” he nodded. Sho and Yu came with me but they were waiting outside the room.

After we finished our business in the hospital Yuichi chauffeured us around to fulfil his duty as a slave. During the drive we talked about my upcoming birthday. Not even two weeks to go until the 19^th of July.

“Mom and Dad will probably be back by then too right?” Yu asked. Our parents loved to travel. But it depended on their work also, because their company send the best workers around to help in other branches around the world. But this time it was a normal vacation as a couple, to have their second honeymoon.

“As far as I remember they wanted to come back for your birthday.” Yuichi continued.

“Really?” Shosuke asked. “I’m looking forward to seeing them again! I really missed them!” his joy was contagious. I was really excited about seeing my parents again also.

“So Nao, I suggest this year we’ll plan your birthday and you’ll just lean back and wait. No back talk!” my brother said.

I didn’t have anything to say against that. When I planned things it always made me crazy because nothing goes the way I want it to. So I both of the guys do what they want.

We almost reached home, when I remembered that I wanted to ask Sho about the hanky. But while my brother was there I didn’t want to ask, because I didn’t want him to know. So I waited for an opportunity to ask him. It came fast. “I have to go shopping for dinner. You can go inside already.” My brother said when we reached home. Then he drove away.

“Sho, where is the handkerchief you took before? I want it back so I can give it back to the right owner.”

The hanky.” He brooded over it while searching his pockets. “Damn!” he yelled. “I think I forgot it in the garden. You know. When I wanted to know where you got it from.”

Damn wasn’t the right word to describe this, I thought.

Chapter 3 - Part four

“Probably I am not the only one anymore knowing this place” he winked. I smiled. He managed to make me smile again. A little bit of distraction for me.

“How embarrassing” I muttered when I thought about what I did in this garden the last few minutes. Sho laughed. “Embarrassing? No, cute.” Again he winked. “But I definitely like your smile more.” I blushed again. “Hmm... but this red in your face suits you too.” He laughed louder.

“Well, thanks.” I said tensed. “Please don’t tell Yu, but go to the hospital with me.”

“Alright. But not like this!” he took the handkerchief from my hand and started to wipe my face. “Now you look more or less like a human again. Though it’s still horrible, but well, who cares.”

 “What kind of compliment are you giving a girl!” I complained.

He gave back the handkerchief. “It wasn’t meant like that. Or was it?” he laughed. I just wanted to take the handkerchief back when he pulled it away again. He strongly stared at something which looked like a stain.

Before I understood what he found out he explained. “Who or what is Maru?” his voice sounded strained.

“Ah, that”, I stuttered. Until that point I hadn’t even noticed that I pulled out that hanky, which I got from that boy. The way he asked me about it made me stutter. “I don’t really know either. It’s not mine.”

Something made his eyes shine, if good or bad I couldn’t see because the shining disappeared the moment I noticed, and he started to grin.

“Was this a present? A little bit too early for a birthday present. Maybe that person wanted to go out with you and gave you this, without waiting for your answer he ran away?”

“Nope, that’s not it.” I stuck out my tongue.

“Tell me” he demanded.

“No” I shook my head.

“Then I’ll tickle you until you do.” I ran away and he ran after me. “Wait!” he shouted.

“No!” I replied and laughed. We were behaving like little kids. I remembered how I loved to play stubborn with him just to make him play catch with me. That we did this again after such a long time was a sign that our friendship didn’t die.

“I’ll get you!” we still were running around in a circle but I got slower.

“I got you!” he said and reached out for my top. I couldn’t hold my balance and fell down, he fell on me. “I said I’ll get you!” he sat up and helped me to turn around, because I fell on my stomach, but he didn’t allow me to get up. He let me lie on my back on the ground. He sat down so that I was squeezed between his legs on the ground.

“Now say, how did you get the hanky?”

“It’s not your business.” I had to hold back the urge to stick out my tongue once again.

“Yeah?” he leaned towards me, so that his face came nearer to mine.“ and how it’s my business.”

“No, it’s not.” His closeness made my heart beat faster. I couldn’t concentrate anymore.

“You shouldn’t have said that.” He started to tickle me

“Stop that!” I said while squeaking.

“First you have to answer.”

“Alright, everything you want.” He still was so close. I even forgot the question. So I asked him to repeat it.

“Where did you get the hanky from?” he came even nearer. Our lips were about to touch. I thought about useless stuff like: he’ll hear my heart beat and that made me feel bashful.

But his question made me come down to earth. I turned away from him.

I told him the story of how I got the handkerchief. How I ran into a guy, when I cried, after running away from Kento. “Because I didn’t look up I don’t know who the person was.” My voice was really quiet and just came brokenly out of my lips.

“I see.” He let go of me, got up and stepped a few steps back. Then he looked up to the sky as if he was avoiding my gaze. “I’m sorry” he murmured.

I got up and didn’t know what to do. He was behaving strangely without a reason and it didn’t seem like he’ll tell me anytime soon why he is like that. I thought about a way to make it more comfortable for both of us but just then we heard Mia calling us. Shosuke heard her too and turned to me.

“Fast, we have to go”, I whispered.

“Why that fast? Can’t she know where we are?” he looked confused.

“Not now or she won’t ever disappear from here.” I winked.

I grabbed his arm and pulled him with me towards the bushes.

“Nao?” again Mia’s voice.

Shosuke pulled his arm out of my grip and got the lead, which was the better choice, because I wasn’t sure where we had to go through the bushes. He helped me to go through them. Just in time. Mia just came around the corner and if she saw us there she wouldn’t think we were on the other side of the bushes.

“Ah, here you are.” She sounded relieved.

“Yeah sorry, we forgot about the time over our serious talk.” Shosuke explained to her. I almost forgot what our talk was about but I still nodded and agreed with him. “I’ll tell you later.”

“Alright, and I’ll leave now. We’ll see each other later anyway. Together with Yu we’ll come to get you and do what we talked about.” He waved, turned around and left. He seemed like he had to disappear really fast from here. When he was out of sight Mia asked worried what he wanted to talk about with me.

“Why do you sound so worried?” I asked because I didn’t understand it.

“Your eyes are red!” she told me. “Something serious must have happened. Tell me about it!”

I told her the short summary of what we talked about, about the information about Kento and the guy who was hospitalized. I didn’t tell her about the handkerchief though and what happened because of it.

“Oh Damn!” I muttered when I remembered Sho still having it.

“What happened?” Mia asked.

“Nothing important. We have to go back. Our free time is almost over.” I replied, held onto her arm and pulled her towards the classroom.

Chapter 3 - Part three

On the next day in school I told Mia about everything that happened the day before. At least the most important parts, I didn’t mention Shosuke, nor the stranger. Just that Kento was in that club and attacked me and that I was saved. I didn’t say any details.

“And what happened to Kento?” she asked.

“I don’t know! But we could ask Yu. He will come later to get me.” I grinned.

Really? Why that? Doesn’t he have a date today?”

“I don’t know, but he owes me.”

We just walked towards the stairs which led down to the school’s garden. Most of our free times we were down there, like just now. Right now there were much less teachers because of the summer flu. It was the beginning of July after all.

“Nao!” I heard a voice behind me. I slowly turned around.

“Shosuke! What are you doing here?” I wondered.

“I don’t have school right now so I wanted to visit my old one and you.” He winked. Mia slowly nudged me to probably tell me: introduce me.

“Well, that’s good. This is Mia, by the way, my best friend. And that’s Shosuke, an acquaintance from my childhood.”

Shosuke grinned. “An Acquaintance, yeah? You  mean your best friend from childhood, after your brother left.”

“You could say it like that too.” I muttered. I knew I was behaving childishly.

“Hello! Nice to meet you!” Mia interrupted.

“Nice to meet you too” he replied. He put on his best smile which helped him to make a lot of girls fall for him. Mia made a sighing noise as in: What an awesome guy. I just shook my head.

“So Sho, you saw me. Something else you want to do?” I asked.

“Don’t be so unfriendly!” She nudged me again. “He came all this way here to see you! How romantic.”

I rolled my eyes. “Mia, it’s different from what you think”, I told her.

Shosuke started to laugh. “Mia, would it be a bother if I abduct Nao for a while? I have to tell her something really important”, he asked.

 “No no” she promptly answered.

He thanked her, grabbed me by my arm and pulled me along.

“Stop! You don’t have to go that far away just to tell me something.” I said angrily when it didn’t seem like he would let go in the near future.

“Yes I have to! I have to tell you something important and I don’t need any witnesses for that. “

He pulled me to the furthermost corner of the garden were the bushes were.

“It has to be here.” He murmured. Then he found a gap between the bushes. “Ah, here it is.” And pulled me along with him through the bushes.

“Here we can talk.” he let go of me.

“Wow” the words slipped out of my mouth. “Where are we?” we were standing on a big field with a lot of colourful flowers. It looked so beautiful here. I never saw this place before.

“I always hid here when I had done something.” He winked.

I nodded. If no one knew this place then it’s a perfect hiding spot.

“So tell me, what’s so important you have to talk about without any witnesses?” I asked. To be alone with him made me kind of nervous.

“It’s about Kento, don’t worry.”

“Why? What happened?”

“I just wanted to tell you what happened in the meantime.” He grinned.

“Yes and so?” I got jittery.

“Nao calm down!” he said when he saw my expression. “After they pulled him out of the club he tried to attack another person. You don’t want to know the details, believe me, but I wanted to tell you this much: Kento was arrested by the police and he probably has to visit a psychiatry. Even without the help of professional people they noticed that screws in his heads weren't fixed properly. And by the way, nothing happened to the guy who was attacked. He’s in hospital and is examined but that’s just because the police saw him being attacked and it’s part of their routine.”

“Oh my god!” I shouted. “Was that my fault?” I sobbed.

“Nao! Nothing is your fault.” He came one step towards me. “Are you listening? He was crazy! You noticed that too, right?” another step. He grabbed me under my chin with his hand and lifted my head up, so that I had to look into his eyes. Then he wiped away my tears.

“It is my fault. Someone was injured.” I yelled. He hugged me. I was too weak to step away from him, and why should I have done that. He was my brother’s friend. I leaned my head against his shoulder and started to cry.

“Shh Nao, calm down”

“I have to go to the guy who was attacked and have to apologize! I want to see him! I have to see him!”

I noticed myself how I was exaggerating but it would have been my fault if the police wasn’t in time to save him. This thought made new tears come to my eyes.

“Oh, sorry.” I heard a voice behind Shosuke. He was in the way to see but with my face being wet from the tears it was probably better that way. I freed myself from his arms and grabbed the hankerchief in my pocket.

Sho turned around so that I could see the boy, more like his back, because he was already disappearing the same way we came here. 

Chapter 3 - Part two

For some reason he couldn’t let go of my shoulders. He looked down at his fingers but they wouldn’t come off. I could see that he was blaming himself and at the same time worried about the stranger, but I was trying to find a way to calm him down. At the end I could just think of one solution. “Yu” help me!” By now my voice was already broke and almost didn’t leave my lips. Yuichi came over and pulled Shosuke away from me towards the couch, where he made him sit.

“What’s gotten into you, man?” he yelled at his friend. “You hurt Nao!”

“Don’t you understand? We couldn’t help her! someone else did!” he sounded so frantic.

“What’s so bad about that? I am standing in front of you, right? Why are you overdoing it? Nothing happened!” I replied, simply angered already. My harsh voice was because I felt the same way as him, I didn’t like the idea of a stranger helping me out, but the other reason I was so harsh was caused through my shoulder pains. But I still didn’t understand what made him feel this uneasy. Shouldn’t he be happy that nothing happened to me? I was still living, and wasn’t that the most important thing?

“Overdoing? Alright, you are standing in front of me. I am happy about that. But just the thought of what would have happened if he wasn’t there makes my knees shudder.” It seemed like he calmed down a little. “But it makes me uneasy that he could help you so easily. He seemed really close to you!” and again he started from the start.

“This makes me feel uneasy too, I have to admit”, Yuichi told us. “I would help another person out too when I see that something like this is happening but still, no one is that fast as that guy and you would still be hit by that first fist, unless...”

“Unless...?” I asked curiously.

“He watched you and was the whole time near you!” both Yuichi and Shosuke yelled at the same time.

That surprised me. I didn’t see a reason for anyone to protect me and put themselves in such a dangerous situation. Maybe the guys knew a good explanation for that.

“What do you mean? Why should someone do that?”

They looked at each other. “We don’t really know that either” my brother admitted.

“But we’ll find out” Shosuke encouraged me after he saw how doubtful I looked.

“Well Nao, it was a long day. Go to bed!” Yuichi said. Usually I wouldn’t listen to him when he tells me something demanding like this, but today I was really tired. It seriously was a long day with a lot of events.

“Alright, I’m on my way.” I turned around and walked towards the door. After a few steps something else came to my mind and I spun around and asked: “Actually I am curious why the both of you weren’t there to help me today when I needed you.”

“Good question.” Shosuke grinned and my brother blushed.

“Yuichi? Do you have to tell me something?” He surprised me. He never showed any expression which could be categorized as bashful.

“Your dear brother was a little bit, how to say, busy. Maybe this is the right word.” Shosuke was obviously having his fun, compared to my brother. I thought about what he just said and understood.

“What? I was in danger and my brother doesn’t have anything better to do than FLIRTING?!”

“Ugh... Nao, didn’t you want to go to sleep?” Yuichi murmured. I noticed how uneasy he felt with this situation and he deserved it. After all he left me alone for his own pleasure even though he was the person who planned his revenge on Kento. It would have been funny to see how fast his wrath was gone when he saw some girls, if the whole situation wouldn’t have been this serious. I took a pillow and threw it at him. Then I walked towards him. Yuichi jumped up and ran away. I ran after him.

“Stop! Suerrender! You have to explain yourself now!” I shouted irritated.

“But Nao” Shosuke intervened. “they were really pretty little things, I have to admit. But they were just having eyes for your brother.”

“The reason behind that, my dear friend, could be that you just had eyes for Nao in that club!” my brother replied. Sho also jumped up and ran after Yuichi, just like me, in the living room.

“That’s not true!” Shosuke yelled revolting. “Don’t you dare say that again!” He, too, threw a pillow at my brother, who then stumbled and fell down. “We got you!” Shosuke and me said at the same time. I sat down on his back and pushed him down on the ground. Shosuke knelt in front of him

“Now talk. How pretty were your flames?” I asked.

“Pretty pretty. Almost comparible to you.” He replied. I grabbed the pillow which made him fall and hit him as hard as I could on his head. “Explain why I can rely on the help of totally unkown strangers, but not on you?”

“Let go of me, Nao! I am seriously sorry! Tomorrow I’ll give you as much ice cream as you want, just let me go!”

“This time you won’t be able to bribe me with ice cream!” I rebelled. “What kind of person do you think I am?”

“I am sorry sis, but I have to do this.” He grabbed my ankles and made me fall of him. Then he got up.

“Not so fast!” Shosuke said, grabbed his arm and threw him back to the ground.

“Alright! I am your slave for tomorrow. Just let go of me! Nao you’ll get as much ice cream as you want and a lot of strawberries, alright? And Shosuke can sleep on my bed this night. I’ll just put something on the floor.”

I thought about his offer. “Alright.”

“Alright too!” Shosuke endorsed.

“Then Nao, go to bed!”

I walked to my room, got my stuff for the bathroom and got ready for bed. At the stairs I shouted “Good Night!” and lied down on my mattress.

I thought about the talk we just had in the living room. It was astounding that someone helped me, and it was unbelievable that my brother cared more about the girls. And what about Shosuke? Why wasn’t he there? When him, himself said that he didn’t care about the girls. Yuichi said he was distracted by me then he probably saw that I was in a dangerous situation. Somehow everything didn’t fit at all.

Distracted by me... What? I blushed in my bed. I probably heard wrong, I thought and closed my eyes. I was sleepy, I almost fell asleep if not the picture of my saviour appeared in my mind. That made me wide awake instantly. Why was he there? I hope I’ll see him soon again, I thought. He looked around my age, so probably a High Schooler too. “Maybe even on the same school” I muttered.

“At least I was saved by a good looking guy” I joked around with myself in a quiet voice. He really was looking good. Tall, dark middle-length hair, dark eyes, but his face was too serious. I hoped I would see him again, even if it’s just to thank him. with his face in my head I fell asleep.

Chapter 3 - Part one

3.

“Nao, we reached home.” My brother’s voice sounded soft. I opened my eyes. I couldn’t remember what happened. The last thing I remembered was how the boy staggered out of the club. After that everything turned black.

The first thing I saw was Yuichi’s relieved face.

“Nao, you returned.” He grinned.

I remembered the green eyes of the tiger and suddenly came fully to my senses. I abruptly sat up and my head started to swirl.

“Nao? Stay calm!” Even though my brother tried to calm me I looked around to search for the animal which fascinated me so much. That red fur, the black stripes, it looked so mesmerizing, an amazingly beautiful animal, even if the colours were kind of strange. Maybe it was a new type of animal, an experiment? Then I remembered how it just made “poof” and disappeared. So was it again an imagination? But I had touched it... I looked down to my hands and saw that I was clinching my fist together. When I opened it there were a few hairs still in my hand. So it couldn’t have been an illusion. But something else was the matter. I was too curious. I had to find out!

“What happened? Did I miss something? I looked at the direction where I heard that voice from and saw Shosuke standing in the door of MY room. Now I realized that we were at home and I was in my own bed.

“Ah, I understand. Nao is awake. Hey Nao.” Open-mouthed I stared at him. I didn’t want to feel weak in front of other people, but now lying in my bed I did. I tried to crawl under my blanket but Yuichi hold onto it. “What are you trying to do?” he asked. Okay, I admit, it probably looked funny how I moved suddenly... but! “Two guys in a girls room. OUT!” I screamed. Both held their ears. Shosukes’ grin got even wider, if it was even possible. He slowly came towards me and knelt down beside my bed. I should have known that he’ll do that. Angrily I pulled the blanket from under my brothers fingers as hard as I could and hid inside.

“Come on, Nao, it’s not like you had to be ashamed for anything. I even saw you naked before. And now you are dressed, maybe a little bit pale from what happened. Isn’t that reassuring? Just come on and calm down!” I folded down the blanky and looked into his mischievously shining eyes.

“Paddle pond-nudity doesn’t count. And congratz, you just gave me another reason to throw you out! Don’t you have an own home? Disappear!” Now I also was raged. All the events that happened that day I just couldn’t take his jokes anymore. It was too much. Any other day would have been alright but not that day. Somewhere in my conscious I knew that I was overreacting, but who could blame me after what happened? And the shock about everything made me want to distract myself from everything. To be angry at Shosuke and Yuichi was one of the ways.

“Usually I do have an own home, but for this night I’ll have another accommodation.” Shosuke answered.

Surprised I turned to Yuichi. “What is he talking about?”

“Well, because I’m back he’ll stay with us for one day. Like in the past.” He sharply looked at me. “Nao, what kind of problem do you have right now? You are fully dressed and are just lying in your bad after going through a big shock. You don’t have a reason to be this upset.”  Urgh.... he said it...

“He’s right, Nao! You’re being mean to us, that’s unfair!” Shosuke agreed with him. They had a point. But I still couldn’t accept it.

If they were in my place and I would stand in their door with my girl friends they would behave exactly the same as I do right now. They would be embarrassed to death to be seen in a weak state by other girls. And that’s how I told it to them. “Now disappear BOTH of you!” They looked at each other, got up and walked towards the door. “Okay Nao, when you rested come down to the living room. We’ll wait for you, you have to come down! If we have to we’ll wait the whole night!” my brother warned me. Then both left the room.

To be honest I didn’t want to go down to their side, so I didn’t get up of my bed for a while. In my head I recapitulated the events of the evening. Something went immensely wrong, or why else would I be lying around in this weak state? I thought about the boy who helped out in the club. I saw him somewhere before I thought, his facial features seemed familiar. But I couldn’t remember where I could have seen him. Maybe we just crossed our ways one day, coincidentally, and I remembered his face? Or because of the dark in the club I confused him with someone. But I was kneeling beside him so I got a really good sight of his face. I wondered when I could thank him for his help. I had to find him somehow. He helped me out after all and I was worried about him. it didn’t seem like he was very fond of hospitals from his reaction to Shos’ advice to visit there. I just hoped that he’ll survive. But right now the more important thing was the talk with my brother. He had to explain why a stranger got injured instead of him. Not that I wasn’t happy that my brother wasn’t injured, but when he was there to get his revenge, why did a stranger got it for him.

When I gathered up the courage and strength to get up, I put the fur which was still in my hand into a little box which was on my night table and went down the stairs to the living room. There I saw how Yuichi and Shosuke put their heads together and were talking excited about something which seemed interesting and amusing at the same time. They were grinning like a Cheshire Cat. They didn’t notice that I came into the room. I went up to them and tried to look at stupid as them. “What’s so amusing?” I asked.

Both were startled. They stared at me for a while before they dared to answer that question.

“Tell me!” I pushed them.

“First sit down!” Yuichi calmed me down. I looked at both of them, one by one, and slowly sat down on the floor. Then I looked expectantly up.

“You see Nao” Shosuke started, “we thought that the guy who helped you out at the club and you seemed really familiar together. And above all the part where he held onto you and didn’t want to let go.” He grinned.

What was he talking about? Yeah he held hands with me, because he was helping out, there was never the point where we seemed familiar with each other, or was there?

“What do you mean?” I asked cautiously.

“See Nao, he entwined your fingers together! Wasn’t that already really suspicious?“ Yuichi answered. “Could you tell me where you met him without being shy?”

What kind of scenarios were they thinking about? “I don’t know him” I said.

“What do you mean you don’t?” Shosuke asked totally startled. “He was a complete stranger? You never met him before?” Now he started to get worried.

When I didn’t answer he came towards me and grabbed my shoulders.

“Answer Nao! This can’t be true!”

Why was he so upset? Didn’t he help me out? He should be happy! Even if he was a stranger he was a good person. He even got injured for my sake! Right when I wanted to say that my brother interrupted me: “Calm down, Sho! What’s your problem? Wasn’t it nice of him to help out?”

“Yeah nice! But it was a complete stranger! Something seems wrong! I can’t believe it! An unknown person helps Nao, and we, her family can’t do anything!” Shosuke sounded really desperate. I seriously didn’t understand his problem, his mood changed too often and too fast and his grip on my shoulders got stronger.

“Ouch!” I called out. “Sho you are hurting me!”

Chapter 2 - last part

He smirked. “Every time someone wanted to come near you, I got rid of them. What else could I mean?” He shrugged, as if it was the most normal behaviour to claim someone to oneself. And of all the things the way he, Kento, did it.

“And how did you do that?” I asked harshly. I already awaited the worst of the worst answer to this, which made me really worried. I could imagine from how I got to know him, what kind of methods he used.

“I had my methods.” He grinned broadly, really proud with his success.

“You...” he interrupted me before I could start to insult him by strongly grabbing my arm. “Let go!” I yelled and got up.

“Why should I? I told you already: YOU’RE MINE!”

“NO!” I screamed at him, but the only thing I saw was how he raised his hand. He was about to hit me. Just because I was opposing him. This guy was seriously sick. How could Mia even consider going out with someone like him. How did he coax her into it? Right when his hand was about to hit my face I first felt the cold breeze, the growl of a cat vibrated through my body, and at the next moment his fist was blocked.

“Hey, idiot, you can’t treat a lady like this.” Another guy was standing between us. Really calm and holding Kentos arm. It was neither Shosuke nor Yuichi. I never saw this person before, but he seemed familiar. I neither knew where I saw his facial features before, nor where I heard this voice, even if it was distorted with rage. It was too dark to exactly see his face but this guy was really tall too, at least 20 cms more than me.

„What do you want?“ Kento asked. „This is not your business. Don’t meddle with us. I know how to treat my girlfriend.“

„Your girlfriend? That’s what you wished was true. And it doesn’t look like it at all, the way she behaves doesn’t seem like love. And by the way: she’s taken already. I’m sorry, right?“ he turned towards me and winked, so that Kento couldn’t see it. My mouth opened wide, tongue-tied. This totally unfamiliar guy wanted to help me, even though he saw what kind of person will be his opponent. Was he insane? Mentally ill? Or simply suicidal? Everyone with brains wouldn’t step in when seeing such a scene, like we had in that club. Though usually I think it’s awesome if they did, but no one does in real life. Most of the people would scream for help, which could be more helpful. With that in mind I looked around, because I remembered the breeze I felt. But nothing could be seen. Even Kento stared at that guy. He probably thought the same as me, he must have felt the breeze and heard the growl of the cat, at least I thought so until he found his tongue again. “This can’t be true!” he rampaged, about to have a fit. “And she even said she doesn’t have a boyfriend!” The reason he looked so disbelieving was probably because he knew this guy as good as me. And so he wondered how I got him as my lover. “Then just ask her!” the guy said. His gaze was challenging. He probably knew my answer already, because at this situation every kind of rescue was welcome, which was reasonable. Kento looked at me. Because I didn’t find another way I just agreed. “Yeah, seems like you didn’t do a good job.” I hoped he didn’t notice how weak my voice got. I broke away from Kento and got behind the other guy. I grabbed his t-shirt and from his side I looked at Kento. The guy took my hand, intertwined our fingers and pulled me to his chest. “Seems like you were too late” my saviour joked around and lowered his head towards mine, in slow motion I could see how he came nearer towards my shivering lips.

“We’ll see.” By now Kentos’ wrath was almost corporeal. He got rid of the arm which was still grabbing his and struck out to get back at my helper. But he reacted in a lightning speed, by releasing my fingers and getting in front of me and let Kento hit him without flinching. “If this makes you happy” were the words he told to the attacker. Now Kento seriously was mad. He dug his hand into his jeans-pocket. Before I realized what’s happening, he pulled out a pocketknife and came at me. While doing that he yelled in a loud voice: “When I can’t have her, no one can!” The other guy reacted just in time by getting in Kentos’ way, pushing me away and getting hit with the knife into his stomach where it was stuck. As soon as he fell on his knees you could hear the roar of an animal, probably the same as before, but now I noticed that if this is a cat, it has to be a giant cat. I yelled freaked out. Only now I realized how quiet it got in the club. All attendants were watching our little show, but right now I didn’t care about that. The guy was bleeding a lot from the cut which he was holding. I hurriedly got to him and kneed down beside him

“Oh my God, are you alright?” The words brokenly left my mouth. I didn’t know what to do and immediately grabbed the knife to pull it out. At that moment I didn’t think about if I even could pull it out. On the side I noticed the crowd going towards Kento to put distance between him and us. Ironically it didn’t occur to them earlier that we could need help.

“I didn’t want that.” This statement came really quiet and no one of the people standing around attached value to it. He was dragged out of the Club.

Yuichi came towards me. “Nao? Are you alright?” His voice was full of worry but I couldn’t concentrate on it. I even forgot whom I came with to the club. I was still holding the knife which was stuck to the stomach of the stranger. I closed my eyes and just wanted to pull it out when I felt fingers grabbing my wrists. I opened my eyes. The first thing I saw were the green eyes of a big cat. Before I fell down backwards the guy held me and hindered me on pulling the knife out by mistake, which most likely was better this way. He released the handle from my hand and grabbed it himself with his other hand. He probably wanted to spare me because it seemed like he himself wouldn’t do it. While doing that he loosened the grip on my wrists so that I could pull it out, but when I tried his fingers grabbed mine. He tried to get my attention which was swaying to the cat in front of me. I entwined my fingers with his. He softly swept over my fingertips. The tiger was just calmly sitting in front of us. Just now I noticed that it had strange colours.

“Shosuke!” my brother interrupted my thoughts.

“I’m on my way! The first-aid kit was hard to find”, he answered, but I still couldn’t concentrate on them. I just stared at the colours of the animal. It was red. The stripes were black. So it was a tiger, but why was it red? Shosuke kneeled down on the other side of the guy and treated him fast. When we talked before he mentioned that he took some first-aid courses, but I didn’t expect him to show me this fast. He pulled the knife out, which made a really disturbing slick noise and cleaned his wound thoroughly. The cut didn’t seem as big anymore, but I still was worried. The knife was deep in his flesh. I saw that he had a lot of pain by looking at his grim face. Even if it wasn’t a big cut the deepness must have made the pain worse. While he was treated I slowly reached out at the tiger with my hand. It stayed calm, didn’t try to bite my hand or to hit me with its paw. I started to softly pet it and it purred happily. And suddenly it was gone. It vanished into thin air. I blinked and looked again, but where the tiger was sitting just a few moments ago, I just found its fur, red hair. No one noticed it. I noticed that Sho was also finished with his work but I was totally shocked because of the tiger, and I couldn’t help the guy to get up after he got treated. More like I was pulled up with the guy together.

“I would suggest you to go to the hospital” Shosuke said, but the addressed person just shook his head.

“Not necessary.” He answered through clenched teeth. Then his eyes met mine, insecure, and then slid down to our :fingers which were still intertwined. He immediately let go and murmured a “sorry”. After that he turned around. “Wait” I called out to him. He turned around and pleadingly looked at me, as if he didn’t want me say something which I’ll regret later, but I couldn’t stop myself. “You saw it too, right?”

With a light nod he turned around and staggered out of the club.