Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Haruka, if you don’t get up now you’re going to be late for school! This is the last time I’m telling you!” Haru's mother called from downstairs. She could hear her voice through the shut door and the blankets covering her head.

“I’m coming, I’m coming…” she muttered groggily, still half-asleep.

“Haruka!” her mother’s voice called once more.

“I’m coming!” she yelled this time, throwing her pillow at the door.

After kicking the blankets away, she rolled out of the heavenly warmth and landed on the floor with a crash. Now completely awake, she smiled when she heard her mother mutter a complaint about the racket she caused every morning. Glancing at the clock hanging on her wall, she noted that she did not have very long to get ready, so she got up. As she swapped her sleeping attire for her school uniform, she kicked her pillow back onto the bed. Save for a short comb through her shoulder-length brown hair, she didn't spend much longer on her appearance before stumbling down the stairs.

“I'm off!” Haru yelled at her mother as she shoved a piece of bread into her mouth and grabbed her schoolbag. All that while she skipped through the hall, trying to pull on her shoes without losing too much time. Before long, the door slammed shut and Haru was on her way to school.

Halfway there, she allowed herself to take a look at the time on her phone. With a smile she found that she had left earlier than expected, and so she decided to take it slow for the rest of the walk.

It seemed as if today would be a pleasant day. She could see the clear sky, beautifully blue as only a summer sky could be, without too many clouds. The summer weather hadn't quite arrived yet, and the lack of sweltering heat or a cold winter's wind made her feel almost like floating.

She had a feeling that today was going to be her lucky day…

With a sigh, she stared at the piece of paper that her teacher had just handed to her. The look of disappointment on his face had been enough to inform her about the results she had gotten for her latest test.

Just like all the others before this one.

Failed. Again. Her lucky day, huh?

Well, her locker had been empty this morning when she had switched to her indoor shoes. But then again, nothing had happened for the past few weeks. All because she tried to keep her distance from her classmates?

Whenever she had the ill luck to talk to a boy who happened to be the crush of one of the girls in her class, they would start to bother her. Since their crushes happened to change every now and then, and because Haru had not managed to befriend any of her female classmates, she had no way of knowing who liked when.

In the beginning, she had tried to become friends with them. But she never knew what to say and when to say it; boys were simply much easier to communicate with. They treated her like one of them, while the girls usually treated her like a lackey, if they paid her any attention in the first place.

And so instead of trying to make friends with the people in her class and risking certain death, she had decided to stay away from everyone. It made for rather lonely schooldays, but she preferred silence to bullying.

The brunette sighed as she stared at the sheet of paper lying on her desk. Friends or no, that did not take away from the fact that she failed at basically everything but sports and maths. She thought back to the other test she had taken some time ago, of which she should receive the results any day now. If she managed to pass it, she would get a recommendation that might allow her into a special sports school.

A small smile appeared on her face as she thought of the possibility of actually getting into that school. She would have to do nothing but her favourite pastime all day long, every day. And some occasional studying, of course, but she was sure that even that would become a cinch.

“Sato-san, please try to keep your mind in the classroom,” Haru's teacher said, cutting through her train of thought.

Her cheeks burned bright red as she moved her gaze to the blackboard at the front of the class. Even then, she couldn't concentrate on the task at hand. Next class was maths, though, so it didn't really matter.

Yes, maths and sports, that was really all there was to Haruka Sato.

The sound of a bell signalled the end of the day. Without even listening to the teacher, who quickly tried to finish his last sentence, the students packed their bags and rushed out of the room. Haru, as usual, waited until he had given up trying to speak before leaving. She politely nodded her head at the teacher on her way out, though he hadn't seen.

Students crowded the hall outside, making so much noise that Haru couldn't hear herself think. They made plans to do homework or other things together, or said goodbye to their friends before leaving for the lockers.

A group of boys from her class ran past her, and one of them bumped into her.

“Sorry, Sato,” the boy – Arata Fujimoto was his name – started.

“Don’t worry about it, Fujimoto-san,” she replied, deliberately adding honorific.

“Would you like to join us in our game?” he continued, tilting his head as he waited for her response.

"Ah... I..." Haru began. The voice in her mind screamed at her to say no, but she heard herself ask, "What game?"

Fujimoto grinned at her before pointing to his friends, who stood waiting on him a distance away. Two girls stood with them as well, and Haru recognised them from her class as well. "We wanted to go and play baseball. Want to join us?"

“I, uhm," she stammered. What was wrong with her? She had never been this awkward when talking to others. Any minute now and they'd all start to believe she had a crush on this boy. That seemed to spur her tongue back into action. "I'm sorry, but I can't. Homework, you know?"

She even managed to throw in an apologetic smile. Fujimoto merely shrugged and gave her a quick wave before running off to join his friends.

As she made her way to the lockers as well, she tried her best to ignore the happy faces surrounding her. She couldn't help but be jealous of them, even though she chose to create the distance between herself and her classmates on her own. Even some of the other girls in her class had tried to befriend her, but for some reason it had never worked out. Girls were just too much of a hassle, in her eyes. They wanted to go shopping together, or visit cake shops, or spend evenings together doing nothing but talking. Haru didn't even know whether she had enough to talk about to fill an entire hour, much less an entire evening.

The closest thing she had had that she could compare to a friendship was when a stray dog had roamed around the street where she lived. Each day after school she had shared her lunch with him, whether the sun shone or whether it had rained all day. But suddenly he had stopped coming, and after asking around it had become clear that someone had called the police to put the poor thing to sleep. Her father, to be specific.

As Haru unlocked her locker, she said a little prayer and opened it only to find it just like she had left it – empty. With a sigh, she reached in to grab her outdoor shoes. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw an envelope swirl to the ground. She bent down to pick it up but didn’t dare to open it.

Only when she had switched her shoes and closed her locker again did she force herself to open it. As she made her way out of the building, she tore it with so much care that it took her far too long to get it open, but when she did she could feel her heart beating in her throat. The official insignia of that sports school was printed at the top of the letter that came out of the envelope, and she slowed down to read what it said.

We are sorry to inform you…

Her feet stopped moving, one of them hanging in the air as she stared down at the paper in disbelief. How was it possible to fail the admission exams for a school where sports were the main subject? Was she really that stupid?

Her brain hadn't even processed the results in the letter when she began to think of what she would have to do. How could she tell her parents about this? Of course they had hoped that she wouldn’t 'throw her life away with something that couldn’t guarantee her a stable income.' Especially her father hadn't approved of any of this.

But if she told them that she had managed to fail to get accepted into that 'useless place where no one has a proper future ahead of them'...? She could already feel her father’s fist on her face. In a reflex her hand went up to her face, as if her body already expected the punishment as her other hand crumpled the letter into a ball.

“Failed a test?” A voice from behind her scared the shit out of her and she held back a scream by clapping her hand over her mouth.

Whirling around, surprise quickly replaced her fright when she realised who stood behind her. Mikoto Suoh was an unusual character with ruffled bright red hair and eyes that looked both warm and cold at the same time. He had never spoken to you before, so why would he start doing so now?

Suoh frowned as he got to see Haru's face and she wondered what had upset him. But then she felt her eyelashes had grown heavy, and before she even knew what had happened, she rubbed her arm against her face to wipe the tears away before they could fall.

Neither of them said anything else and she just stared off into the distance, her mind once more back to that damned letter, while the redheaded boy continued to investigate her face for any further signs of pain.

“Why were you crying?” he asked rather abruptly.

For a moment Haru faltered, wondering if the normal rules of social interaction meant nothing to him. Especially the most important one of not asking someone about their tears when they had made it quite clear that it was not something they wanted to talk about.

“I wasn’t crying,” she replied in a curt tone, averting your gaze again.

“Yes you we–” he started once more, but was cut off when Haru threw her wrinkled ball of letter into his face. He managed to catch it before it hit him and stared at it in confusion.

When he looked back up, he was surprised by the fact that Haru had already begun to run off. For the first time in a long time he thought that he might not be able to catch up with someone. Torn between not caring and curiosity as to what had brought this strange girl to tears, he examined the crumpled paper in his hand before unfolding it, trying his best not to tear it.

We are sorry to inform you that you did not pass the entrance examinations for x school, oriented to train athletes to their maximum potential.

Average scores:
Math: B
Science (Physics, Biology, Chemistry): D
Social Science (Geography, History): F
Language (Modern/Classical Japanese texts): D
Foreign Language (English): B
Health and Physical Education: A
Arts: D
Home Economics: C
Citizenship: E

It took Haru three days to muster up enough courage to put a stop to her routine of avoiding any and all contact with her fellow students. Technically, since he wasn't part of her class, it shouldn't cause her too much trouble, right?

Her classmates shot her curious glances as she got up and left the room. After all, she normally spent her breaks eating her food at her desk while reading some manga.

With her manga tucked beneath her arm and her hands holding the bento her mother had prepared for her, Haru pushed all the doors with her foot as she searched for him. She had already had a look in the cafeteria, but she hadn't found him there, so she decided to take a peek outside. Once out of the building she didn’t even have to look for him, since his red hair stood out no matter where he went.

Mikoto Suoh sat beneath a tree, his arms folded behind his head with his eyes closed. Haru didn't even know whether he was asleep or not, but she soon found out when she sat down next to him. He opened an eye and stared at her just as she wanted to take a bite of her lunch.

She froze to the spot, her mouth wide open and her chopsticks hanging in the air. It must have made for an amusing image, because the redhead grinned all of a sudden. For a moment Haru couldn't help but wonder why people avoided this boy. They called him dangerous, didn't they?

“You want some too, Suoh…san?” she asked, picking her words with care.

“Mikoto.”

“Eh?”

“Just call me Mikoto.”

“Okay then… Mikoto… Do you want some too?” she asked in a second attempt to get him to warm up to her.

He only stared at her for a few seconds before shaking his head and going back to sleep. Or so Haru assumed. Oh well, that meant more for her!

The brunette was just about to take her first bite when Mikoto decided to grab her attention again by poking her with something. Slightly frustrated, she shoved the piece of fruit into her mouth and watched as he held up a piece of paper in a horribly wrinkled state. Haru put your chopsticks down and accepted it, looking it over again. Without thinking she pressed her hand against her face again.

Before she could realise what was going on, Mikoto had grabbed her hand and examined her face. She saw a sign of recognition flicker through his amber eyes as he noticed the almost invisible swell of her cheek and the make-up she had used to cover up the bruise.

“Who did this?” he asked, his voice calm.

Haru only shrugged and looked back at the letter which now rested in her lap. Much to her relief Mikoto didn’t pry any further and seemed to deem it too unworthy to use his precious energy to fret about. The two of them sat in silence, save for her munching and his breathing.

And that was how Haruka met the man who would change her life forever.

Chapter Text

Weeks flew by in the company of Mikoto and it made Haru realise just how lonely she had been, isolating herself from everyone else in fear of getting hurt. That fear never did subside, because it didn’t take long before people raised their brows at the amount of time she spent with the boy who scared everyone away with a single look.

But still, she felt safe when around him. Nobody would dare to even spare her a glance, so she would be the last to start complaining about his friendship.

She had learnt a few surprising things about him. For instance, he looked older than that he actually was, for instance. He was only in the second year of high school while she was already in her last! The brunette had also found out that he had a few friends, whom she had met and befriended herself in the past few weeks.

First of all there was Izumo Kusanagi, a young man with short, shaggy blond hair and warm, brown eyes. He had already graduated and had become a barkeeper at his very own bar, HOMRA, which he had inherited from an uncle only a year ago. Haru had met him when she had followed Mikoto one day after school, and she had ended up having a rather lively conversation with the man, who seemed to enjoy talking just as much as she did.

That day she also met his other friend, Tatara Totsuka, who was about two years younger than Mikoto himself and still went to middle school. He had hair almost as long as that of herself, though of a lighter brown colour, and a pair of brown eyes that almost matched her own. Except his were calm and almost cold, while hers always held some emotion or the other, easily visible to anybody who cared to look. He had treated her friendly enough that day, talking with her just as much as Kusanagi had, however something about him had seemed off. She couldn't put her finger on it, so she had dropped it.

The four of them had spent the rest of the day together in the bar, occasionally trying to do some homework. Haru had helped Mikoto and Tatara with maths and English, seeing as how those were the only things she knew anything about. In return they had tried their best to help her with her science homework, but she was so hopeless that even Izumo couldn’t help you.

“Haruka, wake up!” Her mother’s voice interrupted her dream and got out of bed almost at once.

“Coming!” she yelled in response as she fulfilled her daily routine of changing her clothes and brushing her hair.

Downstairs, however, she stopped dead in her tracks when she heard her father's voice coming from the dining room. Why was he still here? Wasn't he supposed to be at work?

Haru looked around the corner into the room and saw him sitting in the spot her mother always reserved for him, at the head of the table. He was eating his breakfast while having a conversation with her mother.

Immediately straightening her back and preparing the most polite tone she could muster, she entered the room.

“Good morning, father,” Haru greeted him, relaxing slightly when she saw him nod in return. She didn't ask him why he was still here and just accepted the sandwich her mother offered her. She knew fully well that her daughter didn't want to sit down and have an intimate breakfast with that man, even if she had gotten up earlier than usual.

“I’ve heard you’ve been getting rather friendly with a certain boy,” her father commented, his face blank. Haru froze to the spot, dreading what would come.

He turned to look at her but she averted her gaze, not wanting to see that stare that she had come to hate years ago. When he realised he wasn’t going to get her undivided attention, he got up and made his way towards her. Another thing she had learnt was that if she shrank back now, everything would turn out much worse.

His fingers grabbed her chin to turn her face to look at him and she felt his nails digging into her skin. She didn't dare show any signs of pain. Not right now, at least.

“Stay away from Mikoto Suoh,” he commanded and though he almost whispered the words, she could feel the threat hidden behind them.

When she didn’t reply, he lashed out, his hand coming into contact with the right side of her face. It stung like hell and she felt as though her cheek burned, but she didn’t wince, didn’t whimper, didn’t show any signs of pain save for the flickering emotions in her eyes. She hid those by closing them.

“Have I made myself clear?” He voiced it like a question, but she knew it was anything but.

“Yes.”

“Yes what?”

“Yes, father.”

Haru let out an inaudible sigh as he let her face go, satisfied with her response. Without another word, she glanced at her mother who, as always, busied herself with something else before making her way back upstairs. She forced herself to eat the sandwich though she didn't feel hungry anymore.

Looking in the mirror, she noticed the redness of her cheek and the two spots on her chin. Her clock told her that she still had enough time to conceal the bruises, so she started at once.

The brunette couldn’t concentrate on what the teacher was saying no matter how hard she tried to. The thought of Mikoto sitting outside by himself kept on forcing its way into her mind and she couldn’t help but feel guilty for leaving him all by himself so suddenly.

After what seemed years, lunch break finally did arrive and she decided to find a spot inside the school building where she wouldn't find the redhead. Because of the beautiful weather many people had decided to eat outside for once, leaving enough room in the cafeteria for her to eat her lunch without any disturbances.

Or so she had thought.

“Oi, this is our table,” a boy she couldn't recognise snapped at her, his brows furrowed.

“Sorry,” she muttered as she got up to leave, but apparently that wasn't what they had wanted either.

“Why aren’t you with Suoh, anyway? Lovers’ quarrel?” The boys surrounding him laughed at what he must have meant as an insult.

“That’s none of your business.” More laughter.

“It’s none of our business. She says it’s none of our business, did you hear that?” another boy sneered.

Why couldn't she talk to Mikoto if she wanted to? They themselves didn’t have anything to do with him, so why didn't they allow you to have at least one friend?

People stopped to stare at the group, watching in anticipation to see what would happen next. In her paranoia Haru began to accuse them all of wanting to see her live a lonely, miserable life just so they had something to entertain themselves with.

“Hey, don't just stand there!” the first boy growled while grabbing the collar of her school uniform, lifting her so that only her toes touched the ground.

And all she did was stare down at him. This sad little human being who didn’t have anything better to do than to pick on outcasts weaker than himself wasn’t worth her attention and she wanted to make him realise this through her gaze.

“Bitch…” he grumbled and in a flash, he had kicked her in the stomach, catching her off-guard.

“Yoshirou!” a girl screamed, making him drop her. She fell to her knees and began to dry heave, though she had nothing inside of her to throw up.

“What, you asked me to get a table?” he muttered at the girl who Haru could vaguely recognise as one of her classmates. The boy shrank back when he noticed a teacher behind her.

“Yes, get a table! Not hurt people!” she yelled as she helped you up while the teacher took care of the boys.

Haru couldn't remember much of what happened after that, except for the fact that the girl took you to the nurse's room. A deep rumbling sound came from behind her but she didn't recognise who spoke or what they said. The next thing she knew was that a strong hand began to drag her down the hall and into the room they had headed towards.

The brunette came to when something cold met her face and she shot up in surprise. The first thing she noticed then was something red out of the corner of her eye and even before she had turned to look she knew that Mikoto occupied the chair next to her.

“The nurse said you should rest for a while before going back to class,” he said, not asking any questions about what had happened or why it had happened.

Haru thought of the girl – no, there had been more people from her class who had watched the scene unfold, concerned. Frowning, she looked outside, wondering if she had gotten it wrong all this time.

Always cautious, always accusing others of not accepting her for who she was… Maybe she had been the one at fault all this time. She had closed herself off from the people around her in fear of a repetition of what had happened a while ago, but she had overlooked the possibility of people changing and growing up.

She had been fighting a one-sided war all this time and it took a kick to the stomach to realise it… How pathetic.

A hand on her cheek pulled her back to the here and now, and she noticed Mikoto’s frown, his eyes trained on the hidden bruise on her face. How did he always see these things no matter how much she tried to hide them?

“My father likes using his hands,” she said.

Her words didn’t surprise him, as if he had already expected it. She could see that something else bothered him, though she knew that asking him about it wouldn't work.

Why didn’t you come?

“He doesn’t want me to hang around you.”

A stern look crossed his face and Haru felt the hand against her face twitch slightly.

“Don’t worry. I think I’m done listening to him,” she told him with a smile.

Looking over at the clock, she realised that they had missed almost half their lunch break and decided that she didn’t feel like going back to class afterwards. “What do you say we skip school for today and go and visit Izumo at the bar?”

Mikoto scrutinised her, his eyes narrowing as he checked her over for any signs of pain from the fight. If one could consider it that in the first place. One could perhaps call it the embarrassing beating of a stupid girl who had thought herself more important than others. She had needed that beating.

“Don’t worry about me. I’m fine, really!” She pressed her hand against his face to push his gaze away from her before she jumped off the bed, relieved to find that the pain from the kick had already disappeared almost completely.

When she returned to the cafeteria to retrieve her bag, she noticed that nobody paid any attention to her, which made that task much easier than she had expected. Had it always been like that? Had she just imagined it every time she thought they stared at her?

It didn't take long before she joined up with Mikoto in front of the school building. He stood staring up at the sky with what seemed like a longing look on his face.

“What’s wrong? Don’t tell me it is Mikoto Suoh’s dream to be a bird in the sky?” she teased him before she grabbed his hand to pull him along to the exit of the school grounds.

He clicked his tongue but failed to hide the small smile on his face. With a shrug he replied, “Who knows.”

“But if you were a bird, then I would have no one to have fun with anymore!” she exclaimed, feigning disappointment as the two of you crossed the street, heading in the direction of the bustling city.

The redhead didn’t respond to that, and Haru felt her mood sink a little, but she didn't let it get to her any more. After all, she hadn’t seen Izumo in a week and she had begun to miss his cheerful demeanour. And Tatara! Though he had seemed strange to her, his careless view on life managed to rub off on her whenever he was nearby. When in his presence, one could just forget about the troubles outside the doors of HOMRA, even if just for a little while.

“Watch out.” Mikoto’s voice interrupted her musings, an arm shooting out in front of her to stop her from walking onto the street. A row of cars raced by only moments later and she stared at them in confusion, her brain not yet caught up with what had just happened.

“Th-thank you…” she stammered, her hands clutching the arm floating in front of her.

She didn’t let go of it when he lowered it to his side. She didn’t let go of it even when he commented on how his arm had started to tingle beneath her death grip. She dared to let go of it only when she saw the doors to her favourite bar – also the only one she had ever visited – so that she could run through the doors and greet the man standing behind the counter with a bear hug.

“Yes, yes, I missed you too, Haru-chan,” Izumo greeted her, patting her on the back as he did so. Hearing the nickname roll off his tongue made her forget the shock from a few minutes ago, and she found herself in a sudden state of bliss.

Mikoto entered the shop a few moments later and glanced at their position – Haru leaning over the counter in order to hug the bartender – for half a second before greeting his friend as well. He settled in a stool next to the brunette, who only then pulled her arms back from around her friend's neck.

“So, why are you guys here? You didn’t blow the school up, did you?” Izumo asked. He probably wouldn't have found it surprising if the brunette had nodded guiltily.

“Nah, there was just some trouble at school and I didn’t feel like going to class anymore. So I dragged Mikoto all the way here,” she replied with a wide grin instead.

“She got kicked,” Mikoto stated in his usual lazy tone, his chin resting on the palm of his hand with his eyes closed. He didn't seem impressed by the thought of one of his friends getting hurt.

“You what?” Izumo eyes snapped towards Haru, his eyebrows raised in surprise.

“I didn’t get kicked. It was just… a friendly pat.”

“To the stomach?” Mikoto cracked an eye open and the brunette noticed that he actually found this rather amusing. Oh well, as long as someone was having fun.

“To the stomach.”

“You almost threw up,” Mikoto retorted and she shrugged.

“You what?!" Izumo exclaimed.

“It was a very enthusiastic pat to the stomach. With the knee, all right?”

The door opened and Haru turned to see who had entered, hoping it wasn't a customer.

“Ah, funny meeting you guys here!” Tatara called out as he made his way over to them. He patted Mikoto on the shoulder and ruffled Haru's hair slightly. He didn’t question the fact that everyone but Izumo was supposed to be at school in that moment. “What’s going on?”

“Haru got kicked,” the redhead replied before anyone else could and from the corner of her eye Haru actually caught him smirking at her.

"You what?” Tatara asked in shock before she could strangle Mikoto.

“Don’t worry, it was just a friendly pat,” Izumo added, having regained his usual mischievous attitude.

“To the stomach.” If only she could get her hands on that damned redhead...

“She almost threw up.” And Izumo would follow him into the afterlife!

With a dramatic sigh, she gave up trying to stop them and decided to make the most of it.

“Don’t worry, it was just a very enthusiastic pat to the stomach. With the knee.”

Chapter Text

Luckily for Haru, the next day was Saturday so she decided to stay in bed until her head almost felt like exploding from sleeping too much. She ignored her mother calling for her to get up. In the end it took her father’s booming voice to get her to crawl out of her bed.

“Good morning,” she yawned at her mother who gave a disapproving look at the clock on the wall.

“It’s already past noon,” she muttered as she handed her a bowl with some rice in it.

The brunette thanked her as she accepted it and began to eat. There was truly nothing better than her mother’s rice on a lazy Saturday morning. Or afternoon.

“Is it all right if I meet up with some friends to do homework together?” she asked once she had finished her breakfast. She hoped that her mother wouldn’t wonder when she had made any friends – except for Mikoto – but she just nodded with a small smile.

She thanked her mother once more and gave her a small peck on the cheek before hurrying upstairs to get dressed. It didn't take long before she grabbed her schoolbag with her homework in it and skipped back down the stairs. Waving at her mother one last time, she made for the door.

“I don’t know when I’ll be home again, so don’t wait for me with dinner!” Haru shouted at her over her shoulder as she passed the living room as quickly as she could, pulling on her jacket as she did so. Her father always watched his boring television shows on Saturday morning, so she hoped he wouldn't bother stopping her.

He didn’t and before she knew it she stood outside, breathing in the fresh air and the scent of spring. Why did the days when she had to do homework always turn out so lovely? As if on cue, a cold wind picked up all of a sudden, and Haru couldn’t help but smile as she shrunk back into her jacket in search of some warmth.

“Good morning!” the brunette yelled, scaring a few of the newer customers in the bar.

“Haru-chan, it’s past noon.” Izumo greeted her by lifting the glass he had been polishing higher into the air.

She sat in the corner reserved just for them, brows furrowing. Tatara had asked her for some more help with English and Mikoto had decided to tag along and see if she might help him as well, but they both had yet to appear. “Where are the others?”

Izumo placed a glass of water on the table in front of her before he pointed upstairs. “Mikoto’s most likely still sleepin’ in his apartment. It’s not too far, just around the corner, the first house to the left, so you can go and wake him up if you want. Here’s the spare key, and don’t you dare lose it. Tatara hasn’t been by yet."

She nodded in gratitude and emptied her glass of water in one go before heading outside and running down the street. Though the weather was rather pleasant for that time of year, she didn’t feel like slowing down and enjoying it. Her mind could only think of what lay ahead; after all, she hadn’t been to Mikoto’s place before. She would be entering unknown territory, which belonged to a man nonetheless.

Though sometimes she forgot that he lived by himself to begin with. That went for Tatara as well. From what she had gathered, both of them hadn't had the best of relationships with their parents. In fact, she hadn't heard anything about Mikoto's parents. Tatara, on the other hand, had told her about a deceased father who had been addicted to gambling, and that even before this his biological parents had left him behind in some park, telling him to, "Wait here," but never returning. All the while he had remained his usual cheerful self, showing not a hint of remorse. Haru hadn't known what to make of that. They had never asked about her family, but the brunette had a suspicion that Mikoto had told them whatever he seemed to know about it.

Just like Izumo had said, she couldn’t miss it. Without wasting a second, Haru opened the front door and entered the building, only to find herself in a hallway with mailboxes lining the walls. A glass door blocked the way to a stairwell, but the key solved that problem. By the time the brunette had arrived on the floor where Mikoto’s name was displayed next to yet another door, this one wooden, she was breathing heavily.

The hallway did not look very impressive – it was gloomy and the wallpaper looked like it might fall off any moment now – and neither did the room that greeted her once she had opened the door to Mikoto’s apartment. A living room and kitchen in one, though it all looked very bland and impersonal. It reminded Haru of those noir films, or perhaps something with drug dealers. She even spotted a couple of burn marks here and there.

Taking a quick look around, Haru soon found out that the room to the left – almost impossible to access due to the couch being placed so close to it – was the bathless bathroom, which meant that the other door would lead to the bedroom. She managed to reach that one much easier once she had climbed over the sofa again, her hand reaching for the knob. The thought about Mikoto living in a place like this did not please her, and she wanted to drag him over to the bar as soon as possible.

Once she had opened the door, she saw the man in question lying on a bed, his limbs spread out across the mattress with his bare chest visible for the whole world to see. She wanted to call out his name to wake him up, but then she noticed the frantic movements of his head, turning from side to side, and his limbs, as if his blankets were a foe he had to defeat.

A nightmare!

Eyes wide and feeling panic build inside of her, she shuffled over to the bed, wondering what she should do. They always said not to wake people up from nightmares, right? Or was that about sleepwalkers? But she couldn't just leave him like this...?!

She placed a hand on his restless arm, surprised by the warmth his body emitted. His body seemed to calm down but his eyes remained closed, so she whispered, "Mikoto?"

Before she could ask herself why she had whispered in an attempt to wake someone up, he opened his eyes, wide and wild as they examined his surroundings. Only when they fell upon her form did he figure out that he had woken up. His head fell back against his pillow and he sighed.

"Are you all right?" Haru asked as she pulled her hand back, her cheeks flushed. Only now did she realise the extent of his nakedness. She could even see the rim of his black boxer shorts beneath the blankets!

“Huh…” was the only response she received as he pushed himself up, resting on his elbows. He didn't seem at all fazed by the fact that the brunette had just woken him up from what had looked like a pretty bad nightmare. Or by the fact that she got to see him half-naked.

“Damn it, Mikoto, cover yourself up!" she yelled at him, annoyance flaring inside of her at his lack of reaction. She ducked behind the foot of the bed, feeling bad for being so embarrassed by it all in the first place. He had just woken up from a nightmare and there she stood, goggling his body!

"Shouldn't have sneaked into my room, then," he responded in that slow manner of his, as if nothing had happened. He didn’t even care about the fact that she had technically entered his house without his permission. Did this not count as a burglary or something?

"I did not sneak into your room. It is your own fault for forgetting our date," Haru retorted.

She noticed a pile of clothes lying nearby and, lunging for them, flung them at him. Not waiting to see if he managed to catch them or not, she quickly left the room again and made her way towards the front door. Trusting that the redhead would follow soon enough, she made her way back to the bar, where she let herself fall back into her seat and began to pull her school books out of her bag.

As expected, not much later Mikoto came sauntering through the entrance. Izumo shot the boy a look, but couldn't greet him in any other way as he busied himself with his customers. Not that Mikoto could have cared less, though.

He stood beside Haru and glanced around the room, his brows knit together.

“Tatara isn’t here yet,” the brunette said without looking up from the book lying in front of her. Her fingers slid along the page as she searched from something interesting to discuss with her friends when all had arrived. "Izumo said he went shopping."

At that, the redheads frown deepened. Haru only noticed it when she glanced at him, wondering why he hadn't joined her on the couch yet.

“What’s wrong?” she asked him in English when she noticed that the boy's expression was even unhappier than usual.

As if on cue the bell chimed, signalling the opening of the front door. Everyone looked up to watch Tatara stumble into the bar. Haru's brows shot up in surprise when she saw one of his sleeves was tattered and drenched in blood while he had torn the rest of his shirt to provide a makeshift bandage for his arm. Cuts and bruises covered the rest of his body, but somehow he managed to keep that smile on his face, claiming that everyone was going to be all right.

“What happened?!” Izumo exclaimed as he grabbed the first aid kit he kept beneath the bar before making his way towards Tatara.

Haru shot to his side to help him sit down while Mikoto watched in silence. “Ah, just the usual. Someone recognised me as one of Mikoto’s friends–”

“Where?” Mikoto asked abruptly. His face remained blank as he spoke, but Haru noticed that he had clenched his hands into fists, his knuckles turning white.

The smile never left Tatara's lips. The boy was ready to calm his friend down and to persuade him that he didn't have to go out and find these people who had hurt him. Izumo put a stop to that when he placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a meaningful look.

In the meantime, Haru could only stare at the boy's arm, trying to remember all the different times that this had happened before. Not only to Tatara, but also to Izumo and even Mikoto. The brunette hadn’t known them for very long but she had already lost count of the amount of wounds she had had to take care of. She belonged to their group as well. She had the right to avenge them too!

“I want to come too,” she declared, her eyes still not leaving Tatara’s now neatly bandaged arm.

Mikoto shook his head as he made his way to the door, and Haru clenched her jaw in frustration as she watched him go. Tatara followed him, all the while telling him not to sweat it.

“Aren’t I one of you guys now? I should get to see this side of you too. How can I get to know you if I don’t even know what you guys do when I’m not around?” Haru asked them in an angry tone. She didn't plan on giving this up any time soon.

Izumo held a hand up as if to stop Mikoto from responding, though the redhead probably wouldn't have said anything to begin with. “Ain't she right, though? She has the right to see who we really are, doesn’t she?”

As expected, the redhead didn’t reply to that and merely stared on straight ahead. Izumo, however, took that as a yes and turned back to Tatara.

"Can you watch the bar while we're out?" he asked the wounded boy, who only nodded in response, smiling that smile of his. He must have felt proud that Izumo considered him worthy of taking care of his pressure bar.

“Be careful!” he called after them as they left the bar. Some of the customers in the background cheered for them before the doors closed behind them.

As they made their way down the street, Haru couldn't help but feel nervous all of a sudden. Izumo's silence made the whole situation even worse, but the silence from her left was nothing compared to the murderous aura that came from her right, where a certain redhead walked. Though Mikoto’s expression looked much the same as it always did, the rest of his body screamed that he would kill someone. The brunette almost feared that he would actually do so.

But then she thought back to Tatara’s ragged appearance, and anger flared inside of her. How could someone do something like that to another human being just because they had befriended a certain person? Tatara must have been one of the most peaceful people alive. Didn't anyone who dared to touch him like that deserve to die?

People muttered as they made their way through the city towards the place Tatara had gotten attacked, not caring if they bumped into others. Haru realised that they must have had some reputation in the neighbourhood. Some tried to confront the group but never managed to get a reaction while others just tried to avoid them as much as possible.

With every step Haru took, the dangerous aura from next to her seemed to die down. It gladdened her to see that Mikoto wouldn't enter this fight with a head filled with nothing but rage. But once they rounded the corner from the busy main street into one of the side streets he seemed to recognise who he was looking for and his temper flared once more.

“Mikoto…” the brunette started, but Izumo cut her off by placing a hand on her shoulder, as if to tell her that it wouldn't work.

“Please stay here," was all he said before joining Mikoto on his walk to the other side of the street.

Though they did nothing in particular to attract any attention, the group of men turned around to watch the approaching men. “Ah, if it isn’t Mikoto Suoh. What a coincidence, we were just talking about you! Well, more about that poor friend of y-”

The man couldn’t even finish his sentence as Mikoto’s fist slammed into his stomach, making him double over in pain. Before anyone could react, Izumo had grabbed the heads of two of the smaller group members, smashing them together, immediately rendered them unconscious.

As if someone had given a sign, the remaining men – still quite a few – jumped at Mikoto and Izumo at the same time. Still young and inexperienced, the sudden display of teamwork caught the boys off guard. Haru only blinked and all of a sudden an actual brawl had broken out.

She stared in horror as blood spatters flew about and men howled in pain, yelling loudly as if that would make their punches faster and their kicks stronger.

But suddenly one of them decided that enough was enough, and he grabbed a knife, striking at someone the brunette couldn’t see. Before she could stop herself, she screamed when she saw him pull his arm back, blood now coating the blade he held in his hand. The noise caught the attention of one of the others, who had left the fight in an attempt to regain some energy.

He smirked and began to make his way over to her. She, in turn, shrank away from him, stepping backwards until her back hit a wall of bricks. Then she slid to the ground, as if that would help her escape, her wide eyes never once leaving the man. In an attempt to protect herself, she held her hands up in front of her.

When the punch never came, she looked up just in time to watch the man topple over, a familiar knife sticking out of his back. Mikoto stood behind him, an empty look on his face as his eyes met those of his friend. Then he turned back to kick someone who had wanted to sneak up on him in the stomach. This person also groaned in pain as he slumped to the ground. A distance away from him, Izumo finished his part of the fight. Haru watched him wipe away some of the blood that came from a cut on his cheek.

“Ah, let me help you with that!” she called out before pushing herself off the floor and running over to where the blonde stood. As she made her way to him, she pulled a handkerchief from one of her pockets before pressing it against his face.

While taking care of his wound, she looked around to take in their surroundings. The bastards who had hurt Tatara now lay all over the place, some groaning in pain, others unconscious and one of them even seemed to have died. On the one hand she felt rather proud that she had found friends who would go to such lengths to avenge their friends, but on the other hand she couldn't help but be afraid. What would happen to her if she decided to do the wrong thing? Was it even safe to be near people who could do this to others?

The very same silence hung around the group on their way back to the bar, but this time she was the one responsible for it. Izumo tried to start a conversation with her, but she never replied with anything that offered him a way of continuing the talk. With Mikoto’s murderous intent now satisfied, however, she felt a little less nervous but still couldn’t feel quite comfortable in between these men.

Tatara greeted them happily once they arrived at the bar, already looking much better. Without any delay, Mikoto excused himself without even taking the time to check for any wounds, claiming that he wanted to go sleep again. Izumo replaced Tatara behind the bar, where he patched himself up while the boy joined Haru for what they had actually planned to do that day.

Unsurprisingly, the brunette did not feel like doing that at all. Her enthusiasm to show off one of the very few things she could actually do had disappeared. Tatara noticed it at once, tilting his head to the side as he examined her face. It seemed that, even though she hadn't truly been involved in the fight, it had affected her the most of all.

“Everything will work out in the end,” he stated cheerfully, though Haru did not feel like listening to him go on about how everything would work out. She wanted to cry and tell him how scared she had been when that guy had come towards her, and how both relief and more fright had filled her when she saw Mikoto stab him. In fact, she wanted to go home and crawl in her mother's arms, but she would never tell her what had actually happened.

Tatara must have noticed, for he placed an arm around her and pulled her into an embrace himself. Though she had watched Izumo and Mikoto fight those men, it seemed to her that Tatara was the coldest of all of them. He never worried about anything, or so it seemed to her, but he surprised her by adding, "Kings protect their vassals, you know? We swear loyalty to him, and in turn we receive treasure and protection. So don't worry about it!"

After hearing his words, Haru stared at the boy for a few moments, unblinking. One moment he was telling her not to sweat it, then he would give her a cryptic piece of advice, only to go back to saying that she shouldn't worry? A small smile formed on her face and she shook her head. What a peculiar bunch.

"Why do you call Mikoto 'King' anyway?" she asked, but to that she only received an enigmatic, almost mischievous smile.

"Come," Tatara stated before pulling one of her books closer to him. "You promised to help me with English."

The brunette raised an eyebrow at him but went along with it anyway. "Are you sure you even want to study? You seem like the person to 'not sweat' exams, that kind of thing."

"Ah!" The boy's smile widened into a grin. "How could you say such a thing? You wound me."

His friend eyed him for a few more moments before she sighed, relenting. "Fine. But if you don't take this seriously, I'll give you something to sweat about."

And that was the day Tatara learned that Haru could be fiercer with teaching than Mikoto with fighting.

Chapter Text

Thus they went on for the next couple of weeks. Haru would do her best to better her results in school, though to no avail, while trying to keep her contact with the boys to a minimum during the weeks. Except for Mikoto of course, with whom she always ate her lunch at school. During the weekends she would go to HOMRA with the excuse of ‘doing homework with some friends from school’.

Since her paranoia of getting bullied at school had disappeared almost completely, she had tried to connect with some of her classmates again. One of the girls had even told her that since she had become friends with Mikoto, she seemed friendlier, to which she had responded by stammering like a schoolgirl with a crush.

But in the blink of an eye her whole rhythm was disrupted when her father announced that during the two weeks of spring break they would visit family in one of the rural areas of town. That meant no contact with the rest of the world until she got home again.

There exists nothing worse than a family reunion with a family one does not like, however. Haru's grandparents and one of her aunts, with her husband and their children, lived there. They could easily make her want to remain in the presence of her father all by herself if that meant she could get away from them.

She loved her grandparents, though she wondered how such wonderful people could possibly bring up someone like her father. They always showered her with presents whenever she visited them, and she always enjoyed it whenever her grandfather took her with him on his tractor across his farm fields, or when she had to help her grandmother in the kitchen.

But then there was that aunt of hers: she was just as bad as her father, but at least her father tried to remain discreet. Her aunt would openly insult her children, and they would fight back just as hard. Her uncle would just sit by and watch it all happen with a sheepish look on his face which would make her feel sad for him. How could he have fallen for such a woman in the first place?

After those fights her father would always tell the family how ‘proud’ he was of his daughter, mostly because she never struggled against his judgement. Because of that her aunt disliked her, to put it mildly. She would always try to rub it in by making some nasty comment about how at least her children were doing so well in school.

Two weeks later, on the last Thursday of the break, during the trip back home, Haru found herself feeling more tired than before the holiday. The very moment they finally got back home, she didn’t even bother unpacking her bags. She immediately left for HOMRA, only telling her parents that she wanted to enjoy the rest of her free time with her friends from school, running as fast as her legs would go.

“Ah, look who's back!” Tatara exclaimed when he saw her enter the bar, panting heavily. He lifted a hand in greeting.

"Good to see you've survived," Izumo commented with a large grin on his face. When he took in her breathless state, the corners of his lips went down and he frowned. "What's wrong?"

The brunette shook her head, not quite capable of forming whole sentences just that. She went over to the bar and accepted the glass of water Izumo held out for her, gulping it down rather greedily. When she had set it down on the counter, she began, "Where's–"

In her rush, she had somehow managed to miss the red hair, but when she looked around she noticed it after all. Mikoto sat on a stool at the bar, his back turned towards her. That sight pained her a little; she hadn't seen him for two weeks and had missed the redhead most of all, only to return and to find that, apparently, he couldn’t care less.

“King, wake up,” Tatara said as he made his way over to the redhead and gently shook his shoulder.

Haru's cheeks flushed when she watched him turn around, scolding herself for her previous thoughts. The ghost of a smile appeared on Mikoto's face as he beheld her, and butterflies fluttered in her stomach. Though she was glad to see none of them had gotten hurt, something still didn't feel right, however, and the butterflies soon died down.

Something had happened. Something had changed.

“What happened?” she asked with a frown.

“Oh, you mean this?” Izumo retorted. The corners of his lips twitched upwards into a smug smirk when he saw her eyes widen in shock.

“What… How?” she stammered, staring at the flames that licked at his arms. He didn’t seem feel any pain, so how…?

“While you were gone, Mikoto was blessed with the powers of a true King. Just like I always believed! Because we are his vassals, we received these powers from our generous King,” Tatara explained, smiling like it wasn't anything big.

Mikoto snorted at that and Izumo joined him with a laugh. “Yes, very generous of him to give me the ability with which I almost burned down a nearby house by accident."

The boy lifted his shoulders in a shrug before nonchalantly replying, "Everything worked out in the end, didn't it?"

In the meanwhile, Haru could only stare at them as they continued their bickering. King? Powers? Blessed, but by whom? Had he become the only 'King', or did more of them exist?

“Want to join us?” Mikoto’s voice rumbled from next to her and she snapped her head to the side only to get a nice view of his jaw, his chin resting on her shoulder.

And since when did Mikoto get so close with anybody?

The brunette jumped away from him and turned to see him holding his hand out at her. She examined it carefully, as if it could explode any minute now, and shook her head tentatively.

“I can’t. Not now. My father would kill me–"

“He doesn’t have to know,” Mikoto interrupted. He stared into her brown eyes, and Haru found herself picking apart the emotions in his gaze. You are one of us. You need to protect yourself.

But she continued to shake her head, guilt flooding her when she saw disappointment flash through his eyes as well. She felt as if he had just confessed his love for her and she had refused him.

“Someday, I promise.” She tried her best to smile at him and her heart jumped in relief when she noticed the corners of his lips twitch upwards. He had really missed her as well, hadn't he?

“Oh well,” Izumo started with a sigh, “let’s go somewhere to celebrate our reunion before you two decide to find yourselves a room.”

Tatara laughed as Haru's face turned almost as red as Mikoto's hair while Izumo went to collect his coat.

"But aren't we in a bar?" Haru asked, reluctant to leave so soon already. "Can't we just celebrate here? What about your customers?"

Izumo looked at her as though she had grown a second head. "You can't just celebrate at the place you work. For once I don't want to be the one to clean up the mess. As to my customers, it's in the middle of a Friday. They won't miss me if I'm gone for a few hours."

And with that they left, Izumo refusing to listen to her. Once outside, she realised the extent to which they had changed. Their auras, or whatever one wanted to call it, seemed warmer than it normally had. In fact, they hadn't even had 'auras' or anything before all this.

While Tatara and Izumo discussed which bar they should visit, Haru tried to have a conversation with Mikoto, telling him of the things her aunt had done while he listened in silence. If he even listened at all. Something the brunette soon noticed was how he glance at her more often than he usually did. But then he would look around, and not in the manner of a crushing schoolgirl averting eye contact. It almost seemed as though he was looking around, cautious of his surroundings.

“What about this one?” Tatara asked no one in particular, pointing at a fancy-looking shop at the end of the street.

Haru's stomach growled in response and her face turned bright red. “Maybe we should find something simple that just sells food?”

And so the group ended up getting ramen from a small stand at the side of the street. Izumo even paid for it, which made everything a bit better. It was still light outside, but the sudden coolness signalled that it night would come soon. Even so, Haru didn’t feel any of it as she ate her ramen, surrounded by the new flames of her friends.

“We should go somewhere fun together, in the next break,” she managed with her mouth full of food.

The others laughed and Izumo replied, “You sound as if everything has changed.”

Staring at the ground, Haru shrugged as she swallowed the last of her dinner. Had it not changed, then? Was it all just inside her head, or could they not yet see it?

“Anybody still hungry? I’m goin' to buy something else.” Izumo changed the subject, lightening the mood.

Tatara raised an arm, ready for seconds, and while the two of them went back to the stand, Mikoto and Haru remained where they were. The redhead still hadn't finished his cup of ramen, somehow.

“Sorry for ruining the mood,” Haru apologised, but he merely lifted his shoulders. He seemed strangely content in that moment, and so Haru let it go with a shrug of her own.

Without a word he got up and left, making his way towards a dustbin that stood a bit farther down the street to throw away his cup. Before he could return, however, a group of men strolled by, most of them looking rather bored. One of them noticed Haru standing there by herself, and she managed a brave smile in their direction.

“Hello there, cutie. You lonely?” he asked her in what probably was his most seductive voice, shattering her hopes of them passing by without paying her any more attention.

The brunette shook her head, trying to find the boys who had been here with her only seconds ago. “N-no, I’m here with some friends.”

“What, how could they leave a little girl like you all by herself?” another exclaimed, upset by this revelation.

A third man grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the group. “Why don’t you join us? We’re not going to hurt you, I promise.”

Trying to free herself from the man's grasp, she shook her head again. This angered him and he tightened his hold on her.

“O-oi!” one of his friends called out, causing the rest of them to turn around in curiosity.

Mikoto stood before them, his eyes glowing in a strange manner as he glared at the men. Someone must have recognised him, for one of the men began to apologise to the redhead. “F-forgive us! We didn’t know what we were doing. We might have had too much to d-drink, you know?”

Most of the others agreed with him as they began to leave, but the one holding Haru didn’t seem to like that at all. He muttered some obscene swearword and pulled at her hand once before letting go. The sudden tug caught her off guard, and she stumbled over her own feet.

She hissed in pain as she felt her knees scrape against the ground, and she didn't even have to look to confirm that the fabric of her jeans had torn, blood welling up from her scratched skin. No one noticed her fall – except for the one who shouldn’t have seen it.

Mikoto’s hand flew up to grasp the neck of the closest man who had tried to escape, lifting him into the air even though he was a little bigger than the redhead himself. He yelled in pain when flames suddenly engulfed the hand holding him, eating away the flesh beneath his jaw.

Even then the redhead didn’t let go of him. Not when the body in his grasp slackened. Not when the rest of the group started yelling in anger and panic. Not when he looked up to stare Haru dead in the eye where he could see her fear. Not even when he must have realised that she feared him.

The only thing that managed to pull him from his trance was when someone ripped the body from his hands and went to stand in front of him in an attempt to confront him. Maybe to distract him so the others could get away.

“What’s goin' on?!” Izumo cried out while Tatara only watched once they had returned.

“He... He freaked out. Those guys, they were being annoying but then they saw him and they were about to leave… But one of them made me fall and he– well, he just freaked out,” Haru replied without letting her eyes stray from Mikoto’s enraged form.

His so-called aura had become visible by now. It almost looked like a huge flame encasing his body, burning everything that surrounded him but himself. The remaining men stood in front of him, petrified, watching his every move as he made his way to the person standing in front of him.

“He’s not just going to hurt them. He’s out to kill them! Izumo, Tatara, you guys have that skill too, can’t you do something?!” she all but begged, shaking their arms in fright. Her heart sank at the pained looks on their faces.

“We can’t. He'd probably attack us too if we went to him while he's like that."

Haru turned back towards the scene and found that other people had started to gather around the fight. If Mikoto really couldn’t distinguish between good and bad, then this would be the worst place for this to take place. By now he had grabbed the collar of his challenger and punched him in the face. His enemy didn’t even try to fight back.

“Mikoto, stop.”

In surprise and ready to defend himself, he turned around and threw his fist at whoever stood behind him. He blinked when he watched his knuckles collide with Haru's cheek. Someone in the background yelled her name as the force of the hit made her whirl once before she fell to her knees once more.

This somehow broke the spell on the other men, who proceeded to run into an alley in an attempt to escape. The redhead didn’t even spare his friends a second glance before going after them as fast as he could. Haru herself didn’t stop to think things through as she pushed herself off the ground and followed them, ignoring the pounding in her head and the voices of her friends calling out for her.

By the time she caught up with him, Mikoto had already captured the slowest member of the group. While he lay on the ground, he tried to curl himself up as small as possible, as if that would help him survive the kicks Mikoto aimed at his body. The brunette could feel her stomach churn when she noticed the wicked grin on the so-called King’s face.

“Mikoto!” she yelled, making her way over to him and grabbing his hand to gain his attention.

She hissed as his flesh seemed to burn hers, and she cursed herself for not having accepted the powers he had offered her only hours ago. He managed to hold himself back from doing anything his friend, and instead he ran off after the two remaining men, his hair bouncing like a fire trying to grasp the air surrounding it.

This time Haru didn't wait before following him, which ended up being easier than she had expected. In his rage, the redhead kept stumbling over boxes and against dustbins, but every time she got a little too close to him, he would throw a punch or a kick her way. Sometimes he would hit her but most of the time he would barely even graze her body.

Finally the narrow paths ended and Haru entered a wider space that led towards three other alleyways. Mikoto stood in the middle of it all, looking around wildly as though he didn’t know which one he should choose.

“Mikoto, please calm do–” she started, but before she could finish her sentence, he had slammed his fist into her stomach.

The shock caused her to stumble face-first to the ground. Apparently she had pissed him off now, because he pressed his fist against her back even as she lay on the floor. One couldn't have called it a punch; it felt more like a light dab on the small of her back, but the result was immediate as searing pain filled her whole body. For a moment it felt as though someone had set her on fire.

For the first time in her life, Haru screamed out in pain, and continued to do so until she fell unconscious.

Once she had stopped writhing about, Mikoto snapped back to reality only to find her still form lying at his feet. It began to dawn on him what he had done, and his breath hitched in his throat as he carefully turned her around, relieved to see she still breathed.

Footsteps came from one of the alleys and it didn’t take long before Izumo and Tatara joined him by their friend's side. They noticed his look and sighed as the stress in their bodies vanished.

“Mikoto,” Izumo began, grabbing the redhead’s chin to lift his face, “this ain't just your fault, okay? You had to snap eventually to adjust to the flames? Haru shouldn’t have gotten involved, and you weren’t bein' yourself. Got it?”

The redhead never replied. Silent, he got up with Haru in his arms and made his way towards the nearest hospital.

Chapter Text

“You must choose. Them, or us.”

Haru could only stare at her father, unable to find a proper answer to his question. No, not his question. His order. Was he expecting her to choose between her friends and her parents? If anyone else would have asked her, she would have found the question easy to answer. She would have chosen her friends immediately.

But this, this was entirely different… Her father planned to throw her out of his house, her home, even her family depending on her answer. Was someone who expected her to choose between two important factors in her life someone worthy of being chosen? The choice was hers to make.

The smug look on her father’s face told her that he expected her to choose him and if not him, then her mother. Her family. Because he thought that she didn’t have anywhere else to go… But he was wrong.

Her eyes wandered from his face to that of her mother standing behind him. The very moment their gazes met, she looked away and she knew what went through her mother's mind. She didn’t want her daughter to leave, but she couldn’t win a fight against her husband father, or so she thought. Haru knew she would never try, not even for her daughter’s sake, so she made her decision based on the thoughts running through her mind in that moment.

“Then I’ll pack my stuff.”

If the anger and sadness of being thrown out of her own home hadn’t filled her as she made her way through the house, she might have felt happy that she had managed to wipe that grin off of her father’s face. Right now, however, she had to do her best not to burst out in tears as she passed her mother, who stared at her in disbelief.

The bag that she had used for their family trip still lay on her bed, unpacked and ready to go off on another journey. Some things she couldn't fit into that one, though, and she had to grab another in which she stuffed some more things. Only then did she realise that she didn't have a lot of personal things that made her room truly hers. At least that made leaving it a lot easier than expected. The most that she had were a few stuffed animals, some books and a couple of manga volumes.

Back downstairs, everybody had disappeared, probably doing their usual things as if nothing had happened. Just as Haru opened the door, however, her mother appeared behind her one last time.

"Haruka..." she began, but she didn't get much further than that.

'I don't want you to leave?'

'Please stay here?'

'I'll talk to your father so you can keep meeting up with your friends?'

Was that what she thought? If so, then why didn't she just say them out loud? At moments like this she hated her mother the most, even though she knew that she couldn't help it. Or maybe she just felt that it was her duty as a mother to make it look like she actually cared about her daughter? Maybe it would gladden her to see the girl who always made her life so difficult disappear.

When her mother didn't continue her sentence, Haru turned and left the house. "Haruka no longer exists, it would seem."

But now... Where were she supposed to go?

In the sudden onslaught of panic, of the thought that she no longer had a home to return to, her brain could not think of any places to go to. She let her legs lead her to wherever they felt like going, and so she ended up sitting on a bench in a park she used to visit frequently with her parents. Memories flooded her as she looked around, but she would not let herself cry.

When was it that everything changed? Why had it all changed to begin with? Hadn’t it been when her father started pressuring her to achieve better results in school, so that she could go to a good university, meet an honourable man who wouldn’t bring shame to their family, have normal children and lead a normal and happy life?

Thinking back to this morning, she found it funny that a day could change so much in but a few hours. She had woken up in a hospital and had had a good talk with Mikoto about last night... Everything had seemed good and well back then, but then she had gotten home, ready to explain what had happened, and then that had happened. Haru felt like this morning had taken place weeks ago.

She opened her brown eyes, blinked them a few times as she tried to gain her bearings, only to find herself lying in a white room. It didn't take long before she realised that she had been brought to a hospital. When she managed to sit up, she saw Mikoto and Izumo standing by the window, talking to each other. They spoke too quietly for her to understand what they were saying, but they stopped when they noticed she had woken up anyway.

"G'morning, sunshine," Izumo greeted her, a small smile on his face. She hadn't seen that smile often; normally it meant something serious was going on. There wasn't anything wrong with you, right? Had something happened to the others while she had been out of it?

"What's going on?" she asked with a worried frown on her forehead, but Izumo quickly smoothed it away by ruffling her hair. That was something he only did when he was cheerful, but then again, when wasn't Izumo cheerful?

Excluding whenever something endangered his bar.

"Nothing, nothing! You know what, I'll go and get a nurse now that you're awake, okay? She said that she'd check you over one last time to make sure everything was fine once you get up. Which you have now. But she said that the chance that you'd have to stay here any longer is very small so you're probably allowed to go home soon," he informed her and she nodded in response even as he slipped out of the room

That left just the two of them. Haru figured that Tatara had remained at the bar, doing the homework he had most likely been avoiding until now. If he even cared about such things.

The first thing she noticed was that the redhead wouldn't look her in the eye, something that frustrated her from the very moment she noticed it. Mikoto always dared to look right at someone and tell them the bold truth. For him to avert his gaze like that... It couldn't mean anything good.

Haru continued to try and catch his attention for the first few minutes and when he finally relented, she couldn't help but draw a sharp breath. She knew how people seemed to find Mikoto unreadable and therefore scary, but when she managed to look into his amber eyes, she could see it all right there.

Guilt, shame, anger, regret... It was all there, in those beautiful eyes of his. He hated, no, loathed himself. And what for? Because stupid Haru had to follow him when she obviously shouldn't have?

She had had enough of how he deliberately kept his distance from her, as if he might break down once more any minute now. Ignoring all the equipment that surrounded her, the brunette got out of bed and strode over to the redhead. Somewhere at the back of her mind she noted that her body didn’t feel as battered as she had expected.

The redhead even tried to take a step back as she approached him, but she reached out and grabbed his wrists to stop him from doing just that. "Stop it."

"Stop what?" he replied, attempting to break eye contact again, but she placed her hands against his cheeks and forced him to look at her.

"Stop that. Stop hiding from me."

When he didn't respond Haru took another step closer to him, keeping him still as she pressed herself against him. She forced his arms around her waist, lifted her shirt a little and pressed his hand against the bandaged spot on her back.

“You’ve been marked forever, by me. I’m supposed to be a ‘King’ now. Kings protect their vassals, not hurt them," he stated in that deep, solemn tone of his.

“But you shouldn’t distance yourself from them either. Look, you’re touching me and everything’s fine. See? What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger, right? We’ve all learned from this.” To emphasise the point you wanted to make, she pressed his hand firmer against the scar, until he no longer tried to pull it back. “And anyway, I’m not your vassal yet. Not officially.”

She smiled at him, trying her best to cheer him up, though it seemed to have the exact opposite effect. Still, he wrapped his arms tighter around her body, pulling her into the first hug he had ever given her. Not that she had ever expected to receive one from someone like him in the first place.

He buried his face in the crook of her neck while she stood perfectly still, not knowing what she should do. She decided to pat him on the back in an attempt to calm him down, or something like that.

“You were so afraid,” he muttered and Haru had to do her best to ignore the tickling of his breath against her neck. “Not of those guys, but of me.”

Slowly relaxing, she remembered that she had been afraid of him, even before what had happened. She had been afraid of all three of the boys because of the flames hidden inside of them. But seeing their leader like this had made her realise that they shared these feelings with her. They didn't plan on raging about uncontrollably, or using their powers for useless causes. They weren’t proud of it, couldn’t control it properly yet. Haru had only thought of what it could mean for her, not how it made them feel.

“I’m sorry. I was being selfish, but I understand now. And I promise that I’m not afraid of you anymore,” she told him, hoping he would believe her.

Mikoto pulled back to look her in the eye for a few seconds before hugging her one last time. Then he let her go for good, and only then did Haru realise what had just happened, her face burning as if the redhead had set it on fire. Said redhead had to smile at the sight, though it looked more like a smirk than a smile. If the sight of him smiling again hadn't stunned her, she most likely would have hit him as hard as she could in her embarrassment.

When Izumo re-entered the room not much later with a nurse in tow, he seemed pleased that his King had returned to his usual state, if not a little happier. The nurse shooed the men out of the room, Izumo all the while yelling that Haru had nothing that they could possibly see. She only replied by threatening to cut their balls off.

The nurse concluded that she could go home, though a few burn marks would stay with her for the rest of her life. Unless she felt it necessary to undergo surgery to use skin from another part of her body to repair the burnt flesh, but she couldn't help but feel proud. She had received a mark from the King, a sign that she had met the man in 'battle', had felt his fist and had managed to survive.

But she was probably over thinking that part a bit too much.

Haru looked up and found that it had already gotten pretty dark in the meantime. She pulled out her phone and noted with surprise that it was past ten in the evening. Without even knowing it she had occupied this bench for a few hours already, just thinking things over.

Though it might have gotten late, all that pondering had helped her clear her mind a little and she now knew what she had to do. So she shoved the reappearing thoughts of her ‘banishment’ to the back of her mind and got up, grabbing her bags as she did so.

It had also gotten quite cold, and so she closed her jacket and pulled her hood over her head to warm herself a little before she started to make her way to Izumo’s bar. She managed to keep her mind blank as she trudged through the city, barely even registering the lights as they went from red to green, stopping and starting, waiting for the passing cars on their way to who knew where. Seeing the city at night like this, while all by herself, gave it a completely different feel, though not one that she disliked. To observe all the different kinds of people who ruled the streets once the businessmen and younger children had gone to bed while she made her way through the throngs all by herself was both enchanting and almost empowering.

All too soon, or perhaps not soon enough, she found her way to the lesser visited parts of the city. She stopped in front of a certain bar – the only haven left to her in that moment – and had to blink as the bright lights welcomed her by blinding her. Before she began to climb the steps to the door, she willed her eyes to adjust to the lights only for them to plunge into darkness when she entered the dimly lit interior of the bar.

Izumo had been whistling an unfamiliar tune, but he stopped when he heard the bell chime. He opened his mouth to welcome the new customer, only to stare at Haru, frowning when he recognised her.

“Haru-chan?” he asked, uncertain. He stepped from behind the bar to greet her properly.

Even as he placed his hands on her shoulder to gain her attention, she wouldn’t allow herself to shed a single tear and forced herself to smile. It never could have fooled Izumo, but the bartender didn't ask any further, and instead waited for her to start talking whenever she felt ready to do so.

Haru had to swallow back whatever emotions bubbled up as she suddenly remembered why she stood here at this hour in the first place. She didn’t want to make Izumo worry, however; she didn't want him to see her cry. At least not right now, not like this. He had enough to deal with as it was, with his ‘aura’ and all that, and she didn’t want to add anything to that burden.

Whatever excuse she had invented to explain her presence flew right out of her mind, and so the two of them remained like that, with Izumo tilting his head while she averted her gaze. “I got kicked out,” she heard herself say. Plain, emotionless. Somehow she even managed to throw in a shrug to emphasise her indifference.

“What?! Why?!” Izumo exclaimed, staring at her in disbelief, his hands thrown up in the air. When she didn’t answer fast enough he grabbed her shoulders again and shook her softly. “What happened?”

Haru bit her lip and shrugged again. “My father told me to choose between him and you. And of course I chose you.”

Izumo let out a sigh as his shoulders sagged. He pressed his hand against his face, hiding it from you, but didn't reply.

“And so I was wondering… If I could, you know, stay here for a while? But just until I find something else. And I promise I won’t be too much of a hassle to take care of!” she started rambling. Fear filled her as she watched Izumo rub his temples with his hand, hoping he wouldn't refuse her request.

“Of course you can stay here, you idiot! For as long as you like, until you die if that’s what you want. But you ain't tellin' me that losin' your parents like that doesn’t affect you in any way!”

She stared at her feet, not knowing what she should say to that. Tell him the truth anyway or try her best to reassure him that she was fine, to just stick with her plan? But after seeing him react so wildly, she could feel her barrier breaking, slowly but surely. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she tried her best to blink them back.

“Of course it affects me. But I don’t want to lose you guys, even if it costs me my parents, all right? And anyway, that bastard had it coming, thinking he could treat me like a dog that was dependant on him for everything.” She swallowed hard before adding, “But please don’t worry about me. Promise me you won’t be having any sleepless nights because of this, okay?”

Izumo sighed once more and shook his head afterwards, a small smile evident on his face. “You idiot. You’re worth every single sleepless night I have because of you. But I’ve only got one guest room, so if it’s not too big of a problem for you, you’ll have to share with Mikoto. It has a couch, though.”

A sound of confusion left the brunette’s throat and she looked up with a frown.

“Ah, that’s right, I completely forgot to mention that.” The bartender scratched the back of his head and laughed softly. “We decided HOMRA should become the clan’s… headquarters, as it were, so I cleaned out the spare room upstairs. Mikoto had to get outta that place of his sooner or later.”

With a slow nod, Haru thanked him for everything and wished him a good night before making her way towards the stairs. She hesitated for a split second before she took the first step, slowly climbing the rest and throwing several looks over her shoulder to look at Izumo. The blond only gestured for her to walk on each time.

When she finally found and entered the room in question, Haru saw the redhead lying in bed with his back turned to her. She closed the door behind her and placed her bags on the ground, slowly and without making a sound. Then she just stood there and sighed, all the tension leaving her body as she did so. Her body began to tremble as her resistance faded, and she feared that she might burst into tears any minute now. Mikoto turned around to look at her and the moonlight that poured in through the gap between the curtains fell over his head, highlighting it in a curious manner.

His face remained passive as always but in his eyes, that seemed to shine brightly in the light, Haru could see that concern again, plain as daylight. She didn’t even bother asking herself how she managed to notice these things anymore. Instead, she just stood there, not knowing what to do.

And then the tears began to stream down her cheeks after all. They surprised not only herself, but Mikoto as well. That became evident when the redhead sat up when he saw the drops glinting in the luminance of the moon.

A sob racked her body and that appeared to be too much for him. He got up and strode over to her, pressed his fingers against her cheeks as if to stop her crying with the gesture. When that didn’t seem to work, he pulled her into a warm embrace, making weird noises in an attempt to shush her, but she didn't know whether he even realised that he was making the sounds in the first place.

He guided her to his bed, the couch completely forgotten, and helped her remove some of her clothes to make a fitting substitute pyjama. Once he had forced her to lie down he covered her with blankets and joined her under the covers. Haru curled up into a ball against his chest and continued her weeping as he stroked her back until, eventually, she fell asleep.

The day already started in a rather weird manner when she woke up, only to find herself alone, with the memories of sleeping in the same bed as one of her friends. One of her male friends. One of her male friends she may or may not have developed slight feelings for. But perhaps she only thought that in her moment of weakness, because he had seemed the best person to show her emotions to.

When she made her way downstairs, instead of avoiding Mikoto like she actually wanted to, she confronted him and told him something that surprised him more than she thought it would.

“Let me join you.” She hadn't said it as a request for she hadn't meant it as such; she wouldn't let him tell her no.

Now that she was no longer bound to her parents, she could do whatever she wanted. This would be her second chance at life, and she would give these guys a second chance as well. And so she thought it high time for her to officially become a certain someone’s vassal.

Still looking a little surprised, Mikoto held his hand out to her, examining her with an expectant look in his eyes. Haru smiled brightly at him and accepting it, gasping softly at the sudden flow of warmth through her body as she did so.

From that day on, the scar on the small of her back no longer reminded her of their failure. The red mark that covered it would forever remind her of the start of her new life.

Chapter Text

Why did everything always have to end up completely different than expected?

Haru had thought that Mikoto and the others only had to deal with something that might break free if they let their feelings take control for even a second, that they had to be on guard every single minute of the day.

It was much worse than that.

Instead of an aura, it felt more like a flame had nestled itself inside her stomach, tickling at her insides whenever her mind had a free moment. At times it even felt like it tried to grow, to gain access to her limbs, to set something on fire. It made it all but impossible to pay attention to anything anyone at school said.

“Good morning, students. This is Ayame Munakata, she is going to graduate from high school this year with you guys so please treat her well.”

The name of a new student managed to catch her attention, even with her current problems blazing with full power, and she looked up to find a girl with long, dark brown hair standing at the front of the class. She pressed the glasses that hid her eyes up her nose, drawing a pattern into the floor with a foot.

“P-please take good care of me,” she said with a small bow, a blush dusting her cheeks as she did so.

The rest of the class mumbled a greeting in return and the girl, Munakata, smiled in relief. The teacher gestured for her to take a seat, and so she made her way towards the empty table that stood next to Haru's.

“Nice to meet you,” she whispered and the brunette smiled back at her.

The teacher had already started his lesson, so Haru pulled out her notebook and showed her the name that she had written on it. The new student shot her a grin and nodded her head.

Haru turned her head around so that she could continue to stare outside, clenching her fists tightly in an attempt to push the fire inside of her down a little while trying her best to listen to what the teacher was droning on about.

The chime of the bell signalled that lunch break had finally arrived. Haru looked over at her new neighbour, deciding that she might as well get to know her a little before heading over to meet up with Mikoto. Munakata finished jotting down some notes of the previous lesson before straightening her back to look at her. Another smile appeared on her face.

In that moment, she suddenly noticed that this girl looked much longer than Haru. “Munakata-san, how old are you?”

Her cheeks flushed again she looked down at her lap in slight embarrassment. Then, in a low voice, she replied, “A-ah, I’m sixteen…”

“Sixteen?!” Haru exclaimed. Munakata was a year younger than Mikoto! How could she get placed in a class higher than him?

Munakata nodded. “You see… I… I was home-schooled. And the admission tests, apparently I did them too well to be placed in the second year…”

“That’s pretty impressive. If I were to do those admission tests again I'd probably get placed in the first class or something.”

“It can’t possibly be that bad…” Munakata protested, laughing a little.

“You don’t want to know,” Haru replied with a weak grin. “So, home-schooled, huh? Your parents must have a lot of free time then, right?”

Munakata scratched her red cheeks, averting her gaze to the ceiling. "I... I suppose..."

So she wasn’t a girl of many words, all right then. Haru had no idea what to say to continue this conversation. Munakata had gone back to scribbling in her notebook, leaving the responsibility of this chat's life to her. But if the other didn't show any signs of wanting to talk, then what could one do...?

“So... You have any siblings, then? I’ve always wanted to have an older brother myself,” she managed in the end, the words coming rather difficultly to her. Munakata’s shoulders slumped slightly in relaxation, however, so she must have said something right.

“You could say that. My parents adopted me, and they had two older sons. My brothers, technically. They decided to home-school me because I came to them when I was somewhat older..."

Haru nodded in understanding, knowing she couldn't exactly question the other girl's situation to begin with.

“Well, don’t worry, you’re not the only one with a complicated story. I live with some of my friends,” she told her in an attempt to reassure her that she wasn’t the only weird person out there.

“What happened?” she asked, brows raised and appearing just beneath the frames of her thick glasses.

With a shrug of her shoulders Haru replied, “I couldn’t stay with my parents any longer and went to live at one of my friends’ bar because he had some spare rooms.”

The thought of the bar reminded her of the aura and, as if on cue, the warmth inside of her returned with a vengeance. She clenched her fist to stop its trembling but she couldn’t distract herself from the sudden dizziness that made the world spin around her.

“Are you all right?” Munakata’s voice came from far away even though she sat right next to her.

When her stomach began to churn, Haru jumped up and dashed out of the room, leaving Munakata behind with a surprised look on her face. It didn’t take her long to snap out of it and follow her.

Haru arrived at the toilets just in time for her to empty the contents of her stomach there. When nothing remained for her to throw up, she flushed the toilet and stood up again, her whole body trembling as she did so.

“Sato-san?” Munakata asked when she entered the room to find the other girl leaning heavily against one of the doors.

The brunette shook her head, and before she knew it a cold hand was pressed against her forehead. “You’ve got a fever!”

When she didn’t reply, Munakata grabbed her hands to get her attention, but she winced and let go of them at once when she felt the heat they emitted. Haru stared at her with wide eyes and noticed the pain evident on the other's face before she quickly placed her hands under a stream of cool water.

“I need to go,” she mumbled as she fled from the toilets, almost hearing the hissing of something cold meeting something hot when she opened the door to the hall.

Whatever happened after that, Haru could not recall, but when she regained control of her body she realised that she stood in the middle of Shizume City. Without stopping, she followed the throng of people that had caught her, all the while trying to figure out what she should do.

If she didn’t do something about this, then she feared that she might explode, or perhaps combust, from the heat. Her clothes stuck to her body in an uncomfortable manner and she feared that they might catch fire any moment now.

Had the others have to gone through this during the first few days after joining as well? What had they done to keep their flames under control? Why couldn’t they have warned her that this might happen? Or perhaps, because of her gender, she reacted differently to this whole thing? Still, she couldn't help but ask herself would Mikoto would do. What he had done. His was the power of the King, after all, which had to have been far greater than that of them.

Where was everyone when she needed them the most?

An opportunity showed itself when, in her daze, she bumped into something. Snapping back to reality, she found a woman wearing rather fancy-looking clothes, staring at her with lowered brows. Haru jumped back and bowed down, yelling, “Sorry, sorry!”

The woman didn’t have any time to react, for a huge, bald man came to stand in front of her in that moment. “Who do you think you are, running into other people like that?”

Without waiting for the brunette's response he threw a punch her way. Adrenaline flowed through her veins and, combined with the flames that she began to lose control over, helped her jump to the side. She dodged the attack just in time, bumping into a few other people, but she no longer cared.

The woman called out a name, probably that of this man, telling him to stop, but he wouldn't listen. Haru took the liberty to knock some sense into him, opening the frail lock she had placed on her aura.

Everything that she had bottled up these past few days found its way to the surface, all of it freed in one go. The redness engulfed her within seconds and the sweat that had covered her disappeared almost at once. At the back of her mind she also registered that her clothes had somehow remained intact, but she didn’t have time to think about that any longer. Moving solely on instinct, she aimed a kick at the man before her.

She had never learned how to fight but that didn’t seem to matter when the flames covered her body. Her leg connected with the man’s arm as he tried to block it and he yelped in pain as her aura bit him.

Twirling around, she quickly changed between feet, throwing her other leg at him with renewed vigour from the momentum of the turn. He still hadn’t completely recovered from the previous burn, and so her kick caught him dead in his side. She didn’t know where all this power came from, but she found that her kick had become strong enough to send this big, muscled man crashing to the ground.

He didn’t even get up after that and Haru could only stare at him in shock. Only then did she notice the attention others had begun to pay to them, muttering and whispering to each other. Some of them even backed away when they saw the brunette looking about. looked at him in shock. Before anybody could stop her, she slipped away and disappeared into a nearby alleyway in search of more trouble.

Later that night, though Haru didn't quite know the time, she returned to the bar where Mikoto’s back greeted her. From the sound of it Izumo had disappeared off to the kitchen, but when he returned he almost dropped the plates he held in his grasp.

“Haru-chan! Where have you been all day?” he all but yelled at her and Mikoto turned around to look at her as well.

Haru could almost feel his gaze wandering over her body, taking in the various cuts and bruises she had acquired by fighting with other people all day. All of a sudden, she felt rather conscious of herself and tugged at her skirt to make it seem a little longer. He didn’t say anything about it though, probably knowing that she would be getting hell from Izumo anyway when the bartender had gotten a better look at her.

Izumo placed his load on the counter before making his way towards the brunette, his eyes widening when he took in her dishevelled appearance. Much to her surprise, though, he didn’t get mad with her.

“What happened? It ain't too much for you, is it?” he inquired, his tone soft as he wiped some dirt from her cheek.

“I’m fine now, don’t worry about it,” she replied with a smile as she pulled away from him. “I’m just tired, so I’m going to go to bed, all right?”

As she passed Mikoto on her way to the stairs, he grabbed her arm and turned her around. She looked at him with raised brows, though even she herself did not know whether in challenge or in surprise. Her heart almost melted when, without a word, he pressed Izumo’s first aid kit into her hands before turning back to his glass of coke.

Upstairs she decided to take a quick shower first. Standing beneath the water, she watched as the warm water washed away all the grime and blood covering her body, darkening the water that went down the drain. She had already checked for wounds and knew that she just had a few small cuts. Those could bleed quite a lot if they wanted to, she had learned.

Once she had changed into something more suitable to sleep in and stuck some plasters to the cuts covering her limbs, she noticed that the urge to burn something had dwindled, almost non-existent in that moment. She could still feel it somewhere deep inside of her, but at a controllable rate. How long would it take before it tried to break free again, though?

Haru dropped herself on top of her bed and let her muscles relax, welcoming the exhaustion that overwhelmed her body. As she lay there, her limbs sprawled out across the mattress, she let her thoughts wander freely. She tried to process everything that had happened these past few days and wanted to figure out how things would continue from then on.

It didn’t take long until she started to doze off, but a knock on the door pulled her back to the world of the conscious. The brunette hummed to let the other person know they could come in, but when nobody did so she got up and walked over to the door. The hallway was empty, except for something lying on the floor in front of her room. Bending over to pick it up, she noticed it had a sticky note stuck to it.

She brushed her hair out of her eyes before reading, ‘Place these wherever needed, I promise it helps! :)’

With a small smile, she pulled it off and noticed that she held a box containing those gel pads people used on their foreheads whenever they had fevers. She sat on her bed again and lifted her shirt a little so she could place one of the pads on her stomach. Sweet coolness radiated from it, soothing the warmth, and she had to hold back a groan that tried to wrestle its way from her throat.

After placing another pad on her chest and another on her forehead, she crawled on top of the blankets and curled up with her face pressed into her soft pillow. She made a note to thank Izumo the next time she saw him and closed her eyes to sleep.

Haru awoke with a start that night, only to find that a few hours had passed since she had fallen asleep. The sound of someone shuffling around in her room explained why she had woken up all of a sudden. She felt a warm aura approach her and heard someone discarding their clothes, embarrassment filling her at the thought of him coming over this, though the room belonged to him in the first place. Nevertheless, she shuffled over to make some room for him.

Mikoto let out a slightly agitated sigh as he came to lie down next to her, on his side so he could look her over, and at once she knew he wasn’t happy with her right now.

After a few moments of listening to his breathing, his deep voice caused goose bumps to rise along her arms. “Don’t do that again.”

She shuffled closer to him and felt him carefully probe the gel pads covering her body. The sensation of his calloused fingers touching her skin caused her face to turn a shade darker, and Haru thanked whatever gods or forces in existence for the darkness surrounding them.

“I’m sorry. It was all just a bit too much. I won’t do it ag–”

Mikoto cut her off by pressing a finger to her lips. “If it happens again, and it will, you can ask us for help.”

After a few moments of silence, the brunette nodded her head, but at the same time she knew that she wouldn't take him up on his offer. For that she would always be too stubborn and full of pride, or so she suspected. Mikoto seemed to realise that as well, and he grunted in irritation before turning to lie on his back, keeping her pressed against him all the while.

The next morning Haru woke up and found herself lying next to Mikoto, his limbs practically sprawled out all over her. Sweat covered his forehead and she realised he must have suffered from another nightmare that night. Feeling guilty that she hadn't been there to help him, she slid out of bed without waking him. He deserved a few more moments of peaceful sleep.

Her PDA told her that they still had one hour to go before they would have to leave for school, so she got dressed as quietly as she could. Then she made her way downstairs to find the kitchen and some food to break her fast with. .

In the fridge she found some leftovers from the guys’ dinners with another sticky note with her name upon it. She took it out of the fridge and warmed it up, and when she took a bite she found that it tasted just as good as it had looked. Izumo really had a talent when it came to this kind of stuff.

With her bowl of food she decided to do something she had never done before: watch TV while having breakfast. Though she could only find lame children's channels, the sensation of eating while staring at a screen filled her with a certain kind of giddiness.

When they had fifteen minutes left, Mikoto sauntered down the stairs with a big yawn.

“Good morning,” she called out to him and he nodded back. Then he made his way to the kitchen to search for some food as she had done a while ago.

He soon came back to join the brunette in front of the television. It was then that she caught herself staring at him a little longer than necessary, though of course not without the man himself noticing it as well. He cocked his head to the side while returning the gaze, his eyes for once unreadable. If not for the gel pads she had decided to wear to school that day her whole body would have turned a bright red.

Luckily for her, the last fifteen minutes passed by in the blink of an eye and in no time they made their way down the already bustling streets of Shizume City, on their way to school.

“Good morning Munakata-san,” she all but sang, her embarrassment from before replaced by cheerfulness.

“Good morning to you too… A-and, Ayame will do,” Haru's new friend mumbled before straightening her back. “Are you feeling better today?”

“Then you can just call me Haru. And I’m sorry about yesterday, I really don’t know what got into me. I hope your hand’s not too bad…?” she inquired, almost afraid of what the other's answer might be.

Ayame held her hand up for her to see and she smiled brightly at her. How peculiar! Haru could have sworn that she must have burned the poor girl's hand with the heat that her body had been emitting.

“See you later!” Haru yelled at Mikoto all of a sudden, almost having forgotten his presence to begin with. Ayame turned around to see the notorious redhead of the school wave back at the brunette in an awkward manner.

When Haru caught Ayame staring at his retreating back, she said,
“Ah, that’s Mikoto Suoh, if you haven’t heard about him already. The big bad boy in school, or whatever people say about him these days.”

She laughed at the surprised look on Ayame's face before leading her down the hall to their classroom.

That lunch break, Haru decided to drag Ayame along with her to officially meet Mikoto.

“Mikoto, this is Munakata Ayame. Ayame, this is Mikoto Suoh.”

Ayame bowed to the redhead, who only nodded at her in response. Haru let out a sigh of relief, happy with the positive reactions from both parties. Then she went to sit down next to her King – how funny it was to think of him as that – and patted the ground next to her in order to invite Ayame.

The brunette spent the rest of the lunch break talking about various kinds of things, mostly just receiving more nods from both of her sides. Fortunately Haru was quite the talker, otherwise these breaks would become rather boring for everybody involved.

After school, Haru decided that if her new classmate had met Mikoto, why shouldn’t she meet the rest of the group as well? Perhaps she could help with their homework sessions as well. With a bit of luck Tatara would be home too by now.

And indeed, it seemed like Haru's lucky day when she opened the door to the bar only to hear Tatara's voice float towards her in greeting.

“Ah, Haru! I bought a guitar today!" he called out at her as he swivelled around in his stool by the bar, said instrument in his grasp. He strummed it twice but gave up whatever he had wanted to do soon after. "And who might this be?"

"I'm more interested in that test you had to take from before the holidays." Haru shook her head as she entered the room, Ayame trailing behind her rather uncertainly. When Tatara's expression changed to that of 'Don't sweat it!' she added, "And this is Munakata Ayame. A friend from school. Ayame, meet Tatara Totsuka."

When she turned around to gauge her friend's reaction, she raised a brow at the statue that Ayame had become. She glanced back at Tatara, who had tilted his head to the side, his most charming smile visible on his face as he welcomed the newcomer to the bar.

"And... well... the guy not currently behind the bar is Izumo Kusanagi. If you can't understand him when you meet him, don't worry, that's because he's our Kyoto-san. We all go through that phase."

"I'm right here!" came Izumo's voice from the kitchen.

"Love you too!" Haru called back at him

While Haru shrugged her jacket off and hung it to the coat rack that stood beside the door, Tatara placed his new guitar against the side of the bar before making his way over to the newcomer. He held his hand out for the girl, that smile still on his face. “It’s nice to meet you, Munakata-san.”

Izumo yelled the same from the kitchen, though he did not see Ayame slowly come back to life, nodding her head meekly in greeting. Her cheeks remained as red as they had become when Tatara had set eyes upon her until she left the bar later that day, even as Haru led her to their special corner and got her something to drink before they settled down to do their homework.

Maybe life wasn’t so bad after all, she thought.

Chapter Text

Days passed and slowly but surely the cracks once more started to reappear in Haru's seemingly perfect life. Though she kept telling the others and herself that she could control it and that everything was going to be fine, her outbursts became more frequent and sometimes she even disappeared for days on end. School was completely forgotten and even the thought of the bar didn’t manage to pull her back out of her stupor most of the time.

Everyone seemed to know what was going on but nobody attempted to stop her, so she just carried on, not knowing exactly what she should do with herself. With the lack of a guide and the lack of courage to find one, she only succeeded in destroying herself.

Of the three of them, Mikoto worried most about the whole situation. He had thought that protecting his friends would become easier if they shared his powers with him, but it seemed that it only meant giving them another tool to hurt themselves with. However, he knew Haru well enough to know that she wouldn't listen to anybody, not even to him, until she had reached her limit and would come crawling back to them, begging for help.

So that was exactly what he planned on doing, ignoring the concerns voiced by Izumo and Tatara. Sometimes even Munakata said something about it when she appeared in the bar, though she seemed to have eyes mostly for Tatara. Even Mikoto had managed to catch that somehow. Ironically the King thought her far too quiet for him to enjoy her company, and the sight of her enormous glasses annoyed him for no obvious reasons, but if it made his friend happy then Mikoto would comply without complaint. It seemed that the girl had a good heart and she didn't exactly hurt anybody with her presence.

Some days Haru would return in the evening before quickly going upstairs where she would take a shower and crawl into bed. The next morning she would then stand ready and waiting for the redhead to go to school, though she no longer talked as much as she used to. Mikoto almost liked that the least of everything, though he wasn't exactly in the position to force her into confessing anything. Sometimes she would join him with Munakata in the lunch breaks, and something they would walk back home together once school had finished. But something Mikoto had to eat his food by himself, and sometimes she wouldn't stand by the gates to wait for him, and sometimes he would later hear from Munakata that she had left during the day.

Days turned into weeks and Mikoto stopped expecting things to change for the better all of a sudden. He didn’t stop caring, he never stopped caring; he simply gave up on hoping his friend would start doing better. At one point he even realised that it felt like he lived with a relapsing alcoholic or a drug addict, wishing that whenever they said they would quit that they would actually do so.

Even worse than that: he started to regret letting the brunette join him in the first place, giving her that power. He knew that it could be difficult at times, but if he had known that she would react so violently, then he would have preferred worrying about her inability to protect herself to worrying about whether she would even make it through the night, wherever she might have gone off to.

In those moments Mikoto vowed that he wouldn't accept any more women into his clan, if one could even call it that in the first place. He ignored the fact that it didn't have anything to do with gender, and that Haru was just being Haru: too pigheaded for her own good. Not unlike a certain redhead, though.

However, with or without Haru's presence, life still went on, even for the King and his vassals. Mikoto had thought it irritating when Tatara began following him around, claiming the redhead would become someone great and getting into all sorts of trouble because of that. These days many other people chose to ‘stalk’ him, and Tatara and Izumo as well, in the hopes of joining this new phenomenon people had started to talk about. Most of them were just looking for a thrill though.

He had seen what that could lead to, however. The last two times he had tried to initiate some follower at the urging of his friends had ended in rather gruesome ways. Needless to say, the amount of stalkers had diminished greatly once they had heard of the demise of their colleagues.

“If you don't take risks we'll never grow as a clan, though," Izumo pointed out after Mikoto had scared off another group of boys.

Mikoto clicked his tongue in annoyance and shrugged. “They should just stay away from me.”

Tatara laughed at that and shook his head. “Don’t say such things! If it weren’t for my persistence, you would now have a loyal vassal less, right?” Conveniently ignoring the fact that perhaps this damned Slate hadn't chosen Mikoto as a King in the first place if he had just kept his mouth shut, he pointed at one of the retreating boys. “Maybe you just let another worthy member leave without even trying to see what he’s capable of.”

A frown appeared on the King’s face as he stared at his hand, wondering why they had to 'grow as a clan' in the first place. Why did it matter if they had four members and not forty? What were they even supposed to do with so many people in the first place? Though he supposed that if he never tried, he'd never figure out how to use these powers properly. Hiding them and hoping that one day he might just wake up and find himself rid of this fire that constantly raged on inside of him had proved inefficient. Might as well learn to control them instead, right?

“Hey!” Mikoto suddenly yelled, astonishing Izumo and Tatara who stopped to watch.

Even then only one boy in the group actually turned around to see who had called out. Surprisingly enough, or maybe not, Tatara had pointed at this boy's back but a few seconds ago.

He came closer to the redhead, a surprised look on his face. Without uttering a word to the men surrounding him, he left them and ran back to where the King waited for him, who then proceeded to look the newcomer over. A slightly chubby man with short, blond hair and the beginnings of a goatee on his chin stood before him, wearing a simple jogging outfit.

“Name?” Mikoto practically barked at him, which only made the boy look at him in confusion.

“Eh?”

Mikoto sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, thinking that maybe he should at least try to seem a little nicer. “What’s your name?”

“R-Rikio Kamamoto, sir,” the boy responded.

Though Mikoto had tried his best to let go of his harsh edge, Kamamoto still didn’t seem very sure about the whole situation. When the redhead held his hand out for him, he eyed it suspiciously. Of course he, too, had heard of all the tales. But still...

“Look, I haven’t got all day,” Mikoto nearly snapped, feeling a little irritated by the giggles that he could hear coming from behind him.

Kamamoto jumped up and quickly grabbed Mikoto’s hand. The first few seconds nothing happened and the poor guy wondered what would happen. Then he let out a cry when he saw the red aura appear around Mikoto’s hand, and in his panic he tried to yank his hand back. The redhead, however, wouldn’t let go so he had to watch in horror as the flames slowly made their way up his arm, over his shoulder, spreading out across the rest of his body until they simply disappeared. He then stood there, trembling and staring at the man in front of him who watched him with raised brows. It took him another few moments until he realised that it hadn’t actually hurt him.

“Welcome, Rikio.” And with that, the King turned around and strolled off like nothing had happened.

“Typically King.” Tatara sighed but he grinned nonetheless before stepping forward to greet their new comrade, who still couldn't quite grasp what had just happened.

Tatara held his hand out but Kamamoto didn’t exactly feel like shaking hands with anybody for the rest of his life right now. The other laughed at the boy’s face and lifted his hands in the air to show him that he meant him no harm.

Kamamoto scratched the back of his head with a sheepish look on his face before following his superior, all the while listening to everything the boy had to say about joining their clan. Izumo fell into step beside Mikoto and shared a glance with the redhead. They silently agreed to let Tatara take care of any newcomers from that moment onwards. .

Lying on the pavement, snuggling with a brick wall at the side of one of those streets in a city where nobody dared to come at night, Haru looked up at the starry sky and realised there wasn’t much starry about the sky at all. Probably because of all that smog the city seemed to be emitting every moment of the day. She remembered her family trip to the countryside, remembered looking up at night and seeing more stars than she had even known existed. That was probably an exaggeration, but in that moment it had felt like it.

The brunette rolled over onto her side and reached out for the bottle lying next to her. When she picked it up, she realised that it was empty and threw it away with a groan, listening to it shatter as it hit the ground.

Alcohol numbed the need to burn something to a crisp but at the same time she was glad that she had nothing of the substance left to drink. She really didn’t need another addiction that she would only have to get rid of later on.

Then she began to wonder what her parents were doing. Had they told her grandparents about what had happened? If so, then how had they reacted to the news?

Her thoughts moved over to HOMRA and her friends. Did they miss her? It pained her to think that they hadn’t even tried to stop or help her. But then again, she had never actually asked them to do so in the first place, so she couldn't exactly begrudge them their inactivity.

Hearing about them through rumours, she had found out that they did just fine without her. They had started recruiting new members, or so it seemed, and apparently they had found two or three new additions to the clan already.

With another groan she pushed herself form the ground and, ignoring the throbbing in her body from her last rumble, she decided that she should return home for the night.

She just hoped she could still call it that.

The sight of so much movement in the bar this early in the evening surprised Haru, and she had to remind herself that they must have been the newcomers. Just before she entered, she started to feel a little embarrassed at the thought of meeting these people. Had the others told them about her? About how she couldn't contain the flames within her?

She would find out soon enough.

All the chattering ceased when the brunette stepped through the doors. All eyes went over to her, and suddenly she wished that the planet would just open beneath her and swallow her right up. She felt far more conscious of herself than she had thought possible.

“Haru! What luck, I was just about to go.” Tatara greeted her with a short hug, acting as if nothing had happened. He then turned around to face the others sitting at the bar, pulling Haru in front of him as he did so. “This is our Haru!”

Now in full view of these strangers, she could feel her cheeks burn as they seized her up.

“This is Rikio Kamamoto. He was the first to join us.”

A slightly overweight boy who really couldn’t have been much older than maybe fourteen or fifteen years old nodded his head in greeting. He looked rather friendly, which helped Haru relax a little.

“The boy next to him is Masaomi Dewa.”

He had short, unruly black hair and he wore thick-rimmed square glasses. He moved forward a little to shake her hand.

“And finally, Yo Chitose.”

This boy had wavy brown hair and he looked to be about the same age as Dewa, maybe about sixteen years old. From the way they interacted with each other Haru concluded that they had already become close friends, or maybe they had known each other even before joining. When he shot her a smile, she found herself returning the gesture.

“As you may have realised, we are very fond of our little sister and always worry about her wellbeing, so please treat her with respect,” Tatara finished his introductions and his words made the brunette feel warm inside – the good kind of warm – knowing they hadn’t forgotten about her.

As if to prove the words Tatara had just spoken, fingers wrapped around her wrist and pulled her backwards. In her surprise, she tripped and practically fell on top of Mikoto, who had been sitting on the couch by the door. He investigated the hand he held in his grasp, tracing one of his fingers along the small burn marks scattered across her palm. Despite his look of disinterest, she recognised the flash of concern in his eyes that always seemed to be there when it came to her. It made her feel guilty; it made her loath herself.

“I see King will be taking care of you. Then I’ll take my leave!” Tatara exclaimed and waved one last time before leaving.

Looking up to wave her friend off, Haru noticed that the others still watched her. Izumo distracted her from them by deciding to join her on the couch. He placed that first aid kit you had gotten quite acquainted with over the past few weeks on the table and opened it, before he began to fix her up.

“I’m sorry for all the trouble I’m causing you guys,” she whispered as she watched the two men patch up one of her hands each.

They didn’t reply and just when the silence began to become too heavy to bear, her three new comrades came to join them as well. They began asking her various questions, as if trying to lift the tension in the air. That despite the fact that they hardly even knew her.

Haru ended up talking with them all night, asking them a few questions of her own as well.

All three of them still went to school. Dewa and Chitose were in the same class and did practically everything together; especially getting into trouble. They even shared an apartment. Kamamoto, on the other hand, still lived with his parents, though he was having some problems at school. Haru tried to encourage him to keep on doing his best.

She didn’t know how much time passed while conversing with the boys. Eventually Izumo joined in and managed to get everyone laughing with some joke or other. Only when Mikoto curtly announced that he wanted to go to bed did Haru check the time, realising that it had gotten quite late in the meantime. She excused herself from the couch as well before following the redhead to his room.

When she entered the room, Mikoto had already crawled under the blankets, his back turned towards the door. With his eyes not directed at her, she quickly changed her other clothes before joining her King in bed.

He didn’t say anything to her, didn’t even turn to lie on his bed so that she could sleep on him, and that worried her a little, though she could have understood it. When she had managed to gather enough courage, she shuffled closer to him until the front of her body came into contact with his. She realised that he had already fallen asleep.

With a small smile on her face she closed her eyes in order to join him.

How could she have possibly doubted whether she could still call this place her home?

Chapter Text

Haru's sudden return managed to melt the shield Mikoto had built around his feelings in order to stop himself from hoping that things would change. Hearing her laughter for the first time in what felt like ages, listening to her voice as she spoke more than she had in the past few weeks, feeling her touch just before he fell asleep, he had began to expect that she had ‘recovered’.

That made it all the more painful when he woke up the next morning only to find himself lying all alone in his bed without her. Both Haru and her clothes had disappeared; the only thing left were her pyjamas on the couch. When he went downstairs he found only Izumo, dusting his bar for the umpteenth time that week.

“If you’re lookin' for Haru,” a voice spoke to him from behind the bar, “she left earlier this morning with Ayame.”

Mikoto’s shoulders slumped so much it might have seemed they would slide off his body. So she hadn’t left him again. He couldn’t believe the jump his heart made when he heard the news and he wondered why it had done so.

Heart arrhythmia?

Atherosclerosis?

Thrombosis?

…love?

Mikoto mentally shook his head before pouring himself a glass of water and sitting on a stool to watch Izumo continue cleaning the bar.

“Did you guys… do anythin' last night?” Izumo asked hesitantly, not looking up from the counter.

He had to look up when he didn’t get an answer, only to receive an incredulous stare from Mikoto, whose hand holding his glass of water hung in mid-air. Despite having been best friends with the King for years now, Izumo did not know everything neither did he have to know everything about him. Whether or not he was still a virgin belonged to that category, but when he looked upon his King's face he realised soon enough that he did not think lightly of such things. Not like he himself did, at least.

“Ah, it's just that Haru was talkin' about having some sort of epiphany and that she was goin' to try harder to get used to everythin', so I wondered if anythin' had happened…” Izumo said in his defence, waving his hands around as if to emphasise his point.

A slightly uncomfortable silence hung in the air as Mikoto continued to sip at his glass of water while Izumo went back to cleaning his beloved bar. After only a few minutes Izumo popped back up, leaning over the counter to close most of the distance between himself and the redhead. Mikoto raised an eyebrow at his vassal's antics, most likely wondering whether he had hit his head against the bar while he had been cleaning it.

“Last night, after you went to bed, we started thinkin' that now that the group’s gettin' a little bigger and more... official, we should find a name or somethin',” Izumo stated as he began to wipe the counter of the bar this time.

Mikoto didn’t answer at once and finished his drink first before turning back to his friend, as if to ask what he had had in mind. Izumo, having known him for years, understood his part of the conversation and answered, “The others thought that since everyone always meets up here, we should call our clan HOMRA.”

“Do what you like,” Mikoto replied and got up to get something to eat.

Izumo watched him leave with a smile. Though Mikoto must have been the most socially awkward guy he had ever met, he just knew that their King would take good care of his clansmen.

Haru felt a little guilty for leaving without saying anything to Mikoto, but he had looked so peaceful in his sleep that she just couldn't wake him up. Hopefully he wouldn’t feel too disappointed when he found out that she had disappeared, though knowing him he probably wouldn’t really care. If he even remembered going to sleep in the same bed as her in the first place.

The reason she had gotten up at such an ungodly hour – it was about eleven in the morning and she never got up before lunch time – was because her new classmate had worried about her and had decided to check up on her the very moment a certain someone had updated her of her sudden return. So Ayame had wanted to go out with her and have a little fun on their free day in the weekend. Though technically she had come over to the bar and asked her how she felt before shifting to staring around and playing with her fingers, leaving it up to Haru to break the ice and think of a solution. In the end she decided to take Ayame shopping, because girls did that kind of thing best, right?

She had linked her arm with Ayame’s, something she hadn't liked in the beginning but she had refused to let her go. Soon she had given her struggle up and had accepted the fact that Haru wouldn't give her arm back any time soon.

“Has anything happened at school lately?” Haru asked her friend as they passed a store selling cute, feminine clothes. She tried to imagine what she would look like in one of those dresses, but then shook her head in disdain.

“Not much.” Ayame tried her best to shrug though that didn't quite succeed with the other girl practically clinging to her arm.

When she didn’t continue, Haru tried her best to get some more details out of her. “Did I miss any fights? Did you get any tests? Did you get a lot of homework?”

“Mikoto seemed rather lonely.”

The brunette stopped walking and stared at her friend in surprise. For someone to feel lonely, they first had to get attached to others. How could someone like Mikoto have gotten that close to anybody, least of all to someone like her? Though they both seemed pretty wild and reckless, he preferred the quiet and the calm to her louder and rougher moods. She thought he despised how she always tried to coax a conversation from his side.

“He is really unhappy with what you’re doing to yourself. And if you ever find yourself in need of someone to talk to, someone on the outside, then you can always come to me,” Ayame continued when she didn’t respond.

“That… that would be great,” Haru murmured as she started pulling her friend along again, sunken in thoughts once more while she tried to think of something else to talk about. “Do you know anything about us?”

Ayame attempted to shrug again and nodded her head a little. When she didn’t go on, Haru tried to help her along. “What do you know then?”

“That Mikoto is the Red King and that you fight with an aura,” she told her. As she spoke, she eyed Haru carefully, as though she feared her all of a sudden. It surprised her that someone could fear her. And especially how horrible it made her feel.

And to think that before she had joined HOMRA, as they called it now, she feared Mikoto and the others as well. She didn’t know Ayame that well yet, but how must it have been for the others, knowing a dear friend felt that way about them?

“That’s right. But I think it kind of went wrong with me… I just can’t seem to control the aura very well. It’s becoming a little better though, but I really didn’t want to let the others see me in such a state. They’re worried enough as it is and I don’t want to make everything worse…” Was that really the truth though? Didn't her pride just keep getting in the way of her ability to ask others for help?

“I think you’re making them more worried by doing just that. They’re good people, they’d be willing and able to assist you with anything,” Ayame scolded. It felt weird to get advice from someone almost two years younger.

“I guess you’re right… Maybe... Maybe I should just go talk to them,” Haru admitted, still not very sure about it all. “But first, let’s enjoy our day off without any boys around.”

Ayame smiled at her friend as they continued on their way, passing by a few more stores on their way down the busy street.

“How’s your family doing?” Haru asked.

"Fine," Ayame replied before she pressed her lips into a thin line. "Though one of my brothers... He doesn’t like you, and he keeps saying you’re all dangerous. That I should stay away from the bar.”

“Well, he isn't wrong..." Haru admitted.

Ayame only shrugged again and stopped all of a sudden, jerking the brunette who still held her arm to a halt. When Haru followed her gaze, she noticed a young man walking towards them, a smile on his face. The fringe of his dark blue hair twisted in a curious manner and the violet eyes behind his glasses examined every inch of her body as he came closer. Haru looked back and forth between the two a few more times before figuring that he must have been the brother Ayame had talked about.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear!

“What a coincidence to meet my little sister going out with one of her friends. My name is Munakata Reisi, as you may have figured already,” he introduced himself, holding out his hand.

“Haru. It’s nice to finally get to meet you. I’ve heard so many things about you.” Like how he was younger than Mikoto, therefore making him younger than her, therefore giving her the moral high ground. Somehow.

Haru accepted his handshake and at once she realised the purpose of this visit, timed too well to be a mere coincidence. He had come to test her. Well, if he wanted a test, then a test she would give.

“How are you?” she asked him in her politest tone, straightening her back in order to make herself come across as a more civilised person.

Munakata smiled at the question. “Just fine. Though it’s a little lonely at home, now that Ayame has started going to school. But if that’s what makes her happy, then we’ll have to comply.”

The pang of guilt had hit her before she could tell herself that he had intended it to do just that.

He then turned his attention towards his sister. “But I don’t want to interrupt your time together, so I will be off. I shall see you this evening.” He looked back at Haru and bowed a little, though it felt more like a mockery than a sign of respect. “Goodbye Sato-san. I hope we meet again soon.”

And with that, he disappeared. Haru stared at his retreating back, wondering how he had known her surname, until Ayame snapped her out of it by pulled her along by the sleeve of her shirt.

“Sorry about that. I didn’t think he’d actually come to meet you like that…” Ayame murmured as she quickly walked on.

Haru laughed before admitting, “I just fear that I failed some test of his.”

Ayame shook her head. “I think he likes you.”

At hearing that, Haru let out another laugh before guiding Ayame towards a shop that sold great-looking sandwiches.

The brunette couldn’t even remember what they had done all day long, but before she knew it, it had already gotten dark. With a glance at her phone she saw that the hour began to near the double digits and she decided that they should go home. She wanted to impress Ayame's family into accepting her as her friend; this wasn’t the best time to bring her home so late.

But even though it had gotten so late so fast, Haru knew that today had done her some good, spending the day with Ayame like this. Slowly but surely, the girl had started opening up towards her as her sentences became longer and more spontaneous.

“I’m really happy that we went out today,” Ayame said all of a sudden on their way back to the bar. Haru planned on having the boys accompany them back to the Munakata house.

“Yeah, me too,” Haru admitted with a sincere smile. She opened her mouth to say something else, but she forgot what when a pair of hands appeared from an alley they had almost passed completely, snatching Ayame away from her.

One of them covered her mouth to prevent her from screaming as the other dragged her along, though that didn't stop Haru from doing so in her stead.

“Ayame!” she called out as she grabbed one of her wrists. The person pulling her along was too strong, however, and ended up dragging her along, though she dug her heels into the ground with all her might. Her mind went blank as two more arms grabbed her from behind as well, ceasing all her attempts to free Ayame.

“And I thought they taught kids these days that wandering about at night is dangerous, with all the perverts and murderers running about,” a voice chuckled from over her shoulder, and she shuddered at the sound of it so close to her ear.

“Just be thankful there are some stupid ones left for us. If you tie that one up then I’ll do this one while we wait for the others to return,” the other voice commanded.

Ayame just sat there, seemingly calm as she let her assaulter tie a rope around her wrists and ankles. Haru's capturer had less luck, however, and he eventually hit her in the face to get her to stop her wriggling and kicking.

“Be careful, she’s worth less if you hurt her,” the boss-man warned his companion before carefully grabbing Ayame’s chin to turn her head upwards.

He swore under his breath, halting the struggle between Haru and this prick to beat each other. “’sup boss?”

“She’s got glasses.”

The man who had been straddling Haru got up and she saw that a bandana covered his head. She suspected that he didn’t have any hair beneath it, though why she noticed this fact in the first place she could not say.

“Shit, that means she’s useless,” bandana-man muttered as he glancing at his wrist. “The others will be here soon. What’ll we do with her?”

Boss-man turned around with an unhappy look on his face. “The same thing that we do to all dead weight. Kill her.”

Haru's eyes widened at that and she started to shuffle around in an attempt to free herself from these damned ropes.

“What– no– you can’t!” Before she could form a coherent sentence, a foot pressed her face into the ground.

“Shut your trap and be a nice little girl, will ya,” bandana-man growled at her.

Despite his menacing vibes and the fact that the lower half of her face was being buried in the dirt, she couldn’t tear her gaze away from the knife that boss-man pulled out, from Ayame as she began to squirm around uneasily, from boss-man as he knelt down in front of her and held her head up by her hair...

“Sorry,” he muttered and Haru wanted to scream but she could only taste mud.

Without another moment of hesitation he plunged the blade into Ayame's neck. She gasped as she struggled for breath and she desperately tried to tug her hands apart, but an agonising couple of seconds later she slumped into a pile of flesh and bones. The foot on the back of Haru's head disappeared, but she could only stare at the lifeless body of her friend.

What had just happened? A few minutes ago she had been strolling through this lovely city together with a dear friend of hers, thinking that life finally began to brighten a little once more. Her biggest worry had been disappointing this girl’s brother. Now she had to tell said boy that the little sister he had wanted to protect had died.

And all that because of her eyesight.

Even though Haru should have protected her. Because she had lain right next to her.

Footsteps appeared from the other end of the alley, but she barely even heard them as they asked what had happened, too caught up in her train of thoughts to even notice the flames seeping out of their cage.

What had she done to deserve any of this?

She had never disrespected anyone, had always done as she had been told, had tried her best not to harm nature and its inhabitants… Then why, why, why did she constantly receive this kind of shit from the rest of the world?

“O-oi, boss, look…” bandana-man stammered once he turned around.

The ropes tying Haru's arms and legs together fell to the ground as ashes, and a newspaper that had been lying around caught fire all of a sudden.

“What the fuck is going on?” boss-man asked no one in particular as he took a step back, the others of the group doing the same as they watched the girl get to her feet, albeit unsteadily.

She couldn’t see anything but flames before her eyes. She couldn’t feel anything but the warmth of her aura surrounding her. She couldn't smell anything but the smell of burnt paper. She couldn’t think of anything but the fact that an innocent girl had died because of these assholes.

Said assholes never saw it coming when she suddenly shot out towards them, almost flying, and grabbed their so-called boss by his collar. Without waiting, she pulled his face down as she flung her knee up, the two connecting with a painful crunch.

Before anyone could regain their composure, she went on to the second man, smashing his head against the brick wall and then kicking bandana-man, who had tried to sneak up on her from behind, in the stomach. As he collapsed a fourth person attempted to gain control of her body by jumping on top of her, but the adrenaline and flames coursing through her veins gave her the power to not collapse under his weight.

Instead she just waited until he felt the pain himself. When he did he began to scream like a little girl, quickly ripping his shirt off that had gotten caught by her flames.

Bandana-man was up and about again, this time with a crowbar he had found lying around in hand. He swung it at her but she stopped it with her bare hands, her aura writhing along the steel of it before reaching and burning his hand.

“Shit!” he cursed as he ran out of the alley and on to the street, the remaining traffickers quickly following him.

Haru didn’t give them much time to rest and sprinted after them at once, tackling the slowest of the group to the ground and pinning him to the ground. While her fingers and legs burned his wrists and thighs, he got the chance to look up at her face and found himself staring at an animal with wide eyes and bared teeth, breathing heavily. She head butted him and he lost consciousness.

Trash lying around combusted as she stalked towards bandana-man and the few surviving members of the gang. Though they shivered in fright, they didn't seem willing to actually flee from what should have been their prey.

“H-hey, come on now. Let’s be reasonable and–and we’ll let you go,” bandana-man tried while jumping out of the way as Haru swung her fist at him.

One of the traffickers had detached himself from the group and tried attacking her from behind again, this time with a wooden baseball bat. It collided with the back of her head and she staggered a little, but it didn’t do much harm with the flames that covered and protected her body. He gasped as he watched her snatch the weapon away from him and use it to start hitting him with it herself.

Once… Twice… Thrice… Blood began to pour from his shoulder but still she couldn’t find it in herself to stop. She hit him again and again and again and again until he lay on the ground before her, unconscious. The bat snapped and she flung it to the side, though the flames consumed what little remained of it, leaving more piles of ashes behind.

Without any regret – she couldn't feel anything other than anger in that moment – she turned back to the remaining enemies. In their shock they hadn’t taken this chance to run, and now they would pay for it.

It seemed that they found a little rage in themselves as well, and they started to attack her all at the same time. If Haru had been herself in that moment, she might have wondered at how she fluidly managed to evade every single hit and kick they threw her way.

When they had finished their failed onslaught, it became Haru's turn to attack again. Her brain felt fried as she punched and punched until she was the last man standing, her chest heaving as she tried to suck in as much air possible.

She had succeeded in doing what she had wanted to do, yet still she didn’t feel satisfied. The flames tickling her fists yearned for more, for more much and that yearning pushed every single sensible thought away from your mind.

It came to the point that she didn’t even notice the flames spreading out across the concrete ground around her. She didn’t hear the hasty footsteps nearing her position or the voices that calling out for her. Not even the sound of Ayame’s voice could snap her back to reality as the thirst for more power, more fighting, more, more, more... engulfed her, totally and completely until she became nothing more than one flaming ball of need.

“Oi.”

A voice. So close. So familiar. Right behind her. Who?

Mikoto.

Why?

“Snap out of it.”

What was he doing here? Where was she? What had happened? What was going on?

“Oi, Haru.”

He just said her name. That was her name, was it not? Was this reality? Of course not. Couldn’t be.

She swirled around and threw her fist at him, hitting him right in his jaw. A gasp left her newly-formed audience, but she didn’t notice. She didn’t even see how Tatara and Izumo lead Ayame away.

Mikoto only stared at her, not fazed by her aura in the slightest as he grabbed her hand, still connected to his face. Without any warning or sign of exertion, he flung her over his shoulder, sending her crashing into the ground a few metres behind him.

With a grunt, she crawled back up to stand on her feet. Once she had regained her balance, she ran towards him and made a summersault just when he wanted punch her. From her position on the ground she kicked him in the back of his right knee, making him stumble to the ground. He got up again as fast as he could and moved back a little to prepare for her next move.

That move, however, never came and she continued to stare at him, but not really at him.

Why were they fighting? Weren’t they friends? Didn’t she love him? Didn’t he like her? He had been lonely. Lonely. Without her.

Why were they fighting?

The last bit of control that she had somehow managed to keep on her body disappeared in the blink of an eye, her consciousness far too tired to keep restraining herself. And the very moment that happened, her aura blazed even fiercer than before. Posters hanging on the walls started to burn too and the glass in nearby windows began to creak at the pressure.

Mikoto realised that if he didn’t stop her soon, things would get much worse. And when he heard the voice, tiny and almost unnoticeable, at the back of his mind, though he did not know how, he knew what he had to do.

Help me.

Ignoring the inflated aura protecting her body, he walked right through the redness covering the ground like it was nothing more than a hot summer’s day. At the sight of him coming closer, Haru bared her teeth once more and growled to warn him, ready to jump at him any minute now. But a tiny string of her self remained within, trying to hold herself back just a little longer, hopefully long enough for her King to save her.

He stopped once he stood right in front of her and stared down at her blank eyes, hesitating for a split second before wrapping his arms around her. He stopped ignoring the flames that had been licking at him all this time and instead embraced them, welcomed them.

Slowly but surely they began to seep into his aura and mingled with his flames until the heat disappeared.

All that remained was her limp body, covered in burn marks and sweat from pushing herself far too much for far too long. He carefully lifted her onto his shoulder before making his way back to the bar.

Chapter Text

Days passed by like nothing had happened and everyone went on with their lives. Today had begun with dark clouds hanging low in the sky, combined with the smell of wet pavements, and since then the rain had fallen non-stop. It made for a gloomy change compared to the last few sunny days that had passed.

“How is she?” Ayame asked as she and Mikoto entered the bar, both drenched.

Tatara shook his head before he walked over, greeting her by taking her glasses from her nose and starting to clean them for her. In return she began to play with her fingers, fidgeting on the spot as she watched him do so. The boy only smiled slightly at her as he did so.

Mikoto remained silent and instead dropped his bag to the ground before making his way upstairs. While he dried his hair with a towel, he entered their room and found that, just like Tatara had said, she still lay in bed, cheeks flushed and chest rising and falling as she panted softly. The redhead reached for the dried up piece of cloth on her forehead and grabbed another gel pads, gently placing it on her face after wiping away the sweat. Though more of the shrivelled pads covered the rest of her body, he knew, but he refused to intrude into her personal space in such a manner.

A twitch of her body indicated a change of the pattern in which they had seemed to settle. Haru lifted a hand ever so slowly, taking hold of his and keeping those surprisingly fingers where they sat on her forehead.

“She… alive… How…?” she managed, cracking an eye open to look at the redhead.

He had a grim look on his face as he sat beside her on the bed, examining her in silence, wondering whether he should tell her. He himself hadn’t liked what he had found out, seeing as how it had meant that Haru had pushed herself too far for nothing.

“She’s a Strain. She healed herself,” he told her anyway while he gauged her reaction. He doubted that she had even understood what he had said. “That, and the adrenaline helped too. I suppose.”

Much to his surprise, the corners of the brunette's chapped lips turned upwards to form a small smile. She let out a sigh and closed her eyes again. Mikoto assumed that she had fallen asleep again and so he got up to leave.

"Did she wake up?" Tatara asked once the King sat down on a stool behind the bar, who only nodded in response.

"Well, her fever had dropped a little this afternoon," Izumo admitted, allowing himself a small smile.

Ayame tugged at a strand of her, not daring to look up from the floor as she asked, "Did you tell her...?"

Mikoto nodded once more, his face blank as he did so. He had done his best not to show how he felt about this whole ordeal. After all, the girl hadn't done it on purpose or anything. Who would go around telling stranger of her Strain powers anyway?

While the rest of her family had no clue of her abilities, her second-oldest brother had figured it out soon enough and had taken it upon himself to protect her from the outside world. His way of handling the situation had taken quite a toll on Ayame, however, which became evident by how her past had rolled off her tongue in sentences long enough to stump even Haru herself. She had found out about it when she had had her first knee-scrape-accident and it had healed up right in front of their eyes, after which her brother had started an almost obsessive hunt for information. It hadn't taken him long to find the word 'Strain', though it had taken her longer to actually come to terms with it.

"I... I'm really sorry," she mumbled, still not lifting her gaze.

What must have made everything worse for the girl was when she had found out that her powers did not truly work when it came to people with auras. She had managed to make the cuts and bruises scattered across Haru's body, but Mikoto had seen how it had broken the girl's heart to see the burn marks and fever remain.

"There is nothing to apologise for," Tatara stated in that calm voice of his. "You'll see. Everything will turn out all right. Haru is stronger than she looks."

As if on cue, Haru's form appeared at the top of the stairs, leaning heavily against the balustrade as she climbed down the stairs on legs that shook visibly.

"Haru-san!" Ayame exclaimed as she saw her waver slightly, but before anybody could do anything, Mikoto had already jumped up the stairs to catch her before she tumbled down the steps.

"Idiot," he muttered under his breath as he carried her to the closest couch.

Tatara kneeled down beside her, wiping her hair out of her eyes.

"I wanted to make sure... Mikoto wasn't lying," the brunette mumbled. She tried to sit up again and again, only for the King to press her back down. Finally she stopped resisting and turned to find Ayame, who stood behind the others, chewing her lip.

“Here, drink this,” Izumo said as he held a glass of water up for her. Mikoto now helped her sit up while Tatara found blanket to cover her up with, and when they had tucked her in the bartender helped her take a sip.

As Haru drank from her glass with all eyes on her, she realised that, despite the fact that she felt weak and sick and miserable and that her body hurt all over, she couldn't have felt any safer and more comfortable in that moment.

And letting go of all her boundaries and control, she mustered as much strength as possible for her confession. She wanted to say it now, now that they were all together for a moment. Especially now that she knew what could happen when things went horribly wrong.

“Guys… I… I’m sorry. For what happened… And for... for making you worry so much. I’ve been a really horrible friend, haven't I? And…” She coughed and took another sip of water before sighing. “I can’t control it. Ayame… You might feel guilty, but if it weren't for you..." Her mind was all over the place in that moment, and she caught sight of the red spot on Mikoto's jaw. She reached out to trace it. "I’m so sorry…”

They all watched in silence and Haru realised that she was so lucky to have met these wonderful people. They would do anything for her, so now she should start paying back her debts.

“I… I need your help. I don’t want anything like… that happening again. I don’t know how... but…” her voice trailed off as her mind suddenly went blank, all words fleeing from her mind. She felt awkward and embarrassed and she hoped that they had understood what she had meant.

"Haru-chan." Izumo sighed and placed a hand on her head. "You don't have to apologise. We're goin' through the exact same thing. Well, all except Tatara, whose aura is almost non-existent."

Haru bit her lip. If he spoke the truth, that meant she had become an egoistical little bitch thinking only of her own problems. If he lied to make her feel better, that only meant that he pitied her. She did not want any pity, not after what she had done.

"Then why does it seem like you two have it all under control?" she asked, finally lifting her eyes to watch Izumo's reaction.

"Because Mikoto is strong. First he only used his strength to fight, but now he uses it to hold back. And I am sure that Mikoto will show you the alley next to the bar when you're feelin' better. The scorch marks on the wall should tell you enough," he responded with a kind smile.

"Though you must add that Haru-chan's aura is more substantial than that of yours, Izumo-kun," Tatara piped up. "Yours is more refined, just like Izumo-kun's personality, while Haru-chan's is wild. Much like King's aura, though with less anger. And even then, King's aura is on a complete different level than all our flames combined."

The brunette gave a nod and realised that she did feel better now that she knew this. She finally dared to look at the redhead and was taken aback by the slight smile playing on his lips. The others noticed it as well.

“Well, Seeing as I’ve got a bar to look after and Tatara will be busy with Ayame-chan, I think it best to let Mikoto in charge of helpin' Haru-chan.”

That infamous sly grin of Izumo's appeared, but before anybody could protest, the bartender had turned around and left. Those who remained behind could only share glances before shrugging and doing as they were told.

Waking up, unfortunately, had not automatically made Haru any better, and her body still refused to cooperate. In fact, since she couldn't even climb the stairs by herself, she had to endure being carried up and down by someone – and most of the time Mikoto ended up doing it. That resulted in Haru simply deciding to make sure that it wouldn't have to happen more than twice a day, and she refused to accept any help when it came to navigating through the ground floor of the bar. Her friends had even forbidden her from taking a shower or a bath by herself.

"Are you telling me that I'm supposed to stay like this until I get better?" Haru asked, incredulous.

Izumo grinned in response. "Perhaps someone could help you bathe instead."

It was around dinner time and Masaomi and Yo – Haru had started calling the others their first names as well because it made her feel more like a real clan – entered the bar together just in time to hear the bartender speak those words. They had opened their mouths, most likely to complain about their hunger, but instead they decided to flee while they still could.

The bartender only shook his head at what have must have deemed shameful display before turning back to Mikoto. The redhead shot his friend that look he gave anybody of whom he thought they had just gone crazy – narrowing his eyes yet somehow raising a brow as well.

Izumo countered Mikoto’s look with one of his own tantalising smiles which worked on men and women alike. Haru kept looking back and forth between the two men, feeling a headache coming up as she realised that the bartender wanted their King to help her take a bath.

“I can always, oh I don't know, do it myself?” she suggested as she pushed herself from her stool, a hand placed on the bar for support.
"No!" both men exclaimed at the same time, their faces turning towards her in order to give her disapproving looks.

Without further ado, Mikoto got up and made to grab the brunette, but irritation flared inside of her and she yanked her arm out of his grasp. Ignoring the fact that that movement had almost caused her to topple over, she grumbled, “Let me at least walk by myself.”

But only three steps later her leg gave in and she would have crashed to the floor if Mikoto hadn't caught her in time. Ignoring the chuckle that left Izumo's throat the redhead went up the steps with ease, pressing Haru against him. Nothing but humiliation remained behind at the thought of having the Red King help her bathe. The look on Mikoto’s face suggested that he didn't exactly like the situation either, though.

Once inside the bathroom, he placed her on the side of the tub and turned the tap on. The sound of water filling the bath echoed along the tiled walls, almost deafening the two of them.

Mikoto sat next to the brunette on the edge of the bathtub, investigating the walls and the furniture as if he had never seen this room before. Seeing his own nervousness helped soothe hers, and she grabbed his attention by pressing her hand on top of his. When he saw the smile on her face, he relaxed.

Neither one of them said anything, but time passed by quickly anyway. She had been drowned in her thoughts, and before she knew it Mikoto turned around to turn the tap off, stopping the flow of water with one swift movement.

Without a single word, Mikoto got up and turned his back towards her, an obvious signal that she had to undress herself. She quickly began to discard the clothes she wore, and the amount of effort it took her to do so embarrassed her even further. Then she carefully turned around to face the opposite wall, wrapping her arms around her upper body to hide her breasts from the world. Not that she had ever been particularly self-conscious, but occupying the same room as the King while naked could probably have made even the most confident person feel insecure.

“I’m done,” she murmured and looked back just in time to see Mikoto walk towards her.

He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and lowered her into the warm water. She immediately poured half a bottle of foam into the water, mixing it up frantically so that she could hide her naked form under a blanket of bubbles.

In the meantime, Mikoto moved to the closed toilet seat and leaned back to find a relaxing position – thankfully with his eyes closed. It didn't take long before Haru had to ask him to help her with scrubbing her back. Without a word he nodded and kneeled down next to the bathtub before holding his hands out so that she could squeeze some shower gel onto his palms. Then he waited until she had moved her hair out of the way before he began to spread the stuff across the skin of her back. Haru closed her eyes and began to enjoy the touch of his hands; she even had to stop herself from sighing in satisfaction.

Why was he even doing this? If he had really despised the idea of helping her, then he easily could have forced Izumo to do it himself, or Tatara the next time he decided to visit. Her mind began to wander to the past few days, to how Mikoto had been like her personal slave, or so it seemed, willingly helping her with almost everything and anything.

Could he…? No, of course not. She should not speculate about such things. But still…

“Why are you doing this?” she heard herself ask him all of a sudden, and his hands stopped moving for a moment.

He didn’t reply at once and instead washed the soap from her back with the water, though he wasn't doing a very good job. Her question had most likely distracted him.

“Because I am your King, and kings have to protect and help their subjects.”

Despite the fact that she hadn’t had any hopes about what he might respond in the first place, his answer still managed to break her heart a little.

Chapter Text

Dodge left, dodge right, jump back, kick with right leg.

Haru's shin met the side of Mikoto’s forearm and their eyes met for a split second before she lost her balance and tumbled to the ground. The King, who claimed to have to protect and help his subjects, merely watched her fall as he changed his stance, relaxing visibly. He narrowed his amber eyes at his friend as she crossed her arms while lying on her back.

Once she had finished pouting, she jumped up and readied herself for battle once more, but she dropped her arms to her sides when Mikoto didn’t do the same. He looked deep in thought so she didn’t speak. Instead she just waited until he said something himself.

Haru's own thoughts almost began to wonder about as well while she waited, but before they could the redhead suddenly piped up. “We're done for today."

And with that he made his way back to the bar, climbing the steps to the back entrance. They had used the small street to the side of the building as their training ground, away from the traffic and people, and accessible and safe even in the middle of the night.

“What? Why? We haven’t even been out here for fifteen minutes!” Haru countered.

They had been doing this for the past few weeks already: once they got home from school – she had started doing her best to catch up with everything she had missed just in time to graduate – she would either do homework or start this with Mikoto. Today was Saturday though, so she had gotten to it almost immediately after the redhead had woken up twenty minutes ago. Normally they would continue until she had exhausted the flame within her, something that took a little less time with every passing day. She could still feel it inside of her, gnawing at the bars of the cage she had built around it.

"You're not even trying." Standing in front of the door to the bar, Mikoto turned around to look at his friend.

"What do you mean I'm not trying?!" Haru retorted. She summoned a small portion of her aura and, as she waved an arm around in irritation, drew a line of red in the air. As if that should convince the redhead that they had to go one.

"You only fight to tire yourself out. You use your aura as a source of energy for your body.

Haru tilted her head to the side and frowned. "Is that not what this is all about?"

Amber eyes cut her way, sending her a sharp look as if to reprimand her in silence. Her ire grew and she countered with a glare of her own. He hadn't ever actually told her what she had to do, after all. All he had done was attack her, expecting her to defend herself. Which she had, though barely. Had this idiot thought that she would magically understand the purpose behind all of this without a word from him all these weeks?!

Mikoto narrowed his eyes at her and raised his arms after all, most likely in response to the flames inside of her that strained to break free in her anger. But the brunette took a deep breath, clenching and unclenching her hands before heaving a sigh, and soon enough the fire dwindled. Perhaps a break in the routine would do her some good after a few weeks of almost non-stop training. With a bit of luck the redhead would finally explain what he thought she should do instead of simply throwing her fists at him

The tiniest of smiles appeared on his face and he held out a hand for her to grab so that they could return to the bar together. Haru accepted the invitation by taking a few steps towards him, reaching out to slip her palm over his. Just before she did so, however, she pulled back and, in a sudden bout of aftermath-irritation, hurled her fist at him once more. This time her anger snaked up her arm to encase her knuckles in red flames just before they met his cheek.

"For wasting my time!"

One could have heard the smack of her fist against his face a few blocks away.

Izumo laughed his ass off at Mikoto’s lovely red cheek and Mikoto had a look on his face that spelled certain doom. The other boys and Haru hid behind the bar counter beside Izumo where they watched things unfold.

“How can he be so carefree when King is looking like that?” Rikio muttered.

“Kusanagi-san must be really scary when he’s mad, then,” Masaomi added.

“Can’t you do something about this, Haru?” Yo asked her.

The brunette shuddered at the thought of revealing herself to the boy. After all, she had just punched him in the face, and though she would defend her actions by saying it had been his own fault, she had regretted it the very moment he had crashed to the ground. In her panic, she had run into the bar to find a spot somewhere out of sight before the King stomped into the room as well.

When the tense air remained after a few minutes of silence, she decided that perhaps she had to do something after all. She had to do something about this, or else someone might actually get killed!

The others watched her as she got up and carefully made her way towards the angry redhead. Standing in front of him, she noticed how some of the hardness in his eyes disappeared at the sight of her.

“Sorry, please forgive me, I shouldn’t have hit you.” She bowed down so deep that her hair fell over her shoulders and almost touched the floor in a sweeping motion.

A hand fell on top of her head and she expected him to smash her face into the wooden floor. She could only blink in surprise when she received a ruffle of her hair instead. The tension in the air lifted almost immediately and everyone let out a sigh of relief before crawling out of their hiding spots. With her hair now frizzled, Haru remained bent over, not sure what to do.

“I’m glad you’re back,” Mikoto whispered and she jerked back up to stare at him in surprise, but he quickly averted his gaze. The other boys had started talking to each other, perhaps a little too loud, and she wondered if they hadn't heard his words or whether they pretended not to.

The doors to the bar swung open all of a sudden and a happy Tatara walked into the building, followed by a somewhat less cheerful Ayame. Though she remained her usual shy self when in the company of the newer members, when only the four of them had gathered she already dared to open her mouth of her own accord.

"What have you two been up to?" Izumo asked, a smile on his face as he placed a glass he had just finished polishing back where it belonged.

Ayame blushed, something that happened less these days. Not when it came to Tatara, though. It seemed that everybody but the boy in question had figured it out. Or perhaps he only pretended that he hadn't.

"I asked Ayame-san if she wanted to visit the public gardens with me," Tatara stated happily. "Seeing as none of you would have been interested in joining me."

"Give it a few weeks and you'd have turned yourself down too," the bartender pointed out with a chuckle.

Haru noted that the two of them had been spending more time together lately, though. She had even walked in on them a couple of times doing who knows what, only to stop the moment she entered the room. Tatara would spawn that smile of his while Ayame's face would burn, and Haru would shrug and forget about it all seconds later. Hopefully this wouldn't end up being like one of his hobbies, discarding the poor girl the moment he lost interest in her.

Tatara came over to sit on a stool at the bar while Haru took his place beside Ayame, slipping away from Mikoto unharmed. Deciding she should have a nice chat with her friend, she chose to occupy one of the couches farthest away from the men. Since she had gotten... well, killed, the two of them hadn't managed to have a proper conversation. At first Haru had been too sick to partake in any social activities that lasted longer than five minutes, and after that she had used most of her free time for either schoolwork or training with Mikoto.

"Are you all right?" Ayame asked before Haru could say anything.

She shrugged and sighed. "Yeah, well, Mikoto just told me that I'm using my aura the wrong way, or something like that. But he won't tell me what I am supposed to do with it."

"What did he say then?"

"Uhm, what was it..." Haru tilted her head to the side as she tried to remember. "Something about using it as energy. That I only fight to become tired."

Her friend didn't respond at once and instead stared straight ahead, unseeing. She frowned and pressed her glasses up her nose again, though she didn't seem conscious of this. "And he hasn't offered you any... alternatives?"

Haru shook her head.

"Have you asked Kusanagi-san or Totsuka-kun about it yet?"

This time she threw her head back in frustration, glad for the cushion of the sofa against which the back of her head landed. "Yes! But Tatara only gave me that stupid Tatara-smile of his and Izumo... Izumo knows me too well and keeps distracting me."

"Well..." Ayame started, but her voice trailed off in hesitation. When Haru motioned for her to continue, she said, "Maybe it's... a test?"

"A test?" Haru's eyebrows shot up.

The Strain nodded her head. "Maybe Mikoto wants you to figure it out by yourself?"

With a groan, the brunette let her head fall to the table in front of them with a loud smack. She kept her eyes trained on Ayame, a mixture of a glare and an incredulous stare that made the girl shift in her seat.

"Just great," she muttered as she turned her head so that her chin now rested on the table. Glancing at the boys sitting at the bar, her gaze lingered on a certain redhead as she looked them over. Did they know this secret ingredient to it all? What could Mikoto have meant? If not a source of energy for her body, then what?

She let out another sigh before asking, "So how are Tatara and you doing?"

"W-what are you talking about?" Ayame feigned ignorance though her cheeks provided the brunette with enough of an answer.

"Don't give me that crap," Haru retorted with a roll of her eyes and watched the other swallow hard.

"How about you and Suoh-san?"

What a low blow!

"W-what? W-why would you ask such a thing?!" Haru protested. Now it was her turn to blush.

The two flushed friends stared at each other before they burst into laughter.

"Fine. I... I like Totsuka-kun. He's... warm, and he's kind, and he helped me feel better about myself. It's as if he somehow understands everything about me and knows what I need." She looked over at the boy in question. "I don't doubt that he knows how I feel. But I wonder what he is thinking..."

Haru nodded in agreement. While Tatara seemed like an open book, in truth he was far from it. In fact, she could read Mikoto easier than him, but seeing as everyone else found the redhead rather unpredictable, perhaps it was just her. Tatara simply threw her off with his tragic past yet nonchalant demeanour.

When Ayame turned back around to stare at her, Haru realised that she wouldn't let her off the hook without a story of her own.

"So, how are you and Suoh-san doing?" she said after the brunette refused to start by herself, mimicking Haru's question from a few minutes ago.

"It's not what you think," Haru protested in a whisper, but the Strain wouldn't give up and only shifted closer to her. From this close she could note the blueness of her eyes, always hidden behind her glasses, which almost resembled those of her adoptive brother. "I... I'm not sure yet... I just think that I... might have this crush on him..." She held up her thumb and index finger, leaving a small gap between the two. "A tiny crush."

Ayame tilted her head to the side with a confused look on her face. "If it were a crush, you'd be staring off into the distance happily all the time," she whispered back at you before adding, "Plus, have you seen the way he looks at you?"

Lifting her head from the table and shaking her head a little, Haru refused to listen to her. Sure, they had had their moments, but who was to say that he didn't act that way simply because he had no other female friends?

Then again, the only way to find out for sure would be through a straightforward, worded manner. Hints would not work on a man like Mikoto Suoh. But building up the courage to actually talk to him about this kind of thing might take far too long...

Though she liked to boast about her chatty nature and the fact that she almost always knew what to say, none of that applied to such intimate subjects. Izumo most likely had that talent, but Haru was no Izumo and thus could not speak of having such charms.

And even if Mikoto returned these feelings, the current him would never take the first step. If she ever hoped to start anything with that guy, she knew that she would have to approach him.

Wait – when had she ever agreed to liking him in the first place?

Was she even ready to attempt to build something with him?

No, probably not. Not right now, at least. But she could try to grow, to become the woman he could love with all his heart until his very last breath, right? And he could become the man she would want to stay with for the rest of her life, too.

"I think you're right," Haru finally replied with yet another sigh, surprising her friend.

Though she had told herself that she would gather her courage to take this accursed first step, actually doing so was a completely different matter.

What should she do, anyway?

Confess?

Ask him whether he liked her?

Hug him?

That evening she sat downstairs, staring at the floor with unseeing eyes, even though her bedtime had passed. Not that she actually had a bedtime to begin with, but when Mikoto decided to go upstairs Haru often followed, deeming it an appropriate time to go to sleep as well.

The words "Mikoto" and "bed" made her brain conjure images she did not want or need to see and before she knew it, she had gotten up from her seat. After bidding Izumo good night she climbed the stairs, unsure of what she planned on doing. At the top of the staircase her feet seemed to hesitate for a split second before the wooden boards beneath her soles creaked as she made her way towards Mikoto's door.

When she entered his room she saw that Mikoto lying in bed, his back turned to her and her mind wandered back to the very first time that she had stepped in here with the intention of sleeping on his couch. Without a sound she closed the door behind her and tiptoed over to the bed, somehow managing to pull off her shoes, socks and trousers on her way there without tripping or waking the redhead up. Or so she thought.

Just as she lifted a leg to climb onto the mattress she noticed that Mikoto had turned around, his eyes taking in her form. That same moonlight as back then poured in through that same gap between the curtains as she crawled beneath the covers to lie down next to him.

"Hi," she whispered, and she could have kicked herself when she heard a giggle escape her throat.

The redhead raised a brow but remained silent as he examined her face, probably searching for any hints of discomfort like they always did.

Didn't that tell her enough, though? He cared for her.

It was now or never, she told herself.

Now or never.

Now or never.

She wrapped an arm around his body to pull him closer before leaning in, making sure to give him enough opportunities to push her away. And then she had pressed her lips to his.

When she didn't receive an immediate reaction from the redhead she pulled away, her brows knit into a frown. Regret filled her and she began to reprimand herself. She wondered how she could have thought that the Red King might have liked her. She wanted to slide out of bed and into the ground and into the earth, to never resurface again.

But before she could do any of that his lips had found hers again, his fingers pressing against the skin of her arms as he pulled her closer to him. Her hand flew up to find a bare chest, felt it twitch beneath her touch. Carefully, tentatively, he opened his mouth and slipped his tongue past her lips, which had parted in surprise when he had dipped his digits down to find the side of her breast on top of her shirt. He smirked into the kiss, though that soon disappeared when, as their tongues found each other, her hand began to wander up and down his body, inspecting every piece of flesh it came across and raising goose bumps in its wake.

At the back of her mind she noted that he tasted of a strange mixture toothpaste and cola and smelled distinctly like only Mikoto could: cologne, the bar and smoke. It smelled of home.

Unconsciously, she lifted a leg, tracing her knee along the insides of his thighs until they came high enough to elicit a low groan from him. The sound of it surprised her, and she froze, only to come back to life when he trailed a finger down her side until it found her underwear. But it hesitated there and instead moved back and forth along her hipbone, as if asking for permission. A shiver ran through her entire body and her lust, in the form of a flame, flared inside of her at the prospect of what might come if she allowed him access to her most private part...

But she couldn't. This she realised when she noted the hint of discomfort that had nestled in her stomach.

If not a source of energy, then what?

She didn't voice her decision and answered him by wrapped her arm around his shoulder again, pulling their bodies too close to each other for a hand to come in between them. That hint he did seem to get, and he even relaxed beneath her embrace. He didn't allow her to be surprised at that, for he, too, wrapped his limbs around her, wriggling an arm beneath her to encase her within his warmth.

When they broke the kiss, it was only to catch their breath, and even then their lips never strayed too far from each other. His hot breath fanned over her face as he rested his forehead against hers. It didn't take long before he moved in again, his mouth hovering above hers, waiting for her. She gazed into his eyes for a few moments before she closed hers and traced her tongue across his lower lip.

Only when a soft growl left his throat and he had lowered himself onto her again, his teeth tugging at a bruised lip, did the situation dawn on her.

She was kissing him.

She was making out with him.

With Mikoto, the guy that the girls at school could only dream about because they feared him too much to approach him.

And now I'm kissing him.

His hands found their way into her hair, calloused digits gently grabbing and tugging at the tresses as he pressed his body against hers, tried to dig deeper into her mouth.

If he had been this desperate to touch her, to hold her, then why had he waited for her to make the move?

Because he was Mikoto. That was how he was.

He pulled away again, panting softly, and this time he smiled as he rolled onto his back with a sigh. As he did so he pulled her along with him. With her face flushed she stared at him as he closed his eyes and fell asleep with a look of contentedness on his face.

Without thinking she lifted a hand to caress his cheek, which felt just as warm as hers did. She mimicked his expression as she, too, went to sleep.

Chapter Text

Nobody had asked them if something had happened. Even if they had, they wouldn't have gotten an answer anyway. Yet despite that they seemed to suspect something had indeed happened, if only by the sidelong glances that Izumo kept sending their way, or by how Tatara had smiled at them a little too long, humming some tune as he did so. Haru had no clue why they suspected that they had done something in the first place; they hadn't told anybody about that night and had not changed the way they treated each other. Or at least she thought so.

Though the two of them had not actually talked about it themselves, they had both concluded that they would rather wait before announcing it to their friends. At first Haru had wondered if anything would change to begin with, though Mikoto had answered that question soon enough by pulling her around a corner at school to steal a quick kiss when nobody was looking. She felt the roughness of his stubble pricking against her face whenever he did that, an ever-present reminder that the King had trouble controlling his own aura as well. It pained her to see him that way, with his hair growing ever longer and the beginnings of a beard covering his jawline, though she had no clue what she could do to help him besides remaining by his side.

Whenever they made the trip between school and home by themselves, their fingers would find and embrace each other, though they would never hold on too tight so that they could pull apart at a moment's notice. Haru did not understand the need to go to such lengths, but she found it quite exciting to see what kinds of things they could get away with before somebody noticed. Such things included trailing hands across legs while Tatara had his back turned towards them or kissing whenever Izumo busied himself in the kitchen.

They continued on with this game of sorts for a couple of weeks while they adapted to incorporating their usual schedules to these developments. That included the occasional training outside in the alley where Izumo's burn marks along the brick walls stood out like a sore thumb. Though Mikoto didn't seem to have any trouble with differentiating between time spent together as friends and time spent together as lovers, Haru was having more difficulty in that department.

Their closeness during their sparring matches confused her the most. Before she had had no problem with how close their fights brought them, both emotionally and physically, though these days she couldn't help but feel flustered at every touch and every glance. She wondered whether the heat that she could see in his gaze had always been there, or whether they had recently developed with... well, with them.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, Mikoto continued to refuse lengthening the time they spent training. Some days they only went at it for fifteen minutes, other days Haru managed to keep him going for half an hour. Sooner or later, however, he would simply stop trying, which in turn would frustrate and anger her to the point that she could almost no longer control the output of her aura. Somehow she doubted that that was supposed to happen. Every now and then she managed to catch Izumo on a break, but he still ignored her whenever she asked him about the answer to Mikoto's riddle.

Because of this, Haru felt the pressure inside of her increase with every passing day, together with her feeling of helplessness. How would she ever figure out what Mikoto wanted from her like this? What would happen if she didn’t find out in time?

Haru had crawled into bed with the redhead that evening feeling empty and tired, falling into a dreamless sleep the very moment her head hit her pillow.

A few hours later, however, she opened her eyes, and found herself standing in what looked like a wasteland, sand stretching out towards the horizon no matter where she looked. With not a tree or plant in sight, she could only glance around in despair, not knowing what she should do or where she should go. The fact that the sun in the sky was beating down on her back and that her clothes stuck to her skin did not help.

With a sigh she wiped a hand across her forehead in a feeble attempt to wipe away the sweat that covered basically every inch of her skin. Her mouth had a strange taste to it and it hurt to swallow, and as if on cue she realised just how thirsty she was. She glanced around once more in the hope of spotting a source of water, but to no avail.

Only sand surrounded her. Lots of sand, and more sand, and even more sand. Rough, dry, hot sand that bit into the soles of her bare feet. When she looked down to stare at them, she noted that she wore a pair of shorts. She had never paid much attention to the clothes she wore in her dreams, and she found it strange that she would start doing so all of a sudden.

After a few moments of painful pondering she shrugged and figured that, while she was here, she should try to see if she could find anything in the near vicinity. First, however, she had to decide in which direction she wanted to go. When she closed her eyes and sighed, she suddenly sensed a presence coming from her right, and so she made her way towards it.

She walked. And walked. And walked some more. Step by step by step by step. And then another step… and another… and yet another…

The sun continued to shine brightly, its torturing, sweltering heat never once dwindling. Not even when Haru could have sworn that she had taken a million steps in the direction of that ever-growing presence, or when she thought that she must have been walking for at least half a day. At least it felt like she had been walking for half a day.

Whenever she stopped to take a short break, her breath coming out in short puffs that only made her throat hurt all the more, she saw that her feet were beginning to lose their skin. She had left a trail of bloody footprints behind her, but it hurt much less than she thought it should, going by the amount of blood she had lost. The sight of her feet made her feel queasy, and so she quickly went on before she could linger on it too long.

The presence grew louder and warmer with every step she took. She asked herself why she wanted to reach something that made her surroundings hotter as she came closer in the first place, but she didn’t have the energy to start a discussion with herself about it. In fact, she didn’t even have the energy to worry about the fact that she had started having conversations with herself.

“I wonder what it is,” a high voice said, coming from inside her mind.

“Something hot, that’s for sure,” a lower voice complained, also from inside her mind.

“Don’t you want to find out what it is, though?”

“No! Why are we even going towards it? If going towards it makes everything hotter, will it get colder if we go away from it?”

Nobody responded to that as Haru took another step. She couldn’t explain this sensation, not even to a figment of her own imagination, a part of her own being. The yearning to find out what caused this aura, which compelled her to come closer. No, not her, but something inside of her. Something that had not yet fully integrated, but which someday might…

Her own aura.

The first week after she had received the flame from Mikoto, she had noticed that it seemed as though it had a will of its own, trying to break free from its restraints whenever it saw a chance to slip through. Slowly but surely it had adapted to its new home, however, and had almost become a part of herself, rearing its head only when she wished it to. At least until Mikoto started limiting their time sparring with each other, after which it had started going back to its unruly nature.

Now it seemed as though that flame, nestled deep inside of her, was calling out to this other fire, stretching out its warm tendrils like arms trying to reach out for something or someone. And to Haru it felt as if these emotions, which almost seemed to belong to an entity separate from herself, influenced her own feelings. It took her a while to realise that the yearning had been hers all along, and that she and this flame had merged, their thoughts and wishes becoming one.

“Ah, look!”

“I don’t have to look if I can feel it. How long before we start melting?”

The voice was right; Haru could see the heat that now rose from the sands still burning her feet, though she no longer felt the pain. The air even smelled arid, prickling her nose with every breath she took.

She could also see the shadow of a figure on the horizon, and though the distance between the two was still quite substantial, the pressure of its power almost choked her. The first voice continued to spur her on to reach the person as soon as possible while the second one voiced its complaints, claiming they should just give up.

Somewhere along the line, Haru gave them the names of new Haru and old Haru. Old Haru’s cowardness and pride had dominated her personality until she had met Mikoto and the others, after which she had found out that, sometimes, change didn’t have to mean certain doom. Though still as stubborn as always, she now knew that the world had a lot to offer her. And because of that she took another step, and another, and another, even when her feet seemed to weigh five times as much as they used to and her back began to bend beneath the pressure of the aura.

When she saw that the figure looked like a boy with red hair – though it could have been any other colour for that matter, with the flames encasing the person’s body giving it a red hue – the tension in the air forced her to her knees. She gasped for air but did not feel the heat of the sand against her palms. In that moment she realised with a start that the aura pressing down on her had pulled that of hers to the surface. Red flames ran along her limbs, stretching out towards the boy, the King, almost begging to touch him.

And she followed it on hands and knees. New Haru had gone silent in anticipating, while old Haru wailed that she had to leave. Haru herself refused, however. Though her whole body trembled and she could barely breathe, she feared that if she did not get closer to the King, the aura within her would tears itself away from her by force.

The distance between the two of them hurt, and tears welled up in her eyes at the pain that increased as she got closer. Staying away from him would hurt because her flames demanded to be near him, but approaching him made their desire all the stronger.

Mikoto was a magnet. He lured people in with his immeasurable power and his unreadable demeanour, gave them what they wanted and bound them to him. He gave her love and strength and warmth, and in return she had to remain loyal to him to the end of days.

She must have made a sound or done something to attract his attention, for the King snapped his head to the side, shooting her a look over his shoulder. He stood with his back to her, his hands clenched into fists. His chest heaved as he, too, struggled to breathe, and parts of his face had been burned away.

When their eyes met, warm brown clashing with hot red, his entire stance changed. Where before he had stood tall and proud with a straight back, he now hunched over, and his expression became invaded by guilt.

“Mi–” Haru began, concern lacing her voice, but something inside of her lurched all of a sudden. Pain erupted within every cell of her body as the flames she had tried to keep inside, which she had followed to what felt like the very pits of Hell itself, pressed against their shackles. The brunette screamed as the entirety of her aura squeezed its way out of her, leaping towards their King, only to find that, since they were still bound to Haru, they could not leave her behind.

She had no words for the amount of power coursing through her, but even so she knew it was more than she had used back when Ayame had died. More than she could have handled back then, though she couldn’t exactly keep her grip on whatever this was either. And still, whatever Mikoto had to endure on a daily basis must have been far worse than any of this.

The smell of burning flesh worried her nose and, as she shrieked and writhed, somewhere at the back of her mind she knew that she had set herself on fire. That her aura had done so in an attempt to join up with Mikoto’s, who still stood before her, staring at her with wide eyes.

Her eyelids fluttered open and she shot up, her aura wrapped around her entire body. Breathing heavily, it took her a few moments before she realised that she lay in bed, in Mikoto’s room, in HOMRA, in Shizume City. She swallowed hard and, with great difficulty, managed to force her aura back down, leaving behind nothing but sweat covering her skin.

A dream. It had been a dream. Nothing else.

Still trembling, Haru turned to look at Mikoto, who kept shifting around in his sleep. She wondered what he was dreaming about, though it didn’t take a genius to figure out that it couldn’t have been anything pleasant.

“Mi–” she began as she reached out a hand towards him, but the moment she placed it on his shoulder, he shot up.

Before she knew it a palm blocked her view as the redhead pressed a large hand against her face, fingertips digging into the flesh. Her breath hitched in her throat when she felt his heat crawl up his arm, rushing towards her like a tsunami towards a city. In response her own aura flared as well, though whether to join up with it like in her dream or to protect her, she did not know. She only knew that it did it of its own accord.

Red crashed into red and she let out a yelp when he tightened his hold on her, crying out his name. His eyes snapped open and he released her at once, after which she slumped over.

Nobody said a thing as the seconds ticked by.

But while Mikoto’s red dwindled and disappeared, Haru watched in distress as the room remained illuminated by hers.

“Mikoto,” she murmured, for the third time already, “can we… Can we go outside?”

The redhead only stared at his hands for a few more seconds before lifting his gaze, searching the red marks he had left behind on Haru’s face. She wouldn’t have any of that and, sighing, she swatted his face to the side with a warm hand. His lack of panic at the situation had managed to calm down hers.

“It’s all right, okay?” She managed to summon a small smile for him. “We’re all still getting used to it. And perhaps we never will. But… that’s all right as well. I won’t leave you for something like this.”

His eyes finally met hers, and though he seemed uncertain, he nodded his head once. Only then did he take in the dim light of her aura, frowning once more. When he moved a hand in her direction, however, she swatted that away as well.

“No, you can’t help me like that all the time. You’re not my Tatara, and I don’t want to think of the strain it’d put on you,” she said with a shake of her head. “Plus, what happens if you’re not here next time it happens? What then?”

The redhead considered her words for a moment before he nodded again. By then Haru had already slipped out of bed to make her way out of the room. Only when she came downstairs did she realise what time it was; Izumo had closed the bar and gone home for the night. Or, in this case, day. Thankfully they currently had summer break, so going out at this hour wouldn’t do them any harm.

She trailed a glowing hand across the counter, watched it illuminate the surface. Strange how, even though she felt like she might burst any minutes now, she could feel so clam. Was this what progress looked like? Not mere changes on the outside, but internal alterations as well?

The sound of a door opening made her look up from her hand, and she realised with a start that Mikoto had already passed her and now stood by the back door, waiting for her. Without a word she followed him, but as he locked the door behind him, Haru asked, “Is it all right to leave the bar like this?”

The redhead shrugged, pocketing the key. “The doors are locked and everyone knows what kind of people we are.”

True. Anybody who came to HOMRA looking for a fight would get more than what they bargained for. Though most had learned this soon enough, some just couldn’t give up. Perhaps they could not resist the temptation of beating the ever-growing clan wielding fire as their weapon.

Haru turned to protest, but saw that the King had already assumed his usual stance. Though she did not know whether it was a good or bad sign, she could not stop the grin from spreading across her face, her blood boiling at the prospect of a battle. And going by the look on Mikoto’s face, he felt much the same, though he tried his very best to hide it as his aura spread out across his skin, enveloping his body and causing the dark alleyway to light up in a way that her own flames could not.

Without being prompted, Haru took in her position in front of the redhead, bending her knees and raising her hands, ready to defend herself.

When she watched Mikoto surround himself with an even larger amount of flames, her smile disappeared. He fought against a smile of his own, probably still feeling guilty about what had happened, but it was obvious that he needed this just as much as she did. The ferocity of his fire forced her own aura to attempt to match it, but to no avail. She had to control them, for they belonged to her and not to the King.

The redhead charged at her all of a sudden. Normally she would have stood her ground, but she realised that that probably wasn’t the best course of action at the moment. Instead she launched herself into the air, rotating once around her axis before landing on her feet a short distance farther down the alley, just in time to watch Mikoto’s attack smash into the ground. Cracks appeared beneath his knuckles, but Haru tried her best not to think about what might have happened had she been there.

Not that he gave her that chance to begin with. The moment he saw where she had jumped off to, he rushed at her again. The trail of fire that followed him distracted her for a split second, and before she knew it all she could do was cross her arms in front of her to shield herself from the fist he hurled at her.

The force of the hit actually managed to push her back a few steps, but she grit her teeth and stood her ground after that. Then she uncrossed her arms and, in the blink of an eye, had grabbed his forearm with two hands. He didn’t get the time to react, for by then she had already vaulted over him, making a perfect half circle around him while dragging his arm with her. Mikoto might have power, but sports had filled up most of the hole she had had in her life until she had met him. She knew how to use her power for different purposes.

Though he had the grace to look surprised, the fact that he did so while turning around with her made her move less impressive. The very moment she landed on her haunches, his arm still in her grasp, she knew she had fucked up. The redhead ripped his appendage free before swiping at her with a foot, which she dodged by jumping back into the air.

Now that had been a mistake.

His fist slammed into her stomach with such speed that it surprised her to notice her arms had come up to take the hit for her. She flew backwards, skidding to a halt a short distance away, and before she could notice the skid marks her feet had left behind on the asphalt ground and the pain that accompanied that, Mikoto was on her again.

She had to think fast! Meeting him headfirst would not work, going by the amount of force he put into his onslaught. Rubbish that lay nearby whirled at the wind that picked up as he raced by, and Haru realised she was wasting her time by noticing these things.

When the redhead came upon her, she simply slipped to the side, skittering around the King until she had reached his back. Without wasting a second, her knuckles found his ribs, knowing that hitting his back probably wouldn’t do a thing. And it seemed to work, for he let out a grunt of what she might have called pain, but all too soon he turned around again.

The moment she saw, a shiver ran down her spine. With the way his aura played with his hair, he almost looked like some overpowered character from a lame shounen manga. Panic flooded her and she took a few quick steps back before she bent her knees and pushed herself into the air with all her might. Using her flames as a booster, for a moment she felt like flying…

But then the rooftop came into view, and she reached out to grab the edge, scrambling up as fast as she could and scraping her legs in the process. Standing on top of this building, however, the sight took her breath away.

From here she could see the lights and life of the heart of the city, flickering and twinkling between the other houses and skyscrapers. The sounds of people and cars were easier to hear up here than down in the streets, she realised. Additionally, up here the smell of sweltering hot asphalt hit her like a brick, stunning her just as much as the beautiful sight did. How curious that something so pretty could stink so much. She closed her eyelids for a moment and took in a deep breath, hot air filling her lungs, and suddenly she remembered the dream. Her eyes snapped open and she turned around to see Mikoto had joined her on the rooftop with considerably less effort than that it had cost her.

A pang of anger went through her, the flames surrounding her flickering brighter for a moment. She saw she had taken quite a bit of damage when she looked down, though she did not yet feel most of it. On the other hand, the redhead stood there, chest heaving and skin shining with sweat, but otherwise unharmed. How unfair it was to give them but an inkling of the power that he held, dangling it in front of their eyes but never following up on the promise.

This time, she attacked him.

At first she took a few unsteady steps in his direction before breaking out into a run, her lungs burning as she tried to breathe.

Without allowing the redhead to regain his bearings, she flew at him. He readied himself for her attack, though she surprised him by dropping to her haunches again and throwing a leg at him. Before her shin could connect with his calf, however, he managed to catch it with two hands. Instead of pushing back, he used the force from her swing to hurl her in the opposite direction.

Her eyes widened and the air grappled at her face as she soared to yet another rooftop. From behind her she saw the King following her, wind running through his hair as he did so, pushing the tresses which had gotten far too long away from his face in order to reveal a grin. The sight of it surprised Haru, and she barely got the chance to prepare herself for collision when the brick wall hit her harder than expected. A strangled cry tore itself from her throat as the air was knocked out of her, after which she fell into a heap on the ground. Looking up, she saw Mikoto standing a ways off, his face once more a combination of guilt and excitement. It spurred her to her feet, albeit slowly and unsteadily.

Despite the hit she had taken, she still felt powerful and stiff with her aura. Her muscles itched for more action, and she would not, could not, deny them this. Jumping from foot to foot, as if to shake off the damage she had taken up till now, she watched what the redhead would do.

Mikoto held his arms up defensively, unwavering, his glowing eyes following her every move, though he did raise a brow at her antics. Was this what it felt like when in the presence of a predator?

But she wouldn’t allow herself to become any more distracted than that, and she ran towards him at full speed, showing no signs of stopping this time. The King faltered for a split second, his eyes widening a fraction as he braced for impact…

…which never came.

Haru all but flew over him instead, landing just behind him and tapping him on his back before bounding off to the next rooftop. If he was a lion and she his prey, then her only chance of survival lay either in safety in numbers, or stamina. Since it was just the two of them, she would have to rely on her skills in athletics.

Running in the opposite direction, she leapt from rooftop to rooftop, spreading her arms out to her sides whenever her feet left the safety of the concrete. For a while she managed to forget about everything, her mind becoming blank as she thought not about her current sparring match with Mikoto, the insatiable nature of the fire within her, or the fact that she still hadn’t started working on that pile of homework she had to finish by the end of the summer break… No, she could think only of the lightness of her body as she used her flames to push herself on. Why had she never done this before?

As she jumped on, she had not realised that her speed had started to dwindle. Only when she heard approaching footsteps behind her did she remember her current predicament. Surprised to see the redhead had managed to catch up with her, she faltered for a moment, which caused her foot to slip when she tried to land.

Anger at the interruption bubbled up inside of her, and Haru bit her lip as she whirled about, fist ready to greet the King’s cheek…

Only for it to hit his palm. He didn’t even have to try.

Her other hand followed soon after, but the redhead simply caught that one as well. His attention left the one he held in his left, however, and so she managed to tear it free and slam it into his side. Triumph filled her as he grunted and stumbled slightly, and she took a few steps back.

She wanted to be in control for once. And she wanted to see how far the King could go in her area of expertise when she gave it her all. A grin found its way to her lips once more while she gathered her aura at her feet and sprinted off, leaving a trail of flames behind wherever her soles touched the ground. A few rooftops later she bent her knees as she landed on the next before propelling herself forward with all her might.

To tell the truth, Haru had always wanted to fly. Though she had made fun of Mikoto a while ago for staring at the sky in a wistful manner, she herself probably wished to become one just as much as he did. Now that she thought about it, however, becoming a cloud probably fit the redhead better than a bird. Drifting along with no goal in mind, clinging to its form even as the wind pushed it along, and failing in the end. That thought made her frown. Would Mikoto, too, one day lose his form? What did that even mean in the first place? And if she truly were a bird and he a cloud, then no matter how high she flew, she would never come close enough to actually touch him.

As she soared through the sky, the city kept creeping closer, and the gap between Mikoto and her continued to grow whenever she chanced a look over her shoulder. A sense of satisfaction filled her at the prospect of beating the Red King at something - anything, chasing away the sadness from before. Whenever her altitude dropped and she threatened to crash into the ground, she stumbled to a jog before jumping again, arms outstretched and a grin on her face. Already could she feel the energy beginning to drain within her, and she realised that she hadn’t felt this great in a long time. Perhaps she was simply a dog who needed to go out more often.

The row of houses ended abruptly, which startled Haru, who had wanted to plant her feet on the rooftop to take in her surroundings. The lights from the city had gotten brighter, and the noise had become louder. Though this neighbourhood slept, farther ahead lay one of the busier streets in the district that lead straight to the heart of Shizume City. Haru could already see and hear the traffic.

Without thinking, the brunette tilted her body forward, eyes intent on the ground that came rushing up towards her. She reached out, and the moment her palms met the asphalt, she sank through her elbows only to push herself back up, rotating once. The momentum from her fall toppled her over a few more times and she jumped from hands to feet until she stood still, her arms in the air as though she had just performed an acrobatic stunt.

She greeted Mikoto with a grin when he finally caught up with her, breathing heavily and looking rather annoyed. Despite that, Haru noted that his flames had lost their ferocity.

“Come.” She held out a hand and waited while Mikoto caught his breath before he grabbed it. He raised a brow, but Haru only smiled at him as she tugged at his arm and pointed at one of the closest skyscrapers. His gaze followed her finger before he nodded, and he was right behind her as she launched herself up again.

With the help of their auras, they reached the top of one of the buildings rather easily. Before she knew it, Haru’s feet dangled over the edge of the skyscraper, with Mikoto beside her. At first she hadn’t dared to look down for fear of the height, but once she realised she wouldn’t fall off, she relaxed and enjoyed the view.

Though they had chosen one of the smaller skyscrapers a short distance from the city’s centre, they could still see far and wide if they turned their backs to the rest of the city. Even in the middle of the night there was no lack of people out on the streets, no way to become bored up here.

Haru rested her head on Mikoto’s shoulder, attempting to gauge his reaction. When he did not seem all that disturbed by the intrusion, she asked, “What did you dream about?”

Amber eyes cut her way and he frowned. Without answering he looked away, his gaze searching the horizon, and Haru thought he wouldn’t reply. She closed her eyes and began to doze.

“Sometimes I dream of what would happen if I let go of my restraints,” the redhead said, startling the brunette. “Everything becomes a wasteland…”

Confused, Haru lifted her head. Restraints? Wasteland? But hadn’t she…?

Though she did not voice her thoughts, Mikoto nodded without looking at her. Instead he stared at the palm of his hand, and when Haru glanced at it as well she saw the scars.

“You were there tonight. I felt you coming, but I thought nothing of it. And then you were there, screaming like that…” He closed his eyes and flinched at the memory.

Haru placed a hand on top of his and rested her cheek on his shoulder again. Then she turned so that she could press her lips against the side of his neck as she entwined her fingers with his. “I’m sorry you have to go through all this.”

The King only grunted in return and squeezed her hand. Without another word they sat there, side by side, staring at the night sky.

Things would get better eventually. They had to. They’d both learn how to control these flames, and all would be great again.

Or so they hoped.

Chapter Text

They’d both learn to control their flames, Haru had promised herself. Still, for that to truly happened, she had to figure out the secret to this aura that nobody else wanted to tell her. They never even gave her a reason why they couldn’t just explain it to her, and so she assumed it had to do something about the act of finding it out for herself. Perhaps it wouldn’t work if someone else laid it out for her? But then again, perhaps they didn’t know it themselves yet either. It might as well have been some lie they told for their own sakes as much as for hers, because they had to believe in some deeper meaning to it all. They just had to.

Going by the stubbly beard that slowly but surely began to cover Mikoto’s jawline, she had to figure it out sooner rather than later. He cared less for things like personal hygiene with every passing day, sometimes going an entire week without bothering to take a shower. Even if she did manage him to force him to clean himself, he preferred turning the temperature as low as possible. She knew that because he never bothered turning it back to something warmer when he was done, which she would always find out whenever she went in after him.

Haru feared that he was slipping down the slippery slope called depression, and she continually voiced her concerns to Izumo and Tatara, who would always just look helpless. All of them doubted the possibility of dragging the redhead to a doctor for whatever reason, and even if they did succeed, what should they say? That their friend had become the Red King and that the immense capacity of the powers within him were far too much for any person to keep control of?

Whatever the case, Haru wanted to protect him. Sleeping in the same room, as him, in the same bed even, made it painfully obvious to her that his nightmares were a regular occurrence. That night in which they met each other in the desert was not the last time their auras would connect in their sleep, her flames feeling their restless King and yearning to join him. She, in turn, believed that allowing this to happen might strengthen her hold on them while at the same time protecting Mikoto from whatever might happen if she did not intrude in that wasteland of his. Whether it truly helped she did not know, but she liked to believe it did.

Summer holidays ended without any more major incidents, and school washed over them, forcing them to seek a new routine. Mikoto barely managed to keep up with all of it due to his lack of sleep, but Haru did all she could to drag him along with her, whether literally by pulling him out of bed or figuratively by helping him keep motivated. All she could do was hope that half a year would be enough for him to get better, because after that she would no longer stand by his side at school.

In all the chaos and her worrying for Mikoto, she had even forgotten to think of her own future. In half a year, her high school career would end, and she still had no clue what would come after that. She simply hadn’t had the time to do both.

Which was why the day her home room teacher personally handed her a sheet of paper asking her for her plans, the fast pace her life had assumed came to a freeze all of a sudden. Her teacher had given her a cool stare that promised punishment if she failed to hand in this one. Somehow she had managed to evade this moment many times before by simply ‘losing the paper’ or ‘forgetting it’, but it seemed that that was no longer an option.

“What’s wrong, Haru-chan?” Izumo asked when she entered the bar. The look on her face must have given away the entire situation the moment she stepped through the doors.

Haru glanced upstairs to where Mikoto lay, who had withstood every single attempt to get him up that morning, before deciding that there was no more she could do to help him in that moment. And anyway, she couldn’t exactly hope to do so when she couldn’t even get her own shit sorted.

With a sigh she placed the crumpled piece of paper on the bar as she climbed onto a stool after dropping her bag to the ground beside her. Izumo placed the glass he had been cleaning to the side and straightened the wrinkles out of the paper, his eyes examining the contents as he did so.

“‘Future plans’?” the bartender read out loud, raising an eyebrow before letting out a sigh. “Man, this sure does bring back memories.”

“This isn’t the time to take a trip down memory lane!” Having gotten a pen from her bag, Haru snatched the paper back to stare at it herself once more.

Izumo leaned forward against the bar and tilted his head to the side with a frown. “Don’t tell me, Haru-chan, that you haven’t thought about your future yet?”

“Of course I have!” She turned her head to the side in an attempt to hide her flushed cheeks. “There was that sports school I wanted to go to before I met you guys. But that was because I still had my parents backing me, at least a little.” She shrugged and stared at the polished wood of the counter. “Right now there’s no way I’ll be able to gather enough money to go to university or anything. I’m probably not smart enough in the first place. And then there’s Mikoto who—”

A finger cupped Haru’s chin and lifted her face, forcing her to meet his gaze. “Haru-chan, forget about Mikoto for a moment. You can’t plan your life around him, or us. You can always come back when you’re finished with whatever you want to do.” He dropped his hand and ran it through his hair instead. “But lack of money is a valid point. Isn’t there something that you’d want to do when you’re done with school? A job you’d like to have?”

The brunette lowered her eyes again, chewing her lower lip as she racked her brain for an answer. The fact that she couldn’t think of anything scared her.

“Say, Haru-chan,” Izumo began, mirroring her worried expression, “do you even have any hobbies?”

“Of course I do!” she retorted. “Sports! And I… I like… reading! And watching television!”

“Unless you want to try takin’ up sports again, I doubt you could make a career of any of those.” At seeing the bartender give her a look of pity, Haru glowered right back at him, but he ignored it. “Off the top of your head, what do you want to do?”

Without hesitating, she replied, “I want to stay here.”

Izumo burst into laughter and reached out to ruffle Haru’s hair. “Then write that you want to become a bartender.”

“I doubt that will be enough of an answer. To begin with, I’ll have to wait two more years before I can officially start doing any of that,” Haru replied. “Plus, if I don’t come with some sort of proper plan of what I want to do in the meantime, my home room teacher will know it’s a cop out. She knows I live here.”

“What kind of home room teacher do you have that knows you live here?” Izumo asked, scratching his head before his eyes widened in realisation. “Wait, your home room teacher is Kushina-sensei?”

“The one and only. Tatara already told me all about your… interactions with her.” Haru shook her head in dismay. “Do you have any idea how difficult it is to concentrate when all I can think about is you three peeking into her room while she’s changing?”

“Ahahaha… sorry about that…” The bartender laughed gingerly at that, rubbing the back of his head as he did so. But soon enough he perked up again, holding up a finger. “Ah, but if that’s the case! Kushina-sensei will most likely be able to help you with your problem. Just tell her the truth and ask for her aid, if she doesn’t offer it freely to begin with.”

Somehow, that thought had never even crossed Haru’s mind. Perhaps she had gotten too close to Mikoto and the others, and had somehow forgotten that she could always rely on other people as well. “Yes… I think I’ll do that. Thank you for the help.”

Izumo smiled at her. “Any time.”

With that out of the way, that only left her with the usual homework. She looked at the beg resting against her stool and frowned. Without Tatara or Mikoto around she didn’t feel like beginning just yet. Those two could even make doing homework a little bit more fun.

The brunette slid off her seat and chucked her bag in a corner so that it was out of the way. “I’ll be out for a bit. Did Tatara say if he was going to come over today?”

“Not that I recall. What’re you goin’ to do?”

“I’ve been wanting to check out that new bookstore for a while now.” The bell chimed, signalling someone entering, but when Haru turned to see who it was she realised it was just a customer.

“Welcome!” Izumo called out with a smile before directing his attention back to Haru. “Ah, you mean that one near the street with all the cafes?”

“Yup. Anyways, I’m off!” And with that, she left, the bell chiming once more behind her.

It wasn’t like she had never thought about this kind of stuff before. The months had simply passed by way too fast for her to come to any conclusions. Whenever she had thought about it, she had promised herself to do some more research later, only to forget about it with all the chaos going on.

And though she claimed this, the fact remained that she had nothing she wanted to do for the rest of her life. The thought of having to find something she would be stuck with until the day she died when she was but nineteen years old frightened her. Suffocated her. She would rather take her time and miss out on things than make hasty choices that she might forever regret.

That did not take away from the fact that, sooner or later, she would have to think about it after all.

The bookstore greeted her with a wave of coolness that washed over her once she stepped inside. The summer holidays had only just ended, after all, and it was still quite warm. Due to energy costs, Izumo rarely turned on the air conditioner in the bar, and so this was a pleasant change.

As Haru made her way farther into the store, she noted that particular scent of books that filled the air. Though she had never been a fan of novels herself, she couldn’t deny the way that smell affected her. It reminded her of old things and brought a strange sensation of calmness along with it. Perhaps because it reminded her of her grandparents?

She shook her head and instead concentrated on the books that stood displayed on the shelves that formed thin paths throughout the entire room. The shop was small and cosy, and because it allowed so little room to evade other visitors it gave a strange feeling of camaraderie with them.

On her way to the manga section, which she always checked first when visiting a bookstore, she passed the section with self-help books. For some reason her eyes fell upon a cover with a cocktail glass standing in front of a black background. A bright red liquid filled the glass, and Haru didn’t even have to read the title to see that it was a book about bartenders.

Did this sudden interest come from Izumo’s suggestion? Because it would most likely be the easy way out? Or had it sparked something inside of her that had gone unnoticed until now? Haru honestly couldn’t tell, but standing there and gaping at the book wouldn’t help her at all, and so she decided to take a step forward and flip through it.

The things she read seemed interesting, if not surprising. She had never thought that making something as simple as a cocktail could be so complex. Thinking back to all the times she had watched Izumo make one, she noted that he always made it look so easy. Perhaps becoming a bartender wouldn’t be as easy as she had thought?

Haru lifted her head, frowning. Was she trying to rationalise the choice to herself now? That because it might take some effort to succeed, it suddenly became a worthy goal? Was the only thing she sought in a hobby a challenge?

Well, she had always loved beating others and even herself the most when it came to track and field… The thing that enticed her most about Mikoto was the fact that he wasn’t the usual boy, that not many people understood him like she did. And even then there was her aura, a strange and frightening phenomenon that managed to keep her seduced because of its untameable nature. Almost everything else couldn’t keep her attention for much longer.

Ah well, what did it matter?

A lot, apparently. Or so she found out when she flipped the book over to check its price. This thing would cost her almost all her money that she still had left from when she lived with her parents.

With a sigh the brunette shot a mournful look at the manga section. But she had to get serious about her future sooner or later, and manga could always come later…

Her feet felt like they were made of lead as she trudged towards the pay desk with the damned book in tow. As she waited for the cashier to ring it up, she looked around for a sign mentioning anything about available jobs, though she found none.

For good measure, she asked, “Are you hiring?”

“My apologies,” the clerk replied with a sad smile, “not at the moment.”

Haru bowed in thanks and accepted the bag with her newly-bought book. Before she could change her mind she left the store, the sweltering heat from outside hitting her like a brick wall. Though she found that the heat affected her less than it used to, she still didn’t feel completely comfortable in this weather.

Not too far away she found an unoccupied bench, where she let herself fall onto the seat with a groan. Leaning her head back, she stared at the blue, cloudless sky. She thought of Mikoto and frowned, though she told herself she shouldn’t search for any deeper meanings in things as simple as the weather.

Still, that didn’t help with the uneasiness within, which wasn’t just caused by the aura inside of her. Haru feared that, no matter how hard she tried, she wouldn’t be able to protect him. She didn’t even know what he needed protection from in the first place, couldn’t understand what he was going through right now.

Nevertheless, the thought of failing him caused something inside her chest to tighten and her throat to constrict in that way that told her she was going to cry. She never did, though. No matter how much it hurt her, it always hurt him more, and she had no right to show him her tears like that. Not when he had enough problems as it was.

For his sake, she had to get stronger. She had to figure out—

A scream filled the air, snapping her out of her reverie. Without thinking she shot up from her spot. It took her but a split second to take in the scene before her, and even less for her body to jolt into action.

In front of a shop stood a masked man holding a woman, a gun pressed to her temple. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she watched a small child with wide eyes who stared back at her, who looked even more terrified than the one actually being threatened. The mother tried to smile at her daughter, whose lower lip began to tremble dangerously as she took a step forward.

The assaulter, who carried a bag most likely full of cash on his back, looked scared enough for mother and daughter combined as he removed the gun from the mother’s temple to point it at the daughter. In any other situation it might have been funny to see a grown man so frightened of a little girl, but not here.

Especially not with the man screaming, “Don’t c-c-come closer! I’ll s-shoot! I-I swear!”

The people surrounding the happening only stared with dumbstruck expressions, nobody thinking of calling the police. How stupid normal people could be, freezing like deer in the headlights, whenever something happened that didn’t fit within their range of situations they were used to.

The child, not understanding what was going on except that her mama was in danger, took another step forward, stretching her arms out towards her mother. The woman’s face paled and she looked like she wanted nothing more than to yell at the kid, but instead she whispered soothing words.

It might have worked had the idiot not continued shouting threats through all of it. But he did, and so the girl closed the distance between the two of them even more. Before anybody knew it, a gunshot rang out.

With both hands reaching out for the girl, Haru collided with the little body, her arms wrapped around it at once. She winced when her shoulder hit the ground, and she lay there for a few moments, breathing heavily and not daring to check the results of her actions.

A whimper from beneath her forced her to open her eyes. The sight of the girl with a red aura wrapped around her welcomed her, but it soon became obvious that it wasn’t hurting her.

Haru looked up and found the remains of a bullet behind her. Her eyes moved from the ashes to the man who had fired the gun, who, like everybody else, stared at her, speechless.

Without wasting another second, the brunette gently released the child, who watched her in wonder. She got up and stalked towards the attacker and his hostage, both of them as still as statues.

When she came too close, however, the man started firing his gun again, his panic obvious. This time Haru was prepared, and her aura took care of the bullets, making sure no harm came to anybody nearby. Too late did he realise that he still had the mother in his grasp, but by the time he moved to direct the gun to her temple, Haru had pressed her hand to the barrel, melting it.

“Shoot now and you die,” she warned him, her voice sounding much calmer than she felt.

For a moment, he looked like he would do just that, but before he could she yanked the weapon from his fingers and chucked it to the side. It fell to the ground in a puddle of melted metal.

Forming a gun with her thumb and forefinger, Haru pointed it at the man. Without taking her gaze off of him, she said, “One of you monkeys going to call the police, or what?”

A second later, everybody had a phone pressed to their ear. The man realised he couldn’t get out of this, and so he released his hostage slowly but surely. Once the mother had run off to her child, Haru stepped forward and grabbed the thief, making sure he wouldn’t try to flee.

Her captive stared at the ground behind her, and she turned to observe the burns on the ground she had left in her wake. How nobody had noticed any of this before was beyond her, though she supposed it had been for the best.

The sound of sirens filled the air, and it didn’t take long for a familiar blue van to pull up in the street. Pedestrians jumped out of the way as the vehicle sped towards her before the driver slammed a foot on the breaks, causing the car to skid across the ground before coming to a halt.

Two SCEPTER 4 members came out of the back of the van, swords in hand. Despite being a clan with no King, they sure seemed well organised. That became even more obvious when, within half an hour, they sped off again, thief in tow and mother and daughter being taken care of by people specialised in traumatic events. SCEPTER 4 had probably only come after hearing of her, though they soon realised the situation was different than they had expected.

“Thank you for protecting her!” the mother called out to her before she was taken away, and Haru froze to the ground.

Protect. She had protected the kid with her flames.

Surprised, the brunette stared at her hands, still bruised and a little burnt from her previous escapades.

“Here, don’t forget this.” All of a sudden, a plastic bag was all but shoved into her face, and she had to take a step back to realise what it was. Ah! She had completely forgotten that she had left it behind!

“T-thank you…” she responded, breathless. What if someone had stolen it because she hadn’t paid attention to it?

The stranger smiled at her and said, “You did a good job.”

With those words in mind, the brunette practically skipped back home, feeling like never before. She had done something good today, had helped someone out. Had protected someone. That had to be the solution.

Her aura wasn’t meant for destruction, but for protection. Her power lay in saving people, not killing them, though by killing some she might protect others.

She shook her head at that thought. Killing people? Even to protect her loved ones…? Frowning, she had to think back to that night with Ayame. Hadn’t she killed anybody back then, even without realising it?

Realisation struck her all of a sudden, and she froze to the spot for a split second before sprinting back home, ignoring the sound of cars honking as she crossed the street in front of them. She tried to fight the grin on her face, the plastic bag with the book heavy in her hand as it slapped against her leg with every step she took. The sun beat down on her back and the sweltering heat made her feel like she might choke any second now, but she kept on running.

But of course! It had always been about protecting those close to her. Mikoto had become a King because he had to protect his friends in the first place, and he had lost control because he had thought she was in danger. Even she herself had thought she had failed to protect Ayame, after which she, too, had burst.

Only when she stood in front of the bar did she stop, hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. Though she wiped a palm across her face to get rid of the sweat there, she still looked like she had just run a marathon, with her clothes sticking to her body.

This time when she stepped through the doors to the bar she felt like a completely different person, though she had left only a short while ago.

With raised brows, Izumo greeted her with a sly smile. “And what have you been up to?”

Haru grinned in return and opened her mouth to answer, but stopped herself and instead asked, “How did you know?”

“One of the boys called and told me to turn on the television.” He waved in the direction of the screen. “Though the news had gotten there after you had left, the people who still hung around described what had happened. Didn’t take long to put two ‘n two together.”

“Figures,” Haru muttered as she made her way to the counter, though the smile never left her face.

As she settled down in a seat, nodding at the other customers in the room, she produced her purchase from her bag and showed it to Izumo. The blond tilted his head to the side and flipped through it, frowning slightly as he did so. “What’s this?”

“This, my dear Izumo-kun,” Haru began, gesturing wildly with her hands, “is a book about cocktails, as you may have noticed.”

The bartender groaned. “I can see that. But why? Are you considering it after all?”

“Who knows?” The brunette lifted her shoulders. “But it’s better than having nothing at all, right? I can’t just sit around doing nothing all day. Somehow I’m going to have to help you. And I have to protect Mikoto.”

Their eyes met, Izumo’s fingers sliding along the edge of the page that explained how to make a daiquiri while Haru’s played with the plastic bag, balling it up against the palm of her hand. The silence that filled the air bordered between comfortable and awkward, but Haru only stared into Izumo’s brown eyes, challenging him.

Finally, his shoulders slumped and he let out a sigh. With a small smile, he said, “So you figured it out, eh?”

Before Haru could respond, a stern look had found its way to his face. He leaned over the counter and he flicked her on her forehead.

“Hey! What was that for?!” Haru yelped, pressing a hand to the sore spot.

“You gotta remember that you ain’t alone, okay? We’re gonna protect Mikoto together. And you’re helpin’ me just fine by figurin’ out what you wanna do.” Izumo shook his head as he closed the book and pushed it back towards Haru, who stared at it, dumbstruck. “Say, didn’t you have some talent in maths and that kind of thing? You could try doin’ somethin’ with computers, or so.”

“I… I suppose…” the brunette replied after a while. Her resolve from before had already been shaken, and she felt just as bad as she had this morning. She had been so sure that she could have worked with this, somehow. All she had wanted was for someone to give her some kind of acknowledgement or praise, but perhaps that had been too childish of her.

She still had a long way to go before she could claim she had actually accomplished something in life. But then again, she was only nineteen years old and still had everything before her.

And anyway, at least she had started to solve Mikoto’s riddle. The rest could come tomorrow.

Chapter Text

Over the past few weeks it had become a regular occurrence for Haru and Mikoto to share dreams - or at least, for Haru to find herself in in Mikoto’s dreams. That made it all the more strange when, while asleep, she felt his presence not in the desert she had gotten used to, but the cityscape she herself regularly dreamed of these days.

Usually these dreams allowed her the freedom that reality denied her when awake, and she could fly from the top of one skyscraper to the next, as free as a bird. Without the burdens of daily life, of her relationship with Mikoto, of her future, of school, she felt lighter than ever, and even the slightest jump would bring her high into the air.

Despite the fact that she had realised what the others had wanted to teach her in regards to her aura, nothing had changed when it came to her sparring matches with Mikoto. That, however, had more to do with the redhead and less with herself, for with every passing day things seemed to worsen. Still, she continued to try her best to help him in whatever way possible.

Haru climbed the nearest building, grasping the edges of windows to pull herself farther up until she reached the roof without even breaking a sweat. Though her flames had continued to build up within her, here she felt at ease. For a few hours she didn’t fear losing control, didn’t worry about hurting her friends.

“Mikoto?!” the brunette called out, shielding her eyes from the sinking sun as she tried to spot the source of the intruding aura. Any other time she would have watched the orange orb cast its colours onto the water that lapped at the coast surrounding this non-existent city, but not this time. The erratic spikes in the flames worried her.

When she couldn’t spot him, she launched herself to the next building, rolling upon impact before pushing herself to her feet again. Though his presence had gotten closer, she still couldn’t see him due to the many towers that stood in the way, and so she repeated the process a few more times. It didn’t take her long to find the artificial fire surrounding Mikoto.

Haru saw him standing at the edge of the skyscraper closest to the sun, with his back towards her. Even from here she could see that he was staring down at whatever had caught his attention beneath him. She opened her mouth to call out his name once more when he spread out his arms before letting himself topple forward.

“MIKOTO!” the brunette screamed, reaching out one hand towards him as she flew in his direction as fast as the dream allowed her to move.

In that moment, everything went dark. The sun sank beneath the horizon all of a sudden, and night fell like a blanket thrown onto the city. At the same time, her body became heavy and her movements sluggish. It felt like eons had passed by the time she finally reached the place where Mikoto had been only seconds ago.

Staring over the edge, she could only look at her King’s back, bursting with flames, retreating into the distance, his limbs spread out as though he were simply skydiving. Even as she watched him disappear, the length of the building changed, and suddenly it seemed like she was ten times higher and rising.

Haru tried to yell again only for her throat to tighten, cutting off her voice like someone had dipped her head into a tub of water. Before she knew what had happened, her aura had enveloped her, burning her, but she ignored the sensation as she, too, flung herself from the building. She flattened herself as much as possible, the wind tugging at every inch of her body as she fell, and stretched out her hands, fingers reaching for her lover.

The windows of the skyscraper burst as she flew by, tendrils of her flame spewing out in all directions as if to find purchase before the pavement could rise to greet her, possibly breaking everything they touched. Her bangs, tangled by the air rushing up and resisting her fall, got in her eyes, but even through the strands she could see that Mikoto didn’t even flinch at all the noise she must have been making.

And as she watched him disappear beneath her, she remained at the same height, or so it seemed. Tears blurred her vision and, no matter what she did, she just could not catch up with him; the distance between the two would not close. What had he done? Why had he jumped? Why couldn’t he hear her?

It didn’t matter. Before long, an explosion sounded from far below, cars honking and skidding along the asphalt. People screamed, sirens filled the air, and before long the aftershock of the explosion Mikoto had caused reached her, throwing her back into the air. Her back crashed into a wall and she could feel it topple over beneath her before she flew against the next wall, and the next, and the next, until she was back outside.

Pain burst throughout her entire body and her aura wrapped itself around her limbs, causing everything she touched to burst into flames. The smell of cloth burning filled her nose and followed her wherever she went.

Scream after scream tore itself from her throat until it had gone raw and all that came out was a croak, and finally, finally she heard a splash. She didn’t even realise that she had found her way to the ocean until after she had opened her eyes, her body jolting up as a coughing fit took over.

Breathing heavily, Haru blinked in disbelief when she noted that smoke filled the room, her mind working at an unbelievably slow pace as she tried to figure out what had happened. She hadn’t even finished processing the situation when a large hand grasped her wrist and dragged her out of bed, out of the bedroom.

Mikoto left her in the bar where the fire alarm screamed in her ears before rushing back upstairs, an extinguisher in hand. With wide eyes and trembling limbs, Haru sat down at the counter, slowly but surely grasping the situation.

It couldn’t be true. This was all just a joke, wasn’t it? Any minute now, she would wake up again and realise that she had had one of those weird dream-in-a-dream dreams. Or perhaps Tatara would jump out from behind the bar, all grinning as always…

She didn’t wake up again, and when Tatara finally did show up, that grin of his was nowhere to be seen.

“Haru? Are you all right?” he asked, bending over so that the two of them were face-to-face.

The only response he received was a nod and a blank look.

Izumo let out a sigh, long and deep, as he ran a hand through his unkempt hair. He glanced at his phone before he looked over at Mikoto, who sat next to Haru, shoulder to shoulder. They shared a blanket given to them by the paramedics who, for now, had gone off to discuss something with the firemen.

As he watched them return, he lit a cigarette and placed it between his lips before inhaling. He blinked and tilted his head to the side when he noticed Haru’s eyes staring at the cancer stick. Before he could say anything, the firemen came to a halt just in front of them.

“Fortunately we managed to contain the fire to one room. If it weren’t for this man’s quick actions, who knows what might have happened,” one of them said, his gaze on the redhead.

“Thank you,” Izumo replied after breathing out a lungful of smoke. “Did you find out what caused it?”

The look on their faces offered him enough of an answer, but they shook their heads anyway. “No, we couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary. But then again, it could have been that it has burned up by now.”

Izumo nodded before he watched them get in their vehicle and drive off. In hushed voice, the paramedics spoke to the brunette, whose wide eyes now stared unseeingly at the ground, though she didn’t respond with anything other than nods. Mikoto looked on in silence, though he seemed much calmer about the whole thing than Haru did. In fact, he looked like nothing had happened in the first place. Like he had just felt like taking a walk and decided to sit down on a bench somewhere in the middle of the night to take in the scenery. For some reason that troubled Izumo almost as much as Haru’s behaviour.

“It must be the shock,” one of the paramedics said, pulling the bartender out of his thoughts. “We’ve checked them over and fortunately they aren’t wounded. Truly a stroke of luck, we’ve seen situations like this end much worse.”

Before he could reply, the second paramedic walked up to them. “Is there anywhere they can stay for the night?”

“Yes,” Izumo replied with a nod of his head, already planning what he would have to do the moment he got home. “They’ll be staying with me until the room is fixed.”

“All right, then we’ll leave them to you.” They walked back over to the two kids and helped them out of the back of the ambulance. As they did so, they gently pried the blanket from between Haru’s fingers, though Mikoto gave his part back willingly.

“If either of them report a headache or any other general unwellness, do not hesitate to go to the hospital,” one of them told Izumo before entering the vehicle and driving off.

“Come, let’s go. You two will be coming with me. Tatara, I’ll drop you off at your house on our way home.”

Tatara didn’t even try to protest as he otherwise might have. In fact, nobody said anything as they all climbed into the bartender’s car, Tatara in the passenger seat next to Izumo and Haru in the back with Mikoto. From the rear-view mirror, he could see the redhead watching his girlfriend with his brows lowered, whereas she stared out of the window during the entire trip. She didn’t even respond to the pat on her knee that Tatara offered her before he left the car, disappearing behind the door to his apartment complex.

Only when she wanted to crawl into Mikoto’s makeshift bed in Izumo’s living room but was stopped by the blond did she awaken from whatever stupor that had held her captive.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Izumo murmured, his hand still on her shoulder.

Haru frowned as her gaze sought out his fingers, noted them digging into the fabric of her pyjama shirt and skin ever so slightly. Her eyes widened when she realised that he feared her. That he didn’t want her sleeping beside someone else in case it happened again.

“Wh-what?” she croaked before clearing her throat. “Why?”

“You know why,” the bartender stated as he began to guide her towards a different bed he had made.

With one move, the brunette freed herself from his grasp, raising an arm in order to force his hand away from her. As she took a step back, she turned around, her gaze meeting Izumo’s hazel eyes before seeking Mikoto’s amber ones. She protested, “I didn’t do it!”

When the bartender raised a brow and the King did not look impressed, Haru could almost feel the world stop spinning for a moment. She shivered, a coolness washing over her all of a sudden, and she wrapped her arms around herself in an attempt to stay warm as she took another step back. “You have to believe me!”

“’s all right, Haru.” Izumo moved forward with his hands in the air, as if she were a dangerous animal that would snap at the slightest provocation, and shot her a smile. “You were probably just havin’ a bad dream. These things can happen, I s’pose. At least, it ain’t a surprise, what with the size of your aura, and its unruly nature.”

“I…” Haru began, shooting Mikoto another look over Izumo’s shoulder, pleading silently. Unconsciously, her eyes found the bartender’s coffee table, and she balled her hands into fists. She couldn’t possibly tell them… “I was— had a nightmare, yes, but I swear—”

Izumo let out a loud sigh. “Look—”

“Come, then.” Two pair of brown eyes moved to the redhead, surprise visible in both of them. He ignored Izumo, however. Hope bloomed inside of Haru, but it died down as soon as it appeared when she saw his expression. He might have summoned the tiniest of smiles, but instead he pressed his lips into a thin line as he waited for the brunette to drag her bed over to his. To Izumo he said, “Go to bed.”

And he did, but not without shrugging and scratching the back of his head before wishing them a good night.

A few minutes later, when they lay side by side, Haru’s hand found his, entwining their fingers and squeezing him. “I swear, it didn’t happen like that.”

Her heart pounded in her throat, the sound of it filling the silence around them as she waited for his response.

“…hn.”

She quickly closed her eyes before the tears could escape.

The sound of murmuring coming from somewhere behind her greeted Haru when she slowly regained consciousness. For a moment she forgot where she was and what had happened, but before long it all came back to her. Without stirring or opening her eyes, she listened to the conversation going on between Izumo and Mikoto.

“…don’t know,” Mikoto’s deep voice said.

“And you’re sure the training is goin’ well?” Izumo asked.

“Hm.”

The bartender sighed, and something rustled. Most likely his blouse as he ran a hand through his hair again. “Well, for now, we’ll have to wait.”

Trying her best to seem innocent, Haru slowly stretched her arms out above her head, arching her back to work all the kinks out of her body. As she sat up, she recognised the smell of toasted bread and coffee, and her stomach rumbled in response. When she saw the expressions on the men’s faces, she knew at once that today wouldn’t be any better.

“G’morning,” Izumo offered her with a small smile as he poured a cup of coffee and gestured for her to get it.

Biting her lip, Haru pushed herself off the ground and made her way towards the small dinner table, where she sat down next to Mikoto. “…morning.”

The redhead’s only response was to close the distance between the two of them, his shoulder touching hers as he did so. In that moment, however, even that couldn’t lift Haru’s spirits, whereas usually any physical contact instigated by him made her feel like she was floating. Instead, she lifted her mug to her lips and, without bothering to wait for it to cool down, took a sip.

Her eyes watered as the hot pain flared inside her mouth and descended into her stomach when she swallowed. She blinked the tears back before tilting the cup again, pouring more of the burning liquid into her mouth. By the time she had emptied the cup, her tongue was raw and throbbed violently. Only when she sniffed a few times, since her nose had started to run, did she realise Izumo and Mikoto had been staring at her. This time, when her cheeks turned bright red, it wasn’t because of the coffee’s heat.

“Are you all right?” Izumo asked. The same question was visible in Mikoto’s eyes as he tilted his head to the side.

For a moment, the brunette did not know what to say. What could she say? Her best friends didn’t believe her. They truly thought she had started a fire with her aura while in her sleep. Not even Mikoto had gotten that bad yet, and he contained far more of the flames than any of them did. But then again, she could not offer them the truth, no matter how bad she felt about the whole situation. She feared that their opinions of her might sink even lower if she did.

And so instead of replying, she lifted her shoulders and let out a hum while staring at the bottom of her empty cup, watching the brown droplets slide across the surface as she tipped it back and forth. When the bartender let out another sigh, the umpteenth already, she looked up to see him place his face in his hands, his elbows propped up on the table.

“What are we to do?” he asked, his voice slightly muffled. Haru recognised the anguish in his tone, something he usually reserved for when it came to Mikoto.

All of a sudden, whatever anger she had felt towards the man dissipated, and in that moment she could only feel guilt. Izumo was but a year older than her, yet he seemed to bear all the responsibilities on his shoulder. Though Mikoto was their King, the bartender took care of most things while also taking care of his younger clansmen. At the same time, he had the bar to worry about, since without the bar they wouldn’t be anywhere.

For a split second, Haru contemplated coming clean. To just tell the truth. But then she imagined the looks on their faces, the looks of disappointment and judgement. The way they would shake their heads, lose all faith in her. No, whatever happened, she much preferred this to that.

“I’m sorry,” Haru whispered. The only response she received was the ticking from the clock that hung on the opposite wall. When the silence became too stifling, she added, “I… I’ll pay for the damages, of course. I’ll work at the bar until I’ve compensated.”

Izumo dropped his fist, slamming it against the table, and Haru tensed. “Dammit, Haru. It’s not about the damage to the bar. Well, it is, but… Don’t you realise it could’ve been much worse? You could’ve died!”

“I know!” Haru cried out. She sucked in her breath, her irritation getting the better of her after all. “But what do you want me to do? It’s not… not like I did it on purpose!”

The bartender had already buried his face in his hands again, and Haru shot Mikoto another pleading look, though she only received a blank stare in return. He didn’t blame her, however. Somehow, Haru knew that he simply didn’t know what to do or say. The redhead had never been good with words, and that got even worse when it came to situations like this.

Still, she felt that they were getting no where with this, and so she got up and made her way to her bed. Amber eyes followed her as she stepped into her pair of jeans from the day before and pulled her vest over her head. When she turned back to the table, Izumo was watching her as well.

“Where do you think you’re goin’?” he asked as he planted his palms on the table’s surface and pushed himself up as well.

“I’m going to the convenience store around the corner,” the brunette replied, heading towards the front door. “I… I need to think.”

Without waiting for a response, she opened the door and stepped out of the apartment. Once the door fell back into the lock, she released a breath, shoulders sagging as she tension slipped out of her body. It took her legs a few moments before they responded, taking her down the stairs with two steps at a time.

She couldn’t tell them the truth, but neither could she continue this farce. She couldn’t pretend that her aura had caused the fire, she just couldn’t do that to Izumo. But on the other hand, she was too much of a coward to do anything else. There was no way she could convince them that she hadn’t done it, while at the same time keeping her secret hidden. With this dilemma on her mind, she exited the apartment complex and followed the pavement around the corner to the convenience store without paying much attention to her surroundings.

Within five minutes she stood outside again, now with a lighter in her hand. From one of her vest pockets she pulled out a small box which she put back after plucking out a cigarette. She placed the stick between her lips and lit it before pocketing the lighter as well. Closing her eyes, she took a deep drag, enjoying the strange taste that filled her mouth before she blew the smoke out through her nose.

In these times, where Haru felt like she could rely on nothing and nobody and instead had to be strong for everyone around her, the only guilty pleasure she had found were cigarettes. She had gotten used to the smell in the bar, where customers and Izumo himself regularly smoked. A while back, when she had been particularly frustrated, her fingers had suddenly started itching to try one, and so she had… borrowed one from the bartender. Ever since, she had been hooked.

When she opened her eyes again, she almost dropped her cigarette.

Mikoto raised a brow, his look one that somehow bordered between amusement and anger. The expression on his face might have made Haru laugh if she hadn’t been busy dreading what he might do to her. The cigarette felt like it weighed a ton all of a sudden, almost forcing her to let the offending object fall.

She had hoped that, by some miracle, he wouldn’t notice it, but his eyes cut towards it. They narrowed ever so slightly before examining her face again, though he didn’t say anything as he plucked it from between her fingers and began to smoke as well. Haru could only stare at him, flabbergasted and awaiting judgement at the same time. Surely he had figured out the entire situation already. The redhead might seem like a self-absorbed antisocial person, when in fact he could be quite observant once in a while.

As Mikoto tilted his head back before he exhaled and watched the smoke rise through half-lidded eyes, Haru looked at him, her body slowly relaxing when he didn’t say anything. The stubble covering his jaws had stopped growing as if refusing to become a proper beard, though he had yet to start shaving, and his hair had gotten so long that he kept combing it back with his fingers in order to keep his fringe from falling into his eyes. He had enough on his plate without her adding to his pile of problems, Haru thought with another flash of guilt.

Only when the redhead let out a hum did she realise that he had been staring at her from the corner of his eye. “You didn’t cause that fire, did you?”

“Eh?” Haru froze to the spot, eyes wide. The smell from the ascending smoke penetrated her nose, and more than ever she felt the need to inhale more of it. She didn’t dare snatch the cigarette from Mikoto, however. Especially not when he regarded her like a lion would his prey.

“Or, should I say,” he added before taking another drag and blowing the smoke into Haru’s face, “your aura didn’t.”

Yup, he knew. Though he could be thick-headed, he wasn’t exactly dumb, after all. The brunette lowered her eyes to the ground, fingers playing with the hem of her vest.

“You endanger my life, your life, and don’t even come clean,” he stated. When Haru remained silent, he clicked his tongue as he flicked the cigarette to the floor and squashed it beneath his boot.

A car passed by them as this part of the city slowly woke up around them. People made their way down the street, ignoring the two of them. Mikoto said no more, and Haru thought he was going to leave her.

Just then, however, his fingers found her chin and lifted her face, forcing her to meet his gaze. Now she could see the anger smoldering in his amber eyes, and her heart pounded as she feared what was to come.

“Why?”

For reasons she herself could not explain, the sound of his voice, filled not with rage but with confusion, prompted her to finally open her mouth. “Because… because I was afraid. That you would hate me, since I did something so stupid. And dangerous. Again.”

He let out a sigh, the smell of the cigarette still heavy in his breath. It distracted her long enough for Mikoto to lean down and surprise her by pressing his lips to hers before pulling back almost at once. Haru’s cheeks turned as red as his hair.

“We have done many stupid things. And we will probably do many more stupid things. If we plan on hiding them all from each other, that’ll only be troublesome. I won’t follow you like this every time.”

Haru couldn’t help herself, she just had to laugh at how simple and Mikoto-like those words were. The fact that the redhead had gone after her to begin with was enough of a miracle, but that he had even tried to cheer her up with words took the cake here. Mikoto only raised a brow at her, most likely wondering whether she had gone crazy after all.

“Thank you,” she said, a smile still on her lips. “And I’m sorry. For not telling you. I was so afraid…”

“You haven’t told me yet.” Without waiting for a reply, he grabbed her hand and began to walk back towards Izumo’s apartment. “We should go back.”

Realising what he had planned, Haru swallowed hard as she tried her best to keep up with him. Though her stomach twisted itself into a knot, nervous of what was to come, at the same time she was thankful that Mikoto could do what she couldn’t. It still made her feel guilty, but she vowed that she would make it up to him someday. She could still change herself.

Chapter Text

After that entire fiasco with the cigarette, Mikoto had forced Haru to confess to Izumo and Tatara. Izumo had almost roasted her alive, but had settled for being so kind as to let Haru pay for the repairs. For this purpose, she had had to find a job. And being only eighteen years old and with no degree, she settled for the first thing that came her way: working in a store.

A convenience store, to be specific.

To be even more specific, the convenience store where Haru’s mother regularly used to shop.

The work was simple enough, though, even for someone like her. She was responsible for unpacking and keeping track of the products, making sure the shop was clean, helping clients who couldn’t find something. The manager could also ask her to manage to till once in a while, when needed. One other high school student worked there as well, a quiet boy whose name Haru had already forgotten but who rarely spoke with her to begin with.

Whenever work didn’t completely occupy her mind, Haru worried about the possibility of her mother entering the building. Every now and again she would glance at the door, or whenever someone with a high voice entered when she had her back turned towards the entrance she would freeze until she realised that she did not recognise it.

She had voiced her fears to Mikoto, who had only snorted. Haru remembered feeling guilty about having said anything about it to begin with. That day had been one of the redhead’s worst, sitting on the couch in his recently repaired room, brooding in silence even while the clansmen he had managed to collect had gathered in the bar. It was that his stubble refused to grow any denser, otherwise he might have looked like a caveman by now. He ignored her pleas to take better care of himself. It pained her to see him like this, and so the distraction that work provided proved a blessing sent from whatever higher beings existed, even if that thought made her feel even guiltier. She had no right to flee from Mikoto; her heart skipped a beat whenever their eyes met, and she could feel it racing each time he touched her, especially when he gave her a rare kiss. Why did the time away from him feel like such a blessing, then?

And just like, graduation came and went. Haru turned nineteen, took on several more jobs but remained at the convenience store. Though she had finished repaying Izumo for the damages, she continued to work hard in order to pay for her ICT classes. In her free time she mostly concentrated on hacking and programming as she waited for Izumo to give her permission to stand behind the bar. The fact that he himself had been her age when he had inherited the bar did not seem to change his mind.

At a certain point, Haru had stopped worrying about the possibility of her mother entering the store. Of course, not much later, the person who entered the shop truly was her mother. Five seconds after the shop manager had asked her to stand behind the counter while he did something in the back, obviously.

Her feet nailed to the ground, all she could do was stare at her mother’s figure as she made her way through the aisles with a basket at her elbow. Inspecting her shopping list and looking for the items she needed, the woman was far too occupied to notice the people surrounding her. Haru wondered if she would recognise her the moment she wanted to pay for her groceries. After all, it had been around a year since she had left home. She had graduated from high school, had grown her hair out, had become thinner and more muscular, and her skin had become paler since she spent less time outside these days. But then again, one could not underestimate a mother’s power. Though perhaps such things were different for mothers who did not wish to protect their children above all else.

In the split second before Haru fled to a nearby aisles, the brunette noted how her mother, too, had lost a lot of weight, but she didn’t have the time to think about it as she tugged her co-worker on his sleeve.

“Can you stand in for me at the till, please?” she asked him while looking over her shoulder, in case her mother had seen her.

“Are you not feeling well?” he inquired as he set down the box of milk in his hands, tilting his head to the side and frowning.

“Uhm, no, not really,” Haru replied quickly before hurrying on past him, towards the toilet for employees at the end of the aisle.

Once inside, she locked the door and sat on the lid of the toilet, resting her elbows on her knees and hiding her face in her hands. She let out a long sigh, her shoulders sagging as she did so, and for a split second she felt her throat tighten and feared she might burst into tears.

Of course she had wondered about her parents. There wasn’t a day that went by that she didn’t think about them, about how or what they were doing. Whether they missed her. She didn’t particularly miss them, but sometimes she wondered… What would her life look like if she had chosen them instead of Mikoto and the others?

For one, she would not have this fire raging inside of her. She also wouldn’t have the one that kept her bed warm at night, and those that had found their way into her heart. Not just Izumo and Tatara, but Rikio, Yo and Masaomi as well. Some others had joined the clan as well in the meantime, though not all of them hung around the bar as often as those three did. In fact, they sometimes even visited her at the store, bugging her for free snacks. Somehow she would always end up buying them a bag of crisps or something like that. No, Haru did not feel like she needed anything else in life. Though it could be hard with no parents around to guide her, she realised that she wouldn’t want to change a thing.

She remained there for a few more minutes, resting her forehead against the cool tiles of the bathroom wall. If she concentrated like this, she could feel the heat coursing through her veins. The source of her aura, that shared the core of her body, pulsed in time with her heartbeat, which was a little too fast and strong in that moment. Sometimes it seemed as though she held a second life within, and so, strangely enough, she never truly felt lonely.

After taking in a few deep breaths, the brunette got up and made her way over to the basin. She turned the tap on and splashed a handful of cold water into her face before she looked up to stare at her reflection in the mirror. Long strands of wet, brown hair stuck to her face, and she realised that she needed a haircut just as much as Mikoto did. It seemed that while she had been worrying about her King, she had forgotten to take care of herself as well. She hadn’t just gotten thinner from exercise, she noted all of a sudden, but because she ate less than she used to. Simply because she forgot to do so in the chaos that was daily life.

She shook her head a few times, drops of water splattering against the mirror at the movement, before she dried her face with a towel of which she tried her nest not to imagine all the places it might have seen before it found her skin. As her hand found the knob of the door that would lead her back to the shop, she hoped that her mother had already left by now. She hesitated for a moment before opening it and stepping back into the store.

Without wasting any time, Haru followed the wall at the back to make her way to the till while keeping an eye out for that familiar figure. It was no where to be seen, however, and so relief filled the brunette when she arrived at her destination.

“Ah, Sato-san,” the manager greeted her from behind the cash register. “Are you feeling better yet?”

Haru nodded, her cheeks tinged with pink and her eyes glued to her feet. “Y-yes.” How embarrassing that she had just hidden in the toilet because her mother had entered the store…

“I’m glad to hear that. Could you tend to the wares outside, then?” he asked, a smile on his lips. The manager was an old man with greying hair and kind, brown eyes. He rarely became angry with his employees, and had known Haru since she was but a little girl, coming her regularly with her mother. Haru doubted that he knew of her situation at home, but if he did, he showed no signs of it.

“All right.” And with that, the brunette walked towards the main entrance. With a foot she pushed the glass door open while she tightened her ponytail with her hands.

Just outside the shop, a couple of small racks stood bearing various products. One of them displayed magazines and books, whereas the other held a variety of postcards and the like. When closing time neared, the manager would always ask someone to put the racks back inside. It had an almost ritualistic feeling to it, heralding the end of yet another day at work. Haru reached out to take a hold of the card rack, which had wheels beneath it, when a voice came from behind her.

“Ha… Haruka?” Her spine went rigid. “Is… is that you?”

Slowly, her hands still clutching the iron pipes of the rack, knuckles turning white, Haru turned around. Her mother’s face greeted her, her thin lips spreading into a smile when two pairs of identical eyes met. She had completely forgotten about her mother’s habit to hang around after grocery shopping and to leaf through the newspapers, which was why she hadn’t left yet. Up until this day, Haru had never understood why she did it.

“M-mother…” Haru breathed out. Her heart beat wildly in her chest once more and her blood rushed in her ears. Not knowing what else to say, the brunette tried to sound confident when she added, “What are you doing here?”

Though the words had come out sounding rather agitated instead, her mother didn’t seem to mind as she continued to smile and said, “I was doing some grocery shopping for tomorrow… Since when do you work here? I haven’t seen you before…” The corners of the woman’s lips turned down and she lowered her brows. In her eyes, Haru saw the realisation dawn, and before she could say a word, the disappointment became visible in the wrinkles of her face. “Haven’t you graduated from high school? What are you doing, working in a place like this?”

Haru bit her lip and screwed her eyes shut. The fact that this person, her mother, had been able to refer to the graduation of her daughter, which she had missed, in such a casual, uncaring manner… It angered her to the point where she could feel the tendrils of fire coiling around inside of her, snaking out of their cage. When she opened her eyes again, it was all she could do to keep them from turning red.

“I am working here until I can become a bartender,” Haru responded through gritted teeth.

Brown eyes widened, and her mother took a step back. “You are what? Are you planning on depending on that acquaintance of yours? I have heard much about that… that… place! To think that my daughter is part of some sort of… of… of gang…”

Haru’s aura flared all of a sudden, tousling her hair, waving her split ends into her face, but she ignored them. Instead she inhaled deeply, tightened her hold on the card rack, and forced all emotions down for fear of bursting right then and there. Her mother gasped and dropped her bag, her mouth now hanging open.

“That acquaintance of mine happens to be a very good friend, and that gang has done much more for me in a few years than you and your husband have in my entire life.” She refused to call this person her mother any longer, as she had stopped considering her father as such a long time ago. She did not know why, but for some reason she had hoped that they might have changed their demeanours in her absence. Apparently she had been wrong.

“So it’s true… And that boy… Suoh…” She didn’t even dare finish her sentence.

Without responding, Haru turned around to drag the rack into the store, the wheels getting caught in every possible hole in the ground. When she came back out to fetch the second rack, the woman still stood there, staring at the bag of groceries on the floor. Even when all the racks were inside again, she had not yet left. The gesture caused something in Haru to bloom, breaking past all the fury and sorrow that had nestled inside of her. Hope.

She stood in front of her, with her hands on her hips, and she waited for the other to speak. When she didn’t, however, the brunette sighed. “Please don’t come here anymore.”

It had been a test. A stupid test, to see whether her mother would fight for her. After all, what child did not want their parents to do such a thing? But alas, it was fruitless. The woman nodded her head as she bent down to pick up the plastic bag before she turned around and left. Haru stared at her retreating back until she disappeared around the corner.

Only then did Haru release her breath, resting her back against the wall next to her. Lifting a hand to shield her eyes, she bit her lip again in an attempt to fight the burning sensation in her eyes. Her throat tightened once more, and for a moment it felt as though she would choke.

Just then, the door to the store opened, and the manager’s voice piped up, “Sato-san, what’s taking… Oh… Are… are you still not feeling well?”

Without taking her hand away from her face, Haru shook her head. She didn’t have to look to see how awkward her employer found this situation, just as she did, too. She feared that if she opened her mouth, however, she would not be able to control herself anymore, so she tried her best to ignore him.

“Well… Then I… I suppose it would be best if you took you leave for today,” he stated before he slowly closed the door behind him.

“Thank you,” the brunette mumbled. She remained there with her back against the brick wall for a few more moments, listening to the sound of her own breathing in an attempt to keep the flames doused, before she pushed herself off and, with a sniff, took out a cigarette and lit it with her finger.

Taking a drag, she began to walk down the street, in the opposite direction of the person she had called her mother. She didn’t bother going back into the building to retrieve her clothes, and so instead she pulled off her work shirt, revealing a thin undershirt underneath, and tied it around her waist. The strange looks she got from others, wearing jackets against the pre-spring cold, she simply ignored.

With her hands in her pockets and a cigarette between her lips, she sauntered through the streets. The lights flickered on one by one, almost as if they were following her, as the sun sank beneath the horizon, vaguely reminding her of that dream she had had months ago. She remembered it like it had been only yesterday, even though she had never had that dream again, for which she was very grateful. Fearing the day Mikoto might give in during her waking hours; she did not need to see her nightmare come to life in her sleep.

Forcing her thoughts away from that, Haru suddenly resolved to quit working at that store and began to think of other places where she could apply. Perhaps she could ask to work more hours at one of her other jobs, though she should really try to find something full-time. Her mind soon went back to Mikoto, however, and she wondered what he was doing. If he had even gone to school today. Without her there to drag him with her any longer, she feared he wouldn’t be able to finish it.

When she sighed, a puff of smoke left her mouth. Even as she continued to walk, her eyelids grew heavy and she gasped when she almost stumbled over a small rock on the ground. She slapped her cheeks a few times, and when she looked up she saw that, somehow, she stood in front of the house where she used to live.

The light in the living room was on, and in the silence of the evening, if she held her breath, she could hear the sound of the television from within. They were watching that stupid show they always watched in the evening.

As Haru stood in front of the gate that lead to the tiny front garden, her mind went blank, and before she knew it she had crushed her cigarette beneath a shoe and had started to climb over the wall that separated the garden from the street. She crouched the very moment she landed, making herself as small as possible as she watched for any changes inside the house. The only noise she could hear was that coming from the television, and nothing else.

Silently, she crept along the wall to the back of the house, avoiding the light that spilt out of the living room window. Grass and dirt crunched and rustled beneath the soles of her shoes, and somewhere in the distance dogs barked at each other. It reminded her of the many hours she had spent hanging out of her window, just staring up at the sky when she should have been asleep.

When she arrived beneath said window, she reached for the wall again, jumped and pulled herself up, wincing when she scraped her knee across the edge. Ignoring the throbbing the small wound caused, she balanced herself on top of the wall before slowly getting up. With her palm against the house, she straightened her back and grasped for the window sill. Using the planks of the building’s wall, she hauled herself up and, with one arm, she pressed again the window glass and was surprised when it slid open. She knew that she hadn’t locked it before leaving, but did this mean that nobody had even been in her room all this time?

The arm which held onto the sill trembled beneath her weight, and so she quickly opened the window as far as it would go before launching herself into her old room, using her aura as a booster. She landed in a crouching position on her bed, which still stood by the window, and held her breath with her eyes on the door. When nobody seemed to have noticed her entrance, she changed her position so that she sat on the mattress with her legs crossed. Only then did she notice the state of her surroundings.

The bed had been stripped bare, leaving an empty mattress behind. The collection of items she had stored on her shelves had disappeared, and Haru was glad that she had taken her most important things with her that night. She didn’t even have to open her closet to know that her clothes had been taken away as well. They had even removed the posters from the walls, leaving behind discolourations of the white wallpaper that covered them.

For some reason, the corners of Haru’s lips twitched upwards, and she couldn’t help but grin. Even then it must have been a watery smile though, for she felt her eyes grow wet at the same time. To see her old room so empty, after having such an encounter with her mother… What child deserved to go through that? But then again, she had come here of her own accord.

She pushed herself from the bed. On her tiptoes, she made her way around the room, letting the stale smell sink in. Her fingers glided across the surfaces of the empty shelves, gathering the dust that had collected there. Upon closer inspection the brunette could see that the objects that had stood there had been removed a long time ago. Had they emptied the room immediately after her departure? Had they not at least attempted to mourn their loss?

Heavy footsteps came up the stairs all of a sudden, and her breath caught in her throat. How long had she been standing there, staring at the floor? And how had she not noticed the television being turned off?

First her father passed the room, his footsteps heavy against the wooden floor, and her mother followed soon after Haru held her breath, standing as still as she could with her eyes clenched shut, though she did not remember doing so in the first place. She prayed that the door would remain closed, yet at the same time she wished that they would come in and find her. But they entered the bathroom down the hall, and a few minutes later she heard the door to their bedroom open and close again.

Only when Haru knew that they both lay in bed did she relax, her shoulders slumping and her joints unlocking themselves. She exhaled slowly through her nose before turning around and climbing back onto the bed that creaked under her weight, a strangely familiar sound that she tried to ignore as she climbed out of the window. Within moments she stood in front of the gate again, staring at the silent house.

Just then her pocket began to vibrate, and Haru pulled out her phone. Her displayed told her that Izumo was calling her. Then again, who else would it be?

“Where are you?” were the first words she heard when she picked up. “What have you been doin’?”

“I—” Haru began before swallowing hard. “It’s hard to explain.”

“Then come home and explain it to me. And if you’re not here in five minutes…” The bartender didn’t finish his threat.

Haru stood there for a few more moments, swallowing again, unable to move. She barely even registered the fact that Izumo had hung up.

‘Come home’ he had said. The brunette bit her lip as she began to make her way back to the bar. That was right. Home had been somewhere else for a long time already. She did not need parents who cared not for her and a home that felt empty and soulless when she had one filled with warmth and love. Though she could not exactly call Izumo her parent, it was better than what she had had before.

Remembering her friend’s warning over the phone, Haru broke into a sprint. She was on her way home.

Chapter Text

Like every other day, Mikoto awoke to the heat coiling in his stomach. From one nightmare to the next, day in, day out. Weeks blurred together, and sometimes he had trouble keeping the months apart.

Today was different, though. When he rolled onto his side, he found Haru staring at him, her wide eyes telling him she had been awake for a while already, and his brows rose a fraction.

“What are you doing here?” he grumbled, too lazy to swat away the hand she raised and ran through his hair, brushing it out of his eyes.

She frowned and pursed her lips. Mikoto was in no mood for this sort of interaction, however, and though his body protested and ached, yearning to remain this close to her, he turned to his other side. Where before his actions might have gotten him an angry smack from the brunette, now she only sighed as she pressed her face into his back.

“You have to get your hair cut,” she murmured, the words so muffled that he could not hear what she said afterwards. He only hummed and shrugged in response anyway.

Today, that seemed to have been the wrong answer. Haru rolled away from him, and the mattress dipped beneath him when she got up. Her footsteps came closer, and only when Mikoto heard the shifting of clothes in front of him did he open his eyes again, only to be greeted by her angry, brown eyes. Normally she slunk away when his mood was worse than usual, but today she was having none of it, or so it seemed.

“Come on,” she said as she wrapped her fingers around his bicep and began to tug. “You’ve got to get up.”

His eyebrows dipped down and he pulled his arm free before moving back to his other side. Haru only followed him again and repeated her move. This time she summoned her aura in order to keep him in place, though he wouldn’t go down easily. The strain of the struggle became visible in the veins that bulged in her arm; her arm that had gotten far too thin, Mikoto noted all of a sudden, sucking the fight out of him. A grin spread across Haru’s face.

“I’ve taken the day off. Since it’s a Saturday, we can spend some time together,” she said. The tension from moments ago had already dissipated.

While she waited for his response, the redhead let out a sigh. What she hadn’t mentioned was the fact that she had taken a day off because she worried about him. Always causing trouble for others, even with this tremendous amount of power in the palm of his hand. Couldn’t he at least try to go along for one day? And after all, he couldn’t spend the rest of his life wiling away in bed, could he?

He hummed once more, and when he opened his eyes - which he hadn’t even realised he had closed to begin with - he saw the worry melting away from his girlfriend’s face, and a true smile appeared. Something inside of him bubbled up, something he had almost forgotten, and he snaked an arm around her waist, pulling her down towards him.

“H-hey!” she yelped as he crushed her body to his, but his lips smothered any further protests.

A moan escaped her throat and her cheeks flushed, but Mikoto only took the opportunity to slip his tongue into her mouth. Apparently she had been up for quite a while already, for she tasted of minty toothpaste, prickling his mouth in a strange manner. He ran his tongue along her teeth, teasing her, while at the same time he slipped a hand beneath her shirt.

Suddenly she grasped his wrist and rolled away, and he let her, though not without raising a brow. She averted her gaze as she pushed herself off the bed. “C-come on, let’s get up.”

The redhead let out a groan, not even trying to hide his disappointment as he watched Haru get dressed. Did she not know how she taunted him like that? In the end he felt forced to mimic her actions, or else she might leave him behind. Now that he had gotten up to begin with, he didn’t want to leave her side again. It had been so long since they had been together in such a carefree manner.

Downstairs, Izumo looked up from the glass he had been wiping, his eyes wide behind his glasses. Mikoto expected the bartender to comment on his appearance, but he never did.

“Ah, g’morning Mikoto! D’you want me to make you some breakfast?” his friend asked him, but he shook his head. It was still far too early for him to feel hungry.

Haru, too, skipped out on breakfast, though from the way she averted her gaze from the bartender, Mikoto wondered if something else than a lack of hunger was the reason for that. Instead she grabbed his hand, smiling as she tugged him out through the back door in the kitchen.

“What happened?” he asked when she had set him down on the lowest step leading up into the building.

Shrugging, she brushed a strand of hair out of her face before she revealed a pair of scissors she had grabbed on her way out. Mikoto only had to glance at them to understand what she planned on doing, and he already felt tired just thinking about it.

“Don’t worry, I won’t remove your feelers,” she said, snickering. “Maybe if they’re more prominent they’ll be able to help you more as well.”

Mikoto only frowned. She always took it all upon herself without being asked, and it was starting to annoy him. He knew that she kept most of her life hidden from him, but was also aware of the fact that asking her about it would never work. Far too stubborn for that, both of them. And so instead he remained still and quiet as Haru began to snip away strands of his red hair.

The sound of the scissors closing and opening again irritated him, and he clenched his hands into fists. The fact that she took it all upon herself, even without being asked, angered him as well. She didn’t have to push herself so much. Why couldn’t she be egoistical every once in a while?

Like me, went through his mind, but he tried to quench the thought before it could take root. Thankfully, in that moment, the door opened behind him. From the lack of aura, as well as the look on Haru’s face, he gathered it to be the Strain they had picked up almost a year ago.

“What are you doing here?” the brunette asked, leaning back but not getting up to greet her friend properly.

With the amount of time she spent working, had a rift grown between the two? Mikoto found that hard to believe. The image of Haru surrounded by flames hot enough to even make Mikoto look twice after she had thought her friend had died was fresh in his mind. As though it had been only yesterday that she lay in bed, unconscious and burning. Izumo hadn’t even been able to touch her.

“Am I not allowed to visit my friend every once in a while?” Ayame retorted as she lowered herself next to the redhead on the steps, smoothing her skirt down. “You’ve been so busy lately.”

Haru bit back a scoff, but the look on her face said enough. “Yeah, well, I didn’t want to bother you. With your homework and all that.”

Ayame had gotten accepted at a university in the city, if Tatara spoke truly, and spent most of her days reading articles and writing papers.

“Did Izumo send you?” Haru asked after a moment of silence.

The fact that Ayame had shown up so suddenly had even made Mikoto suspicious. Though the two of them did not speak much, he knew that she always called in advance when she planned on visiting Haru. What did Izumo have to do with this, though?

The Strain sighed and pushed her thick glasses up the bridge of her nose as Haru began to cut his hair again. The brunette’s eyes met his, brown clashing with amber, and he simply stared back at her, wondering what she was thinking.

“He told me about your… fight.”

Mikoto raised his brows. Fight? What fight? At the guilt that crossed Haru’s face, he realised that it was yet another item she had decided to hide from him. They hadn’t been together for so long, yet they had already reached the stage in which she felt like she couldn’t openly communicate with him. That thought made something inside of him to twist and turn painfully.

“You had a fight?” his low voice rumbled, his eyes narrowing at the girl in front of him.

Her eyes widened before she averted her gaze yet again. “That… that night I was out so long? I went to visit my parents’ house. Because my mother came to the store. She didn’t know I worked there, but we met. And I… was mad at them, ‘cause it seemed like they had practically forgotten about me after treating me like shit. But Izumo thought I was being too hard on ‘ehm.”

“Weren’t you, though?” Ayame asked and ran a finger along the step on which she sat, tracing the edge between herself and the Red King.

“Snip!” the scissors yelled with finality.

Haru could only watch, eyes wide, as one of Mikoto’s so-called ‘feelers’ fell to the ground. The redhead stared at the strands, as did Ayame, who scooted away from him. His forehead felt strangely empty without the hair tickling his skin, something which had always annoyed him in the past.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked, his voice low and his gaze never leaving the ‘feeler’. The wind picked it up, pulled it along. It twirled in the air like some erotic dancer curled around a pole.

He remembered how she had come to him when she had first left home. Vulnerable and seeking safety, she had crawled into his arms, and though he hadn’t been able to sugarcoat the truth, to tell her the words she had wanted to hear, he thought she had felt satisfied anyway. Yet now she hadn’t even mentioned the fact that she had met her mother at work.

With a shrug, the brunette sat back and rested the butt of the scissors against her lap. “I didn’t… want to bother you. You’ve got enough going on as it is. So I didn’t…”

Ayame shifted in her seat, and two pairs of eyes went her way. That only made the blood rush to her cheeks all the faster, and she sputtered while pushing her glasses up again. “W-what?”

“But Izumo sent you?” Haru asked, jumping at the chance for a distraction. Mikoto let her, but shot her a look telling her he wasn’t done with her just yet. The brunette pretended that she didn’t see it.

“Because he thought you were being too harsh on your parents.” The Strain nodded while eyeing the scissors her friend still held in her hands.

Haru scoffed and rolled her eyes. “He thinks I should see it from their perspective. Like they ever tried looking at things from mine.”

“But, well…” Ayame began. She stared at her fingers while she played with them before adding, “Maybe you should be the better person? They… probably just did what they thought was best.”

“That’s what Izumo said. But he probably doesn’t understand. It’s not like he’s had this kind of trouble with his parents.”

“How do you know that? He’s never even mentioned them,” Ayame pointed out.

The King looked back and forth during their exchange, his gaze resting on Haru’s lip when she bit on it, contemplating her friend’s statement. He had to admit, even he had only heard snippets about Izumo’s parents, and never enough to get a sense of the bigger picture. Still, as someone who followed his feelings more than his thoughts, to tell Haru to look at the situation from her parents’ viewpoint… The girl was stubborn enough as it was, but Mikoto would have been able to understand her refusal to cooperate.

Much to his surprise, Haru sighed and her shoulders sagged. “I suppose. But it’s too late for that now. I ain’t going back.”

“Well, perhaps next time you see your mother…?” Ayame prompted carefully, lifting her hands, palms turned upwards.

“I doubt that’ll ever happen. And you can’t expect me to change just like that.” Haru snapped her fingers. “They still hurt me.”

Mikoto could only think back to when he had only just known the brunette, remembering the bruise on her swollen cheek. The King was not like to forget nor forgive that incident, and he did not care that he had never seen the man. But the fact that she had given in so easily… He wondered just how long she had been thinking about this meeting with her mother and Izumo’s words. This must have been long enough ago for her to discuss it with the bartender, yet somehow he had never noticed anything had been amiss.

Something had to change. Him suffering from nightmares and the constant fear of release, though at the same time yearning for said release, was worth nothing if he lost everyone close to him by neglecting them.

Slowly, he reached out, fingers grasping Haru’s wrists which still rested in her lap. Both brunettes stared at him with raised brows as he lifted her hands and motioned towards his head.

“…I can’t have only one… ‘feeler’,” he mumbled, amber eyes never once leaving those brown ones, full of sadness and compassion and love all at the same time. He didn’t want to imagine those eyes, wet with tears as she yelled at Izumo before crying all by herself. What good was a King who could not take care of his vassals?

The corners of her lips quirked upwards, and Haru blushed. Mikoto frowned but did not voice his confusion.

“No, no,” she objected, as if she had heard his thoughts. “Just hearing the Red King say ‘feeler’…”

Ayame giggled as well, and Mikoto harrumphed grumpily, but not before letting a ghost of a smile appear on his face.

And so the three of them sat there for the remainder of the haircut, talking about unimportant things until the redhead could easily style his hair by running a hand through it. The feelers would return eventually. Afterwards he offered to cut Haru’s hair for her, seeing as it had gotten quite long as well. Whereas before it had come to her shoulders, the strands now almost reached the ends of her shoulder blades.

“Uhm, no offence, but no thank you,” she said, shying away from him before he could grab her.

“I can do it, if you want?” Ayame offered as she held out a hand towards the brunette.

Haru stared at it for a few moments, chewing her lip again, before handing the scissors to her friend.

It didn’t take long before Mikoto felt that familiar sense of calm wash over him, almost making him feel drowsy. Almost at peace. Even before the boy had appeared, he had noted his presence.

“A secret meeting and I wasn’t invited!” Tatara poked his head around the door, smiling widely. His hair had grown quite a bit as well, but he claimed that he wanted to keep it that way. According to him, Ayame liked it better.

“Who says you weren’t?” Ayame asked him without taking her eyes off of Haru’s hair.

“Doesn’t that kind of ruin my surprise though?” Tatara took up the spot beside Mikoto that Ayame had left to tend to her friend’s hair. He held up a razer in one hand and a can of shaving foam in the other. “I heard Haru was cutting King’s hair, so I decided to help— Hey, what happened to King’s feelers?!”

All eyes went to Haru’s back, who automatically hunched her shoulders. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

“Ah well, it’ll grow back. But King’s beard has to get taken care of as well,” the boy said as he shook the can, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

Mikoto didn’t like it one bit, but knew he had to put himself in the boy’s care if he wanted to keep his newly-made promise with himself. He sighed and closed his eyes, all the while wondering why he couldn’t just do it himself. Tatara took that as a sign of acceptance, and sprayed some of the foam onto his hands before he spread it along the King’s cheek. Obviously he used far too much, and snickered at the sight of the redhead with a rather impressive foam-beard, but quickly began to drag the razor across the skin before he could get hit.

“Shall I take care of Haru’s beard after this?” he asked, moving aside rather aptly when a shoe came flying his way.

Mikoto couldn’t help but snicker. And for the first time in weeks, he could say that he truly felt happy.

Chapter Text

As promised, Mikoto tried to be more compliant to everyone’s attempts to help him. And after failing his final exams, stating that he had tried and simply couldn’t do it, he no longer had to pay attention to such unnecessary things, as Mikoto surely viewed school. Though Haru had been disappointed, and hadn’t tried hiding it either, when she saw that, slowly but surely, Mikoto came out of his room more often, she dropped it. But with the ebbing away of that worry, Haru finally had time to contemplate the nature of her relationship with the redhead, which seemed far from normal for kids her age. Though they had been together… for what? Around two years? They had yet to go further than kissing and feeling each other up. With other, more important things to worry about, Haru had never quite paid attention to the thought until now, in the aftermath of the storm. Now she found she couldn’t think about much else.

Mikoto, on the other hand, seemed adamant on staying out of her way when it came to taking the next step in their relationship, which confused her to no end. After all, weren’t the men supposed to be the ones to want such things just as much, if not more, than their female partners? Yet where before he had always seemed eager enough to slip a hand beneath her shirt whenever he had the chance, he now almost evaded her. In bed, he would be asleep even before she could broach the subject, and she simply did not have the courage to discuss it during the day, when he could see her red cheeks.

The matter had reached its climax that afternoon, when they had been lounging in their bedroom, with the brunette pressed into the corner of the couch, reading a comic she had already finished half a dozen times, while Mikoto lay on his back, his head in her lap.

Haru had caught him staring at her, and so she had asked, “Are you bored?”

He had opened his mouth, eyes full of mischief, but suddenly a flicker of realisation had interrupted whatever train of thought had been moving through his mind, and he had closed it again. Haru had found herself too agitated to ask him about it, knowing he would probably make up some excuse.

As if he had sensed her irritation, he had pushed himself up and tried to give her a peck on her lips. Haru, however, turned her head to the side and forced herself from beneath her boyfriend, leaving without another word. By the time Izumo suggested visiting a nearby club to celebrate the of their King’s era as a high school student, no matter the result, she still hadn’t spoken to the man in question.

Which was she stood here, now, music coursing through her veins, blocking out any other thoughts she may or may not have had. For that, she was very glad. She just wanted to forget everything for the moment. Her body was doing most of the work for her, unconsciously swaying her hips from side to side as she enjoyed the feeling of the beat pulsing through her limbs. She sipped at the alcohol in her glass of which she did not remember the name, suddenly asking herself how many she had already had.

Sweat covered her body from sharing the cramped space with many others, moving to the rhythm of the music. She placed her now-empty glass on a nearby table before holding her arms in the air and letting go of whatever restraint she had left, waving them slightly as she synchronised her very being to the loud music.

When the song changed, Haru realised she had company. A man she didn’t know stood before her, his face hard to see in the erratic lights flashing in the room. All she noted were his shiny teeth as he grinned at her as he matched his movements with hers.

His mouth moved, but she couldn't hear anything above the loud music. She frowned and held a hand behind her ear.

"HEY!" he yelled.

Haru blinked a few times. To be very honest, she had no idea how to answer a stranger approaching her in a club. She shouldn’t even have been able to drink in the first place, let alone hang out in such a place at the tender age of twenty years old. "Uh, HI!"

The stranger held out another drink for her. Though she didn't have enough alcohol in her system to immediately warm up to him, she was stupid enough to accept the glass. Not that anyone would have been able to drug her with the infamous Red King watching over her. "THANK YOU!"

He said something else but she didn’t understand him. Not wanting to ask him to repeat himself once again, she simply assumed that he had said something along the lines of “You're welcome.” She immediately took a sip, recognising the taste of beer. The sensation was bitter and she found it disgusting, but at least it was free.

The next song came on and Haru downed the rest of the glass before adding it to her collection on the table so that she could start dancing with her new friend. The new song was slower than those that came before, and the stranger reacted to this by moving closer to the brunette.

For a split second, a still-sober voice screamed at her, "Isn’t this cheating?!"

"Yeah, well," the drunk part of her mind slurred, "It's not like the one you're cheating on actually cares."

Before the sane leftovers of her brain could reply, the drunk voice began to sing loudly and horribly, making whatever soberness that had been left disappear without further ado. Peace washed over the brunette and she relaxed at the closeness of a foreign body. His small, smooth hands landed on her hips, pulling her closer to his soft body. Despite the slight discomfort that remained and all the differences between this man and the one she actually wanted, her yearning for someone to touch her stopped her from pulling away. Apparently she was desperate enough to let anybody touch her, even if she knew she was going to feel shit about it the next morning and not just because of the hangover.

All she could notice in the next few minutes were the stranger's dark eyes, how mesmerising they seemed to be as they investigated her during their dance. Once he finished checking her out, he concentrated on her brown eyes and for a moment she forgot how to breathe. The stare he gave her almost made her think that, as cliché as it sounded, he was looking right into the core of her being. In a flash, he would see what made her tick, what she had been through, her hopes and her dreams. He the delicate flesh of her waist, making it feel tingly, and the corner of his lips quirked as if he knew what she was thinking.

The moment was over when the song ended. The next song sounded like it was made for dancing together. Oh fate, why did it have to toy with her like this?

Haru’s uneasiness from before returned, but not without other mixed feelings that hit her with full force as this man she didn’t even know wrapped his arms around her. He pulled her stiff body even closer, pressing her face into his shoulder as he rested his chin on top of her head.

In that moment, she tried to push him away, but for some reason her attempt was only halfhearted, and so he ignored it. She imagined a certain other man holding her like this and tears welled up in her eyes, though she tried to blink them away before they could fall. While she wasn’t exactly afraid, knowing she could burn this man to a cinder in the blink of an eye, unease still filled her at his grasp on her body. That, combined with the fact that he had been treating her differently, caused the tears to escape as she bit her lip.

The man pulled back and his eyebrows rose when he saw the state of her face. For some reason, he thought this was the perfect moment to lift her chin with one of his fingers as he slowly lowered his head.

Frozen and wide-eyed, a sudden flare caught Haru’s attention, forcing her out of her stupor. Just in time, she turned her face to the side so that the stranger’s lips met her cheek instead. Flames wrapped themselves around her hand and spun her around. Her back now facing a confused man who had just been hoping to get lucky that night, Haru’s chest pressed against a familiar, hard torso that felt like it was on fire. And before she could react in any way, the proper pair of lips crashed on top of hers.

Within seconds, Haru’s body relaxed as a sense of being protected filled her. She relaxed into his touch, giving him all that he wanted. Before Mikoto accepted anything, however, he bit her lower lip as she herself had done moments ago, drawing a little blood.

After breaking the kiss, the Red King shot the unfamiliar man a single look before he dragged the brunette away. Several heads from more than just HOMRA members turned at what was going on. Haru saw Ayame and Tatara share a concerned look before they watched the two of them disappear outside.

The cool air caused Haru to shiver, and goosebumps appeared all over her body. Mikoto rounded the first corner there was and at once he trapped her between the brick wall and his body. He held her arms up by her wrists as he glared at her, his eyes glowing red. That was what told her he was really pissed.

Becoming nervous under the furious stare of the redhead, Haru wriggled in an attempt to free herself from his hold. He, in turn, released one of her wrists only to smack the wall next to her head. Numb, she watched rubble fall and dirty the side of her jeans.

"What did you expect, you almost cheated on him." Haru felt surprised when her voice of reason piped up, signalling the fact that she had managed to sober up a little.

"But I tried to push the guy away."

"You should have tried harder."

When Mikoto realised the brunette would no struggle, he released his grip on her other wrist. Instead, he placed his hands on the sides of her head, on her ears, and not very gently either. In that moment Haru genuinely feared that he would crush her skull in his rage. But he didn’t, and she could only feel his large hands become warm and warmer until they were hot - uncomfortably so.

"M-Mikoto, what—"

Mikoto smashed his lips onto hers. At the same time, the heat from his hands spread out throughout her head, to her neck, her shoulders, breasts and even lower, until the flames engulfed her entire body. The heat rested at the small of her back, burning with a ferocity that almost made her gasp.

"Don’t forget that you’re mine," he growled, lifting one hand from her face and slipping in between her back and the wall. He slipped it beneath her shirt and rested it on top of the puckered skin of the burn scar that was hidden by his very own mark, which now felt like it was on fire.

At the same time, Haru shivered, as if a cool wind had just brushed past her. The look in his eyes, a smouldering look which otherwise might have been cliché but which fit Mikoto’s amber orbs so well, as he basically reminded her that he had branded her caused her heart to beat in her ears.

Some of Mikoto's anger ebbed away, together with his aura, but his expression clouded with something else now. It took Haru a few moments before she recognised it, never having seen it on his face before - uncertainty, confusion. Hurt. Guilt washed over her once it dawned upon her.

"I-I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice hoarse all of a sudden.

He kissed her again, softer this time. The difference between this one and all the others he had given her before hit her somehow. It seemed so open, so free. Still, she couldn’t help but wonder why he wasn't holding back anymore.

And so she asked, "Why?"

He looked at her, eyebrows rising slightly. They lowered just as quickly, and he averted his gaze. Was he… ashamed? Embarrassed…? But what on Earth could make the Suoh Mikoto, Red King, leader of HOMRA, embarrassed?

"It was Izumo's advice," he muttered, still looking away.

Haru had to do her best to not laugh. "What would you need Izumo’s advice for? Kissing your girlfriend?”

Mikoto’s eyes cut her way, the corners of his mouth suddenly twitching upwards in a smirk. The sight made her knees almost feel like softened butter and in that moment she was thankful for the fact that the redhead held her captive between his body and a wall.

"For when it is okay to have sex with a woman."

Almost at once, Haru knew this must have been one of those pieces of advice Izumo liked to force upon others even without being asked. Curious about what exactly Izumo’s advice had entailed of this time, she asked, “And what did he say?”

“To wait for a signal,” Mikoto replied after a moment’s hesitation.

"So you mean to say that, according to Izumo, I have to wave a flag around that says 'I WANT SEX'? Because for me, trying to get into your pants is a sure sign of wanting to do it. And I tried that." Haru smiled despite her frustration at her nosey friend, finding the thought of Mikoto following Izumo's advice rather cute.

Suddenly Haru found herself lifted into the air, her legs wrapping themselves around the redhead’s hips by themselves. His tongue sought entrance to her lips and receiving it after a short delay, which was caused by her feeling his obvious arousal. In all this time, she had not once witnessed any physical effects she had had on him, and she hadn’t been able to help but wonder whether she had simply not been good enough for him.

Thankful for the tight jeans she had decided to wear that evening, she ground her hips against his while her tongue rubbed against his, the taste of some alcoholic beverage mixing with that of herself. She swallowed the groan her let out into her mouth and repeated the action.

The brunette’s hands wound themselves in the wild strands of his hair, the dance of their tongues quickening as each of them felt the need for the other grow. Mikoto broke the kiss and his teeth nipped at the flesh of her jaw, slowly drawing patterns down her neck with his tongue. He responded to her tugging his hair by tightening his grasp on her bum to hold her up and pull her closer to him. She tilted her head back and gasped when he pressed into her again, and she decided that she couldn't hold herself back any longer. If they didn’t find a bed soon, they just might do it out there in the open. How desperate did one have to be to do it outside of a club, where neither of them had any kind of protection on them?

Without another word, Haru wiggled herself free, receiving a few more groans in the process, and immediately made her way back to the bar, her fingers clutching Mikoto’s as she dragged him along with her. They passed pedestrians, vehicles and lights in a daze, barely aware of their surroundings. Halfway there, however, the redhead changed direction and began to lead Haru instead. It didn’t take long for her to recognise where he had taken her - soon they stood in front of Izumo’s apartment complex.

Why Mikoto had a key to the place, Haru did not know. Neither did she care as she stood behind him, waiting for him to open the door. The very moment she closed the door behind them, he was on her once more, his body arching into hers and pressing her against the door, the knob poking her back. Two pair of hands flew up at the other's body, touching, scratching, groping whatever they could get a hold of. Intensified by the cheekiness of the impending situation, the throbbing in between her legs soon became too much to bear once more, and so she pushed him in the direction of the bedroom.

Before she knew it, the bedroom door fell in its lock behind her, and Mikoto’s lips once more began to roam a little lower, venturing down her cheek, her chin, her neck... His mouth found her collarbone and bit the sensitive skin there just as his hand found a breast and squeezed it.

A low moan left her throat, and she felt her cheeks heat up, but in the darkness nothing mattered except the feeling of their bodies touching each other.

No time was wasted on clothes. The redhead’s fingers were soon busy pulling her shirt over her head, Haru complied, wanting to rid herself of the extra layers of skin as quick as possible. With her shirt somewhere on the floor, the King immediately went to unbutton her jeans and slid them down to ground.

The brunette stepped to the side, pushed them away from her and pulled her socks off before resuming her position in front of the redhead in just her bra and knickers. Feeling self-conscious all of a sudden, and now that their eyesights had adjusted to the darkness, she crossed her arms in front of her chest and tried to ignore Mikoto's gaze.

He carefully pried her fingers from her arms, placing her hands on his shirt. First, she looked at him and frowned, but then he lifted his arms so she could take the piece of clothing off. Perhaps he thought that if he exposed himself as well, she might feel better. As she got to see more of his toned flesh, the lust from before returned with passion. She forgot all about her embarrassment in favour of planting kisses here and there as her fingers made their way to his pants, straining against him.

A grin spread across her face while she took her time with his belt, his face everything but happy as she did this. After a while, he decided that she needed a little help and roughly grabbed her hands, guiding them as they pulled his trousers down to reveal his black boxer shorts. He immediately pulled her in a short embrace, squashing her face into his surprisingly soft chest, before he guided her towards the bed — Izumo’s bed — and pushed her onto it. The gentleness of his movements made her body almost feel like it was burning.

Once she was positioned on the mattress, Mikoto surprised her once more by practically climbing over her while tipping her over onto her back. He crawled his way to the head of the bed while she moved with him across the sheets. Once they reached their destination, Mikoto's mouth came crashing down on hers, his hands stroking her bare form. She pushing her hips up and nails digging into his back in an attempt to get him to lower himself on top of her.

He did so, his tongue battling hers all the while, and she could feel him throbbing against her. Haru slipped a hand between their bodies to stroke him. He bit her tongue as she did so, a low grumble coming from his chest.

The brunette smirked into the kiss as sou pressed, squeezed and massaged, her fingers moving up and down his erection through his boxer shorts. He grabbed her arms tightly as his mouth continued to work hers, the kiss becoming sloppy for she kept distracting him.

"You like this, huh?" Haru taunted him after she had pulled away a little, just enough for him to not be able to reach her lips again. He frowned as he lifted his gaze from her lips to her eyes and back again, struggling to get what he wanted.

When he realised his attempts were futile, his hand made its way down to rub the insides of her thighs, at the same time spreading her legs a little so that he could rub himself against her. Her breath caught in her throat before a moan squeezed its way out, her face darkening once more.

He smirked and moved one hand a little higher to press himself against her even harder. Her hips matched his movements by rubbing along with him, both of them growing more heated by the second until Mikoto growled and bit into the side of your neck. Ignoring her wince, he wriggled his free hand beneath her back to unclasp her bra.

To aid him in his quest to release her breasts, Haru arched her back. Before she knew it, he was kissing one of her nipples, all the while continuing his motions down below. She was torn between enjoying both sensations until she threw him off by rolling to her side, unable to wait any longer.

Knowing Izumo as well as she did, she knew that a pack of condoms wouldn’t be far off. Upon opening a few drawers of the bartender’s nightstand, she found some and, with a grin, grabbed one before returning to the displeased King. Ignoring his stare that told her he hadn't been ready to stop, she slid his boxers down as far as possible to free his erection only to capture it in a latex prison. This made the redhead even unhappier, but she knew he didn't want any children just yet and neither did she, so she disregarded his unspoken complaints.

Probably in an attempt to get his power over her back, Mikoto pushed her over once she was done and removed his underwear the rest of the way before working on her panties, flinging them across the room. Then he crawled on top of her and she knew she was going to get it now when she saw an amused twinkle in his eyes.

His fingers massaged the flesh covering her hipbones and if she hadn't been hypnotised by his amber eyes, she might have thought it tickled. He positioned himself just above her and rubbed her with himself, as if missing the target he was supposed to hit. Of course he was doing it deliberately.

It was absolute torture.

To almost have him, but not completely... That only added to the growing pool of lust inside of her which caused her to lift her hips to try and get him to slip into her. He smirked at her efforts and merely held her body down with his hand while the other went to join his member in his game of playing with her.

Two of his fingers probed her opening as said member pushed lightly against her, but of course not enough to her liking. She grabbed a strand of his red hair and pulled him down, kissing him and letting her tongue slip through the opening between his lips. His hold on her slackened slightly and in that moment she finally had some luck and managed to pull him down, feeling him enter her slowly.

As if suddenly remembering the fact that she had been a virgin, Haru froze, only for a moan to tear itself from her throat and that of Mikoto. She had heard of all the tales of blood and pain, but somehow, in the heat of the moment, she had managed to forget it all. In the end they must have been exaggerations, for Mikoto went along with her movements, continuing what she had started, and all she could feel was pleasure.

He positioned his hand between himself and her and his finger slowly began to circle her bundle of nerves, albeit a bit clumsily, reminding her of his own inexperience, as the other grabbed one of her breasts, massaging it harshly. In turn, she wrapped one of her arms around him to hug him as tightly as possible while her free hand joined his to massage his other parts.

As he kept on pounding in on her, she had to bite her lip to hold back any other sounds that she wanted to make. For a split second she wondered what would happen if Izumo came home — possibly with a date of his own — and found them in his bed like this. The thought disappeared soon when Mikoto continued to moan, the sounds making it hard for her to hold back herself.

Her skin began to feel damp with sweat, and so was his, but when normally she would have found it disgusting, today it somehow added to the ambiance of lovemaking.

Suddenly, the redhead slowed down until he stopped completely. He had his eyes shut tight, his mouth a thin line, and Haru frowned. He didn't make a sound, so somehow she doubted that he had climaxed. "Mikoto... Are you all right?"

Slowly opening his eyes, he grunted, "Don't move."

Realisation dawned upon her. He was almost there but hadn't wanted it to end just yet. Mainly because she wasn’t ready yet. She smiled at him, pulled her hand back and caressed his cheek lovingly.

"You don't have to hold yourself back for me, love," she whispered, not knowing where the nickname had come from. "You can always give me what I want afterwards."

And after all, it was unexpected for women to orgasm during the first attempt at sex, but she didn’t voice those thoughts for fear of attracting unwanted attention to the fact that this was her first time. She did not know whether Mikoto was still a virgin or not, but if he didn’t want to discuss it, then neither did she.

Mikoto continued to stare at her for a few more moments before he nodded and began to move again. In and out, at first slow and steady, but soon he quickened his rhythm. The finger on her clitoris caused more pain than pleasure in his concentration to try and hit the right spots inside of her.

Haru stopped holding on to him, her hands instead grabbing the sheets on the bed as she bit her lip. Mikoto could do nothing but that, his hands clutching at her flesh, his grasp probably leaving bruises on her skin, as a string of grunts rumbled out of his mouth.

By now both of them were breathing heavily, the redhead more than her though, and he screwed his eyes shut. Haru, too, felt herself become warmer too now, but didn’t know whether she would make it in time, so instead she tried whatever she could think of to make it as good as possible for him. Instinctively she rolled her hips and squeezed her muscles to do just that.

"Ng..." Was the only warning the brunette got before the pattern of his thrusts became irregular, Mikoto's head coming down to suck on her lips with vigour as he released, exhaling deeply and in fits.

Without looking up or pausing, he pulled himself out of her and began to work her core with his fingers once more. He curled one of them to press against a particular spot inside of her that she hadn’t even known existed. The movement managed to make her grab the sheets again, a gasp tearing itself from her throat as her eyes widened, her gaze meeting Mikoto’s.

His somewhat unhappy expression disappeared when he heard the noises she made, and no amount of squeezing blankets could have stopped her as his fingers worked their magic on her.

It didn't take long before she was begging for more, and the redhead tried to comply, adding more fingers or rubbing harder until she writhed beneath him.

A feeling inside of her began to build up and she tried to sit up, but Mikoto wouldn't let her. Instead he came down to her, letting her kiss him. The brunette felt her climax coming nearer, and she wanted to be as close to him as possible. The feeling of his tongue against hers only added to the feeling, but what actually pushed her over the edge were three simple words that he all but purred into her ear.

"Cum for me."

Haru gasped as a sensation she couldn't possibly describe washed over her, his fingers moving on as he helped her through the waves of her orgasm. Her muscles spasmed and she held her breath as she waited for the feeling to subside.

"Oh, oh, oh, stop please." She winced when the residue of the climax ebbed away, leaving her sore.

Mikoto pulled his hands away and decided it was time to pull off his condom now, which he then threw into a dustbin standing at the other side of the room.

Suddenly everything came crashing back on top of her, and Haru realised what they had done, and especially where they had done it. Before she knew it she was up and about again, gathering her clothes.

"What are you doing?" Mikoto asked her as he watched her move about, trying to figure out what she was still missing while the redhead just lounged on the bed that wasn't even his.

"We should go back to the bar," Haru whispered once she had found everything that belonged to her. Mikoto only sighed and got up as well, even fetching new sheets on the bed to humour his lover before he searched for his clothes as well.

If this was what a walk of shame was, then Haru suddenly understood the term. The embarrassment, mixed with the elated feeling and slight pain that accompanied the knowledge of what they had finally done… Thankfully nobody paid attention to them as they made their way through the city and back to the bar.

In no time she was settled back in her own bed, cuddling with the man with whom she had just shared an intimate moment. Hopefully the first of many more to come.

And just like that, Haru fell asleep feeling more satisfied than ever.