The Huntress

(Akane's POV)

—

My eyes opened at 6:12 AM.

I didn't need to check the time. I already knew, in that weird way your body knows when it's been given a job, that it was early.

The room was still dark, and the boy beside me was completely asleep.

I stayed where I was for a moment.

Shin's face was maybe ten centimeters from mine on the pillow, and in the blue-gray light before sunrise, he looked younger than he ever did during the day. His jaw had gone slack, his forehead was smooth, and he was too adorable.

His breathing was slow, his lips slightly parted. His hair had even fallen across his face during the night, as usual, and I couldn't decide whether I wanted to brush it back or leave it exactly like that.

So I watched him for a little while, just enough to think about how happy I was to be with him.

Then I leaned closer and kissed his cheek, barely touching him.

Luckily, Shin didn't open his eyes. He just smiled. A tiny, unconscious curve of his lips.

"I love you..." he murmured.

I froze.

The words were soft and slurred with sleep, which somehow made them worse... or better. I wasn't sure.

But I smiled, warmly.

"I know, ghost boy," I whispered. "I know." I kissed him again.

Then, very carefully, I slipped out from under the covers and reached for my phone on the nightstand.

6:12 AM. Friday.

'Today is the great day...' It came back to me immediately. 'I'll expose a cheater and have a nice talk with the angel. Sounds great.'

The photos were in my bag, clearly waiting to be seen by everyone.

I dressed in the dark, pulling on winter stockings, a black skirt, and a custom Lilibat hoodie from my closet before adjusting my hair. My boots were waiting by the front door. My bag was still on the hook.

Everything where it should be.

I then looked at my face on the phone's camera and realized I needed to shave my undercut again.

'I'll do it later, maybe.' I thought, putting my phone into my hoodie's pocket.

Then, I made my way toward the kitchen and passed the couch.

Hoshiko was lying beneath the blanket with her eyes closed, breathing nice and slow. The picture of peaceful sleep. Almost.

Her eyes weren't closed. They were squeezed shut.

She looked like one of those children pretending to sleep while their parents checked on them.

I stopped beside the couch.

"Hoshiko."

Her whole body jerked under the blanket, and her fake sleeping face vanished instantly.

"I knew it," I sighed. "You're awake."

Hoshiko dragged the blanket up to her chin and stared at me like she'd just been caught halfway through a felony and was trying to decide whether to run.

"...G-Good morning, baby wolf." She stretched dramatically and forced out the worst fake yawn I'd ever heard. "What a beautiful morning. I was just now waking up naturally from a deep and restful—"

"You saw everything, didn't you?" I asked.

Her eyes widened, and then she disappeared under the blanket. Completely.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," the blanket said.

"Stop playing dumb with me, fox. I know I left the door ajar."

Silence.

"Hoshiko." My voice sharpened.

"...M-maybe I peeked."

"Maybe."

"...For a second."

"For a second."

A pause.

"...Or several seconds." She muttered.

"How many several?"

Another pause. "...All of them."

I pinched the bridge of my nose.

"Okay. So you saw everything." I started walking toward the kitchen. "Hope you enjoyed the show, at least."

The blanket slowly lowered until Hoshiko's eyes appeared over the top. Her entire face was red.

"Too much," she whispered. "Way too much. My heart literally stopped. I think I died and came back. And..."

"You shouldn't have peeked, you know?" I sighed. "I don't even know if I should feel embarrassed or jealous after realizing that you saw us while doing... that."

"I know, but I couldn't stop myself. Especially when the most romantic moment in human history is happening three meters away through a crack in a door." She sat up, letting the blanket fall around her waist. Her hair looked like she'd spent the night fighting a lawn mower. "I regret nothing. I'd do it again. Put it on my tombstone. 'Here lies Hoshiko. She saw her best friend doing lewd things.'"

For some reason, I smiled. 

"What? Aren't you angry?" Hoshiko asked.

"You're really lucky that I trust you with all my heart, Hoshiko," I said. "Considering all the times you helped me, this is literally nothing." A pause. "Well, yeah. Someone else would've already been dead, but you're special."

"Oooh... so cute..." Hoshiko said, her voice soft, but the blush was still on her face. "Can I join you next time?" 

I stared at her. 

"Are you serious?" I asked, my voice sharp. 

"Yeah. Too serious. I even touched myself during the night. Sorry." She scratched the back of her head. "No lies between sisters, remember? That was so fucking hot. Couldn't help it."

A loud silence filled the entire house for some long seconds.

Then, suddenly, I laughed. 

"Hahahaha...!" I covered my mouth. "Damn. I seriously can't get angry at you, no matter what. Holy shit." A pause. "Okay. Wait until we get married, then we'll talk."

Hoshiko's eyes light up. "What? Really? I thought you were about to kill me!!" 

"Just get up now, fox," I said. "Help me make breakfast."

"Are we seriously not going to discuss the fact that his moans are so sexy?" 

"We're making breakfast, Hoshiko." I giggled.

"Fiiiiineeee!" She threw the blanket aside and scrambled up. "Let me change first."

Her clothes were folded neatly over the armrest, somehow the only organized thing she'd managed all night. She grabbed them and disappeared into the bathroom.

A few seconds later, the tap started running. Then some shuffling. Then, muffled through the door:

"Oh shit, my hair is a crime scene. I need to go to that gothic hair salon as soon as possible."

When she came back out, she looked maybe seventy percent more like a functioning human being.

"Ta-daaan! Do I look better?" She said, smiling.

I gave her a thumbs-up. "You always look good, darling." I teased. "But what about the salon you were talking about? Do you mean the one owned by Izanami?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Exactly that. We should go one day. I've heard that the new hair stylist is amazing."

"Deal. I was just thinking about fixing my hair earlier." I said. "Now help me."

And then, we worked together in the kitchen.

I made rice and miso, simple and fast because I had somewhere to be. Hoshiko handled the toast and eggs with enough confidence to surprise me until I remembered she practically lived out of a studio kitchen and had probably cooked ten thousand eggs in her lifetime.

"Extra for Shin?" she asked, holding one up.

"Yeah. He'll wake up in about an hour." I said.

I took a tray from the cabinet and started arranging everything.

Rice. Miso. Scrambled eggs. Toast. Tea ready for hot water.

"He eats slow in the morning," I added. "Like a turtle that's been given too many choices."

Hoshiko stared at me. "That might be the most loving insult I've ever heard."

"I even say worse things, you know? It's love." I giggled.

"Whatever..." Hoshiko sighed.

Then, I tore a sheet from the notepad on the fridge and uncapped a pen with my teeth.

'Ahh, my beautiful ghost boy. I left early to pin those beautiful photos. See you at school. I made you breakfast. I looove you!'

I added a tiny skull with a heart beside it and propped the note against his teacup.

Hoshiko leaned over my shoulder. "That's adorable."

"It's just a skull," I said.

"I can see that, but hey. The anatomy sucks. I'll help you next time." She giggled.

"Okay. I'll count on that." 

"You better do, baby wolf."

Then, I checked the time. 6:41. "We need to go."

I grabbed my bag, checked inside, and, after making sure the photographs were still there, zipped the bag shut.

We ate our own breakfast standing at the counter. Fast.

Hoshiko demolished her toast in four bites and announced that it was "the best toast of my life, and I say that about every toast, but this time I mean it."

At 6:49, we left my apartment and stepped into the morning breeze.

The sun was up, barely. It sat low behind a sheet of clouds, washing the streets in pale gold.

The cold hit me immediately, sharp enough to do the job of caffeine, and our breath fogged in front of us as we headed downstairs.

We walked together for about ten minutes, and Hoshiko talked almost the entire way.

"You know? I have to do very difficult work today. Hope that the guy will pay me enough." She sighed, stretching her arms.

"Kill him if he doesn't."

"You've got a point."

"Naturally."

Morning traffic was only beginning to build. Shops were still shuttered. Delivery vans crawled through side streets. Somewhere nearby, somebody dragged metal chairs across the pavement.

The city was waking up.

At the intersection where my route to school split from the road toward Hoshiko's district, we stopped.

She turned toward me.

Then, without saying anything, she hugged me.

Not one of her usual attacks where she threw herself at people like affection was a contact sport.

This one was different.

Her arms tightened around me slowly, and she pressed her face into my shoulder.

"You'll always be my one and only best friend, Akane," she said into my hoodie. "I love you with my whole soul. You know that, right?"

My chest tightened, and I wrapped my arms around her.

For a moment, we just stood there on the corner at seven in the morning.

Two girls who had met each other in separate kinds of darkness and, somehow, were still here.

Still standing, still holding on.

"I love you too, fox," I said. "Always."

She squeezed me harder, then finally pulled away.

Her nose twitched. She sniffed once.

I chose not to comment because I valued my life.

"What about meeting up again later today?" I asked, adjusting my bag on my shoulder.

Hoshiko blinked. "What? Really?"

"Yeah. There'll be another girl too. Someone I want you to meet."

Her entire face changed.

It was like someone had plugged her directly into a wall socket.

"Absolutely yes! What time?"

"Uhm... I don't know yet. I'll text you."

"YES!" She jumped and threw both fists into the air.

A businessman passing us with a briefcase gave her a confused look.

She didn't notice.

"Okay! I'll be ready! I'll be SO ready! Tell the mystery girl I already love her!"

"I haven't even told you who she is."

"Doesn't matter. I love everyone you love. That's the rule."

Before I could answer, she hugged me again, this time fast and violent enough to nearly knock me backward.

And then, she was gone.

She bounced down the side street toward her studio, bag swinging behind her, one hand waving over her head for an absurdly long time.

I watched until she disappeared around the corner. Then I turned toward school.

The streets fell quiet once I left the main road.

It was that strange stretch of morning between the people who wake up too early and everybody else.

A few joggers passed me, a delivery truck reversed into an alley and an old man swept the pavement outside a shop that wouldn't open for another two hours.

I walked quickly.

My boots hit the pavement in a steady rhythm, my bag bumping against my hip every few steps.

Inside it, the photographs waited.

The school gates came into view around 7:04. Obviously closed.

At this hour, the building should've been empty except for a few staff members getting things ready. In fact, there was one janitor.

Itou-san stood just inside the gate with a broom in one hand and a thermos in the other.

Same as always.

He swept the entrance path with the slow rhythm of a man who'd been doing the same job for thirty years and no longer needed to think about where the broom was going.

He heard my footsteps and looked up.

"Oh. Takanashi-san. Good morning!" His face creased into a smile. He knew me. Most of the staff did. Three years of perfect grades, proper bows, and staying far away from the kind of trouble adults actually notice tends to make you memorable in the least suspicious way possible. "You're early today, why so?" He asked, his voice gentle.

"Good morning, Itou-san." I bowed. "I need to get in ahead of time. There are a few things I have to pick up from the student council room before first period."

Not technically a lie, because I knew Sora would be there before anyone else. Close enough.

Itou-san nodded without hesitation and unlocked the smaller gate.

"Go ahead, dear. Be careful in the west corridor. I haven't finished mopping." He smiled.

"Thank you, Itou-san." I bowed again and slipped inside.

School felt wrong when nobody was in it.

The corridors were empty, and only half the fluorescent lights had come on. Every step echoed farther than it should have.

I headed toward the central wing, where the main hall was.

The main bulletin board stood where the two busiest corridors in the building met. A huge cork panel behind glass.

Everybody passed it.

Club notices, exam schedules, festival announcements, and even student council garbage nobody read unless it affected lunch break. Today, it would be useful.

I stopped in front of it. The glass wasn't locked for some reason. 

'Strange...'

I opened my bag and pulled out the photographs.

Hoshiko's blur covered the faces like a thin veil. Enough to make a stranger look twice. Not enough to fool anybody who knew Izumi Yamashiro.

And the door behind them? Perfectly clear.

'This is going to be sooo satisfying.' I grinned.

I then pinned the first picture in the center of the board, using four thumbtacks at the corners. The second went beside it at a slight angle.

Then I took out my pen.

I leaned closer and wrote across the first photograph in thick, clean letters, large enough to read from several steps away:

"Look at me! I'm the heroine of this new story I'm writing! A real cheater!" I capped the pen and stepped back.

Two photos, one caption, dead center on the busiest board in school.

By first period, people would stop, and by lunch, everyone would know.

And by the end of the day, Izumi Yamashiro would have to stand in front of the boy really cared for her and explain why she'd walked out of that building smiling beside somebody else.

I closed the glass and looked at the pictures one last time. 

'Have fun, little mangaka.'

Then, I picked up my bag and headed upstairs.

The second-floor bathroom was cold and empty. The window still didn't close properly, so a thin draft slipped in around the frame.

I sat on the wide windowsill with my knees pulled up, phone in hand, and waited for 7:50.

I had even lit up a cigarette and started smoking. It felt so... relaxing, maybe.

Downstairs, Itou-san kept sweeping while outside, the sun climbed higher.

One by one, the fluorescent lights flickered on as the school began to wake.

Across the city, Shin would soon open his eyes.

He'd find an empty bed, a breakfast tray, and a note with 'I looove you' written beside a tiny skull.

Somewhere else, in a house I'd never seen, a girl with green eyes and short brown hair was probably getting ready for school. She had no idea what was waiting for her.

I rested my head against the tile and closed my eyes, with only my cigarette for company.

The bell would ring in forty-three minutes, and the antipiaction was already killing me.