The fifth chapter in The Life of Shiki Tohno, written out originally in a 1x1 fashion.
Things could change so fast, faster than most people could realize what they had missed.
Even if he had perhaps tried his best to maintain a normal life, a normal life that he had very well earned after what he had been through in his thus far short life, even Minato Arisato could feel that life was slowly changing within Misaki Town. One by one, pieces were falling out of order in town.
For one, lately, Ciel had been far busier with work concerning the Holy Church. With the recent activity of the Night of Wallachia that had plagued Misaki Town during the Fiamma Incident, not only did this increase the productivity of the Sons of Roa, some sort of disorganized group of vampires that Ciel never elaborated much upon, but it also gave her cause to hunt down any of the illusions that lingered, created by Wallachia's TATARI phenomena, that never really went away. With that being said, it was suffice to say that she had her work cut out for her lately, and that resulted in her coming home later than usual, usually in the very early morning. What was more, more notably, recently in the past two days or so, she had seemed notably distracted by something, often seen zoning out into her own little world at times, thinking about God knows what.
In fact, this morning, Ciel was nowhere to be found in the apartment, though when Minato would walk into a kitchen, a note would be found on the refrigerator, telling him that she would, as promised, meet him outside the school grounds at the end of the day, just as she did every day when she'd walk with him to class during normal days. There was little to do about that, so the day went by... relatively normal.
Today wasn't a very notable day, except for perhaps the fact that it was the beginning of the weekend. And for the fact that this was approximately the third day in a row that a certain young man named Shiki Tohno had been absent from class. Of course, not many people took note. Shiki never did make a particular impression in class. Like many of the other young men, he simply hung out with his own friends and minded his own business, though admittedly, Shiki's personal life was subject to much debate to the classmates that didn't know him.
One such rumor was that he lived in the supposedly haunted mansion up the hill at the edge of town, taken care of by an exceedingly cute younger sister, the latter part being part of a testimony by an anonymous tip, AKA, Shiki's friend Arihiko Inui. Other strange rumors included him being related to some sort of ancient royalty, another including him being part-European, another including him being part of the reason for Satsuki Yumizuka mysteriously "transferring of the country" shortly after it had been revealed that they were dating, and so on. It was a wonder why he wasn't constantly hounded by his classmates.
After all, who didn't remember the "Incident of the Blonde Beauty" from a year ago?
The striking beauty of the mysterious European looking lady that called for Shiki in the middle of class remains one of the hottest debate topics to this day.
In any case, like most other, the day just flew by with not much of importance happening. The dismissal bell rang like it did every day, and with that, students rushed out of their rooms, eager to reach their clubrooms or straight home where they could finally relax for the weekend.
Outside the school grounds, as promised that early morning, Minato Arisato would be able to find Ciel waiting for him, standing against the gate, bag in her hands. However, upon closer inspection, Minato would be able to see that she had a rather pensive, distracted look in her eye, almost as though she wouldn't be able to notice Minato unless he'd get really close, or something to that degree.
"..."
One could wonder what she was thinking about?
Minato sighed as he sat through the last few minutes of class, having awoken only a little bit before from his daily afternoon nap. I really should start getting more sleep at night... Not like it really mattered, most of the teachers didn't really care if he slept during class or not. His grades were well ahead of most of the other students, and he was always prompt with answers when awoken, so his habits were simply tolerated by the staff or at worse earned him an admonishment. Not that he really cared either way.
No, what he cared about right now was the strange things he had started to notice. For one thing, Ciel had begun to grow more and more distant, especially after he had thought all the trouble with the supernatural would be over after the previous incident. In fact, if anything, the incident's closure had only increased the rampant need for the assassin to remain away from long periods of time, leaving him to worry and the gap between them to widen further. Even when she was home, she seemed to be off in some other place. Sometimes, it felt like he wasn't even a thought in her mind beyond the occasional note explaining her absence.
Then there was Shiki, the guy who had survived three of the incidents and was probably never going to be normal.
Minato couldn't help but take note of his acquaintance's sudden disappearance from the classroom. A single day missed? Nothing too special, he was probably just ill and would recover soon. Two days? That was stranger, though perhaps there was something important within his family at the moment. Three days? Now he was worried.
The only reason that he could think for the change was that his friend had become involved in the recent string of supernatural happenings that Ciel was swamped with handling. Then again, if Ciel could usually come home at some point (even if it was well after he finally went to bed), then that means Shiki should have been able to as well...
The ringing of the last bell that signaled his escape broke his train of thought and he snapped to attention, examining the board and jotting down the assignment on it. The math could be taken care of easily when he got home, which hopefully meant he would have time to spin with Ciel. If she isn't called away again... He packed away his books and notebooks into his bag with a sigh and quickly slipped through the crowd, ignoring the few calls of his name that he heard from the few friends he had made in Misaki. It was fine, they understood that sometimes he just wanted to head on home.
Just like her note promised, Minato found the girl waiting just outside the school gates, on time as always. However, he also noticed the far-off look in her eyes. Usually, she was more attentive than what she was at that moment, and it was rather odd to see her so distracted.
"Everything alright?"
The question, uttered as he took his place at her side for their walk, broke what would have become an awkward silence as they made their way through the small town. At least, he hoped it would.
Upon asking the question, Ciel would suddenly blink in surprise, having snapped out of whatever reality she had been in. Her blue eyes initially wide with surprise, she'd quickly clear her throat and put a smile on her face when Minato would come into her sights, holding her bag tighter now that she was back.
"O-Oh, goodness, it seems that I was daydreaming deeper than I had expected," the young woman said bashfully, an embarrassed laugh being let out, "Sorry I couldn't accompany you to class this morning, Minato-kun. I... had some matters to take care of."
Perhaps for some, it was difficult to say whether or not she was hiding something, if those so-called "matters" were actually that important, or what. Sometimes, not even Ciel herself exactly knew. For better or for worse, she was deceivingly good at keeping secrets. Not a notion that one would expect from everybody's responsible upperclassman.
"In any case, shall we be heading home now?" She asked, seemingly eager to move on.
There she goes, hiding the truth again. It wasn't hard for the teen to pick up on her subtle lies and half-truths nor to keep his expression from betraying his disappointment. Being a habit he had picked up years ago, he could easily feign an amused smile as she laughed, nodding his head as she explained herself, "It's fine, you've got a job you have to do and sometimes you can't help the time it calls you away at. No problem." For now, he wouldn't pry anymore.
"Yeah, home sounds good right right about now," Not that he had anything to do there. Usually, dinner was a subdued affair between them and the task easily and quickly finished, which would hopefully leave them some time to spend together before she was inevitably pulled away by her job.
God, he hated having a girlfriend who worked the night shift.
Making sure his backpack was secure, he didn't give her a chance to protest as he took wrapped his hand around hers as they began to walk together. It seemed like all he wanted these days was to be close to her, as if that was all that mattered now. Then again, he had seen her almost die right before his eyes, both their bodies beginning to disintegrate during the final battle of the last incident, so excuse him for being a little protective and clingy.
"I'm thinking curry tonight might do us both some good, what do you think?"
"Mhm... curry. That sounds good, yes," Ciel nodded, a content smile on her face. However, it wasn't enough. Though she was pleased as ever by the thought of having her favorite food to eat, there were subtle differences from her usual reactions today. Under normal circumstances, her eyes would have gone wider, and her general expression would have been much brighter. It was getting more and more evident that something else was on her mind at the moment.
As the two of them walked together uphill, Ciel's emotional distance only grew more and more. Roughly three times out of five, if Minato were to try to talk to her further about anything, it would take Ciel a moment to respond or even acknowledge him. When one thought about it, there were a great many possibilities of what could be on her mind.
Even with the dreaded Murder Games seemingly no longer involved with this world, things were still busy as ever. The Association and the Church went back to being at odds with each other, and as mentioned before, the Fiamma Incident resulting in a rise of activity from the creatures of the night. Who knows, maybe Shiki's recent days off was connected to all this as well?
But of course, that'd all just be conjecture right now.
Generally, the route from school to back home involved walking past some crossroads, where they'd have to turn left to get to Ciel's home from there. However, today, as soon as they'd reach those crossroads, Ciel would suddenly stop, clutching her bag tighter than ever. She looked down at the ground briefly, as though contemplating something, before looking up, gazing straight at Minato.
"Hey... Minato-kun? I'm sorry to have to do this on such short notice, but is it alright if you head home without me? I just remembered that I... have some matters to attend to about work. Is it alright if we split paths from here? I'll... try my best to be back by dinnertime."
Minato had known something was wrong and he wasn't surprised that something really did come up. Something always did these days, with it always being their time together that suffered for it. The Church always seemed to want Ciel handling the dangerous assignments, fighting the monsters in the night and punishing the Mages who went too in their search for power, and he was always left behind to worry and hope she wasn't hurt. He knew that she was strong enough for most threats and could easily find help if she needed.
It just sucked that he was always being left behind.
Slowly, his hand released its hold begrudgingly and he turned away to walk home, "Yeah, it's fine. I'll have dinner ready when you get back." He doubted she would be home at any reasonable hour tonight. Her work always held her back, with this not being the first night he had to make a second plate only for the seat at the table to remain empty and for the food to grow cold. It was honestly quite pathetic to think he would wait so long for nothing.
Maybe he wouldn't worry about that second place at the table or the curry and just order some take-out.
ith little more than a simple nod, Ciel turned around, beginning to walk the other way. She stopped for a brief moment, her face continuing to gaze away from Minato's, as though she wanted to say something more. With that, she'd let out a "Hey, Minato-kun..."
And then a brief silence. Like maybe she was debating what to say, whether to say it or not, before seemingly making a judgment a few seconds later, following up with "... I love you... and, take care of yourself, alright? I'll be back before you know it."
And with that, she took off.
As Minato reluctantly continued his way home by itself, one could argue that it didn't feel much different from walking home with Ciel today. The silence was still there. The only sound that was mostly missing was the additional footsteps. Though for some reason, Minato would still be able to feel... another presence nearby. The feeling of eyes watching him. The feeling of--
"Heeeeeey, Shiiiikiiiii! You're baaaack!"
Suddenly, almost out of nowhere, the voice of what appeared to be a young woman called out, seemingly to Minato (as if he'd look around, Shiki himself seemed to be nowhere in sight), before the blue-haired young man would finally find himself being... in gentle terms, tackle-hugged by the woman in question, who seemed to be giddy enough from the belief that the boy she was hugging was a certain Shiki that she was giggling like a schoolgirl.
"Hi hi! Where have you been all this time? And why is your hair brighter? Did you dye it?! Eeeeeh, I'm not sure if I like this new look, Shikiii!"
The mysterious blonde beauty of Misaki Town found her prey.
"Wagh!"
A tight, air-stealing hug wasn't the fate he thought of when he imagined the possible confrontation. Especially not when it was from a giggling and attractive blonde who looked out of place in Japan. Why do I always attract the strange ones? "P-Please l-let go of me! I'm not this Shiki person, miss!"
Wait, Shiki?
Shocked realization showed on his face as he made the connection, "W-Wait, you mean Shiki as in Tohno-kun? From the local highschool?"
"E-Eh?" The woman suddenly blinked in surprise when Minato would respond, getting off him upon seemingly realizing that the young man before her was not, in fact, the Shiki that she had been looking for. Oddly enough, there didn't seem to be a shred of embarrassment for her own part on her face, but more just wholly genuine surprise that it wasn't who she was looking for, like she had been bamboozled by a master trickster or something of the sort.
That was what she was like.
"Oh, boo... I thought you were Shiki... Yeah, that's who I mean. But who are you though? You seem familiar..." She said, pursing her lips as she'd place her hands on her hips, leaning in rather close to Minato with the intent of getting a closer look.
"Hmm... blue hair. Around Shiki's age, it looks like... Aha, you wouldn't happen to know a Ciel, would ya?"
"Uh... I'm guessing you're one of Ciel-chan's friends then?" He leaned back a bit, trying to keep from letting the strange woman touch him. Man, she's leaning in like Ciel does when she's upset or suspicious of something... The feeling that he was about to be scolded scratched at the back of his neck the entire time the blonde's eyes remained glued on him, and he couldn't help but want to escape somehow.
An idea popped into his head that could help him get away or at least escape the glare, "Hey, you know I need to get home, right? I need to get dinner ready for when Ciel comes home, but you can come along if you want..." Please say no, please say no, please say no.
"Yep, yep! We're the best of friends! Ahahaha! A friend of hers is a friend of mine!" She said, letting out some sort of giddy laughter as she repeatedly pat Minato on the back.
...
Well, "pat" would imply that it was a friendly gesture of a hand hitting one's back, but with each loud pomf pomf pomf that would be able to be heard every time the whimsical woman's hand would hit Minato, one could swear up and down to Heaven that she had the power to create dents in brick walls if she was serious, judging from the so-called pats alone.
One had to wonder how much she and Ciel were exactly "friends."
"If you're Ciel's friend, you must be... Minato, right? I'm Arcueid. Arcueid Brunestud. It's a pleasure to meet you!"
Again, one had to wonder...
"In any case, food does sound good right now! But instead of that dull Indian food or whatever, lemme treat you, dear friend of Shiki and Ciel! After all, we have a lot to talk about," she said, before forcefully grabbing Minato by the hand with a surprising amount of strength in her grip, not seeming to give him a choice as the woman who introduced herself as Arcueid dragged him around rather easily like he were a rag doll, taking him off-track and back into town.
"Yeah... We've got a real lot to talk about."
"Hey, what the heck?" Now Minato knew something was up. No normal woman could hit with that much power behind each strike, and now he was being dragged off by the woman randomly? Something was clearly up with this Arcueid woman... Plus, why did he feel like he had heard that name somewhere? Like it was one that Ciel or Shiki had talked about before...
As he continued to be dragged through the streets, he dug his heels into the ground, trying with all his might to stop the woman, "Dammit, let me go!" He needed to get away, before whatever this woman was decided to get messy with him. He might even have to resort to using his Evoker again...
I'm not dying here, not after last time. He no longer cared for anyone saw as he swung his bag off his shoulder and managed to unzip the pocket that held his old tool, slipping his hand in to grasp the cold metal, "Last chance, let me go!"
Things could change so fast, faster than most people could realize what they had missed.
Even if he had perhaps tried his best to maintain a normal life, a normal life that he had very well earned after what he had been through in his thus far short life, even Minato Arisato could feel that life was slowly changing within Misaki Town. One by one, pieces were falling out of order in town.
For one, lately, Ciel had been far busier with work concerning the Holy Church. With the recent activity of the Night of Wallachia that had plagued Misaki Town during the Fiamma Incident, not only did this increase the productivity of the Sons of Roa, some sort of disorganized group of vampires that Ciel never elaborated much upon, but it also gave her cause to hunt down any of the illusions that lingered, created by Wallachia's TATARI phenomena, that never really went away. With that being said, it was suffice to say that she had her work cut out for her lately, and that resulted in her coming home later than usual, usually in the very early morning. What was more, more notably, recently in the past two days or so, she had seemed notably distracted by something, often seen zoning out into her own little world at times, thinking about God knows what.
In fact, this morning, Ciel was nowhere to be found in the apartment, though when Minato would walk into a kitchen, a note would be found on the refrigerator, telling him that she would, as promised, meet him outside the school grounds at the end of the day, just as she did every day when she'd walk with him to class during normal days. There was little to do about that, so the day went by... relatively normal.
Today wasn't a very notable day, except for perhaps the fact that it was the beginning of the weekend. And for the fact that this was approximately the third day in a row that a certain young man named Shiki Tohno had been absent from class. Of course, not many people took note. Shiki never did make a particular impression in class. Like many of the other young men, he simply hung out with his own friends and minded his own business, though admittedly, Shiki's personal life was subject to much debate to the classmates that didn't know him.
One such rumor was that he lived in the supposedly haunted mansion up the hill at the edge of town, taken care of by an exceedingly cute younger sister, the latter part being part of a testimony by an anonymous tip, AKA, Shiki's friend Arihiko Inui. Other strange rumors included him being related to some sort of ancient royalty, another including him being part-European, another including him being part of the reason for Satsuki Yumizuka mysteriously "transferring of the country" shortly after it had been revealed that they were dating, and so on. It was a wonder why he wasn't constantly hounded by his classmates.
After all, who didn't remember the "Incident of the Blonde Beauty" from a year ago?
The striking beauty of the mysterious European looking lady that called for Shiki in the middle of class remains one of the hottest debate topics to this day.
In any case, like most other, the day just flew by with not much of importance happening. The dismissal bell rang like it did every day, and with that, students rushed out of their rooms, eager to reach their clubrooms or straight home where they could finally relax for the weekend.
Outside the school grounds, as promised that early morning, Minato Arisato would be able to find Ciel waiting for him, standing against the gate, bag in her hands. However, upon closer inspection, Minato would be able to see that she had a rather pensive, distracted look in her eye, almost as though she wouldn't be able to notice Minato unless he'd get really close, or something to that degree.
"..."
One could wonder what she was thinking about?
Minato sighed as he sat through the last few minutes of class, having awoken only a little bit before from his daily afternoon nap. I really should start getting more sleep at night... Not like it really mattered, most of the teachers didn't really care if he slept during class or not. His grades were well ahead of most of the other students, and he was always prompt with answers when awoken, so his habits were simply tolerated by the staff or at worse earned him an admonishment. Not that he really cared either way.
No, what he cared about right now was the strange things he had started to notice. For one thing, Ciel had begun to grow more and more distant, especially after he had thought all the trouble with the supernatural would be over after the previous incident. In fact, if anything, the incident's closure had only increased the rampant need for the assassin to remain away from long periods of time, leaving him to worry and the gap between them to widen further. Even when she was home, she seemed to be off in some other place. Sometimes, it felt like he wasn't even a thought in her mind beyond the occasional note explaining her absence.
Then there was Shiki, the guy who had survived three of the incidents and was probably never going to be normal.
Minato couldn't help but take note of his acquaintance's sudden disappearance from the classroom. A single day missed? Nothing too special, he was probably just ill and would recover soon. Two days? That was stranger, though perhaps there was something important within his family at the moment. Three days? Now he was worried.
The only reason that he could think for the change was that his friend had become involved in the recent string of supernatural happenings that Ciel was swamped with handling. Then again, if Ciel could usually come home at some point (even if it was well after he finally went to bed), then that means Shiki should have been able to as well...
The ringing of the last bell that signaled his escape broke his train of thought and he snapped to attention, examining the board and jotting down the assignment on it. The math could be taken care of easily when he got home, which hopefully meant he would have time to spin with Ciel. If she isn't called away again... He packed away his books and notebooks into his bag with a sigh and quickly slipped through the crowd, ignoring the few calls of his name that he heard from the few friends he had made in Misaki. It was fine, they understood that sometimes he just wanted to head on home.
Just like her note promised, Minato found the girl waiting just outside the school gates, on time as always. However, he also noticed the far-off look in her eyes. Usually, she was more attentive than what she was at that moment, and it was rather odd to see her so distracted.
"Everything alright?"
The question, uttered as he took his place at her side for their walk, broke what would have become an awkward silence as they made their way through the small town. At least, he hoped it would.
Upon asking the question, Ciel would suddenly blink in surprise, having snapped out of whatever reality she had been in. Her blue eyes initially wide with surprise, she'd quickly clear her throat and put a smile on her face when Minato would come into her sights, holding her bag tighter now that she was back.
"O-Oh, goodness, it seems that I was daydreaming deeper than I had expected," the young woman said bashfully, an embarrassed laugh being let out, "Sorry I couldn't accompany you to class this morning, Minato-kun. I... had some matters to take care of."
Perhaps for some, it was difficult to say whether or not she was hiding something, if those so-called "matters" were actually that important, or what. Sometimes, not even Ciel herself exactly knew. For better or for worse, she was deceivingly good at keeping secrets. Not a notion that one would expect from everybody's responsible upperclassman.
"In any case, shall we be heading home now?" She asked, seemingly eager to move on.
There she goes, hiding the truth again. It wasn't hard for the teen to pick up on her subtle lies and half-truths nor to keep his expression from betraying his disappointment. Being a habit he had picked up years ago, he could easily feign an amused smile as she laughed, nodding his head as she explained herself, "It's fine, you've got a job you have to do and sometimes you can't help the time it calls you away at. No problem." For now, he wouldn't pry anymore.
"Yeah, home sounds good right right about now," Not that he had anything to do there. Usually, dinner was a subdued affair between them and the task easily and quickly finished, which would hopefully leave them some time to spend together before she was inevitably pulled away by her job.
God, he hated having a girlfriend who worked the night shift.
Making sure his backpack was secure, he didn't give her a chance to protest as he took wrapped his hand around hers as they began to walk together. It seemed like all he wanted these days was to be close to her, as if that was all that mattered now. Then again, he had seen her almost die right before his eyes, both their bodies beginning to disintegrate during the final battle of the last incident, so excuse him for being a little protective and clingy.
"I'm thinking curry tonight might do us both some good, what do you think?"
"Mhm... curry. That sounds good, yes," Ciel nodded, a content smile on her face. However, it wasn't enough. Though she was pleased as ever by the thought of having her favorite food to eat, there were subtle differences from her usual reactions today. Under normal circumstances, her eyes would have gone wider, and her general expression would have been much brighter. It was getting more and more evident that something else was on her mind at the moment.
As the two of them walked together uphill, Ciel's emotional distance only grew more and more. Roughly three times out of five, if Minato were to try to talk to her further about anything, it would take Ciel a moment to respond or even acknowledge him. When one thought about it, there were a great many possibilities of what could be on her mind.
Even with the dreaded Murder Games seemingly no longer involved with this world, things were still busy as ever. The Association and the Church went back to being at odds with each other, and as mentioned before, the Fiamma Incident resulting in a rise of activity from the creatures of the night. Who knows, maybe Shiki's recent days off was connected to all this as well?
But of course, that'd all just be conjecture right now.
Generally, the route from school to back home involved walking past some crossroads, where they'd have to turn left to get to Ciel's home from there. However, today, as soon as they'd reach those crossroads, Ciel would suddenly stop, clutching her bag tighter than ever. She looked down at the ground briefly, as though contemplating something, before looking up, gazing straight at Minato.
"Hey... Minato-kun? I'm sorry to have to do this on such short notice, but is it alright if you head home without me? I just remembered that I... have some matters to attend to about work. Is it alright if we split paths from here? I'll... try my best to be back by dinnertime."
Minato had known something was wrong and he wasn't surprised that something really did come up. Something always did these days, with it always being their time together that suffered for it. The Church always seemed to want Ciel handling the dangerous assignments, fighting the monsters in the night and punishing the Mages who went too in their search for power, and he was always left behind to worry and hope she wasn't hurt. He knew that she was strong enough for most threats and could easily find help if she needed.
It just sucked that he was always being left behind.
Slowly, his hand released its hold begrudgingly and he turned away to walk home, "Yeah, it's fine. I'll have dinner ready when you get back." He doubted she would be home at any reasonable hour tonight. Her work always held her back, with this not being the first night he had to make a second plate only for the seat at the table to remain empty and for the food to grow cold. It was honestly quite pathetic to think he would wait so long for nothing.
Maybe he wouldn't worry about that second place at the table or the curry and just order some take-out.
ith little more than a simple nod, Ciel turned around, beginning to walk the other way. She stopped for a brief moment, her face continuing to gaze away from Minato's, as though she wanted to say something more. With that, she'd let out a "Hey, Minato-kun..."
And then a brief silence. Like maybe she was debating what to say, whether to say it or not, before seemingly making a judgment a few seconds later, following up with "... I love you... and, take care of yourself, alright? I'll be back before you know it."
And with that, she took off.
As Minato reluctantly continued his way home by itself, one could argue that it didn't feel much different from walking home with Ciel today. The silence was still there. The only sound that was mostly missing was the additional footsteps. Though for some reason, Minato would still be able to feel... another presence nearby. The feeling of eyes watching him. The feeling of--
"Heeeeeey, Shiiiikiiiii! You're baaaack!"
Suddenly, almost out of nowhere, the voice of what appeared to be a young woman called out, seemingly to Minato (as if he'd look around, Shiki himself seemed to be nowhere in sight), before the blue-haired young man would finally find himself being... in gentle terms, tackle-hugged by the woman in question, who seemed to be giddy enough from the belief that the boy she was hugging was a certain Shiki that she was giggling like a schoolgirl.
"Hi hi! Where have you been all this time? And why is your hair brighter? Did you dye it?! Eeeeeh, I'm not sure if I like this new look, Shikiii!"
The mysterious blonde beauty of Misaki Town found her prey.
"Wagh!"
A tight, air-stealing hug wasn't the fate he thought of when he imagined the possible confrontation. Especially not when it was from a giggling and attractive blonde who looked out of place in Japan. Why do I always attract the strange ones? "P-Please l-let go of me! I'm not this Shiki person, miss!"
Wait, Shiki?
Shocked realization showed on his face as he made the connection, "W-Wait, you mean Shiki as in Tohno-kun? From the local highschool?"
"E-Eh?" The woman suddenly blinked in surprise when Minato would respond, getting off him upon seemingly realizing that the young man before her was not, in fact, the Shiki that she had been looking for. Oddly enough, there didn't seem to be a shred of embarrassment for her own part on her face, but more just wholly genuine surprise that it wasn't who she was looking for, like she had been bamboozled by a master trickster or something of the sort.
That was what she was like.
"Oh, boo... I thought you were Shiki... Yeah, that's who I mean. But who are you though? You seem familiar..." She said, pursing her lips as she'd place her hands on her hips, leaning in rather close to Minato with the intent of getting a closer look.
"Hmm... blue hair. Around Shiki's age, it looks like... Aha, you wouldn't happen to know a Ciel, would ya?"
"Uh... I'm guessing you're one of Ciel-chan's friends then?" He leaned back a bit, trying to keep from letting the strange woman touch him. Man, she's leaning in like Ciel does when she's upset or suspicious of something... The feeling that he was about to be scolded scratched at the back of his neck the entire time the blonde's eyes remained glued on him, and he couldn't help but want to escape somehow.
An idea popped into his head that could help him get away or at least escape the glare, "Hey, you know I need to get home, right? I need to get dinner ready for when Ciel comes home, but you can come along if you want..." Please say no, please say no, please say no.
"Yep, yep! We're the best of friends! Ahahaha! A friend of hers is a friend of mine!" She said, letting out some sort of giddy laughter as she repeatedly pat Minato on the back.
...
Well, "pat" would imply that it was a friendly gesture of a hand hitting one's back, but with each loud pomf pomf pomf that would be able to be heard every time the whimsical woman's hand would hit Minato, one could swear up and down to Heaven that she had the power to create dents in brick walls if she was serious, judging from the so-called pats alone.
One had to wonder how much she and Ciel were exactly "friends."
"If you're Ciel's friend, you must be... Minato, right? I'm Arcueid. Arcueid Brunestud. It's a pleasure to meet you!"
Again, one had to wonder...
"In any case, food does sound good right now! But instead of that dull Indian food or whatever, lemme treat you, dear friend of Shiki and Ciel! After all, we have a lot to talk about," she said, before forcefully grabbing Minato by the hand with a surprising amount of strength in her grip, not seeming to give him a choice as the woman who introduced herself as Arcueid dragged him around rather easily like he were a rag doll, taking him off-track and back into town.
"Yeah... We've got a real lot to talk about."
"Hey, what the heck?" Now Minato knew something was up. No normal woman could hit with that much power behind each strike, and now he was being dragged off by the woman randomly? Something was clearly up with this Arcueid woman... Plus, why did he feel like he had heard that name somewhere? Like it was one that Ciel or Shiki had talked about before...
As he continued to be dragged through the streets, he dug his heels into the ground, trying with all his might to stop the woman, "Dammit, let me go!" He needed to get away, before whatever this woman was decided to get messy with him. He might even have to resort to using his Evoker again...
I'm not dying here, not after last time. He no longer cared for anyone saw as he swung his bag off his shoulder and managed to unzip the pocket that held his old tool, slipping his hand in to grasp the cold metal, "Last chance, let me go!"
