We Are A Family

After Aoi had lunch at the cafeteria, she went off to the school's entrance. Her destination was none other than the hospital. To avoid unnecessary conflict with people who disliked her, she'd camouflaged herself by trailing a group of students, like a shade.

Blending in with the crowd wasn't hard by any means if her presence was scant in the first place. No one would notice her—what with her plain looks and fashion style.

She looked around as soon as she'd stepped out of the school compound. Good, no classmates within sight. She only had to walk to the hospital and—

"Akeno Aoi, is it? You're Akeno Aoi, right?"

"Hm?"

Two students stood in front of her, carrying baskets filled with miscellaneous items. Aoi recognized one of the two to be Omura Tanyu—the Occult Club's President. Standing next to him was a girl of about the same height.

Her curly dark hair—bereft of any form of care—stood out the most about her. If one were to avert their eyes away and looked elsewhere, her pink-striped black hoodie would undoubtedly pull their attention next.

"Oh, this is that gal who keeps skipping on us?" said the girl with the hoodie, a hint of disp.l.e.a.s.u.r.e in her voice.

"Um, don't put it that way, Mae." Omura Tanyu raised the basket in his right hand. "Your homeroom teacher had told us everything about Klaus's circ.u.mstances. You're a close friend of his, right? You've been visiting him every day, I believe. That's really good."

"..." Aoi nodded sheepishly. She didn't know what to say in this situation, since she was caught red-handed playing truant. Regardless, she let Tanyu finished his piece.

"Right, what I'm trying to say is, you don't have to come to the club for the rest of the week. I'd imagine how worried you must be."

"!" Hearing this, Aoi was up a stump. The president was being nice and amicable to her despite the violations she'd incurred. Guilt twisted her stomach from the inside. In the face of the two seniors, she had no little to no choice in the matter.

She had to show up—for both hers and Klaus's sake.

"...I'm coming with you two," Aoi croaked. "This is the last day Klaus will be in the hospital, so he should be back by Monday. Tomorrow's a holiday and—"

Tanyu frowned at Aoi's words. He'd thought she valued her time with Klaus, but perhaps, he was mistaken. He'd given her an exception—a free pass. Apparently, he'd come out as beguiling to the point where Aoi was forced to show up to the club. Yutani Mae, however, scowled at the abrupt decision.

"Huh!? Oh, now you want to go to the club. Great! Fantastic! When you're caught red-handed, you've no choice but to show up for once, right?"

"M-Mae! There's no need for you to remark on that. Anyway, why don't we go to the clubroom now, Akeno?"

The three members of the Occult Club sat facing each other. Mae glowered at the junior for even trying to show herself despite being caught. It was understandable. Any proud member of the indoor club would feel the same way. Mae was so excited when she heard two new members had joined, but in the end, felt betrayed by the lack of commitment these students portrayed.

"Mae, can you go buy drinks for us from the vending machine downstairs?" Tanyu asked as he fished out a few notes from his wallet. "What do you want, Akeno?"

"Um..." Aoi thought for a moment while Mae glared at her. "I'm fine with anything."

"Give her tap water then," said Mae.

"Two cafe au lait," ordered Tanyu with a smile. "You can keep the change, Mae."

"..." Mae stood up from her seat once she'd received the money. She took a glance at Tanyu before she walked out of the clubroom.

"Mae's not good with keeping her emotions in check, but she's a really nice person. Ah, you might feel a bit intimidated when you're around her, but rest assured, she won't do you any harm."

It didn't look like that to Aoi. From her vantage point, she was certain Mae's fist would find its mark on her body at any moment. A subjective perspective, but quite commonplace. Those who interacted with Mae for the first time felt similar emotions running through their veins.

Yutani Mae's attitude garnered dislike from people around her no doubt. People like her was easily shunned by the community.

Mae came back with three canned drinks a few minutes later. She'd bought a cafe au lait for herself as well.

"Thanks, Mae."

"..."

"Hm? What's wrong?"

Mae had given Aoi her drink, but she'd yet given one to Tanyu. Ah, Aoi didn't notice it the first time but now, she was inclined to tell Tanyu the notion in her mind. Mae hadn't looked at Tanyu in the eyes, not even once.

Still puzzled as to why Mae stopped, Tanyu took his cafe au lait from Mae's hand, their fingers brushed against each other.

"!" Mae shuddered for a moment and stood up again for some reason. "I-I'm going to the restroom."

The tall girl left briskly, much to Tanyu's confusion. The expression Mae wore on her face proved Aoi's speculation. Various imaginary scenes flitted into Aoi's mind—creating her own concrete image of how the club was established back in the day.

"...I see," Aoi mumbled.

"She's quite busy so don't mind that. I think since last year, she'd avoided coming to the club if there was no urgent matter to tend to," said Tanyu. "Well, it has always been the two of us here, so..."

Tanyu shrugged and proceeded to explain about his plans for next week. He'd adjusted the club's activities a fair bit since Klaus and Aoi didn't show up. More or less, he was merely shifting them to a later date.

Because of this, both him and Mae did nothing of worth when they were in the clubroom. Guilt swirled inside Aoi's c.h.e.s.t once again as she sat there listening. She fixed her gaze at the four baskets brought by the pair minutes ago. What were these for?

"Ah, right. Mae and I bought the materials for future club activities a bit early. You'll know what they are for next week," said Tanyu with a smile. "You know, I'll let you go after you answered my question. Is that all right with you?"

"A question?" Befuddled, Aoi nodded without thinking much. She was in no position to refuse after all.

"What do you understand about the occult, Akeno?"

"...My understanding of the occult?"

"Perhaps you'd read a few old newspapers detailing strange incidents that'd happened in the past. Or you'd experienced phenomena you don't quite understand. Basically, from my perspective, the occult is where the unknown and impossible happen. Human's greatest fear is the fear of the unknown, so when there's something that we can't explain, we start to fear it."

"...Fear of the unknown." Aoi was certain she'd experienced this in various circ.u.mstances. There was no denying that fact. "My understanding of the occult is scant at best. There's too much I don't know about it."

Tanyu nodded. "Not many people do, Akeno. But that's okay. I can guarantee that you'll learn a lot about the mysteries of the occult while you're here. With that said, you can take your leave."

"...Thank you. I appreciate it, but..."

"Oh, don't worry about Mae. I take full responsibility so if she's upset about my decision, I'll explain why I did it, to her. It's okay."

Aoi hesitated to move from her seat. Though after Tanyu assured her over and over again, she finally left the clubroom. Fortunately, Yutani Mae was nowhere within sight as she made her way to the hospital.