強い人と弱い人
The Strong and The Weak

Chapter 27：The Last Nightー

The night had fallen, as well as the snow that peppered the school grounds. After doing some work with Kusanagi on how to work the school's speaker system from the student council room, HOMRA retired for the night. The following morning would be definitely chaotic and Haruna had only hoped the students will have enough time to escape before there is any real injury.

"Snow..." The little girl huffed into the freezing air, rubbing her hands together.

"It did get freezing all of a sudden." The bartender added as he pulled a pack of cigarettes from his coat pocket. He placed one between his lips and lit it with a snap of a finger.

The weather was calming. Amongst all this impending chaos, the one thing left disturbed on this island were the fresh snow crystals that fell from the night sky.

"Anna-chan, Haruna-chan."

The two girls looked back at the bartender behind them.

"Go check on King."

The way Kusanagi was smiling at her caused a skip in her heart. It wasn't just because he was a handsome man. His voice and smile assured her that he meant her as well.

"What about you?" Haruna reached down and held hands with the little girl at her side.

"Me?" He inhaled and let out a breath of smoke,"I'll go and check with the other guys. Take care of Anna."

"Ah, I got it."

After watching Kusanagi part, she lowered herself down into a squatting position and looked into the child's eyes.

"Are you ready to go?"

She received a little nod in response,"Un."

They walked across the courtyard, hand in hand in silence. It was a perfect moment to be absorbed in her thoughts. Students were forced back into their classrooms in hiding which no longer meant any screaming until the next day. The air was just cold and quiet. Even lonely.

HOMRA will be on standby until the morning. SCEPTER4 will come to control the situation, which meant stopping them.

"SCEPTER4." Haruna murmured as she rubbed the back of her once injured knee.

The one thing that still tied her to SCEPTER4. She's never had such a deep injury like that in her life and it was something that hindered her escape from headquarters in the very end. If Yata didn't show up, she would've been screwed. Like it never existed in the first place, it healed within a span of hours. The theories of not being human popped into her head and she refused to believe it.

With all this thinking, Haruna almost tripped over mounds of torn asphalt. The thought of being inhuman had set her off, but she healed, right? That's a good thing. Looking towards the the ruins of the clock tower the red King had created, she tied her hair up in the rubber band she had wrapped around her wrist. This will be some work to get over.

Just as she predicted, Anna had trouble traversing towards the courtyard. Haruna was there to lift her up and set her down over the next obstacle.

"Mikoto."

Above the highest platform of rubble in the courtyard, the red haired man could be seen on his back; eyes closed and arms widely spread out like an angel.

Anna's hand slipped away from hers and Haruna watched her climb up the flat rock towards him. Like a little pedestal she stepped onto another piece of rubble and reached upwards. With her height she couldn't possibly make it up there alone.

Sighing, Haruna continued to follow behind her with the intent of lifting her up to Suoh. As Anna stood up onto her toes, the rock under her feet began to crumble.

"Anna!"

The girl dashed forward to catch her fall. She managed to catch her into her arms and hug her tightly in preparation for a landing full of hurt. Although she was surprised when she stopped moving backwards and instead the two girls were moving forward. Haruna was able to stand on her two feet with balance and peered behind Anna's head.

"Thank you, Haruna."

She surprised to hear Anna call her name, but it told her how comfortable the child was with her.

"You two."

Suoh had turned his towards the two of them, one of his hands gripped the top of Anna's red capelet. He loosened his grip and his arms retracted back to his side.

"I'm sorry for the trouble, Suoh-san..."

Haruna lifted Anna up onto the platform and the girl crawled her way towards the red King who asked what Anna was trying to do. As they talked to one another, Haruna found her job done and thought about finding Kusanagi. She turned away and began stepping down from the rubble.

"Hey."

Suoh's voice made her turn back.

"Why are you here?" He asked her almost rudely.

Haruna turned around, her hands stuffed into the pocket of her sweatpants. She looked up back to him and answered amused by his question.

"Weren't you the one who said it was okay for me to come along?"

From where she stood she could see Anna curled up and sleeping on his arm. She crossed through the rubble again and stood beside him. Leaning her back against the platform, Haruna scanned the destroyed courtyard. If she was correct, today was the school festival. There will be a battle tomorrow and the students were still cooped up on the island. HOMRA had really trashing the place and are endangering these people for revenge.

"I told you," She continued,"Back there-"

Her mind went back to the time she had tried to escape with Suoh.

"I want to help."

She heard him exhale as if he were exhausted. What the hell was he exhausted about? This lazy ass King let his right hand man do all the work so he could sleep the whole day away.

"You know who we are?"

"Guys who like to burn shit."

From behind she heard him snort.

"Regardless, they're my friends." She brought her arms closer to her body and breathed into her freezing hands,"I've learned to care about all of them and they're probably the best thing that happened to me since I've moved to this city."

"Oi."

Haruna turned away from the scene of the courtyard and saw Suoh looking straight at her with eyes like a snake. As if this man could see through her heart that's been beating so quickly.

"H-Huh?"

The King's eyes closed and he exhaled again before opening them again to stare at her.

"Your hand."

"My hand?"

She extended her right hand out to look at it and laughed with embarrassment.

"Oh, right... I didn't have a chance to clean the blood off my hands all day..."

"Come closer."

The cold girl propped herself onto the platform and sat down on her knees beside the sleeping Anna's feet.

"Your hand." The man specified.

"W-What about it?"

Suoh leaned onto his side and extended his left hand to her.

"Give it here."

Stretching his hand out further he grasped Haruna's hand in his and slowly his aura began to burn her hand.

"Suoh-san?!"

It had started to become increasingly warm, and then the burning pain shot up her arm.

"Are you scared?"

His grip on her hand wasn't strong enough for her to make her stay put, but despite being afraid she still held on. Soon the red spread to her whole body like she was ablaze. The intensity in this King's eyes scared her and yet she couldn't let go. At the corner of her eye, Haruna watched Anna rub her eye and sit up groggily; staring at her with far away eyes that were stuck in a dream world.

"So warm." Anna whispered and looked up at the older girl.

Seeing Haruna ablaze in red, the child's cloudy gaze disappeared and stared up at her widely.

"Haruna... you're beautiful."

Tears of pain dried up with the heat that surrounded her body.

"Anna-" She managed to say hoarsely before flinching again in pain.

How? Just how was she beautiful right now? She's actually surprised her clothes didn't burn off her body at this point. Her blue sparked off her body as if it were protecting her from harm, but the King suppressed it with more of his aura.

Just when she thought she had about enough, she started to draw her hand away from Suoh.

But his grip tightened. His stare didn't waver once nor did it leave her eyes.

Everything-

Everything was painted in red tints wherever she looked. The frightened girl watched Suoh's eyes burn even brighter.

"Don't be afraid."

Haruna's hand stopped retracting from his. Those words assured her that she wouldn't be hurt. After a few more moments, the scorching heat became a comforting warmth. The rubber band that held her hair snapped and sent it tumbling down her back. Alarmed by the lingering burning behind her neck, she quickly withdrew her hand from Mikoto's grip to touch the area.

"What the hell did you just do?"

Suoh returned onto his back with his hands went back behind his head. A smirk traveled to his lips.

Izumo opened the door to the roof and stepped out to look at the view of the school. There was one other person he had to check with before going back to Mikoto. He brought his fingers to his lips and whistled loudly. There's no doubt he'll come quickly as soon as he heard him.

As he predicted, he heard the skateboard wheels roll onto the roof of the building. Perched on the edge was Yata who looked ticked.

"What is it?" The kid grumbled as he squatted on his skateboard,"And will you stop calling upon me like some dog?"

A dog, huh? A smile crept on to his face and he denied the comment,"No, no, you're more like a crow with the greatest night vision. Anything to report?"

Yata stepped off his skateboard and sat atop one of the heating systems for the building.

"Nothing at all, everything is fine right now. Some brats tried escaping but the bastard wasn't one of them, we threw them back into the main building anyway."

The bartender snapped his fingers and lit another smoke. Apparently the blues had the bridge to the island completely sealed off.

"If they decide to engage us, we'll be forced to turn this island into an all out battle royale."

Tomorrow will be hell...

"Then we'll smash them in! I'm ready to scrap them..."

Izumo gave an internal sigh. This kid gets worked up real easily.

"You know, it's pretty much proven that you do better when you're not so worked up."

"And how do you suppose I stay calm?"

"Yata-chan, you'd function better if you weren't such an idiot..." The second in command let out another puff of smoke from his lips,"But it really wouldn't be you if that were the case."

"W-Wait a minute-"

"Especially when Fushimi is involved, but I get it since you two were partners back then."

Yata took no time to respond.

"With all due respect, if you keep talking like that I will lose it."

The smile on Izumo's face disappeared as he listened to the vanguard go on,

"Besides, that bastard was the one who betrayed me first."

Guess it was about time to change the conversation. It was always a touchy subject to go on about for the boy. Shrugging, he asked what he had meant to bring up in the first place,

"By the way, since you'll be on watch the whole night, there is something I need you to keep to yourself..."

"That King?!" Misaki clicked his tongue and turned his head away in annoyance,"I-I got it, you have my word."

"Thanks, Yata-chan."

"If anyone else tries to accompany him past the perimeter, I'll kick their ass."

The nineteen year old stepped onto his skateboard and prepared to lift off onto the next building.

"Ah, one other thing."

Misaki groaned some more,"Geez, what is it now?"

"It's about Haruna-chan."

That stupid girl, huh. He was hoping that she wouldn't be dead weight after bringing her here. She could be snarky, but he had no knowledge of her combat capabilities.

"Yeah? What about her?"

Kusanagi threw his cigarette to the ground and crushed it with the heel of his boot.

"Keep an eye on her."

"Sir?"

His superior walked to the ledge of the rooftop and looked down at the lights that illuminated the school below.

"Make sure she doesn't get involved any further."

"Why me?"

Misaki had to agree. If Haruna were to get involved in the fight tomorrow, she could be in real danger. The condition he saw her in when he came to save her from those blue bastards wasn't good. Before collapsing, she had looked worn out and pushed to exhaustion. It felt wrong seeing her so defeated, since that girl could be as stubborn as a nail.

"Think about it. Her former clansmen may target her as well for defecting and injuring their own. Mikoto mentioned that she wanted to fight with us, but I don't think I can allow that."

"I still have to lead the guys out there tomorrow, I don't think I can do those two things at once."

"Fushimi." He said that stupid monkey's name. The blood inside of him started to boil.

"What the hell does he have to do with this again?"

"He'll be after her."

Misaki was left thinking about those last words as he watched that Blue King step into the school ground from his perch. The sick way Saruhiko called to Haruna the day they fought in her apartment stained his memory. The monkey was like some maniac calling for a girl he had some sick obsession for. He couldn't leave her alone if that guy were to come after her.

"Sick bastard." He lowered his beanie down over his eyes and laid his head on the skateboard,"What's happened to you, Saru?"

"Someones here to see you."

Mikoto looked up from the shrine's stairway and noticed Reisi waiting at the entryway. Noticing him, the blue clad man looked down towards him. With a smirk the Red King made his way up again with his hands stuffed into his pocket.

"Doesn't breathing the same air as me make you sick?"

Reisi drew a pack of Blue Sparks from his coat. Placing a cigarette between his lips, he held out the box to Mikoto who only stared at it for a bit.

"It can be bearable at times."

With a smoke sticking out of the box, the other man inched it closer to Mikoto's face. As soon as he took it Reisi removed the box from his face and started to withdraw another item from his coat.

Mikoto only chuckled and flicked a flame into his direction, lighting the smoke. He sat down on one of the steps and flicked his thumb up to light his own cigarette.

The reason why this guy was here. Knowing him, he wanted to resolve things peacefully...

The talk of leaving the school peacefully and leaving the task of finding that Colorless King to him was proposed.

"That's fine with me." He removed the cigarette from his lips,"Is that what you expected me to say?"

Mikoto listened to Reisi drawl on and on. Listening wasn't his strong suit and all he did was breath the smoke in and out between his lips while answering back lazily.

"If you know what is at stake here, it's time to step down, Red King."

"I've never taken any action as King."

This man was spouting things he already knew. Yes, he was running out of time. He wasn't the best King either, but he still had the chance to do one thing for his clansmen.

In an instant Mikoto was pushed to the ground, cigarette still held by his lips with a shaking grip on the front of his shirt.

"I don't think you understand. Innocent students- your men are here."

The Blue King's expression was contorted into anger.

"I will settle my own business, while you take care of yours."

Mikoto will be selfish.

Just one last time.

"Isn't that all there is to it?

The anger was replaced by realization and the grip on his collar was loosening slowly. Reisi stepped away and adjusted his glasses.

"You savage being..." He replied through gritted teeth,"You're truly beyond reasoning."

"And you thought you could reason with me? That's really unlike you."

"Not really..." Those violet eyes wandered away somberly,"I only came here to see a friend."

He let the cigarette drop between his fingers and fall onto the snow before crushing under his shoe. A friend, huh. Those words had made a smile crawl onto his lips.

"Go."

The two faced away from each at this point.

"Is a Haruna Aigasa amongst you?"

"It's a name I only remember hearing a couple times."

"That doesn't answer my question."

"Looks like you have another problem on your hands then."

"Something that isn't any of your business."

Another pregnant silence until Reisi crunched the piling snow under his feet.

"Suoh... You're certain you won't change your mind...?"

"I'm sure."

Reisi clenched his fists and grimaced towards the ground.

"You fool..."

A/N: I'LL RESPOND TO REVIEWS NEXT CHAPTER.

Also I'm so upset because as I was writing this chapter there were plot holes that'll have to rewrite once the first part of this series is over. I certainly don't want to do it while I'm still finishing this up.

I'm sorry, this was more of a filler to get to the actual juicy part. (´ε｀ )

-Maki