Kanari stared at the schoolyard's entrance gate, her eyes kept on the ground. She was lost in thought, as she just stared off into nothingness. She  shut her eyes, disappointed in herself, for not being able to face the dark aura that she saw today.

She clenched her fists, and fought back tears, when she heard a voice called out her name. "Hey Kanari-chan!" Ryuji came running up after her, panting hard as he stopped right next to her, then suddenly realized Kanari's expression, and frowned, "A bad day huh?" his voice still had a tone of cheerfulness. 

"Not really..." Kanari responded, her face tilting upwards, "It's been more weird than anything..."

"Want to talk about it Kanari-chan?" he asked her sincerely, and Kanari just shook  her head.

"Nah, it's not too important, I can handle it on my own, it's just been..." she cut herself off, realizing that she was about to say more than what she originally planned, and she smiled at him, "Let's just get going Ryuji-kun!"

And before her blonde haired friend could refute her statements, Kanari headed off towards the train station, and ran after her.

"Hey, wait up!" Ryuji called out towards her, but Kanari just instead waited in front of the subway checkpoint and proceeded to enter the train, only for Ryuji to barely make it onto the train as its doors shut right behind him, and Ryuji let out a sigh of relief. 

"You should really slow down a bit you're going too fast for me Kanari-chan!" he slowly stated in between pants.

"Oh, sorry Ryuji-kun..."

"Anyways, what was all that about? You seemed worried."

"It's nothing really."

"Really?" Ryuji cast a worried look at her, and Kanari looked away from him. "Kanari-chan, what is going on?" he asked her again, this time he leaned over to her, and Kanari felt herself begin to panic a bit because of the invasion of her personal space.

"Yes," Kanari managed to stammer, "It's nothing." She averted her eyes from his and continued to look at the ground, an air of uncertainty filling the gap between them as Ryuji simply leaned back to his original position.

After they had reached their stop, Kanari and Ryuji stepped off of the platform, Ryuji leading ahead of Kanari, who then spoke up, "Ryuji-kun, how's your mother doing?"

Ryuji stopped dead in his tracks, and appeared to think about the question. He the turned his head to look at her, his expression falling. "She's been... Better."

"... I see..."

"Kanari-chan, there is something you need to know," Ryuji began, and Kanari sttared at him, "It's very good news by the way!"

"Really? What is it?" 

"I made it!"  Ryuji turned to meet her gaze, a toothy grin visible as Kanari jumped a little at the volume of his voice.

Kanari took a moment to process his statement, and then recalled a conversation that she and Ryuji had in the break, in which he had told her that he would attempt to make the track team.

Kanari then felt herself smile as she shouted "That's great! When do you start?"

"Next week."

Kanari's smile weakened, and she then asked, "What times?"

"After school, til about six o' clock."

"Oh, I see."

"It ain't that bad though! Look, the coach said that I have a good chance at the competitions, and that I'd do great!"

"Okay, that's great for you!"

"Aw, thanks Kanari-chan!" Ryuji then proceeded to ruffle her carmine red locks, to which annoyed Kanari.

"So I guess this means that we can't hang out as much as we used to anymore, right?"

"I'm afraid so." The duo stopped in front of the familiar dull building that Kanari came to know as her Uncle Suigetsu's home, the place she has to stay in until Kanari had reached adulthood. "Anyways, I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Oh yeah, sure, goodbye!" She waved at her blonde friend goodbye, and he waited outside until he was sure that Kanari was safe inside her house, and she glanced out the window, where she saw Ryuji walk off in the direction of his house. 

"I'm home!" she called out to a seemingly empty lounge room.

She then turned around and saw her uncle. "Ah, you're back." his gleeful voice responded back at her. Kanari smiled at him.

Her uncle had carmine red hair as well, except his was natural, as Kanari chose the color so she could appear to be related to him. He was dressed in his normal white T-shirt, which was a bit tight fitting over his rather defined body, and he wore a pair of faded jeans that had a hole on one of the knees. He also wore a pair of combat boots, and to top it all off, he had a set of dog tags in a chain from when he was in the army.

"How was your first day of school?" He tilted his head over  to her as he smiled at her.

"It was great, but a bit on the boring side."

"I heard that Ryuji came over this morning," Kanari tensed at this, "How's he doing??"

"He said that he's fine, and he..." she trailed off.

"How'd he find the color choice?"

"He thought that it didn't suit me," Kanari grabbed a bit of her dyed hair, "That I shouldn't have done it at all..."

"At least with that color, you really look related to me!" her uncle shot her a toothy grin, and Kanari couldn't help but smile, her eyes shut, reluctant to see the aura that surrounded her uncle yet again. "Just like your mother." he breathed out,and both of their smiles fell.

"Do you... Miss her?" Kanari asked after a brief moment of silence, her hands clenching tighter.

"Of course I do, she was my younger sister after all!" He stood up and walked over to a bookshelf, where he grabbed a picture. Kanari followed suit, and she peered over to the side of him to get a good look at the picture.

The small picture was of Kanari when she was about three years of age, sitting on the lap of her mother, with her father on her right, and her uncle on the left. Everyone was smiling happily, as if they didn't have any care for the world at that moment. Her mother had the familiar carmine red hair color that her uncle possessed, except that it was a bit curlier than her brother, and her features were rather sharp in contrast to Kanari's more well-rounded features. Her mother's eyes were the same bright green that reminded Kanari of her left eye. Her father, on the other hand had dark brown hair that stopped at his ears, and he possessed a set of dark brown orbs to match. Her uncle looked the same however. But Kanari just stared at the photo of her younger self. 

Kanari couldn't really recall that day, but back then she was extremely cheerful, and she even showed off her two eyes, and she gave a worried look as she reached out and touched the smooth glass  with one hand while touching the patch over her eye with the other hand. And her younger self showed off her natural wavy white hair that reached past her back. 

"How about you Kanari?" he inquired.

Kanari glanced over at her uncle before replying, "I miss her too."

The next few weeks were rather boring, and Kanari got a part-time job at the local convenience store, to which she found to be a bit relieving, as she didn't have to worry about too much time, and her uncle rather enjoyed the fact that Kanari was participating in an "extracurricular activity". And she noticed that Ryuji was being a bit more secretive about his practices, and that...

Kind of hurt her to be honnest.

The final bell rang loudly throughout Shujin Academy, and Kanari was gathering her stuff, getting ready to leave, she spotted her blonde friend walking down the school hallway, presumably to his practice, and Kanari ran after him, calling out "Hey! Ryuji-kun wait up!"

Her blonde haired friend stopped in his tracks and turned his head to meet her panting as she stopped to the side of him. 

"What's up?" he asked her, "You seem-"

"Worried is the least of what I'm feeling right now." Kanari's voice was slightly louder than she intended, and a tone of annoyance was laced in it.

"Really, is it now?" Ryuji's voice matched hers, "Because if you really want to discuss this, I'd rather do it in a more..." he glanced around, "Private place, where nobody else can hear, okay?" he seemed to calm down, but Kanari's mood was still sour.

"Fine," she started, "I'll come back after you're done with practice then." She then turned away and began to stomp off.

"No, don't-"

"See you after practice!" she cut him off, and headed off to the convenience store.

After she was done with work, she checked the clock for the time. 'Huh, it's 8:30, he should be done by now.' She then left to go back to the main gate of the school. 

As she waited by the main gate, she pulled out her phone and began to play random games on it. 

She couldn't tell for how long she was playing the game, but then she heard, rather felt someone's presence near her. She looked up to see what it was.

And she immediately regretted it.

Just like what she saw on the first day of school- the dark aura encompassing s single man, who appeared to be in the middle of a conversation with another person. And the connective tendrils that latched onto the students. And as she looked over to them all, the worst possibility became a reality.

Her best friend Ryuji, was attached to the tendrils. When Ryuji stopped next to her, he had a puzzled expression on his face, but when he was about to bring it up, she cut him off.

"I'm still mad at you." came her statement.

"Hey, I said not in public okay?" Ryuji replied, a bit quiet.

Kanari then realized the hilarity of her actions. "Fine, then let's go." Ryuji reluctantly nodded and they began to walk to the nearby park.

Once they had reached there, Kanari spoke. "Sorry for my rudeness, but you can't just go and pretend that I don't want to know what you're doing!"

"I'm sorry okay! It's just that.." he trailed off, and he took a stone and skipped it on the pond's surface, managing a good five skips.

"Just what?"

"... I've been working hard."

"On?"

"You know what!"

"Really? Then you don't mind if I tag along then do you?"

"Actually, I would mind if you did."

"Really? Why's that?"

"For no particular reason." He turned his head away from her and huffed.

"Afraid that I'll snuff out the lie?" she was provoking him at this point.

"What?" he stammered, "No!"

"Then why does it bother you?" Kaari smirked at him.

"Fine then! Tomorrow, I'll ask coach."

"Text him. Now."

"Why?" 

"Because this is important, because I want to know if my friend is being trustworthy!"

"Fine then!" He angrily seethed out and pulled out his phone. She watched as he furiously typed his coach and hit send.

"See, was that hard?~"

He crossed his arms as he muttered "I hate you sometimes."

"Eh, that may be, but you're stuck with me. Remember, I'm still your best friend last time I checked." 

There was a loud 'DING!', and Kanari looked at his phone. "Looks like your coach is okay with it after all!" she smiled.

"It says tomorrow only, will you be okay wi-" Ryuji's question was cut short by Kanari leaning over and wrapping her arms around him, and his face flushed red.

"Thanks!" Kanari pulled away suddenly, and then stood up, and checked her watch, "They're still open."

"What?"

"I'll see you tomorrow Ryuji-kun!" She then ran off and got on the subway train, and headed off towards her workplace.

She glanced over the aisles of various products until she found the clothing section. She peered over the clothing until a particular item caught her eye, and she quickly purchased it, and went on her way.

Even though it was only the next day, Kanari couldn't calm herself from the excitement that she felt, as she was going to figure out what was going on with her blonde haired friend.

The final bell rang, and Kanari felt her phone vibrate, and she pulled it out.

It was from Ryuji, who texted her "Hey, you do know where I practice, right?"

Kanari immediately replied "Yeah, but I wanna give you something before hand, so meet me by the courtyard."

It took a bit before Ryuji replied with "Sure, I'll be there shortly." And Kanari sighed, as Ryuji was a bit of a picky person when it came to meeting up with her of all people. After all, they were best friends since childhood, so Kanari found it weird that this was the case.

Kanari then walked into the courtyard, and patiently waited for her blonde friend, who arrived shortly after. "You ready?" he asked her, nervousness creeping into his tone.

"Why wouldn't I?" she replied, before handing Ryuji a package, "Here, for you."

Ryuji shot her a questioning look, and Kanari just nodded her head, "Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yes I am silly!" she clapped his back and Ryuji stumbled a bit before Kanari replied "Sorry."

He just shook his head in response while just replying "Let's just go."

It didn't take too long before the duo reached the track, where Kanari froze. Looking forward, she saw the same man in which she was afraid of the aura. His dark raven hair curled and it gave the man the appearance of an old fashioned hair dresser that  happened to be well built.

The man looked over in her direction, and he smiled at her and waved. Kanari reluctantly returned his cheerful greeting. "Hey," came her friend's voice, "You okay?"

Kanari was dragged away from her thoughts and she looked at Ryuji, and she could tell that he was worried.

But she couldn't tell for who. And that scared her a bit.

The practice seemed normal at first, they stretched out for about five minutes, and then the coach appeared to hand off the reins to the other man, who appeared to push them too hard, and Kanari could tell even from a distance that the students weren't happy.

In fact, they appeared to fear this man, and Kanari agreed with them. And the more she watched, the more she came to regret it.

At around 7:00, Kanari glanced up from her phone to see that Ryuji and several other students were approaching her, seemingly for a water break, and she began to panic. "Hey, guys," Ryuji began after he noticed her panicking form, "I'll be going now." And he proceeded to walk over to her.

"How's practice?" she asked innocently, and Ryuji didn't respond.

He then cleared his throat and grumbled what Kanari thought was "This isn't practice, not with him." Kanari stared at him, and he then spoke clearly "It's going to be tougher today than usual, and we might be later than usual, so you can head on home."

"Why's that?"

And before Ryuji could speak, Kanari heard someone yell for Ryuji to go back to them. "Ah, you should head back."

Ryuji frowned at her before replying "Fine, just promise me that you'll go." And with that, he walked back, leaving Kanari with more questions than answers.

And she regretted not going home after he said that, because as she sat there, the man whom of which she was afraid of approached her, and Kanari froze. "Hello, what brings you around here today?" he asked her.

"Oh, nothing really." she responded.

"What's your name? I recognize you, but I haven't really seen you around, do you go here?"

"Ah, yes I do actually," Kanari said, realizing that she was wearing her sweater over her uniform, "I'm Sutsunomi, Sutsunomi Kanari."

"Well, it's nice to meet you Sutsunomi-san. I'm Mr. Suguru Kamoshida, the new volleyball coach." He held out is hand.

"Oh, it's nice to meet you Kamoshida-sensei." Kanari took his hand and shook it.

"Well, anyways, I'll be heading off." he smiled at her and she was worried. For everyone, as she felt his aura when he was close, and she didn't like it. It felt heavy, and she felt her eyes widen as she for a moment thought she saw a tendril attempt to connect to her, but reeled back. 

And she swore that she felt Ryuji glare at the teacher.

It wasn't long after that Kanari heard a commotion, and she looked up from her phone, and her fears and thoughts were affirmed.

This Kamoshida-sensei was a terrible man.

He was hitting one of the students for supposedly "Not trying hard enough" and that he'd "Be an example", and it made Kanari sick to the stomach. She immediately turned off her phone, and attempted to stand up, but immediately hesitated. What if she couldn't mediate the situation enough? Or what if she downright failed at what she would attempt?

What if she made it worse?

These were the questions that ran through her head as she watched the scene unfold.

She then immediately stood up, and ran over to the group, stopping only when she was close enough to see the damage done- 

The poor kid was riddled with bruises, and his face was already swelling, and Kamoshida-sensei just stood there, staring at the kid as if he were the scum of the earth.

"What did he do wrong?" Kanari's voice rang out before she could collect her rational thoughts.

Kamoshida-sensei just turned around and stared at her, "You know," he began, "I thought I recognized you. You mother was one of my classmates, wasn't she?"

Kanari's eyes widened, as he continued, "I recognize that hair color. Your family is well known for their carmine red hair, as well as their keen intelect. You though, if I recall correctly, have inherrited something rather... Different." Kanari just stared at this man in horror- She did recall her mother reminding her of a classmate once before- he led Japan's Men's Volleyball Team to victory in the Olympics once. But why he was at a school teaching volleyball in a more sinister way seemed to allude her thoughts.

"This isn't right! Harming students, especially when they're doing their best, isn't logical!"

Kamoshida just scowled at her. "As much as you say so, the school, or rather the parents won't care. Because, as long as I am here, I will push these students to their breaking points!"

"Then-"

"However, as tragic this may seem, it is normal." He emphasized "normal", and Kanari felt her eyes widen.

"N-No..." she stammered, and then it clicked. She finally understood why Ryuji was avoiding her. It was because this man wasn't a man.

He was a monster, and he closely resembled the aura that she saw now, and It made her want to puke.

"But the one I find to be most saddening, is you however." She looked up at him, and he smiled coldly. "It's a shame, your mother had a nice future ahead of her, until that fateful night, when she and your father were tortured, humiliated, and brutally murdered. Right. In front of. You," Kanari froze in fear as he explained, and she felt her exposed eye tear up, "Must've been scary for you, after all, you were left all alone in the world, with everyone affiliated with your parents, telling you that 'It's all your fault' without looking at the scene. Tell me, Sutsunomi-chan, how do you feel that-"

"That's enough!" a new voice broke in, and Kanari flinched in response. And at the same time, she was relieved that Ryuji was there to cut off Kamoshida-sensei's tirade on herself, and at the same time, her worry for her blonde friend only grew.

"Oh? And what will you do about that Sakamoto-kun?" he taunted.

Kanari heard Ryuji swear, and she saw his fists clench.

"And even though she may have a problem childhood, I wouldn't count you out."

"Don't you DARE." Ryuji seethed.

"Oh, but I am. You see, even though Kanari is orphaned, you might as well be an orphan too. With your father walking out on you after all he put you and your mother though. All that abuse, and he didn't even once THINK to repair the damage he caused, and your mother's burden only increased having to take care of you and your siblings. And you think that this will help ease it, what a shame. You-" Kamoshida didn't get the chance to finish, as Ryuji lashed out in a fit of rage as he punched Kamoshida's smirking face.

And Kamoshida then proceeded to grab her friend by the collar, and kneed him in the stomach before slamming him into the ground. 

And Kanari watched, her jaw dropped in horror as Kamoshida then bent Ryuji's leg forward beyond its normal range of motion, and she swore she hear the crack as the bones broke, and Ryuji's screams were heard.

His coach ran over, anger burning in his eyes and he chastised Kamoshida for doing that, to which he replied, "It was just self-defense," before adding, "This team is done for."

The coach just glared at Kamoshida, and he called for somebody to call for an ambulance as Kanari ran over to her friend. She fell to her knees and managed to glimpse Ryuji's tear and pain-stained face.

"A-Are you okay?" Kanari was fighting back tears.

"That jerk!" Ryuji managed, an eye shut tightly, "How dare he-"

"Stop talking and answer the question!" Kanari yelled, tears falling from her eye, "I asked if you're okay?" 

Ryuji looked over to her, and his face softened, realizing that she was crying. "I-I..." he began, before letting more tears fall, "I'm better knowing that you're fine, so please... Don't cry for my sake..."

Kanari gasped in response, and he managed to bring a hand to her shoulder, attempting to soothe her.

And Kanari shut her eyes.

In the aftermath, Kanari rode with Ryuji to the hospital and stayed in his room, only leaving his side once his mother arrived with his siblings, as well as her worried uncle, who took her home.

And even when she was questioned by many people, Kanari couldn't manage to say a single word to anyone about anything. Not about the incident. Not about how she was feeling. Not even about her childhood.

Not even to her uncle. 

Not even to her best friend.

Not when she needed more support than ever.

Notes: Note that this chapter is longer, due to the fact that I wrote a shorter chapter on Knights Of Dundervalia, so a 3,792 word chapter on my first FanFiction!

         Translation Notes: Muishiki no chūi translates to Unwitting Attention, which I think is translated to 無意識の注意