“You can go without me.” Shige said, looking up at him. “I’ll catch up with you.”

But Massu moved closer to Shige and peered over his shoulder to stare at what Shige’s looking for. Then he realized that the book belonged to their late foster father, the one who raised the six of them in this school; the book contained nothing but old stories and fairy tales made for young moonchildren. “What are you looking for?”

“A story,” Shige said, flipping through the pages. “My mother used to tell me about this story but I forgot how it goes. I only remembered that it tells something about a woman with red wings...”

“You mean the Tale of the Two Sisters?”

“You know about it too?”

Massu nodded. “It’s the grimmest children story ever. My grandmother loved to frighten us with that story, telling us in great detail how one of the girls died-“

“Massu,” Shige’s urgent voice cutting through his babble, “tell me what the story is about.”

“The two sisters fell in love with the same guy,” Massu said in a very plain tone. “And the older one got jealous and killed her sister.”

“Nice,” Shige said, sighing. “You could have at least put a little more detail in it.”

Massu blinked at him as if he didn’t understand what he meant. Shige sighed again and explained: “what about the red wings?”

“Oh, after the older girl killed her sister, the Heavens got angry and punished her.” Massu said, shuddering. “The Heavens turned her into an ugly woman, changed her beautiful wings into an ugly red and forever, she won’t be able to use her powers anymore.”

Shige frowned at the book and chewed his lower lip.

“Why are you asking Shige?” Massu asked. “Is it about the man you saw last night?”

But before Shige could answer him, Koyama burst in the library, making the librarian to jump in shock. Koyama totally ignored her, which was very unusual, and head right next to them. Massu stood up, suddenly wide alert, when he saw the look in Koyama’s face. Shige’s mouth opened to speak but before he could utter a sound- “It’s Naomi.” Koyama whispered so the librarian wouldn’t hear.

“Where?” Massu asked. He didn’t need to ask what happened, he already knew; the enemy got them again.

“Ryo brought her in my room and Yamapi was already attending to her.” Koyama said. “But,” he added fearfully, “she’s poisoned. We need to get Masami.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Massu glanced at his wrist watch; it’s almost 30 minutes past 2 in the morning, and they were all still awake. He was sitting beside Koyama’s big cabinet, Shige at his side. Koyama was standing by the window, crooning softly to a small brown bird perched on the window sill while Tegoshi was huddled in the corner, looking very small and scared as he watched Ryo walked around the room. One look at Ryo and Massu understood why Tegoshi looked so scared, Ryo’s jaw and fists were clenched, and his body taut with controlled anger which becoming more and more pronounced at the passing seconds. Every now and then he would glare at the bed, where Naomi was lying, checking if there’s a progress in her condition.

Yamapi sat in the chair beside the bed, holding Naomi’s hand; continuously healing her while Masami sat at the other side of the bed, tending to the wound. Erika was sitting next to Masami, whispering words that Massu didn’t understand. The silver orb in her hand was glowing very brightly.

They were like this for the past twelve hours and from what Massu can see Naomi’s condition still didn’t change. Her face was still pale and her lips were blue. The poison that got Naomi was powerful and magical and Yamapi can’t fully heal her while the poison was still in her system. And that’s what Masami and Erika were doing right now, taking the poison out of her body.

“WHAT?”

They all jumped when Koyama suddenly yelled, even the bird on the window sill squawked at his outburst. Koyama caught the bird in his hands and crooned to it, and the bird replied with a series of chirping that only he could understand. Then suddenly the bird flew from his hands and circled above Yamapi’s head, making urgent and frightened sounds. Then it flew back to Koyama, settling on his shoulder and gave one final chirp.

“What was that?” Ryo asked.

Koyama stared at them with an incredulous look in his face. “My friend here,” he gestured to the bird on his shoulder, “saw what happened to Naomi and it said that it was Yamapi who threw a poisoned knife at her.”

“What?” Ryo and Yamapi both exclaimed.

“But he was here,” Ryo said, pointing at Koyama’s bed. “He slept here the whole day and never left this room-“

“It’s obvious.” Shige quietly said, “It’s Aoi.”

Ryo stared at Shige with dark blank eyes as his words finally sink in. He swore loudly and started to pace around the room again.

“That girl is really dangerous.” Masami said as she opened a jar of ointment on her lap with one hand and bent to salve Naomi’s wound with it.

“I hope someone would soon kill her.” Erika said, gripping the silver orb more tightly in her hand. “When I get the chance, I’ll personally do it.”

“Guys, that’s not all.” Koyama said.

Massu held his breath and felt the rigidity of Shige’s body beside him. Based on Koyama’s expression, this one was more serious.

“My little friends said that after Yamapi- I mean Aoi, threw a knife at Naomi, she also took someone with her, one of the students here in this school.”

“Who?” Shige asked.

Koyama made some soft strange sounds to the bird but the bird chirped only once.

“What?” Ryo growled impatiently.

“My little friend doesn’t know who it was.” Koyama said grimly, “but it was a girl.”

Ryo swore at the same time that Shige asked. “Is it Ayu again?”

“No,” for the first time in that evening Tegoshi spoke. His face was deathly white as he looked at Yamapi.

“It must be Maki.” Yamapi muttered darkly.

Erika jumped to her feet. “I’ll go check the dorms.” She said and before they could say anything else she was out of the room, her feet pounding on the corridor.

Ryo sat on Erika’s vacated chair, his shoulder slumped as he lowered his head in his hands. Shige closed his eyes, slowly pounding his head against the wall and Koyama continued to croon softly to the bird, probably asking for something. Tegoshi’s and Yamapi’s expressions were unfathomable, though Tegoshi looked so pale.

Then after a long while, Masami straightened in her seat and gave a sigh of relief. She nodded at Yamapi: “the poison’s gone,” and Yamapi continued to hold Naomi’s hand until the wound finally healed.

“That poison was so powerful. I don’t know how that girl did it.” Masami said, wiping her face with her sleeve. “The maiden… Erika… said that a dark spell was mixed with that poison and it nearly destroyed her body,” she said gesturing at Naomi. Then she gave a wan smile when she noticed that Ryo was looking at her. “Don’t worry, she will be alright. I’ll stay here until she wakes up.”

Ryo sighed in relief.

“If you want to rest, you can use my room.” Shige suggested, slowly rising to his feet.

Masami gave him a tired but grateful smile. She too, stood up and then turned to Yamapi. “If there’s something I could do to help your… human friend, just call me okay?”

Yamapi nodded and Shige escorted her out of the room.

No one spoke for a long time; everyone was waiting for Erika to get back or for Naomi to wake up… the silence was only broken by the birds’ chirping and Koyama’s soft sounds.

After a long while, they heard Koyama swore under his breath. Tegoshi and Yamapi looked at him, both were alarmed.

“They,” Koyama said, pointing to the new birds that were now perching on the window sill, “didn’t know where Aoi went to. They tried to follow but that girl was too fast for them.”

All the remaining colors in Tegoshi’s face were gone, his hands forming into a fist.

“It’s okay.” Yamapi said in a strange calm voice. “You’ve done all that you could, leave the rest to us.”

“Pi,” Ryo said warningly but Yamapi ignored him.

A moment later, Erika came back to the room, hair flying everywhere and breathing hard. Massu saw the panic slowly forming in her silver eyes as she confirmed them their worst fears. “Maki’s not in her room, and I can’t find her anywhere in this school.”

They all turned their heads to stare at Yamapi, whose face remained as calm as before… so dangerously calm that it scared Massu. Then Massu noticed that Yamapi’s hands were balled into a fist, so hard that the knuckles turned white.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just as the long night ended and the sun was rising up in the sky, Naomi stirred and a groan came from her lips. Ryo rushed to her side. She opened her eyes, seemed to recognize him and groaned again.

“Maki,” Naomi gasped, her hand clutching Ryo’s arm. “She got Maki.”

“We know.”

“And that girl said… she said Yamapi must come and get Maki alone.”

“Where?” Yamapi demanded.

“To the place where you first found Aoi,”

“No!” Ryo shouted. “No Pi, you can’t go there-“

“I will.” Yamapi said.

“We barely escaped the last time and you’re not going back to that place.”

“I. Will.”

“Where is it?” Tegoshi asked.

“In Tartarus.” Ryo said.

“What?” Koyama, Shige and Massu exclaimed. Naomi looked bewildered while Erika scrambled to her feet. “Let one of us goes there in your stead then. You cannot take dangerous risks like these-“

But Yamapi sent her a silencing glare that made even Koyama to flinch in fear. Shige wasn’t as easily shut up. “We could accompany you…”

“No!” Yamapi said, “She wants me and only me.”

“But Pi,” Ryo began.

“I will go.” Yamapi said with such finality that it silenced Ryo. “I will go alone and nobody can stop me.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So he’s been there before.” Shige suddenly said.

Massu glanced up at him. From beside him, Koyama gave a loud snore, his head resting on Massu’s shoulder. They didn’t go to class that day, not with the problem they’re facing now.

Yamapi went out earlier and Ryo followed him, still trying to persuade him to not to go. Erika and Tegoshi left the room half an hour ago, where they’re now and what they were doing, Massu didn’t know.

“Who?” Masami asked, putting a bowl of soup on the bedside table. Naomi smiled at her gratefully.

“Yamapi,” Shige said. “He and Aoi first met in Tartarus right? Why did he go there? What did he do? Moonchildren shouldn’t go to that place.”

“What is Tartarus?” Naomi asked as she lifted her body from the bed, “seems like something that comes from a mythology…”

“It’s just what we call the place.” Masami gently said. “Hollow People used to live there but when the Royal Family died, they left it and started to freely roam our land. The place where they had neither sun nor moon.”

“What do you mean; they had neither sun nor moon?”

“I don’t know.” Masami said, shrugging. “No one can really tell what or where it is but it’s a magical place, full of dark spell, I heard. Easy to get in but you have to offer a life to get out.”

“Offer a life?” Naomi asked. “You mean…”

“Someone must die to make that place let you out.”

“And Maki’s in there…” Naomi’s voice was scarcely a breath.

"And Yamapi wanted to follow," Shige muttered darkly. "Going there once and escaping is a lucky chance but going there the second time is like a suicide attempt..."

Massu carefully moved Koyama's body towards the other end of the sofa, then he stood up; he can't bear the dark atmosphere in this room anymore. "I'm going to eat. Anyone here wants me to get some food?"

They all shook their heads. "I don't feel like eating," Shige said. "I've already had my breakfast," Masami said.

Massu glanced at the sleeping Koyama. "Don't bother," Shige said. "He wouldn't wake up until noon."

Massu nodded at them and left the room. Most of the students were at the school right now and the whole dormitory was so quiet that his footsteps were echoing in the corridors.

The first thing that Massu saw when he slipped past the dormitory's front doors was the huge white clouds racing on the flawless blue sky. The school grounds were so quiet and serene that it was not hard to hear the pair of voices that were arguing.

"... you can't do spells there," Massu heard Tegoshi's voice, "and you're gift is useless in that place. Stay here."

Massu followed where his voice was coming from and it led him to the back of the dorm. Tegoshi's back was to him but he could see Erika's face which looked anxious and scared. "I wouldn't let you go to that place..."

"Like hell you will." Tegoshi snapped at her. "You want me to stay here and let that woman hurt Maki?"

"Yamapi is going there to save her right? And Aoi wants him alone, there's no need for you to follow-"

"And what if the two of them don't come back?!" Tegoshi said angrily. "What will happen to us if we lose them both?"

"And you're going to sacrifice yourself for them?" Erika said shrilly. "Are you nuts? Let me be the one to go there instead-"

"You know between the two of us, you're the one who could take care of Maki the most-"

"No!" Erika said. "I wouldn't let-"

"I said STAY HERE!"

Erika went silent at once and Massu saw that her eyes were unfocused...

Tegoshi put his hands on top of her head. "You're going to stay here and when Maki comes back, you're going to take care of her and do the rest of our plans. Got it?"

Erika nodded; her eyes were wide open; staring straight ahead of her and her face was completely blank. Tegoshi dropped his hands to his sides; his whole body was shaking... "Now go back to your dorm and rest. Later, you will wait for Maki at the gates, okay?"

Erika nodded again; she turned and began to cross the grass, walking as if she was in a dream.

Massu waited until Erika disappeared from view, then he spoke: "Tegoshi."

Tegoshi jumped at the sound of his voice and he looked wildly around. "You heard everything?" he whispered when he saw him.

Massu calmly nodded. "So, you're planning to go. Yamapi-kun will get mad if he learns about it though."

"I'm not planning to tell him." Tegoshi said casually, scuffing his shoe on the ground, though Massu saw that he was eyeing him warily. "I'm going to follow him secretly."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

Tegoshi stared at him, looking stunned. "But Massu, it's dangerous..."

"It would raise the chances of saving Maki right?" Massu said. "From what I heard, it seemed like you would do anything just for her."

"Aren't you going to ask me?" Tegoshi demanded.

"Ask you what?" Massu murmured.

"About Maki. About why I would do this for her. About the things that you heard."

"Do you want me to?" Massu countered softly.

When Tegoshi didn't answer him, Massu moved closer to him and rested his hands on Tegoshi's shoulder, looking at him straight in the eye. "I'm your best friend and I can feel what's happening to you. Ever since that Maki came here, I know she's special to you. Secrets should never be told until their time and if you think it's not the right time for me to know, then don't. I know that when you're ready, you will tell it to me, right?"

Tegoshi looked like he didn't know whether to cry or to laugh. "Thank you," he said, his eyes were shining when he looked up at him.

"But," Massu said after a long moment. "How are we going to follow Yamapi-kun without him knowing about it? And when will he go?"

"Who's going to follow Yamapi?" a voice said.

They both turned around and saw Ryo walking towards them and looking from one to the other.

Massu could feel Tegoshi's body stiffening beneath his hands. He took his hands away from Tegoshi's shoulders and faced the older man. "The two of us," Massu said.

"Why?"

"We can't just let our Prince to go there all alone, can we?"

Ryo's black eyes flickered to Tegoshi then back to him again. "He's going to leave this afternoon." he said silently.

"Why are you telling this to us?" Tegoshi asked.

"Because I'm going with you." Ryo said. "If I can't make him stay here then he can't stop me from following him."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The bell rang, signaling their first break.

Ayu stood up, swinging her bag to her shoulder. Around her conversations buzzed as her classmates gathered their things and head towards the door. She sighed when she passed by Tegoshi’s empty chair, even his friends, Massu and Kato were absent today. She bit her lips, wondering what they were doing right now; was Tegoshi’s illness got worse and they have brought him into a hospital?

Ayu walked down the hallway, thinking of visiting the clinic to see if Tegoshi was still there when someone grabbed her hand and pulled her into an empty classroom. The door closed gently behind them and when Ayu looked up, she saw Tegoshi peering down at her through his bangs.

“Hello,” Tegoshi said, brushing his hair to the side.

That tiny action took her breath away but Ayu recovered herself quickly to ask: “You’re now okay?”

“Yes,”

Then Ayu stared at his clothes, jeans, t-shirt and a jacket; definitely not their uniform. “If you’re okay, why didn’t you go to class?”

“Because I’m going somewhere,”

“Eh?” Ayu’s eyes snapped back to his face again. “Where? Shouldn’t you be resting? You might suffer a relapse…”

“I’m okay.” Tegoshi said. “I’m just going to do something important but before I go. I just wanted to thank you for what you did to me the other night.”

“You dragged me here just to say that?”

Tegoshi smiled softly at her and the next thing she knew, he was hugging her. Though utterly confused and surprised, Ayu closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment, the warmth of his body, the weight of his arms around her, the sweet smell of his perfume and the soft beatings of his heart next to her own.

“Take care of yourself okay?” Tegoshi whispered in her hair. Ayu opened her eyes; she didn’t like the tone of his voice...

Then Tegoshi released her and patted her head. “Be a good girl okay. No more secret ventures in Boy’s Dormitory at night.”

Ayu raised an eyebrow at him. How did he know about that?

Tegoshi started to move towards the door, but Ayu caught the end of his sleeve. “You’re coming back right?”

There was a lengthy hesitation before he spoke. “Why are you asking me that?”

“Because you’re acting weird,” Ayu said, still gripping the edge of his sleeve as if that could stop him from leaving. “You hugging me and saying those things, it’s as if you’re not coming back.”

Tegoshi caught the hand on his sleeve, squeezing it tightly in his hand and then he stepped forward and pressed a soft kiss on her lips. “I’ll be back,” he whispered and he was gone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The door closed with a soft ‘thud’ and that sound woke her up from the shock of that sudden kiss.

Ayu pulled the door open and rushed outside, looking at left and right but Tegoshi was nowhere in sight.

As she passed by one of the windows, she spotted Tegoshi outside, walking across the school grounds.

“How did he get there so fast?” Ayu said, dashing to the nearest staircase.

By the time she reached the school’s front doors, she was nearly out of breath but then Ayu saw him again so she continued to run. She did not dare to call out and he was too far ahead to hear her coming. Ayu hid behind the trees and moved closer just as when Tegoshi joined Massu and Ryo at the gates.

“Masami decided to stay to help Koyama and Shige guard the school.” Came Ryo’s voice. “Jin will also be coming this afternoon.”

“What about Naomi?” Tegoshi asked.

“Hokuto will come later and fetch her,” said Ryo and he was gone, rounding around the corner towards the main road, without so much as a backward glance to see whether the other two followed him.

Tegoshi and Massu exchanged quick glances before they followed Ryo.

Ayu emerged from the trees; she dared not to follow them, instead she stood at the gates and watched them leave until they disappeared from sight. “Kato and Koyama guarding the school?” she whispered to herself, “what did he mean by that? And where’re they going?”

She was about to head back to the school when a voice spoke behind her.

“Excuse me?”

She turned around and saw a good looking guy in glasses carrying a large luggage walking towards her.

“Excuse me?” the guy repeated again. “Is this- is this Saiwa Daigaku?”

When Ayu nodded they guy let out a big sigh of relief. “Thank god, I’ve been looking for this school for hours...”

“Are you a new student?”

“Ah me? Yes, I- oh God!” A seam had split on his bag, spilling books and clothes to the ground. Ayu crouched down to help him gathered his things. “Thank you... sorry... thank you...” the guy said frantically, cramming his things back to his bag again.

As Ayu stretched out a hand to pick a forgotten book on the ground, the guy also reached for it at the same time and it resulted with her snatching his hand instead. Then it happened...

Something in the very atmosphere changed the moment she touched his skin. Her head grew light and then there was a dreamlike sensation of floating...

“Miss?”

With a gasp, she blinked her eyes and saw the guy was peering anxiously back at her. She was now standing to her feet and all of his things were back in his bag now... without even remembering how it happened.

“Miss, are you alright?” the guy asked.

“Y-yes, I’m alright.” She said. What the hell happened to her?

“Thank you for helping me but I have another favor to ask, can you tell me where the main office is? I need to talk to the principal.”

After Ayu told him where it was, the guy gave a faint smile. “Toma,” the guy held out a hand. “Ikuta Toma. Thanks again for helping me.”

“Ayu,” she smiled as she reached for his hand and had to stifle a gasp; his hand was strangely cold.

“Ayu,” he said. “Nice meeting you. I’ll see you in school.”

She watched him walked away.

Then she noticed a strange thing lying on the ground, exactly to the place where the guy spilled his things. Ayu bent to pick it up and stared at it.

There, lying on the whiteness of her palm was a bright red feather.