The Wind Sees Daisy – Chapter 11

This is a fanfiction by Doughnut Gunso.

“Oh, my God!” cried Risa, who was peeking at the entrance of Deep Field Weaponry from across the street. “He took her hand and they went in!”
“They have a very strange idea of romance,” said Izumi. “Why would they date in an arsenal?”
“You don’t understand, do you, Izumi?” demanded Miki. “This makes perfect sense for Hina! I could say that a shining sword would make Hina happier than a frilly dress! This guy has done the research! This guy has done the calculation! This is unforgivable! This is unforgivable!!”
“Calm down, Miki! It is not the time to get mad about this!” said Risa, as she could almost see steam coming out of Miki’s head. “The most important thing now is to record every single move of their date!”
“Unforgivable! Unforgivable!” Miki kept on mumbling as if she could not hear Risa. Izumi and Risa had no choice but to drag her to the entrance. A guard came forward and stopped the girls.
“No unauthorized entrance,” said the guard. “Please leave.”
“As expected,” said Miki bitterly.
“Then what do we do?” asked Izumi.
“Let’s just wait here,” suggested Risa. “We can resume filming once they come out from that building.”

*

Kyosuke showed Hinagiku around the first floor of the building, where there were many weapons displayed in the showcases. Hinagiku looked at the weapons with great interests, quite forgetting that Kyosuke was still holding her hand.
As the young master of the business, all the staff members stood up and greeted Kyosuke as he passed by. None of them paid any attention to Hinagiku, although one or two female staff members exchanged words in each others’ ears.
“Oh, look! That must be the girlfriend of our young master!”
“She is beautiful, isn’t she?”
“She seems to like our products! Isn’t that odd for a girl?”
“Maybe that’s exactly what the young master likes in her!”
“Come on…”

Hinagiku did not hear a single word. “This is amazing!” she said to Kyosuke instead. “These are fine weapons. I could see why the military buy weapons from you.”
Kyosuke chuckled. “Yes, indeed. We make good fortunes from doing business with the military, but this is only a part of our business.” He led her to an elevator. “What I want to show you is in the basement.”
“The basement?” asked Hinagiku, surprised. “Is there any secret weapon in this building?” She was under the impression that there would always be secret weapons in the basement of arsenals.
“Well, it indeed is a secret weapon… against a specific person,” said Kyosuke. Hinagiku frowned at the ambiguity of his words. She noticed the uncomfortable feelings in her hand again.
“Can you let go my hand, please?” she asked, as she became more and more embarrassed.
“I am sorry about that, Hina,” said Kyosuke, and he let go her hand. “I apologize.”

The elevator door opened and they arrived at a considerably darker hall. Hinagiku gaped at the display: Ancient swords, armour, helmets… all were extremely valuable antiques. Hinagiku had the feeling that, if these items were to put on sales, Nagi and Athena were the only people who could afford the price.
“Impressive, isn’t it?” asked Kyosuke. “As you can see, my family trade valuable antiques as well. You can’t imagine how crazy people can get when they are bidding for the items they want, but we make huge money out of their craziness.”
Hinagiku did not comment.
“You see, the basic concept of a dealer is simple: to find and to sell. Recently I spotted a very interesting item, which I am sure would break our record selling price.” He turned to Hinagiku. “And the item is the Shirosakura sword which you own.”

“What do you want?” demanded Hinagiku, who took a step backward as she realized what Kyosuke’s intention was.
“Name a price,” said Kyosuke simply. “As your friend, I am willing to pay whatever amount you want for the sword.”
Hinagiku shook her head. “I am sorry, Fukada-kun, but Shirosakura is not for sale,” she said very firmly.
Kyosuke raised his eyebrows. “Is there any reason for that?” he asked.
“Of course,” said Hinagiku. “I know the power of the sword, and I know how much damage it could bring to the world if it falls into the hands of bad people. If you admit that I am the owner of the sword, then you must know it is a risk I cannot take!”
“I would take the risk if I were you,” said Kyosuke, his face suddenly hardened. “Just imagine how much money you could get by selling the sword to me!”
Hinagiku laughed. “You might not believe it, but money is not what I want.” She paused as she looked into Kyosuke’s eyes. “There are so many things in this world you cannot buy with money, Fukada-kun. My sense of responsibility would be one.”

Kyosuke grinned. “As expected of the Student Council President of Hakuou Academy,” he said. “However, I am sure that there is one thing which you would exchange Shirosakura with.”
He walked towards one end of the hall, and pushed his hand on the wall. Apparently there was a palm scanning device on the wall, and once his hand was scanned, a tunnel appeared from the wall. “Please come over here, Hina,” he said to Hinagiku. “I am going to show you the secret weapon.”
“W – wait!” cried Hinagiku as she hurried to him. She let out a small scream as she saw what was in the tunnel.
It was a small jail, with cells on both sides of the tunnel. About five people were trapped in these cells. Most of them were very skinny, and did not seem to be moving at all. It almost looked as if they were – dead.
Hinagiku looked at Kyosuke. There was much fear, but even more fury, in her eyes. She could not speak – she was too angry to say anything to Kyosuke.
“Please don’t look at me with those eyes, Katsura-san,” said Kyosuke with a smile, as he called Hinagiku “Katsura-san” again. “As weapon dealers we often come across people who are against us, so it is necessary to lock some of them here. Have a closer look at them, please. There is someone you know, I suppose.”
Hinagiku turned her eyes to the cells. When her eyes turned to the third cell, she almost felt that her heart stopped beating. Her whole body trembled as a thought came to her mind…
“It can’t be… It can’t be!”
She rushed towards the cell, grabbed the bars. Tears started pouring down from her eyes as she yelled from the bottom of her heart…
“DAD!! MOM!!!!”

It was indeed Hinagiku’s parents – not the Katsuras, but the Kazamis. They looked nothing like the Kazamis in Hinagiku’s memory, other than their hair colour – Mr. Kazami was blue while Mrs. Kazami was purple. Yet Hinagiku recognized that they were her parents. It had little to do with what she saw from them, but what she could feel from them.
The Kazamis raised their heads very slowly and looked up at Hinagiku. It took them some time before they recognized it was their daughter calling at them. Mrs. Kazami smiled, slowly stretching her skinny hand to touch Hinagiku’s fingers. Hinagiku felt her mother’s hand was icy cold, she could take it no more…
“Mom and dad, please stay back!” cried Hinagiku as she took one step backward. “I am going to save you right now!” She summoned Shirosakura and struck at the cell bars with all her might…
“No, don’t do it!” cried Kyosuke, as he tried to stop Hinagiku, but he was too late – with an almighty clash, Shirosakura was repelled by an invisible barrier. Hinagiku screamed as she was knocked against the wall behind her. Shirosakura fell onto the ground.
“We have installed magnetic barriers to keep these people from jail-breaking! You could have damaged the sword by striking it against the barrier, you fool!” barked Kyosuke as he bent down to check on Shirosakura. To his relief, the sword remained intact. He tried to pick Shirosakura up, but his hand was likewise repelled by the sword. Shirosakura then disappeared into thin air, as if it had fled the scene.
“Very well, I couldn’t just take you away, could I?” He turned to Hinagiku, who was now sitting on the ground with her head down, and did not even make a sound. “Transfer the sword to me, now!” he barked his order, as he grabbed Hinagiku by her wrist and pull her up.
Hinagiku did not say anything.
“It seems that you cannot even think at the moment,” said Kyosuke. “Fine. I will give you some time to make your decision. But make it quick, and don’t be silly enough to call the police! Now, come!” With that, he began dragging Hinagiku out of the jail area.
Hinagiku did not even attempt to struggle. She only managed to hvae a final look at her parents’ faces as she was helplessly pulled away from them. “Dad! Mom!!” she wanted to cry, but no sound came out of her throat.

Kyosuke assumed himself to be Hinagiku’s boyfriend again as they entered the elevator. He took Hinagiku’s hand instead of her wrist, although a red mark became visible around the latter.
Hinagiku had not recovered from the shock in the jail area, but she regained enough awareness to get angry at Kyosuke. She wanted revenge, right there and right then, no matter how insignificant it might be…
“Did you have fun in our basement, Hina?” asked Kyosuke gently, as the elevator door swung open. He was trying to give the staff an impression that he had treated his girlfriend very well.
“Let go,” whispered Hinagiku.
“Pardon?” asked Kyosuke.
“I said, LET! GO!” she shouted very loudly as she shook off Kyosuke’s hand, and – “YOU… IDIOT!!!” – she gave a grand slap to his face.
The floor had become very silent, as every staff member witnessed their young master being slapped by his “girlfriend” and falling to the ground.
“What was that supposed to mean, Hina?” asked Kyosuke as he covered his face with one hand, pretending innocence.
“Don’t you call me Hina! I don’t want to see you ever again!!” shouted Hinagiku, beside herself. Tears began to fill her eyes again. She wanted – and needed – to cry, but she was determined not to show any more weakness to the bastard she had just slapped. She bit her lips to stop herself crying, and ran towards the exit without looking at Kyosuke any more.

Hinagiku ran out of Deep Field Weaponry. She couldn’t do anything at the moment. She could only run.