Further Testing
dark heroA knock broke the tension before either sibling could decide what to say.
Rin released Akane reluctantly, although her hands remained upon the girl’s shoulders for a moment longer than necessary. Akane straightened her clothes while the woman’s ears turned towards the door, and the last trace of movement disappeared from her tail.
“Nezu?” Diana called from the corridor. “Segu? Lunch is ready.”
The room changed before she finished speaking.
Rin vanished from beside Akane. Riku disappeared from his place near the wall, and the third presence was gone just as silently. There was no flash, no sound and no visible movement towards any of the doors. One moment, three people occupied the room. The next, only Nezu, Segu and Akane remained.
The door opened a few seconds later.
Diana looked inside, her eyes moving between the three teenagers and lingering briefly upon Segu’s expression. Whatever she found there caused some of her cheerfulness to soften, but she did not ask what they had been discussing.
“I was beginning to suspect that I would have to send a search party.” Her attention settled on Akane. “You are staying for lunch, I hope.”
Akane blinked as though the possibility had not occurred to her. “If I am not imposing.”
“You disappeared for two years and returned without warning. The least you can do is allow me to feed you.”
Akane lowered her head. “Then I would be happy to.”
Diana smiled and stepped back into the corridor. Segu rose from the sofa, still considerably less enthusiastic about lunch than she had probably been before entering the room. She took two steps towards the door before noticing that Nezu had not moved.
He was watching Akane.
“Akane,” he said. “May I speak with you alone first?”
Segu stopped.
Akane’s eyes widened slightly. The request itself was simple, but coming from Nezu, who had never sought privacy unless necessity demanded it, it was unusual enough to leave her momentarily speechless.
“Of course.”
Segu looked from Akane to Nezu and then back again. Suspicion gradually replaced the remnants of anger upon her face.
“What do you need to discuss?”
“If I intended to discuss it with you, I would not have asked to speak with Akane alone.”
“I know what alone means.”
“Then your question is unnecessary.”
Her eyes narrowed. “That does not mean I don’t want an answer.”
“Segu,” Diana called.
“I’m coming.”
She did not move.
Akane’s hand rested beside her leg. Her fingers shifted in a brief, precise sequence, so small that Segu, focused entirely upon her brother, failed to notice it. Nezu did. He had no idea what the gesture meant, but somewhere beyond the walls, three people received an instruction.
The faint awareness he had developed of their presence disappeared.
Not concealed.
Gone.
Akane had not merely permitted his request. She had ensured it.
Segu finally walked towards the door, although she did so backwards for the first few steps, watching them as if one might explain something if she remained persistent enough.
“We will be there shortly,” Nezu told her.
“That sounds suspicious.”
“It is a statement regarding time.”
“That makes it worse somehow.”
Diana caught Segu by the arm and pulled her through the doorway.
“Let your brother have one private conversation.”
“He has never asked for one before.”
“Then perhaps that is why you should let him.”
Segu managed one final look at them before Diana closed the door.
Silence returned to the room.
Akane remained standing near the sofa, her hands now held together in front of her. A few minutes earlier, she had faced Segu’s anger, admitted that she would leave again and apologised for events that had nearly killed all three of them. None of it had made her appear as uncertain as Nezu’s simple request.
“What did you want to speak about?” she asked.
Nezu considered where to begin.
“I have been experiencing an unusual reaction around you.”
Akane became very still.
“An unusual reaction?”
“Yes.”
“Since what happened outside the school?”
“Possibly. I lacked the necessary point of comparison before then.”
He moved closer, not because the conversation required secrecy now, but because observing her from across the room felt strangely insufficient. That sensation belonged among the things he had failed to understand.
Akane watched him approach.
“The first time I identified it clearly was in the girls’ locker room,” he continued.
Colour immediately touched her cheeks.
“The locker room.”
“Yes.”
“Nezu, you entered while we were changing.”
“I am aware. It was an error caused by following the most direct route.”
“I remember.”
“My reaction was not caused by the other girls.”
The colour deepened.
Akane glanced away from him. “You should probably explain what you mean by reaction.”
“My heart rate increased. My breathing changed, although I had not exerted myself, and I experienced a sudden rise in body temperature. Concentration became more difficult. I understood that remaining there was inappropriate, but part of me did not want to leave.”
Akane’s fingers tightened around one another.
“And you were looking at me?”
“Yes.”
The answer came too quickly to allow her any hope of ambiguity.
“I attempted to determine whether it was a delayed response to embarrassment, but that explanation was inconsistent with the evidence. I had already seen you before I understood where I was, and the reaction began then. It also occurred again later, despite you being fully dressed.”
Akane raised one hand to cover part of her face. “That last detail was not necessary.”
“It eliminates a variable.”
“It creates several others.”
Nezu waited, uncertain whether she intended to name them. When she did not, he continued.
“The physical symptoms are relatively easy to explain. They are consistent with attraction.”
Akane slowly lowered her hand.
“You know what attraction is?”
“I researched it.”
“Of course you did.”
“There are multiple biological mechanisms involved. Increased dopamine and norepinephrine levels would explain several of the symptoms, while reduced serotonin may contribute to persistent thoughts concerning a specific person.”
“Persistent thoughts?”
“I think about you frequently.”
Her lips parted, but no words emerged.
Nezu had expected the explanation to become easier once he began. Instead, the pressure inside his chest continued to increase. It was not unpleasant, but it resisted the orderly structure he was attempting to impose upon it.
“The explanation is incomplete,” he said. “Physical attraction should not account for everything else.”
“What else?”
“I was happy when you returned.”
Akane’s expression softened.
“I had already established that,” Nezu continued. “However, I have not determined why your announcement that you must leave again affected me differently from the first time.”
The softness vanished beneath something more fragile.
“How did it affect you?”
“I disliked it.”
A small, sad smile appeared upon her face. “I gathered that much.”
“The first time you disappeared, I knew that something was wrong. Segu was distressed, and your absence created several practical problems, but I did not understand why it should affect me personally. This time, I do.”
Akane waited.
Nezu looked at her and discovered that the words became more difficult when he did.
“I do not want you to leave.”
“I don’t want to leave either.”
“When I believed you might be injured, I was afraid. When you were unconscious, I could not stop checking whether you were breathing, despite knowing that Riku would tell us if your condition changed. When you woke up, the discomfort disappeared immediately. When Rin held you, I understood that she was protecting you, but I still wanted her to release you.”
Akane stared at him.
“I have found individual explanations for each reaction,” he said. “Fear, relief, attachment, jealousy and physical attraction. Considered separately, they are understandable. Considered together—”
He stopped.
“Together?” Akane prompted quietly.
“I am not certain.”
It was not entirely true. He possessed a likely answer. The difficulty lay in saying it without sufficient evidence, particularly when the possibility of being mistaken suddenly seemed intolerable.
Akane stepped towards him.
The distance between them became small enough that Nezu could detect the change in her breathing. Her cheeks remained red, but her eyes no longer avoided his.
“What does your research say?”
“That the combination is generally associated with romantic affection.”
“Romantic affection?”
“Love,” he clarified.
The word remained between them.
Nezu felt his pulse accelerate again. The reaction was immediate and measurable, but possessing the correct term for it provided no control whatsoever.
“I cannot prove that conclusion,” he added. “My recent emotional changes make the available data unreliable, and I do not know whether—”
Akane placed one hand against his chest.
Nezu fell silent.
She could undoubtedly feel the speed of his heartbeat through his shirt. Judging by the small smile forming upon her lips, she had found the evidence he considered insufficient.
“You really researched all of this?”
“Yes.”
“Instead of asking me?”
“I did not know how.”
“And now?”
“I am asking.”
Akane rose onto the tips of her toes and kissed him.
Every prepared thought disappeared.
Nezu remained motionless, his eyes open for the first second because closing them had not occurred to him. Her lips were warm and softer than he had expected, although he had never consciously established an expectation. The hand against his chest curled into the fabric of his shirt while her other hand touched his cheek.
Then she withdrew.
The kiss had lasted only a few seconds.
His body reacted as if something considerably more significant had happened.
His heart struck hard beneath Akane’s palm. Heat spread across his face and down his neck. His breathing paused, resumed incorrectly and then required conscious effort to return to a functional rhythm. Even his thoughts, ordinarily available the instant he required them, refused to arrange themselves into anything useful.
Akane was breathing faster too. Her confidence had survived the kiss, but only barely; her face was red enough to reveal how much courage it had required.
She looked directly into his eyes.
“Does your science explain that?”
Nezu considered the question seriously.
“The physical response appears to involve dopamine, oxytocin and—”
“Nezu.”
“—a reduction in cortisol, although the intensity may also be influenced by—”
Akane kissed him again.
This time, Nezu closed his eyes.
Her hand remained against his cheek as she withdrew, although neither of them moved far enough to restore the distance that had existed between them. Nezu’s thoughts had not recovered. If anything, the second kiss had made organising them considerably more difficult.
Akane searched his face, her own still flushed.
“Do you have enough evidence now?”
Nezu considered the question.
Then he placed one hand against her cheek, leaned forward and kissed her.
Akane made a small sound of surprise before her fingers tightened around his shirt. This kiss lasted longer, not because Nezu understood what he was doing, but because he had finally stopped trying to understand it first.
When he pulled back, Akane stared at him.
Nezu’s heart was still beating far too quickly. His breathing remained irregular, his face felt unusually warm, and the available evidence had done nothing to reduce his desire to kiss her again.
“No,” he said.
Akane blinked. “No?”
“Further testing is required.”
Then he kissed her again.
A sharp knock sounded from the other side of the door.
Akane immediately pulled away.
Nezu looked towards the sound. The knock was too quiet to have come from Diana and too brief to belong to someone requesting permission to enter.
“One of them?” he asked.
Akane nodded. “Someone is coming.”
Footsteps approached through the corridor, quick and considerably less restrained than Diana’s. Segu was evidently unwilling to allow their private conversation to continue much longer.
Akane straightened Nezu’s shirt where her fingers had wrinkled it, then attempted to repair her own appearance. The colour in her cheeks proved rather less cooperative.
“Nezu.”
“Yes?”
“We should keep this a secret.”
He looked at her. “Why?”
“Because Segu will never let either of us live peacefully again.”
“That is probable.”
The approaching footsteps grew louder.
“You cannot tell anyone that we kissed,” Akane said.
“I do not normally disclose private information without a reason.”
“Good.”
“Would further testing also be considered private?”
Akane’s face turned red again.
“Yes. Extremely private.”
The door handle began to move.
Akane opened the door before Segu could.
Segu stopped with one hand still raised towards it, clearly unprepared to find them already leaving the room. Akane stepped into the corridor with a composed smile. Nezu followed immediately behind her, his expression unchanged.
“We were about to join you,” Akane said.
Segu looked at her flushed face.
Then at Nezu.
Then at the room behind them.
“What were you talking about?”
“A personal matter,” Nezu answered.
Segu’s eyes narrowed. “What kind of personal matter?”
“One that is private.”
“That tells me absolutely nothing.”
“Then the answer was effective.”
Akane walked towards the dining room before her composure could fail. Nezu followed her as if nothing unusual had occurred, leaving Segu standing in the corridor and staring after them.
After several seconds, she hurried to catch up.
She had learned nothing.
This did not prevent her from becoming suspicious.
< Previous Next >