Later
dark heroBy the time they returned to the classroom, Segu had managed to restrain herself for almost three minutes.
It was an impressive display of self-control.
Akane had barely sat down when Segu leaned across the gap between their desks.
“So.”
Akane closed her eyes.
“No.”
“I didn’t ask anything.”
“You were going to.”
“I was going to say so.”
“Segu.”
“So you can become invisible.”
Akane opened her eyes again and looked at her.
“Later.”
There it was.
Segu leaned back in her chair with the expression of someone who had just received confirmation of a personal insult.
Nezu sat down beside them and began removing the books he needed for the next class from his bag.
Segu turned immediately.
“You’re being very calm about this.”
“We are in class.”
“She disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“Completely.”
“Yes.”
“In front of us.”
“Yes.”
“And you have nothing to say?”
“I have several questions.”
Segu waited.
Nezu opened his textbook.
“I can ask them later.”
Akane looked visibly relieved.
Segu looked betrayed.
The teacher entered before she could properly express either feeling.
For the next forty-five minutes, Akane discovered that agreeing to answer questions later had been a tactical error.
Segu did not speak during the lesson.
Technically.
She wrote.
The first folded piece of paper appeared beside Akane’s notebook six minutes into class.
Akane stared at it.
Then at Segu.
Segu was looking attentively toward the front.
Akane unfolded it beneath the desk.
How?
She crushed it in one hand.
Seven minutes later, another arrived.
Since when?
That one joined the first.
The third was slightly larger.
Can you make clothes invisible too?
Akane’s pencil stopped.
Slowly, she turned her head.
Segu continued copying from the board with perfect innocence.
Akane wrote something on the bottom of the paper and pushed it back.
Segu unfolded it.
Later.
She stared at the word for several seconds.
Then she took out another piece of paper.
Nezu noticed the exchange from the corner of his eye but chose not to interfere.
The next note reached Akane less than a minute later.
Define later.
Akane didn’t answer.
At the end of class, Segu was already beside her before the teacher had finished leaving the room.
“Now?”
“No.”
“It’s later.”
“Not enough later.”
“That’s not how later works.”
“It is exactly how later works.”
“We’re still at school.”
Segu considered this.
“Fine. Why does being at school matter?”
“Because I’m not discussing this here.”
“Discussing what?”
Akane stared at her.
Segu smiled.
“You haven’t told me what we’re not discussing.”
“You know exactly what.”
“So there is something to discuss.”
Akane’s mouth opened.
Then closed.
Nezu walked past them toward the door.
“That was poorly handled.”
Akane turned on him.
“Whose side are you on?”
Nezu paused.
“I wasn’t aware there were sides.”
“There are now,” Segu informed him.
Nezu considered that information for a moment.
“I’ll remain neutral.”
“Coward.”
“Probably sensible,” Akane muttered.
Segu followed them into the corridor.
She lasted until they reached the stairs.
“Can you turn only part of yourself invisible?”
Akane kept walking.
“Later.”
“Like one arm?”
“Later.”
“Your head?”
“Segu.”
“Would your hair disappear?”
“Later.”
“If someone was holding your hand, would they disappear?”
Akane stopped.
Segu nearly walked into her.
“Later.”
She started walking again.
Segu immediately looked at Nezu.
“Write that one down.”
“I remember it.”
Akane’s shoulders dropped.
“You have a list?”
“Twenty-three questions.”
Akane looked over her shoulder.
“You counted?”
“I had time during class.”
“Twenty-four,” Nezu corrected.
Segu blinked.
“What did I miss?”
“Whether objects she’s touching become invisible.”
Segu pointed at him.
“See? This is why we’re friends.”
Akane stared at both of them.
“You said you could wait.”
“I can.”
“Then why are you helping her?”
“Waiting doesn’t prevent preparation.”
Segu nodded approvingly.
Akane resumed walking.
“You’re both horrible.”
Lunch provided no relief.
Akane deliberately sat opposite Segu rather than beside her.
This proved ineffective.
Segu rested her chin on one hand and watched her eat.
Akane ignored her.
Segu continued watching.
Akane took another bite.
Segu continued watching.
Eventually Akane lowered her chopsticks.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Stop looking at me.”
“I’m checking.”
“Checking what?”
“That you’re still there.”
Nezu stopped eating for approximately one second.
Akane noticed.
“Don’t.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You almost did.”
Nezu returned to his food.
Segu reached across the table.
Akane pulled her hand away.
“What are you doing?”
“Checking if I can feel you when you’re invisible.”
“I’m not invisible.”
“Exactly. We need a control.”
Akane stared at her.
Segu held out her hand.
“Scientific method.”
“No.”
“Nezu.”
“No.”
Segu turned toward him in disbelief.
“You haven’t even heard the question.”
“I know the question.”
“And?”
“You don’t need a control to determine whether you can touch an invisible person.”
Segu lowered her hand.
“Traitor.”
Akane smiled.
It lasted perhaps half a second before Segu noticed.
“Oh, you’re enjoying this now?”
The smile vanished.
“No.”
“You were.”
“I wasn’t.”
“You smiled.”
“You imagined it.”
“Nezu?”
“She smiled.”
Akane kicked him under the table.
Nezu looked down.
Then at her.
“Why?”
“Later.”
Segu nearly choked on her drink.
By the afternoon, Akane had changed strategies.
She stopped saying later.
Segu adapted immediately.
“How did you disappear?”
Silence.
“Can other people do it?”
Silence.
“Could you always do that?”
Akane’s eyes flicked toward her.
Segu caught it.
“Oh.”
Akane immediately realized her mistake.
“Oh, that one got a reaction.”
“It didn’t.”
“It absolutely did.”
“You imagined it.”
“Nezu?”
“I saw it.”
Akane turned toward him.
“You are doing this deliberately now.”
“No.”
“You answered very quickly.”
“The question was simple.”
Segu leaned closer to Akane.
“So you couldn’t always do it?”
Akane picked up her book and walked away.
Segu watched her go.
“That’s not a no.”
Nezu looked toward Akane, then back at Segu.
“You are unlikely to obtain useful information this way.”
“I know.”
“Then why continue?”
Segu looked genuinely surprised by the question.
“Because it’s annoying her.”
Nezu considered that.
“Understandable.”
From several desks away, Akane looked up from her book.
“I can hear you.”
“Good!” Segu called back.
Their classmates had gradually begun paying attention.
None of them had enough context to understand what was happening, but that had stopped mattering sometime around lunch. As far as they could tell, Segu had decided to torment the recently returned transfer student, Nezu had somehow been recruited as an accomplice despite appearing completely uninterested, and Akane was losing a battle she refused to admit she was fighting.
By the final lesson, Segu had accumulated thirty-one questions.
Nezu had corrected the wording of four and added three of his own.
Akane had answered none.
The bell finally rang.
Akane packed her things with unusual speed.
Segu appeared beside her.
“Now?”
Akane zipped her bag shut.
“No.”
Segu’s expression changed.
Akane raised a finger before she could begin.
“We are going somewhere we can talk.”
“So you’ll answer everything there?”
“I’ll explain what I can.”
Segu narrowed her eyes.
“What does what I can mean?”
“Segu.”
“Because that’s different from everything.”
“Segu.”
“And I have thirty-four questions now.”
“You had thirty-one.”
Segu stopped.
Akane stopped too.
Slowly, both of them turned toward Nezu.
He adjusted the strap of his bag.
“Thirty-four.”
Segu smiled.
Akane stared at him in disbelief.
“I thought you were neutral.”
“I am.”
“You’re counting her questions.”
“That doesn’t constitute taking a side.”
Segu hooked an arm around his and started pulling him toward the corridor.
“Come on. We have an interrogation to conduct.”
“It’s not an interrogation,” Akane said, following them.
“It has thirty-four questions.”
“Thirty-five,” Nezu said.
Akane made a sound somewhere between a sigh and a groan.
Segu looked delighted.
The school doors had barely come into view when she turned back to Akane.
“Can you become invisible while sleeping?”
Akane walked straight past her.
“Later.”
Segu grinned.
She had won.
Or at least she believed she had.
The journey to Brown Mansion provided Akane with no relief whatsoever.
Segu had apparently interpreted leaving school as permission to increase the frequency of her questions.
“Can you see yourself when you’re invisible?”
“Later.”
“Do mirrors work?”
“Later.”
“Do cameras?”
“Segu.”
“That’s not later.”
Akane kept walking.
Nezu followed beside them, occasionally looking toward Akane but otherwise allowing Segu to conduct the interrogation she had been promising all afternoon.
There were things he wanted to know as well.
Far more than three questions now.
Akane’s disappearance was only one of them. The impossible weapons he had seen, the enormous door hidden where no such door should have existed, and Akane’s familiarity with all of it had produced considerably more questions than answers.
But Akane had promised an explanation.
Waiting until they reached somewhere private was reasonable.
Segu apparently disagreed with the concept on principle.
“Can you make someone else invisible?”
Akane sighed.
“You already asked that.”
“No. I asked if someone holding your hand would disappear. That’s different.”
Akane glanced toward Nezu.
He nodded.
“It is.”
“Stop helping her.”
“I’m maintaining the list.”
“You don’t have an actual list.”
“I don’t require one.”
That seemed to disturb Akane more than it should have.
By the time the gates of Brown Mansion came into view, Segu had reached forty-two.
Akane looked genuinely relieved to see them.
Segu looked disappointed that the journey had ended.
The gates opened, and the three of them continued along the familiar path toward the mansion.
Nezu glanced back once.
There was nobody behind them.
He looked forward again.
Akane noticed.
She said nothing.
That was added to the list.
The front door opened before they reached it.
Diana appeared in the entrance.
Her attention went first to Nezu, as it always did now.
Then to Segu.
Then she saw the girl walking beside them.
Diana stopped.
Akane did too.
For the first time since leaving school, Segu didn’t say anything.
Two years had passed since Akane had disappeared from their lives, leaving behind questions that none of them had been able to answer. Diana had watched what followed. She had watched her son withdraw further and further into himself until even calling her Mom had disappeared with everything else.
And now Akane was standing in front of her again.
Akane lowered her head.
“Mrs. Brown.”
Diana looked at her for several seconds.
Whatever first response had come to her never made it past her lips.
Instead, she stepped aside.
“Come in.”
Akane hesitated only briefly before entering.
Segu followed her, unusually quiet.
Nezu came last.
Diana’s hand found his shoulder as he passed.
It remained there for a moment.
Nezu looked at her.
She smiled at him.
He smiled back.
Small, but immediate.
Then Diana let him go.
Kuro appeared before they had made it halfway across the entrance hall.
The black cat came trotting around the corner, spotted Nezu and immediately changed direction toward him.
Nezu bent down and picked him up.
Kuro settled against him as though this had been the expected conclusion to his afternoon.
Akane watched the cat for a moment.
Her expression changed subtly.
Kuro stared back at her.
Segu noticed.
“Forty-three.”
Akane looked at her.
“What?”
“Whatever that was.”
“There was no question.”
“There will be.”
Akane sighed.
Diana looked between them.
“Do I want to know?”
“No,” Akane said.
“Yes,” Segu said at exactly the same time.
Diana’s eyebrows rose.
Nezu adjusted Kuro in his arms.
“We need somewhere private.”
That earned him a longer look.
Diana did not ask why.
“Use the sitting room upstairs.”
Akane nodded.
“Thank you.”
The three headed toward the stairs, Kuro still comfortably occupying Nezu’s arms.
Diana remained below.
Her eyes followed Akane until she disappeared from view.
The room upstairs was smaller than the main family rooms and rarely used except when someone wanted privacy. A pair of sofas faced each other across a low table, with heavy curtains framing the windows and enough distance from the busier parts of the mansion that a conversation held there would remain private.
Segu entered first.
She immediately claimed one of the sofas.
Nezu entered behind her and placed Kuro beside him.
Akane came in last.
Then she closed the door.
Segu sat forward.
Finally.
Akane remained beside the door for a moment.
Nezu watched her.
There was something different about her posture now. The irritation that had followed Segu’s questions throughout the day was gone. So was the amusement she had occasionally failed to hide.
Segu seemed to notice it too, because the next question did not immediately arrive.
Akane looked toward the closed door.
Then at the windows.
Nezu followed her gaze.
Whatever she was about to discuss, apparently a closed door wasn’t enough.
Segu tilted her head.
“What?”
Akane took two steps away from the door.
Then she spoke a single name.
“Rin.”
For perhaps half a second, nothing happened.
Then three figures appeared in the room.
Nezu recognized them immediately.
The swordsman.
The cheetah girl.
And the man who had manipulated the earth during the fight.
They had been there.
Not only outside the school.
They had followed them all the way to the mansion without either him or Segu noticing.
Nezu looked toward the closed door.
Then the windows.
Then back at the three newcomers.
Another question for the list.
Segu simply stared.
Rin paid neither of them any attention.
She stood directly behind Akane, her arms already wrapped around the younger girl. Akane’s head rested naturally against Rin’s left shoulder, as though neither of them had needed to think about the position.
Rin said nothing.
The spotted ears rising from her hair twitched gently, while the long cheetah tail behind her moved steadily from side to side.
Akane glanced toward it.
The tail moved a little faster.
A small smile appeared on her face.
“You’re happy.”
Rin’s expression remained perfectly composed.
Her tail disagreed.
Akane relaxed a little further against her shoulder.
Jin stood nearby, apparently entirely accustomed to the sight.
Roku was equally silent.
Segu’s eyes went first to the spotted ears rising from Rin’s hair, then to the long tail swaying behind her, before finally settling on Akane resting comfortably against her shoulder.
Her mouth opened.
Then closed.
For the first time all day, Segu appeared to have too many questions to choose one.
Beside Nezu, Kuro’s ears rose.
His eyes fixed on Rin’s tail.
The tail swayed once to the left.
Kuro’s head followed it.
Then to the right.
His head followed again.
Nezu noticed.
He placed one hand on Kuro before the cat could make a decision that would complicate the situation considerably.
or a few seconds, the room remained quiet.
Then Akane straightened.
Rin loosened her arms without fully stepping away, and Akane moved forward until she stood between the two sofas.
Segu watched her closely now.
The playful persistence from earlier was gone.
Akane looked first at Segu, then at Nezu.
“I said I would explain.”
Segu nodded once.
Akane drew in a slow breath.
“But I need both of you to understand something before we start.”
Nezu waited.
Segu didn’t interrupt.
“I won’t be able to answer everything.”
Segu’s expression tightened almost immediately, but Akane raised a hand.
“Not because I don’t want to.”
That stopped her.
“There are things I am allowed to explain, things I can explain only partially, and things I cannot tell you yet.”
“Yet?” Segu repeated.
Akane gave her a tired look.
“That is the important word.”
Segu leaned back slightly, apparently deciding to accept that answer for now.
Nezu did not.
“Who decides what you’re allowed to tell us?”
Akane looked at him.
For the first time that day, she didn’t say later.
“People above me.”
That answer created several new questions at once.
Nezu stored them.
Akane’s gaze lowered.
Her hands tightened briefly at her sides.
Then she stepped back.
And bowed.
Deeply.
Segu froze.
Nezu’s expression changed by almost nothing, but his attention sharpened.
“I’m sorry.”
The words came quietly.
No excuses followed them.
Akane remained bowed.
“For the school.”
Segu’s face lost what little amusement remained.
“For what happened two years ago. For what happened to both of you because of me being there.”
Her voice remained steady, but only just.
“And for leaving without giving you an explanation.”
Segu looked away.
Akane continued.
“I know why I had to leave.”
A pause.
“But that doesn’t make right what it did to you, disappear for 2 years.”
Nezu said nothing.
Neither did Segu.
Akane’s fingers curled slightly against her skirt.
“And now…”
Her voice grew quieter.
“For what happened to Nezu.”
That made Segu look back at her.
Akane stayed bowed.
“The fight should never have reached him.”
Her eyes lowered further.
“He should never have been caught in it.”
Nezu watched her.
Akane’s voice trembled once, almost too faint to notice.
“But he was.”
Silence settled over the room.
Rin’s tail had stopped moving.
Even Kuro remained still.
Akane bowed a little deeper.
“I’m sorry.”
Not to Nezu alone.
Not to Segu alone.
To both of them.
The siblings she had disappeared from.
The siblings who had once been dragged into danger simply because they stood beside her.
And now, once again, Nezu had paid the price for a world that had nothing to do with him.
Akane remained bowed.
Waiting.
This time, there was no later.
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