“Bye, Mom! I’m off to school!”
Ayu hesitated as her grip tightened around the door’s knob. Her feet were rooted onto the hardwood. Two days ago, Juuzou confessed to her and they officially became a couple. But right after, Kurosaki Yuuto—her close friend from Tokyo—attacked them and said all those weird things…
“You belong to me, Hiiragi. But you let another man hold you in his arms and run his hands along your body. That’s no good, my darling Ayu. I’ll have to punish you.”
Ayu released a shaky breath as the words ebbed from her memory. Yuuto and Juuzou got into a fight soon after and she ran away at the latter’s behest. Then she transformed into Lively Eden and learned that Juuzou was Death Frost in the subsequent battle between their two factions. The day after—yesterday—Ayu and Juuzou talked it out. They explained that they were Lively Eden and Death Frost but didn’t want to fight each other. So although they were sworn enemies on opposite sides of a primordial proxy war, they managed to reconcile.
But Naturae—the embodiment of creation and positivity—wouldn’t accept their refusal to fight. When Ayu fully rejected it, Naturae saw her defiance as betrayal and renounced her powers, leaving her for dead. Left alone, she would have perished. Without any other options, Juuzou accepted aid from Thade to save her. As Death Frost, he fought Ayu’s teammates—her fellow Agents of Naturae Lively Arctic and Pacifica—to bring her back from the brink. On the day she and Juuzou explained everything to each other, Ayu purposefully avoided Shirogane Rin—Lively Arctic and one of her dearest friends—during school. Yuuto had been absent. Ayu had plenty of text messages from both of them but she hadn’t responded at all.
If she saw Yuuto or Rin at school today, just one day after that great battle fought by Juuzou with Thade’s help for the sake of her life… Ayu shuddered as her free hand scrunched the fabric of her pink skirt. How would she face them? How would she explain what happened yesterday to Rin? Would Rin even listen? And Yuuto… Ayu still hadn’t processed what he’d done. Her head throbbed remembering how he grabbed her and held her against the wall. What did he mean by those words? Why did he say that? The events from two days past rushed by in such a whirl that Ayu didn’t have any chance to catch her breath or think things through. She wasn’t sure she was ready to face Rin or Yuuto yet. But Ayu couldn’t dilly-dally for forever. Today was the day she and Juuzou needed to talk to Izayoi Akira—Death Storm—and convince him to join their fight against Naturae. Ayu sucked in a breath and thrust the front door open.
“Juuzou?”
“Mornin’, Ayu.” Her boyfriend greeted her with a playful grin.
“What are you doing here? It’s so early!”
“I’m here to walk you to school! Y’know, in case Naturae or—god forbid—Kurosaki,” Juuzou’s face darkened into a glower, “pull something.”
“Oh… That makes sense…” Ayu’s grip tightened around the straps of yellow satchel backpack but she pulled a smile onto her face. “Must’ve been pretty difficult waking up early for me, huh?” she teased.
“It wasn’t easy dragging myself outta bed, I’ll tell ya that much,” Juuzou confirmed with a grimace. He smiled. “But I’d do anything for you, Ayu. I want to keep you safe.”
“Thank you, Juuzou. I really appreciate it.”