Linked: The War of the Gems - Book 1

by Alexandra Johnson

  Was he really giving in so easily? Was he really going to let Momoka get another chance?

  A smile spread across her face. “Thank you, Senpai!” She threw her arms around him. “This means so much to me! You don’t even know!”

  “I think I have a bit of a clue.” He paused, then cleared his throat. He didn’t dare meet her eyes. “Um, Arisawa . . .”

  “Oh.” She let go of him immediately. Without missing a beat, she got to her feet and headed for the door.

  Tatsuo reached out to her, then hesitated. “Where you going?”

  “To tell Nishihara-chan, of course!”

  “Right. Guess I oughta go with you.” He rose from the couch and followed her out.

  Momoka sat in the grass, patiently waiting with her spirit. Her face lit up when she saw the two return. Quickly, she rose to her feet.

  “So?” she asked eagerly. She couldn’t hide her excitement even if she tried. “What did you decide?”

  Aoi paused. She didn’t know how to tell her what they decided. The news wasn’t exactly good, but she didn’t want to disappoint Momoka either.

  It was almost like Tatsuo sensed that. Maybe that’s why he spoke up instead.

  “We can’t have you around,” he said simply as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

  That was not the best way to phrase that.

  Before she could deliver the good news, Momoka’s excitement vanished. Disappointment and confusion took its place. “Oh.”

  “Not yet anyways,” Aoi added quickly.

  “Yet . . .” Momoka repeated. She didn’t like the sound of that.

  “When you learn how to use your wand, we can totally work together,” Aoi assured her. “We can be teammates.”

  “Yeah.” Momoka’s voice was shaking. Her body too. A few tears started to fall from her eyes. “Yeah, when I do that, Onee-san and I can be friends . . .”

  “We can be friends now,” Aoi assured her.

  Without a word, Pocahontas took her holder’s hand.

  “Kid, I’m sorry,” Tatsuo said softly. He wasn’t good with crying girls.

  “We really are sorry, Nishihara-chan, but it’s not like this is the end.”

  Pocahontas spoke up for her crying holder. “We understand. We really do. You want to keep my holder safe because she can’t protect herself. It doesn’t mean she can’t be disappointed.”

  Aoi was taken aback. She’d never said Momoka couldn’t be sad. Aoi was just worried about her.

  “But I will get better! I promise!” Momoka insisted in a choked-up voice. “I’ll come back then!”

  Momoka walked quietly out of the yard, hand in hand with her spirit. Aoi expected her to run away, to flee from this place as quickly as she could. But she didn’t. She just trudged away, head down.

  Aoi wasn’t sure what to say.

  “Not much of a goodbye,” Tatsuo mumbled.

  “What we did . . . It was for the best, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  Aoi waited a moment. “Can you walk her home? Even if only from a distance? I want to make sure she gets home okay.”

  Tatsuo nodded. “You got it, Arisawa. I’ll see ya later.”

  “Yeah . . . See you.”

  Chapter 17

  It was another boring school day. Class had gone as per usual. Aoi took notes, Mulan listened carefully to the lecture, and Reiji took a nap in the back of the class. He’d ask for the notes later just so he could get a high enough score to pass.

  The bell rung and the two made their way to the cafeteria in silence. The other students around them chattered away, but Aoi heard something unusual upstairs. She paused. There was a gruff voice angrily yelling on the next floor up.

  “Is that Senpai?” she asked, her gaze drifting to the stairs.

  Reiji followed her eyes and listened carefully. “Sounds like him.”

  But that was all the attention he paid to it. He grabbed his lunch money from his locker and headed for the cafeteria. He only paused when he realized Aoi wasn’t following him.

  “You coming?”

  She grabbed two bento boxes from her locker, but didn’t follow. “Maybe in a minute.”

  “Gonna check on your Aniki?” he asked with a grin. He clearly wasn’t going to.

  Aoi didn’t understand what he was smiling about, either. Tatsuo could be in trouble. “I am.”

  “Well, I’ll see ya in the cafeteria then.”

  “Yeah, see ya.”

  Aoi didn’t want to look for Tatsuo alone. She’d hoped Reiji would come with her. What if Makoto’s gang was back? But she was on her own now, and if there was a chance Tatsuo needed her, she’d be there. She wasn’t completely useless. She took a deep breath as she reached the bottom of the stairs. The yelling was louder now. There was always the risk she might get yelled at for this, but she’d deal with that when it came.

  Aoi clutched the bento boxes to her chest and headed up the stairway, which was now empty of other students.

  “I’m telling you. I was on my way to lunch.”

  “And I’m telling you that you’re lying to me.”

  That first voice was definitely Tatsuo. Aoi didn’t know who the second voice belonged to. She’d find out soon enough. She hurried down the hall and rounded a corner.

  Tatsuo wasn’t in a fight, just an argument. That relieved her.

  “You can’t just skip school.” The stranger was a tall, wiry young man, with perfectly groomed brunette hair, designer glasses, and his gakuran jacket buttoned all the way to the top. He looked like a model student, but with more authority.

  “But I’m here.”

  “But you weren’t in class. So why bother coming at all?”

  “I’m a second year. I’m walking to lunch.” He stared the other boy down.

  That was Tatsuo spotted her.

  “Arisawa!” he called.

  “Arisawa?” the brunette boy asked. He turned to see what the yankii was looking at. “Oh. Aoi Arisawa.”

  He knew who she was? Aoi certainly didn’t know him. She didn’t even know his name.

  “Um, Akabori-san, I made you a bento . . .” She held out the box awkwardly, even though the boys were still a good ten feet away.

  “Great timing, Arisawa.” Tatsuo shouldered his way past the stranger, knocking him hard as he passed. He took the bento. “Did you make this?”

  Aoi nodded.

  “Awesome. I’ll see you at lunch.” With that, he marched off to the stairs, obviously still aggravated.

  “Great,” the boy muttered under his breath. “He got away.”

  “And yet he doesn’t pursue Akabori-san,” Mulan mused.

  She was right. Why wasn’t he following Tatsuo if he was so upset? Then Aoi noticed the boy’s eyes were on her. Aoi didn’t say anything, just turned to go.

  “Wait.”

  Against her better judgment, she froze, then slowly turned back to him. “Yes?”

  “I need to talk to you, Arisawa-san,” he said.

  “But why?” She hadn’t done anything to deserve this. Other than let Tatsuo escape a conversation he didn’t want to be in. Just who was this guy?

  “I need to talk to you about your hand. It’s been bandaged for a terribly long time.”

  She sucked in a breath. So he noticed. “It’s scarred,” she said. She hated having to lie, but it was impossible to tell the truth.

  “Get out of there, Aoi-san,” Mulan said through grit teeth. “You can’t let him know about the Linked.”

  I know! But she didn’t have the courage to run. What if he followed her? What would she do then? She was too scared to find out.

  “What’s wrong? You seem in a rush to go.” He smiled at her and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Oh. It’s because I’m a stranger, isn’t it? How rude of me.”

  Aoi smiled awkwardly and took a step back. “No. That’s alright. I don’t mind.”

  “I’m the student council president, Touya Midorikawa.” He bowed politely.
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  She returned his bow. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  Touya smiled at her. “Now that we’re acquainted, would you please come with me?”

  “I have to go and eat.”

  “You have your bento already, don’t you?” He motioned to the box in her hand. “We can eat together.”

  “But I don’t have anything to drink.”

  “We have water in the student council room.”

  “My friends are waiting for me.”

  “The yankii and his gang?” He quirked a brow.

  “Yes. Akabori-senpai and his friends aren’t so bad.”

  Touya had nothing to say about that. Instead, he asked another question. “Do you eat with them often?”

  “I guess I do.”

  “Then you can skip one day, Arisawa-san. Let’s go before lunch ends.”

  Aoi breathed a heavy sigh. There was no getting out of this. No matter what excuse she gave, nothing worked. He’d been a brick wall. He wouldn’t listen to a word she said. There was no way out.

  I’m sorry, Mulan.

  “It’s alright. You did your best,” she assured Aoi. “Just be careful.”

  I will.

  Lunch was supposed to be a time to unwind. Thanks to Touya, Aoi had never felt so tense. Aoi was supposed to sip at juice, eat the cute meal her father made, and chat with the guys. And now, Aoi wouldn’t be able to see if Tatsuo liked her bento or not—or if he even ate it. It wouldn’t kill him to have some real food.

  Her hands shook as she ate. She hoped it wasn’t too obvious.

  Touya sat across from her in the empty room—apparently the student council’s meeting space, according to Touya. There were tables scattered throughout the room, most with a variety of papers littered across them. They looked important, but Touya’s green eyes focused on her. He didn’t eat. He didn’t speak. He just stared. That made Aoi even more nervous.

  “Aren’t you going to eat?” she asked.

  His brows rose. “Oh. Right.” He fetched his lunch from another desk, grabbed two bottles of water, and returned to his place across from her. He placed a bottle near her bento box. “Do you know why I asked you to have lunch with me, Arisawa-san?”

  “No, not really,” she admitted. She wished it was something painfully simple—like some silly crush. But she was sure nothing could be that easy.

  “I know what you are,” he said, “or at least I have my suspicions.”

  “A foreigner?” she suggested. She certainly did look the part with the whole blonde hair, blue eyes thing. “That’s kinda true. I’m half Japanese, though.”

  “Half?”

  “Yeah. My dad’s Japanese, but my mom’s French.”

  “Fascinating. How did they meet?”

  “My dad was in Paris for a business meeting when he saw my mom. She was just getting out of a fashion show. Dad tells me it was love at first sight, but it didn’t last.”

  “They divorced, I take it?”

  Aoi nodded. She didn’t like thinking about it, let alone talking about it, even though years had passed since then. She was only a child at the time, but things had been hard back then. They still were at times.

  “Forgive me. This must be hard to talk about.”

  She smiled sadly. “It’s okay. You were just curious.” She hoped that had been a good enough distraction to get him off her back.

  “Don’t let your guard down just yet,” Mulan warned her.

  I won’t. She wouldn’t be so careless. When it came to being Linked, nothing was ever easy. And, since he’d already asked about her hand, a sinking feeling in her gut told her this had to be related to the Linked.

  “Is that all?” she asked, half-standing.

  “No. You simply distracted me.” Touya didn’t even wait to admit that.

  Aoi sat back down with a thud. She knew, of course, that he couldn’t care less about her race or ethnicity. He had a real reason he brought her here.

  “Then what did you want, Senpai?”

  “I want to see your hand.”

  This again . . . “Why?”

  If he saw, she’d have to explain who the Linked were and what they could do. That was the last thing she wanted.

  “I want to see why it’s bandaged. It’s not because of a burn.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “Is that so? Then why are you so defensive?”

  “It’s a bad burn. I’m ashamed of it.”

  He wasn’t fazed at all. “Arisawa-san, show me your hand.” He was starting to get impatient.

  “It really is a bad burn. I don’t want to show it to you.”

  He reached out and grabbed her wrist. She tried to pull away but his grip tightened, and she yelped. It kind of hurt.

  “There’s a gem on that hand, isn’t there?” Touya asked, his eyes narrowed.

  Aoi froze. “How . . . did you know that?”

  “Arisawa-san!” Mulan scolded her.

  She winced. She didn’t mean to give away that big secret, but it just kind of slipped out. She’d never been too good at keeping secrets anyways.

  Well, if he already knew, she might as well give in. He wasn’t letting go, either, and his grip was starting to really hurt. It would no doubt leave a red mark when he finally let her go. She had no other choice. With her free hand, Aoi shakily unbandaged her right hand and held it out to Touya, palm down.

  “So I was right,” he mused.

  That wasn’t the reaction Aoi expected. “Huh? What do you mean?”

  “Could it be . . .?” Mulan asked softly.

  And then Aoi understood. By some strange twist of fate, she might have stumbled across yet another Linked. Seemed they were coming in swarms now.

  He smiled at her. “So you’ve finally realized.”

  “You’re a Linked.”

  “Correct, if that’s what you want to call it.”

  “You don’t know that for sure,” Mulan hissed.

  But they didn’t know he wasn’t one, either. How else could he have guessed to check her bandage for a gem if he wasn’t Linked himself? Her group made sure not to tell anyone. They couldn’t take that chance.

  Still, Mulan might be right. “How do I know that’s true though?” Aoi asked.

  Touya’s pleasant smile didn’t falter. He was like a diplomat, unfazed by sudden questions. “Would you like to see my gem?”

  She nodded. “Of course. I mean, unless it’s in a weird place.” If it was below the belt, she could go without seeing. She’d just take his word for it and save herself from mental scarring.

  He just laughed. “Oh, not to worry. It’s fairly appropriate.”

  Fairly? In comparison to what? Before Aoi had the chance to ask, Touya started undoing his gakuran’s buttons.

  Aoi’s cheeks began to burn. “Hey! What are you doing?” She looked away, but glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes now and then. Just in case he tried anything.

  “Relax,” he said. “My gem is under my shirt.”

  He carefully placed his jacket over a chair, then his undershirt, before he turned his back to Aoi. Between his shoulder blades was a green gem.

  At that moment, someone walked by the window. Reiji. He must have come to check on her. He raised a hand to greet Aoi, but faltered when he saw the shirtless guy standing in front of her. His eyes widened, and he darted away.

  “W-wait! Reiji!” she called. She didn’t know if he could hear her with the door shut.

  But he certainly didn’t wait. He was gone, probably off to tell Tatsuo. Crap.

  He wouldn’t have seen the gem either since Touya was facing the door. All he’d seen was her and a shirtless Touya. Tatsuo wasn’t going to like this.

  Aoi ran a hand through her blonde hair. This was bad.

  Touya glanced over his shoulder, ignoring her sudden outburst. “Is this proof enough?”

  She nodded fiercely. The warmth in her cheeks refused to die down. After all, it wasn’t everyday she was forced to be alone
with a shirtless guy, especially one she didn’t know. The fact that Reiji saw didn’t help, either. “Yes, that’s fine. Please put your clothes back on.”

  “Indeed,” Mulan said coldly. “You’re being indecent.” Of course, Touya couldn’t hear her, and she must have realized this, because she turned to Aoi and said, “Just what we need. Another Linked. Here I thought you’d get the chance to be a hero worthy of ballads . . .”

  It’s not that bad, Aoi insisted in her head. I appreciate the help.

  “Fine. If you’d rather it be the ballad of the Linked, rather than your own ballad. I suppose I won’t complain too much.”

  Touya chuckled at her embarrassment, not at how silly Mulan was being. “Don’t worry so much. I will. I’d get cold if I didn’t.” He dressed before taking a seat across from Aoi once again.

  She extended her hand to him. “So . . .”

  “What is it?”

  “Don’t you wanna meet my spirit? Or even know her name?”

  “Honestly, no. That’s a private matter.”

  “Private?” Aoi stammered. What was that supposed to mean?

  “We’ve only just met, Arisawa-san. Let’s get to know each other better before we even consider such an intimate thing.”

  It was strange. Aoi had never thought of spirits as private before. She’d shown Tatsuo and Momoka hers willingly. “Well, okay.” If that’s what he wanted, Aoi wouldn’t argue. She’d respect his decision.

  He rose from his seat and put his now empty bento box away. “I’d like to continue meeting with you.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Yes.” He turned to her with a smile. “Let’s meet up for lunch sometime.”

  “What?” What about the guys?

  “Is there a problem with that?”

  “No, that’s fine.” She said without thinking. And it was too late. She couldn’t take the words back. The why didn’t matter now. She’d just have to find a way to explain this Tatsuo later.

  Seemed she’d be having lunch with Touya again after all.

  The school day came to a close before Aoi knew it. She gathered her things and tried to hurry. Tatsuo would be waiting for her, and she was eager see him too.

  He looked angry when she stepped out the door. He leaned against a wall, his arms folded over his chest. His brows were furrowed and his eyes narrowed. Her classmates carefully avoided going near him.