On their way Toki listed all drinks he has had this evening. Not bad! Or maybe it was bad nevertheless, cause they were still minors? Whatever. Sayuri's grandma always said, she should enjoy her youth.

Sayuri: "You mentioned your headphones earlier. You really wear them all the time, don't you?"

Toki: "You noticed? I need music by my side just in case."

Sayuri: "In case of what?"

Toki: "In case I want to listen to it."

Sayuri: "Ah, well … that makes sense." //I feel dumb.// "So, what music do you listen to?"

Toki: "Mostly Rock, Metal, Post-Hardcore and stuff, but my favorite band are the Black Sky Foxes."

Sayuri: "No way!" Her eyes got big. "They are mine as well!" She never thought she had a matching taste in music with him. So they talked about their favorite songs.

When they arrived at the boys' room, Toki went in alone. Sayuri just stayed outside. He should be able to change his clothes alone. But only some seconds later a not too unknown person showed up in the hallway. He spotted Sayuri immediately.

Vincent: "What are you doing here this late? Furthermore …" He snuffed the air. "It reeks of alcohol! Are you drunk? Besides this is the men's dorm!" He roughly grabbed her wrist.

Sayuri: "H-hey! What's your problem? Let me go!" //Why does he have to be like this?//

Vincent: "I–"

Toki: "Sayu-chan, you don't need to wait out–" He had just opened the door, because he was wondering where Sayuri had been and now there was this random guy harassing her? "Let her go." Toki – meanwhile shirtless – stared at him with a very severe glance.

Vincent inspected the half naked character, looked back at Sayuri then back at him with the same intense eyes. Vincent saw the girl in direct danger and wanted to take her with him. But Toki felt the same way. He didn't hesitate any longer, grabbed her other wrist, pulled her back at one go and slammed the door shut behind them.

Toki: "What did this guy want from you? Are you okay?"

Sayuri: "Uhm …" Toki was still holding her and she was kinda embarrassed being pressed against his bare chest, so she took a step back before her face would turn into a tomato. "I'm fine …" She rubbed her wrist. Vincent's grip has really been rough. A wonder that Toki even was able to wrench her from him. "This actually is my tutor, but I don't know … I think he was worried or something …"

Toki: "Worried? About what?" He raised an eyebrow.

Sayuri: "Not sure, but well, you … could just finally put a shirt on." She shrugged.

Toki: "Oh, sorry." He went to his room.

Sayuri gazed after him and spotted scars on his back. A huge one going across the whole diagonal and some smaller ones around it. Where did they come from? Should she ask him? Better not. As a displacement activity she looked at her phone: already quarter to midnight. They had to head back if they wanted to make it in time for Yuki's birthday. Sayuri was wondering if Yuki even still wanted to see her again. But despite how desperate she had been trying to get Toki's attention earlier, he seemed to not care at all. Did he even realize Yuki's flirting? And why should Sayuri even bother? This had nothing to do with her … 

Toki: "Sayu?"

Sayuri: "Huh?" She didn't notice he was already back. "S-sorry, I've been spacing out."

Toki: "Ever been to the school's roof?"

Sayuri: "What?"

Toki: "Perfect place to relax, no one seems to go up there and you have an amazing view over town!"

Sayuri: "O-okay, and now?!"

Toki: "I don't know, you should try it out someday."

Sayuri: "Okay, but … we should head back to the party if we wanna be on time."

Toki: "Ah, you're right."

This conversation felt so weird. Sayuri always felt awkward while interacting with others, but somehow this whole situation made it worse. She disliked parties, thought it was a good idea for distraction and now she was overthinking everything that happened tonight. Resulting in saying things she didn't want to say. Actually going to a lonely roof sounded so much better than going back to the birthday party. But she said the opposite. Why was being social so hard?

Back at the party, they congratulated Yuki, who was now clinging to Ryota. Oh, well. At least he had no problem with it. Later Hiroshi gave them a self mixed drink to try and even if Sayuri refused at first, she ended up drinking it in the end. Even so it tasted good, but also a lot like high-proof alcohol. When most of the guests were leaving, Sayuri thought that it would be a good opportunity to finally leave as well. Also it might have been the cocktails she had drunk, but her head started feeling more dizzy, so she just left without saying goodbye to anyone. She thought she could say weird things or they might try to persuade her to stay. But she didn't leave unnoticed, because someone was catching up to her.

Toki: "Sayu, wait! This time I'll bring you back."

Sayuri: "It's alright, you don't need to. I know the way." //Actually, I'm not really sure of that at the moment …//

Toki: "I'm insisting. Not that your weird tutor will cross paths with you again. Also I think you're not feeling all too well."

Sayuri: //How the hell does he know? Am I that obvious? Help.// "You won."

The way to her room wasn't that long, but Sayuri still felt awkward, because Toki didn't say a word. Usually he was so talkative.

Sayuri: "Are you alright? You're so quiet?" She asked shortly before they arrived.

Toki: "Huh? Oh, yeah, well … I was just thinking about Hana."

Sayuri: "Hmm, she isn't here this weekend. Guess, she's having a better party than us, right?"

Toki: "You know …" He was definitely hesitating. "Her brother got sick this week and is currently at home alone with Tofu, their dad is on a mission, and Akira and Chino are here in their graduation class … so Hana's taking care of it until her old man returns."

Sayuri: "I see, that's really nice of her. What's with her mother?"

Toki: "Well … she … Hana's mom is …" Toki looked away. He couldn't say it.

Sayuri: "Oh my god." She understood it right away. "I'm so sorry, I had no idea!" //I knew it was a bad idea starting a conversation in my current condition.// Now she felt bad to have even brought it up.

Toki: "It's not your fault. Just … don't confront her with it, ok?"

Sayuri: "Sure, I won't." She wouldn't know what to say anyway. Just the thought of her mother being gone – no, she wouldn't think of it any further. She looked to the floor. //Great Sayuri. Well done. Again, you ruin the mood. On top, you forced him to say something he rather didn't.//

Toki: "It's been six years, don't be sad about it as well, please." Seeing her concerned face, he hugged Sayuri tight. "Good night."

Sayuri: "Good night." When she replied, he was already gone.

🔹

The next morning Sayuri was woken up by her phone ringing. Drowsy, she turned around and looked at the display. A message. From … Vincent? Now she was wide awake.

»Vincent: 9 am. Project room.«
9 o'clock? What time was it? Already 8:45 … or better only 8:45 and at any rate way too early for getting up on a Sunday. She wanted to sleep in. What did he even want from her? But then she remembered! It had to be about her baton! She felt a mix of excitement and worry. Also another thing was questionable.
»Sayu: Where did you get my number from?«
»Vincent: I'm your tutor. I have access to such data. Do you want my help or not?«
»Sayu: Alright. See you later.«
She crawled out of the bed and felt like she had been hit by a bus. This was so mean. She bet he did it on purpose. But she had no choice. 

Of course Vincet was already there when Sayuri arrived. Sleep-deprived, she rubbed her eyes.

Vincent: "A bit more energy wouldn't hurt you." He looked at her with crossed arms.

Sayuri: "A bit more common sense wouldn't hurt you. You know what time it is? On a Sunday on top?" She could be really grumpy if not well rested.

Vincent: "If you can party, you can work." Again this arrogant look.

Sayuri: "Yeah, okay, I got it. So what's on for today?"

Vincent: "I'm not sure if you already had this in class, but there is a possibility to enchant things with tangs. Just like the gauge to test your Seclusion. By the way this is only allowed if the council approves it. Anyway, you can also disenchant things. And that's what we'll do with your baton. It's not quite the same, but it should work nonetheless." He looked at her.

Sayuri: "I think I don't understand a thing, but go ahead."

Vincent: "So I prepared this vessel with a special fluid. You put your baton in and then you'll just have to hold it for some minutes. Nothing else. Understood?"

Sayuri: "Maybe?!" //I just can't imagine how this should help at all?!// "But say, if this is such a special thing and all, then where do you have all the items from?"

Vincent: "Let me worry about that part. Get your rod."

Sayuri actually didn't even want to touch that thing anymore, but there was no help. So she did as she was told and placed it in the filled vessel.

Sayuri: "And now? Should I start with … whatever I'm going to do?"

Vincent: "Yes. Just grab it with both hands, don't let go and when the water is gone, it should be done."

Sayuri: //I feel uneasy about it. What if I do it wrong? I'm scared …//

Vincent: "Don't be scared. I'm prepared this time."

His words didn't make her feel any better. Prepared? He already assumed she'd fail? Great!

Sayuri: "I'm not scared, I'm sceptical. That's something different!"

Vincent: "If you say so. Then start."

The girl put her hands in the fluid. It was like normal water, she didn't notice any difference. It's temperature was neither cold nor warm. Eventually Sayuri took the baton in her hands and stared at it through the fluid and waited. After some seconds that felt like minutes to her the fluid started to glow a bit. Vincent assured her that everything was going as planned. Some minutes later, the fluid was half gone, just as her tutor had predicted.
Suddenly Sayuri's hands started to prick. Oh no. Would she repeat her failure? Her fingers already started to cramp. But before she could start to panic, she felt another hand on hers.

Vincent: "Calm down. It's alright." 

Sayuri didn't expect that. So that was what he meant with being prepared? Being of actual help? Her hands really started to relax and the fluid vanished bit by bit. Vincent was on the other side of the table and their glances met.
Sayuri immediately got a blurry vision. What was that? She tried to blink it off. And then she saw her tutor again. But something felt off. He looked like a younger version of himself? She blinked again and everything was back to normal. The water was gone and Vincent also didn't hold her hand anymore. Instead he was pressing his fingers against his nose bridge and looking pretty stressed.

Sayuri: "What's wrong?"

Vincent: "It's nothing." He took a deep breath before speaking further. "Alright, it looks like it worked so far. Do you feel weird or something?"

Sayuri: "Not sure …" //I guess I'm just overthinking. I'm a necromancer after all. Who knows what that vision was. It might even just have been my imagination after all since I didn't get much sleep tonight.// "… but thank you!"
Vincent looked kinda confused.

Vincent: "Then we're ready here. I'm gonna tidy this up. You can take your baton and leave."

Sayuri: "Sure, that I shouldn't help you with this?"

Vincent: "Sure. See you tomorrow."

Sayuri was still tired so she went straight back to her bed. She looked at her hands.

Sayuri: //He needs to explain this to me in detail sometime. I still can't cope with all this.//
When would Hana and Kira get back today? Hopefully in some hours only so she could sleep until then.