More Than
Friends
chapter 5
Manille
"O-toosan! I’m just going to buy some ink in the store nearby."
"Sure, go ahead," Mr. Yukimura answered back from his study.
Keiko put her sandals on her feet and walked towards the evening air. There were no stars, for the sky was still overcast. I should have bought ink a while ago, she thought grimly. How could I be so forgetful?
Shivering slightly, she crossed the street and walked towards a bright light that revealed a small merchandise store. She went in, bought a bottle of black ink, and stepped out in the open once more.
As she looked at the road before she crossed it, she saw a lone figure standing on the other side, near her house. He had his arms crossed on his chest and was leaning against a wall, as if waiting for somebody. In fact, it seemed as if he was waiting for her.
She crossed the street, and as she got a clearer view of the person, she gasped in shock.
It was Okada Takashi.
What the heck is he doing here? she thought angrily.
"Hello, Keiko," he greeted her sweetly. "O-genki desu ka?"
"Hai, genki desu," she muttered cynically without looking at him. She continued walking towards her house.
"Is that the way to greet your boyfriend?"
Keiko stopped in her tracks. She turned around, marched towards him, and slapped him hard on the face. It was the hardest slap she ever did to anyone. Okada staggered back.
"Just who the hell are you to call yourself my boyfriend?!" Keiko spat. "You baka!"
Okada rubbed his cheek and jaw, scowling slightly. "Keiko, you never changed," he stated calmly.
"Get yourself out of here or I’ll have to kick you so that your half-witted self will freeze to death out there in Pluto."
"Just like I said, you never changed."
Keiko clenched her teeth. That the man was very exasperating was a ridiculous understatement. "Look—what do you want?"
Before she knew it, Okada had grabbed her arm. His grip was so tight that she dropped the bottle of ink to the ground. The glass shattered and a pool of dark ink spilled on the sidewalk like a black hole.
For the first time, Keiko had the chance to look at Okada more closely. His face was twisted in a menacing fury. He almost didn’t look human.
Keiko’s angry expression was suddenly replaced by a terrified one.
"Come with me, Keiko," he said coldly.
"I am not going with you," Keiko replied shakily. She twisted her arm off Okada’s grip, but of no avail.
"I said come with me."
"W-why?"
Without waiting for an answer, Okada pulled her towards a dark alley that was a few meters away from Keiko’s house. Her feet weren’t cooperating; her whole body was numb with fear. She wanted to scream, but her throat was dry and her voice was not present.
She heard a rat’s squeak. She jumped, terribly horrified.
She felt Okada pin her shoulders on the grimy wall behind her. He put his face an inch close to hers. Keiko wanted to look away, but something kept her eyes glued on Okada’s. His face was the only thing visible in the dark. His breath came out in short gasps and was hot on her face.
"Why, Keiko? Why are you not going out with me anymore?"
Keiko could only helplessly shake her head. She couldn’t understand. She thought Okada had only used her as some sort of a game…
"Why are you doing this to me?" she whimpered as tears began forming in her eyes.
"Why do you keep on following that Urameshi?" Okada questioned back.
All were questions asked, and none were answered.
Why do I always follow Yusuke? Isn’t the answer obvious?
"I love Urameshi Yusuke!" Keiko finally burst out. "I love him! Now what more do you want?"
Okada’s eyes narrowed. "You what?" he grumbled in a low, throaty voice.
"I…I love him…"
"Damn it!" Keiko gasped as Okada cursed. She had been crying hard already when Okada removed his grip on her shoulders. Trembling from head to toe, Keiko hugged herself and slowly squatted down on the ground.
"What do you want?" Keiko asked again, this time desperately. "Why? Please, I have to go home…!"
She looked at him. His back was turned on her. He then turned around and faced her. This time, his face was somewhat relaxed. Keiko almost sighed in relief.
"Urameshi—he has that rei gan, doesn’t he?"
Keiko gasped once more. How does he know that? she asked herself. No one else knows it except for some…but Okada?
"Doesn’t he?!"
"I…I don’t know…"
"Of course you do, Yukimura Keiko!" Okada paced towards her. "You’re not a good liar!"
"I’m telling you, I don’t know!"
"You don’t, eh? Well, what were you doing in the Ankoku Bujutsukai?"
Oh, no.
Okada smiled maliciously. "I know I’m being crazy here, but then again, I always were. Didn’t you say I’m stupid?" He stooped down and looked at her directly. "Didn’t you, Keiko?"
Okada’s face spun before Keiko’s eyes.
Okada straightened up and looked at the sky. "I’ve known it all along. You see, Keiko, I have the same power as his—and mine’s a lot better. Urameshi’s a novice. I’m an expert in it. I’ve had it since I was a kid."
Keiko shook her head in perplexity.
"And I also know that Koenma put him back to life again when he died a few months ago. He made him a spiritual detective. Yeah, right." Okada laughed sinisterly.
Keiko finally had the courage to ask. "S-so what do…what do you want…from Yusuke?"
Okada looked at Keiko. "From him? Oh, nothing. Nothing at all…"
Keiko frowned.
Okada paused for a long time.
"There’s something I want from you, though."
I knew it, Keiko thought. I knew something is coming up.
"I want you to stay away from Urameshi Yusuke and put him out of your life forever."
"WHAT?"
"Didn’t you hear what I just said, Keiko?"
"But…why?"
Okada squatted down before Keiko and touched her chin with his fingers. Keiko’s body tensed.
"Because I want you, Keiko."
Keiko froze in her place. Okada’s fingers were rough and cold, unlike Yusuke’s hands, which were warm, soft, and friendly. However, Keiko couldn’t make a move to swat Okada’s hands away.
"Are you going to believe what I said before, that I’m just putting you on? I thought you trusted me completely."
"You just fooled around and used me as your ‘plaything’," Keiko bickered, quoting what Yusuke had told her months before.
"Oh yes, I did say that. But that doesn’t mean it’s true, does it?"
This guy is really out of his mind, Keiko thought.
"What if I refuse?" she asked.
Okada’s expression didn’t change.
"What if you refuse," he said mockingly. "Well, I guess I’ll just have to kill Urameshi."
Keiko gasped. Her helplessness came back all of a sudden. Kill Yusuke? Kill Yusuke?
Yusuke’s face flashed before Keiko’s eyes. That face, which was so familiar and lovely…
She almost lost him once.
And it could never happen again.
"No, Okada…" she whispered. "Y-you can’t do that…"
"Oh, yes, Keiko. Do you want proof?" Keiko watched as Okada’s index finger glowed, just like Yusuke when he was ready to fire his rei gan. Keiko felt the wind pick up speed with the spiritual energy Okada was collecting. The glow became bigger and bigger until it was half the size of Okada himself.
He aimed at the starless sky and fired his rei gan. It resembled a shooting star that shot out of the earth. It disappeared as it went through the layers of clouds.
Okada sighed and put his hands down. "Now, do you believe me, Keiko?"
Keiko couldn’t answer.
"You think it over." Okada smiled at Keiko and walked away.
Keiko stared at Okada as he disappeared into the darkness.
Okada Takashi. He truly was made to ruin her life.
Her fingers dug through the clammy soil on the ground as her vision blurred.
Yusuke frowned in surprise as he saw the light that shot out from somewhere, but definitely it was from inside the city. It wasn’t him! Who else could have a rei gan like that? Yusuke wondered, feeling more and more agitated. It definitely isn’t Master Genkai!
The telephone rang. Yusuke didn’t avert his eyes from the window where he was watching as he reached for the receiver of the telephone. "Hello?"
"Yusuke, is that you?"
Yusuke immediately recognized the voice. "Kurama?"
"Hai. What is it?"
"Huh?"
"What about the rei gan?"
"I know it’s weird, but it wasn’t me."
"It wasn’t you?!"
"No. Look here." Yusuke peeped at the window again. "Can you estimate the place where the rei gan came from?"
"Unfortunately, no. It’s quite far from here."
Yusuke sighed. He looked outside once more. It was probably nearer from his place than from Kurama’s. Squinting, he calculated the distance.
"Wait a minute," he mumbled. Then he snapped his fingers. "It seems to come from somewhere near Keiko’s house!"
"I’m going there," Kurama said.
"So am I. Goodbye." Yusuke hung up the receiver and sprinted towards the front door.