Xiu snapped out of her trance at the sharp tone in her father’s voice, her head snapping up so that she could look at him. Upon seeing the frown on his face, she drooped slightly, giving a small bow of her head. ”I-I’m sorry, father. It seems that I was distracted. Could you repeat that, please?”
…
Ever since all those rumours about Hunters, both of her parents had slowly been forming a rather negative opinion of Amityville, and they had often questioned her about the going-ons at the school through the letters that they sent. However, Xiu had chosen to remain vague or ignoring their questions altogether whenever she sent back a reply. Apparently—and rather unsurprisingly—her parents had grown tired of her dancing around their questions. The last letter Xiu had received was an order for her to return home for a week.
Now was probably the worst time for a trip back home, however. With strange things seemingly going down at Amityville, the baku ghoul was understandably very hesitant to leave her school and her friends behind for a full week. What if something happened while she was gone? But at the same time, she could not disobey her mother and father, and it would be nice to see her uncle once more…
It took a great deal of self-convincing until Xiu finally decided that she had no choice but to go home as ordered. After all, what could possibly happen in a week, right? And so, informing just a few people, she packed her bags and left for home a day later.
…And another day was all that it took for her to immediately regret her decision. She had brought her laptop along for the trip so that she could keep in touch with her friends, and after evading her parents’ prying questions at dinner, the baku quickly escaped to the safety of her room and switched on the computer. The first thing she did was log onto HIM to see if anyone was online, and…oddly enough, no one was. For a moment, she assumed that it was because it was somewhat late, but then a strange feeling began to nag at her. Something was wrong.
Needless to say, the next thing she did was log into the SEEDS forum, and lo and behold, there were new posts. It was at that moment, as she was stuck sitting in the safety of her room at home, that Xiu learned about the strange disappearances that were going around at school. Yin Cang, Amphi, Amrita, Mitsu—all were names that were familiar to her, and many of them were people who she considered close friends.
And they were gone. Missing.
It took all of her power not to stand up, grab her stuff, and leave right then and there. She knew that if she did so, she would have to face a great deal of consequences once her parents found out that she had sneaked out. They were already rather iffy on the idea of letting her continue her education at Amityville what with all the rumours—who was to say that this simple act of disobedience wouldn’t prove to be the last straw?
Furthermore, she reasoned, perhaps there was a small possibility that the missing students were safe and were just…somewhere. It was a stupid thought—honestly, Xiu was just clinging to a shred of hope—but it wasn’t as if anyone had spotted any Hunters around, right?
Unfortunately, that hope was torn away from her the next morning, when she found a text from Alex on her phone.
Alex’s Text
Further investigating of the missing students from earlier today has confirmed our fears. They are gone, possible in custody of the hunters. Medea has offered us assistance in helping to return to us those who have been lost. In order to do this, we need as many students as possible who would be willing to fight, to take back what's been stolen. Send this text on to anybody that you trust! Meet me in the abandoned locker room....
And that was that. It was early morning when Xiu started packing everything back up, careful to remain quiet so as to not awaken her sleeping parents. She jolted when she heard the sound of footsteps from behind her, relaxing slightly only when she realized it was her uncle. The older baku rubbed his eyes blearily as he looked down at her, first asking her what she was doing before his red eyes suddenly flickered towards the bag that she was packing. Without missing a beat, he moved forward to help her pack her things.
”Something happening at Amityville?” He guessed, keeping his voice low as he worked on helping her fold her clothing. When Xiu pursed her lips together and gave a single nod, he reached out to pat her on the head. ”Don’t worry about it. I’ll tell your parents that something came up.”
Xiu turned to offer him an appreciative smile, only to find a small package being shoved into her hands. When she looked at her uncle questioningly, he simply grinned back at her. ”A congratulations gift for making it to your third year at school. I was going to give it to you at the end of the week, but it looks like you get it earlier than planned.”
Xiu stared at the package blankly for a moment before slipping it into her bag, reaching up to give her uncle a hug. He returned the gesture, though his expression was slightly grim as he drew away. ”And I don’t know what’s going on at Amityville these days…but stay safe, okay?”
She gave her uncle one last hug before leaving home, heading towards the train station to catch the earliest train back to school. As she sunk back into her seat and prepared herself for a long ride back, the ghoul let out a small sigh.
Hang in there, guys. Please be safe.
