I kept Uraume's letter in there.
Which I knew by heart, but which I almost always reread when my emotions about Yuna got out of control. I would have done the same now, but instead I swallowed hard, quickly wiped my traitorous feelings from my face and began to smile.
"Don't forget, Mayu. They're not worthy of you shedding a single tear for them," Uraume's calm yet gentle voice echoed through my mind.
Nevertheless, I sighed in and out heavily before I left my bed exuberantly and walked towards the large closet, having pushed aside the dark blue curtains to let the summer weather shine in.
I took out my midnight blue dress uniform, which Satoru had pointed out to me last night, and slipped into it. I quickly adjusted the lace fabric on the sleeves before buttoning the golden buttons on my chest and putting on some smoky gray socks.
My next destination was the bathroom to get ready for the unknown day ahead.
Once I was in the bathroom, tamed my hair into a half-braid, applied my everyday make-up and finally got ready for the day, I disappeared into the kitchen opposite. Because I certainly couldn't and didn't want to do the kind of secret training that Satoru had made of it on an empty stomach.
So I quickly prepared a small meal for myself.
"Good luck, Mayu. And don't forget to pay attention to the little details I told you about."
I winced and immediately looked over my shoulder at Megumi's all-too-familiar as well as uplifting voice color. Exactly the person who knew how to restore my still half-ruined spirits.
"Thank you," I replied with a smile and turned to him, 'surely you must know what the gentleman has planned for me, right?' I tried to catch a glimpse of my soon-to-be fate.
Otherwise he would never have given me this tip. But it soothed the grumpiness that was rising when I thought about the next few hours.
I had learned all kinds of tips and tricks from Megumi. To be precise, we had tinkered with my close combat together on one or two missions. Not much, but enough to be able to defend myself for the most part, for which I was extremely grateful.
"Yes, of course. But I'm not supposed to tell you a word about it. You know, top secret and all."
"Not even a hint?"
"Unfortunately, no. And no, stop looking at me like that. I'm not allowed to reveal anything!" he remained firm and looked provocatively to the side, "ok. Curse spirit! That's all I'm giving away..."
Yay! A hint that I unfortunately didn't like at all, but I had expected it. At least my pleading look had worked on Megumi again.
"All right," I mused, giving up, 'I hope it goes well,' I tried miserably to build myself up.
"Of course," he grinned at me, 'I've got something for you too,' he began, which made me curious.
I watched excitedly as he dug something small out of his trouser pocket and held out his clenched fist to me. A small white capsule was placed questioningly in my outstretched hand. The turquoise curse energy wafted around it, as I had already seen when Megumi had summoned his shikigami. "What is that?" I wanted to satisfy my curiosity.
"Our conversation last time got me thinking. I've been tinkering around a bit over the last few days and have extracted some of my curse power in here. You're my guinea pig today and you get to test it. When you open this capsule, you can summon my white hellhound. It's important to make sure that you open it in the shade. It's best to place it on the ground and trace my shape with your finger, which I use to summon it. If my calculation works, it can neither attack nor is it actually physically there, but it can help you search for clues and curse spirits. He'll also keep you company. And don't worry - if he is attacked, he disappears via the shadow technique and loses none of his curse energy. So practically speaking, he works like you," he grinned, referring to my non-existent curse powers, which made me laugh.
"Mega," I admired delightedly, "I'll let you know if it worked. Thank you, Megumi," and I immediately hugged him gratefully.
That had really meant a lot to me and the fact that my spinning about these curse powers had made him think about it made me happy. Now I was really curious and excited to see if it had worked, which I had fervently hoped it would.
"It's just a little thing," he told me sheepishly and stroked me gently down my back – a small gesture with a healing effect against Yuna.
"No, it isn't. At least for me," I revealed honestly and moved away from him again, "at least I'm not completely alone, because I don't think I'll be doing this training with Satoru."
"I'm still not allowed to say anything," he whistled with feigned ignorance, "by the way, he shouldn't necessarily get wind of this, ok?"
"Yes, yes. I know," I played along innocently, "I'll get back to my special training. He must be waiting for me outside by now."
I tucked my somewhat anxiety-relieving capsule into the pocket of my skirt.
"I'm sure he will. I'll see you later, Mayu. And take care of yourself."
"Of course. See you later and thank you again, Megumi."
"Good morning," I greeted them both courteously and bowed more to Kiyotaka, who was dressed in a black suit, than to Satoru, who still didn't think much of formalities.
"Good morning, Mayu," the equally bowing Kiyotaka greeted me in a friendly manner and was already opening the driver's door.
"Good morning, my apprentice," Satoru gushed, "did you sleep well?"
Pah! He had a lot to say. If this haunting had been over, I would have been found in bed again.
"Yes, but far too short. You?" I asked as we got into the heated car.
"Sufficient and good."
Did I want to know how long he had stayed awake and got up this morning? I could have bet that I had been awake before him.
"Is there any news, Kiyotaka?" Satoru immediately asked our driver, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
And so I mentally disappeared back to my thought tree and took root once again. I asked myself all kinds of questions about the training I was about to undergo, or curse, as Megumi reluctantly told me.
"Not for that."
So I left the well-protected dormitory behind me and went outside. I was immediately embraced by the almost hot rays of sunshine that I had let into my room earlier. The immaculate blue sky wouldn't have tolerated even a tiny cloud today. Couldn't we have gone to the swimming pool today? Surely there would have been enough ghosts to scare away...
Well - I couldn't avoid it in the end and headed straight for the two people waiting for me, consisting of our assistant supervisor - Kiyotaka, who was standing next to the black car, and my teacher Satoru.