Chapter Text
Kiyotsugu looked out over the school grounds as he waited for the rest of his squad to assemble. Maki and Torii were already there, splayed out over the desks in their usual indifferent poses. Kana sat by the window, looking down at Rikuo scurrying about below. As usual, he had volunteered to help out with any and all school chores left to the other students. Now he was hauling gym equipment back into the shed, while everyone else had left to go change.
Kiyotsugu turned as Shima ran into the room, slightly out of breath.
"Did they work you too hard in Gym today, Shima?" Maki teased, while Torii giggled behind her hands.
Shima let out a huff and a sigh, glancing around the room in disappointment.
"Eh, where's Oikawa? Wasn't she here today?"
"Ah," Kiyo called out, running a hand through his hair. "Nura-kun said something earlier about that. I guess she had some work to do today. Which is a shame, since she's going to miss the awesome youkai sightseeing trip I have planned for us!"
"Too bad." Maki said jokingly as she and Torii came up on either side of Shima and patted him on the back.
"Yeah, looks like you'll be stuck with just us for the day!" Torii added with a grin.
"Where is Rikuo-kun? What's taking him so long down there?" Kana asked, moving over to join the rest of them. Shima chuckled sheepishly.
"Well, he volunteered to put away all the hurdles since it was track and field practice." Kana crossed her arms in a disapproving gesture and gave him a look.
"And you didn't volunteer to help him out?"
"I've gotten used to it, I guess." He grinned sheepishly again before turning to look down at the school grounds where Rikuo had disappeared. "But, it's strange…"
"Oh?" Kiyo asked, curiosity aroused. "Did something interesting happen?" Shima glanced back at him and shrugged.
"We were running sprints today to improve speed. To increase our competitiveness Sensei posted school-wide records so we could try for a new fastest time. Everyone was talking about it… and guess who was on top?"
"Huh? Who was it?" Asked Torii. Shima looked up at the ceiling in thought.
"As it turns out, it was Nura-kun. He got 6.9 seconds in the 6o meter dash way back in 3rd grade."
"No way!" Torii squealed.
"Yeah," nodded Shima.
"The 3rd grade, are you serious? How could an elementary schooler post a faster time than anyone today?" Kiyo asked in disbelief. Shima shook his head.
"You don't get it. With a time like that, Nura-kun could have qualified for the Olympics. It's unreal. Everyone just figured it was a mistake with the stopwatch. But I know it wasn't, I was there when it happened - so I remember."
There was a moment of silence as everyone digested this new information.
"Rikuo-kun was different when he was little." Kana said thoughtfully. "He was very good at sports." Shima snorted.
"He still is! Nura-kun doesn't stand out much, but I've never seen him get tired, and he barely ever breaks a sweat." He took the opportunity to frown. "Though he refuses to join the soccer team, no matter how many times I ask him… he always has some crazy excuse, even that time!" He added sullenly.
"What do you mean by a crazy excuse?" Kiyo asked in confusion.
"Well, when everyone asked him how he ran so fast Nura gave us this story about how his Grandpa was really the Supreme Commander of the youkai and that he was super powerful or something like that…"
Torii and Maki turned to each other and burst out laughing.
"He talked about youkai a lot, didn't he? Nura-kun thought they were pretty cool." Maki added.
"I remember Kiyotsugu making fun of him for that, and calling him weird!"
Kana stated accusingly, giving Kiyo a hard look. But Kiyo barely noticed. An odd expression passed across his face as he stared off into the distance.
"His Grandpa… Supreme Commander? Huh…" He was deep in thought, rubbing his chin as he murmured to himself.
Nervous laughter bubbled up from across the room, making them all jump. The group looked over to see Rikuo standing just inside the door.
"Rikuo-kun!" Kana called out happily.
"Whoa, Rikuo! That was creepy. We didn't even notice you come in!" Maki said reproachfully. The shorter boy just grinned and ducked his head unassumingly.
"Sorry if I scared you! But… about what you said. My Grandpa told me loads and loads of youkai folk tales when I was little." He looked up and met Kiyo's searching gaze.
"As a result, I said lots really stupid stuff before I learned better. Now I know they're just stories, though." He stated quietly. At that, Kiyo grinned challengingly and threw up his hands.
"And some stories can be proven true! That's the purpose of our Kiyo Cross Paranormal Investigation Squad! Now that we're all here I'll tell you what I have planned for us…"