"You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon is too late."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Life is chaos.
Buildings around us crumbled as the bomb's aftershock still captivated what once was New York City. Streets were cloaked in rubble, smoke suffocating any bit of life from the war zone. Cars were upturned, amber flames licking up from their underbellies. No soul seemed to exist in the barren landmark.
Except for me.
Carefully I peered into my shooting scope before lowering the rifle from my field of vision. I didn't dare waste time to look left or right as I shoot out from the broken wall that had provided me shelter once. I had to find my target. They were here, somewhere, anywhere. I just needed to locate them. It didn't matter the possible danger that I threw myself into as I watched the world bounce around from how I ran. Trash and stone were kicked away from my track as I thundered through the American city.
Just as I raced passed a Coca-cola truck with tires long stolen, stuck forever perpendicularly across the road, something black smudged itself quickly away from my vision. I spun around on pins and needles, jumping to aim-mode.
The figure dove behind the truck, hoping I hadn't spotted them. But it was too late. A small smirk pulling across my face, "I see you..."
I had my finger just a hair away from firing, ready to fill my target's chest with lead. I leapt around, pulling the trigger. My gun burst, the bullet flying into the once-office building window. As the smoke cleared way, I saw no victim or target in sight. I paled, suddenly overcome with panic.
Where could she have gone? I bit my lip as I tried to spin around. But it was already too late.
"Haha! Got ya'!" Before I could even get out of the way, the sound of a bullet breaking from its home filled the air. The ammo erupted through my chest, through my heart, blood spurting everywhere as I was thrown forward against the dirty world.
The laughter continued to fill my ears as everything faded into an empty black.
"[YOU'RE DEAD!]"
filled my half of the screen in an electronically glowing red text.
Sharing on the same flat-screen TV, the other half was still bright with the Dystopian city. The view was from on top of the truck, looking down at my awkwardly bent body. However their words scrawled across the screen read, "[VICTOR!]"
I mumbled out an animalistic groan as I tossed away my game controller without much care before falling backwards. "Goddammit," I said as I nestled further into my armada of pillows that wrapped around us.
My friend continued to laugh, running her fingers through the fiery locks that burned through my room. "I win again!" she sung out in a condescending tone. She too set her controller down, shuffling herself to face where I moped, "Wanna go one more round?"
"Not against you," I kicked her slightly, a smile still coming to my face as I tried to look upset, "You always win."
"Come on!" she continued to press, retaliating with another kick, "I promise I'll go easy on you this time, Yuki!"
I finally move myself to a sitting position, my charcoal hair cloaking past my elbows, "That's even worse! If I am gonna beat you, I want to beat you fair and square."
My auburn-haired friend huffed, her lips puckering up in a pout as she hugged a pillow, "It's totally fair and eighty-percent more fun since we still get to play."
I laughed at her sulk, shooting a glance at my clock. It read out, "00:14 AM". I shuffled out from my little nest of blankets and pillows to rise up. I reached up towards my ceiling, hearing my spine crack as I leaned to the left and right. My nightgown brushed against my knees as I settled my arms back down as I looked at my friend, "We should head to bed, Natsumi, we've got school tomorrow."
"But I'm not tired yet," she protested with a drooping expression. Her golden eyes squeezed shut as the yawn took up her entire face.
I rolled my eyes, "Doesn't look like it at all." I gave a faded smile though to her, "Come on, let's grab something to eat at least before we go to sleep." She knew the code, immediately sparking energy back into her.
Natsumi returned the smile, a bit of devil seeking into her eyes, "Sounds good." She stood up next to me and we both made our exit. The long halls of my estate stretched with popular idols photographed across the walls. She and I both tugged at our socks as we centered ourselves in the hallway.
3... We both exchanged small glances.
2... The slight nod of understanding,
1...
Go! And we shot off. Our feet slammed against the polished wood and we slid as fast as we could. If either of us felt the ourselves slowing down, we started running again to continue a slide. Natsumi and I bit our lips as we tried to contain our laughter, shoving at one another slightly to beat the other.
It was our little tradition every time we went to get food. Even though we were fifteen, It didn't matter how old we were getting, it was still one of the funnest things to do in the middle of the night.
And like every time, Natsumi glided ahead. Her fingers grappled around the corner through the dining room so she would easily shoot towards the kitchen doors. I tried to imitate her, though my hands missed the edge, scrapping just a bit away. I skidded too far and fell to the floor, my chin bouncing against the hard floors.
A laughter erupted from around the corner, footsteps returning back to where I had pathetically lumped myself. Natsumi cackled and cackled as she reached down, "You all right there, tiger?" She snaked around my arm and helped me back up. I took a deep breath in as I tried to neaten my hair back into place, black strands falling in all directions.
"I'm good, I'm good," my knees hurt a bit, though.
"Alright, as long as you're okay," she still held the widest grin, "then I won again."
I still chuckled, brushing off my night gown, "Ouch, just rubbing salt in the wound now!" Natsumi leapt in with the giggles. The two of us continued on with our mission, though this time the race gone, as we peaked into the kitchen.
Shadows coated the silver-chrome world, yet it was still able to glimmer as we snuck into the abandon room. Pots and pans hung from ceiling racks, stove tops confusing themselves with dishwashers and ovens. The two of us slipped over to one of the ginormous fridges and began to search though its contents.
"What'd you wanna eat?" I asked, digging past the crisp ingredients.
"Hmm... Fried rice?" Natsumi suggested, popping away from the fridge to one of our many pantries.
I looked around the metallic door to see where my friend raked through my pantry, "Do you want to set the whole kitchen on fire, again? Let's stick to something we can microwave."
She didn't seem to listen as she snapped up a bag of rice grain, a beam filling her ambiance.
"Natsumi..." I spoke in a hinted threatening tone.
The summer-haired girl spun around to me, "Hey, whose the chef here?"
"Gustabe-Sama, but he's sleeping right now," I said flatly, eyes sinking to a blank stare.
"That's not what I meant," Natsumi replied with her furrowed-eyebrow pout. She bounced about the kitchen, grabbing a pan and sliding it easily onto one of our many stove-tops. In a couple of clicks, she had the electric stove running and she began to spill the milky grains into the pan without much of care.
I shadowed over her on my toes, "I think that's a bit too much."
"No," she snapped, "It needs just a bit more." With that, she snatched up one of the spatulas and pushed the sizzling rice about. "Could you get me some butter?"
I just nodded, giving in to Natsumi as I grabbed the a stick of butter. I sliced it up so she would have easier chunks to mix and slid them over to her on a platter. Natsumi swept them up and quickly swirled them into her dish.
She continued to order ingredients and I bobbed around the kitchen before she could start burning our midnight snack. It was maybe ten minutes when we both gazed down at the heap of swollen rice that dribbled over the skillet.
"I told you there was too much," I muttered.
Natsumi didn't react much as she paced over to where dishes were kept. She pulled down two matching plates and glasses before she shoveled the rice onto them. I understood and returned back to the fridge, tugging out one of the many 2-liter bottles of coke. I poured the russet liquid into the paired cups, little tan fizz leaping out as I finished.
The two of us slid into seats around the Kitchen island, mainly for where the kitchen staff eats their meals. For us, it was where we enjoyed our midnight snacks. We both silently picked at the rice, cramming each bit into our mouths. It was quite good. The simple flavors creating a medley across my taste buds. My stomach bubbled up in satisfaction as I felt a little light gleaming.
Quietly, I began to hum a song that had been stuck in my head all day.
My friend glanced up. She took a large gulp, making sure no food was left before she began to grin, "Hey, tomorrow after classes we should visit the host club!"
"Ooh, definitely!" a grin suddenly burned across my face at the suggestion. A little bit of excitement tingled at my toes at the thought.
"Glad you're on board," Natsumi snickered, "Because I already set up an appointment for us with the Hitachiin twins on Friday!" I could only laugh, she couldn't really surprise me ever with this sort of stuff. At the beginning of the school year, she had done this quite often. I would get upset that she made plans without talking to me, but now I was used to it.
That means I get to see him, I sucked in my lips further. Feathers tickled inside me as I thought about it. I had just been beaming, yet I felt as if I had to mask this smile. I rolled my toes in and out as what to say tomorrow started bouncing in my head.
My friend continued to babble on about the club in her bubbly way, enthusiasm radiating from her very essence as she waved her hands around. She brought up different situations and we laughed about old stories. She couldn't stop smiling as she enthused about every little detail.
I just quietly nodded, listening to her.
Natsumi Azuma. Class 1-C at Ouran Academy, a school for the most elite, here in Japan. Straight A's since middle school, three track medals and she even won a beauty contest last year. And god, she's really beautiful. Long ribbons of deep-red hair that curled around her perfect, hourglass figure. She was graced with a peachy skin tone that gave her this spirit that just screamed she was alive, as her golden eyes just oozed an exotic allure. Despite her natural looks, she would take an hour every morning to make sure her long eyelashes were just that much more noticeable with mascara, painted her lips a bubblegum pink gloss, and dashed an extra shade of rose against her cheeks. her voice was basically a song as she spoke with a constant enthusiasm that drew everyone to love her.
She was just the main character of life.
She's quite friendly, but doesn't really trust too many people. Maybe I'm bias, but as she glows around all those she talks to, there is still this wall about her.
There is one girl though that she trusts. Her best friend, Yuki Kaneko.
Hi, I'm Yuki Kaneko. And I'm Natsumi Azuma's best friend.