"Sometimes, I just can't believe my luck."
Such was a saying known for being ambiguous, and being said by a multitude of people on a large variety of occasions. The very definition of the word 'success or failure apparently brought by chance rather than through one's own actions' implies several situations of when luck can either bless you, or destroy you. For example, a good case of luck would be winning the jackpot in the lottery, a random chance that those six numbers that you had chosen were the same as the balls that had rolled you into suddenly becoming a million richer. Yet, there are two sides to every coin despite it actually being a cylinder, and often the two are polar opposites: heads and tails, light and dark, happiness and sadness, good or bad. Luck is not always a blessing sent via angel from heaven, it may also contain a cruel calamity from the devil itself. The worst luck can be identified as bad thunderstorm on what was supposed to be the best day of your life, ruining everything that day had ever stood for to you. Both of these things may happen by random chance and may not have even happened at all, such matters are sometimes so inconsequential it goes unnoticed, and yet other times it may change the world, for better or worse.
Luck also starts a chain of events, the cause and effect thing-whatever, when somebody does something, other things happen because of it, which leads to more and more occurrences which might have never happened if that first domino hadn't fallen. Take for instance something that happens every day a simple thing such as losing your wallet-bad luck. Immediately that can be perceived as bad luck that you left it on the train or something, but it could be seen as good luck for the person who finds it. Whether they decide to hand it in is their choice but, for the sake of this argument, let's just say they were a selfish being full of immense greed, and a smile curled upon their face one they found a little goldmine lying underneath the train seat. Suddenly within a few days a certain bank account had been wiped clean and a once happy family began to crumble to dust and despair-more bad luck. Extreme pressure of work and debt forced a middle aged man and wife, along with their 5 year old child to go into hiding to avoid their only kin having a life of pain and suffering, and restarted their own lives, however living the poorest quality of existence on the other side of the country-very bad luck.
Meanwhile, the rapacious man who had destroyed the lives of three, used his new found wealth to buy a huge mansion in Tokyo-good luck. He already had a respectable job, and with the extra money, he felt like he could afford to squander the rest on gambling and underground excitement. Amazingly, he again struck it rich and completely cleaned out a casino of cash, soon becoming the richest man in Tokyo-more good luck. Due to this he met a beautiful woman, got married with her and sailed away into the sunset on a luxury yacht, completely unaware of the tragedy he had caused-very good luck.
Whenever somebody gets lucky, their bodies are filled with happiness and a euphoric substance rushes through small veins like caffeine, it doesn't always last forever. However, whenever there is good luck to behold, you can be sure on the flipside of things that a rather large bomb of bad luck has been dropped upon another, to which the feeling inside of them is not euphoria but mortal fear and dread. Call it whatever you like, but this is what makes the world the way it is now, the reason why some are fabulously wealthy and others are shriveling in poverty; and man isn't equal. It's a key argument with anti-communist believers thinking that we cannot determine everything that will happen on this Earth and it sometimes comes down to luck and fate.
Imagine that a whole other world exists, a dimension where small talk discussions between young teenagers and their history teachers, the what-ifs, were a reality. What if Christopher Columbus hadn't discovered America, instead another country? What if Adolf Hitler had successfully invaded Russia and had claimed victory over the Second World War? What if Protestant Reformation had never happened? What if Religion never existed? Such huge things would seem foreign to us now, but one small decision seemingly changed the course of history forever, and the elusive mystery surrounding the resolution of what if those decisions hadn't been made, what luck decided that such events would happen and what didn't.
Well that got deep very quick. Let's backtrack a bit to the example argument we presented earlier. What would've happened if a certain man had not lost his wallet on the bullet train. Well the family that had fallen into misfortune and despondency wouldn't have, unless fate had decided to intervene and make sure it happened anyway, but that's a story for another time. Perhaps the father would have become the head of the business he was in-good luck. Maybe he would win the lottery? He picked all of the correct numbers, his small family celebrating continuously until the cranky old lady next door told them to shut up-more good luck. Or if he had chosen to sign a business partnership contract dripping with generosity, which made him the richest man in the world-very good luck.
What about the selfish fiend who had stolen the wallet. Without any money to spare, he spent his last yen on a ticket to Tokyo to try and better his undesirably poor life, but was turned down at every turn for a job-bad luck. What if he was caught up in something he didn't want to be part of, such as gang violence and found himself a wanted man-more bad luck. Then, when the police finally got their hands on him, he resisted stating that it was all a misunderstanding, but got a bullet lodged in his brain for doing so-very bad luck. A simple fact chosen by a supreme being, or maybe by time itself, nobody knows but luck will forever remain an undecided factor that strongly impacts lives, yet nothing can control it. That is luck.
Unfortunately, our first example was actually a true story, four lives were dramatically altered by one simple lucky draw, and believe me when I say they aren't the only ones. The family that had dwindled into bankruptcy faced vicious debts, loans that they couldn't pay off began to pile up like Kilimanjaro until the police were knocking at the door under the assumption the family was up to no good. Truthfully they weren't, they had tried everything to remain hopeful that somehow a miracle would happen and everything would turn out to be a terrible nightmare. Yet, nobody can escape reality, not even the condemned choices they made to turn to illegal drugs to keep their minds off of the impending doom, were enough to captivate their minds away from their only child. Even underground businesses started hammering for money, which added to the stress of other payments, but also keeping their beloved daughter away from any harm.
Regrettably, their arrears never improved, and drastic measures had to be taken to ensure nobody got sent to the slammer, or even killed. After setting off a loud explosion in their place of residence, erasing any incriminating evidence, the family scrambled out of Tokyo and used the last of their savings to get as far away from the city as possible. They had seemingly been planning the move for a while due them making it all the way up to Miyagi before their luck ran dry. They wandered aimlessly around the prefecture, finally settling in a small village called Onagawa. It was a cute little town, focused entirely around their beach and fishing industry. The parents managed to find work, and their child was able to attend the nearest school. Life was rolling by like a deserted roller coaster separated from tracks, and the daughter was only twelve when her father passed on due to illness. From then she lived with her mother alone, both helplessly relying on each other to survive in rather pathetic conditions.
Despite the fact she was poor and lived a low quality life, she grew up to be a strong willed girl who was polite and intelligent. She was also rather beautiful as well, her inherited looks turning many of the local boys gazes. Her soft hair was a sweet strawberry blonde and was naturally wavy, a real pain to do anything with and got frizzy and greasy very easily when neglected. Her skin was fairly normal compared to those who were born in Toyko, but in Miyagi it stood out a little, but not enough to be considered odd, yet displaying that she clearly wasn't born in the area. Facial wise, her complexion was never perfect (what was she an anime character?) and neither were many others so it didn't really matter. Her eyes are a sea of cerulean blue and misty grey, and where most optical orbs were bright and full of activity, hers were plain and dull like they were void of life. This also caught attention, since it was such a contrast to the rest of her body. Her whole existence was a contrast to the rest of Japan. Every so often someone would pluck up the courage to ask her where she was from, since blonde hair and blue eyes are about as common for a Japanese person to have than getting Kikuchi disease. She would usually just reply, 'the big city' and strut away, feeling miffed that this happened at all. She was pretty normal sized for a Japanese female, bit perhaps a little taller than average. Her chest was fairly normal too, being slightly bigger than those of her classmates. Overall, she was above average in the area, and was the reason she got so much attention in the morose town of Onagawa, which was about as normal as normal could be. Straight up ordinary, and boring.
Her body may be an enigma, but her personality was a complete shock to those who plucked up the courage to go to her. The young girl kept entirely to herself when around others, and would sit there, a sharp glare permanently scarred her pretty face as she stayed inside of her little bubble. Eventually, her mother encouraged her to communicate with humans other than herself, and her cold heart began to open up more toward others. She was definitely not the liveliest person, but she managed with a small group of friends, and left high school with good grades. She began to work as a psychotherapist in the small town and was always happy to help others. Lamentably, everybody has a personality inside of them, and the cool composed façade she had lived under began to slip ever so slightly. Wondering what it could be, she dug deeper inside of her mind, and decided to take a break from work and analyze herself rather than others.
After searching and searching, she found out the problem, her life was irrevocably mundane. Every day would start the same, waking up when the sunlight was strong enough to get through her curtains. The same daily routine of washing, eating, working, talking, sleeping- nothing extraordinary happened to divert her attention from her usual life. Realization hit her like a tonne- no a kilotonne of heavy round bricks, her life was boring and what she craved more than anything was derivation, a meaning to living that wasn't just sitting in a stuffy office all day torturing her throat and mind sorting out other people's problems! She wanted something different to happen each day, excitement and adrenaline to sing in her blood as she witnessed a beautiful spectacle of anything, anything that wasn't what she had now!
After smiling and laughing loudly in her and her mother's apartment, she flopped back down on the bed and sighed. Her strawberry blonde hair was disheveled over her face, but just a quick glance at her shaking body as she clutched her sides, you could see the large grin that was etched upon her features. Then she stopped as the foreign emotion dropped off her face, and brushed her locks out of her view so she could see the patchy ceiling. Despite the fact that both of the women had a decent job, they couldn't afford a proper place, so they were stuck with a dingy one bedroom apartment. It wasn't much really, a kitchen and dining room in one, and ensuite bathroom and a small lounge, all conjoined by a short hallway. Enough to call home however, they had been living in the same apartment since they had moved to Miyagi all those years ago, and the same stale smell of death lingered, it had done since her father had died.
Calming herself down, she pondered on what made her come to such a conclusion, that what she craved was unprecedented, bizarre, wonderful, phenomenal, remarkable change. Throughout the eternal last twenty two years of her existence, she had always hated change, with a strong burning passion. It felt uncomfortable, leaving Tokyo, moving schools, graduating, making friends, getting a job, the death of a loved one… Every differentiation in her life up until now had been a horrible feeling, an unwanted part of her life she couldn't handle. Even the small things such as new food choices and new people made her feel ill, and yet she wanted such a gratuitous diversity to affect her so badly it was driving her insane? She didn't understand.
Suddenly, giving her the fright of her life, her mother's concerned face popped into sight leaning over her. Her mother, with her current name Hanabatake Sachi, Sachi ironically meaning 'lucky' was a women in her mid-forties, with the same hair as her daughter. In a matter of fact, they looked extremely similar, almost to the fact that, with a bit of makeup, Sachi would be mistaken for her daughter from ones who didn't know them too well. However, those who knew the two acknowledged that they were quite different, and yet so similar. Sachi was always such a lovely, kind and caring woman, where her child could often come off as quite cold and rude, but that's just their personality contrast. They both love it when something unusual happens and have the oddest sense of humour anybody in Onagawa can understand, finding obviously hilarious jokes boring, but can start having laughing fits at random, claiming 'that was hysterical!'
"Kimi-chan," Sachi eventually said softly, yet a hint of concern and worry was evident within herself, "Are you alright? You seem… exhausted honey."
Kimiko's blue eyes immediately snapped toward the source of the sound she loved to hear. Her mother was the only important thing to her, and just seeing her happy brings a bubbly feeling within her stomach. When such discomfort was plainly evident on her however, a thick black slime begins to ooze from her heart, and her chest pangs with guilt knowing she had upset her beloved mother, "Me? I am fine mother, do not worry about my condition," she paused, and got up from her position so she was leaning against the old worn headboard. He mother plopped herself next to her daughter, which meant she wasn't leaving anytime soon. "Sorry if I made you worry."
Her mother smiled earnestly, her lips pressed together in a thin line as her eyes wavered over her only daughter, who still acted like a child as was a stubborn brat, determined to keep things from her, "No no, not at all Kimi-chan, you just look a little crazy. You were laughing like a madman on marijuana again."
Immediately a small curved grin crawled up on her face, her mother was always able to make her feel better, she felt that she could not hide anything from her these days, they were like twin sisters except the twenty or so years in age. Diverting her eyes away to stare off into space, before she shut them like she was debating on what to say. There were so many things she wanted to express to her mother and yet her vocal chords couldn't form the words, like her sense of morality was clawing at her to not convince her mother of how she was a nutcase more than she already was, yet she couldn't lie to her. "I'm… bored. With life."
Sachi visibly flinched back, her pale azure eyes round with shock and they wavered uncertainly. Her mouth dropped open slightly and a short odd squeak fell muffled out of her mouth, like somebody had let the mouse out of its cage and it began to scurry across the floor carrying her understanding with it. Kimiko remained in her stoic position, not opening her eyes to see her mother's reaction, but her lids were scrunched and her hands were balled into fists as she knew she had said something her mother had not expected to hear, but she wasn't about to lie. An awkward silence hung in the air like a heavy concentration on plutonium dust that was just waiting to be inhaled, both women held their breaths. The elder was the first to speak, "I… I see. When-did you realize this?"
The daughter released the breath she had been subconsciously holding, and searched for an answer, "I guess I always knew," she slowly fluttered open her eyes to look at up at her mother, before sitting up again, "Life in Onagawa is just so… ahh-mundane, I guess?"
Sachi regarded her daughter, before closing her own eyes to think back on what might have caused this. Truthfully, she had always known her daughter had a taste for the unusual, on the very rare occasion something actually happened she would embrace it even if it was coated in danger. There was a natural disaster a few years back, which had left the town in tiny shattered pieces. During it, Sachi could distinctly remember the conflicted smile that threatened to appear on her lips as she was told to flee, and instead raced away toward the catastrophe. Even worse, she recalled the day when she and her husband had blown up their place of residence to escape to cops. Clutching her hand like she would go running into the blaze herself, she had turned to her daughter to see a twisted grin upon her face, her dead eyes wide in rapture with sweat forming on her 5 year old forehead as she shook with delight. Also remembering that it was extremely contagious and she had also let out a small giggle and the knotty feeling in her stomach.
Her backside began to clog up, she couldn't help the fact that she had thrill seeking blood running through her veins after all, most of it had come from her. Lost in her sickening thoughts, she forgot to answer which lead Kimiko to think she could keep talking, "It's just that, every day is thesame, I wake up, I eat, I work, I talk, I go home, I sleep!" She hissed, glaring holes into her own legs as she looked down shamefully, "I want something interesting to happen, I want excitement in my life and situations where adrenaline can course through me and everyday something new happens! I want crazy situations with fun and a little bit of danger. I want a change!" The words flew out of her mouth and arrived in her mother's ears like a kamikaze fighter plane with an inexperienced child pilot. Only after her small rant, had she gone back over her words, realized that she had been shouting and recalled what she said. She was quite shocked herself really that the thought of change had even crossed her mind, but she couldn't help acknowledge the feeling deep inside of her that what she said was factual and true.
Sighing, the forty-four year old leaned forward and wiped a tear that had unmistakably leaked out of her beloved daughters narrowed quivering eyes. Surprised, Kimiko blinked at her mother, an ambience of confusion written all over her face as more tears began teaming down pure skin as her lip began to tremble as she nibbled it. Pity and sadness danced amidst Sachi's beautiful eyes as she enveloped her in a warm cloaking embrace, whispering, "I know," In her ear causing the final crack in her mask to smash as the youngest began to bawl and cry in her mother's arms as she sobbed and muttered a slew of apologies. "A strong desire to feel thrills and to eradicate everything boring from your life. To constantly experience danger and dread and instead of fear holding you back, excitement and wild rushes of exhilaration draw you to it like a starving man to fresh water," she murmured softly into Kimiko's greasy hair as she stroked her shoulders gently as she empathized with the last human she loved.
Meanwhile Kimiko was shocked, but was too distressed to express it, so she clutched her mother's cardigan like it was the last thread that connected her to sanity and she desperately didn't want the eternal estrangement in her shattered soul. Breathlessly, she looked up at her mother with eyes drenched with the salty tears of emotional pain, a question that she knew couldn't be answered on her lips, but the courage to say it was long past its use by date. However like a clever clairvoyant, Sachi read her daughter's mind and voiced what she was too afraid to, "What do you want to do about it?"
Kimiko let out a painful wail and rested her aching head on the elder's shoulder as the possible feedback flooded her spacious mind like a desultory haunted ghost train going nowhere. It was such an adult situation that the women were in, what with the mother and daughter hugging and crying 'till the cows come home talking about what they wanted to do with their pathetically typical lives. Usually she would set her big brain to work and start analysing every possible angle of the problem, until she found the easiest and most assertive solution, but right now she was in a very childish mood. Unless they are child geniuses hailed for being the saviours of that generation of kids, the undeveloped brains of children often choose the easy way out. "I want to leave," She grumbled stubbornly into her mother's chest.
Sighing softly, Sachi stroked the top of her head almost patronisingly like she was a golden tabby cat begging for attention, before placing her lips upon the youngest's pale forehead which was mizzled with sweat and tears. Closing her eyes, she let her mind wander about what could become of what had happened and decided to go along with the current happenstance, the deep burning desire within her own self having been reignited by her daughters raging contemporary passion. "And where would you suppose we go?"
Slowly, the blonder female turned to face her mother, and despite her eyes glistening with tears of regret and sadness a small grin appeared on her face as the wicked colours of trepidation peeked out from behind the depressing emotions that she had been feeling before. Opening her mouth to speak, a crazy mad suggestion was coming up her throat and before she knew it, it was prancing around in multi-coloured underwear on the tip of her tongue and yet her sense of morality was holding her back like a leash. Had what she had thought of really been the first thing that came to mind? Was her sense of adventure and contingency more of a plea for suicide?! Closing her eyes before leaving the warm protection of her mother's embrace and reclining back on her dingy bed, she recalled the words of an earlier client, one of the last before her well needed break.
He himself wasn't anything special, but his wondrous fairy-tale of a backstory was enough to keep her satiated. His appearance was simple, the usual suit and jacket with slightly dishevelled tie, what she often saw in businessmen who were overloaded with stress from work. That wasn't the case this time however, he was stressed it was for an entirely different reason. Every time Kimiko had an appointment with him, he would turn up in an absolute state such as sweating all over, random twitching and irritation, constantly zoning out and thinking about other things. First impressions are always very strong, regardless of whom you are meeting and what your profession is, and if she were to be fairly honest the man who had come stumbling into her office had come across as quite mad. Not that she hadn't seen a lot of mad people in her time but she still sat him down and let him blabber on about how his life had gone downhill so fast, that he wasn't far from the centre of the earth and it would take a miracle to bring him back.
Getting off of the bed she waddled over to her dusty filing cabinet and pulled out the most recent drawer, the odd clunking sound startling her mother and waking her up from whatever stupor she had fallen into. Picking out a certain file, she shifted back onto her bed and back into her mother's arms and began to flip through the grubby pages; she had looked through it more times that she was probably supposed to for personal reasons. When she stopped on the certain page of interest that she had seen before, Sachi wrinkled her nose at the familiar page as she tried to get her head around the rushed notes that explained the nonsensical babble he had been spouting, "Not him again. Kimiko we've been over him before, there was a reason we referred him to a mental hospital after four visits, he wasn't sound in the head with all his preposterous recounts and theories…"
"I realize that you might not understand, but after a while you are able to tell when a person is emptying their heart out to you, or deceiving you," The psychiatrist stated softly as her eyes devoured the pages of his reliability like a love story, "While he did lie about some things, it was to make his outrageous stories seem more believable, since sometimes they did go off into the deep end."
"But really can you accept these absurd claims about- about… what are they about again?"
Kimiko chuckled lightly as she flicked back to the long list of oddities that her patient had unloaded onto her. She did have to admit though; most of them were very strange and seemed so far out of a routinely reality it might as well exist somewhere far away like on the other side of the world, which is probably why his case drew her in so much and had her flipping through his personal life before she went to sleep at night, "I'm sure you've heard about the recent slashing victims that had been popping up and around Tokyo lately. He kept saying that he was attacked, and his medical records prove this to be true and that after his release from hospitalization he had begun acting strangely, according to his family."
The mother just looked at her daughter with a hard expression as she recalled all the list of victims that had been repeatedly appearing on the news lately, she understood that and knew it as a fact unless the Japanese multimedia was trying to set it up as a huge deal and wasn't really such a puzzling situation…why? Blinking down to scan the detailed reports of increasing madness about the mysterious occurrences that had happened after his release, her head began to hurt as words began to swim on the page, and cursed her daughter for having a better brain than she so she could understand all these fancy terms, "Yeah yeah, I know the news is making a big stink about it. But like, some of these things don even make sense, I mean waking up randomly in the middle of nowhere holding a knife isn't normal. And neither is suddenly finding yourself in a giant huddle of people who look like zombies."
"Aa, but there have been eyewitness reports about him suddenly just dropping everything he was doing and leaving without a word. Visual representations show that he has gone from being perfectly normal," She pointed at a detailed diagram of him enjoying dinner with his wife and son, then turning over to see a hunched over form of the same person, "-to having new symptoms he couldn't normally portray. They include a hunched back, slow clumsy walking, glowing red eyes, incoherent muttering, all the indications of a zombie really."
"What sort of muttering? What would he typically say?"
Frowning slightly, she turned to the page which listed the things he would commonly murmur under his breath as he plodded around in such a state, "It would change every time, but it would often be some sort of objective he had to complete. Instances include protecting people, going to certain places, doing odd jobs and meeting a group of fellow zombies then proceeding to storm around in a large crowd and scare the hell out of people which causes them to avoid a certain area," She read almost off by heart as she barely looked down at the page. Summing up, deep in thought she would flick back and forth between pages like what she could see clearly didn't make sense, "But the strangest part of all, it that he says he has to do all of it for his mother."
"His mother."
"His mother, who has been dead for almost twenty years. His mother who has no way to communicate with him and tell him what to do, or take control of his body and take gaps of time out of his memory," She said incredulously, however frustrated that she couldn't figure out why.
Sachi gasped in jest, "So has he been possessed by his mum?! Like, maybe all those weird symptoms are because his being has been taken over by the spirit of his late mother," She joked as she waved her hands in the air in a fake attempt to scare her daughter, "Whoooooo- scaryyyy~"
She returned the light hearted gesture with a cold deadpan glare then proceeded to give her rebuttal, "It was not just him, all of the zombified individuals like this are doing this for some sort of motherly figure. And what's more, all individuals recorded having been affected have had the same goal at the same time, talking about… the same mother perhaps?"
Sachi shrugged her shoulders in defeat; she had given up on this ludicrous search for the truth and instead tried to make light of the situation, "Sooo? Maybe all of the mothers of all the weirdos in Tokyo banded together in heaven and possess them to get things done, I dunno." She giggled as she offhandedly hugged her daughter from behind like she was capturing her and had come from the depths of hell, "Maybe I'll possess youuuu when I die~" she grinned as her beloved gave a short squeak of shock. Giving in to her childish nature she tickled her mother at her waist which caused the two to fall into a spur of laughing fits. Wiping a few tears from her eyes, she began to speak amongst stifled laughter, "S-sure that's interesting and all, but l-like what does it have to do with where we're going to go now?"
Calmed down, Kimiko sighed and picked up the file after collecting all the loose pages that had flown about, before waving it in her mother's face, "This is just one case, but there are hundreds of men and women splattered all round Tokyo infected by this… disease shall we call it. Police reports show that attacks have been happening all over the city but primarily in the mid area where most of the exciting stuff happens, such as the Bunkyo, Toshima, Shinjuku and Shibuya wards. Amount of attacks are spread out like a spectrum, like-like ripples of water. The highest amount has been in Shinjuku-ku, which usually leads people to believe that the main person or whatever is there, but I don't think so."
"Really. Then where?"
"Its just a hunch, but I feel it has to be somewhere near the boarders between Shinjuku and Toshima. Shinjuku-ku is a very densely populated area, with more sources of entertainment such as the Takadanobaba and Shinjuku districts," she gabbled rather quickly like she was talking as fast as she could so if she said something wrong it would be overlooked, "Buuuuut, then again Toshima-ku has Ikebukuro. Agh, I dunno maybe I'm just reading too much into this." She looked over to her mother expecting to see a confused scowl, but was instead treated to a warm smile.
"So you think 'The Slasher' might live in Toshima-ku, but its not as populated as Shinjuku-ku so they go there to get more victims? Or do you think they do it to throw you off track, who knows perhaps this is what they want you to think and they're sitting upon their high chair down south in somewhere like Shinagawa-ku," It was clear she wasn't joking now, Sachi was being serious in helping her daughter, "Regardless of that, you want to move to Tokyo to… what? Get slashed and become a zombie yourself? Is that your definition of living life on the edge?"
Smirking slightly, the youngest looked down on the file in her painted fingers, like it was withholding some sort of deadly clue she had yet to unlock. It got her thinking however, why on earth would she go to the big city? Sure, she wanted some abnormality to her life, but walking right into the clutches of a deranged psychopath was slightly over the line. Or was it really, was there another reason she wanted to go to mid-area Tokyo? Glancing at nothing in particular, she flicked through the pages for what might have been the hundredth time, "Maybe I was so sure because he lived in Ikebukuro," She said solemnly, "Or that he is one of the first registered people to be attacked in the recent slew of incidents. Or that most of the victims when they gather," She sighed and closed it in vain, "They almost always gather in Toshima-ku."
"Mayyybe its all true~! Maybe its that detective blood in those skinny little veins of yours getting to your brain. Your father was one of the best detectives in Odaiba y'know. I'm not saying you shouldn't go, but the 23rd ward is on the highest alert right now, a lot of strange things have been happeni- oh." Sachi finally caught up with the bandwagon, but refused to climb aboard.
"Perhaps I'll go not seeking danger, but to help," Kimiko concluded, pressing her fist in her palm as her eyes began to sparkle, "Y'say I have detective blood within me mother, then I should be able to snuff out this weirdo. I'll still have to work though won't I? Perhaps I can buy an office of something and I could become a psychiatrist there. That old fart came from Ikebukuro because he couldn't handle the intense pressure of living there, and well he went crazy. I bet there are loads of other people there too who can't leave for whatever reason and I could help them-oh mother I'm all excited now!"
Sachi began to laugh and snaked an arm around her the blonder female's shoulders comfortingly, feeling the same butterflies in her stomach, but suppressing them for the one she loved most, "You can do anything if you really want to Kimi-chan, perhaps you can change Toshima-ku for the better. Finding and stopping The Slasher would be an amazing thing to do."
Tears started to well up in the psychiatrist's eyes as her heart thudded with love as her mother praised her, but alarm bells began to ring in the furthest corners of her mind, so she went back and recalled what her mother had just said. 'Perhaps you can change Toshima-ku for the bett- wait. "You-you aren't coming with me?"
The elder gave a sad smile, "I couldn't, I'm much too old to get involved in all'o this stuff, I'd be fine just relaxing in an old armchair watching my beautiful daughter do well in her life. That's what I've been doing for the past few years, its been going fine up 'till now. Now, when you've had a new revelation and want some more to your life, I get you." She wriggled off of the bed elegantly and pulled the cruddy laptop out from under the broken wooden desk, "If you really want to live in Tokyo, you're going to need to learn how to depend on yourself and not rely on others so much," she raised her head and stared at the ceiling as her voice fell into a hushed tone, "It's a jungle out there, the real world, and I won't be around forever."
Panic arose within Kimiko's chest and clambered up her body inside like a perilous explorer looking for his final gem, her heart began to beat erratically and out of time causing a dull ache to awaken, contrasting with the fear that was screeching at her in her brain. She had never once been without the safety of her mother, and thus did not know how to function when there wasn't another she could lean on, "Y-you d-don't have to live in Ikebukuro with me! Just…just be somewhere close, where I can reach you if I really need to! I-I…" She began to sob again, but Sachi just grabbed ahold of her shoulders and shook her vigorously, and looked at her right in the eyes, active cerulean staring right through the void of lifeless blue.
"Listen to me! If you're going to live in Ikebukuro, one of the most popular, and dangerous districts in Toshima-ku, you need to start acting like the adult you are!" Shock clasped around her soul like a shadowy icy black hand was grasping and fumbling around for the keys to her heart. Stubborn was she was though, there had to be a point where she needed to give in or she would never be able to move forward wither her life. Perhaps that's what her beloved wanted, to try and prepare her for what was yet to come. However, she wasn't going to lose without a compromise.
"F-fine, I got it," She grumbled as she rattled herself away from her mother as she wiped a stray tear that had rudely fallen down. Then a thought popped into her clouded mind and her deformed twisted grin slithered back onto her face like a poisonous snake that had spotted its prey, "I'll live in Ikebukuro all by myself. But, you have to live in a fancy apartment in a connected ward so I can live in luxury every so often, don't worry Sachi-chan, I'll pay~"
Evil twisted grins are supposed to be the fore bringer of danger and despair, symbolising that a devious mind is at work plotting a devilish scheme that is surely meant to harm others in the process of the wearer getting what they want. Quite often they are curled up subconsciously, or even accidentally since when a normal person smiles because they found something funny, they certainly don't laugh on purpose it just happens because of the happy feeling that bubbled up in in their stomach. Dark demented humour strikes in many people, manifesting in the hearts of the most innocent and naïve, the cold and calculating, or just random people in general. Studies even show that the most normalest normal of normal people can laugh in a sore moment, and quite often when an accident occurs in a normal place, normal people will want to take pictures to create a lasting memory. Some may plan the downfall of a company, big or small or maybe a person's worst nightmare can be bought off of Amazon online and delivered right onto your doorstep, where anybody can see your reaction. Others might just notice that their little plan that's all about them is hurting somebody else in some way, like an embarrassing moment that they caused. To sum it up, an odd looking lopsided crooked smirk happens when one is witnessing or thinking about the misfortune of others, and contorted humour and satisfaction causes them to smile, reflecting in the abyss of their eyes. It's a wonder why then, that two slightly crazy Japanese women are sharing the same grin and yet all they can feel is happiness for their situation and love for each other. It could be that their dark humour is even more fucked up than usual, which means their bizarre minds are the product of something else entirely, what? Who knows. Why were they chosen to be such oddballs and wildcards in the game of humanity? Perhaps they weren't chosen…
…Perhaps it was just luck.