Some time ago, a blonde girl, a barmaid, to be precise, lived in Ikebukuro. She was not born there but came there for a reason. No one, not even her cousin, Shizuo Heiwajima, or her best friend, Kyoka Kadota, knew about it. No one but she and her father knew.
The girl's name was Shizuka Heiwajima.
In Ikebukuro, there lived a rich and powerful girl who was named Kanra Orihara. According to Shizuka's father, Kanra was extremely cruel and evil. In her father's mind, Kanra was the devil.
"Your mission is for the sake of peace," her father used to say when she was a child. Shizuka, back then, had no idea what the man was talking about. But when she grew older, she understood.
Her job was to make the people go against Kanra, forgetting their fears, and finally getting rid of the girl.
When she reached Ikebukuro with Kyoka, they wandered around the streets, trying to find Shizuo's house to stay in. It was not long before the tall blonde bumped into someone.
"S-Shizuka? Are you alright?" came the familiar voice. Almost immediately, a plan to carry out her mission popped into her mind. Shizuka took her cousin's hand and he pulled her up before she stared into his eyes, smiling innocently with the kind smile that everyone loved back home, and said, "Ah! I'm sorry." But that smile was never from the heart.
She thought what she was doing was right. After all, she was doing this for the peace of Ikebukuro.
A few days, possibly weeks or even months, later, Shizuo was seen strolling around and Shizuka walked up to him. "Itoko-san!" was what she said, the same smile plastered on her face that made everyone like her so much, forgetting about her monstrous strength and short temper.
She knew her cousin was in love with her, but she pretended to be oblivious to it. Deep down, she was disgusted. She never loved him before. None of the smiles that she had shown to anyone were real ever since she came to Ikebukuro. They were all fake. But all the people were too oblivious to even know. Even Kyoka.
Kyoka had thought Shizuka was the same as before she even came to Ikebukuro. The same oblivious and cheerful, but short-tempered, Shizuka Heiwajima. But she was wrong.
Shizuka was talking to Shizuo like every other day but in a distance, she saw a raven-haired man that was around his 20s. She felt a warm feeling in her heart and she could not help but to smile. And this time, it was a real one. Was this love at first sight?
That night, she fell asleep as she thought about the young man with a fur coat, the smile still plastered on her face. She felt a tinge of guilt and uneasiness but she shrugged it off before she closed her eyes and dozed off.
The next morning, she continued to chat with Shizuo as Kyoka had gone out to visit her own cousin, who was Shizuo's high school friend. The man was complaining about the fact that his parents were forcing him to marry the one and only Kanra Orihara. Shizuka then had a feeling her mission was finally going to be completed.
Shizuo showed his younger cousin a picture of the girl and the barmaid's eyes widened. The girl looked a lot like the man she saw the previous day. Were they related? But Shizuka decided to remain silent. The guilt in her heart grew; her job was to find a way to rid the world of Kanra. But if the auburn-eyed man was really related to her, she would be getting rid of his relative.
What would her father say in these kinds of situations? Shizuka thought over and over before she remembered a phrase he had once told her when she was a child. He had said, "Sometimes, sacrifices are necessary."
Indeed... Sacrifices are necessary...
Waving goodbye to her cousin, she headed off to work, still deep in her thoughts.
She felt nervous the more the time passed and she was not sure why, but she finally managed to shrug it off and continued working. Surprisingly, she had not lost her temper that day.
It was finally night and Shizuka left work, smiling to herself as she was glad she did not flare up that day. Upon hearing the sound of footsteps, the barmaid turned around and saw the raven-haired man that she had seen the previous day. She noticed he was holding a blade and she immediately knew what was going to happen. Kanra must have been jealous of her as she was so close to her future husband and had gotten her relative to get rid of her. Yes, that had to be it. Was this her fate? Was her mission finally going to end? Perhaps her death would anger the citizens and force them to get rid of Kanra... But what was this pain that Shizuka felt in her heart? Was she afraid? Sad, even?
She quietly muttered to herself, "Please, quickly end this." She was unsure if the man had heard her or not but without warning, the man with the fur coat charged towards her, stabbing her with his extremely sharp blade.
She suddenly felt something wet on her face as the man stared down at her. Were those... Tears? Shizuka glanced at the man's auburn eyes and saw tears dripping down from his pale face. That was the last thing she saw before everything went black.
When she finally opened her eyes, she saw nothing but white. Did she go blind? What happened anyway? The blonde thought for a moment before she finally remembered.
"I'm dead..." she told herself. How long had it been since she died? Was she in heaven? Shizuka felt the fluffy clouds beneath her feet and nodded to herself. Indeed, she was in heaven. She had expected herself to go to hell, to be honest, but it would appear that God was more forgiving than she had thought.
But though she was a ghost, maybe even an angel, she felt guilty about what she did. By now, Kanra Orihara should be gotten rid off.
Shizuka was curious about what happened, so she decided to go down to Earth.
Opening her eyes once again, she found herself in a church. And not just any church; she saw her best friend there. She heard sobs and glanced through the door before her eyes widened. There, in the confession room, was none other than Kanra Orihara. But if Kanra was alive, then what...?
"Because of my sins, my brother is dead..." was what the raven-haired girl said. Shizuka's eyes widened more. Brother? Could it be that Shizuka's killer was Kanra's brother?
He was dead...
He was dead and it was her fault...
The guilt in Shizuka's heart grew as she began to sob. Not that anyone could hear her anyway. Sure, she had only met the man once, but she fell in love with him at first sight.
Guilt...
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." If Shizuka could, she would have hugged Kanra and begged her for forgiveness. Anything to make the guilt go away.
Was this her punishment for causing a life to be lost?
"Please, quickly end this..."
But the guilt was going to haunt her forever.
A/N: Guess who is bored and has no inspiration?