Sorry to keep you waiting for so long! This chapter is short, but I decided to post it none the less, as it could take me another half a year to make it longer; what's more important, it's a logical closed sequence. Still no lemons I'm afraid, but we'll get there eventually :) With that out of the way, I can think about the next chapter at my leisure. Special thanks go to the few brave souls who reviewed this boring story :)
Kagami, in her white tracksuit, entered her apartment. Obviously not knowing what fate this day had prepared for her.
Yes, that sounded good. Kagami smiled bitterly. The sun, now setting, turned the inside of the vehicle into a furnace. Metaphoricaly speaking, of course. She raised a trembling hand and checked her pocket for the box of cigarettes. Last one in the box. Normally, that would be unfortunate.
"What a lucky coincidence I've met you, after so many years! So that's how you live! Nice flat, Hiiragi. So you live alone? We singles sure have a hard time keeping house clean, don't we? But at least nobody is ruining our work."
"Thank you, miss Kuroi," she replied coldly, maybe because her former teacher sounded so insincere. Her sorry look she owed to the rain was far more fitting than her words. "You can use that big white towel."
She lit the cigarette, inhaled, and coughed blood. This isn't going to be the best cigarette of her life. Her life… A funny thing. Shy and impulsive girl. Supposedly good-hearted. Honest to everyone… Well, maybe not that honest. Then, struggling and lonely. And that last thing… Almost funny.
Nanako was sitting on the sofa, dressed in a white bath robe. "So, how it's going, in general?" she asked. Kagami shrugged. "Do you play games?" inquired Nanako further after a moment of awkward silence. "Not really." Kuroi's blonde hair stuck to her head making her look like she ran through that rain just a minute ago. "Well, we shouldn't worry, we're still so young!" Her smile was…fake, yes, but also…so proud and desperate. And that made her tired face look more beautiful than any immortal goddess could hope for. Without thinking, Kagami reached forward and put her hand on Nanako's cheek. The older woman froze and looked directly into Kagami's eyes. There must have been something in those eyes, since when Kagami lowered herself and kissed her, Nanako didn't recoil immediately.
It was kind of sad there will be no next chapter to this story. Even if that will save her embarrassment. Embarrassment! Hah! She chuckled again, but the driving wheel pressed against her chest made it a painful exercise. Like she could be in a more embarrassing position than she was now. There's nothing more embarrassing than being a victim.
Miss Kuroi returned to her senses after a few seconds. She pulled back violently. "Hiiragi… I didn't know you were… one of those…I'll better be off." Her smile was as fake as the last, but nowhere as beautiful. Kagami stumbled backwards.
The smell of gasoline… it was getting really strong. Kagami looked sideways. Oh, yes. The gasoline was already mixing with a pool of her blood and viscera that spilled from her torn belly. It normally shouldn't happen, as the gas tank was in the back of the car. Now, however, it was positioned somewhere above Kagami's head. The car turned into a metal trap that eviscerated her, crushed both her legs and merged with her body to a point she wasn't sure it will be even possible to remove her from the wreckage in one piece.
The pain was getting weaker. Kagami noticed that her fingers turned very pale. The cigarette seemed really heavy. Yet all this was so clear, her hand, cigarette, the rocks, the broken barrier up on the highway. All so full of colour, so real, as if her life was trying to feed as much stimuli as possible until the fall of final nothingness. It almost felt good, even if a part of her was scared like hell.
Well, no escape now. That was life. Some life. She blushed, she dreamed, she was mad at people, she joked and loved her sister. Not much after that, just struggle. Struggle for nothing… for no one. At least now her loneliness was all right, since she was dying.
Cigarette almost finished. Now Kagami was starting to feel sleepy. Her body never claimed by no one, how funny was that? She even was sort of ready to give it to Kuroi Nanako. A woman. Her former teacher from the world lost in time. Even funnier. Even more pathetic. It seemed her body will only be claimed by the pathologists and funeral workers.
That was beyond funny. No, she couldn't allow it. That and Tsukasa and others seeing her broken, naked form. What remained? To reduce herself to something not being a human body anymore. Death in flames? thought Kagami, lowering her cigarette towards the pool of gasoline. How romantic.
The cramped inside of what was once a cute, small city car exploded into a blazing inferno. So much light. An image of her burning hand, unbearable pain, then darkness and more pain.
"She didn't deserve to die that young." Minoru shook his head and put his arm around Tsukasa. She patted his hand, smiled sadly and said, "Don't forget she was my twin sister. She lives in our children." They looked up at a stern-looking young woman with a cigarette and unkempt lavender hair. She indeed was looking a lot like Kagami. She even picked up her bad habits, like smoking and distrusting people. But they loved her as much as her older sisters and brothers.
Tsukasa now cried openly, looking at her older self in the strange mirror. Somehow she knew that she was seeing the truth, however impossible that could be. The images moved onwards, awakening more and more of her memories. She staggered and kneeled down. "No, no!" she screamed. "How could you all die! I'm not accepting this!" Her half-naked form shivered, and the heavy, warm tears were falling upon the rocks.
The mirror went on.