Angina/Symphony


Chapter 3

Jaggerjack


One thoughtless moment passes in slow motion.

As I lie down, I realise that

All I wish

Is to get rid of this obsessive devotion.

-The Obsessive Devotion, Epica


Absentmindedly, Rei brushed out her hair. She sneezed, almost dropping the brush. She'd caught a slight cold during her outing in the rain a week ago. Usually she hated being sick, in any shape or form. It was bad enough that she was technically an invalid already.

But somehow the cold wasn't really bothering her.

Rei mentally dismissed the 'somehow.' Of course she knew why the sneezing wasn't irritating her as it usually did. The bout of honey lemon and tissues and astringent cough medicine was the trade-off for her meeting with the stranger.

Although he'd given her his name, he was still mostly a stranger to her. The only difference was that she had a label to put to his face. Rei knew nothing of Sousuke's story, what kind of person he was.

Idiot, she thought to herself. He was just a nice man who noticed me falling over like a clumsy person and stopped to help. I don't need his life story.

He had noticed her, though. No one ever noticed Amane Rei, the invisible, immaterial girl. In her long dark skirts and winter coats, Rei had never attracted so much as a glance from any of the Karakura High School boys on any of her illicit outings.

Sousuke, she thought, trying out his name on her tongue. For a moment Rei was irritated with herself. She had spent her entire life away from the whole world except for her parents and tutor, and the first time a member of the opposite gender paid even the slightest bit of attention to her -

You'll probably never see him again, she thought to herself. Surprisingly, the thought depressed her. He wouldn't even remember you if you saw him again.

Rei stood up, leaving her bedroom, and moved into the bathroom. Her reflection stared at her from above the sink.

Was she pretty? After a few minutes of close inspection, Rei decided she wasn't. Her face was too thin, her eyes too sharp and confronting. She was too stark to be considered beautiful. Perhaps if she'd been born blonde, she could have passed for fair rather than orphan-waifish. Rei mentally cursed her mother's hair allele for being recessive. What's the point in being half-British? she thought grumpily. She had managed to inherit the faulty heart gene, but none of the looks on either parent's side.

Maybe when I'm older? she thought, then rejected the notion. She was eighteen. What she saw now was the best of what she was going to get. She sneezed again, and winced.

Maybe she would go into the kitchen and make tea. It was her day off again, but Rei had no desire to go outside while feeling as if her head was stuffed full of soggy cotton wool.

She boiled the kettle, opened the cupboard and pulled out the sheet of cold pills. She poured her tea, popped two out of their silver foil casing and took them.

If only Sousuke-san could see you now, she thought. Clumsy, ugly and infectious. You've really hit the trifecta.

Rei thought about watching her One Piece DVDs, then decided against it. She didn't feel like One Piece today. Instead she hunted for the movie her father had paid for over the Internet. Rei had left the house on a Thursday to go and see Inception, and wanted to experience it again.

Curled up on the couch, she drank her tea, the visuals unfolding in front of her. Rei wished momentarily that she could be like Ariadne, the architect. What a feeling that would be, to create something where there was nothing, to warp and flex and bend the fabric of the world.

But she had little enough control over her own life, let alone a dream world.

The movie finished. Hungry, Rei went into the kitchen. Her mother had left a note that morning, saying that they were unlikely to be back before ten. It was getting late now. The sky was beginning to dim outside. The cold pills had done their job - Rei felt almost normal now, and regretted not going out. Waiting until three in the afternoon to take them had been a stupid idea. She had wanted to sleep in for once, take advantage of that luxury.

She opened the window, peering out. The air was cool with the impending night, and Rei breathed in deeply. Her eyes were half-closed, so she almost missed the figure standing far down below. When she did catch sight of him she breathed in sharply, causing her to cough. Once the fit of coughing had subsided, Rei leaned out the window, angling her body.

He had an air of restless, impatient energy about him, even though he wasn't moving. In fact, his stillness seemed to belay a sense of quiet before the storm. Even from this far away, Rei could tell that quiet was rare in this man's case. He was all about the storm.

He had blue hair, which wasn't too unusual. Many of the Karakura High School kids, and the dropout punks with them, had strangely dyed hair. It was only when he finally moved, short angry steps that made Rei think he was about to kick something, that she noticed the hole.

Her first thought was that he'd been horribly injured, but no, the hole in the man's abdomen was too neat and circular for that. And he seemed to be moving around easily, entirely without pain. And there was no blood.

What…was he?

Rei thought for a moment, then came to a decision. She pulled herself back inside, shut the window, and hunted for her door keys. When she found them she half-walked, half-sprinted for the door.

Cold or no cold, she wasn't going to miss this.