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Tap, tap, tap…
My fingers continued the pattern on the coffee table sitting between the officers and me. My butt was parked on one of the table chairs, while my 'guests' occupied the couch. It had been a couple of minutes since they first knocked on my door, and they were still pulling files out of the briefcases they had brought. What are people dressed as police officers doing with briefcases? Shouldn't a detective be here instead with all that?
"My name is Mr. Yang." the wavy-haired dude said. His black hair seemed to brush against his shoulders with each breath he took, which was oddly interesting. I was most likely trying to not think I was actually in such a situation. Huh, maybe it isn't that bad. It's not like they can blame me for that. "And this," he gestured to his blonde companion, breaking my reverie, "is Mr. Kanade.
"Now, let's get right down to business. It is my understanding that you were present when a certain man was run over by a large vehicle." I wish he'd take those glasses off. Argh, I can't even see his eyes. The fact that I couldn't see them, however, didn't mean that I couldn't tell how piercing they were. If I didn't know any better, I'd have said that he was peeping into my vast mind of weirdness…
"Yeah, you could say that." Too bad I hadn't had my tremor fixed yet. I knew I couldn't just lie down and be road kill for those guys, but my vocal cords were obviously in the blind.
Using one of the notebooks placed in front of him, Mr. Yang continued on with what I supposed was an investigation. "Yesterday, on November 28 of the year 2006, a man named Takuo Shibuimaru mounted his motorcycle, with the intent of chasing after a girl with sky-blue hair, according to eye-witness reports." Damn those eye-witnesses. I mean, come on, where the fuck were they when I actually needed them?! Tch… shallow jerks. "Shortly after crossing the street, a large truck collided with Mr. Shibuimaru, resulting in his immediate death." Realigning the notebook papers (which I guess were out of correct order?), he laid the small police report down and facing me. Then, finally, like proper houseguests, the two removed their glasses. Mr. Yang had aqua-colored eyes, while Mr. Kanade sported grey ones.
The latter decided to do more than just stare expectantly at me. "We have recorded your statement saying that you were, in fact, at the scene of the crime. If it is alright by you, we would like you to write down everything that happened in as detailed a description as possible." Mr. Kanade slid a pen across the table.
My right hand moved to the heart around my neck. I began fiddling with it, just wrapping, unwrapping, and rewrapping multiple fingers around the metal object. Tilting my chin down a little bit, I let my hair become a curtain between me and them. Inconspicuously, my eyes shut and I attempted to remember all of the details.
But then something weird happened. My body seemed to become suspended… and my mouth moved of its own accord. I wasn't sure of what had come out of it.
Looking back up at the two coppers, I could see that it wasn't something usual.
"Excuse me?" Mr. Yang looked a little weird, his eyes and nose all scrunched up like he had heard someone singing of eating the moon.
"Uh… um…." It was quite embarrassing to have my mouth open and close like a broken toy, but my words returned eventually. "Oh, it's – it's nothing, really." A one-thousand dollar smile (okay, maybe ten bucks), and they were back to staring rocks.
My pen flew across the paper in front of me. It was funny how the report seemed to write itself, though it was mostly from a third perspective. I could have been the eye-witness, or some fan glued desperately to the TV, if I didn't know any better.
Once I finished, I laid the pen back down, all dramatic-movie style, and folded my legs up on my chair. "I-is that all you need?"
"Actually, just to confirm, we'll need to record you saying it as well. We'll ask the questions, and you only have to supply the answers." And out came the tape recorder. Police must get quite the workout. His biceps are flexing quite nicely to retrieve the pen… multiply that by ten cases where a pen from a suitcase is needed, plus a bunch of other moves, and you've got yourself a one dollar way to shed a pound… or gain a pound of muscle… Hmm, if I threw a pen at him, would he catch it matrix style?
"Let's begin," blondie said. "What were you doing last night?"
"I was just going out to buy clothes from Hot Topic."
"Can you describe your walk home for me, please?"
"I wasn't really paying attention to the things going on around me, and I was taking my usual route home. I was passing in front of a nerdy comic book store," crap, do I know how to discriminate, even though that hot dude was there, "when it happened. These men pulled up in front of me in motorcycles. One person also parked behind me, and another to the side. The only open space was to my left, which led onto the road.
"The leaders name was Takuo Shibuimaru, and he and his gang were harassing me, asking me to go with them and partake in some 'fun'. But I refused, which irritated them. When I turned around to try to sort of duck out of the encasement, Shibuimaru stuck a pole around my neck and pulled me towards him." I so didn't want to say the next part. It killed me too much, me and my pride, I mean.
"We-well, he told one of his lackeys to – to, um, strip me down right there." My cheeks flamed so brightly, I could have been Rudolph the red-cheeked chipmunk. "I-I struggled with them a bit, and then the leader, Shibuimaru, loosened his hold on the pipe a bit. I pushed it off my neck and ran to the side. I don't really remember what I was thinking besides, you know, getting away." My mad gestures I had started doing with the hand that wasn't stroking the heart had almost wacked one of the officers… Perhaps they deserved it for not removing their glasses. I had developed a thing against people who wore them but didn't need to.
"I was running on the crosswalk, perfectly legal, and I heard Takuo start the engine of his motorcycle behind me. I knew he was going to chase after me on it, and then I heard it following. He was getting closer when… th-the truck. I-it came out of nowhere. I heard the sound of him colliding with it, and then the wind behind me as it passed. It was extremely, extremely close to me. If I had been half a centimeter back, I probably would have joined Takuo.
"When I got all the way to the other sidewalk, I sorta… threw up?" I asked the cops about my own bodily functions that night, as if they would know. "At least twice… and then I sorta came home and fell asleep against the door. Th-that was pretty much it, I guess."
Mr. Yang nodded, his black hair bobbing in a weird way. "I see. Thank you, ma'am. Now, did you happen to see who the driver of the truck was, or the license plate?"
I shook my head no. "I didn't see it at all. It was there one second, and gone the next before I had even turned around."
"Hmm… I see… now, tell me, did you see anyone else there?" Light Yagami…. Light Yagami… "I mean the faces of the other bikers?" Oh.
"I can't remember them too well. I'm sorry." They didn't know I was trying not to remember. Not because I was too weak to handle it (I'm as strong as an iron coffin, mind you.), but because it seemed as though I shouldn't be telling them this. I had a feeling that the red hand of fate would deal with them later.
"That's too bad." Mr. Yang voiced his disappointment. The chink sounds of metal grew slightly louder as my hands began to enter an unconscious state of fiddling. "In that case, may we ask you a few more personal questions?"
The left eye-lid on my face twitched minutely. Why can't they just leave? Has it not been established that that is all I know?... besides the biker faces? "S-sure."
"First of all, we would like to ask your age."
"I'm seventeen."
"I see, so you'll be graduating high school next year, then?"
"No, I already did. I'm going to college this year." Hopefully.
Mr. Yang looked up for a split second to ask the question that I was oh so familiar with: "And why would that be? Most students attend college after reaching the age of eighteen."
The thing was I didn't like anyone looking down on me, or thinking that I was a liar when I was trying my damn best to speak the truth, so this guy had just sparked my stubborn fire. "Yeah, I am."
"… would you care to answer my question?"
"Yeah. It was nothing great, I just skipped 1st grade. That was mostly 'cause there wasn't much to try to be good at." I answered him back defiantly.
"I see, so may we assume that you're quite capable of intelligently handling any information we give you." Mr. Kanade said with a straight face.
Fidgeting some, I meekly said, "I'm not the smartest kid in the world. There are others out there with much more talent than I have."
"I see." I heard a few scratches as their pens lowered to the notepads and wrote my words down. What is the point of this anyhow? Why the need for info like this? Are they searching for something else, maybe?
Either way, I couldn't afford to have a run-in (however small) with the poli, which meant that I was gonna have to slap a smile on and answer. If I had any suspicions or felt anything weird, I would have to file it away for later examination.
"We're sorry to ask you about that, but we're quite curious as to why such a young lady was out so late in the first place." … these cops… do they know how to do their jobs? Was I completely off-base by assuming that there was a hidden motive behind asking my age and upcoming education status? Are they just striving to act stuck up? …. Well, news flash, it's your JOBS to protect people so they can go out late at night. Or did you think you could rise to your position by acting tough around everyone?
Annoyed with how much my inner babble was making me realize that these dudes were total jerks, I answered tartly, "I was living, officer. Living my life. So sorry to have upset your quiet one in any way, but am I wrong to think that I was safe within the comforts of your district?" When met with their blank stares, I continued on. "I didn't realize that they let just anyone join the force these days. Especially since things are getting so dangerous. What would be the point in having surly and useless cops who only knew how to complain?" I clucked my tongue condescendingly. "Well, well. Looks like I might have to reconsider living here if that's how things are. I wouldn't want to exhaust you and your jobs after all, good gentlemen."
… Oh yeah, score. Just look at their faces… haha, yeah! ... yeah…. holy crap, what did I do? If they write down something about bad-sassing a cop, I could get in trouble, right? Right? Wait, I should probably brush up on the laws of this state or something. Jesus, what came over me? I know I'm stubborn… but not to the point of going the extra mile to fling it right back at someone so harshly… even if it was pretty cool…
It looked like the two had also gotten past the obvious awesomeness of my speech as Mr. Kanade's face suddenly developed a venomous blush. It was none too delightful on his features, I assure you. Mr. Yang did not do the same, but he certainly didn't seem like the calm dude that had knocked on my door either.
"You- Do you know who you're talking to?" Mr. Kanade tried to shove/bark in my face. "We're respected officers of the state, and you have no rig-."
Mr. Yang raised a hand to cut off his partner in mid-sentence. "You are right Miss Notsuki, we should not have asked such an intrusive and disrespectful question. If you do not mind, may we please continue on with the report?"
"Yes." I had gotten a point… which meant I had gained some confidence in myself. Funny how those things worked: you did one gutsy thing and then you were afraid to act any other way in front of the people who had seen the act, not wanting to ruin the air of bravado.
And so the cops and I continued on: the two men recording all of my responses as I answered questions that started to seem more tactful and less judgmental. Hmm… maybe I should mess around with the law a little bit more? At least, like this? … But then again, maybe not. I hear people like detectives don't get too much sleep. I would hate to end up like that.
So why did a shiver run down my back at the thought? Why were my actions suddenly warping themselves? I wasn't a strong person, at least not standing up to people all that much, so why was I suddenly feeling good about myself?
Another mumble escaped me, though I also didn't catch it that time. I wondered if the cops had slipped some sort of drug into me while I wasn't looking, therefore whacking out my body responses and making me confess to anything, and while on tape, too.
Glancing up, I saw that they were staring once more. "Miss Notsuki… are you mentally well?"
I blinked in shock. "Why, of course I am." I scoffed.
"… Never mind then." In no time they were done writing down their new observations. Then they were packing up, apparently done dealing with me.
Their bodies were 'muscularly' approaching the door, but I wrapped a hand around the biceps of Mr. Yang. "Would it be weird if I asked you what I said?"
He looked down at me… with those eyes that seemed real and 2D at the same time for some reason. In fact, everything seemed flat… at least, when I placed my hands on the metal heart it did.
"It was nothing you would need to worry about. You didn't say anything unordinary. Either way, we are under a solemn oath, so we will shield your identity from the media. Thank you for your hospitality." He was lying. I knew it. At least about the first part. I could sense it on some level, but I didn't really care to call him out on it. Besides, what could I have said that would be that bad? If I admitted to murdering the janitor of the Japanese Hollywood studio (if that even exists), then I might care a bit more. But I highly doubted they wouldn't have done anything if anything that crazy spun out of my mouth.
Slowly, I released him, my hand sliding first out of its grip on his arm, and then its grip on the end of his uniform shirt. They left after that, not glancing back once. Only to be expected when dealing with an emotionally diverse person who jumps from timid to semi-fierce so quickly.
…
'MR. KANADE AND MR. YANG'
"Well, you don't see many like that anymore, eh?" The blonde man spoke in more informal tones to his comrade.
"You didn't help anything with your comment. That seemed to make her really aggravated. You should have remembered by now that people don't like being blamed like that." Kuna Yang rolled his eyes as they walked towards their police cruiser.
"Sorry 'bout that. Guess I'm still a newbie at heart, heh." Shino Kanade expressed more humor once he was sure he was out of hearing distance of the girl's apartment. "But what about… you know?"
"You're right; perhaps it is a bit strange, what she said. Stranger that she didn't seem to realize what she was saying."
"What was she saying? I only caught part of the first one."
"… her voice was lowered a few octaves like what she was saying was important, and first she said, 'It's close to beginning… everything is… be prepared, be prepared.' The second time it was something along the lines of 'Changes in character…. to fit a story right, only natural.' It all came out in a mumble though." Thinking back on it, Kuna Yang wasn't quite sure why he hadn't told her what he was saying. All he knew that something about looking into the metal of her necklace, even with his peripheral vision, made him feel like he would severely regret saying anything at all.
"That stutter was pretty annoying, too."
The raven-haired police looked over at his friend and comrade of four years. "What stutter?"
"…What do you mean? … I didn't say anything about a stutter."
…
It took a while for Ms. Kyara to arrive, but when she got there, she was some sort of train-wreck. Quite surprising, considering how awake she had sounded over the phone, but I didn't call attention to it. I was merely glad that she had shown up, even if it was after the cops had already left.
Ring, ring.
The bell had rung again, which made me want to do the knock-knock joke thing again, but this time out of blank boredom. When I went to answer the door, a figure immediately grabbed hold of me. For a second, I had panicked, but then realized that no one with such a sculpted body would really waste a second glance on me, so it must have been my friendly care-taker, Ms. Kyara.
"I told you, I told you. You need to be more careful and stop acting like you can do everything in the world when you can't. What happens if your great survival plan fails you, huh? You can't just walk around doing whatever you want. These are bad times, and you can't just go out at night. Look at wh-."
"Alright, alright." I decided to interrupt. "I'm sorry; I should have listened to you. I was not thinking intelligently." Not like that matters. When am I ever thinking intelligently? "I'm usually not, which is why I stuttered through even that college interview."
Ms. Kyara suddenly froze. "What do you mean, stuttered through? Why would someone like you have a problem with that? You've always been the one who spoke clearly. You're also pretty fearless and stubborn, which is probably why you went out last night even against my advice."
My own head whipped around to stare at her for a miniscule second. "What do you mean? I never said anything about having a stutter."
Light seemed to dawn in her eyes. "Oh, sorry. I guess I'm just imagining things coming out of the air again." She circled the air with her palm, an elegant gesture that she seemed to have down pat on certain occasions. Something only I would notice, weirdly.
"Anyways, I think you should pay more attention to the news if you're gonna be that carefree when going out." she scolded.
"I don't like watching the news, it's always got depressing stuff on there."
"Doesn't matter. I don't feel like losing one of my favorite charges." Ms. Kyara's eyes stared into mine with a small pout in them. She acted like such a child sometimes, but that was part of her charm.
"I don't like the sound of that: 'my charges'. It makes it sound like I'm an object to be agonized over as you unfairly slave away at all the tedious tasks of grooming me." I was glad she couldn't see me role my eyes, though I could feel her sense it.
"You don't need to get all sassy with me. You know what I meant." A wagged finger at my back. "Look, I just want you to pay more attention, okay?"
Feeling like I would be weak if I said something so light, I replied, "I understand. You should go home now, I think I want to rest a bit."
She gasped theatrically. "But, I have just graced you with my presence. How could I leave so soon?"
There's that feeling again. Something's off… with everything… it's like it's all changing itself around or something. Either way, I need to be alone right now. Ms. Kyara would be a distraction with her antics… When did she have humorous antics anyways?... Or did she always act like that?
"No, no, it's not that, it's just that I'm a bit tired right now." I replied nonchalantly, throwing in a fake yawn to seal the deal.
"… I guess you're right. Oh, I wouldn't want to keep you awake when you didn't even get that much of a sleep last night. Well, I'll drop by later." I turned around to watch her leave and wave my goodbye. I was met with the gesture signifying that 'I'm watching you.'
…
I… I was dreaming again. I'd fallen asleep after Ms. Kyara left. The dream that awaited me wasn't the chess game I had left off with.
My head was pounding, as if I'd just hit the ground. I might have fallen from high up above if I didn't know any better.
When I looked around, it was the chessboard of the game from last time. But, there were no pieces, and there was no edge where it led onto larger squares. My entire surrounding was a monotonous black and white, not a single identifiable landmark in site.
"You're back." came the breathy female of perhaps a few hours ago.
"Yeah, this is my dream. You're the one that shouldn't be here in the first place."
She chuckled at this. "I think you'll find it's the other way around… but other than that, I guess I get to explain a few more things to you."
I plopped down on my butt, oh-so-gracefully, and let out a humongous sigh. "Well, at least it doesn't smell so intoxicating in here." I commented.
The voice made no remark.
"Hey," I shouted at it, just realizing something, "I don't wanna call you just some voice all the time. What's your name?" Polite conversation was a great way to smooth over any small patches in our greeting quilt.
"… It's *&#$^."
I stuck a finger in my ear, thinking maybe I had heard wrong. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"
"Why don't you pick a name for me? It doesn't seem like I've been given the ability to tell you my real one." Was that annoyance I sensed in her tone?
"Oh… well then, what about…Sasayaku?"
She contemplated that for a little while. "I guess Sasayaku will do."
Glad to have a name for her, I relaxed my torso and leaned back so that I was lying down. "So, Sasayaku, what brings you to my dreams?"
Silence.
And then, "The real question is what's missing from you?"
Exhausted, not feeling entirely up for a bout of wits with Sasayaku, I remained quiet and waited for her to answer her own question.
"You're not the you that you think you are. Don't you realize that?"
"Neither are you. I recall you talking all mysterious last night. You seem to be much more open now compared to then."
"That's because you aren't nearly as curious about the reality as you were before."
"… Please, come on. I haven't changed one bit." What an annoying little voice she was. Too bad I couldn't shut her off… not yet.
I could feel this confused air starting to fill the room… "Perhaps the &%$#$% King wasn't as clear as I thought he'd been. He never told me about this happening in the process. I didn't think you'd undergo a personality change."
"I don't really know what you're talking about, but I think I'll just take a little nap here." And I fell asleep in my own dream… A dream within a dream, so they say.
Perhaps I should have paid attention to Sasayaku's words instead of brushing her off so easily.
Thanks for reading ^^, and please show support by reviewing. Reviewing is ever so nice and the words that are said really make writing the next chapter much easier. 'Til then, bye guys :).