14
The autumn leaves of September crunched beneath Satoshi's feet as he and Shion walked hand-in-hand, on their way to a Western carnival that had opened only a few days ago. It would only be around for another two weeks, and they were choosing to go out tonight while Rika and Satoko helped each other with their homework.
"Satoshi-kun," said Shion, lightly kicking aside a few leaves, "if we go on a rollercoaster...you will be there to hold me, right?"
"Shion-chan," said Satoko, playfully ruffling Shion's hair, "would I ever leave you dangling off the edge of a coaster fifty feet up—"
"Shh!" said Shion suddenly, stopping. "Do you hear that, Satoshi-kun?"
"Hear what?" asked Satoshi.
"Those footsteps!" hissed Shion. She could hear the pitter-patter growing louder and louder, closer and closer...
"I don't hear anything, sorry," said Satoshi, shaking his head. "It's probably just a small animal."
"Uh, yeah," said Shion, nodding quickly. "Maybe."
Yet she clung a little tightly to Satoshi the rest of the way there, feeling as though they were being followed by something not quite human, nor quite animal...
"Those cookies smell great, Rika-chan," said Satoko, looking up from her math homework.
"Thank you, Satoko-chan," said Rika, gently removing the cookie-filled pan from the stove. "These are still hot, so we'll have to wait a little bit before having our study snack."
Rika was only aware now she felt...alone. Quite alone. She had Satoko with her, yes...but somehow, she felt as though Hanyuu were missing...that she should be here, but wasn't...where had she gone?
"Rika," said Satoko, "do you think we should give some of these cookies to Satoshi and Shion when they come back?"
In that instant, everything clicked: Satoshi and Shion...of course...she's following them...
"Of course," said Rika calmly. She placed the cookies on the counter to cool off and sighed, "Hanyuu."
Ten minutes later, Satoshi and Shion were at the carnival having the time of their life. They were on the carousel, each riding a beautifully decorated horse adjacent to each other.
Satoshi's blonde hair blew in the wind as he clung onto his horse, which was a bright shade of red reminiscent to candy apples. Clearly, he was not enjoying this as much as he thought.
"Now, Satoshi-kun," laughed Shion with a toss of her head, her green hair starkly contrasting her also red horse, "you're not afraid, are you?"
"Afraid? No," said Satoshi weakly. "Nauseous? Absolutely."
Shion only laughed and observed the crowd passing by in a whirl of colours. Amongst the crowd, she saw a small girl with long, lavender hair and horns sticking out of her head. She wore a sleeveless pink dress that looked more like a jumper. Her eyes were red...and seemed to be staring right at Shion.
Shion froze up on her horse, turning her head to look at the girl even as the carousel rode on.
"Ugh," groaned Satoshi as he and Shion got off the carousel. "I forgot just how nauseous moving rides make me."
"In that case, Satoshi-kun, how about we go on something gentler?" suggested Shion. "Like maybe that tunnel of love over there?" She lay her head on his shoulder and mused, "Imagine the two of us in the dark together...only having each other..."
"As long as it isn't too rough," said Satoshi. "But then again, it's worth it just for you." He kissed Shion on the forehead, and she smiled. She stopped smiling when she saw the girl. She lifted her head off Satoshi's shoulder. That girl looked very familiar...
"Satoshi-kun," said Shion, "why don't you save us a place in line? I'll catch up."
She walked over to the girl almost hypnotically. She knew this girl, she just knew her...she struggled to remember...seven years ago, when Takano was defeated, one extra person was on the team, a girl whom Mion went to school with...her name was...
"Hanyuu," said Shion, surprised when she caught up to her. "Long time no see! How have you been doing?"
"I'm sorry," said Hanyuu.
Shion blinked. "What?" she said, confused.
"I'm sorry," repeated Hanyuu. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what?" said Shion, feeling more than a little creeped out.
The words now came much faster: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
For a moment, all of time seemed to stand still. Shion was frozen to the spot, caught up in the echoes of Hanyuu's never-ending apology and Mion's never-ending apology, the two voices blending together at a much faster pace, almost becoming one, horribly distorted echo...
"Shion-chan?"
Shion was snapped out of her trance by the feeling of a hand placed on her shoulder. She gasped and whipped around. She let out a sigh of relief to find it was only Satoshi. "Satoshi-kun," she breathed. "I'm sorry, I...I just spaced out for a second there. I thought I saw someone I knew, but..." She shook her head. "Never mind."
"No, it's okay," said Satoshi. "We all think we see someone we know, someone who shouldn't be there at all...well, let's get in line!"
Shion held hands with Satoshi. She turned around to get a glimpse of Hanyuu...but she was gone, vanished into the crowd without a trace.
"Shion, relax," said Satoshi, gently stroking Shion's hand with his thumb. "The only people behind us are the other couples waiting in line."
"Am I looking around too much?" said Shion quickly, snapping her head back to Satoshi. "I'm sorry, Satoshi-kun. I'm just...nervous. I...I haven't been on one of these rides before."
"Now Shion-chan," said Satoshi, "you have nothing to be afraid of. We'll have each other for company. If you ever get scared, just hang on to me. I won't let you go. And that is a promise."
Shion felt herself relax...but just a little bit. She couldn't shake off the underlying feeling that Hanyuu was right behind her, watching her, judging her. Why had she come back now, of all times? Did she...did she know?
Wait...her talk with Rika came back to her now...Hanyuu had been the one to reincarnate Rika and take her back to several worlds...she knew. She knew. And now...what would she do to her? Why was she here?
"We're up, Shion," said Satoshi, snapping Shion out of her trance. She smiled nervously at the ticket man and gave him two tickets each. She slipped her hand into Satoshi's and squeezed tightly. He squeezed back assuredly. He smiled in her direction and she smiled back.
When the two were permitted to go on the ride, the two gently stepped into the small boat together. It appeared to be wooden, but they had heard they wouldn't have to do any rowing; it was one of those automatic rides.
Shion gasped slightly when the boat began moving. She clung on to Satoshi who laughed, "We're not in the tunnel yet, Shion-chan. People are staring."
"I know," said Shion wearily, looking for Hanyuu in the crowd watching. She tensed up even more when Satoshi gave her a peck on the cheek. He was trying to calm her down; she couldn't fault him for that...but she was watching. Yes, she was watching, and she knew. She knew of Shion's sin and would be delivering swift punishment for it.
Shion was only able to relax once everything went dark and they were in the tunnel. She sighed, "I'm sorry, Satoshi-kun. I don't know what it is, but I just feel like we're being watched."
"Like you're being judged?" said Satoshi.
Shion curled up her fingers. "Sort of," she said.
"Just say, 'to hell with them'," said Satoshi gently. "Don't let them destroy our happiness."
She felt his hands wrap around her waist and pull her in for a kiss. She closed her eyes...and when she did, she saw Oryou's slashed-up face, Rika's contracting pupils in tune with her bashing her head against the bloody knife, Kimiyoshi's horribly bent neck, Satoko's arms trembling in agony, Mion's innocent eyes pleading for her life to be spared...
"NOOOOOOO!" screamed Shion, pushing Satoshi off of her and curling up into a ball, praying for the ride to be over.
"Shion?" said Satoshi, concerned. "Are you all right? Is something wrong? I'm sorry, did I move too fast for you? I'll go slower, if you want..."
"Satoshi-kun," said Shion, trembling terribly, "you did nothing wrong. There is nothing you could do wrong. A sweet, wonderful guy like you doesn't deserve a girl like me."
"Shion-chan," said Satoshi gently, laying one hand on Shion's shoulder before she pushed it off. "Don't touch me," she said sharply. "I can't—I don't—Satoshi-kun, you don't know what I did! Satoshi-kun, I killed Satoko!"
"What are you talking about?" said Satoshi, who sounded genuinely perplexed. "Satoko's alive."
"She's dead. And I killed her."
"She's at home with Rika studying."
"I stabbed her."
"She's waiting at home for me."
"I crucified her."
"She'll be right there when we go home."
"She was in a lot of pain, and I brought it on."
"No, she's not; she's just fine."
"She held back the tears for you, Satoshi-kun."
"She's alive and well."
"She promised herself she would be strong for her nii-nii."
"She's alive and waiting for me at home."
"THAT'S A LIE!"
Shion was alerted by the boat jerking to a sudden stop. She looked up and realized they were out of the tunnel and at the end docks. The boat had barely even stopped when Shion leaped right out of it and onto the docks, pushing right past the exit sign and running to the nearest trash can. She stood above it, shaking terribly, and began retching, bringing up her supper. How could she have done that? What made her freak out so terribly back there she had to tell Satoshi what she had done, or what she hadn't done, rather? What would Satoshi think of her now—would he think she was crazy? Worse yet, what if he asked Rika about it and she explained everything to him? What then?
It wasn't until Shion was done that she realized someone had been keeping her hair off her face. Nervous, she turned around. It was only Satoshi...and right behind him stood Kasai, carrying two bags of pink-and-blue cotton candy.
"Kasai," said Shion weakly.
"Shion," said Kasai, "what happened?"
"She was having some sort of breakdown back in the tunnel," explained Satoshi. "She kept rambling about how she supposedly killed my sister, but she didn't."
Shion knew it was no use to try to convince Satoshi otherwise—he was such a kind man.
"I came here with Ami on a date," explained Kasai. "She's waiting for me back in the car—I came to get some cotton candy to take home with us when I saw this sight."
"I think Shion had better go home for tonight, if that's okay," said Satoshi, taking Shion by the hand.
"Satoshi-kun," whispered Shion, but Satoshi held up a hand and said, "You're not feeling well, Shion. You need to go home and get your rest. We'll talk later, okay?"
Shion looked into his eyes, so warm and gentle. She nodded weakly. "Okay," she said in a small voice. Kasai held the two bags of cotton candy in one arm and took Shion by the hand like a small child. Shion gave Satoshi a fleeting smile before walking off, hoping to recover from this ordeal by tomorrow.
"Hanyuu," said Rika sternly when Hanyuu came to talk to her later that night after Satoshi and Satoko had fallen asleep, "how could you do that? Do you not realize what you did to Shion, how badly you traumatized her?"
"I'm sorry," said Hanyuu, bowing her head in shame. "I only intended to apologize to Shion for not being there to prevent her from making those terrible mistakes in that other world...I tried to say what it was I was sorry for, but it didn't come out; all I could say was 'I'm sorry'...I never intended for it to get out-of-hand..."
"And now, thanks to you, she might end up just like Takano," said Rika in the same, stern tone. "Satoshi said she was shaking. He thought she was just having a nervous breakdown, and he honestly didn't know why. He thought it was something he had done, he felt he had put too much pressure on her and it got to her." She sighed and shook her head sadly. "Part of me wonders if perhaps I should tell him about what's been going on since he disappeared. Then again...I'm afraid to think of the consequences if he were to know. Satoshi is a very kind, forgiving person."
She looked down at Satoshi sleeping peacefully next to his sister. "But he also cares for his sister," she said. "He cared for her enough to kill for her. I don't think he would go so far with Shion...but, it might take some time for him to forgive her."
"So what do we do now?" said Hanyuu.
Rika looked out the window. "We wait."