Chapter Fourteen: Heavy Dirty Soul
Mikan was cleared by Hotaru's brother the next afternoon. He had extensively checked her wings and reflexes, and everything seemed to be in order. With the rest of her day she had convinced her Grandpa and Hotaru to let her visit her parents' grave with the company of Misaki and Tsubasa. She was shocked by the bitter cold when she stepped outside. In her mind it had gone from a crisp beautiful fall to just cold. Perhaps, that's what happens when you end up sleeping for a month.
"So cold!" Mikan said through chattered teeth.
Tsubasa had his head tucked deep into his scarf and mumbled an agreement. His hands were deep in his pockets and he looked pretty miserable. "Why can't we fly there again?"
Misaki glared in his general direction. "You know why, Mikan doesn't know how to fly."
"Yeah," Mikan said sheepishly, "Sorry about that."
"Tsubasa's just being a big baby, don't worry about him." Misaki sneered at him.
"Plus walking takes longer," Mikan added.
"Yeah, yeah." Misaki nodded. "Wait. Why does that matter?"
Mikan rolled her eyes at her. "I overheard Anna and Nonoko earlier this morning. You guys are throwing me a party or something, aren't you?"
Misaki grinned. "So you knew about that huh?"
"Of course, and the longer we take out here, the less you have to help set up for it Tsubasa. So it's a win-win."
He grunted.
It took twenty-six minutes to walk to the grave. The cold air slowed their pace. Mikan approached her parents' grave slowly. So much had happened since she last visited and she felt different. She had battled shadows, and won apparently. She had wings, and they were magnificent. She felt tears well up in her eyes. She desperately wished that she could have shared all these experiences with them in real life.
A single black rose lay in front of her parents' grave. She knelt down and picked it up. Who left it there? She wasn't aware of anyone else besides her visiting their grave, and if anyone did they wouldn't leave something so eerie like a black rose behind. It appeared to be fresh but flowers don't grow in the cold, so she wondered where it had come from. The cold was only just now causing it to wither and shrivel.
"That's odd," Tsubasa said.
"Yeah," Mikan said.
"I wonder who left it." Tsubasa said looking around for a culprit.
"I don't know," Mikan whispered.
"Still, let's pay our respects. It feels like it's getting colder." Misaki offered.
They offered up their respects and hoped for their well being. Tsubasa recalled a story about a prank he had played on Mikan when she was younger for some reason. Mikan lost track of his story though. Her thoughts were elsewhere, particularly on the black rose that lay alone on the ground. It really gave her a strange feeling. She felt like removing it, like it didn't belong.
"Hey," Mikan said, "let's go to the market. I want to see if Misaki-sensei knows anything about this flower."
"You think he made it?" Tsubasa asked.
"He does have the ability to manipulate plants," Misaki said shrugged. "He could know something."
"All right, let's make it quick though." Tsubasa shivered in the cold.
Mikan pocketed the rose and they made their way to the market. Their cheeks were rosy and their fingers were numb when they got there.
Misaki-sensei's shop was small and tucked between the bakery and the shop where Mikan bought the glass sakura flower for Ruka earlier in the summer. They entered the shop and were embraced by the fire warming the small shop. Flowers varying in color littered the shelves, along with various vines, and other odd plants that Misaki-sensei had created with his ability.
"Hello!" he called to the three.
"Hello," they called back.
"What brings you three out to my shop on a cold day like today?" he asked them.
Mikan removed the black rose from her pocket and held it out to him. He took it from her and admired it.
"How peculiar," he mumbled.
"Did you make this?" Mikan asked. "It was on my parents' grave and I just wanted to know where it came from."
"Well, I've never made a black rose before." Misaki-sensei peered at the rose closely, and Mikan felt upset that the flower couldn't lead to anyone. "I did make this flower though," Misaki-sensei added.
"Really?" Tsubasa asked. "How can you tell?"
Misaki-sensei held up his hands. "There's an art to flower making," he said in a showy manner that caused Tsubasa to roll his eyes. "Making flowers is a very delicate process. You have to cross breed them correctly, and with the help of my ability I can do as I please with them. Roses are quite popular here, you know. This particular rose started off maroon. Now, there are ways to change the color of a flower, but—"
"That's all very fascinating," Tsubasa said cutting him off. "Now can you tell us who bought it?"
Misaki-sensei wasn't too happy about being cut off. "You know, a lot of people come in to buy my flowers since I'm the only supplier during the cold season." He picked up the rose again to glance at it once more. "This one was probably bought two days ago; it's actually in pretty good condition considering. Now, roses are pretty popular, but not maroon ones, and just buying one at that. Oh that's right. Two guys about your age, I'd say bought one the other day. They were very odd. one was quite the chatter box."
"What did they look like?" Mikan asked.
"Oh well," Misaki-sensei raked his brain for their appearance. "One had long orange hair, he was pretty flamboyant from what I remember. He looked around for a while, but his friend was very strange, too. He had bandages across his neck and one eye. They were quite an odd pair."
Mikan looked to Misaki and Tsubasa but they both shrugged at her. Neither had hears of the two guys either.
"You know," Misaki-sensei said. "You really shouldn't remove flowers from someone's grave. That seems like a very rude thing to do."
Mikan tensed a little, and laughed. "Ah, sorry. We were just curious, that's all."
"Yeah, we'll go put it back now," Misaki said, taking the rose from him.
Misaki-sensei walked them to the door, all while pointing out various flowers and plants he had created. He pointed to some vines that he said were pretty invasive and that grew fast, perfect for covering up things. He opened the door to bid them farewell when he stopped. "Oh," he said. "I think those two guys are over there actually." He pointed across the way to the two guys he had described earlier, one with orange hair, and the other with a bandaged face.
"Thanks Misaki-sensei!" Mikan said, promptly shoving the door in his face.
"What luck!" Tsubasa said. "I can't believe they're across the market."
"What should we do then?" Misaki asked.
Mikan eyed them from afar. They did seem a little odd from where she stood, she didn't recognize them, and why did they alter the color of a single flower to leave on her parents' grave? She glanced around them and she felt a pit fall in her stomach. Persona was standing off to the side of them, talking to someone shrouded in the shadows of the shop. "That's Persona!" She nudged Misaki in the ribs.
"The suspicious looking one?" Misaki asked.
"Yes!" Mikan cried. "Let's follow them."
"But he looks suspicious," Misaki said.
"He always looks like that," Mikan said waving her off. She moved towards them, motioning for Tsubasa and Misaki to follow. All three put their hoods up to cover their heads.
They watched from a distance. The two that had bought the maroon rose were bickering with each other, or at least the one with orange hair was bickering with himself and flinging his hands in the air wildly. Persona was still leaning in towards his mysterious conversation partner.
"What do you think they're doing?" Tsubasa asked.
"I can't tell, maybe we should get closer." Mikan inched forward ever so slightly.
"How about we go home?" Misaki asked.
"No!" Mikan hissed.
The two suspicious rose buyers and Persona left whoever they were talking to and started making their way down the row of shops. The orange haired one was particularly interested in touching everything. His fingers traced over every item he looked at. There seemed to be no system to what they were doing, it honestly looked like they were zigzagging their way through the market, stopping at random shops on a whim.
Fifteen minutes had passed by with no success in finding out who the rose buyers were or why they were out with Persona. Misaki was finally fed up and demanded that they should head back to the temple before she died of boredom and frostbite.
Mikan reluctantly tore her gaze from the three. "No Misaki, I want to get to the bottom of this."
"Why?" Misaki cried back.
"Those guys are somehow involved with Persona, and I want to know why they left a black rose on my parents' grave."
"Maybe it wasn't even them!" Misaki said loudly.
Mikan hushed her quickly. "My gut tells me it was."
"Uh, guys," Tsubasa said.
"Tsubasa, shut up," Misaki told him. "Mikan, let's go, please. I have a bad feeling about this."
"Ten more minutes, I'm going to get closer." Mikan bargained with Misaki until they agreed on a solid five minutes. She turned back around but the three were gone. Her eyes searched the area frantically and she left out a cry of frustration. "Where did they go?"
Tsubasa tried to calm her down. "I was trying to tell you, but you two were going at it. They split up and disappeared."
"Perfect!" Mikan huffed.
"Great, now we can leave," Misaki said with a tinge of triumph.
"Excuse me ma'am, you dropped this."
With a flourish, the orange haired individual stood, the stem of the black rose was nestled between two of his fingers across his chest. Misaki, Mikan, and Tsubasa all visibly tensed.
Misaki fumbled in her pocket, the rose was no longer there. "I never dropped that," she stated.
"But surely you did," he replied. "My friend here was a witness to it." The guy with the bandage appeared from an alleyway. He appeared bored, and his arms were crossed. Misaki scoffed at them in response.
"What an interesting rose," he continued, twirling it in his fingers. "Where ever did you get it?"
Mikan took a step close to him so she could glare more closely at him. "You should know."
"I should?" he asked. He made his face to show bewilderment.
"Yeah," she spat at him. "You both know."
"What?" he said, exaggerating his look of shock. "Hajime, you know where this came from?"
"No," Hajime replied. His one eye was like a slit and stared lifelessly at them.
"You know," the orange haired guy said, "I have a friend that might know." Following his remark, he loudly called for Persona in no particular direction at all, and he appeared from behind them. Mikan tried to burn him with her eyes. It was an unsuccessful attempt, however.
"Rui," Persona said, "there is no reason to shout."
"This is your expertise," he said presenting the rose to him.
His bony fingers took the black rose from Rui's. He held it straight up, glanced at it for a moment and then at Mikan. He didn't speak. Mikan figured he was waiting for her to say something.
She broke her gaze from him and sneered at Rui and Hajime. "Why did you two creeps put that rose on my parents' grave?"
"What?" Rui stared dumbly back at her.
"I don't even know who you are," Hajime said.
Mikan stood staring back in forth between the two. They certainly had bought the rose, but if they didn't leave it, who did?
Persona answered her silent question. "I had one of my girls put it there."
She stepped back. "What? Why?"
"I was just paying my respects," he said holding up his hands.
"That's bullshit," she spat.
"Hey, Mikan," Tsubasa said. "We should go."
"No!" she yelled. "What were you really doing there?"
He twirled the rose some more in his fingers. She wondered how the thorns weren't pricking him. He brought it to his nose and smelled it. "I was hoping you would discover it, and come searching for who put it there," he said. "And look at that, it worked. Now we can finally have a nice chat."
"That's ridiculous," Tsubasa said. "How could you gamble on something like that?"
"Hey punk," Rui shot at Tsubasa. "Persona doesn't gamble."
"Who're you calling punk?" Tsubasa spat back.
"I do believe I called you a punk," Rui said.
"Do you want to have a go with me?" Tsubasa asked.
"Oh!" Rui brightened. "I would love to."
"Leave him be, Rui," Hajime said. "He's probably scared of his own shadow."
Tsubasa disgusted with Hajime's comment looked at his shadow before responding. "Me and my shadow get along great."
"Enough!" Mikan called. "What do you want Persona?"
"I heard the good news," he said, simply. "We'd love to see them."
Mikan felt her throat dry. She knew what he was talking about. He wanted to see her wings. She could easily show them to him, but for some reason she didn't want to appease his whims. She felt Misaki grasp her arm, it was her way of telling her not to as well. She studied Persona's face, trying to discern what his endgame was for all of this, for her. His attention was stolen by someone approaching from behind them.
"Oh," he said with a hint of mischief. "Just in time, Natsume."
She immediately felt her finger pulse. She hadn't seen him since Yoichi was in trouble that one day. The day that felt like it was just the other day but it was actually a month or so. She had never seen him so desperate before, and so disheveled. She turned to see him sauntering up to them. He was wearing his black jacket and looked just as composed as ever. He stopped just shy of her.
"Our cute little kitten was about to show us her wings." Mikan didn't exactly like how he called her "our." She moved to get in his face but Natsume stopped her by extending his arm, and blocking her movement.
"It's done," Natsume said, speaking only to Persona.
Persona smirked at Natsume. "Quick like always. Very well. Rui, Hajime. Let's go."
"Yes!" Rui said excitedly as Persona turned to leave. "Until next time," he called to Tsubasa winking.
"Natsume," Persona called over his shoulder. "We're done for now. I'll come find you when I need you." Wordlessly he tossed the black rose over his should and Mikan caught it. One of its thorns pricked her finger and a trickle of blood emerged.
"Now I see why everyone dislikes that guy," Tsubasa said.
"He creeps me out," Misaki said. "What's with his weird obsession over you Mikan?"
Mikan shrugged. She was busy watching Natsume watch Persona leave. He seemed different. The fire in his eyes was dull. He moved his hands deep in his pockets and let out a deep breath. What had Persona made him do now? What had he been doing this past month? It wasn't her place to ask but then again she never really listened to what others expected of her. She looked down at her bleeding finger and dropped the rose; it might have been a trick of the light but it looked ever darker than it had before. No one watched as it silently fell to the ground.
"Hey," she said quietly. "What did he make you do?"
Her question hung in the cold air for a while before he answered. "It's not important," he said.
"Mikan, we're going to head back, you coming?" Tsubasa asked.
She told them to go on ahead and she assured them she would catch up, shortly. She wasn't done yet. Something was different, something was wrong. Something was weighing heavily on him. She expected him to be angry with her following Persona, but he made no comment about it, instead he started walking away from her.
She jogged towards him. "I don't really know how it happened, but I have wings now, and for some reason I wanted to thank you."
They stood alone on the street, the contrast between them was striking. His all black attire, and her all white; those wandering certainly would have had their attention stolen by the two. Mikan watched as she waited for his response. His eyes were definitely dull, they seemed to be weighted down by something.
Both pairs of eyes were momentarily distracted by a single snowflake that drifted down between them. Mikan held out her hand to catch it. The flake landed in her palm, and they both looked down at it. It was the first snow of the winter. The flake was delicate and for an instant it looked like it would never fade away.
"Congratulations," Natsume said, breaking the silence. Her eyes snapped to his. "On your wings," he elaborated. "You're just like everyone else."
He left her standing alone in the marketplace. The snowflake in her palm had melted. In all the excitement, she had failed to realize the one thing that had previously connected them. He was the only different one now. The intrigue and the feeling must be gone. She was just another ordinary angel to him. Nothing more.