Chapter 37: Awareness of the Temporary

The pines surrounded the three of them. They surrounded everything.

The pines in the distance looked grey despite the daylight. The wildlife was a welcome distraction for the musically inclined couple and Violet, who were spending the day hiking, and presumably swimming, if Kaori could just find this damn lake…

They'd decided on this lake in particular because the locals thought it would be a good experience for them. It was apparently more beautiful and clearer than any waters elsewhere.

The drive itself had been short to get to the trail that would lead them to the lake.

Kousei was more so looking forward to hiking. He felt out of shape. If Kaori and himself came back to Japan pudgy, they'd be opening themselves up to being judged openly and publicly.

It was a thing that had always annoyed Kousei.

"Why does weight matter so much, anyway," he thought, running side by side Kaori up a hill.

"WE NEED TO STAY FIT! AHHHHHH!"

They both shouted, leaving Violet in their dust for a moment before she started running.

"Hey," she said, her longer strides and larger lungs making it easy for her to catch up as she joined their side as they continued running up the hill, "wait for me."

She ended up outlasting both of them.

"Well, I am an athlete as well as a partially divine being now. I'm almost fourth-dimensional in nature when in my angel form. So I'm definitely going to have more stamina than normal humans like you two." Violet was clearly amused.

"Fuck… you… Violet…" Kousei whispered, exhausted.

Violet just chuckled, and offered her hand, helping him up.

"No thanks. I find Eric more than sufficient, thank you."

Kousei blushed, and asked the question we've all been thinking:

"Why isn't Eric here, again?"

There was a pause as Violet prepared to explain it yet again.

"Turns out, the Origin state destroys your body no matter how little or how much you use it. So he has to recover from that as well as all of the damage he took to his feet when he absorbed as much of the force as possible."

"As possible, indeed," the Origin thought.

As soon as Eric had said "BRACE YOURSELVES!" the Origin had decided to observe what was going on.

He saw three of his angels about to die.

For a stupid reason like Eric not understanding physics.

He'd gotten there just as Eric's feet hit the ground.

He stopped time.

"Yeah. Let's not do that."

He flicked each of the occupants of the car, stealing away their momentum and leaving them each at rest.

He took a glance at Eric.

"Yeah, he'll be fine."

He flashed away, letting go of time.

And that was how everyone survived.

Eric laid in the hotel bed that he and Violet had shared the night before.

The intensity of the last evening still echoed throughout his soul. He felt more confident.

He felt more complete.

Their connection was more fiery than ever.

More comprehensive.

He could see what she was thinking, if he wanted.

But at the moment, all that Eric Davidson wanted was to sleep.

So he wrapped himself in the duvet and, still exhausted, closed his eyes.

Back on the trail, the three were walking along. A man on a bicycle flew past them, back down the trail.

He almost hit Kaori.

"HEY! Watch where you're going!" Kousei yelled after him.

Kaori was mildly annoyed, but dusting herself off, she insisted that she was fine: "Come on, let's just keep…"

She had been looking down, and for some reason, the tire tracks from the bicyclist were red. The ground was slicked with blood.

Kaori took off, her feet flying, following the trail of blood.

Blood meant that something, somewhere, was dying. She couldn't hardly stand it.

And as she and the two others, who had taken off in pursuit of Kaori, rounded a corner in the trail, Kaori stopped.

She just...stopped.

Off to one side of the trail, there was a small animal, connected by a thick smear of blood to the bloody bicycle tracks.

Kaori stooped down, and looked closer. She could identify what the animal was now.

A rabbit, and a baby, at that.

She could also see the tire tracks in its fur, outlined in blood.

A baby rabbit, crushed.

And looking at the tracked blood, something didn't look right.

The bicyclist's tracks had been on the opposite before getting to the rabbit. That didn't make sense, unless the person swerved intentionally...

Kaori saw the rabbit shiver and twitch, and she heard the most terrible sound.

The death rattle.

The last breath of any animal.

The last, desperate attempt to inhale.

Kaori started to cry, as she backed up, right into Kousei's arms.

"Hey. Calm down. We're gonna be fine. You're alright." He whispered this in her ear.

It was a shame that Kaori didn't care. She just broke away from him and continued up the trail, towards a visible break in the trees.

She sat down on a boulder, and flustered beyond belief, pulled a book out of her ever present handbag.

Kousei and Violet caught up.

"Hey! Time to swim!" Violet yelled, excited.

"What does she mean? I don't see…" Kaori thought as she looked up, seeing the water.

Well, she didn't see the water right away. She saw the bottom of the lake first.

Violet, a few feet away, started to disrobe.

She had her shirt halfway off before Kousei turned red and scampered away.

"I'm going on a hike! Don't worry about me!"

A now-nude Violet now turned to Kaori.

"I wonder what his problem is?"

Kaori couldn't help but gawk in disbelief at the sheer muscle definition.

Eric definitely had had a wild ride the night before.

Kaori could see the muscles rippling in Violet's legs.

"Holy fuck…" All that Kaori could do was blink.

And Violet was in the water.

"Holy heck that's cold!" she yelled.

Kaori couldn't stop staring as Violet frolicked in the water.

"Why am I so...hot right now?" she felt her face: "Am I blushing?!"

She tore her face away. "Just keep reading, Kaori. Ignore her. Ignore her toned-ass body."

She buried herself in her book, and that was the end of it.

Her book was "How to lose those last five pounds, by Dr. Markle."

And she found it helpful in her daily struggle against weight gain.

'"One meal a day is sufficient, no, favored, in such circumstances."'

"Wow, he's so wise." Kaori thought.

He wasn't wise at all.

He was preying on the women who think they're not good enough.

And of course Kousei knew something was wrong, but by now, he was two miles away, nearing the mountain's peak.

So he just shrugged it off, and he walked into the dampness of the surrounding mist.

The steam in the bathroom was warm on Eric's skin.

The bath was done being drawn, its temperature ideal, its volume perfect.

He lowered himself in as slowly as possible, trying to avoid bumping his legs on anything.

It had hurt getting himself to the bathroom.

He'd steadied himself on the wall with one hand while carrying his phone with the other.

Eric almost dropped his phone in the bath, having been distracted by an alert from something.

14 missed messages: Vi (heart emoji)

"Fuck."

He put his phone down.

And he smacked his head on the tub as he tried to move.

And a vision consumed his sight and thoughts.

Eric was walking alongside a paved road, passing through a shopping plaza.

He passed over a puddle for a moment, and his reflection revealed that he was someone else; a person whose eyes were dark with shadows.

Eric was suddenly seeing this scene from below, inside the puddle.

The young man walked away, as Eric was trapped inside the reflection. Pounding against an invisible barrier.

Eric screamed within the confines of his own mind.

And then he woke up.

"Haah," he gasped out, his vision returned.

"FUCK!"

He sat his head up against the back of the tub.

(Back with Violet and the others)

"I just told you Kousei. Eric hasn't answered me yet, so I don't know what he wants to eat! Jeez you can be so dense…" Violet was clearly annoyed.

Her hair was wet, she wasn't with Eric, and Eric wouldn't answer her messages.

She'd also been relatively rattled by the rabbit.

It had reminded her of something.

Everything dies.

Eric would die someday, too.

And likely? He'd probably die before she did.

That thought made her feel lonely for a moment.

But as she drove, she felt a buzz in her back pocket (the only one that was real in these shorts) that told her that Eric had finally gotten back to her.

And she pulled into the McDonalds after checking her phone.

"Hon. McD's will do. Sorry. I was sleeping. You really wore me out last night (winky face)."

Violet had blushed at that.

Pulling into a parking spot, she tried to remember his order.

"What does he like from here? Um...oh yeah. The McChicken. No lettuce." she thought to herself.

And that was all she needed to know.

And all that Eric knew when he woke up was that the shower was running and that there was a beautiful smell in the air.

In the shower, Violet was questioning her beauty itself.

"I'm not pretty. My feet are huge. My toes are too long. My hands are hairy. My arms are hairy. No matter how much I shave my legs, they're covered in stubble. WHY CAN'T I JUST BE BEAUTIFUL!"

Violet slid down the side of the shower.

Broken, she sat under the water as it cascaded over her head and neck.

She picked at her scar like she usually did in the shower. She drew blood, skin catching underneath her fingernails. She winced, before mentally screaming:

"WHY AM I LIKE THIS?! HOW DO YOU EVEN LOVE ME?!"

She couldn't tell what was a tear and what was the water splashing onto her face from the showerhead.

But Violet just sat there.

And she would for another half an hour.

She scrutinized every inch of her body.

When she got out, every spot she could reach aside from her face was covered in scratch marks.

She waited until they faded slightly before exiting the bathroom.

By that time, Eric was already asleep again.

She just made herself the small spoon and cried, curling herself up against him.

She only felt slightly less ugly, laying there with him.

A disconnect between body and mind

Dysphoria at what can be seen with the eyes

She hates her own beautiful smile

What once made her life worthwhile is

Slowly becoming empty;

Like her stomach, starved and small.

He is unaware.

He is unaware.