Just like any other day, Satsuki woke up extremely early. When she opened her eyes, she found herself lying on her bed, which she did not remember doing. She tried to remember what happened last night. After succeeding, she gave out a sigh. So she did it, after all. Revealed everything to him. And probably revealed the whole story to some eavesdroppers.
She hated to face them, but she had no choice. She can't turn back time. The closest thing she could do is to temporarily black-out them and show a gruesome image of some sort to shock them enough to lose a good amount of their brain cells, but she didn't want to do that. She only did that to those that literally threatened her life with a knife or something. As much as she didn't like this situation, this situation was quite far from that. She had to admit that these beings living under the same roof were more closer to an ally than a foe.
She turned her head so that she could get out of her bed, only to see Philia on the floor, sleeping soundly. She felt genuinely sorry for the centaur. To pledge a vow, only to lose the master in such a short notice. At the same time, she knew that no matter what she did, she wouldn't have been able to persuade her in not saying that vow. In the end, it was something that neither of them could avoid.
She pondered upon the options of waking her up or not, but decided to dwell upon the latter. If she did wake her up, she had no idea what the centaur might bring up. She didn't want to go through another emotional breakdown, and didn't want to make someone else go through one because of her.
After all, she didn't have much time left. The best thing she could do was to give her people less memories of being sad and heartbroken.
She managed to crawl out of her room in silence, and go down the stairs like always. Of course, there would be Suu. And of course, they would do the thing they always did. Except this time Suu didn't seem to have much to say to her.
Satsuki appreciated it.
She then went to the kitchen to start preparing breakfast. As she reached for the refrigerator to get some eggs, she felt a certain pain hit her. It was as if someone was stabbing her heart with a knife. She unconsciously grasped her chest as she knelt down on the floor, doing her best to not let a scream escape her. She didn't want to alert Suu, or anyone else in the household. She knew that it wouldn't do much to subdue the pain, but there was nothing else she could do.
To be honest, she wanted to cry out to someone and ask for help. She wanted to plead someone for her life. But she went through this too often to actually do that. Even in the company of her brother and her father, nothing could be done.
It has been like this for quite a while. Among the many reasons why Satsuki tried to avoid staying in the house as much as possible, this pain that pops out of nowhere definitely took the cake. It was one thing to get caught by the girls. It was a totally different thing to get caught by Kimihito. She didn't want to show a weak side to those that she wasn't so sure how to think of. And she didn't want him to see her suffer even more. She knew that seeing her suffer would make him suffer. She didn't want to see that happening.
It felt even worse today. It felt like something was preventing her from breathing. She couldn't move any part of her body by her own volition, and her arms kept on shaking. She felt like she was getting tortured, just without a gruesome image or video being forcibly shown to her.
But then, she pretty much was. She was cursed, after all. Her ending was near. She could feel it. It was a miracle she lasted until now. Before she got back home, she held onto dear life just so that she might be able to see her brother once more. When she met him, she wanted to live because she wanted to stay at home as long as possible. Now that she has pretty much made it clear that she was coming back, she grabbed on the rope of life, that was on the verge of being cut off. She wanted to see her demise with her own eyes. She wanted to see that monster meet her end.
With all she had, she brought herself up on her legs. She reached for the refrigerator doors once more, this time succeeding without collapsing. She would do this. She would make breakfast for everyone. She would keep herself alive, at least until tonight.
She will cheat death, if necessary.
After having breakfast with the girls and Riku, cleaning up the house a bit, having lunch with them, and doing all the dishes, Kimihito returned to his room. Everyone seemed to be in a rather solemn mood. Even Miia wasn't saying much, and Papi wasn't bouncing all around the place. Centorea, Rachnera, Suu, and Meroune were pretty much mute except for the times they would thank Kimihito for the food and answer some simple questions. Philia left the house right after they had breakfast, murmuring something about her master not waking her up. Riku simply disappeared at some point, and none of them thought that was even worth being surprised about.
Kimihito sat down at the edge of his bed. He knew that there was no point in trying to find his sister. The moment she finds out he's near her, she'll simply run away or something. He also knew that she would come back home in time for the 'confrontation'. He had no choice but to wait and mentally prepare himself for everything.
To be precise, for her death.
"Honey? May I come in?"
He didn't have to ask to find out who that is. With a mumbled 'come in', the Arachne opened the door and entered his room. She looked around the room to see if there was anything or anyone peculiar. Finding none, her eyes reached back to his. She seemed hesitant, and careful. Kimihito couldn't recall the last time he saw her like that.
"Rachnera? Can I help you with anything?" At this point, Kimihito didn't even have to think before saying that. It was as if it was his default comment.
"No, not really. I just wanted to ask… if you were okay."
Oh, so that was why she looked so hesitant. Kimihito thought that it was because Rachnera was afraid Satsuki might pop out of nowhere and zap her.
He tried to tell her that he was okay and there was nothing to worry about him, but he stopped short. Was he okay? Sure, he pretty much embraced the fact that she won't stay for long. But was he okay with that?
"I'm not so sure, Rachnee. There's just too much going on, and too much to happen."
Kimihito wasn't sure if he even wanted Rachnera to keep asking him about this. As far as he knew, Rachnera wasn't too fond of his sister. He completely understood why, but that didn't change the fact that she probably won't appreciate her like he did.
"Honey, I know that whatever I say, it won't reach your heart."
Kimihito felt his eyes widen. This wasn't what he was expecting for her to say.
"But I wish you would know that although I had my share of somewhat disturbing experiences with her, I would truly feel sorry for your loss. And when she finally… passes, I will also share a bit of your sadness."
"But why, Rachnee? I thought that you were-"
"Terrified of her? Yes." Rachnera closed her eyes and opened them before she could continue. "Even now, she does kind of scare me."
"I thought that you hated her."
"Hate is a strong word. Although I did kind of feel like that in the first place, after going through what happened to me during the past couple of days, I started to think that, well, she wasn't too different from me. Or from anyone else."
Kimihito couldn't find the right words to say.
"I would dare say that she's just…afraid. She's clever, and smart. She has some strange tricks and she's got the physical condition to be able to stand more than others. But she's also just a teenager. A teenager, that has been through too much. A young girl that faced too much cruelty from extraspecies, from humans, from everyone."
Her six eyes seemed to glisten in a way that he couldn't quite figure out. Was it sadness? Affection?
After pondering upon a few more alternative answers, he finally got it. It was sympathy.
"What she did wasn't nice, but now that I think of it, I'm not innocent either. I cornered her, just like every other perpetrator she met throughout her life. As someone that knows what it feels like to be betrayed, to be used, I should have known better. I…"
Rachnera couldn't finish off her sentence, thanks to a certain raven-haired man grabbing her in a sudden embrace. His arms were around her waist, clenching on them ever so tightly, and his head was sunk in her abdomen. If it were any other situation, she would have thought that it would have a totally different meaning. But now, he could feel him trembling. And she could feel something wet as well.
"Thank you," she could hear a trembling voice that was much closer to a mumbling. "I'm glad that at least someone understood her…"
She found herself petting his head, as if a teacher would do to a kindergartner. She felt sorry, both for him and for her. What did they do to deserve such cruelty and misunderstanding? Why was she, such a young human being, feared and alienated when she needed care and understanding? Why was he, fated to not be able to do anything when all of this happened?
Kimihito cried for a while, and Rachnera did nothing to stop him.
Everything came to a stop, eventually. Kimihito stopped crying, Rachnera left his room, and everyone started to prepare themselves for the event that would take place in the evening-or at least, what they thought would happen during the evening.
That was, until a very familiar guest came knocking on the door when Kimihito was just about to prepare something for dinner.
"Ms. Smith." Kimihito wasn't surprised at his arrival, but he was surprised when he saw her somewhat hesitant, cautious expression. As far as he could remember, he never saw her make a face like that.
"Darling-kun, is Satsuki here?"
He shook his head. Of course, she would be looking for her. "She left home early. I have no idea where she is, but I'm pretty sure she'll come back in time."
"How can you be so sure?"
"It's just… a feeling. And I'm pretty sure she would want to see me before it happens."
Smith gave out a big sigh, but nodded her head slowly.
"If she comes back, please let me know. The M.O.N crew is nearby, and is preparing itself for whatever happens. I would like to have a word with her before…you know."
"And you want to see Riku too, right?"
"I..I… no! Where did you get that…" If situations weren't so serious, Kimihito would have carelessly laughed. It was interesting to see her get teased for a change.
"Ms. Smith, I know I might not be sharp in these kinds of things, but it was pretty obvious."
Her face was beet red, clearly flustered.
"I…" She gave up. She couldn't find herself to deny it. She was indeed, infatuated with him. "But don't you feel angry about it? I… she was right about hating me. I am also partly responsible for why she ended up here in the first place."
Yes, of course. Kimihito knew that. He knew that he probably should feel himself develop an emotion similar to hatred towards her. Yes, she was one of those families that abandoned her. Yes, she and her family didn't look for her. And yes, it just had to be that she fell in love with her-May's-father out of all people. Clearly, he should be angry about it. Or maybe feel disgusted about it. After all, that sounds like a horribly twisted family tree.
But he didn't feel that way. Sure, he wasn't happy about her and her family abandoning Satsuki. If he is allowed the opportunity, he would make her apologize to Satsuki properly. Maybe somehow get her family to apologize to her as well. He could start yelling at her, but that wouldn't mean anything. After all, the person that was hurt because of this wasn't him. It was May. But about her loving Riku? He honestly didn't feel to angry about it. He, for some reason, found it somewhat enjoyable.
Kimihito didn't know what to blame. Should he blame his mind for not functioning well enough? Should he blame this situation in which he is to expect his sister's death, which is also pretty much driving himself insane? Or should he blame himself, for being 'too kind and understanding for his own good', as some people would describe him?
The only thing he could fully understand is that he actually appreciated seeing a somewhat positive emotion bursting out.
"Even I have no clue of what I'm thinking. But I don't think I'm too angry at you. There are some things to settle, but I think we can talk that over after this."
"Will we-will she have time after this?"
"We'll have to believe so. After all, if things work out as Riku told us, she might be able to last for longer. Who knows, she might actually have some extra years."
He knew that the last part was probably just wishful thinking, but he wanted to believe so.
"Why don't you stay here? May will probably return home at some point. And I also feel like Riku would come back home too."
A blush. Honestly, it was so easy to fluster her at this point.
"I…If I was the one giving order for this combat, I would certainly make the plan much more clear than this one," it almost sounded like she was just saying anything so that she could make her red face less obvious. Although, Kimihito had to admit, there was some truth in her words. "There is a problem with not being able to locate those of importance!"
Oh well, he'll let her go this once. "You have a point. Although I think the problem is that no one really knows when she will come looking for us."
"Doesn't your sister know?"
"I think it's closer to a hunch and an intuition than a set promise."
She facepalmed. "This just sounds even worse."
He managed to grin a bit. "Well, but May's intuition is usually right. I think it's a reliable source of information."
"That made it even worse. Stop it."
It turned out to be that Kimihito didn't have time to prepare dinner. Not too long after Smith came in, so did Satsuki and Philia. It seemed like the centaur succeeded in finding her master. And Riku came in right behind them. Kimihito didn't even bother to ask how they managed to find each other out there. If they told him they used telepathic communication, he would have believed it.
He saw Smith getting up from the sofa when she saw Satsuki enter the house, and literally freezing in her position when she saw Riku entering as well. If he didn't know better, he would have thought that she was a high school student looking at her first crush.
What Satsuki said, however, brought her back to reality.
"Kimi, let's go. It's time."
"You can feel her?"
"I just…know. No time to waste on how or why. Let's go. I want to greet there out in the woods, no matter how much Kii hates it."
She looked at the other housemates, that were one by one coming towards the door after hearing the sound of her voice.
"You can stay, or you can follow. Do as you please. Just know that if you happened to get hurt or killed, it's this guy's fault." She pointed at Riku.
He smirked. "No worries, that won't happen. You ladies can follow if you want to see the superhero beat up the bad guy."
A/N: Only a few more chapters until the ending!
