Chapter 6

Nona put the phone down. She and Ginti were once again settled in Ginti's bar.

Ginti finished mixing her order, and handed her the fresh cuba libre.

"'Useless byproduct'?" He questioned, one fiery red eyebrow spiked. Nona scowled, staring at her reflection in the dark liquid. "Shut up."

"Why didn't you tell him? He was asking - he knows something is wrong," Ginti slumped over the counter, his chin resting atop his knuckles.

"I couldn't do that to him." She took a large swig from her glass. "Decim's cocktails were better."

"Your tastebuds are defective." Ginti was too harried from a days' work of judgements that he could not even feign offense at Nona's comment. "So why couldn't you tell him the truth?"

"I - I didn't lie, exactly," Nona sat up straighter. "The second set of memories is not meant to be there."

"Oculus came back with the results, though, he and Castra confirmed it. That's how we got Akise's number. From his memories."

"Yes, yes, I am aware that we have a copy of the man's memories. Either that, or what Decim is witnessing is actually an echo of another consciousness."

"Remember who Decim was: an Arbiter used to being sent other people's memories to analyse. He is used to seeing everything, to knowing everything - he's not used to being kept in the dark."

"Then he needs to accommodate! Because I cannot bring myself to tell him what really happened," Covering her eyes with the splayed fingers of one hand, Nona licked her lips. "Decim holds respect for those who have lived fulfilled lives."

"That's pretty much his catchphrase, yeah."

"We've seen Akise's past: he was a good kid, with good grades, who took care of his mother despite harrowing events like the death of his father. Akise was considerate and cared for his friends, but not without a playfulness of character which Decim simply lacks. Akise became a history teacher because he loved the subject, and he loved the idea of passing on his knowledge to others. Decim has always been secretive with the knowledge he holds - it was necessary for arbitration. Akise was an efficient, sympathetic teacher. His students looked up to him - Ginti, do you see where I'm going with this?"

Ginti looked bored."You think that Decim should never become a teacher?"

"By my judgement, Akise Nakamori has lived a fulfilling life. But he doesn't exist anymore," Nona leaned in, her shining eyes freezing Ginti on the spot. "Who exists now, Ginti?"

"Decim." His expression sobered into one of resignation. "...Oh."

Oculus stood before the billiard's table. He reached across and took the little model of Earth in his palm. He grabbed both sides of the planet, twisted clockwise, until a click was heard. Taking apart the two pieces, inside the Earth a small black button was exposed. Oculus pressed this button.

Chik-chik-chik….click. On the other side of the room, a section of the old stonework receded, sliding back to the right, revealing a dimly-lit hall.

Walking forward, the old man stopped at the entrance. Inside the hall, the hollow corpses of dummies hung on the walls; some incomplete, some burned, some split like polystyrene cups.

But most of them, the 5,000 strongest, stood in rows and columns.

Warriors. Soldiers.

Every one of them, men, women, all coated in armour. This armour was thick, heavy, forged and moulded in Oculus' own furnace of burning souls.

These soldiers didn't need faces: masks covered their expressionless profiles, masks tinted with red and purple and gold.

Every single one of them had their wrists bound by double-looped chains. Oculus knew this would not be enough to contain them. But he didn't need to restrain them: they were his, completely under his influence. And they would not move until he commanded so.

For now, he gazed with pride upon his creations. For an heir to God, he fancied himself rather talented in the art of fabrication.

Nona was getting out of hand. Her wild theories and the frightening evidence to support them weren't being held secret as Oculus had wished. Instead, on his rounds of the Arbitration Tower, he would overhear hushed conversations about Arbiters gaining human emotions, about how a change is coming.

Technically, he reasoned, the latter was accurate. The old man licked his leathery lips in anticipation. He was just waiting for Nona to make a move, as was inevitable. Once she did, he was fully justified in his retaliation.

Regardless of whether he'd been planning this retaliation for a decade now, soon would come the time to release the swarm upon the Arbiters, in order to maintain organisation, before the entire system imploded.

"Soldiers," Whispered Oculus to no-one, "I have long awaited the time in which you are most needed. With an army of this size, all the Arbiters in existence will not be able to resist oppression." A grin creased his mouth, yellowed teeth glinting with saliva. "Watch your back, Nona. It will be the place I strike first."

His emotionless eyes skimmed over the word inscribed upon every soldier's chestplate, carved deep. It was the name he'd given to his legion: Supernova.

It was the third day.

It felt like a whole lifetime had passed. How did normal people do this every day? Were all days the same to them? Did they breeze past at the speed of an eyeblink, or, as for Akise, did they drag endlessly on?

Heaving the full shopping bags onto the counters, Akise allowed himself a couple of coughs at the strain. The late afternoon light spewed it's shallow glow through the windows. Having come back from his outing, such an event had not drastically improved Akise's mood. He had run into at least five elderly people who had stopped him, demanding to know how he was and why he was not at work and it wasn't the school holidays already was it?

All of them had spoken as if they knew him well. Akise reasoned that they probably knew Akise very well….but he had no current recollections about any of them.

Akise did congratulate himself on behaving more like 'Akise', changing his body posture, walking gait and facial expressions to those resembling the Akise of his memories.

So far, nobody had commented on any lack of idiosyncrasies, so he simply continued with it.

Putting the groceries and other items away, Akise only hesitated when he thought he'd heard a sound.

A...knock? He listened intently.

Knock knock. An uncertain rap of knuckles on his front door.

Tension seeped into Akise's body once more, his muscles lifting and tightening as if pulled by fish-hooks which were dug into his skin.

Forcing his feet to carry him forwards, the dark-haired man opened the door.

Chiaki was stood on his doorstep. Her arms were folded, her makeup was particularly striking, and her work bag was settled next to her feet.

Akise didn't say anything. His mind provided no useful words with which to interact, merely a litany of incomprehensible gibberish.

"I know you said to call," Chiaki began, "but I prefer it when people apologise in person."

Stepping back, Akise squared his shoulders. "What, you want me to apologise for what I said? Pretend I regret saying it?"

Chiaki, shocked, regained composure and nodded firmly. "Kicking me out like that when I was trying to care for you, it hurt me."

"Well you know what hurts me? Not fucking knowing who I am anymore!" Akise growled, temper inflaming. "These have been the most hellish three days of my life, Chiaki, and you don't understand any of it, you don't need to. No, Chiaki just assumes she knows what's going on -"

"What the hell? How have these days been 'hellish'?"

Akise stopped. He did. All brain function, all sensory information; even his heart felt still. Then he realised: this was ineffable. How could he ever expect someone on the outside to understand?

Averting his azure eyes, he forced himself to bite his tongue. "It doesn't matter."

Chiaki was using that look again. The look of uncertainty, of wariness. She already believed she no longer knew him, Akise deducted that much. But why would one visit a stranger?

"You told me to leave," She murmured. Akise couldn't meet her eyes; he knew they'd be tearful. "When I asked you if…" Chiaki continued, "...if this was some kind of rebound from...You, you were disgusted. You couldn't even look at me. Why would you sleep with me if I was so repellent to you? And why wait until now to say something about it? It was over a year ago."

Akise didn't want to think about this. He loved her, he didn't want to hurt her. Decim had never intentionally hurt Chiyuki before and he never wanted to wound Chiaki.

In those split seconds after she had arrived, he had imagined a scenario in which he acted completely as Akise Nakamori would. That would have led to more conflict; such was the nature of being human.

Akise didn't know what he was now. But he remembered identifying himself human when Nona had asked. Was he just one big lie?

"I'm sorry," He blurted. Chiaki's shadowed eyes remained serious, but nonetheless she thanked him for his cooperation.

"Please, come in," Akise offered, standing aside. "I, uh, promise not to be rude this time."

Picking up her bag, Chiaki went over and seated herself not on the sofa, he noticed, but on one of the living-room chairs.

Perhaps memories really did stick to objects.

"I can't stay for long," She admitted. "I have a lot of work to do. And seeing as you're off sick, I also need to prepare cover lessons for your classes."

"Your work is much appreciated." Out of courtesy, Akise offered her a beverage, but upon her polite decline, he simply sat on the sofa, opposing her. Dammit. He would make this right. "I know that I've been acting strange lately," He began, twiddling his thumbs anxiously and keeping his gaze from her, "and I...I think you're right."

"Oh?"

"It...is simply a…" Losing the sentence Akise tried again. "Everything I've been doing, it had all caught up with me, and it's just taking a large toll on me. Mentally. At the moment.

"When you mentioned...our history...it dawned on me...how cruel I can be," This was the biggest lie he had ever told in his life. Decim hoped he could sell it; the integration of lies and vague truths helped a lot. Finally, he forced himself to look up.

Chiaki's hands were clenched in her lap, and her knees were shaking ever so slightly. She looked confused, and scared.

I never wanted to see her scared. Decim recalled all the times Chiyuki had been frightened, or intimidated, or desperate during the tribunals they had co-conducted. He had already seen enough of her fear to last him a lifetime.

"I didn't want a romantic relationship then," Lie, "and I still don't." Truth. "I was scared that my actions had led you on to pursue me," Lie, "and I began to panic about righting our friendship before it became sour." Truth.

Black strands of hair framed his stoic eyes. "Please forgive me. I do want to be friends."

His gaze dropped again, suddenly appearing to find extreme interest in his own shoes.

Then, he heard a giggle.

Startled, Akise was taken aback to see Chiaki laughing, one hand covering her smile. As she settled down she elaborated, "That's why you freaked out? Akise, I knew it was casual! I only ever wanted casual, I wasn't ready to start dating. Damn...I'm sorry, too, I had a crazy moment where I thought you'd started to hate me - because I thought that you thought that I had led you on!" She chuckled again. "At school, with you having to work with me every day...I thought you'd gotten sick of me."

Despite not fully comprehending the atmosphere, Akise chuckled lightly, too.

Chiaki relaxed back into the chair. "We're such idiots."

Akise quirked an eyebrow in agreement. They both had gotten angry for the same reason. Except, in Akise's memories, it hadn't been casual.

Akise Nakamori had treasured Chiaki Kozuma, had kissed the ground she walked on. That much could be seen from the state of the memories themselves. Even the memories from school, when Akise had been teaching and had run into her first thing, or when they drank their coffee together at break, all those memories were pristine and polished. If ever there were romantic feelings present, they had never been mutual.

"So," Akise cleared his dry throat, "we're...good now?" At this question he received a soft smile. "Of course, Akise. Just, focus on getting your head clear."

"Y-yes. I intend to." Just then, Akise remembered another event he had to discuss with his friend. "Ah, Chiaki…"

"Hm?"

"My mother phoned the other day. A while ago, I told her about you," He tried not to incorporate all of the exact information Akise had hold his mother, "about how good a friend you are. She's coming to visit this weekend, and...I would like for you to meet her at dinner, on Saturday."

"This isn't sounding so casual," Chiaki commented wryly, eyes narrowing.

"N-no, not as my girlfriend," The man clarified. "Only as a friend."

Chiaki contemplated the preposition for a moment. Then, she let out a puff of air. "Alright, Nakamori. But no candles."

A soft, cotton-like emotion enveloped Akise's heart: happiness. It had been so long since he had felt truly contented. Akise felt a genuine smile gracing his lips. "No candles."

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this one!