Disclaimer: The author does not own any of the trademarks used in this story.
Author's Notes: This concept has been brewing in my docket for some time now, Although it started with an idea as cheeky as bringing together two characters connected by a couple of obvious threads, it quickly became more complex as I tried to mesh Akako's fantastical (and apparently non-canon) world with Akai's heavily grounded one. I had to study a bit of Tarot reading in order to tell this story the way I want to. I just hope my inexperience did not hamper the prose in any way.
As far as other struggles go, I'm also struggling to hit certain character beats for Akako. I understand she's a bit of a flirt, but I've never written someone like that before, more so established any limits to how flirty a character can get. I got away with my previous attempt by focusing more on her melancholy side, but this time I wanted a more varied portrayal. Will probably make some adjustments in the interim.
A World Red With Sin and Sorrow
Chapter 1: A World Dyed in Red
Koizumi Akako hated shopping streets. The monotony, the bustle, the gossip between shoppers and grocers, the bargaining that would then ensue... She hated all of it with a passion that would make Cerberus cower in his leash, all three of them. Having spent so much of her after-school hours setting her table up in dingy nooks and crannies across the city, one would think she'd become desensitized. And yet all the time she spent lingering along the sidewalk watching people ebb and flow along like sheep being herded from their pens reinforced her point that no matter what part of the city she was in, no matter what the signboard at the entrance says, all these neighborhoods were maddeningly stale and domestic.
But what choice did she have? Apparently society has gotten complicated enough that renting a place out for business was a non-starter for a high school girl with no known relatives or affiliates. As it was, her only viable option was to take to the streets like some of her ancestors have. Akako did just that, only to find out that all viable and free spots had their share of... complications. She'd been exorcised from temples before by monks and maidens who felt threatened by the prospect of her luring customers away from their donation boxes and inutile paper fortunes and lucky charms. One frumpy caretaker even had the audacity to call her an evil demon for showing too much of her god-given assets... Ah, she would've reveled in the jealousy more had it not gotten in the way of her enterprise.
What about other places, then? Like parks and bridges, for instance? No, parks were even worse... Littered by petulant children, stupid pets, and street performers. As much as she appreciated the attention young men and the helpless mothers lavished her with, it wasn't worth exposing herself to errant soccer balls, animal stench, and the excruciating scratching and moaning they call "music." And don't even get her started about bridges and tunnels...
Alas, Akako's only choice was to bear with the cloying vibrations permeating these homely shopping streets. She didn't like it, but she had nowhere else to go that was both decent and had a good flow of human traffic.
"This is pathetic," Akako muttered, her right cheek slumped against her palm as she ambled the rest of the afternoon away. If only witchcraft worked as conveniently as people thought it did and she could actually materialize all the herbs she needed for her potions with the snap of her finger or, of all the moronic stereotypes that modern media has forced upon her kind - a twitch of her nose. At least she was fortunate enough to live in a rather credulous society where people paid handsomely to be told what color to wear or where to place their furniture. Doesn't really sound all that ludicrous considering how mankind, throughout history, was obsessed with being told what they wanted to hear. Especially now that society's insecurities have grown worse through its own design. Local shoppers may pass by her table and give her strange (jealous, actually) looks however they please, not realizing the comfort she provided her querents was no different from the spiel their favorite vendors blabbered on while trying to trick them into a "good deal." Of course she would know, having been on the receiving end of various gifts from these butchers, fishmongers and green grocers long before they realized she wasn't buying.
Bored by the dullness that interminably surrounded her, Akako took out her tarot deck and whiled herself by drawing the topmost card. It had been a while since she'd used them for a reading so she didn't have the slightest clue as to what the first card would be until she finally held it up to view...
"The Knight of Wands... A man brimming with passion, inspiration and motivation. Perched in his stead, he stops at nothing to get what he wants and is always on the move, looking for new challenges to try to satisfy his nigh unquenchable thirst for adventure..." Reading the card out to herself, Akako mildly titillated at the prospect of chancing upon such a man...
Well, she actually knew someone like that already... Not that he had eyes for her or any other woman other than that bumbling childhood sweetheart he kept dragging along. He'd resisted enough of her advances that she'd considered afflicting various curses on him out of spite, put him through so much torment that he'll wish for Lucufer to end his plight. But no matter what transpired, or what didn't transpire between then, she couldn't really bring herself to despise him. He trusted her too, in his own way, making it hard for her to give up on him altogether even though she probably should.
Then again, if she gave up on that idiot, what were the chances she'd ever find a man worthy of her unearthly beauty? Probably zero, if she was going to be frank. As foolish as the girls who abide by their daily horoscopes were, they weren't wrong to believe that finding the perfect partner was a matter of innumerable forces coalescing into a single moment bringing two compatible individuals together. 'Kismet,' as they loved to call it. It wasn't impossible to find someone even in this dingy shopping street, but it was improbable. Most improbable.
Not unless the goddesses of fate felt like being flighty.
Having tuned out much of the clamor going on around her, Akako was startled by the cawing of crows gathering into a murder, swooping in eastward for their nightly roost. She'd dropped the card she was holding inadvertently,, but before it could comfortably fall beneath her, a sudden gust blew it all the way to the sidewalk.
"What a pain," Akako grumbled, forced to get off the chair and lumber towards the spot where the card finally landed. She bent down to pick it up, letting her locks and the clasps of her cape dangle down concurrently. While the clasps did their job of obscuring her chest, the raven strands of hair flowing along the side of her head blurred enough of periphery that she wasn't able to see a bicycle careening from her right until the panicking rider began yelling at her.
"Watch out!"
Despite the rider's as well as a couple of concerned pedestrians' repeated warnings, the oracle found herself unable to move out of the way. Everything happened so fast that all she could to was look over her shoulder as the bike dashed towards her direction and brace for impact...
...Except no impact actually happened. Akako's surprise was surmounted only by the lime-on-black clad rider's when he found himself and his bike being held down by a bystander who had appeared out of nowhere.
"You better have your spokes checked over at the bicycle shop two blocks from here," the bespectacled man recommended. His dark brown turtleneck belied the muscular frame that enabled him to halt an out-of-control bike with such strength, while his trousers remained immaculately white despite his abrupt action.
The rider couldn't even muster a response and just nodded, his adrenaline waning as soon as his feet was finally planted on the ground safely. As relieved as he must've felt over not causing inadvertent injury, he ought to thank the heavens that Akako hadn't cursed him, with the oracle still reeling from the encounter. Still, he'd sensed her scathing glare quickly enough and scuttled off after an apology, leaving the bespectacled man to tend to her.
"Are you alright, miss?" he asked, offering her a hand.
Crouched down the pavement, Akako took a closer look at her savior. Quite frankly, if she hadn't already recovered the card she probably would have forgotten it right then. Not because he turned out to be the Knight of Wands she'd been daydreaming about mere minutes ago or anything silly. In fact, to liken his handsome visage to any of the knights or kings would be travesty. Rather, it was as if Adonis had taken a corporeal form once more and returned to this earth in search of a partner to spend a third of his year with, having grown weary of Aphrodite's and Persephone's constant quibbles. The fair tufts that encased his well-sculpted face, the squinted pair of eyes hiding behind those lenses, Akako wholeheartedly took them all in before finally accepting his hand.
"T-thank you." Even Akako found herself at a loss for words because of his striking presence. Not many men could have such an astounding effect on her.
"I'm confident I'd remember you if I'd seen you around these parts before. Are you new to this neighborhood, by any chance?"
"...Something like that." As Subaru helped Akako up and assisted her back to her station, it finally occurred to the sorceress to introduce herself. "I'm Koizumi Akako, by the way."
Out of courtesy, the man replied, "Okiya Subaru. I just moved here over a month ago, actually."
This way, she'd ensured that the spark of their first encounter would linger on. Most men would probably lose their wits upon something as trivial as exchanging names with her, let alone holding her hand for a prolonged period. She was certain Subaru was no different, that knowing her name would encourage him to stay a while longer so she could impose her will on him...
...At least until he nonchalantly let go of her once he'd guided her back to her seat. He didn't even attempt to touch her back excessively when he had the chance. "It was nice meeting you, Koizumi-san. But please be more mindful of your surroundings next time," Subaru said before turning away from her.
"Are you in some sort of rush?" Akako blurted out as if in protest.
"I'm actually on my way to have din-"
Placing the Knight of Wands back into the deck that had been left on the table the entire time,, Akako leapt off her chair and grabbed his arm, keeping him from walking away. "Let me thank you for saving my life!"
"Uhh... I think saving your life is a bit of a stretch," he pointed out, a bit startled by her grip.
"No, not at all," she insisted. "There's no telling how bad my injuries would have been had you not stopped that metal stead from running me over."
"...Metal stead?" he repeated.
"I could've suffered a concussion or a fracture. Oh, just imagining the horrific scars my face and body might've incurred breaks my heart..."
"...Well, I was only doing what any other person would. There's no need to th-"
"I know! At least let me read your love fortune, on the house," Akako interrupted him. If her allure couldn't convince him to stay, then the prospect of a free service surely would. When his body finally stopped any form of retaliation, she inched closer and sweetly whispered, "I'm pretty good at it, you know." She looked at him with eyes effectively declaring, 'and if you behave accordingly, that's not the only thing I'm good at that you'd get to experience.'
Subaru appeared to ponder her proposition for a moment, looking away while cupping his chin with his free hand. For her part, Akako was beginning to find this man's apparent apathy towards her infuriating. Save for a certain phantom thief, she'd never met a mortal who had a willpower strong enough to withstand being so close to her and remain so calm and collected. If she'd anticipated meeting such a wonderful-looking specimen in this dump, she'd have misted on a bit of her special enchanting fragrance.
But man's true nature was that of a beast. Surely there's a carnivore lying beneath the sheepskin this Subaru was wearing, and Akako was more than eager to tear it off.
"...I suppose I can spare a few minutes," Subaru finally consented, much to Akako's delight.
"It's decided, then. Now, will you please take a seat, good sir?" Letting go of Subaru's arm, Akako circled behind him and brazenly put her hand on his shoulder, pushing him towards the querent's chair. As tall as he was, he could've just as easily shrugged her off, but he didn't. His defenses may look more daunting than the lot who often groveled at her feet, but was still a mortal man who wouldn't dare resist a woman displaying kindness and vulnerability. "No need to feel so tense. We're not going to do a seance today," she said softly straight into his ear, brushing her raven locks behind her right ear and making sure he caught a whiff of her perfume.
"That's a relief... I'm not sure if I'm ready to start believing in ghosts yet," Subaru joked. With the corner of her eye she saw his calm expression waver a bit, her scent finally reaching his nerve center. She could tell he was at least piqued by its unique fragrance, perhaps trying to discern the ingredients she'd used to blend it. "I must admit though, I've got no experience with this..."
"You've never had your fortune told before? Or..." Akako meticulously ran her fingers along Subaru's shoulder blades, helping him feel at ease. She swooned as she traced his well-defined musculature, her imagination set ablaze by the toned physique hidden beneath his turtleneck. But she wasn't so weak-willed that she'd shred the damned piece of cloth right then. That can wait for when she's finally reduced him to putty.
"...I've never had my fortunes told before," he clarified. Clearing his throat as if to tilt his invisible mask back in place, he added, "I've opened my share of fortune cookies and bought a few temple fortunes though."
'Ha! As if those actually work!' Akako thought mockingly. But she wasn't about to let that snide break her facade. "I assume this is your first real encounter with an oracle too?"
Subaru nodded. "I'm a man of science, after all... An aspiring engineer, to be exact," He then smiled as his muscles began to relax, confirming a sense of willingness. "But I've got an open mind."
"Why I'm flattered by your... 'open mind,' engineer-san... Plus the fact that I'm a 'first' in your life." Akako unabashedly stressed the latter on an amorous note. She drew her hands away of Subaru just as he was easing up to it, reestablishing some distance between them. With his eyes turned the opposite direction, the sorceress then lifted her cape over her head. Along with it came the golden clasps resting over her chest. Taking note of where the sun was perched, she allowed the silhouette of her shadow to tantalize Subaru on her behalf.
"Likewise," he said, still effecting a miserably polite tone. With him looking straight at her shadow, she was confident her ploy was working. "Looking forward to what fate has in store for me today."
"I hope you enjoy what you see then," Akako said in between furtive giggles as she walked around the table. Draping her cape on the backrest of her seat before assuming her spot, she ran her fingers gently along her hair. 'Oh you will enjoy it, my dear. But be prepared to pay a hefty sum later for all the extra service I'm providing now.' She then flicked her locks aside as she eased her posture, granting him an unobstructed view of her neck, her milky skin, and everything else her plunging top showed. The air began to cool down as the afternoon waned, but if her wiles succeed, she wouldn't have to worry about feeling warm for the rest of the night. "Would you like me to read your palm first? Or should we go ahead and ask the cards?"
"I think I'm keen on finally seeing how Tarot cards work," Subaru replied.
Akako was a little dismayed that she couldn't tickle his palms. She figured he would've gone for that since it was quite popular among dog-tired white collars and thirsty chaps. Touching those boars was disgusting, but it was also the quickest way to feed their egos before subsequently disposing of them. They paid her heftily, too.
"Well then, cards it is," Akako said, picking the deck up. It wasn't as if she didn't have ways to keep her attrition up with them anyway. She began the next stage of her assault by waving the deck around a bit, getting his eyes follow her hand. When they did, she went about cutting, turning and shuffling the deck. While doing so, Akako tucked her arms a bit closer than normal, lightly squishing her breasts together. She wasn't as absurdly-endowed as other girls her age, but she always felt confident of what she was bestowed with that she never shied away from flaunting them. And make no mistake, she was blessed amply. With only a gemstone clasp covering her cleavage, it was a sight that would drive any man back to a more primal state, enslaved by desire.
"Are you, by any chance, trying to follow the cards?" Akako teased when she noticed his gaze still locked straight ahead.
The question made Subaru flinch in his seat a little bit. He tried to mask it by shifting his posture so he had both his arms and legs crossed, but she could tell that the question caught him off guard. "Guilty as charged," he said. "To be honest, I was wondering if the deck came pre-shuffled in a set sequence like a fresh pack of face cards."
Now Subaru could very well be focused on card counting for real, but Akako made sure he couldn't do so without catching glimpses of her assets in his periphery. Still, the sorceress found his effort in fortifying his cracked defenses was rather amusing, if futile. "I hate to disappoint, but these cards do not lie. Using them deceitfully would be nothing short of blasphemous to them."
'I see. Pardon my presumptuousness then," Subaru uttered, adjusting his glasses.
"It's fine. Now would you be a dear and cut the deck, please?" Akako leaned forward and placed the deck at the center of the table.
Akako leaned enticingly towards Subaru, emphasizing her curves while she placed the deck at the center of the table. It wasn't as overt a her previous seductive display, instead looking more like a natural posture that, coupled with her tight costume and exposed midriff, would still draw lustful stares from the average weak-willed man. She let her hand linger over the cards for a fair bit, waiting to 'accidentally' graze his hand the moment he reached for them.
But Subaru wouldn't budge. He waited until she was forced to slither back into her seat before he even attempted to touch the deck (or else she'd look like a fool attempting to jump him in the heat of the afternoon). To make things more annoying for her, he had his eyes locked on the cards from the moment she was done shuffling them, as if doubling down on his excuse of trying to compare them with face cards.
'Hmph.. I must commend you for being only the second man to ever resist me like this,' Akako thought, biting the corner of her lip so subtly. Nonetheless she welcomed the challenge - Subaru's resilience only made him a worthier prize in her eyes. 'I don't know whether you're just keeping up your gentlemanly act or you're simply playing hard to get, but we haven't even started the reading yet.' She looked on as Subaru divided the deck into three packets and then stacking them back on top of each other. He repeated the steps twice more, making completely even packets each time he split them. Once done, he slowly pushed the deck back to the center of the table.
"Will that do?" Subaru said, looking at her straight in the eye crossing his arms yet again.
"That's lovely," Akako said, smiling back even though she was beginning to find his poker face grating at this point. Oh, how she would love to see how delirious he'd get by the time she gets her hands all over him.
Taking the deck back, Akako shuffled it once more, dropping the theatrics this time as her pride as an oracle took precedence. She might have relished having a little tête-à-tête at the start to lure this gentleman into a false sense of comfort, but she always gave divinations their due diligence. Afterward, she placed the deck close to the edge of the table and smeared it towards the opposite side.
"Now then, will you choose the ten cards that represent that which is currently troubling you? Or shall we let the cards tell the story they way they want to? she asked.
"Hmmm... As someone doing this for the first time, I'd like to see what the cards have for me," he answered politely.
Per her querent's request, Akako picked out the ten cards that poked out of the lineup the most, beginning from the right all the way to the opposite end. Once the selected cards have been ordered and isolated, she gathered the rest into a pile before putting them aside. Finally, after an incantation and a little bit of showmanship with her hands, she unveiled the first card...
"Ah, 'The World'...," Akako announced. "A card that represents the fruition of life. The completion of a cycle, if you will... Where all truths are elucidated and all conflicts are satiated."
"...Except it's turned upside down," Subaru pointed out. "That means something else, doesn't it?"
"Correct. It means that you, as you are now, are stuck in a loop." Akako made a whirling gesture with her left hand. "Right now, everything around you seems perfectly fine. Naturally, you feel content about it, but deep down you know there are still holes in your life that you need to fill... Matters that are left unresolved, yet you're not sure how to go about dealing with them, or if you should deal with them at all." She observed Subaru's expression and posture as she spoke, noting a sudden tinge of sternness tainting the endearing aura he'd been emitting the whole time.
"Unresolved issues, huh..." He didn't say anything to dispute her reading afterward, but she could tell she'd just nudged something earnest inside of him. That was a good sign.
"No need to fret, my dear... This is actually a good card to start with regardless," Akako assured. "Now, here lies the force that keeps you from breaking out of the loop." With Subaru's approving nod, she then drew the next card and placed it across the first.
While the querent remained pliant in his seat when the second card was revealed, the oracle felt the flames of desire flare up inside of her, smoldering her blood in an instant. 'Queen of Swords? Really? So you're telling me that this incredibly attractive man right here is hung up on some girl... And an erratic one at that? Are the goddesses of fate really serving him to me on a silver platter?' she thought while unveiling it.
"...Is that a bad card?" The bespectacled man cautiously asked.
"...N-no. Not at all. It's merely the challenge to your present... The thing that keeps you from stepping out of the loop." Akako leaned towards the edge of the table, her right index finger gently swirling over the card's surface while her left arm was busy cushioning her chest. "'Queens'... They usually pertain to a certain type of woman. 'Swords,' on the other hand, represent reason and clarity. Put the two together and we get the image of a woman who makes wise decisions. That said..." With her index finger, Akako directed Subaru's eyes towards the backdrop depicted on the card. "These clouds here signify a more emotional side to her. With that, and the way she looks up as the buzzard flies into the horizon..." The oracle paused, drawing her querent's eyes back to her. "What kind of impression do these elements give you?"
"Hmm..." Subaru tilted his head in thought before repeating the woman's descriptions. "A woman who is smart, compassionate, and full of hope...?"
"That's one way to put it," Akako replied. She found his imagination a little bit wanting, about all one could expect from a self-proclaimed man of science. But it wasn't a deal-breaker for her at all, and his innocence was endearing enough to make up for it. "At the same time, you can look at it as a woman who is still tethered on sentimental ground. She may be capable of making life-changing decisions, but she's just as likely to second-guess herself and let her emotions get the better of her. Because of these emotions, she make end up making mistakes, after all... Perhaps a little too often to your liking."
Noticing Subaru's eyebrow twitch so slightly as her twisted interpretation registered in his mind, Akako prodded him further. "Do you know anyone like that?" she asked. "Anyone stupid, that is..."
Much to Akako's surprise however, Subaru leaned over to meet her gaze, resting his chin on his laced hand. "I may know a stupid girl like that," he said almost condescendingly, echoing her thoughts as if he too was a clairvoyant. "Probably two or three of them, actually."
'What's with your sudden display of bravado, my lovely prey? Not that I'm complaining though...' Pleased to learn of Subaru's experience, Akako smiled playfully at him. She wasn't about to back down now that he appeared to be more embroiled with her wiles than he has let on thus far. "So you've been around the block a lot, have you..."
"...You could say that. I've had to square out enough mixers in college to last a lifetime," he said, smiling back. " I might have to delete a few numbers from my phone book, now that it occurred to me..."
"In that case, surely you have a lucky lady or two that left quite an impression in you. One you haven't been able to shake off since..."
Subaru hummed in thought. "...Actually, there's this one girl... She got into so much trouble on her own before that I just couldn't take my eyes off her for one second."
Akako couldn't help but scoff as the image of one Aoko Nakamori came to mind. "The cumbersome type, eh... They're certainly hard to ignore..." "'Hard to get rid of' is more like it, actually," she'd meant to say based on personal experience. She wondered if she would have to worry about Subaru being so distracted by the time they really get the fire going. "Perhaps there's a reason you couldn't let go of her so easily," she suggested with a hint of faux sincerity. She really couldn't care less either way so long as that helpless harpy doesn't swoop in on them. Not that she couldn't handle her if she does...
"Perhaps so," Subaru repeated, his face sobering up a little.
"Well then, let's take a look at your past, shall we? See what it was that may have thrust you into this holding pattern you're in now." Akako reminded him, casting aside her momentary doubt. She still had plenty of cards to sway him with anyway.
Without taking her eyes off of him, Akako reached for the next card and held it up for them to see. She raised her eyebrow a little as she discerned the card's identity.
"'Upright Eight of Cups,'" she announced. "'Cups' are, in essence, the opposite of 'swords' in that they signify emotional elements instead of practical ones. This particular card represents wanderlust - one's innate desire to keep moving. Here you can see a man walking away from eight golden cups to venture into the night... Refusing comfort to seek a new challenge or a cause greater than his own life." She continued her narration as she placed the card to the right of the cross. "As for the river flowing between him and the gold cups, it suggests he could no longer turn back to the treasures he left behind. It was a difficult decision, but one he had to make if he was to continue with his journey."
"That doesn't sound good for an upright card," he replied, concerned.
"It doesn't. After all, this is what left you in the state you're in." Then, in the sweetest, most saccharine voice she could muster, she began reassuring him. "Think of it this way. Yes, you may have abandoned something - or someone - you cherished deeply, and going by what I'm seeing, there's a part of you that regrets leaving her behind."
Akako paid closer attention to Subaru's body language while he stared at the card for a little over half a minute. While he made no overt gestures to give away, let alone hint at any degree of agitation and impatience, she could tell that the air around him has gotten more somber as he allowed himself to delve into the memories it evoked.
She decided it was time to start twisting her readings a little bit...
"But then, it could just as easily mean you simply cast aside superfluous things that were weighing you down in your journey," Akako said. "A sweet dalliance, but a dalliance nonetheless, and you still turned out fine after walking away. Relatively speaking, at least."
"Relatively?"
"Mmm... I mean, for all the filthy swine loitering this earth, there's just as many men who could not move on from their past. A lot of them have assumed the same seat you're in right now. You'd have felt just as disgusted if you were in my place."
"Not the words I'd expect to hear from such a fine young lady," Subaru commented.
"Well, as the old adage goes, 'a rose is only as beautiful as its thorns.," she retorted with a subtle yet seductive smile. "Anyway, shall we move on to where you stand now?"
With Subaru's reluctant nod, Akako drew the next card. Her eyes didn't leave his the whole time, forcibly prying the hairline cracks in his soul that he desperately tried to hide with his glasses and his squint. She knew she was getting close to having him wrapped around her finger, and all she needed now was for the cards to line up accordingly. To her fortune, they seemingly did...
"'Seven of swords!' See, even the cards agree with me! And it's reversed too!" It was all she could do to contain her jubilation when she flipped the card face up. "This card tells the story of a man resorting to diplomacy to get that which he desires, only for him to turn tail when he finally has them in his hands. He could not take all of the swords with him, suggesting he's not yet done with his deception..." She handed over the card to Subaru for closer scrutiny. "You can see an obvious trend between this and the previous card, don't you?"
"...In other words, I'm only committing the same mistakes as before..." Subaru sounded rather amused as he looked at both he face and the back of the card, as if to suggest that she hit the nail on the head with her reading. He would flip back and forth between the sides for a little over a minute, providing the oracle with the opportunity to set up her next move.
"Maybe so... But it's not all that bad..." Akako rose from her seat and leaned over to him like she was about to crawl over to his side, once again luring his eyes to every inch of her exposed skin, glazed with a little sweat and bathing under fading light of the afternoon. "You knew you had to leave, and so you did... As it is, you're still beating yourself up for what you've done to her, failing to consider that whoever this girl may be, she could just as well be the problem."
Sensing no resistance from the bespectacled man, she gently ran her fingers across his exposed forearm up until they found their way to his knuckles, pretending as though she was trying to pry the card back when all she wanted was to touch his skin again. "You care to much about what you've left behind that you've become blind to the... good things in front of you," she uttered to his face, her voice dripping with lust particularly on the last part.
In a couple of breaths, her hand had at last reached its destination, relieving him of the card and placing it on its rightful place in the cross before supplanting the vacated space with her own. Not the first time they've held hands that day, but it was deliberately more sensual, with Akako lightly caressing his palms as if trying to burn every contour into her consciousness, sifting through the memories these contours have endured.
It was in that very moment that she saw flashes of another man's life... One with locks as long and as dark as the night.
Without warning, Akako was thrust into bearing witness to the man's journey, beginning with him venting his wrath through one fight after another in his youth, up until he learned to channel the fire inside of him by tempering both his mind and body into a weapon he wielded with uncanny precision. A weapon so versatile, he used it to dispense justice whilst seeking reprieve from the rage still seething inside of him. Countless men have fallen before him, and although he didn't exactly kill each and every one of them, a lot were left reeling with anguish far surpassing the knowledge of their impending demise.
Struggling to get a grasp of what she was seeing, Akako was then shown choice moments in this man's life, specifically ones involving various people he interacted with, beginning with a woman pale with concern as she held his injured form in her arms... A Caucasian woman sitting shotgun from him crying her eyes out... A lonesome girl right about Akako's age toiling through the night while withholding her own fantasies... A renegade who could not be consoled out of committing an irreversible deed, and another who wouldn't take his contemptuous gaze away from him... A burly man who wouldn't stop apologizing for his mistakes... Finally, the vision was capped by the first woman, but this time it was her who was laid on the ground and bleeding to death. Death inflicted upon her by a silver-haired reaper who reveled at the thought of making him suffer for all eternity. She wanted to see more and gain more context, but everything faded to black just as the woman did.
Akako felt nauseous all of a sudden, letting go of Subaru's hand in order to hunker down and try to recompose. She couldn't begin to fathom what exactly triggered these images, let alone what they meant to a mild-mannered fellow like Subaru. But her visions had always been accurate in more ways than one, and it was unlikely that it would mess up right as she was luring him into siring her a beautiful heir.
"Are you alright?" Subaru asked. And just like the last time he'd spouted the same exact question, she fumbled for the right words to say to him. This time however, it wasn't because she'd grown fond of the man's perfect countenance. Rather, she was petrified by the glimpse she'd caught of the monster lying underneath that mask. A monster she had wanted to unleash not long ago.
Chapter End