chap. 11 peko/yasuhiro
peko accidentally stumbles onto a target
Today has been okay. Such are all of Peko's days. After guarding the outside of a building for the first half of it, she had been spying on one of her targets, trying to figure out their schedule and routine so she can find a perfect moment when they are alone, and she can strike. Problem is that it had been raining almost constantly, so naturally, she was drenched.
It's early after midnight now, because she had to hide out for hours in the corner of the roof she was perched on, for the moment she could sneak out perfectly, all the while the cold cold rain drizzled all over her. But that's okay. Tools aren't deterred by the weather.
She's satisfied with her progression, and knows that when she returns home she'll be able to sleep a little longer, but not too long for her master to worry about her.
Now she is walking through the darkest alleyways, where half of the street lamps don't work, and where no one who cares about their safety would be strolling in. But Peko can keep herself secure easily, so this is the most efficient way right now. Dark and empty.
That is until she passes by a little building with a flickering neon sign and fancy curtains half drawn from the inside. Some sort of cheap, small business. She pays it no mind but as she steps away, the door opens from behind her. High on alert, she whirls around.
"Hello!" what looks like a hobo with crazy hair greets cheerfully. "What is a young girl like you doing so late at night at a place like this? Is this fate?" His lines sound half rehearsed but somehow somewhat genuine at the same time. "Come on in!" he beckons, "Away from the rain and into the warm hands of, uhm. Your, uh, your destiny!"
How random… Peko narrows her eyes and looks around her momentarily before pointing at herself quizzically.
"Yes, yes- you!"
"If I knew any better, I'd say this is some half hearted attempt at kidnapping."
The light from inside the shop lets Peko see how the man's light brown skin almost turns pale as he stares at her wide eyed. "I'm… It's not… Please don't call the police on me."
"What are you, then?" She's not sure why she's even entertaining this person… She needs to go back to the Kuzuryu estate… Maybe after so long of staying as silent as possible, she craves some sort of human communication? No, but… she's a tool. She doesn't need to converse…
"I am Yasuhiro Hagakure! Professional clairvoyant! From predicting your future child's birthdate to recommending only the best essential oils, I can assure you a better life experience from the moment you step into my shop!" He points at the barely working sign, "All you need to do is come inside!"
How fishy… If this guy really isn't trying to kill Peko, then he's doing a horrible job at hiding it. More importantly, though, is that there is a man named Yasuhiro Hagakure who claims to be a fortune teller that sells shady items in the low-urgant list of targets of the Kuzuryu clan. Apparently, he scammed Natsumi and now owes them a lot of money. And by the looks of it, that money didn't do him a lot in the first place.
Not sure what to do in this situation, Peko decides that stepping in for a short while wouldn't hurt. If he does try anything- she still has her sword with her, that he probably didn't see because of the darkness outside.
When she accepts his offer, Yasuhiro's face brightens and he opens the door for her. The inside looks like what she would expect a shady fortune telling room like this to be, except the lights are on, and the candles aren't lit. There are plenty of strange objects and crystals on all of the shelves, clear orbs and random old looking books. In the backside of the room there is a curtain instead of a wall, and Peko assumes that on the other side there is a home or a break room of sorts. "Ah, should I set the mood more efficiently?" Yasuhiro asks with one hand already hovering over the lightswitch.
"No." she coldly replies.
"O-Oh," He nervously takes his hand back and holds it with the other, "Then, uhm. Let me make some tea before we get started, then, alright?" Stupidly, after that he leaves her alone as he vanishes to the other side of the curtain.
In the meantime, Peko takes a seat on one side of the table situated at the center of the room, thinking of how bizarre this whole situation is. Yasuhiro comes back not too long after with a tray of cups and cookies and a kettle of tea. He anxiously pours them both a cup as she watches silently all the while. She lets him take the first sip before she feels safe enough to drink. The liquid is overly sweet. "What tea is this?"
Clearly, by the way the clairvoyant's face clears up with the question, he is eager to start speaking of anything instead of continuing with the awkward air in the room. He goes on to ramble about the origins of this tea, how it heals the soul and is a part of old covered Irish tradition and how it's super suuuper hard to acquire and how the last queen of Ireland was actually assassinated by a doppelganger who poisoned her tea and is now taking her place. It's a horrible thing to say to a stranger you're sharing that exact type of tea with, and is also a nonsensical lie. Peko doesn't think she ever met someone this delusional.
But the truth is that she doesn't know much about the outside world- anything that wasn't taught to her by her personal teachers, so when he continues to tell her about all of these theories of life and the media and whatnot, she's not sure what parts of it are the truths he builds off of, and what parts are plain delusions. When she asks him questions- more out of curiosity to his opinion than to poke holes in his stories- he always answers with a satisfied and awed grin. He asks her about her own thoughts, and while she feels guilty letting herself act like a person whose opinion matters, she enjoys building parallel worlds where everything is built out of lies, and Earth is a more fantastical place than it really truly is.
She ends up spending a whole two hours with this stranger, sharing snacks she never lets herself have, and talking more than she probably has in her life. Never about herself, though. By the time she leaves, she forgets she should probably do something with her low ranking target, and Yasuhiro forgets to read her future or ask for payment. The return to the rain feels even colder now that she's been dry for the first time in hours, and the guilt of letting herself be even a little loose crawls up at her from her legs to her heart.
When she finally returns to her room and kneels down on her mattress, she finds a tray of hot tea and cookies next to her bed. She knows who it's from, nor is this the first time something like this occurs- and usually she wouldn't let herself fall for master's kindness like this. She is his tool, after all, and should not allow herself to be so weak that he feels that he needs to take care of her.
But her heart feels unexpectedly hollow, and her body aches from something she now realized she has a little taste for. She has something- as insignificant and quick as it is- to miss. The tea is a little cold, most likely because she arrived much later than she was supposed to, is overly sweet and tastes exactly like Yasuhiro's "super rare" tea. It makes her feel better, a little, and while that guilt is still there stuck in her mind, it's as if it had tired itself out a bit. Too weary to be in full effect, and instead replaced with an unfamiliar sense of longing.
Unsure of what to make of that, Peko finishes preparing for sleep and crawls into her covers, feeling not quite full, but significantly more okay than her usual.