Here it is Chapter 20. I hope you're happy with it I honestly had a hell of a time.
Sorry in advance for any mistakes made!
RxExR
Chapter 20: Blur
Somewhere there is a meadow with wild flowers whose colors are so vibrant it's almost surreal. Where the sunlight streams down flooding the field with too much light and the warm breeze is like the gentle sigh of Mother Nature filled with satisfaction at her own creation. The tall grass is so green it practically shines. Under my bare feet it crunches beneath my weight, but springs back to life when I remove myself with another step.
The hem of my dress sways about my knees; the crisp white of the cotton fabric sticks out among the bright colors. I don't remember the last time my hair was so clean or shiny or when my body felt so light. The grass caresses my bare calves ushering me forward.
Perched on a hill in the distance I make out a person sitting with their arms wrapped around their knees, brown hair billowing in the wind.
Mom?
The woman catches sight of me and stands up and begins running toward me. I continue my slow pace toward her and it wasn't until I got a good look at her face that I stopped advancing toward her.
"How did you get here?" she asks me.
I looked back the way I came, but there was just the meadow continuing in and endless stretch behind me. I look back at her only to see my own features twisted in confusion.
"How did you get here?" she repeats.
"I don't know. Why do you look like me?" I ask her.
But she doesn't seem to hear me. She looks worried and confused. She begins to pace and murmur to herself.
"Hey-," I say reaching out for her.
"How did you get here? I planned everything out so precisely. I chartered the course, I packed the supplies. I don't understand."
You're not the only one. To see my own face shift from confusion to sadness is an interesting experience. But how did I end up here? I don't remember walking so far into this meadow that I can't see the road or any buildings or people.
"You have to go back." She says suddenly pushing me back the way I came.
"No!" I say fighting her off, "I like it here. I want to say."
She holds my shoulders firmly, "You cannot. You cannot stay in this place. You must go. I set the clocks. The bed is already made. Go now."
"I don't want to go back. Something….something awful has happened."
"Only you believe."
Tears start spilling down my cheeks, "You're not making any sense."
She wraps her arms around me, "Tick tock goes the clocks little ferret. Take the wheel, the map is drawn. Fly little dove."
I bury my face in her shoulder and cry. There's a shift where my head feels like it is submerged in a vat of honey. When I open my eyes the sun is starting to rise and Youichi is curled up into my side sleeping soundly.
By the time Natsume drove me home it was late Misaki had tucked in Youichi and passed out on the couch. I left Natsume mid-sentence in the car, I didn't want to hear anything else he had to say. Tsubasa wasn't at the desk so I strode bare foot into my apartment and took a shower. Natsume gave me the personal stuff I'd left behind like my phone and keys, so my absence didn't resemble an abduction. The serenity of the apartment told me that there was no search party after me.
After my long shower I crawled into bed next to Youichi and slept very deeply, trippy dreams and all. I lie staring up at the ceiling marveling at how collected I've been. The only crying I seem to be doing is in my bizarre dreams. I am fully aware of everything that has happened since yesterday, but I feel like I'm living out of my body.
I get up go to the bathroom and shower and get ready for work. I make breakfast while Youichi gets ready. We eat and I chat idly, but animatedly with him as if it's just another day in paradise. I guess this happens when you get beyond fear. When the thing you are so afraid of catches up to you and suddenly there is nothing left to be afraid of.
Persona is here, no one is safe and Natsume…
I'm trying not to think about him, floating around in the hornet's nest thinking I'm some recovering junkie he has to protect. If he knew the truth, I don't know what he'd do, but I can't risk it. So basically I am waiting.
Serving tea and waiting…
Clearing tables and waiting…
Checking homework and waiting…
Reading and waiting…
Waiting for my phone to ring with some unknown number and hear Persona's voice telling me to do something unsightly.
Be a good girl.
What does a good girl do I wonder. He's waiting for his moment. Persona has a gift for picking great moments. Waiting like a snake, choosing to strike when you let your guard down just enough…
"What are you brooding over?" Anna asks me several days later in the lounge.
I manage to keep the wall between me and every thought that would send me crumpling to the floor in a heap of misery intact. Life is going on, oddly enough. It continues to move forward as if the devil hadn't snatched me from my safe haven with the help of his demon. Natsume has made himself scarce over the last couple of days. He stopped going to school according to Ruka who barely sees him aside from when he crashes at his place on occasion. I don't ask so no one really tells me, but I can't help but catch the tail end of conversations about him.
"I'm not brooding. I'm…pensive." I reply stirring my coffee.
She takes the seat beside me, "About?"
I sigh, "Life. You know typical philosophical musings: what does it all mean, how did I end up here. That kind of thing."
"Sounds deep. I want no part of it. Instead let's talk about all of the parties I'm going to drag you to."
"Pardon?"
"Hello? Graduation? Going away? The big "Mikan passed her test with flying colors" party? Where is your head girl? It's about to be smooth sailing into adulthood for us."
I let out another sigh, "The seas are looking pretty rough right now."
"Is it your parents?" she asks without a beat.
"Something like that." I reply.
I've spent the last couple of days in a dormant state, jumping every time the phone rings. The only person I can talk to is Hotaru and she's with her mother in Tokyo for a work thing. Mizuki rarely gets Hotaru to tag along for anything, but with Subaru and Shizune honeymoon-ing around the world, she needs someone level-headed to keep her from strangling models and designers alike for spring fashion week.
I haven't exactly worked out what I'm going to say or do yet. I don't want to drop the crumbled pieces of my life in her lap and say, "Fix it." I don't even know if it's fixable. I thought about running, just dropping everything and running away with Youichi and not a penny to my name like last time, but Persona was right about one thing. I am valuable here. People will be looking for me, they might even call the police. I can't run this time. I'm not even sure I really want to. Running away just seems pointless now. Persona has enough money and workers to make sure that I don't run and even if I did he could find me with no effort on his part.
"Well Hotaru just got back. I think she's in her office." She announces opening a bottle of green tea.
"Oh."
She releases her straw, "Oh? That's all? I was sure you'd go see her or something."
"I'm sure she's probably busy."
"I thought you guys were friends?"
"We are, but she's also my boss. I can't just drop in on her when I feel like it."
She reclaims her straw ending our little conversation. I know I'm being short with her, but the show that I put on for work and for Youichi have me drained and sometimes I'm just not in the mood to coddle anyone. I am glad Hotaru is back and I want nothing more than to go to her office, throw myself into her lap and cry like a small child, but I can't. And not just because she might hit me…
"I'll see you later." I say leaving the lounge.
The rest of my shift goes by in a blur of hot plates, orders and smiles.
"What can I get for you?" I ask a customer without looking up.
"How about that pretty little smile of yours?" comes a sweet voice.
My eyes snap up to meet Cassandra's. She smiles and puts her menu down on the white cloth table. Her dress is peach colored and low-cut with a fur coat hung over the back of her chair. Her smile gets wider as mine disappears completely.
"I can just cut it off your pretty little face." She says arching an eyebrow.
I don't respond my breathing is shallow and my knees are weak. It's taking all of my energy just to stand up.
"Sounds good right?"
I find my voice, "We serve food here."
She sighs, "You're still adorable."
"If you don't want anything, you should just get out." I say dryly.
She narrows her eyes at me, "Now, now, that's no way to talk to your boss."
"You are not my boss." I snap.
"You're right. I just happen to be screwing him. Boy is he mad at you."
"Still singing that old tune?"
"Tsk, tsk. Stop acting like you're in control. You're not."
She grabs my hand and yanks me down into the empty seat beside her. No one seems to notice. To the casual observer it's just a waitress and a patron having a friendly conversation.
"Listen up sweet cheeks," she says gripping my hand under the table-cloth, "You do this little thing for us and you and your little brat get to live."
She's practically crushing my hand under the table, but I can't let it show or pull my hand away from her death grip.
"You have to be a good girl, remember?" She says cheerily tightening her grip on my hand.
I clench my jaw, "What do you want?"
"Me? I personally want you dead. Limp and lifeless in a pool of your own blood, but that's just me. But my needs are trumped by his for now as long as he feels like he needs you and turns out we do. So after your little job is over, wait for me. I'll be parked out front."
She releases my hand and I stand up very shakily and head for the kitchen.
"Oh and Mikan, Bring me an iced tea would you love?" she calls after me.
I go into the locker room and sit on the bench and try to hold myself together. My hand is throbbing and I want to cry, but the tears don't come. I gather my stuff without the use of my hurt hand. Anna comes in and starts chatting about her latest cake experiment. It isn't until she catches a glimpse at my hand that she stops cold turkey.
"Mikan! Your hand!" She practically screams.
"What?" I say pretending not to have noticed, "Oh yeah it got caught in the door."
"Are you okay?!" panic still evident in her eyes.
I shrug, "Yeah I'm fine."
"Mikan it might be broken. Sit down."
She places me on the bench and hurries to the first aid kit hanging on the wall. She sits down next to me and begins bandaging my hand. I lean my head against the wall and allow her to tend to me for a while. I know that in a few minutes I will have to go with Cassandra God knows where and be given orders that I will have to do no matter what.
But could I?
Would I?
What if he wants me to kill or do something that would taint my character? Could I do it in the name of saving Youichi and myself? And if I did would I be able to look him in the eyes afterwards? Anna finishes bandaging my hand and gives me a hug and tells me to be careful. I can almost laugh at her words. Maybe if I were more careful before none of this would be happening now.
When I leave the restaurant there is a navy blue sports car with Cassandra in the driver's seat, sunglasses over her eyes. Wordlessly I get into the passenger seat and she pulls away from the curb.
"You're not as dumb as you look." Is all she says.
I would have a retort for that, but the urge to strangle her is bubbling to the surface of my consciousness. Her blood-red hair is pulled up into a pony-tail pooling over her right shoulder. I just want to grab it and pull with all my strength. Bashing her head on the steering wheel over and over. That would probably kill us both though so I focus on my hand.
"Oh dear, did I hurt your wittle hand?" she taunts.
"Bite me."
"Don't worry hun; you won't need it for what we need you to do. In my opinion you're getting off too easy, but then again if you pull this off we'll be made little girl."
"Pull what off?"
"Now, now eager beaver, all in good time. I have to provide some incentive."
She cuts a sharp right turn, "You strike me as the kind of girl who would welcome death. I mean after all, the life that you were scraping together here is basically over if you misbehave so death would be the easy way out for you. But listen up little girl, you won't die. You're too prideful to kill yourself and besides what would that delicious little lad of yours do without you. The best I can figure it's off to the orphanage for him."
She slams the car to a halt outside the field where a bunch of kids are running around, "We know everything Mikan. What his classes are, what lunch table he sits at, all of his little activities, everything. We know everything about him just like we know everything about you. We'll kill his friends, his teachers, the little trollop that clings to him-,"
"You mean Natsume's sister? Yeah I'm sure that would go over well."
She smirks, "He'll get over it. Just like he'll get over you. The point is Mikan we have ways of spreading suffering. We have ways of turning you into a pariah so no one will associate with or even talk to you. We can do things to you that would make you wish you were dead and we wouldn't even have to touch you. I could rip the pink locks off your little friends head while you watch her scream or maybe I could break her hands so she'll never bake again."
"I haven't done anything wrong what the hell do you want from me."
She backhands me, "I'm talking."
The throbbing in my cheek doesn't stop my words, "Yes but you're not saying anything I don't know already. Why would you even want to go this far? Can't you just sit on your drug empire and leave me the hell alone?"
"Oh sweetie, you're thinking too small. A drug empire gets you in the game, but it doesn't keep you there. You have to keep looking over your shoulder, you have to keep pushing product to make profit, its work sweet pea and I'm not interested in a man who needs a nine to five. We want power, money, the whole shebang and we want it forever."
"Is this the part where I start to care?"
She grabs my hair, "No this is the part where you shut up and listen you little insect. You play you part and do your freaking job or I'm going to drowning you in that little twerp's insides."
I see Youichi kick a ball into the goal and get dog piled by his teammates, "Just tell me what to do."
"That's the spirit." She coos patting my hair.
She digs around in the back seat and pulls out a folder and tosses it into my lap, "Here you go. Our little gift to you. You should be honored it's quite a responsibility."
I open the folder and my stomach drops, "Why?"
"Because only you can do it sweetie."
"You know what I mean."
"She's the missing piece honey. A lot of planning has gone into this and the only way to make our dream come true is if you do this for us. It will be smooth sailing from here."
"I won't."
"Yes you will because you have to. Or we'll kill the boy and isn't he more important?"
"But why? Why this? You don't know-"
"Of course we know honey. That is why we know you're the only one who can do it. You don't start an organization without leverage and this is too delicious to pass up."
"Organization? A yakuza? That's what this is all about. Persona wants to form a yakuza? That's it? That's why I need to-"
"That's it? Do you know the most powerful, influential, richest families in Japan are yakuzas? I'm talking every aspect of life little duck. Politians, spokesmen, celebrities, pay days from every person with their fingers in anything damaging. The only problem is getting your name out there and thanks to you, Persona's name will be on everyone's lips, in hushed whispers of course."
Tears are running down my face and I silently curse their betrayal.
Cassandra puts her arm around me, "Don't worry honey, if you pull this off Rei might be so glad that he'll forget all about you and your little life. He might even throw some cash your way."
She passes her fingers through my tears and puts in her mouth, "Mm. They say tears taste salty, but yours…tastes so sweet."
I yank the car door open and throw myself to the concrete making the pages fly everywhere. I can hear Cassandra laughing behind me. The door slams and she speeds off. She might have said something, but I didn't catch it over the hammering my heart is doing against my ribcage. Some things always manage to come around full circle. Maybe its irony, maybe its karma or maybe it's just the universe's way of keeping itself entertained. How can I do this? I don't know but I know that I have to. I have to because it stops after I do. Persona will go away if I do. I have to because Youichi is counting on me. I have to because no matter how much I don't want to, it's the only thing that will keep him safe.
I have to deliver Hotaru Imai.
I didn't say anything as I sped past Tsubasa at the front desk. He called after me, but I couldn't open my mouth without all my problems and sobs tumbling out. Youichi has a soccer training camp thing today so I can afford to lock myself in the bathroom for a few hours and cry. But when I slide the lock in place on the bathroom door and sit on the edge of the tub, nothing comes out. I find it really odd since less than an hour ago my emotions were beating against the back of my eyelids. And now here I am alone locked in the privacy of my bathroom and I can't squeeze out a drop.
The pages of the file contained pictures of Hotaru, as if I didn't already know what she looks like. It also contained things like her daily schedule and several details about her parents. The last page of the file says where to bring her and when. I have every intention of not going anywhere near there or near Hotaru for that matter. They can watch Hotaru from afar, but with security and her celebrity status they can't just snatch her when they feel like it.
That's why they need me.
In the pocket of my coat there's a familiar humming from my cell phone. Robotically I pull the phone out of my pocket with my eyes trained on dripping faucet. A quick glance at the screen has me wanting to put my head in the toilet bowl. I weigh the consequences of answering versus not answering and decide that not answering will be best.
I slide back into the empty tub and leaving the vibrating phone on the ledge. In the confined space of my bathroom it makes me feel like the entire room is vibrating. I close my eyes and pretend I don't exist inside my vibrating bathtub.
After a minute or so the vibrating ceases and I start to make lists in my head. My dad used to tell me that making lists helps you make sense from nonsense. When life feels out of control just make a lists. When my mom used to make me clean my room, she might as well have asked me to slay a dragon. My dad would find me hiding under my bed, get a piece of construction paper and make a list of everything I had to do. He would kiss my nose and say, "See? No big deal." I would smile and be inspired to get the list finished. Not just for him, but because he believed in me. He believed that I could do anything.
What a joke that turned out to be.
My father never taught me how to conquer a list that keeps growing. Like cutting of the dragon's head only to have two more pop up in its place.
-Run away from home
-Find a job
-Find a place to live
-Get Youichi in school
-Take high school equivalency test
Things I had wanted to accomplish and did accomplish only to have a whole new list of things pop up in its place.
-Get out from under Persona's thumb
-Keep Youichi safe
-Keep everyone safe
-Stay away from Natsume…
The last one lingers with me for a bit. Stay away from Natsume, if it were an easy task I wouldn't be in the situation I'm in now. I'd still be in Persona's clutches because of my own mistakes, but it wouldn't hurt my heart so much that Natsume had practically handed me over. What's worse is that he actually thinks he was sparing me a worse punishment. I can't trust him. I can't trust what Persona has told him about me and I can't trust him with the truth. He knows to a degree what his betrayal has done and if he knew the truth that little piece of him that believes he did the right thing would be gone. On a certain level I think the truth would destroy him.
If I didn't care about him still, I'd do it. I'd tell him every last sordid detail right down to the attempted rape and watch those ruby eyes of his start to burn. I'd unleash a slew of profanities at him and take my fist to him until there was n energy left in my body, but I still want to protect him. I don't know if that makes me stupid or a martyr.
My phone starts to vibrate again shaking some part of me into consciousness. I pick it up and just like it hum in my hand for a bit watching the name blink on the screen with a picture of a beautiful violet eyed girl.
"Yeah?"
"I call and text and all you have to say is 'yeah?'. I don't go through such lengths to talk to people Mikan."
"I know. I'm sorry."
"What's the matter with you?"
"Nothing, I'm just not feeling well."
"Again? What are you a walking disease magnet?"
"Probably. I…I don't think we should see each other for a while. You know until whatever it is clears up."
"I wouldn't want to expose myself to whatever it is you have, but my mother wants you over for dinner."
"I can't," I say too quickly, "I mean it's a stomach thing and I wouldn't want to ruin anyone's appetite."
"Maybe you should go to the doctor. Maybe I can find something of Subaru's-"
"Hotaru, I just can't right now okay? I don't want to see you right now. I'll call you later."
I hang up the phone before she can respond. Listening to her voice was more than a lot to take on. Seeing her in person? Eating dinner with her family would send me straight to the funny farm. I can't do what Persona wants me to do, but was I willing to risk everything else for it? Hotaru is the daughter of the strongest and wealthiest family in Japan second only the the Hyuugas and Persona already has Natsume in his clutches.
Kidnap Hotaru?
Is that even possible?
What does he want me to do?
What Natsume did to me? Distract her while some guy sneaks up behind her and chloroforms her? All the while she's struggling against him looking at me with eyes of hatred and the sting of betrayal? I don't know if I could survive such a look especially from someone who has done so much for me. Hotaru helped me out of my 'the world is a dark cruel place' hole in the ground. She opened my eyes to so many things and she's the only person who has ever been really close to me. She listened to my story from open to close with no judgment in her tone. She listens to my ranting, crying and complaining with the same stoic responses I've come to admire. She never says anything she doesn't mean and despite being what most people call a cold hearted bitch, Hotaru has a lot of love in her heart for her family, and Ruka and even me.
She called because she was worried about me, no doubt, not that she would ever admit it. And what do I do? I shut her down. Maybe staying away from her will guarantee some kind of safety for her, but it won't last. Persona and his little whore will find a way to stir me into action .Anything that can be considered cruel or below the belt is hanging in their arsenal and they have no qualms about using it. They have a whole list of people in my life that they can poke and probe until I do what they say and gentle is nowhere in their vocabulary. Visions of limbs and fingers coming to me in boxes fill my head. Outside I can hear someone knocking on my door. I consider ignoring I, but it might be Tsubasa worrying about me or Misaki with soup or something, but what if it's not?
What if it's Hotaru again?
I practically break my neck stumbling out of the bathroom to my front door. I throw the door open ready to apologize profusely when it's not Hotaru, but someone I even more unprepared to deal with.
"What do you want?" I ask
"I want you to stop being a stupid little child and come to terms with this." He says strolling into my apartment.
"Come to terms? What are you? My spirit guide into the realm of all things unholy?" I reply slamming the door.
He sighs, "I don't understand what you're so pissy about."
"Where do you want me to start? With how stupid you are or how much you screwed up my life?"
"I screwed up your life? I'm trying to help you." He says casting a glare at me.
I don't back down, "Well maybe you shouldn't."
"Is this about the girlfriend thing or the kiss? You're acting crazier than usual." He flops down on the couch.
I could kill him, "No, this is a 'you stabbed me in the back and I never want to see your face or hear your voice' thing. I'm not being crazy because at the end of the day it doesn't matter why you did it, you still did it."
He doesn't bother to reply.
"It's not just your life anymore. It's mine and it's Youichi's. You can't play the hero dressed as a villain. I think you need to leave."
He gets to his feet, "Why? Because you don't know how to say thank you."
"Thank you for what? For delivering me to the one person in this world that I hate with a shiny red bow on my head? Or maybe I should thank you for being one of the people I've allowed myself to trust and then betray me?"
"How can you say you trust me when you didn't even tell me the truth?"
There goes that word again: truth. How can I stand here lecturing him about betrayal when he doesn't even know the whole story, the whole truth? What am I afraid of? I'm afraid of him doing something stupid and getting us all killed, that's true, but that's not the root of my fear. Everything is tainted now with Natsume's betrayal: every kiss, every touch, every tender moment, and every heart skip. Everything between the two of us is coated in doubt and uncertainty. But was it ever pure to begin with? By not telling Natsume the truth since that first kiss, I have already caused a veil to be thrown over whatever we had. I kept telling myself it's to protect him, but maybe I was being selfish.
I just wanted a normal life. I wanted to cling to a fantasy that someone could want me. Some good looking, well sought-after guy could actually be…enamored with me. I liked it. More than I could ever have admitted to myself. And now here he is with his crimson eyes piercing through me. Behind them I can see his uncertainty like he knows I'm holding back. I haven't admitted to anything, not Persona's lies and I haven't claimed the truth. I don't want to. I want Natsume to be safe. I want to feel like I'm doing the right thing, but standing here in this room several steps from where our last kiss took place I feel sick to my stomach.
How could I tell him?
It's not like how it was with Hotaru. Hotaru did not ask for truth, she demanded it with her words, with her presence, with her own brutal honesty. Hotaru has never pretended with me she's always been 100% herself: terrifying, cold stare, and icy tone. Natsume has always been wrapped in mystery. The guy at the bar with the low gaze, the handsome stranger novels are written about. I never did understand the appeal until I faced him and even though every fiber of my body wanted me to run, I couldn't. I was rooted, called back to the flame like the stupid moth I was.
Am
"You're right. I don't trust you. I trust you with Youichi to keep him out of trouble. I trust you not to do anything to me without my permission, but I still don't trust you. I didn't want you to drag me into your mess when I had my own and now everything is a big mess and I realize that I was right not to trust you. You didn't just betray me, you broke my heart over and over again. You want me to be honest with you about everything when you've been honest about nothing? We're two people dancing around each other hoping not to set off any landmines. What are we thinking? Did we actually think this could work? Or maybe you did since it was all just secret rendezvous to you, but it wasn't to me. I was burning. Every time I was with you, I was burning. But I can't. I can't love someone like that. I can't love someone who makes me want to die. I have too much to live for."
He stands there mere inches from me and doesn't move. He could reach out and touch me. He could pull me in and kiss me, but he doesn't. He just stands in front of me unsure of himself. I can feel the tears start to slide down my face. I'm crying because there is no going back, not that there ever was. But I was so focused on Youichi and my new life that I never really thought about Natsume and me. Whatever we had, whatever could have been is now gone forever. Like a candle that has been melted down and completely burned out, we could never go back to the way we were.
I never wanted to love him. I had a secret desire where I wanted him to want me and I wanted to want him, but loving him was not on my to-do list. But somewhere among the late night study sessions, the hanging out, the pecks, the subtle touches, and the hitch in my breath on eye contact, something happened. I tripped and fell and somehow winded up in love.
And it hurts.
Realizing these kinds of feelings is supposed to be wonderful. You're supposed to run into their arms and squeeze them, you're supposed to kiss them over and over again and have them say it back to you. You're supposed to be happy.
But all I feel is misery. Even though he's standing right in front of me deciphering my words, hearing what I'm saying, I can't touch him. I just want him away from me. He has to be away from me. I have to figure out how to save Youichi and myself and keep Hotaru out of danger. I don't have time for this. There will never be time for this.
He breaks the silence, "Isn't it supposed to be?"
"What?"
"Loving someone is supposed to hurt." He clarifies.
"Are you completely mental? Loving someone should be nice and warm and wonderful."
"You just described a pastry."
I sigh in frustration, "I'm not kidding Natsume."
"Neither I am. You love me and it hurts."
"I-,"
"You can't make it stop. You want to be in control of everything, but you can't. Look where it's gotten you. Maybe it's not me you don't trust maybe it's yourself. How else could you have fallen for someone like me?"
He leaves the apartment, not even bothering to close the door behind him. I slam the door shut and collapse in a crying mess on the couch. My whole body racked with sobs. I just wanted to be normal. I just wanted to have simple things that ordinary people take for granted every day. But somehow I've managed to mess everything up. I wanted a friend and got a stoic princess who is now in danger just for associating with me. I wanted love and got a prince who sets every inch of me ablaze. I wanted freedom and wound up leading the devil straight to me. It's like I'm learning the steps to a dance and I'm so focused on getting the moves right that I'm knocking everything over.
Maybe it is me that I don't trust. I have a good reason not to. I have failed at everything so far with flying colors I might add. I'm soaking the couch cushion I can feel it. Youichi will be home any minute and I cannot let him see me this way. I force myself off the couch and into the bathroom. I take a shower and try to clear my head.
Being emotional and throwing a tiff won't solve anything. I have to detach myself. I think that's how Natsume has managed to keep his double life afloat. If you pretend to be someone else, you can make yourself see things differently. Clad in only a towel, I flip the cushion stained with my tears over to its other side and rush to the bedroom to get dressed. As I pull my jacket over my shoulders I hear the turn of Misaki's spare key in the door.
"We're back!" She announces as she thrusts the door open.
"Hey!" I greet as cheerily as possible emerging from the bedroom. Youichi is covered in mud and plops on the floor to pry off his cleats.
"He was amazing out there. So quick and not afraid to get down and dirty. A total soldier, you would have been proud." Misaki laughs.
"I wish I could've been there."
"Don't worry it wasn't a real game, but boy are those little kids fierce."
"Youichi why don't you go take a shower. You're filthy." I say patting his mud cake hair.
He disappears into the bathroom and soon I hear the water running. Misaki went to the kitchen and started to pull leftovers out of the fridge.
"Misaki I have to go out." I say after a moment.
"Okay. I'll just stay here till you get back."
"Yeah thanks, but listen lock the door after me and don't open it for anybody."
There's a pause as she arches an eyebrow at me, "What's going on Mikan?"
I shake my head, "Nothing I just have to do something."
She looks at me for another long moment, "Okay, but don't take too long."
I grab my keys and phone off the counter. As I step out into the chilly night air I hit the redial button on my phone.
"Hotaru? Can you meet me somewhere?"
About a half an hour later I'm sitting inside the Cheshire café sipping hot chocolate out of a large purple mug with a pink cat tail for a handle. I trail my finger around the rim trying to steady my trembling hands. Calling Hotaru was dumb and reckless, but necessary. The fact of the matter is that I can't do this alone.
"You refuse a dinner invitation and then expect me to just meet you. How pretentious." Hotaru says sitting down.
She sweeps her bangs out of her eyes and casts a cold stare at me. Her feelings are hurt I can tell, not that she would admit it. Hotaru and I have a weird bond that in this stage of our friendship borderlines telepathy. Her snarky tone, arms folded over her chest, legs uncrossed is a posture she uses mostly on Ruka. It usually means she's mad, but willing to hear what you have to say. She's definitely in the frame of mind to give you a hard time about it though.
"I'm sorry about before. I was just-,"
Suffering from temporary insanity?" She suggests.
"Yeah something like that." I reply.
A waitress sets down another hot chocolate on the table, "Did you and Natsume have another fight? Your squabbling is constant."
"I think Natsume and I are done fighting."
"Did you confess? Between watching you fight or watching you suck face I prefer the former. At least your fighting doesn't make me want to hurl."
"No Hotaru, Natsume and I are just…done."
She's takes a sip from her mug, "Is that what all your hysterics are about? I'm sure you'll be back to smooching in stairways in no time."
"How did you-,"
"Mikan I'm not an idiot. Quite the contrary if you haven't noticed."
I press my mug between my hands to warm them, "I know. Lately everything has been so…complicated. I don't even know where to begin to make sense of it. It's like I don't know how I got here."
"Start at the beginning." She states simply.
"Huh?"
"My mother always says that if you get lost, you should start from the beginning."
"I would not want to relive my life Hotaru."
"Just turn back the clock in your mind. It's not that hard."
"It's impossible."
So many actions to sift through, so many memories to recall, how can I even begin to find myself. And if I don't know where I am, how am I supposed to go forward?
"Only you believe."
I look up at her slightly startled. To hear the exact words from my dream come out of her mouth gives me a weird sense déjà vu. She just sits across from me calmly sipping from her mug. It always takes me by surprise how royal and elegant Hotaru looks. Even in jeans and a simple pale blue cardigan she holds herself with a sense of dignity. How did she ever come to be friends with someone like me? Someone who can put her in danger? But if she's here with me with lots of people around nothing can happen to her.
I can't let anything happen to her.
"This chocolate is too thick. Let's go."
Before I could argue she rises out of her chair leaving a bill on the table. I hurry after her tugging my jacket around myself. The sidewalk is full of people bustling around talking on cell phones or to each other. I match my stride with Hotaru's because of the crowded street she had to park further down from the café. I force myself to walk normally and stop shifting my eyes from person to person trying to seek out potential threats. We're miles away from the place that I was supposed to willing take Hotaru and there are tons of people around.
I'd be lying if I said I didn't consider the scenario. Me leading Hotaru to some deserted place so that Reo can tie her up and Persona can make threatening calls to her father, sending her mother into a panic, forcing Subaru and Shizune from overseas and bringing panic and fear into that fortress. They'd submit to his demands because Hotaru is precious. They will submit because the life of their child has no price. Persona can take what he wants and even when he's done that he will take more as is his nature.
I can't do it. This is what I am certain of.
The dull pain in my hand that I have buried in my pocket reminds me of their cruelty, warns me of things that have yet to pass, but I will fight because I am tired.
I'm tired of running and I'm tired of being afraid. I can't win I know that, but I will fall to my enemies only in battle. I have to believe that everything will be okay as long as I am true to those who need me.
A hand in mine gives me a feeling of warmth I turn and expect Hotaru's stoic expression to match her silent gesture, but instead I meet the grinning eyes of Persona's left hand.
"Reo." I gasp.
I search around for Hotaru, but the sidewalk is empty of her. Reo leads me through the crowd where I see a familiar car idling. In the driver seat is a bulky man I don't recognize in the passenger seat is Hotaru sitting calmly staring straight ahead. Reo puts me in the back seat and gets in after me slamming the door. The entire exchange is so fast, so calm, so calculated that it's hard to believe that it is actually happening. In a matter of minutes they were able to spot us and get us into the car. I went quietly only because I was crippled with fear for Hotaru, but why did she not call out? Even in this type of situation with strange men and ominous air she continues to be almost ethereal.
"I thought you ladies would never stop talking." Reo says as we pull away from the curb.
"What are you doing?"
"Just following orders. Just like you."
"But I didn't-,"
"Oh but you did. The boss knew you wouldn't go about things in a traditional way. All he needed was the two of you alone and we do the rest."
"I didn't expect it to be so easy." The driver says.
"I did. With patience all things are possible. Now we just get you girls back to him and all of this will be over before you know it."
"Hotaru-,"
"Shut up Mikan." She cuts me off.
Reo chuckles, "What can you say? You served her up to save your own skin?"
His laughter is cruel and his words painfully true. Without my knowledge I had done exactly what Persona wanted. My flesh begins to crawl accompanying the horrifying thought that Persona may know me on a basic level. He knows that I have a good heart and would not willingly do something so awful so he had to trick me.
"Let's keep you two separate, wouldn't want a catfight." Reo laughs.
The car ride is long. I expect they're going to take us back to the mansion in the middle of nowhere. The dull hum of music on the radio fills my head and I try to think, try to breathe, try to do anything that can help.
What can I do?
By the time we pull up to the old warehouse where once upon a time Hotaru and I had followed Natsume trying to make sense of his lack thereof. They usher us out and into the building where the wind makes it moan into the night air. I expected guards with guns patrolling the area. I expected them to throw us in a cage. I expected to be frightened, crying, kicking, and screaming. The tameness of it all, the certainty of our shuffling feet into this abandoned building that there is no hope. They don't need guns or guards or to tape our mouths. There is no point. They've already won. Who will come to the aid of these two girls? No one is even looking for us and by the time they even think to look for us it will be done. Persona will have what he wants. He would have won.
Once inside, the driver ties Hotaru to a chair binding her hands behind her back. I don't warrant a chair so Reo just ties me to a beam that holds the building up. The lack of shoving and rough grabbing is nice, but he makes sure the ropes are especially tight. Maybe he went to a hostage treatment seminar or maybe he was given explicit orders not to harm the merchandise.
Once we're secured Reo makes a phone call and the driver pulls out a gun and turns it over in his hands. Hotaru has her eyes closed as if she's about to utter a prayer or maybe even start to cry.
"Hotaru," I whisper making sure the goons can't hear me, "I'm so sorry. I never wanted this to happen. I thought I was protecting you. I was just going to stay away from you, but I couldn't stand hurting you so I thought that if-,"
"Mikan shut up." She whispers back not even opening her eyes.
"I know you don't want to talk to me. I know you probably hate me, but I care about you so much and I never wanted any of this. If I could go back and go to some other place or town and keep you out of all of this I would. Please don't hate me Hotaru, please. You're the only person who has ever really known me and accepted me and I just love you so much. You're my best friend, but you're more than that you're my sister and if I could just…"
But I don't think she's listening. She doesn't open her eyes or look at me once. Even with tears streaming down my face, she doesn't stir. I settle into quiet sobbing.
Reo continues his phone conversation outside and the driver turns his eyes to us. He strolls over to Hotaru and circles her.
"I've heard about you," he starts, "You're supposed to be a genius. A natural marvel to us average folks. But it's all crap. You're just some spoiled rich brat with too much time on her hands. No look at you. At my mercy. Society told me I was nothing, yet I have the genius Imai Hotaru in my clutches. Look at me bitch!"
Hotaru doesn't flinch or move and I fear he might really strike her in his sudden, ignorant rage.
"Why don't you back off you big oaf? She doesn't have to look at you to see that you're nothing. Some pathetic high school dropout with nothing better to do." I say.
"You little-,"
He lifts his hand to strike me, but Reo reenters and he catches himself.
"How are our little hostages?" Reo asks.
The driver scoffs and stalks off. Reo just shrugs and lights a cigarette.
He releases a plume of smoke from his nostrils and grins at us, "Well girlies phase one is complete. Thank you for your cooperation. Soon we'll blow this town and Persona will make a rather important phone call."
"Blow this town?"
"Well we can't exactly stay in the city can we? The bad guys say 'no cops' and yet somehow there will always be cops. So we have to lock you away where no one can find you at least till it's all over."
"All over? This will never be all over." I grumble.
"Sure it will. Papa Imai just has to hand over some small companies, some real estates, couple million in stocks and wah-la and madam 'no-emotions' is free to go."
"What about me?" I ask resentfully.
"I don't think he's done with you just yet."
The door slams causing all of us to jump. Cassandra casts Reo a dark glance before turning it to me. Her black boots click all the way across the floor on her way over to us. Her all leather outfit makes her look like catwoman and much like a cat she walks her natural sultry walk towards us.
"No he's not. Can't have you running off to the police or doing something stupid. I'm not happy that you couldn't follow directions."
She grabs my hair roughly and brings her face close to mine, "But seeing how Rei anticipated your disobedience I guess it's just as well. It tickles me to know that you didn't see it coming."
"Been drinking have we?" is my response.
She just smiles and releases me, "Oh honey you know I could kick your ass all over this room, but we're so close to the big payoff not even your disgusting face can't ruin my mood."
Hotaru who has opened her eyes and is taking in her surroundings in short glances opens her mouth, "You're an idiot."
Cassandra turns a confused glance at Hotaru, "Pardon?"
"I. D. I. O. T. Does your brain not even function on a basic level? My father won't hand over anything to some penniless prick."
Cassandra pulls a knife out of a holder in his boot, "He'll just need a little persuasion. Maybe if he receives bits of you in the mail, he'll reconsider."
"Anything you do to me will be done to you ten-fold you urchin." Hotaru says completely undeterred.
Cassandra presses the knife to Hotaru's collar bone, "And who's going to do it I wonder? You? Your little friend over there?"
She straddles Hotaru's legs and smiles, "You think I'm scared of you? Of your family? Their power? I'm not. I envy you. Never having to struggle, everything handed to you on a silver platter."
She trails the knife delicately along Hotaru's pale skin, "So delicate and fragile. You should really consider being afraid of me sweetie. Bargaining chip or not, there is a lot I can do to you that will hurt like hell."
"I considered being afraid of you, but it didn't suit my personality. I do not fear morons, I hire them."
This direct jab is not loss on me, but delivered with Hotaru's trademark stoicism it's hard to decipher what emotion may be laying underneath it. Cassandra rises to her feet and slips the knife back into its holder. Reo who has been watching the entire exchange with attentiveness. He straightens up as she walks past him. Several headlights pass the windows and I guess our traveling caravan is here. Several moments later Hotaru and I are untied and moved from the warehouse into separate black SUV's. Cassandra gets in after me and slams the door shut. I'm not too happy about our proximity, but I rather have her with me than with Hotaru.
Pointy knife and all
"What do you think Mikan? Will the big fish bite?" she asks me.
I don't bother to respond. Hotaru's father is known for being a hard man in business which is why he's so good at it. But I know that his family is important to him. I remember how he smiled at Subaru and Shizune at their wedding and how he beams at his wife at the dinner table. I'm sure he will give anything to have Hotaru returned safely.
"Because you know if he doesn't we won't have anything to do except to take or frustrations out on the two of you. And you know how I get when I'm frustrated. I'm not worried though. Hotaru's a gem we couldn't have picked anyone better."
She leans her head against the back of the leather seat and sighed in content. She stayed that way for the rest of the car ride all the way to a deserted train station.
Since my hands aren't bound I use my pinky to grab hold of the loop attached to the edge of the knife in her boot. As she gets out of the car the knife slides smoothly out of its holder and I slip it into my pocket. They already took our phones and keys so there would be no reason for them to check us again.
Cassandra pulls me out of the car behind her and hauls me onto the platform. Behind us several armed men escort Hotaru onto the platform without touching her. She's been very accommodating throughout this ordeal. I don't know if it's because she's not worried or because she has too much class to react in an unsightly way.
Either way she's the picture of poise. The train station is one of those outdoor platforms with a small office attached to purchase tickets. When the said we were going to blow this town I thought Reo meant moving a town over, but I guess that wouldn't make much sense. If you're going to kidnap a chairman's daughter you might as well flee the country.
"Where are you taking us?" I ask.
"Does it matter? You're just going to go on a little train ride till everything is worked out." Cassandra replies.
Another SUV pulls up and Natsume gets out of the backseat as Persona gets out of the passenger side. Seeing them together gives me a uncomfortable roll in my stomach. I look to Hotaru for reaction upon seeing Natsume, but she just continues to be as blank as ever.
"Miss Imai! So glad you can join us. I do hope my crew has made your stay comfortable."
"Quite." She replies.
"You see that Mikan? A girl with manners is almost a rare species in this day and age." Persona says turning his grin toward me.
"I guess that concussion you gave me when I was sixteen must've knocked my manners loose."
His grin fades, "I'll give you more than that if you don't shut up."
Natsume looks between the two of us and I realized I should've kept my mouth shut. The cracks in Persona's story are starting to let the truth peek through. I don't meet his eyes in case they might betray me.
"Boss train's coming." Reo announces.
The train pulls into the station and rolls to a stop. They load Hotaru and I into different cars. Natsume goes with Persona and Cassandra into a separate car closer to the front. Several guards get into each car with guns at the ready.
I take a seat by the window and let my mind wander. Youichi's probably in bed right now. He has a math test tomorrow and I hope Misaki remembered to go over his fractions. I'm sure she remembered because despite being like a big sister most of the time she is very motherly. Speaking of mothers I wonder if mine is really wasting away in some rehab center or decaying in that old house. Maybe she's dead. A part of me hopes that she isn't because the guilt would be unbearable, but another small fraction of myself thinks it's the best alternative.
As the train doors slide close and we begin to move I wonder if I will make it back from this trip. I finger the blade in my pocket. Cassandra hasn't realized that it's gone, but what am I going to do with it? Stab one of these large men brandishing a semi-automatic weapon? I wouldn't get two feet before they gunned me down. But feeling the cool metal in my hand gives me small comfort like I can fight back if someone were to approach me.
"I need the other cars secure in case of stowaways." Comes Natsume's voice.
My blood turns to ice in my veins as they converse somewhere behind me. The heavy thump of boots disappears through the car doors and there is silence. I think that I am alone, but that would be too much to ask for in this situation.
"Comfy?" He says sitting down across from me.
"Quite." I respond trying to keep my tone icy.
"I didn't know you were going to be here."
"There's a lot you don't know."
"Stopped loving me yet?" he asks.
"My blinding hatred of you in this moment is unparalleled to any delusion I thought I may have felt for you in the past."
"No more trying to save me then?"
I scoff, "No more trying to save you. I don't even want to look at you."
"Shame. I was just kind of getting into it."
"You are such a bastard. I'll die here tonight I'm sure, but I just want you to know what a prick I think you are."
"You think I'll let him kill you?"
I roll my eyes, "You still think you're holding cards at this poker table? Persona may keep you for your name, but other than that you have no power here. As soon as he wants me dead, I'm dead. I'm going to protect my best friend."
He laughs dryly, "So you can sell her out and you're still friends, but when I do it I'm the devil."
"I didn't do it on purpose! He tricked me. I would never have taken Hotaru to that location. I was going to sever ties with her completely, but I couldn't and he bet on that."
"And won."
"Obviously." I mutter gazing out the window.
"Mik-,"
"Do not say my name. You don't get to say my name ever again."
"Tell me why Persona is really after you. Why does he want you so bad? Just tell me the truth."
I turn my gaze back to him, "You really want to know?"
He just stares at me in silence.
"Fine! When I was fifteen years old a man showed up to my house. He claimed to be my mother's new boyfriend, but he wasn't a boyfriend. He was a drug head supplier who needed a placed to crash and a body to screw. After he started to make a little money from his product we moved into a nice house in a nice neighborhood. Four walls that felt like steel bars. Trapped in a caged with a monster that started to strike whenever the mood took him. I stayed. I had reasons to. I stayed for my mother, I stayed for this little boy who didn't talk that I barely knew. But even with his mouth sewn shut I could hear him screaming. So I stayed. I went out into the world with a smile on my face and a spring in my step because the world outside was a much safer place. I didn't have friends. I had people I talked to, but never friends. They scratched the wall that I had built around myself, but they could not break through to me. I stayed. For three years I stayed, but there was nothing I could do but watch as my life decayed into nothing. When my father died I thought it was the worse day of my life, but losing someone you love is only the beginning of the pain. Before you know it someone comes to feed on your pain and they won't let you even touch happiness. What could I do?
"I could only stare at the ceiling and wait for the throbbing to subside. I told myself it would get better, but it only got worse. Swinging fists turned to grabbing hands and I hadn't even conceived for one second that there could be something worse than physical beatings that he could do to me, but when his gaze changed in that drunken haze I felt the mood shift and I knew there were worse things than fists falling on my body. He could fight his way between my thighs that he had started to look upon with a man's eyes as if he had just realized I was a woman. I couldn't stay. My mother was so strung out. Youichi had bruises and cuts and scars and I could only fight him off for so long. I didn't want to become so broken that I would just lay there beneath him like my mother would. I couldn't have him touching me. Seeing my skin with those evil eyes of his. So after a beating that left my living room in shambles and a five year old in an unconscious heap on the floor I rose up and needed to get out. I packed, I stole, I ran, I squatted, I hustled to make a new living, a new start in a place I hoped to call home with people I hoped to call friends and you-,"
I just stared at him for a moment, "Someone I hoped to call lover. Someone who would hold me and make me feel safe. I was beaten, I was bent in ways that made me scream till my throat was raw, but I wasn't broken because I pressed on. I did not let my tragedy define me. I would not lay there and welcome my death like my mother so I went to escape. I went through the struggle to emerge from the darkness. Shaken and numb and barely any fight left in me, but I had to risk the possibility that I might drown in my tears trying to get to where I wanted to be. A surge went through me and I had a purpose being here: to tame the life that I had let run wild and reach for something better. To go where I had not been before. In a place where lips could fall on mine and feel so good and falling into the consumption of a roaring flame I didn't trust but welcomed all the same. Completely blind as the burn begun to spread everywhere and suddenly I was lost. Like I hit my head and woke up in a trap that you laid out for me. How could you?"
"I didn't know."
"You didn't know…I didn't tell you because I was scared. I didn't want to be that girl who overshares and tries to get sympathy. I wanted you to want me not to want to fix me, but I failed. I wish I could take it back and erase it all but I can't. My bruises have faded, broken bones have healed, but what you did to my heart…You didn't know about all of this, but you knew how I felt and you still…"
My sentence trails off and I'd been fighting the crack in my voice, but the tears have won over me and begin to fall, "A part of me wanted to protect you. I didn't want you to feel like you had done something so awful, but I know now that protecting people is just an illusion when you try to do it with words. It's just pretty lies you tell or secrets you keep to save yourself from dealing with the whole situation. I've accepted the fact that I will die here, but Hotaru won't. How can you even look Ruka in the eye after this? I never believed you were a bad person. I wanted to, to keep you from getting close, but even that didn't work. I know you're more than this, but I can't wait for you."
He leans forward and places his hand on my knee. He opens his mouth to say something, but I take his lowered guard as an opportunity to take the knife from my pocket and stab it into his shoulder.
"I'm sorry." I say as he leans back in the seat holding his shoulder.
I shoot out of my seat and run to the dividing doors. I slide the door open and stand on the landing between the two cars. My heart is thumping in my ears reminding me that I just stabbed Natsume, but I can't go soft now. I told myself I would save Hotaru no matter what and I will. I slide the opposite door open and step cautiously into the car. It's a passenger car with rows of empty seats. I walk across the car, ignoring the blood dripping down the blade. I make it to the end and pass through the door quietly. In the next car I can see guards with guns standing in the center aisle between the booths in the dining car.
There's about three of them and there is no way I'm getting through them with Cassandra's knife. One of the guys puts a hand to his ear and says something to himself and then to the other men. They start taking long strides toward me. I double back into the passenger car and go under the seat. The thumping of their boots as they storm right past my head is deafening. As the back door slides close I pull myself for under the seat go to the dining car.
Hotaru is sitting across from one of the guards facing my direction. He doesn't seem to notice my entrance and chats with her as if they are friends.
"I just think you're one of the more attractive captives we've had. I'm not just saying that because you're rich, but you and me that could work."
"Be still my heart." She mutters.
"Come on, it's not like you're going to have plenty of options. Why not a man who takes charge?"
"If I wanted to be with a criminal I'd settle for no less than the son of a head mafia leader with international ties and stocks worth billions. Not some troll with a gun strapped to his hand and no sense."
He laughs, "Baby I am a killer with cat-like reflexes. I could take out this whole train."
"Oh really?"
"Hell yeah."
I hold the knife to his throat like I've seen in too many movies, "Sorry that job is taken."
"But we were just getting to know each other." Hotaru mocks.
"I'm sure you would have made a lovely couple, but I'm feeling a little homicidal right now."
"Yes, I can tell by the blood that's already on the knife. How many did you get?"
"Five or six. I can't really say everything just kind of goes blank when there's a sharp object in my hand."
"W-w-w-wait a minute! We can resolve this peacefully I don't want to hurt you."
"The only thing that's going to get resolved is how many decades you and your buddies are going to do in the big house when I get through with you."
Hotaru takes the ear piece and communicator from him and picks up the gun he has left carelessly leaning against the booth.
"What should I do with him?"
"I would say kill him, but I'll settle for this." She says as she hits him in the face with the butt of the gun.
His head hits the table with a loud thump. Hotaru turns her gaze to me and for a second I find myself waiting for the sharp pain of a gun to the face, but it doesn't come.
"What the hell took you so long?" she asks.
"I'm sorry. There are way too many guards." I say.
"Well it looks like you got one of them." She says gesturing to the knife.
"No it's Natsume's."
"Oh. And here I thought you guys were just interested in making out. I assumed that's why you were taking forever."
"No. I think that me stabbing in the shoulder has taken that already derailed train poured gasoline on it and set it on fire." I reply.
"Can't deal with that now. Let's go."
"Go where?"
"That lunatic is about to call my father and negotiate some sort of hostile takeover. The only person getting richer instantaneously is me."
I roll my eyes, "But of course. Forget that or lives are in danger and what not."
"About what you said earlier…"
I swallow a lump in my throat, "I didn't think you were listening."
"I was and I want you to know that that was the sappy most pathetic thing I had ever heard."
"I just wanted you to know that I didn't mean for any of this to happen."
"That I gathered on my own. Aside from being an idiot you are a good person. Besides I anticipated something like this would happen."
"You did?"
"After you told me about your past I did a little research."
"You didn't believe me?"
"I like to know exactly what I'm dealing with. Besides I thought that if that Saoto guy was going to do his homework, I'd better make sure there was nothing for him to find."
"So you knew who Persona was?"
"Yeah. So burn out loser with OCD and a history of minor drug offenses and assault charges. I didn't think anything of it and simply erased anything that could tie him to you or Youichi which wasn't hard since there's nothing legal between any of you. Then I started to notice cars following you, but not just you, everyone you had ever talked to was being watched. That's when I realized this Persona character must be up to something to help elevate his pitiful standings. I took precautions."
"Precautions?"
She grabs my arm and pulls me through the dining car and into the final car of the train. I expected more guards, but the car lay bare of everything except for three slump bodies on the floor and a blonde haired boy checking his cell phone with the light illuminating his chiseled features and crystal blue eyes.
"Ruka?"
Turns out this particular chapter has been done for weeks, but I got so caught up with work I forgot to upload it.
Whoops ^_^
Lots of Love
Chi*