Phantom Destiny Part 7: Morning After Freedom
"Good morning, Jirou," a slender woman with a gentle smile said as she peeked into the room.
"-morning" mumbled a boy's voice that was half-changed from youth to adolescent from the pile of blankets on the bed. "Mom, there's no school today."
"I know, dear, but are you going to stay in bed all day?"
"No," Jirou said with a prickle of impatience. "I have a book to read, and homework for later."
"What about going out with some friends?"
He raised his head up out of the blankets, wispy black-red hair ruffled in every direction. "Not interested. I'm fine here. Really." He looked at his mother with wary black eyes, sensing that she had something up her sleeve.
His mother just smiled and crossed her arms, leaning against the side of the doorway. "Oh, that's too bad. I happen to have this wonderful bunch of tickets for Shrine World, and supposed you and your friends would want them."
Jirou propped up on one arm and considered her for a long moment. She looked back at him expectantly. A grin suddenly grew on his face. "That doesn't sound bad. I'll call people and meet them on the way," he said cheerfully.
His mother's face melted into a relieved smile. "That's the spirit! I'll leave the tickets here, then," she said and left the room.
When the door closed, Jirou flopped back into the bed and sighed, staring up at the ceiling. He'd created constellations out of small glowing stars on the plain surface. Right now they looked like blurry drawings, but he stared at them anyway before rolling onto his side. His hand fumbled across the nightstand, upsetting a stack of dog-eared fantasy novels before locating his glasses. He slid the round lenses over his nose and blinked as the room came into focus. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and walked to the window, parting the blinds with his fingers to squint into the bright morning sun. He let them snap shut again and turned in resignation to the tickets his mom had left in an envelope on his desk. There was a thousand-yen bill tucked behind them. Jirou stared at all the tickets and the money in disbelief. 'How am I supposed to spend all this?'
- o0o0 O 0o0o -
"Step right up and get your tickets ready to ride the Flight of Doom! Step right up…"
Krad stepped to the side as a line of people began collecting near where he stood. This place had been abandoned last night…where did all these humans come from? The place reeked of them. What's more, he couldn't understand what they were doing. As little time as he'd spent in actual human society during the course of his existence, he was still pretty sure that humans used metal disks and paper bills as units of currency. Yet here they were exchanging squares of paper to ride high-speed machines that ultimately, as far as he could tell, brought them to the exact same place they started at. On top of that, they were screaming, which he'd found amusing for a short time until the nonsense of it all just began to irritate him.
Humans….a filthy and absurd species. A species willing to create things without meaning. Little squares of paper. Trains that didn't go anywhere. Him. He had just been a project of whim, like these machines. With a loathsome grin, he supposed he ought to be thankful that the humans had molded him too well. They'd left a loophole in the system, and now he actually could go somewhere. Anywhere he wanted, free from his tracks. Just…
"Hey mister cosplay, what's with the standing around? If you're a mascot character, show us your tricks!" A human child demanded from directly in front of him. Krad looked down at the child with icy gold eyes that could kill in an instant, and the human's curious grin transformed into fear. "Mom?" he called out uneasily, backing away and then running off into the crowd.
Krad watched the retreating child with contempt, feeling eyes on his back. He turned around to see several humans in plush costumes looking over at him from a decorative fountain nearby. Two were dressed as matching anthropomorphic black and white bears, another as a tiger, and a fourth as a Buddhist priestess with black wings. The priestess was looking at his wings in particular, and when she saw that Krad was looking, she took the opportunity to walk over toward him. The animals, minding their respective roles, followed after her.
"Hey, are you new here?"
"Wow, your costume looks great. I'm not sure how it fits in with the Shinto theme, but those wings look real enough to fly!"
Krad frowned and shifted sideways as the tiger moved to touch his left wing.
The priestess giggled and then burst out laughing – an honest, musical sound. Krad looked at her uneasily. "You don't have to be in character in this situation," she explained in a friendly voice. "Though I'm surprised, I didn't think a moody character mascot would do well in a park like this."
Moody? Krad's face iced over as one of the bears slung an arm around his shoulder.
The costumed man didn't even have enough time to think. Krad spun and circled behind him, hooking one foot around his ankle as he shoved forward on the back of his neck. As the man tripped to one knee and doubled over, Krad drew back his other arm, a ball of blue-white energy forming in his palm. He watched the man attentively for any further movement, but he stayed still. The human didn't seem to be a threat. After a moment, Krad lowered his hands and let the magic disperse.
The costumed man straightened up and staggered back beside the priestess girl, fists balled at his sides. "What the hell is with this guy! I was just being friendly," he complained.
"Now Jeromy, not everyone likes to be touched, and that costume looks delicate," the priestess scolded gently, though her eyes were still on Krad. "Those were some interesting special effects, but don't you think you're taking this too far?" she said flatly.
"Whoah, Mommy, look! It's a bad guy…Do you think they're going to fight?"
"You can do it, Priestess Min!"
The actress looked around to find a small crowd watching on from around them. She slapped a hand to her face as if just realizing something. "I see, no wonder he's not conversing with us. Jeez, if you were a villain character, you should've just said so," she said, turning the others away. 'I thought for sure he looked like a hero, though…' she thought as she peered back over her shoulder at his beautiful form.
Krad watched them with uncaring eyes until they were out of sight, then turned on his heels and headed in the opposite direction. Those who had gathered around him parted without a word to let him pass through, exchanging whispers.
"That's the first decent villain I've seen in ages!"
"But he's so beautiful…"
"Forget appearances. He's totally got the act down!"
"Shh, he'll hear you."
"Jeez, you guys act as if it's more than some cheesy—"
The words dropped off as Krad passed by the group of teens, his gold eyes flashing over them for just an instant. The angel was well out of earshot before they dared to resume their conversation.
"Haha, Jomy, you totally just got scared!"
"Did not. Come on, let's go ride something."
- o0o0 O 0o0o -
The sweet, earthy smell of noodles and broth drifted out into the busy street. Krad paused in front of the noodle shop which, in keeping with the theme of the rest of the park, was made out like a Shinto shrine. All down the street, all the humans were staring at him. 'They think I'm in costume…' The angel contemplated the large red gate that surrounded the entrance to the shop. The smell from inside made his stomach knot. This was something new to him; He'd always depended on his wing host to obtain energy for him, but now his hunger was his own. Eventually, he was going to have to eat. He folded his wings flat against his back where they wouldn't be touched and walked through the entrance.
A hostess dressed in shrine robes inside politely ushered him toward a corner table. Other patrons looked at him curiously as he passed, everything about him attracting their attention. "A new character? I wonder what his deal is?" someone whispered. Krad crossed the room without meeting anyone's eyes. He sat down and the hostess held out a menu to him. He eyed it without taking it, and after a moment she awkwardly set it down in front of him and moved to another table.
Humans were sitting all around him, chatting and eating. Krad picked up his menu and opened it, feeling uneasy for the first time. He was too close, eating with humans in a place like this, playing by their rules. The very thought of them made him angry enough to destroy this facility in an instant, if he allowed it to. But it was too soon to act rashly; his revenge would be exact and logical, and overwhelming. The humans were mostly going about their business, but intermittently he could feel their eyes on him, and he resented it. 'I am not one of you. I am not wearing some -costume-, you pathetic vermin,' his thoughts scalded as he read his menu.
"Sir, are you ready to order?" said a waitress from beside him.
Krad looked from her to the menu; he hadn't really thought about it. It didn't really matter – he just had to swallow something, right? He touched his finger to the first option on the page and showed it to her.
"Sir…normally this dish is shared among groups of four or more. Would you prefer an individual version? It's somewhat less expensive," the girl suggested, Krad's unspoken hostility making her nervous.
Krad gave her a long, hostile stare while he inwardly registered the fact that he would, in fact, be expected to procure currency for this food. Or would it be squares of paper?
"O…of course, sir. I'll bring you the full meal," stammered the blushing waitress. She barely remembered to bow before rushing off with his order.
- o0o0 O 0o0o -
Jirou pressed farther into the wooden bench he was sitting on. The worn-out wood creaked softly at the pressure, broken in from the thousands who had sat there before him. For some reason, that unsettled him. He was another face in the crowd, another identical parkgoer here to ooh and aah at the false scenery and cheap costumes for a day of meticulously sculpted artificial reality. Why this bothered him and the book in his hand that he'd brought from home didn't, he couldn't say.
He looked across the street, where a pub shaped like a Shinto shrine was bustling with customers. "Shrine World is sort of like a fantasy theme, so you should love it there! I get worried seeing you off by yourself all the time. Be brave and try it, I promise you'll have fun!" Jirou grimaced at his mom's words, suddenly frustrated that he hadn't invited anyone to come with him. For free tickets, some of his classmates would definitely have agreed to come, but he couldn't have fit in even if they did. They were all the same age, around ten years, but Jirou always felt about twelve around the others. Why was he the only one who couldn't get into this stuff? Or maybe he just didn't want to. Maybe he didn't let himself enjoy it because he wanted to be different. Jeez…this was so stupid. He'd messed things up as usual. What had he thought he'd prove by being alone on purpose? If he didn't grow out of this…
Fine. He'd give this dumb park a try. He got up and looked around…
…right into the face of a girl in a plush rabbit suit. "Hello-chu! Are you enjoying the park-chu?" the park character said cheerfully .
Jirou took a nervous step backward, looking down at the ground. "I…uh…was thinking I'd eat something," he said, his face flushing a deep red.
"Why not try our Temple pub?" the bunny said, gesturing toward it with a friendly voice. The actress toned it down a bit after noticing the boy's shyness and took a polite step back.
"Y…yeah," Jirou managed, bowing awkwardly before literally running to the doorway of the pub. He stopped at the door to take a deep breath before making his way inside. There were so many people here. A hostess showed him back to a table in the corner of the room. Jirou followed, looking down the whole time before slinking safely into his booth seat. He felt extremely self-conscious as he focused hard on his menu. Without meaning to, he picked up on the half-whispered conversation at the booth behind him.
"Oh, him? Think he's new. I heard he's one of their villains."
"That's bizarre…no matter how you look at him he seems like a good guy. But why would a mascot be eating with the park guests? He's on the job, right?"
"Shh, he'll hear you."
Jirou raised his eyes up and looked around him to see what they were talking about. He spotted the topic of their conversation about half a second and stared at it curiously. The person was sitting right across from him over the aisle. He wore a white coat with gold trim and a tall collar, and hair as gold as the sun trailed like water down his back and in wisps across his face. His face was handsome but empty of feeling, with cold bronze eyes that sent a chill straight to the boy's bones. Part of him instinctively wanted to get away from this person, now, but he also couldn't stop staring.
But it was just a park character…this wasn't some person from one of his books. Jirou set his expression back to normal and looked at his menu firmly. He had to grow out of this. He wouldn't look any more, no matter how beautiful or fascinating it was. While he set his resolve, a waitress walked past him. She stopped next to the blonde. The boy listened without looking.
"Sir…you've been sitting here for some time. Is there something wrong with your bill?"
"There is. It's more than I have," Krad said dully.
The waitress sighed nervously. "Sir, I tried to warn you that this is a meal for four people." She leaned down and whispered, "I know you're new, so just show me your park ID and we'll take care of it later."
Krad raised an eyebrow at her. "Why would I have such a thing."
The waitress pressed a hand impatiently to her forehead. "Look, you don't have to act here, just show me your employee card."
Krad raised his hand to her throat, rising so that her face was pulled right in front of his. "Mind how you speak, you pathetic hum-"
"Um, sorry, I'm here with him and we decided before that I would pay for him," Jirou squeaked, jumping to his feet before his better judgment could stop him.
Krad released the astonished waitress's throat and she looked at Jirou in disbelief. "Don't be ridiculous, you came in after this man."
"We're at this park together," the boy reiterated, his voice cracking just a little as he pressed his 1,000 yen bill into the girl's hand and met the tall man's eyes carefully.
Krad blinked at the strange child and the silent cue his eyes were giving him. Well, in this situation it didn't seem like a terrible idea. He could stay and kill this annoying woman, but to do so would be inconvenient and of little use.
Jirou stared as the man got up and the movement revealed an enormous pair of white wings that had been folded against his back. When he stood, the tips of the longest feathers almost touched the ground. The man glanced at him briefly before walking out of the room. Jirou threw his bag over his shoulder and ran after him, following the stranger out of the restaurant and down the park path.
Krad walked for some ten minutes before he finally stopped, paused, and turned on the child behind him. "You're following me." The calm words were a warning.
"I," he swallowed firmly, "I paid for your lunch."
"You did. And now you're following me," Krad said with a hiss of impatience.
Jirou felt danger around him like a fever, but couldn't bring himself to give up just yet. "I am."
Krad took another step toward him and leaned forward, his cold eyes almost level with Jirou's. To the boy, it felt like Krad was staring straight through his body. "If you're looking for compensation, you won't get it."
"If you have no money, that's fine. You could still…" the boy said quietly into Krad's face, his tone somewhere oddly between fear and indignation, "come on a ride with me."
"Those trains that don't go anywhere?" the angel demanded in disgust. Jirou nodded.
Krad's gold eyes flashed, annoyed, straight into Jirou's. He stood up and started walking away. A minute later, he looked back again. The boy was still following. How irritating. "You seriously want me to ride one of those things," Krad demanded.
Jirou nodded again, nervous hope flickering in his expression.
"Why?" Krad glared, ready to slap the kid out of sheer impatience.
"I have too many tickets," the boy managed to make his voice keep working, showing him his untouched admission booklet. If this was a mascot character, it was the most realistic one he'd ever met. But somehow, he couldn't leave this person alone.
All at once, Krad's hand lashed out and tugged him up violently by the front of his shirt. The angel was suddenly kneeling in front of him with an impatient glare. "One," he spat, "Then, you leave."
- o0o0 O 0o0o -
TBC
Thank you for your reviews, and especially to Stormshadow13 for motivating me to finish this chapter! Next chap is underway.