Four days had passed since Len and I last parted ways. Yes, it was all jolly well and good that we loved each other; however, then was not the time to do anything drastic just yet. He had a city and I had a Gakupo to help take care of. Hefty tasks for the both of us. Though, four days, felt like four years. Every night I hoped to dream of happier days with him, but all I dreamed of was that horrid guillotine. Every morning I hoped that it would be my last waking up in this cold tea garden, but every day passed into every night, when I dreamed of the guillotine again. An endless cycle, it seemed. Despite this, an impregnable happiness took over me sometimes, the promise of a new future. There was some explaining to do when it came to Yuka, though.
Standing in the dawn's gray light, Miku stared at the passing pedestrians, much fewer than there were before. I was surprised to see her there in front of her father's clinic rather than inside, locked away like the rest of the city. Had she been that thin before? I understood. The unceasing death brought all of us to our darkest hours. Doctors, unofficial or not, had it the worst, I was sure.
"Miku!" I called out to her as I made my way down the pavement.
She turned to me immediately, like a fearful animal waiting to be consumed by its predator. "Oh, Mayu! It's so good to see you again. I was beginning to worry it had gotten to you, too."
"Not yet. I'm sorry I haven't been coming by. You gave me enough of Gakupo's medication to last a while, but I should have visited more, as a friend."
"No problem. How are you? Here, let's walk and talk. Most my days and nights have been spent here, and it's starting to drive me a bit insane."
We laughed at that, mine was warm, hers was merely cordial, and began making our way down the street as we continued our conversation. This dreary sky could make even her beautiful cyan locks look eerie and dull.
"I'm doing well, better at least," I answered her earlier question. "Even with all this going on, I think I might have finally found my chance at happiness."
"Really?" she asked.
"Yes. The probability is so slim, nearly nonexistent, but it's still there. That fact alone is my reason to wake up in the morning."
"We all need one of those."
"I also have to apologize for stopping my inquisitions into your problem." She stiffened slightly at that. "My mind was not where it should have been for a while. I could hardly think straight."
"No, that's alright. I've stopped my inquiries, too. There are more important matters at hand. All the doctors in the city are dead, and my father passed away just last night. It seems I'm all Toragay's got left."
"I'm so sorry to hear about your loss."
"It was bound to happen at some point." Emotionless. Her words lacked any sense of sorrow, but it was not quite like Yuka's evasiveness. Yuka seemed sullen. Miku seemed unempathetic. I was no expert in matters of the heart. It must have been my imagination.
"But, all the other doctors? Even the small-town physicians?"
"Yes, every single one. I feel sorry for their families whom I know personally. Well, we've all lost someone."
"I'm lucky that I don't know a lot of people to lose."
"There is always a great number of people to lose, Mayu," she said.
"Of course."
Miku let out a tired sigh. We had walked all away around the block and were back at the entrance to the clinic. "I must be going back in, now. There is a lot of research to be done about this epidemic. Here's Gakupo's medication." She handed me a vial.
"Thank you." I passed the glass bottle in between my hands. Something felt off about it.
"No payment required. Also, this is for you." She dug into her satchel and handed me another vial, though this one was smaller and was brimming with a green liquid I had never seen before. "Free of charge as well. Sleep medicine. Gumi and I have been making it and giving it away to anyone who'll take it. Everyone is in need of more sleep nowadays."
"Does it prevent dreams?"
"Kaito tells me it does. He drinks some every night before he goes to sleep."
"Wow, thanks. You really are carrying this city on your shoulders, Miku."
"It's my pleasure. Now, I must leave you. Sweet dreams, or rather lack thereof, my friend."
We laughed again and departed ways.
Two snakes were waiting for me back at home. One was that old man, humming some song I had never heard before and prancing about the garden like it was Christmas morning. The other was a kreuzotter vipers sprawled out in front of the gate. I heaved a rock off the ground nearby and had lifted above my head to crush the damn thing when I realized it was already dead. Good.
I knocked on the gate, and Gakupo, giddy as a school boy, skipped up and let me in. Examining him up and down, I finally got it.
"That client got you a bath again, didn't he?" I gawked.
"You know it!" he broke his song and winked. "But, you don't get to complain. You had a night of cleanliness and champagne and handsome princes. All I got was bath salts."
"Fair enough. Is there any other reason why you're so cheerful?"
"It's just a good day to be alive. Plus…" he pulled out a bulky leather pouch from his jacket. "When the world is ending, you put the strangest people in your will."
"What is that?"
He laughed maniacally. "Another one of my clients dropped dead yesterday, and guess who was a beneficiary?"
"Your clients are real nutcases."
"Yes they are!" Gakupo strutted over to the money jar and dumped a waterfall of coins in. "And, because of their psychopathic tendencies, we can afford our flat in two days."
"T-Two days?"
"Two days."
I was struck silent for a moment. Two days. Clutching my heart, I took a seat.
"Are you okay, there?" His smile was cocky and brilliant.
Deep breaths, Mayu. Deep breaths. With trembling hands, I took his medication out of my pocket. "Here, take it. Before I collapse on the ground and it shatters."
He gladly plucked it from my hands, then continued his parade around the table, humming the silly tune I couldn't recognize. Two days. Two days. I couldn't wait to tell Len.
Night. The nights were so dark. So quiet. It was after I settled on the dirt ground under my thin blanket that I realized I forgot to take the sleep medicine Miku had given me. That was okay. Sleep would dilute the excitement. Two days. When midnight stroke, it was one.
Was it fate that was finally giving me a happy life once the rest of the world was falling apart? Was it some apocalyptic "the poor will be rich and the rich will be poor" thing? Or was this vision of a perfect life all just a—
An agonizing gasp for breath ripped me out of my half-sleep state.
Delusion.
The deep, strangled breathing continued beside me. "Old Man?" I whispered. "Gakupo, what's wrong?"
He didn't answer. Swiftly, fearfully, I found the candle and matches in the dark and allowed for a yellow glow to fill the space. I stumbled like a drunkard back to Gakupo on the mattress, stiff as a board with a ghastly expression on his face, still breathing as if he was a fish out of water.
"Gakupo! Oh my God, what's happening? What's wrong? Did you take your medication?"
His wide, terrified eyes meant mine, just as wide, just as terrified, and he managed to nod.
"God, God! You're not coughing. You're not coughing. What do I do? It's not—you're not coughing. This isn't normal." That's when I realized it wasn't the disease that had plagued him for so many years that was taking its effect. It was something new, something that was happening all over the city right this very second. Something out of nightmares.
"No, no, no, no, no," I said. I could feel the tears hit my thighs before I knew I was crying. "It's going to be alright, Gakupo. I promise."
"I!" he gasped. Words! He could speak. "I remember everything."
"What? What do you remember?" I choked out.
"I'm…so…sorry."
"Sh, sh. Don't say that. Their deaths weren't your fault. Nothing was your fault."
"No, no…not that…before…"
I couldn't grasp what he was talking about. "I'll forgive you if you live. Alright? Deal?"
He stopped speaking, just laid there, trembling, mouth agape, staring at the black sky.
"You're going to make it. You're going to make it. You have to. I'll have no one if you're gone."
He suddenly regained speech again just as suddenly as he lost it. "You'll have…your prince…keep hold…of your prince…Never let go."
"The Rabbit can't live without the Snake. It can't." My words were hardly words any longer, more like garbled noises, but he could still decipher them somehow.
"Yes, it must…Hey, Mayu…what's the…word for the day?" His voice was getting higher. His breath was running out. Sweat coated all of his pale skin, and the end was near. So near. Any second now.
Gripping his hand, I whispered, "Goodbye."
"Ah, I know that one…I don't…like it very much…though…" And that was it.
I'm not sure what exactly happened after that. Plenty of screaming, a sound the night was accustomed to by now. When I woke up the next morning, Gakupo's heavy head was still in my lap, and tears began to fall onto his cheek again.