Disclaimer: I do not own any characters of the God Eaters except for my OCs and the plots.
Warning: AU setting, mentioned of red light district, possibly violent and rating may go up in the future chapter.
A/N: Hey! It has been a while since my last updates. Hope this somewhat long chapter could get a glimpse on both sides of the main pairing's situations. Hope you guys enjoy ;)
Exhausted. Tired. Worn out. Fatigued.
She could not even thought of any other better synonyms to describe the knackered state she was in at that moment when she trudged back to her rundown small apartment. Heck, she could barely even remember herself unlocking the poor conditioned door or how she managed to change out her coat, sweater and jeans into her comfy pyjamas until her childhood friend Kota placed a mug of hot cocoa in front of her on the small table. With the warm mug in her hands, she calm herself down enjoying the warm sensation spreading through her cold palms. At that moment, all else doesn't matter anymore and she just glad that she made it back to the apartment safely before nightfall since it was weekend, the frenzies and the craziest day of the week in the red-light district. The last thing she need was being hit on by weirdoes or being mistaken as one of the hookers and ended up having herself being drag to the nearest motel which would eventually lead to another mini catastrophe, mainly with a random guy with broken nose or experiencing the pain of his life in his crotch threaten to murder her since she initiated the punch out of self-defence.
However, those unhealthy thoughts could go damn themselves outside of the window. All she want right now was to savour the small moment of luxury within her palms prepared by her red-haired friend.
"Geez, look at you..." Kota frowned, propping the side of his cheek with his palm as he stares at his childhood friend who was sipping the cocoa from the purple mug with a content yet tired look on her face. Seriously, how was it possible to look both content and tired at the same time in the first place?
"Ahh, I'm alive..." Hatsuyuki sighed as she placed down the empty mug down on the small table.
"Instead of alive, you looked half-dead to me." Kota pointed out the truth without hesitation. He had seen her off this morning, it was only natural that he could noticed the differences of his friend's vitality.
It has been a week since that potentially heart-attack causing mishap.
That night, after Hatsuyuki dragged the injured young man into her apartment, her attempt of calling help from the school doctor was futile as the latter did not pick up her call. Panicked and perturbed by the sight of blood, all the negative possibility of the young man's life flooded her brain she could not even do the logical thing such as call for the ambulance while she performing first-aid. Later, she was relieved to see the wounds on the side his abdomen and arm were not as fatal as they appeared to be. Once the thought of a person dying in her apartment left her mind, she was relieved and went to the bathroom to get a rag for clean-up. It only took minutes, by the time she walk back to the living room, the injured stranger was nowhere in sight. The only evidence that could prove all those happened were not her dream or hallucination out of exhaustions was the traces of drying blood from outside of her doorstep all the way into the living room.
As she was cleaning up desperately scrubbing the bloodstains off the floor, door and wherever the blood managed to dripped on in case her unreasonable neighbours saw and accuse her for something she did not commit, she couldn't help but shivered when the realization hit her that things could've been worse. What if that stranger was a criminal on the run being chased down by his own partner-in-crime? Or he was a thug or potentially rapist with all those blood, pained look and suffering was all just and act to get her guard down?
By the time all the clean-up was done, she was beyond beaten, both physically and mentally. Eventually she dozed off without even realizing it and missed the time for one off her part-time, which resulted being fired. But at that time, it doesn't matter since she felt that she just dodged a bullet. Kota and Alisa who visited that evening totally freaked out when she told them about it. She didn't intended to at first, but they literally forced answers out of her after noticed the blood soaked rag in the trash can which she forgotten to clear it out. After that, Kota set his foot down on the decision that he would move in to stay with her for at least two weeks in case the stranger comes back.
Hence, a week passed without a hitch.
"Yea, almost. I guess." Hatsuyuki did not even bothered to make a comeback, only to bend over and bury her face between her arms. If it weren't for Kota's nagging, she would've just doze off on the table without the care of the world.
"Hey, you're gonna catch a cold if you fall asleep here, go to the bed!"
"Not listening..."
Funny, considered both of their roles had reversed. Usually, at least back then, Hatsuyuki would be the one who constantly nagged at the red-haired young man like his second mother for staying out of trouble, bailing him out of trouble after being caught red-handed for attempt mischiefs in school, and purposely flunked one of the insignificant subject in school so that she could attend extra lessons during summer break with Kota because the latter literally exaggeratedly claimed that he would die out of various reasons if he attend the lessons alone with those school delinquents in the classroom, etc.
And now, she was the one being nagged at by the very same guy she had did the same years back then. Life has been hectic for her ever since she graduated high school, and she barely took noticed the changes of the close ones around her. She never bothered to take notice either since all she cared about was to pay off all the debts and deal with troublesome stuffs made by her troublemaker of a mother. Now that she did, she wondered when had Kota became this reliable guy he was now.
She bet it was probably soon after he learned about the problem with her mother worsen after graduated high school. Or was it way before that? When that guy cheated on her... Kota really beat the hell out of that guy that day, and she thought it was damn scary because she had never seen the red-haired that furious before. But regardless, she's grateful to him. And Alisa too. She seriously doubt that she could still remain a sane person was now if not for these two still stick with her even with her messed up life which she did not asked for it.
"C'mon!" Kota said as he tried to pull her up from her position, which she stubbornly remain. Before she was able to react, Kota already had her carried on his back as he headed towards her bedroom.
"Have you grown taller?" She asked randomly, swinging her legs in mid-air. The last time Kota carried her on his back was because he wanted to prove his strength after she teased him for being shorter one and scrawny. It was obvious that she was the taller of the two back then, for Kota being a late bloomer, her toes were dragging on the floor along with his several attempts. In the end, it ends with a very sulky Kota with her apologized for teasing him too much.
"I obviously had, you can't tease me about my height and strength anymore!" Kota grinned, he knew what the girl was thinking about. Crouching down with his back facing, Hatsuyuki climbed off his broaden back and made herself comfy on the bed. Once the girl dragged the comforter up to her shoulders, Kota already done spreading the futon he was using for the pass week bed her bed on the floor. It was still early for him and he had no intention to sleep just yet. With his favourite manga version of Bugarally out from his bag pack, he laid face down on the futon with pillow stuffed under his chest, he began to flip through the pages whilst softly humming the theme songs of the series.
Hatsuyuki was beyond beaten, that's for sure. But she forced herself to stay awake for a few more minutes just to take a glance at her best friend's carefree profile. She really had lost count how many that he had saved her from the worse of stress.
"Hey, Kota?" She softly called out.
"Hm?" replied the red-haired as he flipped the page, legs swinging back and forth without rhythm.
"Thanks... For putting up with me for so long..." she continued, "You're the best brother I'd ever had..."
Kota stunned when he heard something similar to a sob in her tone, he did not turn his gaze away from the illustrated pages, but there was a huge, delighted grin plastered on his face. He knew her long enough that she hates it when he spot her crying, but she won't mind if he offered quiet company and keep being himself without being all flustered over her silent tears.
"You bet!" He chirped, "You're the best sis I'd ever had too along with Nozomi, though I kinda missed the sassy version of Hatsuyuki who always nagged me years back then. Mind bringing her back once all these mess with your mother solved?"
"... Shut up."
"Nah, you'll miss me being all annoying and full of energy!"
"..."
Receiving no respond but the sound of the girl's soft and even breathing muffled by the blanket, Kota chuckled and shifted his attention back to the manga he was holding.
"Sleep well, Sis. I have a surprise stored for you tomorrow."
"Mom," called out the young man with platinum blond hair to the raven-haired woman who has been sitting on the bench outside of the rehabilitation centre for quite some time, gazing at the small private park which covered by the white snow, "You have been out here for half an hour, let's get inside before you catch a cold." said the young man as he squat down beside the bench to get the woman's attention.
"Mom?" He tried again after he get no respond from the woman who continued to stare blankly at the cold pond. And the woman, Aisha Gauche, whom the young man called mom finally reacted when he gently grabbed one of her cold hands.
"Oh!" Aisha gasped, tore her gaze away from the pond and found the young man who inherited most of her features patiently waiting for her to notice him, "Selma! You surprised me!" exclaimed the woman, but her face light up delightfully at the sight of her son which she had not seen for days, "Where have you been? Haven't heard from you for days! I would've have prepare your favourite dishes by now if you could just give me a call!"
Bombard by the woman's excitement, the young man just smiled, "Sorry, Mom. I was busy for the finals for the past few days. And I called but I assumed you left your cell phone in your room."
"Oh, you did?" the woman looked perplexed and began to check her pockets for her cell phone. She then looked apologetically at her own son as she found no said device that she was looking for, "My, look how forgetful I've become."
"It's Okay, as long as you're not disappeared."
"Oh, you!" Aisha chuckled gleefully and reached her hands towards the young man's face, the latter didn't dodge her cold hands and let her have her ways, but flinched a little when his cheeks was in contact with the ice-cold sensation, "Let me take a good look at you." said the woman as she eyed him with attentive gaze, "Have you lost weight? You looked a little languish compared to the last few days I'd seen you."
"Did I?" Selma made a doubtful expression, but then made a shrugging gesture, "Probably. The finals was damn hard as hell, so three meals had been the least in my mind during that period of time."
"Language, young man!" Aisha made a stern face at her son's word choices and pinched the tip of his nose.
"Fine, fine." he said has he turned his face to aside to avoid the punishing pinch and stood up from him squatting position, taking his mother's cold hand into his, "Say, let's go to the cafeteria. I haven't had lunch and its freezing cold out here."
"Oh, sure! Of course!" With the motherly instinct kicked in, the woman hastily hurried up. After all, most mother are the same, who would want their own child to starve after hearing that they're hungry? However, the result of sitting out in the cold was that she felt the numbness in her legs. She eventually lost her balance and her body swayed, in danger of falling backwards. Out of reflex, she grabbed on the nearest thing she could reached to break her fall, which was Selma's left arm.
A soft hiss unintentionally left the young man's lips, and he was lucky that it was left unheard to his mother who was trying to regain her balance. Ignoring the throbbing pain on his left arm where Aisha was grabbing on, he proceed to lead the woman back into the building.
Once they set foot within the building, they both sighed in relieve at the warm air produced by the heater and made their way to the cafeteria. It has been two hours since lunchtime, hence the cafeteria were not as noisy as it was. They easily found a seat at the corner near the glass wall which they could still gaze out the snowy scenery if they want.
Aisha had her gaze fixated outside until her son came back with the food. She was surprised to notice the droplets of sweat formed on the side of her son's face, sliding down the brown skin like he was experiencing summer season instead of winter.
"Selma, you're sweating like crazy!" How was it possible that he could sweat to this extend? It was freezing cold out there, the heaters in the building did the job to make the temperature warm indoor, but not enough to make a person sweat.
"Huh?" Selma was startled by her words and immediately wipe off the sweat using the sleeve of his coat and sat down like nothing happened, "I guess it was just me wearing too much to keep myself warm."
"Then take off your coat," Aisha suggested, seemingly bought the excuse given by her son.
"Don't sweat it, I'll just feel chilly again. It's troublesome to put on the coat again soon after taking it off anyway." without leaving a moment for Aisha to persuade him to take off his dark blue coat, he took a bite out of the sandwich he purchased claiming that he need to eat or else he starve.
Knowing that she can't win against him when he was being stubborn, Aisha sighed and leaned her back against the backrest of the chair with a frustrated look on her face.
Took notice of that look on her face, Selma stopped eating and placed down his half-eaten sandwich back on the plate, "Mom?"
"Hm?" a wordless reply.
"Did I upset you?"
"No, not at you, dear. Not most of it at least." Sensing the uncertainty in Selma's voice, Aisha replied to reassure him as she turned her gaze towards a several patients in wheelchairs, with doctors and nurse carefully pushed them to wherever they need to go, "I just feel weird, even after all these years spending my day uneventfully in this building."
Selma didn't say a thing but giving her his undivided attention, "It's strange and funny considered that I used to be a doctor, and I spent so many year in this rehabilitation centre as a patient, yet couldn't even tell what is wrong with myself."
Selma's lips was pressed into a thin line after hearing his mother's confession of her frustrations, but he was able to mustered an encouragement that she needed the most at the moment, trying to sooth her nerves. "You'll get well soon, mom. Don't worry yourself too much."
"I know, I know." Aisha lets out yet another exasperating sigh, "But the doctor and nurse who was in charge of me could at least let me know about my condition. What's so hard of telling me about it?"
"I guess Dad forbid them to tell you so that you could spend your time in recovery without worry."
Dad, huh? The word felt foreign to his tongue, but he had to say it when circumstance calls for it.
"Spending years in here without knowing what's wrong with me makes me worry!" Aisha hissed and rubbed pinched the bridge of her nose. As for Selma, could not find the right word to give a reply, just kept quiet.
"Let's not talk about my condition for now, tell me about Johannes," Aisha waved of the previous conversation and started a new one that involved her other family members, "How was he?"
"Same as usual," Selma shrugged, "Practically remarried to his work." And stone-hearted an always too. But that was left unsaid. His mother doesn't need to know what that man was plotting at right now.
He was never fond of talking about that man, but for his mother, he will endure talking about him even if it irritates him to the max, and try butter things up as much as he could manage to ease his mother's mind.
"Yea, what do I expect?" Aisha smiled bitterly, "He has always been that way even after we married."
Never expect anything humane from that man. The young man added to himself.
"What about Soma?"
The sudden mention of another name had set the young man's spine straight as the pole, "Soma? Oh, the usual as well. Always grumpy."
"I don't expect anything from Johannes, but how could that older twin of yours didn't even bothered to visit his own mother?" Aisha fumed as she complains about her older son.
"He did visit the last-"
"That was like half a year ago!" Aisha cut him off when he was trying to smooth things out, "I could even count the times he visited with the fingers on my hands."
"I swear! Your older brother definitely took over your father on that matter." Aisha continues to gripe and all the young man could do was listen.
"I know he was holding a grudge against me," she said with a huff, "After all, I do favored you over him ever since you two were children. That's precisely why he was always so grumpy and cold. I guess I brought this upon myself that he refuse to visit this biased mother of his."
At that, Selma spoke, "That's not true, mom. Soma loves you as much as I do, probably more. He just... didn't show it." with Aisha being caught up in her own fuss, she failed to notice the saddened look in his eyes which only lasted for seconds. By the time Aisha look at him in the eyes again, that sad look was no longer there, instead, replaced by a helpless expression which any son would show when his mom being fussy.
"Forget about them," She huffed and leaned forward to the table, pushing her tray of food aside, propping her chin on the back of her overlapped hands with anticipating look on her face. And he knew what was about to be said as soon as that look shows.
"So-" She dragged the one word syllable a little before getting to point, "When are you going to introduce me to your girlfriend?"
He knew it.
"I don't have one at the moment, mom." he replied flatly, and the mother's face turned from anticipation to disappointment in one second flat, "Seriously? No one? No one at all that caught your interest?"
"No one."
"How was it possible for a 21 years old healthy son of mine not interested in at least one girl out of millions?" Aisha pressed on, "You're making me nervous here. What about Alisa? You two where childhood friends, I won't be surprise if you admit that you are interested in her."
"Not happening." Selma made a face. Who on earth with the right mind would want to date a girl who he treated like a sister? Some of them probably, but definitely not him. Not happening. Ever.
"Why not? Although she's a little bold in her choices of clothing, but I know she's a nice girl!" Aisha argued.
"Because I'm not interested." another flat reply.
"..."
Silence took over the conversation for a short while until Aisha clears her throat and put on a serious face, "Selma, dear, I will still love you the same no matter what choice you make. So I just want you to be honest with me," she took a deep breath, and said, "Are you, perhaps... prefers men?" If not, why was her son doesn't feel attracted to Alisa's charm when there were tons of other youngsters practically begged for her to spare them a glance?
"..." If he were eating or drinking when the words left his mother's lips, he could have spilled his drink in disgusting manner -which would remind him of a certain retarded red-haired- and died from choking -which would be utter humiliating. However, he was stunned on his seat with an appalled face, and it certainly took a while for the gear in his head finally started to function again.
"Mom! That's not it!" He exclaimed, trying hard to tone his voice down in case he disturbed the other people who was presents in the cafeteria, which he failed miserably.
"So... You're not...?" Aisha still looking doubtful.
"No!" He replied firmly as he shot her a bewildered glare. Just where the hell did that crazy assumption came from?
"Oh... I see." Aisha coughed to cover up the awkwardness, but she wouldn't lie about being relieved after hearing that, "So-"
"It's just still early for me, and I don't feel like dating anyone right now." he cuts her off before another weird assumption brews in her head and sprung out from her mouth. He don't think that he could remain composed if it happens the second time.
"What do you mean too early?" Really? Too early for a 21 years old to date? That would probably be the most unreliable excuse she had ever heard. She had heard youngsters these days was so open that many parents would start fretting over the chances of their daughters being pregnant at the age of 15. But in Aisha's case, she had to worried the chance of her son being single for the rest of his life instead."It's just dating, Selma. I'm not even asking you to marry someone - which I will eventually-, just dating. I mean, even I dated a few guy before married to your father and I was just a few years older than you are right now when that happened."
"This conversation is getting weirder and I don't want to even know about your past love stories, mom." the young man could only strain a smile as his mother was getting excited talking about romance. He could only put the blame on his father for neglecting his mother for such long period of time.
"Nonsense, there's nothing weird about sharing love stories with their own child!"
"Mom, seriously, there no such nee-"
"Aunt Aisha!" just when he thought this conversation was going towards the direction beyond return, a familiar voice he knew all so well called out to his mother, and had never been to grateful for it for as long as he lives.
Safe!
"Oh, Alisa!" Aisha's face lit up as the girl she was talking about minutes ago shows up with a basket of fresh fruits.
"This is for you, from my parents." said Alisa with a smile as she hands over the gift to the raven-haired woman.
"Thank you so much! Do send my regards to your parents later." Aisha swiftly set the basket aside and prompted the girl to sit on the chair next to her, "And we were just talking about you moments ago."
"T-talking about me?" Alisa looks perplexed and shot the young man who sat at the other side of the table a glance before looking back at the woman, "Of what, may I ask?"
Aisha chuckled and said, "I was asking Selma if he's interested in dating you. But he denied it so straightforwardly that I had no idea what to do with him. So what do you say, are you interested?"
"Not happening." Without hesitation, Alisa gave the exact same answer that the young man said to the woman. With the flabbergasted look on Aisha's face, Alisa instantly realized the rudeness of her tone she used. How could she not? They may be friends but the thought of seeing each other that way was downright appalling for the both of them. Still, she rephrased herself with more polite choice of wording, "What I mean was, since I was the only child, both Soma and Selma are just like older brother to me," Alisa emphasized the word 'both' along with names to get the point cross that she definitely do not view the mentioned names as her potential love interests, "It impossible to love them that way, so it's a no."
"And besides, everyone knew that she was eagerly waiting for a certain oblivious air-head to confess to her." Selma suddenly cut in when he saw an opportunity to eternally burst his mother's bubble once and for all.
Then, he jolted on his seat when he felt the heel of Alisa's high-heeled boot digging on his foot. However, the abuse act underneath the table left unseen by Aisha as Alisa had completely seized her attention.
"I see you already have someone else in your mind." Aisha sighed regrettably.
"Sorry to disappoint you, Aunt Aisha." 'And it's all your fault!' Alisa practically screamed inwardly as she dug her heel harder on the young man's foot with an apologetic manner.
And again, the young man's grimace when unnoticed.
"Oh no, no! There's nothing you should apologize for, I'm the one who was being insensitive." Aisha said with a forced smile," I just felt a little restless for him, that's all."
Secretly knowing the reason why Aisha wanted her son to find love so eagerly, both the young man and Alisa could only remain silent and laugh along when Aisha proceed to start a new conversation.
"Seriously, Soma? Using me as a scapegoat, again?" Alisa exclaimed once both of them exited the building of the rehabilitation centre and making their way to the street.
She went straight to the rehabilitation centre when she received text from the tall platinum blond, telling her to come over as quick as possible. The text was too vague and severely lack of detail, for those who don't know Soma Schicksal well enough might ended up assuming it was a life and death situation. And sadly, Alisa was none of those, which was why she could showed up bringing a basket of finely picked fruits lying about her parents asked her over for a visit.
"Shouldn't you be overjoyed this time that my mother finally decided to kill the thought of the two of us ever be an item?" once out of the sight of Aisha, the young man's façade of ever being casual and laid back in front of Aisha vanished, replaced by his own usual scowls, annoyed at the difficulty to walk when the ground was layered with pile of snow.
"Believe me, I'm more than just happy because I won't have to be matched together with a person who no longer exist!" Alisa retorted.
"Then stop being annoyingly fussy and go celebrate yourself with Kota or whatever name of that girl friend of yours." Soma grumbled, reaching his hand out to the road to stop a cab, which drove pass him at his first attempt, "Damn it." he uttered, retract his left hand when the sharp pain of his wound roused, eyes scouting for another cab on the road.
"Speaking of my girl friend, you still owe me an explanation of where you had been last week!" Alisa marched her way beside the taller of the two and demand explanation from the irritated young man.
"What, that friend of yours still complaining about me for ditching her?" he scoffed indifferently but cursed again when another cab refuses to stop and give him a lift.
"No, you were probably an ancient matter that left forgotten by her in the span of 1 day, but for me and Kota were the ones who take the burn of your ever lousy bearing!"
"Serve you two right, since the both of you took it upon yourselves by setting up that blind date without my consent." Soma smirked, "You should have seen it coming."
With that smug look on Soma's face, Alisa wanted nothing more but to claw him, but that did not serve her if she wanted this difficult conversation with him to go on without violent.
"Do you even know who am I doing this for?"
Did he seriously think that she and Kota were just trying to make fun of him by setting him up with some random girl?
"For your friend." Soma replied as a fact, not questioning.
"Yes, for her as well. But it was mostly for your sake!" Alisa stomped her foot on the snow clothed grounded to emphasize her point.
"How the hell setting me up with some random girl would do me good in the first place?"
"Not some random girl, you-" Alisa groaned, on the verge of pulling on her hair. Talking with Soma was always frustrating and tiring. Something must had gone wrong with her head when she thought Hatsuyuki might be a good match with this forever scowling loner. She might had thought of that because the blond seemed less angry and grown out of being total anti-social than he was compared to years ago. But now she was somewhat grateful he ditched the date as well, with the tiring and hectic life Hatsuyuki was having at the moment, she won't need a guy who was being such a jerk to make her life more miserable.
At that in mind, Alisa made a sharp U-turn of that topic to another direction, "Do you even know why your mom was being so desperate for you to date someone that she even hoping us to be an item?"
"Not me and you, it's Selma and you." He corrected.
"It doesn't make any difference to me! And besides, even if she were to knew that she has only one son left, she would've done the same to you!" she argued, "Or you are implying that you agreed to go by your father's plan and marry Garland's daughter? What are you, some royal prince from medieval era, marrying cousin to keep the royal bloodline pure?"
"That's not gonna happen either," Soma snarled with disgust. If Alisa was being annoying, he doesn't even need to use his brain to know it was out of good intention and that the said girl genuinely cares for his and his mother's well-being. But the annoyance he felt from Garland's offspring was abominable along with any words that shares the synonyms of irritation and disgust. Heavens knew how irritated he was by the way Garland's daughter had been ogling him for years and constantly leaving him little to no privacy whenever she tags along his father for a visit to his house.
"Good," Alisa scoffed, "Because if you did, not only that Aunt Aisha would be upset, I will personally kill you!"
"Thanks for the warning." Soma muttered and managed to stop the third cab in time, intended to leave Alisa behind as he deftly got into the backseats. However, before he could even slams the door shut, Alisa squeezed in and forced him to swift further in.
"To the nearest hospital, please!" Alisa said to the driver as close the door, blocking the cold breeze from blowing into the warm vehicle.
"Damn it all, Alisa! Get out and call your own cab!" Soma was not pleased as he was practically sprouting fire at the Russian girl.
"I will, once I made sure that you re-stitch the wounds on your left arm." Alisa retorted, and slumped her back against the backrest, "In case you didn't realize, your blood soaked through your coat."
True enough, a dark patch formed on the left sleeve of his coat. He purposely choose a dark coloured attire when he visits his mother because he somehow knew this would happen. Fortunate enough, his mother did not realize the patch. It had probably been there earlier than he thought.
No longer want to argue the girl knowing that she won't budge until they reached the hospital and get him fixed up, Soma decided to just suck up his complains and conserve his energy instead, staring at the moving scenery outside of the moving vehicle.
Minutes had passed and he was able to think things through when the somewhat argument had calmed down. He hated to admit it, but Alisa being awfully quiet when she obviously wanted nothing more to bombard him with complain regarding last week was really stressing him out.
She would chew him out sooner or later regarding that matter anyway, so he would rather just put an end to it right there and there.
"Hey, about last week…"
"Please don't talk to me."
Regardless what the girl said, Soma kept going, "I had considered to go to that blind date and tell her politely that I have no intention to date, but that old man just suddenly called and ordered me to do something and I can't tell you what."
"Judging from your wounds, obviously." Alisa gave him a side glance, for once, letting him explain himself without interrupting much.
She somewhat knew what was going on between Johannes Schicksal and Soma, and knew whatever they were doing was life threatening. But she was never able to get details from the latter whenever she demands an answer. All she could do was pray that her childhood friend could always come back safely.
"I lost conscious somewhere after escaped from them and woke up in someone else's house with my wounds bandaged," It was mostly truth, but he intentionally left out the part that it was in the red light district, not that Alisa needs to know about that, "Look, just tell your friend that I'm sorry."
Alisa could only sigh at that half-hearted excuse. Knowing Soma, he definitely left out a few details, but those doesn't mattered anymore, "Considered yourself lucky, because my friend has no intention to date either." It was all her and Kota's plan to set them up in the first place.
"What?" Soma's face twitch with annoyance when her words sunk in, "You and that red-haired jokester set us up knowing fully that neither of us has the intention of going out in the first place?"
"We thought you two might look good together and it was worth a try. I did say that I was trying to lend a hand to avoid that possible arranged marriage by your father, but I did that for the sake of my my friend as well." Alisa replied honestly, "And besides, you may look aloof and snappy, but we all knew that you are definitely the earnest and sincere type of guy."
"Meaning?"
"You're not the kind of guy who cheats."
"… Some guy cheated on your friend or something?" It was a no brainer when Alisa put it that way. If it wasn't about cheating, then he had no idea what kind of conclusion to come up with.
"Yea," Alisa just nodded with disdain, "My friend was a fiercely independent type of girl resulted from various reasons, and apparently that guy felt unneeded and inferior, so he just went and attracted towards to another more timid and dependent kind of girl."
"Huh, too bad. Wish your friend a better luck with another guy next time." Soma snorted. It was unlikely that Alisa would want him to meet with her friend again after he stood her up anyway, so he could say what he wants.
"Yea, which won't be happening anytime soon," Alisa agreed, "And just so you know, I have given up on playing match-maker on you two. Just don't come crying to me with regret if you happen to meet her by chance in the future."
"Ha, in your dream."
If only he knew he spoke too soon.
Time do flow fast when the two was occupied by the conversation, the cab arrived a small hospital by the time the both of them realized it.
Soma paid his share of fare to the driver and got off the cab. When he was about to close the door with his good hand, Alisa stopped him by pushing her hand against the door.
"What now? I'm already in the hospital like you wanted me to, you can go home and do whatever." Soma snapped exasperatedly. How long did the girl intended to pester him in a day?
"How much longer do you intend to pretend to be Selma in front of your mom?" Alisa suddenly asked. That sudden question caught him off-guard, and all the annoyance was left forgotten. He just stood there in silence.
"You may be able to deceive her for almost ten years, but she will eventually find out one day." She said, "Wouldn't it be better if you tell her now instead of having her find out in the worst way?"
"I would think of other ways if that happens. As for now, I'll just have to keep pretending to be Selma for her sake." Soma retorted sharply and slams the door shut, urged to the driver to drive her home.
With the cab out of sight, Soma shrugged of his dark blue winter coat, revealing a grey turtleneck long-sleeved sweater with huge patch of blood soaked his left sleeve. Ignoring the surprised gasps from the nurse who happens to be by the entrance of the hospital, he took large strides into the building with his mind occupied by various thoughts.
That's right, he would keep pretending to be his deceased younger twin for as long as it takes to keep his mother happy. After all, Selma used to be her favourite.
Whenever he saw the way his mother's face lit up with great joy when 'Selma' shows up to visit her, he would always wonder why did he survive instead of his brother during that accident almost ten years ago.
The memory of his mother's heart-breaking cries on the hospital bed days after the freak accident was forever engraved in his mind. And he doubted that his younger twin could never understand the torment he had initially been through when their distraught mother shouted the cruellest words in his face.
"Why…why Selma have to be the one who died? Why can't it be you?"
That's right, she doesn't have to know.
She never has to know.
For he could continue to be Selma as long as he could keep her happy as she was today.