They meet in the middle of the forest, she was running away from her sister and he was running away from his nightmare, the girl was wearing a dress the hem of her skirt was covered with dirt, there were pieces of leaves sticking out of her hair, him he was wearing his usual kimono with burn in every part of it and there was a burned wound in his left arm, he was catching his breath, weak from running and crying, she look at him with wide and concern eyes, so odd with a stranger who you just meet for the first time but then he lost his consciousness in front of her.
Allen has been sitting in one of the coffee shop in Shinjuku for almost an hour now, she's been waiting of her sister's best friend and a close family friend, who's already Migrated in Japan, the truth is Clarisse is living in Kanagawa but since Allen doesn't know the what and where in Japan, they decided to meet up here in Shinjuku since this is the nearest place where her Family's Vacation house where located,
The woman has been calling here from the past two days since the accident specially that she was the one she called when it was still happening, apparently her sister gave her number to Clarisse in order to have a contact with her and Clarisse called her before she left Philippines and told her to contact the woman if something happened, and it help her a bit she might say,
Clarisse told her that Shinjuku is one of the dangerous place in Japan but it doesn't seem like that appearing on how positive the waitress of the coffee shop she's in is,
The bell of the door chimed as the sign that someone entered the shop
And when she saw who the person Is, she Smiled while the woman stopped at the counter talking to the waitress while the other joyfully smiled and nod,
The woman then walks toward her, "I thought you got lost" she mockingly say as the woman sit in front of her,
"Shut up, I need to cancel all my meetings just to see you" Clarisse glared
She smiled "you're the one who wants to meet me"
The glare of the woman intensified "you Idiot! You got me worried after those risky things you have done of course I wanted to meet you, I was even expecting you to be still in Hospital" She was about to say something when the waitress gave their order
"Here's your order ma'am, and with free pizza, enjoy your coffee ma'am" the girl joyfully says,
Both of the smiled at the girl,
After the girl left to the corner,
Clarisse looked at her "does your sister know what happened?"
She sip her now almost cold coffee "if she does, surely by now I'm preparing for my flight to Philippines"
Clarisse leaned at her chair "but are you really alright? I heard many of the passengers got hospitalized and some are having traumas because of what happened"
She smiled "lucky for me then since I'm not suffering from any traumas that's why I got discharged with no trouble"
Her smiled faded when the corpse of all the suspects came back to her mind, the pain inside her chest lingered thinking how could someone take something as precious as life hurt her,
she look out of the glass "why does people kill?, does it necessary to kill other?"
Clarisse whose holding her cup shifted her gaze to her "are you still thinking about what happened?"
This is the reason why she's been worried about her it's because of her belief of how important life is, the main reason why Rie has been protecting her from what really happened ten years ago and how it would scarred the woman if she finds out,
When she got no answer from the other, she sigh 'you haven't change Rio' while looking at the woman whose eyes still fixated outside but she still let out a fake smile "and here I thought it didn't bother you" with a cheerful voice
'lie' silently telling herself she knew better than that, the girl turn her head to her and give her a sad smile and chuckled though it's pretty evident the sadness "I just need to act tough for the girl as if nothing happened"
Clarrise smiled at her 'how Ironic that's also Rie doing all this year for you' her silent thought
"and it feels like…" the girl interrupt her thought as she hear her voice "this wasn't the first time I saw death" a distant voice coming from her
her smile faltered and the sadness in her eyes became evident as she's looking to the woman whose sipping her coffee
'what the hell are you thinking Rie letting Allen come to a place where she shouldn't' but she stop herself from letting it out "does every passengers know what really happened there?" she ask
"All of the passengers has been evacuated before the massacre happened, that's what I know" the younger woman calmly said
She nod "anyway, why the hell would you dare to return to the bus?! Only Idiots would dare to risk their life like that!" giving her an angry tone
Allen look at the woman who suddenly change her tone 'Well I supposed I'm that Idiot' Allen mentally says to herself but she left it unsaid
Instead she then let out an awkward laugh "but I'm fine, it doesn't matter right now right?"
The woman then let out an exasperated sigh "you should know that Rie ask me to keep on check with you, and even you can tell what will happen when she got angry" she utter
Allen just smiled at her "you don't have to worry about me, I can manage myself I'm not a child anymore"
The woman drink her coffee and stared at that for a while "I think it still better if you just follow what your sister told you"
She give out a small smile and the look at her side where the light rain was visible in the glass wall while she put her cheek at her hand where being supported by the table
She was just staring at nowhere when a certain building caught her eyes "Clarisse, what's up with that old building?" the way she look at it wasn't just an ordinary building it's better to describe it as cluster of structures and it was like there's something strange about it,
The woman gave her a confused look and then turn her way to where she's looking at, when she realise what Allen is talking about she said in a hush voice "you better not talk about it publicly Allen it's the most dangerous place here in Shinjuku don't ever even take one step into that place"
She just look at her with a grin "don't worry I won't" and she mean it she doesn't want her sister to be in trouble because of her after all
But that's odd it seems like this wasn't the first time she saw that building it feels like she forgot something so important yet as if it's just like it was a dream after a long sleep.
Clarisse cleared her throat which makes her look back at the woman "so how long are you going to stay here?"
"Two months"
"For a vacation in a foreign country, two months is a long one" the woman then drink her coffee again and then look at her 'and I'm afraid of where that two months will lead you' her silent thought
"This is a gift they promised, compare to the four years I've been through I guess, I deserved this" and then she give a sly smile.
"do you have any plans after the two months' vacation?" the older woman asked,
"I might take a review lesson for the civil service exam that will be held this year"
"Really?, I never thought you would take the exam anyway" Clarisse chuckled and glad that the girl has been interested in work.
"if it weren't only for Rie I will not take the exam either." Taking her look from the outside and to where the building is,
The girl then straighten from her position 'figures' saying to herself of course it's for her sister, Allen never really into that kind of stuff
She then says "you should be careful, this City is dangerous specially that place" she's referring to the odd structure that place in the heart of the city " Rie told me not to let you associate with other people while you're still here"
"Yes, she also told me that" she stated without taking a glimpse on the woman, but then she look at her and grin.