Deserted

Amaterasu didn't picture her death like this.

Walking bare-footed on the rocky floor towards her execution place was definitely the last thing on her mind. She had always thought that she would be forever faithful to the Family. Betraying the Family was not exactly the smartest thing to do at the time when she was recruited.

She had a dirty brown robe on, making her look like a monk. A ball and chain was chained to her leg to prevent her from running fast. Her hands were cuffed together behind her back and it was sucking all her strength. Amaterasu definitely had no way out.

Two burly guards walked beside her towards the large amphitheater Amaterasu knew the Head had made especially for executions.

Closing her eyes, Amaterasu thought about what she would miss in the living world. What used to be a blank list was now filled with people and different everyday objects. She would miss the feeling of utter excitement coursing through her veins whenever she saw an unknown object.

"Keep up, prisoner," one of the burly men grunted.

Amaterasu opened her eyes and realized she had stopped. She bowed her head and walked faster to keep up with the two burly men. They finally reached a large gate and they all entered.

Once inside the amphitheater, Amaterasu looked around. The amphitheater was large and was made out of concrete, painted with a golden color. She immediately found the Head and his wife. She also found the different faces that was once friendly, now bored glares towards her direction.

The Head spoke in a silent, but thunderous voice, "Amaterasu, do you have any last words?"

"I do not think I have any." Amaterasu replied.

"Are you sure?" the Head asked again, looking quite offended that Amaterasu did not beg for mercy.

"Yes."

"Do you have any regrets?" the Head pushed.

"It was worth it."

And that was when the Head stopped asking questions. He glared at Amaterasu and waved his people to bring out the guillotine. Amaterasu had to die by beheading, that was the rule of the Family.

Amaterasu had no regrets.

Natsumi blinked away the tears.

She was staring everyone having fun (at the day of her death, no less). She could not blame them for their obliviousness because Amaterasu had asked Natsumi to keep it a secret. Besides, Natsumi could not bring to tell them that Amaterasu was getting beheaded at the time of their celebration.

Only Tsurugi and his friends had noticed her sad expression.

She wished she could have kept her emotions hidden well.

"Endou-san. Is there something wrong?" Nishiki asked while walking up to the said person.

"N-none." Natsumi stifled a sob.

Tsurugi raised an eyebrow and asked, "Are you sure? You're usually more snarky and cynical."

Natsumi did not reply because of her situation.

"Hey, is everything alright?" Tsurugi said seriously.

Natsumi shook her head and said, "Please don't ask."

By this time, Kishibe and Shindou went up to her, looking quite concerned. This was the time when Natsumi had thoroughly broken down because of her sadness and Kishibe, the mind reader, had access to her thoughts.

Widening his eyes, Kishibe exclaimed, "Dead?! Now?!"

Natsumi could not stop the tears coming out of her eyes.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Tsurugi demanded.

Kishibe stared at all of them and said seriously, "Amaterasu is dead."

Everyone stopped what they were doing and widened their eyes. The news was surprising and very hard too handle. For the people who had worked under Amaterasu, they could not believe that she could die without a fight.

"Execution. Today... can't save her..." Natsumi said between sobs.

And what could they do?

Tsurugi stared at her coffin.

Even at death and with her head separated from her body, Amaterasu still looked like an angel. Her eyes are closed and her lips are pale and her hands are placed at her chest. Amaterasu wore a white dress, definitely something that enhanced her physical features.

He didn't even get to say goodbye.

It was hard to admit that the Tsurugi Kyousuke would actually kind of miss someone a lot. He felt light-headed because he just saw Amaterasu a day before and now she was now dead.

She had been nice and quite the nice puzzle to solve.

"Tsurugi," a voice called.

Tsurugi turned around to find Aphrodi, looking quite alike to the person inside the coffin. Their features were so alike that Tsurugi had to blink a few times to remind himself that this was her brother. Tsurugi replied hoarsely, "Yeah?"

"Thank you for bringing her to me." Aphrodi muttered, "Even if..."

She died just a day after.

"Yeah..."

Somehow, Tsurugi knew what everyone wanted to say. Funerals connected each other in a way that you could see how a person was deeply attached to the man in the coffin. When a person trailed off in their sentence, Tsurugi knew what the person wanted to end the sentence with.

He decided he hated funerals.

Especially funerals of teenage girls.

Somehow, Tsurugi ended up right next to Natsumi. She had red bloodshot eyes because she had cried a lot yesterday. Natsumi looked so pitiful that moment and needed a hug. Tsurugi really wasn't int the mood to comfort her because he also needed one.

"She wanted to thank you, you know." Natsumi said.

"What?" even if Tsurugi heard it the first time.

"You showed her a lot, she said. She... she just wanted to say thank you." Natsumi repeated.

"I should be saying that to her." Tsurugi muttered.

Natsumi gave a small smile.

Tsurugi knew that even if a person died, the world was not going to stop just for that one person. Everything had to keep moving even if you wanted it to stop. Tsurugi did not want to leave the funeral, but, soon, Amaterasu was six feet under the ground.

He didn't move at all. He just stood there, above Amaterasu's grave with a frown on his face.

Tsurugi definitely hated funerals.

What's this? Two chapters in a row?

Well, there's only a chapter left: the epilogue!

How was this chapter?