Setting
Completely oblivious to the excitement going on with the group she had just left, Anna continued to place her makeup accordingly, pulling back her hair into a beautiful braid, entwining pretty rubies and pearls in it to add decoration. Tonight, she’d be changing four different times; her first outfit a pale white mini-dress with matching pumps- the rest of her outfits seemingly similar.
Getting up, Anna put on her coat and adjusted her heels before she walked out of her room, and past the boys who were busy watching SpongeBob.
“Alright boy, Casey, the next door neighbor, promised me that she’d take you guys to school tomorrow, alright? I want you guys to be good and listen to her since I was so nice to buy you cake.” Well, not her, but she still thought about it and got it for them- that had to count for something. “Do your homework- you have Pop Tarts for breakfast and if you want a second serving of Mac and Cheese, it’s in the fridge; take off the plastic wrapping and place it into the microwave for forty-five seconds so it isn’t too hot.”
Anna left when she got the affirmative nods and goodbyes from her brothers; she was suddenly grateful that they weren’t younger and more immature than they already where.
She drove into the city this time, not bothering to actually drive into the city, considering the fact that she would have trouble parking; instead, Anna parked in a hospital parking lot, one that belonged to the university. When she parked, Anna got out and slammed the door shut, which blew open her jacket, revealing her dress; this caused her to get some looks from the viewers and instantly made her close the jacket.
Anna trotted along the sidewalk, making her way into the city and the district she was working, entering the Escort Facility and entering the room, punching in and taking some breast pads and helping her bust become enhanced- tonight, she was determined to get good tips. Hell, she better be since they were practically working her like a dog.
With a small sigh, Anna checked her appearance and walked out into the escort room, her fake smile already plastered on her face as she greeted the upcoming customers.
Ataro's head was still slightly spinning, but the soda helped him. "What did I do again....?" He muttered. "Damn, I can't remember much--" "YOU STUPID BROTHER!" An all too familiar voice yelled as a figure tackled him. It was a good thing Ataro remained steadfast on the ground. He blinked. "M-Momoko..?" "Stupid! Stupid brother!" The girl yelled angrily. Then he noticed she was crying. "H-Hey...a-are you crying?" She glared up at him, tears still falling. "What else!? Stupid brother, making me worry!"
Then he remembered. "Oh yeah, before I left the room they gave me what they recovered for me..." The only items that he had that time was the hoodie, and his scissors and thankfully both of them were recovered. He quietly pulled out the Cheshire hoodie and threw it around his sister. This managed to pause her crying for a while and she looked up at him again. "Hey, stop crying. Look, I got you this to apologize, so stop, okay?" The girl buried her face into his chest again, with more tears.
Ataro sighed. "She's still a crybaby, no matter how much time passes..."
"O-Oh... Thank you, Ayano-san."
She took a drink of the soda.
'Wow, this is really good~'
Her thoughts were interrupted when a girl with orange hair tackled Ataro to the ground. She was about to panic but she had heard the girl call him her brother.
'They're siblings...'
A single tear leaked out and she quickly wiped it away. Nostalgia of her and Maria came in her mind. She smiled at the happy scene.
"Your sister seems quite lovely, Ataro-kun."
It was true. The sister must really love her brother to be this worried about him. She remembered when she first skinned her knee, Maria was a panicked wreck and asked to see a doctor immediately even though the injury wasn't serious. Alexa stood up, her side still in pain from the stitches and blood transfusion.
"Sister-san, please tell me your name. Mine is Alexa Flarea."
"Siblings huh...To be frank, you don't look anything alike." Ayano commented how Ataro and his little sister didn't look alike. Especially with their hair. She recalled her own cousins. They kind of count as siblings, she reckons since they're the ones she ended up growing with. She remembers how she was always compared to them every time. "I wonder? Do they have the same problem?" She thought as she empties her can.
"I think I'm going on ahead. Thanks for everything today." She politely thanked Alexa and Ataro and went on her way. Once she was out, she thought about taking the train or the bus, remembering the incident she had a few nights ago.
"Sister-san, please tell me your name. Mine is Alexa Flarea." "E-Eh? I'm Momoko, and as you guys probably already know, this is my stupid--" "Stop calling me that." "--Idiotic, hikkikomori brother, Ataro." Momoko stared up at him and grinned. "Whatever you say, wannabe idol." Ataro rolled his eyes again. "Siblings huh...To be frank, you don't look anything alike." Ayano said. "The idiot here dyed her hair orange. Look, she even missed a few spots at the back." He revealed Momoko's secret. "E-EH!? STUPID ATARO! IT LOOKS GOOD THAT WAY! You have no sense of fashion at all!" Momoko snapped. Ataro only started chuckling.
"I think I'm going on ahead. Thanks for everything today." Ayano thanked them and started on her way. "H-Hey, wait! I'll go with you, you might not be fine walking all alone in the night." Momoko ran over. "Hey, stupid brother! Are you coming or not!?" "I'll catch up later, thank you very much." Ataro replied. "Suit yourself. See ya!" He turned back to Alexa. "You sure you're alright?"
"Y-Yeah... Thank you, Arata. You seem so nice."
Arata stretched after leaving the hospital room. It was another hard day at work. One of the nurses called in sick so he had to work overtime. He usually wasn't here by this hour but he was glad he was.
'Anything's better than being at home with that monster.'
Arata frowned as he thought of his father. No doubt he was going to be drunk at that point. He didn't want to go home, at least not yet. He decided to roam around the hospital for a bit, thinking about the patients he treated.
'Alexa Flarea and Ataro Hatsuyuki... They were accompanied by Ayano Kujikawa...'
He had briefly heard of all three. They were each known for their depressing atmosphere from what he had heard. Ayano was the diligent type but she never seemed to care. Ataro came to class so very little and he had a tense aura to him. Alexa seemed schizophrenic and people never know that much about her.
'I wonder how the three of them even met... Maybe Annabel came with them as well?'
It was no secret that Arata had a bit of a crush on Annabel. Well, at least in the hospital staff. They would encourage him, tell him to ask her to go out with him, but he would always ignore them, content with just staying in the background.
'I'll never amount to enough to go out with her anyway.'
Arata eventually came out of his self loathing when he noticed Ayano and an unfamiliar orange haired girl leave the room Alexa and Ataro were in. He walked over to Ayano.
"Are you two planning on going home? At this hour, it's probably not safe. Here, I'll walk with you."
Arata was never one to take no for an answer so he walked alongside the two girls.
"My name is Arata Natari by the way."
He smiled warmly.
"It's probably none of my concern but why were you hanging out with Ataro and Alexa anyway, Ayano?"
He was a curious boy and looked at Ayano questioningly.
Alexa laughed a little weakly.
"My side still hurts... but I'll be alright..."
Alexa was panicking on the inside.
'If he asks me to walk me home... How am I supposed to cover my tracks?! What's his reaction going to be if he finds out I'm homeless?! Will he tell anyone?!'
Alexa's mind kept raving questions over and over.
"H-Hey... Ataro-kun?"
Alexa's eyes looked down to the floor.
"Um... I'm really sorry for what happened earlier."
Even if the attempted robbery wasn't her fault, she still was weak enough to let Eradicator come out and kill those people.
"I... I felt like I should've done more than just run off to try and call the police like that... I'm sorry..."
Alexa could feel tears build up. She looked up at Ataro, keeping the tears away for now.
"E-Enough about that... Um... Regarding your sister... Are the two of you close? I remember how close I was with my twin sister Maria. We used to play all the time together, but..."
Alexa trailed off at that point. She figured that Ataro didn't want to hear about her past. Besides, she was more curious about Ataro's past than her own.
As they were walking, the nurse who treated them earlier walked to them asking to accompany them as well. She found it a little rude that he just walked in without waiting for a response but she reckoned that it would be safer with him around. Since he's a nurse, he would be able to point out which passengers are already in a state of "rigor mortis".
"It's probably none of my concern but why were you hanging out with Ataro and Alexa anyway, Ayano?" She heard the nurse, Arata ask her. "It's just a coincidence. We just happened to be around for an activity and ended up hanging around together." She answered in a slightly bored way. She glanced around the place, still debating whether she takes the train or not.
It was his fault Momoko started acting like that. He hadn't been a good big brother to her at all, he just started locking himself away because she -Ayase- died. It wasn't something he was supposed to do. He shook his head, sighing again.
On the other hand, with Arata, Ayano and Momoko...
"It's probably none of my concern but why were you hanging out with Ataro and Alexa anyway, Ayano?"" Momoko heard Arata ask. "Yeah, why were you? Brother rarely hangs out with girls--" Then she let out an exaggerated gasp. "Don't tell me my brother is a two-timer!" "It's just a coincidence. We just happened to be around for an activity and ended up hanging around together." Ayano answered.
Momoko sighed in relief and pulled the Cheshire hoodie around her as a cold gust of wind blew. "Did he really get this for me..?" She smiled a little. "At least he acted like a big brother for once."
Anna, now taking the shifts of her coworkers, was out and about. She was one of many that hung around a group of older foreign businessmen who had came to the escort parlor for a woman; unfortunately, they were a bit disappointed since Anna hadn’t any services available other than the ones she already set for herself.
The group of escorts she was with was showing them around the city, with Taylor- a beautiful blonde who always seemed to make Anna look like dust in more ways than one- telling them about all the places and guiding in their native tongue. Anna always wondered why Taylor was in such a business when she was so intelligent and beautiful, but none the less, it wasn’t her business or place to ask, so Anna never ventured deeper than a wonder.
Her feet slowly became sore, not entirely used to having to constantly walk in heels; she leaned a little bit of her body weight onto the man next to her, causing him to smile slightly and wrap his hands around her waist. Anna jolted upwards, instantly forgetting the pain in her feet from the pumps. She turned to him and smiled, pulling back a lose tendril behind her ear.
It was obvious to anyone who seems to have eyes that they were escorts. If it wasn’t they way they were clinging onto the men, and the short dresses, high heels, then it was the company’s jacket that had each of the escort’s hotline and name written on the back of them- one which Anna sported to prevent the night’s chills. Though, it didn’t do much thanks to the short dress.
“Ora qui, lasciamo la città e inserire il outskirts.Up qui, abbiamo un ospedale di proprietà di una università.”
Now here, we leave the city and enter the outskirts. Up here, we have a hospital owned by a university.
Taylor said, her tongue dotting every I and crossing every T. With that, the group had finished their tour and where starting to head back to the company, a smile on all of the faces.
“Una volta torniamo alla società, vi versarvi qualche drink e divertirsi insieme!”
Once we get back to the company, we will pour you some drinks and have some fun together!
The men and girls cheered at her words, putting their hands up in the air and pulling the men closer to them; all but Anna. She merely gave the man a sheepish smile when he put his arms around her waist- yet again. She grabbed his arm, her hands wrapping it around it as they began to walk back.
"I see. So that's what happened. It must have been very fun."
Arata was lost in thought for a bit before speaking.
"Well, the doctors have been telling me that the bus is much more dangerous at this hour so why don't we take the train instead?"
Alexa listened intently to Ataro's self loathing. She walked up to Ataro, took his hand in hers and looked him dead in the eyes as she talked.
"Don't degrade yourself like that, Ataro-kun. You're trying to make up for time lost with your sister and that's admirable. So... don't speak about it like you're a monster. I've seen what monsters are like. I've seen tragedies that I can never get out of my head. You're not a monster. You just... act differently than most people."
'Besides, I'm the one who's a monster. Not him...'
Alexa felt bitter about the whole situation. Here she was, trying to tell Ataro that he's better than he thinks he is when she was a horrible monster. Did she even have the right to comfort him...? As she finished her scentence, she let go of his hand.
"Was... Was that too much...?"
A small blush made its way on her face. She never held the hand of someone of the opposite gender before so it was all new to her.
"Hopefully, he'll be able to point out which people are already in a state of rigor mortis." She thought as the three of them sat close to each other during the long train ride home.
He frowned and sighed. "I don't know. In this society, humans see those who act differently than them as monsters or crazed people." He muttered. He looked down at the ground, black hair hiding his equally dark eyes. "I hope Momoko's alright..." He thought.
On the other hand, Momoko sat near the two, Arata and Ayano. She pulled the hood over her head, to avoid being seen by too many people. Of course, she was an aspiring idol, but she, like her brother, wasn't used to too much attention. "Wonder if he's still back at the hospital."
"You're right but that's just how society views things. I believe that people have goodness in them, people are just too ignorant to see it."
Alexa noticed that Ataro was worried about his sister Momoko.
"You can go after your sister if you want to... I'm used to being alone anyway."
Alexa's eyes slightly widened as she realized she spoke the last thought aloud instead of in her thoughts. She was internally praying that Ataro wouldn't ask questions.
Arata kept an eye on the passengers. None of them had died or looked injured. Despite this, Ayano still seemed in a tense state. Arata kept looking and no one looked suspicious.
"You can relax. Everything's fine."
"Well, I'll be getting off on this one. Guess I'll see you around." She bade the two goodbye and walked the rest of the way home. She looked up at the sky. "Maybe this world isn't so bad after all." She thought, though she was sure that her opinion could quickly change once she gets home.
Back at her house, her parents rushed in, asking her about all sorts of things; why she's so late, where has she been and things like that. She gave only short answers and evaded the rest of the questions as she goes inside her room. Still, she didn't feel too down now. At least she managed to make some acquaintances.
At the train, Momoko waved goodbye at Ayano. She was left with the nurse now. Her stop was nearing soon- She wondered if Ataro had already gotten home before her. Shrugging, she just twiddled her fingers together quietly. Finally she reached her stop. "Well, I gotta get off now. See ya!" She bade the nurse, Arata goodbye as she alighted. Walking into the house, her parents looked up at her. "Momoko, where's your brother?" Her father asked. "Well--" "--Oh my god, is he dead?!" Her mother gasped. "--No, mom, he's not dead. He said he would catch up with me, and he's perfectly fine." Momoko sighed.
"Plus, he even got this hoodie for me." She raised the Cheshire hoodie. "Well, that's nice of him to be doing something so brotherly." Her mother said. "I'm going back upstairs, I'm tired." Momoko yawned and went upstairs. She sent a text message to her brother. "Brother, when are you getting home? I'm bored here...."
"Well... I have been pretty lonely..."
Alexa was silent for a bit, debating whether or not to tell him the truth about herself.
'Don't tell that guy anything, Lexy.'
'Huh?! Oh... Eradicator.'
'I'm serious... Don't say anything.'
'Jealous.'
'I am not. What do I need to be jealous of this insomniac for anyway?'
'Please, just go away for now...'
'Tch, very well. Besides, those kills were incredibly satisfying~'
Alexa had decided to tell him half of the truth.
"Do... Do you know how I said I was okay with being alone? That's because I've been alone for ten years now. My family had burned to death ten years ago. It was an accident that had left me devestated. I thought that by coming over to Heavenrend, I could be happy. But, turns out being homeless only drives in that you're all alone even more. I can't remember my last proper meal and I'm pretty sure my skin is always cold due to there being nowhere to sleep. I... I understand if you're disgusted with me now."
Alexa shyly turned away and looked out the window to the night sky.
Arata made it home okay. His abusive father was out of the house so that meant he could be safe for now. After changing into pajamas, he thought back to Ayano, Ataro and Alexa.
'I'll talk to them tomorrow...'
With that resolution, he fell into a dreamless sleep.
"Huh? Sure, why, are you bringing over one of the girls you were with a while ago? Heck, is she even your girlfriend, Brother?" Momoko teased. "No, damn it, Momoko. She is not my girlfriend. Just a friend at best." He replied. "Well, will Mom and Dad--Hey! Wait--" The voice of their mother replaced Momoko's. "Ataro! Where are you now!?" "Crap...." Ataro thought. "U-Uh, on my way home, mom!" He lied. "Get back soon, okay? Because we need you to watch over your sister. Your father and I are going on a long business trip." He heard Momoko's voice in the background. "Mom, I'm 16! I can watch over myself!" "Yeah, sure. Bye." He frowned and hung up. He turned to Alexa. "Jackpot. You can stay with us for the meantime, if it's alright with you."
As she reached the school, she waited a bit on the student's lounge, wondering if she'll see any of those guys again.
"I would really like to stay with you."
The thought excited her. She was going to stay in a house!
"Um, so where do you live...?"
Arata awoke slowly and saw that his father was passed out on the table. He snuck out and went to school almost instantly. Wandering around the student lounge he found Ayano and smiled.
"I'm glad to see you are still safe."
"It would be nice to see them again. Otherwise the day may just go back to those cold days." She remembered something in her bag. She reached in and took out the porcelain things she bought the other day. She realized that she forgot to take them out. "Maybe, I can use one as a gift."
Falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, he breathed softly as he waited for the next day. He dreamed about all that had happened today. "...So much progress....so tiring..."
The next morning.
"Morning." He stepped out of his room, running a hand through his black hair. He yawned and stared at Momoko, who was lazily texting on her phone with a piece of bread in her mouth.
Alexa awoke slowly and rubbed sleep out of her eyes. She ended up finding a cushion and blanket and slept on the floor. Alexa looked at the wall.
'What did I do to get so lucky...? Here I am in a friend's house when I was on the street a long time ago. What did I do...?'
Alexa shook it off and walked downstairs, a small smile on her face.
"Good morning Ataro-kun, Momoko-San. Um... Sorry if I was a bother last night..."
Later Ataro went for a quick shower, before he decided to head to school. "Maybe I'll see Anna and Ayano there again."
"What did I expect? These guys didn't even do detention." Ayano sighed as she sat down on her chair. She heard some classmates ask her what happened yesterday since, obviously, they weren't in class. "Nothing much." She answered in an almost bored way. "The teacher just required us to submit some essay that's all."
"Eh, boring..." Her classmates said as they go back into pointless chatter. "Oh yeah, nothing much. I just ran into some total psychos who attempted to kidnap us only to get mauled by Ataro and a weird white haired guy!" She thought, annoyed at her schoolmates' noise, wondering how these people could have reacted if they were there.
"When those people came for us, I was surprised at how emotionless I acted. I didn't even feel a thing even as I saw them get killed right before my eyes. Why? Is it an indication that I have lost some of my humanity? Or was it because I somehow felt it coming. Retribution of some sort. For them and for me." She thought more clearly now that she her mind is at ease. Soon, only ten more minutes remained until their class starts. Despite that, Ayano's eyes suddenly became heavy.
Thud
Her mind was suddenly jolted awake when an assistant homeroom teacher entered the room. She informed them that their homeroom teacher was stabbed by some assailant at the mall. He was brought into the hospital last night and in critical condition due to multiple stab wounds. Something suddenly dawned on Ayano.
"Was he one of those who attempted to rob us?"