Chapter 11: Off Day
I awoke to the wild life chirping and buzzing with life.
Looking up I couldn't see the eyeballs floating in the sky or the almost eldritch goo that encapsulated my mental world.
It was lively and I liked it like that.
I 'willed' myself back to my plastic chair next to the daffodil, while the entire forest was now fine, beyond this point I couldn't find any snow.
Just as I realized, a cold familiar 'friend' joined me.
With my arms on the armrests and my head on one of my hands, I just slowly watched the forest fill up again.
I overthink too much, my paranoia that someone is still watching me hasn't gone away. Even as I sit here, watching the snow where I should feel safe… I don't.
As I felt the last snowflake hit the ground, everything went back to how it was before.
I did something that I couldn't in the real world, I flew.
Not fast at supersonic speed but I went fast enough to enjoy the scenery and I went up enough to see the ecosystem thrive.
I watched a bunny eat a small patch of grass before being killed by a wolf, no doubt that it was one of the wolves that ate me in the past.
Blood spattered, lives lost but also born, the cycle of life continues.
Returning back to my little hangout with my four petaled white daffodil, two at the bottom missing, I finally decided that it was time to wake up.
*
*
*
"...Hahhh~𐩑"
I yawned, as I got up from my futon, scratching my head to instill that I was awake.
I folded my futon, stepped onto the old tatami mats and brushed my teeth. I could live in a more luxurious apartment in Tokyo but because I don't know if Makoto is still searching for me I'll lay low for now…
But it's more because it just feels new, it's refreshing to finally be free.
…Though if I could complain about something…
"...Why is my window facing the wall of another building…?"
…
I got all my change of clothes, shampoo all tucked away inside my backpack.
"Good morning."
A middle aged woman said to me.
"Good morning to you as well."
I was spaced out, I didn't need to fight, and I have almost no responsibilities.
"The sky sure is pretty today…"
I felt my army knife in a small hidden compartment in my loose pants.
My blue tracksuit pants and jacket were comfortable, and the cool morning wind made me feel refreshed.
I walked around the neighborhood in peace, just enjoying the scenery around me.
Even the birds chirping, which I heard a while ago, felt more alive than it did in the everlasting winter forest of my mind.
"Hu… Haaa…"
Although the dirty smell pollution was ever present in the air, it was the taste of freedom.
…
Ding! Ding!
"Welcome~!"
I heard a boisterous man's voice.
"Oh? Hello there young man, what kind of package would you like?"
He had quite the bright smile.
"Ah, yes… hello. Can I have the private onsen package?"
"How long would you like?"
"An hour." I responded curtly.
"That'll be 3,000 yen young man, hope you enjoy your stay."
A minute after I paid, a woman came out and led me to a different changing area reserved for people who paid for the package.
I looked around to see clean tatami mats, some lockers off to the side and a sliding door leading to a small private onsen.
This… is different.
As I took off my clothes (still keeping the army knife with me), I headed into the onsen.
…
"Hahhh~"
'I feel all of my problems melting away~'
I don't think my muscles have ever been this relaxed.
'I might fall asleep at this rate…'
As the minutes ticked by, I cleaned myself and changed my clothes for the day.
"Did you enjoy your stay young man?"
I could feel his pride in his business.
"Yes, I'll come back here for sure."
"Haha! That's good, have a nice day young man."
Ding! Ding!
*
*
*
'I guess having an off day once in a while isn't so bad.'
One of the places to stock up on spy equipment and essentials are in a mall.
Gaon Mall had all sorts of places disguised as normal stores when in actuality it served spies like me a place to stock up on equipment.
I was in a store called Kanekichi, thankfully I was in the time of the month where they had their half-off sales.
"Ah hello young man…"
'How hasn't this old timer died yet?'
"Are you the owner of this store?"
"Yes I am…"
He was so old that I felt like he could die any second.
"I had a special delivery for me, it should be order… B-154"
"Oh! You were the young man that gave me that blueprint…"
One of my ideas was a revolver I called the 'One Shot Hand Cannon'. It was as it said, lots of firepower, all stuff into a revolver.
"Here it is…"
"Thank you, how much do I owe you?"
"No no… this was a rather interesting gun and it pleases me to see the younger generations surpassing us older… please take it for free."
"...If you insist."
I took the rather heavy cardboard package that Kane had put on his glass display.
"Well… I guess I'll see you later?"
"Yes I'll see you later as well… if you want the bullets for your gun of course…"
"Haha…"
As I made my way around the mall slowly ordering and getting things here and there, I was eventually done with my day off.
People gave me rather confused looks since I had a backpack filed to the brim along with a completely full trolley that I walked around with.
I walked back to my worn down apartment putting everything there.
'Today was a good day.'
I went to sleep after I had a nice and peaceful day.
~~~~
Omake 2 (Extended): A Broken Woman And A Broken World.
~~~~
(A/N: Each of these interactions are forgotten after the characters wake up so even the Takahiro forget Satō. This will be like this each time characters interact at all since they are from a different verse. If it's from the same verse then they'll remember it)
Isolated.
A broken woman that is almost pitiful.
She finds pleasure in abuse, and her perception of love changed her niece into a person just like her.
"Hello."
She opened her eyes to the smell of the ocean and blackness of an abyss.
"Hello."
Her wide light blue eyes turned crescent as she responded the same.
The fuzziness of the entire exchange made her head foggy.
"..."
The man in front of her was just another person starved of love.
She stared into deep blue eyes like the darkest yet most beautiful blue, she just smiled waiting for the man to start talking.
"...Is there any topic you'd like to talk about?"
"Hmm~"
Her eyes shifted around looking into the darkness as she swayed along with the ocean breeze.
"I have this niece, she turned into a wonderful girl." She started out.
"A niece, huh? I have quite the family as well."
"You have a family? Care to share?"
The man had a small grin as if knowing how she was changing the subject.
"I'll tell after you finish on that niece of yours"
"She has pink hair… with dark red eyes… Back when I raised her she was such an adorable child. Though she hasn't visited me much," Her fake 'happy' persona fell a bit, "I have other company to fill in the hole."
"She sounds like a wonderful person… though if I may ask, are you 'broken'?"
Her small smile stayed.
"What might you mean by that?"
"...I don't mean to brag but I'm quite perceptive. But…" He looked at her almost uncountable bandages, "You seem to be quite unhappy with your life."
Her chair moved, causing small ripples on the water.
"Why would I be unhappy? I have 'love' after all." Her eyes darkened as her eyes turned into a spiral.
Takahiro wasn't fazed in the slightest.
"Oh? What is your perception around love?" He asked, interested in her thought process.
"Love~?"
"Hmm~ love is love, what else is there to say?"
"I see…" He had nothing to say and closed his eyes, processing everything he had so far witnessed.
"...Do you love your niece?"
"Her?" She looked up, daydreaming about the question, "I don't know."
"Then… what do you love?"
"What do I love~?" She mimicked his question.
"Say… you're starving for love aren't you?"
She abruptly changed the topic.
"No, rather I think my life is filled to the brim with love."
Her narrow aloof eyes just blankly stared at him, trying to process what she just heard.
"I see?" She tilted her head.
'Trying to talk to her about love is like talking to a brick wall.' Takahiro inwarding facepalmed himself.
"Ah, you asked about what I love, right?" Her small smile came back onto her face.
"Come here, come here." She motioned for him to come closer.
Takahiro pushed his chair back and walked right in front of her.
Still motioning him to come closer, he tilted his ears in her direction.
"...I love it when people hit me."
Takahiro pulled his ears back and watched as her eyes turned dark.
"What'll you do with that information, I wonder?" She smiled widely, almost creepily.
Takahiro went back to his seat, which came back from the darkness, and said, "I don't get it."
"Hm?"
"Why do you act like you don't understand? I can tell that you understand what I'm saying, like I said, I'm quite perceptive."
Using every superhuman sense that he was gifted with, Takahiro could tell that the woman was just acting oblivious about his question.
Her small smile faded.
"...I love my niece."
'This is different…'
"I want her to find her own 'love' but I don't know if she will."
"..."
"I'll protect her 'love', her 'love' will be something worth protecting after all…"
"So you want to protect her… 'love'?"
"...I guess you can say that?" Her smile appeared back, making her aloof and allowing her to mask her emotions.
…
After conversing for quite some time, the wind and the smell of salt water intensified.
"...Our time is up."
"It was a pleasant chat."
"..."
She just gave him a smile and said nothing.
Soon both of them disappeared, waking up in their world forgetting about the conversation.
~~~~
This was a pretty mediocre chapter, I wanted to see how Takahiro would interact with Satō's aunt with no avail and this is more an interlude to the next arc, so yeah, pretty mediocre.
No fun fact today.
Ah wait. I have one.
Fun Fact: Did you know that Rin Fudo in her Junior High days (15) actually looks like Ayaka Kirisaki?
The only difference is their hair (at least in black and white anyway), with Ayaka having a long braid while Rin had a tomboyish look with short hair.
Confirmed sisters? Lol.
But I do have a request if anyone is willing. Do any of you guys have the extra scenes for Volume 4+? On the Yozakura wiki Volumes 1-3 have all the extra scenes, like how Kyoichiro was torturing Taiyo… (We don't talk about this capiche?)
Ahem.
I need the Extra scenes for Volumes 4 and up. I don't know if Hitsuji Gondaira just stopped doing the extra scenes but it's unlikely. So the next line can be used for those scenes. (Btw if I get the volumes myself then I'll delete this entire part, but it'll take some time so…)
(PICTURES HERE)
Also, does anyone know why it's taken such a damn long time for Volume 7 and up??? I might not have the manga in possession. But from the wiki it states that Volume 19 was already in Japan around 2 weeks ago and the U.S. is stuck with only Volume 6 and VIZ only sells up to there… I might not need the manga to read but I sure as hell need the extra scenes for this FF.
Anyways hope you guys liked the chapter.
Next chapter should be out tomorrow.
Peace~
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