Bab 39: The Red Flood of the Death Flowers
Instead of going home for the 12 PM action time, the couple went to a further place from home. They had lunch in the train and traveled till the 4 PM action time to a place only Attori seemed to know. She ran through the long, abandoned road, and Arata had to chase her till they end up in what looked like an old farm. The trees were brittle and sturdy, but they were not as healthy as the ones in parks. Their leaves were almost withered either from the season or from very little care. The girl got to a blockade of rotten wooden fence, and she went over the stump to keep it intact. Arata, who had High Strength, managed to go over just fine. He knew he would fall face-flat on the mossy ground if he lacked the stat.
[You just pulled off a stunt! Your destination choice gave a boost of 50 to Mad Bitch Attei Attori's Date Meter! It is now at 50/100! Keep on going!]
After the shuddering entrance, he happened into a big house with a huge patch of land surrounding it. However, everything had been burned down. The scorch marked and claimed the big house, as well what could have been planted in the patches around it. Attori walked to the main doorway and held the wooden bar that kept it close. There was also a big lock pad guarding it.
It was disappointing. Attori stared at the two locks before her. It was as if she was being barred from entering a place she knew. She took a hold on the plank and shook it, but she was too weak to make it budge. She pushed the door, hoping to slide the nail off, but there was a lock pad holding the double doors together. She began banging at the door, but it would not respond.
"Attori, where are we?" Arata asked the girl as he noticed her trying to find a way to open the door. He went to her side and stared at the plank that was keeping people out of the burned property.
[You have enough Strength to destroy the beam! Would you like to destroy it? Yes / No]
The player chose to destroy the beam. He took a hold on it and pulled on it with his all. He noticed Attori move away from him. He heard the beam creak and noticed that the underside was already rotting. Even though the feel was uncomfortable, he still broke the beam in two, making the door less secure. He then tugged on the lock pad and broke the latch it was holding onto rather than picking it. With the door free from any hold, he twisted the knob and found it needed a key.
'Should I break the doors down?' he thought as he looked at the hinges of the door.
"Ah, I can handle that part!" Attori laughed out and reached for her wallet to take out an old key.
[You just pulled off a stunt! Your gift: Arms with Real Beef, gave a boost of 20 to Mad Bitch Attei Attori's Date Meter! It is now at 70/100! Keep on going!]
The doors opened, and Attori was able to get inside the empty house. The girl turned to the staircase, only to see it collapsed beyond repair. She looked at the second floor railings and thought of climbing it. The girl smiled at her boyfriend. "Arata, do you want to get up there? There's no stairs so we might have to climb up and down."
"Where are we? What exactly is this place?" The man looked up to the holes on the ceiling which gave light inside the place. The whole second floor to the left collapsed to the ground, making it inaccessible. The one to the right looked it held against the fire, but it seemed to be weathered to danger.
"This was our old house. The one I grew up in, where my mother and my father are still together. Does it look awful?" The blue-haired girl swung her arms behind her and bent to the side to peek at her boyfriend's face, the guy not looking at her. She waited for him to turn to her and offered an apologetic gesture. However, she only smiled as she straightened her posture. "I burned it down."
Arata froze at what he heard. For the first time, he questioned the heights of Attori's madness. Burning down her own home was nothing he thought she would do. She would normally hurt people that hurt the ones she likes. Hurting her family? The player did a double take on her words, chuckling at what could have been a joke. "Don't pull on my leg like that. I mean, I believe this is your house, but... why would you burn it down?"
The girl hummed with her eyes and lips curving in a suspicion. "Really? You don't believe me?"
[You just pulled off a stunt! Your pep talk only gave a boost of 5 to Mad Bitch Attei Attori's Date Meter! It is now at 75/100! Try harder!]
She then ran to the edge of the collapsed stairs and started collecting some blocks and debris to make a ladder. Moving those old concrete blocks were already taxing to her arms. It also seemed Attori forgot she had to stack them. She only realized it when she moved the third one.
"I'll give you a boost, but I doubt it's safe up there." Arata went to her and took her hands away from the concrete blocks. He cleared the blackening caused by the fumes from her fingers with a hanky. "Do you really need to go up? Are you trying to get something from your room?"
"I'm going to show you my room!" She laughed out before looking down at her hands that were being cleaned. "I really like red spider lilies, Arata... but do you know what they like?" She lifted her face and smiled at him. "Death."
She pulled her hands away and ran out of the house. She waited for Arata to the patches surrounding the house, before gesturing to them with a twirl. "This whole place was surrounded by red spider lilies! I love how red they were, and how they moved with the wind!" She stopped spinning and looked up at the house. She could remember what it used to look like, but the image left her mouth with a bad aftertaste. She turned to Arata. "They were the only things I loved about this home. My parents started arguing, and my little sister had become numb to them.
"Here, in the second floor, I always sit on my window." She pointed out a spot as if Arata could see the overlaying image of her memories of the house. "I always see my lilies dancing, but I also hear their complaints. Soon, it drowned into silence between them. I hate it. I hate it so much..."
"Did you blame the lilies for it?" Arata frowned at her.
"Red spider lilies protect the dead. When they started spreading around, my home grew morbid." Attori chuckled with guilt hidden in her lips. "As a child, I thought they were the ones making my home bad. I learned to hate those flowers, and I thought of destroying them." She then sighed after a deep breath. "I stocked up gasoline in my room. All it took was a little experiment. I played with some of it, and ended up burning my bed.
"I went out to call help, but my gasoline stock exploded. The next thing I know, the whole house was on fire. Even the trees around it were on fire." She stared at the burned house as if it was burning yet again. At every bat of her lashes, she could hear the fire roar louder and louder along with the screams of her sister. "But the lilies remained, dancing with the wind that made the fire even bigger. Firemen came soon and controlled the fire. I was angry at the flowers.
"Before the fire went out, I slipped from their hold and took a burning wood from a nearby tree." She spun on her heel and swung her arms as if she did throw something at the patches behind them. "I threw it at the flowers, and they burned like papers. The whole farm of lilies burned that night, injuring some of the firemen who were trying to kill the fire on the house. Needless to say... I got sent to the hospital to get fixed."
Arata only stared at her. He then went to her and patted her hair. "Did your parents break up after that?"
"Yeah, thanks to me and my stupid gas collection." She made a bitter grin before stepping forward to embrace her boyfriend. "My mother said it was time for one of them to go. The ill atmosphere in the house just made an arsonist out of one of their children. She chose to leave since quitting her job was something she had been thinking about." She raised her hands against his back before gripping at the shirt tightly. "Ever since then, things were different, and I had never recovered from the gazes of my family.
"I never had the chance to choose more than one, Arata." She laughed against his shoulder. "I can only take one and commit to it. I chose my warring parents over my flowers, and I had chosen myself over my mother's will. I don't care how uninteresting this looks to you, but I'm choosing you over anything else." She grinned away from his sight. "Even if I had to cause another fire to salvage what I care for."
[You just pulled off a stunt! Your pep talk gave a boost of 15 to Mad Bitch Attei Attori's Date Meter! It is now at 90/100! Keep on going!]
Arata wrapped his arms around her and held her tighter. He swung his bag off of his shoulder and tried to go through his inventory for the remaining gifts he had. He took out a weird-looking hairpin with a wild flavor text. He dropped his bag on the ground before putting the hairpin on her hair.
"I know yellow isn't your color, but I just thought you'd like it still." He chuckled as he finished putting. He pulled back to let Attori feel the hair pin with her hands. He watched her make out the synthetic circles that represented the golden billy balls. "I don't want to change you, Attori, but I hope you would recover from what happened to your family. You don't have to always choose between anything." He took her other hand and squeezed it firmly. "I'll take you to a future where we get all that we love."
"Arata..." Attori stared at him, before smiling sweetly again. "That really sounds like a god, now, doesn't it?"
[You just pulled off a stunt! Your gift: Golden billy balls hairpin, gave a boost of 20 to Mad Bitch Attei Attori's Date Meter! Congratulations! It is now at 100/100! Why don't you go for a Kiss?]
He only pecked at her, which she hugged him for.
[You have initiated a Kiss! Congratulations! You have earned 1 Cosmos Kiss as a reward from the event The Autumn Flowers have Risen! You can give it to any date-able of your liking. Please be reminded that all Cosmos Crowns are only usable during the event.]
[You have failed to unlock the secret request. Keep on asking for dates and find an opportunity to a more creative way to impress the date-able!]
It was another missed secret request, but he was too occupied to be thinking about the game. Right now, he was just glad Attori was back to her normal self even after confessing about a childhood nightmare she brought upon herself.
To think about it, the house was ruined, but the foundations still seemed to be standing. Arata then looked around the burned house, even with Attori pulling him down for a hug. "But damn, this property looks so good. And the soothing ambiance of the woods..."
"You can probably buy it from my dad. It was not up for sale in any estate listing after all..." The girl hummed along with her boyfriend. "By then, I hope we can grow some beautiful flowers that wouldn't be anything close to bad things. Ah, married life!"
"Yeah, married life..." Arata chuckled... only to be stunned by a couple of notifications.
[You have unlocked Mad Bitch Attei Attori's old home, 'La Radiata!' This property will give you new dating spots and higher chances of obtaining rare items! This will also raise your Fame by 200 points! Would you like to purchase the property? Yes / No]
[Your level is too low to purchase 'La Radiata!' This property is only available for players above Level 110! Make sure to check in everyday or do activities to fill your experience bar!]
'I can buy this in the future!?' The player's eyes widened a little as he saw the possibility of homing Attori at such place yet again. Also, he was conflicted by the fact that another property would be unlocked aside from the custom restaurant. Will there be new properties in the future? How many more sites would he be able to unlock? The player's mind was bugged by further achievements, but he was feeling calm under the embrace of his love.
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
droopyghost
droopyghost Hello! This is the last of the unpaid bonus chapters! I'll start updating daily again tomorrow.
Red spider lilies - flowers of death; is associated to death by Japan because it helps protect the graves from rodents
Billy balls - flowers of good health and a message saying 'you're the light of my world'