Aberration

Chapter 31: Rainy season

Water filled the eye of the porcelain fountain, trickling down the pipes with a sloshing vacate. The wind-numbing sound of draining water filled a vacant bathroom affluently designed with ivory and trims of gilt. Gold crests of roses and thorns decorated the walls, eccentrically substituting wallpaper. Before the sink, so shiny and white that she could see the reflection of her face, was a mirror: a large vanity that nearly fit her entire body within its frame. "Negative again. I guess that's good, right?" This young woman was a natural noirette, but within her hair were traces of blonde like the gilt lines across the wall. She stared at a pink stick with a single line over a white strip, half-naked in only her undergarments. "What is wrong with you, Suzy?" She asked herself, splashing her face with cold water before tossing the pink stick into the trash, burying it in a mound of tissues.

•••

Suzume stood by her lonesome on the rooftop, tipping over the safety rail as she looked out over the horizon. She stared at the bottom of the school and the gates that were sealed until the end of the day. "Tch..." The door opened behind her and out skipped Misaki, the young girl who called Ami Shirai her friend. If Suzume and she stood next to one another, she would have immediately blended into the background. That wasn't to say that Misaki was ugly or bland, (in fact, she was quite the contrary.) but Suzume's natural beauty was just that radiantly infatuating. "Hey, Suzy!"
"Hey." She nearly grunted, facing the somewhat sour wind, humid with the incoming monsoon. "You'll never guess who's back in town."
"Ah. I guess I won't."
"Ami pizza-face Shirai."
"I didn't know she was gone." She continued to look out past the horizon, shifting her head to the side. {He's at a modeling shoot right now. He's supposed to be picking me up at 3:00, but he'll probably be late. 'The shoot ran on longer than I thought. I'm sorry, Princess'. Yeah, yeah... 'the shoot' probably has bigger breasts than me.} She was distracted by something completely different from whatever it was Misaki had to say.
"...actually came back from a little trip to the Kagami Estate, like the headquarters. That's crazy." Misaki had been speaking the whole time, but Suzume could only pick up the odds and ends of a conversation seemingly held exclusively by herself. "Ah." She responded indifferently.
"See? She posted some pics on her ClickNet. Apparently, the tanned guy is related to them." Extending her hand, she showed Suzume who scrolled through the images of Ami's adventure, but what stood out most to her was— "Are you sure these are hers? She isn't in any of the pictures."
"Yeah, yeah. You know how she is about that. This is a private page though, so I know this is her account."
"If it's private, why can you see it?"
"Because I'm her best friend." Misaki snorted. "Ah." Suzume lost interest almost entirely; without needing to say more, she glanced back at those gates.
"You're going on a date with your boyfriend today, aren't you? You still haven't told me his name! What's he like?"
"I already told you:  it's none of your business."
"Hmmmmm. So you aren't messing with juniors anymore... you're dating a grown man, aren't you?" Suzume crossed her arms over the guard rail and closed her eyes, exhaling slowly through her nose. "Yeah." She conceded. Misaki squealed, grabbing Suzume's waist with a snorting giggle, "You have to tell me more! Oh my God!"
{God, that laugh. You sound like a pig.} "So Shirai really is an Exorcist, huh?"
"H-Huh? Yeah, I guess. I don't think ghosts are real, but apparently, Exorcists do legitimately get paid to do something."
"I've never seen one, but I don't disbelieve in them. I think curses are real... I mean urban legends are always gonna be weird, but some of them have to be true... but whatever; tell me about Shirai."
"Oh? You know, you've seemed pretty down lately and a lot more stressed out ever since Shirai left. It almost feels like you missed her." A stiff slap cracked across Misaki's face. She stumbled back only for Suzume to promptly kick her again in the stomach, causing her to fall. "Get out of my face. If I hear you say something stupid like that again, I'll make your face match your ugly-ass laugh."

•••

The young woman and a young man nearly twice her age sat alone at a long dinner table. Plates were at every seat of the fine-clothed table, but only two were occupied at the very end of either side. In the middle of the table was a candelabrum, red candles producing a rosy scent in the otherwise lightless atmosphere that cast an alluring shadow. Somewhere in the darkness of the room was a stage with a grand piano and a refined cello, both attended by masters of the instruments who played from the depths of their hearts. No doubt they were paid handsomely by the host, but there was still a certain quality about them that displayed their genuine love for their work and that was exactly why Taiji Tsukichi hired them.