Hades

Chapter Twenty Six - The Deception, Part One

Chapter Twenty Six: The Deception Part One

Over the next few days, Uxi and Honda watched as Watanabe visited Harusame's apartment more and more.

The cat and the bat, forced to be silent (and in Uxi's case, hidden), observed as the tall young man took the place of their master on Harusame's carpeted floor, as they chatted about her possible future career in photography.

Harusame knew she had no future career in photography – she had no future full stop – but somehow Watanabe's encouragement and praise of her beautiful pictures were exactly what she needed. She was quickly becoming the centre of attention in school thanks to her photo of Hades, which it seemed every girl in her class had saved as wallpaper on their mobile phone.

She was humbled by all the sudden popularity, but also wished that her other photos would be taken into consideration. It gave her a prickly feeling inside to think that she owed her success only to Hades, who hadn't even the grace to compliment or even notice it.

He had stopped sleeping at her apartment and hadn't come by since their fight; something which she told herself she was happy about, though the burning sensation in her chest told her differently. It was only in the dead of night, in the witching hour where all is silent and still, that she allowed herself to weaken and think of him, tears stinging her eyes and soaking her pillow.

Hades also thought he was doing brilliantly without her. 'After all,' he reminded himself constantly, 'it was only a temporary arrangement. I'd have had to get used to life without her eventually.' Then why, he wondered, did it all suddenly seem so utterly pointless again?

He spent more time than ever wandering various places in the human world, although this too seemed pointless as no matter where he went he had no destination. So instead, a creature of habit, he returned to the park across from the café, where Dawson continued to play shogi with any opponent he could find.

'Hey old man,' he said, appearing in the rain one day. 'Got the time for a game with me?'

Dawson gave him a wide smile and gestured for Hades to take a seat with one ham-sized fist.

'For you, sonny? Always.'

The black and white, win or lose simplicity of the game helped clear his mind, which seemed to be straining underneath a great weight. If he lost then he lost; that was all there was to it. Maybe he just wasn't meant to win in life. Maybe he wasn't meant to be happy.

The last thing in the world he would ever admit, either to himself or anyone else, was that he missed the Technicolor memory, the sanctuary of her room with fairytales, warm baths, a view of the stars and the smell of honeysuckle.

*

Honda found he liked sitting on the swings in the park waiting for Treielle, even when he suspected he might never see her again.

He was supposing that old habits really did die hard, when a pair of hands grabbed him from behind. The cat in him yowled loudly, preparing to scratch the face of his attacker, but it turned out their face had already suffered some damage.

'Treielle,' he mewed, 'your eye...!'

The girl just smiled sadly and sat down on the swing. She placed the cat onto the swing next to hers, and gripped the chains.

'I'm so glad...you came back,' he said nervously.

'It was the first thought I had when I was reborn into this form,' she said. 'I just knew I had to go to the nearest swing set, though I had no idea why. Isn't that funny?'