Unknotting Fate

CHAPTER 26: Break Up

Kana first saw a pink flamingo painting hanging on an unfamiliar yellow wall.

"Where the hell am I?" he groaned. Kana tried to recall what had led him to this bedroom. He remembered something pulled him from the tent and plunged him into a nightmare. Reflecting on the visions tightens his chest. Then, something diluted the panic and stole his attention. He felt power. Unreined power flowed inside of him. It has been a long time since he felt this.

He leaped out of bed and headed downstairs, desperate to see Ko. When he reached the living room, he saw a man, a woman, and two young girls sitting on the couch. They were all unconscious.

 "What the hell happened here?" Kana uttered. Then he heard his voice.

"You told me to put salt, so I did. You suck at giving directions."

Fireworks exploded in his heart. He followed his voice in a dazed.

"Bestie, you're a great slayer but a horrible cook. Even if I did not say the exact measurement, throwing one pack is just plain stupid." Amu said as she looked in disgust at the contents of the steaming pot.

"Now that I think about it, I have no other life skills than slaying the likes of you guys," He wiped his hands with a kitchen towel and placed it beside the stove.

"Sol agrees. Ko is useless."

"That's not what I said, bastard."

"Sol is not a bastard!"

"What is going on?" Kana interrupted their banter.

All three looked at him simultaneously. Their faces turned ash white.

Kana just stared back and patiently waited for an answer. It was a good three minutes of staring till Ko came to his senses and walked towards him. Ko looked at him with a loving gaze, and it terrified Kana. It was the same look Ko wore in the dream. Eventually, that face turned sour as the daydream became a nightmare.

Ko stopped in front of him. "How are you feeling? Are you hurt? You've been sleeping for two days straight. Are you hungry?" Ko asked.

"I'm....feeling strong, stronger than I've felt in a long ti–Wait! I've been asleep for 2 days!"

"Do you not remember what happened in the cave?" Ko asked.

Kana sat down on the kitchen table. "No, what happened?"

Ko told him about the Chuka-Chuka demons, how he was unconscious and had to be carried all the way here for shelter against the storm.

Kana watched Ko's face as he told the story. He knew that Ko was not telling him the whole story. The way Sol and Amu were avoiding eye contact was highly fishy.

Ko was about to sit beside him on the kitchen table, but then Amu shouted, "Fire!" The kitchen towel beside the stove caught on fire.

"Bestie, why did you place it there?"

"Stop blaming everything on me!"

 Ko rushed and threw the towel over the running water in the sink. Thankfully, the fire went out quickly. But trouble was only starting. The oven emitted large blocks of smoke.

"Amu! The oven!" Sol shouted.

"What the hell is going on? Why is there smoke coming out suddenly? We only just put the food inside."

"Sol thinks both of you suck!"

"This is not my fault!" Ko and Amu shouted simultaneously.

Amu quickly turned off the oven, but the thick smoke permeated the kitchen.