The Flower and the Butterfly

The Worst Moment - Part 2

Five hours earlier...

Hayashi had just left his room... Now Shinobu and I were alone again, sipping tea. We'd be going to bed soon after all... We have this habit of staying up late... It must be midnight judging by the sky...

-"Are you sleepy already, Mitsuri-san?"

-"Not really, to be honest. And you?"

-"Not either... I think I'll keep organizing these plants..." She had bought some herbs from other stores, but everything was a mess.

-"I see. Well, I was thinking of taking a walk outside after you're done. What do you think?" Shinobu and I were both wearing kimonos, after all, there was no reason to wear our uniforms.

-"Sure, I'll speed this up a bit, and then we'll go, okay?" She moved her head, nodding.

-"Of course, I'll be waiting here." And that's what I did... Just stared at the ceiling and swung my legs... Bored. A moment passed, maybe just a few minutes. Shinobu had finally finished the sorting.

-"Alright, I'm done, Mitsuri-san!" I immediately stood up, full of energy! All the boredom stored up was now being released... Anything would have excited me at that point.

-"I didn't expect you to get so excited over this." She giggled and got closer to me, giving me a small kiss on the cheek.

-"Let's go."

-"Y-yeah." I felt a bit shy after the sudden kiss, but we headed to the door and left... We walked through the place peacefully... The quietness of the night calmed everything... It felt like there were no problems in the world.

-"Is everything okay?" Shinobu asked, sounding a bit concerned.

-"Yeah, yeah... I was just reflecting on things." Shinobu kept walking but glanced at me out of the corner of her eye with a smile.

-"You know you can tell me anything, right?"

-"Yeah, yeah... When it comes to you, I trust..." I chuckled as I finished talking and held Shinobu's hand tightly. Not many people were awake in the village; one or two passed by.

-"Isn't it strange that everything is so quiet today?"

-"People must already be asleep... That's why we don't see many around..." A few more steps, and we reached the entrance to the village forest.

-"We've reached the end, it seems..."

-"Yeah... Is there anything else you'd like to do?" Shinobu asked, yawning a bit... She seemed to be getting sleepy. I laughed a bit.

-"Just being with you is enough... And it looks like you already want to go back, don't you?"

-"I didn't bother hiding it... Haha."

-"Well, we can start heading back then." I turned around, letting go of Shinobu's hand and offering her my arm.

-"Shall we?" I said in a playful way, like I was a knight. Shinobu blushed a little but placed one hand beside my arm and held onto it.

-"Y-yes, let's go." I blushed a bit, but we started walking back... "How strange... It's really quiet... It's scary... Why is no one awake in the village at this hour?" And just when my thoughts stopped, it happened... As if evil knew what I was thinking and wanted to make everything worse... A gunshot sound, followed by screams and destruction.

-"What was that!?" I asked, looking around, but I couldn't see any signs of a fight, just hear it... It seemed far away.

-"Mitsuri! Is it an attack?" Shinobu asked, becoming alert... She then pulled my arm.