My job has taken me to places that have plenty of beauty in them but it is always marred by the reason i am there. Anything that was once beautiful becomes overshadowed by the darkness i go there to spill: the death and violence.
But Kyoto is beautiful in a way that feels preserved from all of that.
The streets are clean and winding, the town overhanging with small older buildings. Every corner invaded with some form of delicate greenery. The top of every street forms a hill where you can see the skyline and in this time of morning it is so bright it feels like a painting hung in the sky.
"Pretty, huh?" A voice says from behind me and I see Nagisa stepping up to the railing i am leaning my arms across.
"Yes...very much" I reply quietly as if afraid to disturb the scenery. As if the sound of my voice, the sound of me and everything I am might infect these beautiful surroundings and turn them into something blackened and ruined.
"Are you sure you're okay?" He asks me and I release a breath, leaning away from the railing.
"Yeah. I'm fine, just stretching my legs" I step down from the railing, liking the way the soft breeze brushes the stuffiness of the coach ride from my skin.
"As long as you're sure" Nagisa replies uncertainly, and pulls out a large book from his satchel "The travel guide says there's plenty of places to visit. Karma, Kaede, Sugino, Okuda and Kanzaki are waiting for us"
I nod and follow him to the rest of our group. This group being the only people who don't look at me like I'm going to bite their heads off...and if they do think that, they have the decency to hide it.
"Where are we going first?" Sugino's enthusiastic voice punctuates the air and Nagisa flips through the guide.
"There's assassination landmarks to visit, i think we should start there, maybe we can learn something?" Nagisa suggests and I hear a disgruntled sigh.
"Are you always such a goody, Nagisa?" Karma accuses him as he leans over his shoulder, easily reaching past him to flip through the pages,
"I think it's a good place to start" Kanzaki adds sweetly.
"Yeah, so do i, Kanzaki" Sugino agrees quickly, his eyes following Kanzaki as she flips her ribbons of black hair over one shoulder.
Poor guy's pretty obvious about that crush, I think to myself when Nagisa tucks the book out of Karma's reach and addresses everyone.
"Okay, it seems we're starting with the first landmark on Koro-sensei's list" He announces and we march off as a group.
I fall to the back as everyone falls into step together chatting easily and I can't help but feel fidgety. Everything I would normally be doing has a goal, a purpose. I get my confidence from the fact I'm working towards something but knowing I'm gaining nothing by being here is making me feel unsettled. I can't do anything until I've found out more about what Sakurai and his friend in 'HR' know. With the added fact i can't make it look like I've stopped trying to kill the octopus. Being without an immediate goal, for me, is like being without one of my limbs, i feel incomplete...
"So your only two moods are rage or silently broody? Glad we're learning so much about you, Agent" Karma falls into step beside me, hands characteristically in his pockets and eyes narrowed in that disinterested way as if the world around him never meets his standard.
"I can add other moods to that list if you'd like. Like spiteful...or worse" I tell him and his eyes flick down to me.
"You can be worse than this?" He mocks.
YOU ARE READING
To Kill For the Truth (BOOK 1)
Fanfic~ "That's the problem here. You say you want the truth as if it means the same thing to you as it does to me, but there's a big difference here. I'll kill for the truth" ~ Anri Matsuoka had spent her whole life knowing what she was good at. Killing...
