Archive Of Potentialities.

Short Story: Dreamer [6]

Chapter 6: Free Will and Lies
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It was raining in Tempest, and 12 year old Ayase was feeling mischievous.

Peeking from behind a pillar of her family home in Tempest's Residential District, she quietly observed her father, who seemed to be lost in thought and thoroughly distracted.

Her mother was close by as well, but she didn't seem to share her husband's lack of awareness.

Ayase pouted, wondering how she was supposed to sneak away under her mother's roaming gaze.

Ayase wasn't a child especially known for her patience, nor would anyone claim she had a remarkable talent for stealth. 

Her parents knew it, and she had come to learn it as well.

Repetitive scoldings were enough to drill the fact into her fairly juvenile mind.

So she decided to do something she had never thought of before…something so outlandish that the child felt she was dooming herself.

But..she had no choice. The rain was showing no signs of abating, and the atmosphere in the house was positively sedating.

So, Ayase, gathering all the courage she had accumulated in her meager lifetime, decided to ask for permission.

Shuffling out from behind her rather conspicuous hiding place, she approached her father, who was lounging on a recliner, facing the ceiling length windows that Ayase liked to leave open (much to her mother's chagrin).

Her mother took notice of her almost immediately, making Ayase feel some sort of weird satisfaction at predicting such an outcome.

Her spirits rose as she convinced herself she had made the right decision. Ayase didn't feel that often, so it was a novel experience.

She flicked his left horn with her fingers to catch his attention. She always suspected he found that habit of hers strange, but she liked doing it anyway.

The sensation of the horns on her fingers was oddly satisfying.

His eyes opened immediately, and they fixed themselves on her.

“Ah, Ayase. You surprised me,” He said, her mother snorted in the background, as if he said something funny.

Ayase shifted on her feet. Asking for permission for something she usually didn't was unfamiliar to her, and she didn't know how to even start.

“I'm…uh.. bored,” She ended up saying, simply.

She fiddled with her fingers, waiting for her father to give her free reign to do anything she wanted.

Sadly, such a miracle didn't come to pass.

“Well, would you like to play a game with me?” He asked.

“No, thanks.”

Ayase didn't mean to respond so fast, but the thought of being dragged into another boring Shogi game was too much for her. Her father seemed to enjoy that game a little too much, but she never saw the appeal.

For one, why should she care about “strategy” and “critical thinking”? Those sounded boring and adult, she'd rather not.

Her mother chuckled from where she was on the other side of the living room, reading some book.

“I have feelings you know…you don't have to sound so against it..” Ayase fixed an empty gaze on him, wondering how long it would take for him to stop pouting.