Marionette

Oceans, Chapter Twenty Seven - Kōsoku [拘束]

The world was cold and gloomy when Amaya came to consciousness.

For a Sunday in May, it was as different from a late-Spring day as a heat-wave in October.

It reflected her emotional state like a mirror.

She remembered that she woke up to a mostly dark room, rain pelting down against the side of the building, and thunder rolling in the distance.

She found herself lying in a bed that was unfamiliar, and yet there was a warmth that was familiar, even though she wasn't sure what was responsible for it at first. Arms were wrapped gently around her shoulders, comforting. There was a hint of tension there, too, as if their owner was lost in a less than pleasant train of thought.

Or perhaps it was a figment of her imagination.

Amaya remembered that she lied there, eyes closed until the owner of the comforting arms had decided it was best to rouse her from presumed slumber what was quite a while later. The events following this was a blur to her, however it was somewhere in the middle of the day that he'd gone with her across the road to let her into her apartment.

Uncertain and concerned, Karma seemed to be particularly thoughtful about something in connection to her, though he didn't bring it up.

Much like whenever something was on his mind, there was no use in prying. And even if she hadn't known that, she didn't have any heart in her to consider whether it was worth suffering a tube of caramel forced down her throat.

He didn't leave once she was inside her apartment - It was only when Reiko and Yuta had gotten back from their time at Kouichi's Grandmother's house hours later that he went home.

Though it wasn't until after he'd spoken to Reiko alone outside that he'd actually left.

There was nothing further about this day that she could recall, even while entirely conscious the next day.

There was still unease in her, that of which would take her over if she let herself drift to thought or lost her composure, however she could at least function close to normal if she put a bit of effort behind it.

Amaya's morning was unremarkable in comparison to anything else of late, both in a fortunate, and mis-fortunate way.

She roused her siblings from slumber, and at some point that felt later than normal, she'd left for school.

She couldn't recall if anything noteworthy had happened, because she ran on autopilot for the most part. If nothing else, she'd ended up at the foot of the Class E mountain without even realizing that a couple of the delinquent groups had tried to get her attention, but gave up when she'd just walked past them without realizing it.

It was almost like they realized it was probably a better idea to leave her alone today, after getting a proper look at her.

Though later she realized it was because Karma had been right there with her the whole time since she'd left the apartment - she was just too lost in her internal dwellings to notice anything around her.

It wasn't like he'd tried to get her attention though.

When she jolted to awareness and realized he was there, he waved it off without even thinking about it when she went to apologize. Much like it really didn't matter, because there was something in her lack of awareness that suited him at that moment.

Class was as remarkable as her morning, and it drolled on past without her consciously realizing it.

About the most she knew was that it was a lot of lecturing, and the odd question asked here and there by Koro-sensei to see if the students were listening. People greeted her, spoke to her, and she responded in kind, in her usual manner she projected forward, and yet she couldn't remember very much of it.