INFERNO ( the GazettE Tale )

Chapter 23 : Darkness Comes

Saturday morning started with Aika staring at her ceiling. She was thinking if what happened hours ago really happened. Did he really come there or was it just her dream. But the tears still streaming down her eyes were shouting her a million yes. There was no doubt that Reita wouldn't want her to see him again and Aika didn't know how to handle that. She wanted to feel his presence, know he was existing. Because this whole thing was happening in such a fast pace, and she was afraid that one night she would wake up and find all of this was just a dream. She didn't want him to be just a dream.

The telephone rang after some moments, forcing her to stand up and reach for the phone on her night stand. She had a glimpse of the digital clock which was showing that it was past two in the afternoon.

"Hello,"

"Tell me, what's the right gift for a guy who has everything." Eri asked on the other line, sounding bored.

Aika then remembered Kazuki's birthday party; she didn't have any gift for him yet, too. "That's what I'm thinking about right now."

"Do you think he'll like it if I give him some concert merchandise?"

"I'm sure he will. You know he likes merch." She mumbled, leaning on her wall as she stared down the floor. "What should I get him?"

"Let's see.... A pair of boxers?" Eri laughed loudly.

Aika smiled a little and thought that Kazuki and a little time with her friend might take her focus away from him. "Want to come with me to buy his boxers?"

The girl at the other line laughed again more loudly and agreed to see her after an hour.

***

"Eri." Aika scolded when Eri showed her another pair of black boxers.

Giggling Eri put them down. "What? I thought you're going to buy him some boxers."

Aika shook her head and walked away from the undergarments area at the department store. "I'm not going to buy him that."

"What, You gonna give him a hand down?" Eri teased, grinning widely.

She turned around to gape at her. "Ew. No! And where do you think I could get a hand down?"

Eri shrugged, pulling a long black jeans when they passed one shelves, inspecting it along the way and tossing it back to another shelve. "I'm gonna go with the merch. You go with the boxers."

"No. Not gonna happen." Aika shook her head, taking a closer look at the different guitar figurines in a glassed stand. "Do you think he'll like this?" She asked not taking her eyes on the ceramics.

Eri glanced at where she was looking then shook her head. "He'll like the boxers more."

"Then help me find a boxer figurine." Aika turned to look at Eri, straight face.

"He'll appreciate it more if he could wear it." She winked at Aika and continued grabbing different kind of jeans.

"Aika! Eri!" The two looked back and saw Oru waving at them as she ran towards the two.

"Oru! What are you doing here?" Aika smiled at her.

Eri looked back at the jeans on her hand, inspecting them even more. "Let me guess. You went out of the comfort of your house just to buy Kazuki a gift, right?"

Oru nodded. "You guys?"

"Same." Aika and Eri both answered and the three giggled.

Aika bought three different guitar figurines and had it gift wrapped in an elegant blue box while Eri bought a shirt of Kazuki's favorite band. They walked in a coffee shop to pass more time. They were laughing and continue talking about different things when Eri asked the wrong question at the wrong time. "So why did Reita dropped out yesterday?"

Aika froze. Her hand stranded in mid air to take her glass, she slowly looked at Eri in a confused way. She never knew he dropped out; he didn't say when he went to her last night. Well how could he say that when he obviously didn't want to talk with her.

"He did?" She held her cold glass of coffee too tight.

Oru nodded and took a sip. "I thought you're the first one to know, turned out it's the other way around."

Aika looked down at her lap. "Well, I'm not that close to him for him to tell me what he'll do next." She said with a tone of annoyance.

"You're close enough. Actually, you're the only person he talks to." Eri took a bite on her cake.

"So he didn't say good bye to you?" Oru looked concern and worry crossed her face.

Aika took a sip first before she answered. "No." Then she thought, maybe last night was the way he said good bye. A painful twitch of her heart made her wince. If it was really a good bye then she really wouldn't be able to see him again. The thought made tears pricked at the corner of her eyes, she stood up hurriedly, collecting her shopping bags.

"I'm sorry, I forgot to do something. I'll see you guys tomorrow." She turned around without looking at them, worried that her tears would make its way down her cheeks if she faced her friends.

Aika round the corner of the main busy street up to a less crowded one, she let out the breath that she didn't realize she was holding. She let the bags fell down her grip and she covered her face with her hands, trying to pull the urge of crying out of her. And when she wasn't expecting it, warm familiar hands gripped both of her wrist pulling them carefully away from her face.

"Aika, what's wrong? What happened?"

She looked up at him from her lashes and let the tears stream down her cheeks. His blond hair was always styled in that same way where she found perfect for him. His chocolate eyes were worried right now and his lips that were once molded on hers were turning into a tight line. She stared at him, trying to remember every inch of his physical attributes to store somewhere in her head. So last night wasn't a good bye, maybe now?

"What are you doing here?" she yanked her hands from his grip and wiped the tears away with the back of her right hand. "You broke up with me, right? You don't have to come here."

His brows furrowed at her like she spoke something foreign. "Broke up? What are you talking about? You were enjoying yourself back there with your friends and the next thing I saw is that you're here, crying."

She fisted her hands and locked her gaze down the ground. "You dropped out of school so you wouldn't have to see me. And that stunt you did last night was enough for me to understand that you're breaking up with me! So, okay! I understand. Go away!"

Reita raked his hand through his hair exasperatedly walking back and forth for a few seconds then faced her again. "You thought... You thought I dropped out so I could avoid you?! Aika, if I wanted to avoid you I would just stay in hell and leave you here!"

"You did. I told you not to leave me last night... but you did." She whispered then she looked up to glare at him. "What do you expect me to think?!"

He held both of her shoulders and looked straight into her eyes. "I never left! I was there! I wanted to go in your room to stop you from crying but I didn't."

"Why not?"

"You know why." His hands fell limply at his side; he looked away with sorrow in his eyes. "I know you're afraid of me now."

"The hell I'm afraid of you! I'm afraid of you, whenever you leave. Without any idea if you'll come back or not! I'm afraid of you, that one day you'll just disappear and take everything with you, this feeling with you!" She shouted at the top of her lungs, not minding the people who had stop to watch them.

She bended down to take the bags and turned to another street not taking another glance at his place. She was walking in a hurry, trying to get out of the street when a tight hand grabbed her wrist. She stopped, taking a deep breath before she spun around to yell again at Reita, but surprised herself when she was faced to a dirty old woman. Her black hair was frizz around a chaotic way, her clothes were all covered with dirt and mud, and the long black nails of her dug in Aika's wrist painfully as the woman tightened her grip on her. Her adamant black eyes locked Aika's.

"The darkness is coming for you..."