[OLD] Book 1: Densetsu.EXEcution

Chapter 6 - The Reveal

Chapter 6: The Reveal

Autumn was the wettest season of the year in Malway. It rained nearly every day toward the middle of the season. ”Don’t you think it’s unfair?” Akida had once asked Arashi after the first week of an autumn’s rain, “Because of the weather being this way, there isn’t time for anything that you would do during the summer. Do you believe it should be like that?”

Arashi’s response was always the same. “It doesn’t matter to me,” he would say, “It was raining back then, too.” He was referring to the day his parents disappeared. “The rain just shows the calm before the storm. The real storm, when winter’s sorrow begins to set in.”

“Do you believe that winter is always sad?” Akida would ask, “Winter holidays are of celebration for things that are cherished. Is that true sadness, then?”

“Guess so.”

And he would never have an answer. Arashi didn’t believe in happiness ever since the day his parents vanished. “Wh-What happened that day, if you don’t mind me asking?” Kiri inquired, looking Arashi deep in the eyes as she held Aoi in her arms. Arashi shoved his hands into his great coat’s pockets and looked out the sunroof in Akida’s room. The floor was made of wood, and a green rug was on the floor.

“I’ll tell you,” Arashi said, trying to recall things. “It was eight years ago. I was nine years old…”

I was nine years old. My parents had raised me pretty solidly up until that day. It was a rainy autumn afternoon when they told me. You see, my parents were both bounty hunters. Akida’s father was a prosecutor, Usagi’s father was the district attorney, and Saki’s father was a detective. That’s how our families met.

It was time for Usagi’s father to announce the final verdict for the trial of a marauder named Viktor DiVincio. The Judge had ordered, so my parents told me, that all key witnesses in the trial be present. Both of my parents had accepted bounties relative to the case, and had also been in court a few times before.

“Arashi,” my mother had said, “Your father and I need to testify against Viktor DiVincio in court. We’ll be back in a few days. Will you be alright with Saki and Akida while we’re gone?”

“Of course!” I said, my voice flowing with enthusiasm. Back then, I loved spending time with those around me. I guess you could say that day was the reason I became so quiet…so secluded, so ill-mannered.

Taifurashi Kazeyoru was my mother. Sunarashi was my father. Their names translated to Typhoon Storm, and Sandstorm. My name translates to Storm. I guess anyone could have seen the irony in these events. I heard a number of different stories about what happened, but they never came back.

Akida’s mother died of an alcohol overdose shortly after he was born. His father, Yuuki, became a prosecutor because of his wife’s death. From Yuuki’s memory, the trial was interrupted, and Viktor DiVincio was never handed a verdict. The reason was because of a freak accident. Someone sabotaged the courtroom to prevent a verdict from being handed down—and in order to successfully murder everyone in the courtroom—including the Judge Kousaka, detective Mitsurashi, Prosecutor Nomura and most importantly to me, the witnesses—my parents.

Yuuki managed to escape the flames of the courtroom alive, although he sustained many burns from the incident. The only bodies that were found were Judge Kousaka’s and the suspect, Viktor DiVincio’s. The culprit was never found, nor was the cause of the sabotage. All that was revealed to the public was the fire that was started as the sabotage.