[OLD] Book 1: Densetsu.EXEcution

Chapter 10 - Guilty Conscious

Chapter 10: Guilty Conscious

It had been two months since Midori relinquished possession of the body of Saki Mitsurashi. The young girl had spent the last two months sitting alone in her bedroom with the curtains closed, as she saw herself as alone. Although indirectly, Midori had achieved her goal to becoming a Rogue by simply possessing Saki. All she had left was her pet goldfish—Akira, and her pet kitten—Mizuko. Occasionally she would notice a light emanate from her cell phone. When this happened, it was her friend from Italy texting her.

She sighed as she replied. Oh, Ayako…I wish you were here…Ever since you moved to Italy, I’ve felt so alone… I wish you could come and visit, but I’m sure you’re happier living in Florence anyway. As she sent her text message, the light emanating from her cell phone suddenly faded. That’s odd, I just charged this… She attempted to turn her cell phone back on.

The light from her phone re-appeared, although this time it was a bright red. Wh-What’s going now? She asked herself. She pressed the ‘accept call’ button on her phone and placed it by her ear. “H-hello?”

“So you’ve answered…” replied a man’s voice. “That means you can see me…”

“Wh-Who’s there? Who is this?” Saki asked nervously, “Is this a prank call? Because if it is, I’m hanging up.”

“Your sorrow is the bane of your existence,” the voice said, “Can’t you recognize exactly why you live in depression?” Saki looked up suddenly, her bright blue eyes shining an even brighter color. “Well now, it appears you lack that very emotion…The emotion of remorse… How terrible. You lack the ability to feel pain. It seems you are missing a number of emotions. Well, I suppose I can help you out with this contract.”

The man appeared before Saki. His long blue hair covered his right eye, which was red. He wore a teal coat which had the zodiac symbol of Aquarius embedded in yellow at several locations. There was a sorrowful look in his left eye, which was blue. “My name is Aquarius Rainheart,” he said to Saki, looking her in the eyes. “Don’t be afraid, I do not wish to hurt you like Midori did.”

“H-How do you know about Midori?” Saki asked, afraid.

“Like Midori, I am also an AI,” Aquarius replied in a gentle tone, “I’ve already written the contract, so there’s no need to cry. My purpose was to spread positive emotion to humankind. I’ve realized that it’s not possible, but I’ve accepted that.”He hesitated for a moment. “Can you feel it? Can you feel my emotions intertwine with yours?”

“It feels…” Saki said, “…so odd… Like I don’t know…I feel really bad about something all of a sudden, like I hurt a really close friend.”

“This world needs more heroes,” Aquarius said, “I hope you will be one of them.”

“Arashi mentioned something about that,” Saki said looking down at her feet, “That a girl named Kiri came to him to ask him to help save the world from destruction or something.”

“So you know Ms. Yabureme as well?” Aquarius asked, “My, this will be perhaps my most interesting contract yet.”

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Arashi stood beside Kiri and Akida, looking onward to the sunrise on top of Marrow Peak. The wind blew past them, causing Akida and Kiri’s scarves to flow in the wind, and Arashi and Kiri’s coats to do the same. All Arashi had thought about for the last two months was what he had experienced when fighting Midori, and more importantly to him, the assassin that had tried to murder Akida.

He shivered a bit as the breeze caused several orange-red leaves to fall from a tree above the peaks. Autumn weather was always so beautiful to Arashi. Akida chuckled as a leaf landed on top of Kiri’s head. She hadn’t even noticed it until Akida brushed it off her head. She fidgeted her head around nervously, trying to find who touched her. When she realized it was Akida, she relaxed a bit. Akida smirked, holding the leaf between his middle and index fingers.