Fate of Pandora - Book II

A Simple Stroll In The Park

After the failed attempt at the cemetery, Midori thought it wasn't all a complete loss of time. Compared to her first suggestions, the old shaman noticed that natural places, or areas with less human-interference like the cemetery, emitted stronger energies. Unfortunately, she was very busy the coming week and wasn't able to track another location down.

On Tuesday, Coalt and Ayame went to the orphanage after work to help. Spending their evenings fixing the orphanage was becoming a routine for the two of them. Little Toya followed them from room to room, watching every move Coalt made. It didn't bother him much anymore. Then he had an idea that maybe the boy wanted to try to help, so Coalt decided to give him some practice.

"Hey, Toya. Can you bring the tool box closer?" he asked, and the little boy nodded energetically.

Toya walked to the metal box and struggled to lift it an inch off the ground. One thing was for sure, the young boy was persistent and kept trying to push or pull the heavy box, but without success. When Ayame realized that Coalt was taunting the child she scolded him.

"Hey! He's going to get hurt!" Her expression made his smile disappear.

"It's just a little joke." Coalt cleared his throat and a moment later his grin returned. "It would have been fun to have a younger brother; I would annoy the heck out of him."

"That's mean!" Ayame scowled.

"No, that's brotherly love." Now he was having fun messing with Ayame, who rolled her eyes at the bad joke.

Shortly after, Midori finally called the two to her office and they hurried over, hoping for new instructions on their next goal. This time, though, she had nowhere in particular for them to go.

"I'm sorry. I'm very tired and I have a lot of paperwork this week. Bureaucracy is always a pain," Midori apologized while passing a hand over her short gray hair. Seeing the disappointed look on their faces, she quickly added, "However, there is something you two can do during the week. Check the parks in Tokyo. I have a feeling that will be heading in the right direction."

At first, Coalt had thought that was a simple suggestion. He believed they could cover all of the city parks before the end of the week. That is, until he received a list of the parks and addresses from the old woman.

"Damn. There are a lot of them in this city!" he complained.

"I know." Midori sounded tired, but making the list for them was the best she could do right now. "You two should check all those places, or most of them, and tell me if you discover anything." She hurried them out of her office. "The best would be to check at least two places every night after your work-shift."

"It will be difficult to search two big parks in one night," Ayame said thoughtfully.

"Do it if possible. You can split up to search the small parks if you prefer." Kairi meowed to call the woman's attention. "Oh, and Kairi could check a third one. Now hurry up, you two! You can start tonight."

They thanked Midori one more time and headed out to take her advice. She watched them dash to their next mission without looking back, the small black cat right on their heels.

"Hopefully, we're going in the right direction this time." She silently wished them luck before closing the front door.

They did exactly as Midori had ordered them and checked the small parks and gardens first, splitting up and searching three places at once. They found nothing but the usual trees and sculptures, and Coalt began crossing names off the list. When Friday came along, they had gone through all of the smaller grounds, and only the biggest parks remained. They had a lot of ground to cover, and the trio decided to go through each one together.