[OLD] Book 1: Densetsu.EXEcution

Chapter 16 - Execution

Chapter 16: Execution

About three weeks had passed since the Harvest Festival concert. It was now the end of November. Saki stood beside Arashi in line at the grocery store near Malway Academy, dressed in a bright red trenchcoat, buttoned up neatly to her neck. Arashi expectantly wore his normal blue great-coat. It was a Tuesday, a day which Arashi did his shopping for the week. Since he was staying with Saki, the bubbly 15 year-old girl accompanied him, leaving the cart full of many sweets and baked goods that Arashi normally wouldn’t have purchased.

“They finally started carrying Ramune again!” Saki exclaimed, excited that her favorite carbonated drink was being stocked once more.

“Don’t you have enough Japanese merchandise at home?” Arashi asked in a joking manner. He knew that Saki wasn’t going to listen to him, and would therefore be buying the small bottle of Japanese soda contained by an even smaller marble.

“Have you ever even tried Ramune?” Saki challenged him, “It’s really good! They have Melon, Strawberry, Orange, Litchi…”

Arashi interrupted her. “What is Litchi?” he asked. Saki frowned attentively.

“You don’t know what Litchi is?” she asked with shock, “How do you not know what Litchi is?” Arashi held his hands up in response to Saki’s chastity and laughed.

As the final stop on his shopping trip, every three months Arashi would purchase a bottle of blue hair dye. His natural hair color was black. He preferred it in the lighter cyan-tinted shade he normally kept it in, and he had already bleached his hair so many times that if he didn’t continue to dye it, it would look white. Saki, whose natural hair color was blonde, had an excessive amount of dye placed in her hair and usually purchased 3 bottles on a yearly basis.

Noting the bottles of hair dye lined on the shelves, Arashi found a bottle of white hair dye. He remembered that Usagi would dye his hair every other Wednesday due to its unusual pink tone.

“Where is Usagi these days?” Saki asked, as if she were reading Arashi’s mind.

“Haven’t seen him since Midori left,” Arashi replied bluntly, “He’s probably sleeping.” He laughed.

“Makes sense,” Saki said, smiling at the thought of Usagi lying on his bed with half his body slouching off the side.

After feeding her pets, which were a goldfish and cat of 2 years, Saki waved goodbye to Arashi as she ran off toward Marrow Pass. After the concert, Saki had asked Akida to go out with her, and he had said yes. Arashi felt indifferently to this, because he saw the two on a regular basis anyway. The only difference was that he was alone a bit more because one usually preoccupied the other.

He noticed something odd after Saki left today. The shy AI that normally shadowed him was nowhere to be found. Kiri, who would normally be right by Arashi’s side attempting to hide away from human life, was absent. Arashi looked around with a bewildered expression as if he was expecting Kiri to show up through some kind of telepathy, but she remained absent. Listening for any sounds of movement, Arashi could hear slow footsteps.

“Kiri, is that you?” he asked, but he remembered that Kiri didn’t wear shoes, and instead wore a pair of soft baby-blue socks that wouldn’t make a sound. He had never encountered someone while he was completely alone, and grew nervous. He looked around again until he was interrupted by a voice.

“I’ve found you…” it said. It was dark, cynical and evil-sounding.

“Who’s there?” Arashi asked, looking around as his legs shook a bit. He was positive it wasn’t Kiri who had spoken. “Usagi? Akida? Aodah?” He knew it was a man’s voice, but whose?