No. 6

CHAPTER 1 - Your Last Embrace

Finally, you are here.
I have been waiting for you.

***

O here
Will I set up my everlasting rest
And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars
From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last.
Arms, take your last embrace!
-Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act V Scene III 

***

A white light stabbed at his eyes.

It was blinding.

The light was overpowering.

The place overflowed with light, and glittered.

It was unmistakable―it was the world of No. 6.

Yes, No. 6 had always been like this. Brimming with light; releasing it. I've returned. Shion clenched his hand into a tight fist. He was thumped on the back.

"Take a deep breath," Nezumi said. "Breathe out and get rid of all your emotions. A split second of hesitation or excitement can cost you your life. Keep your head."

"Got it. You too. Follow me, and don't fall behind." Suddenly, he felt the urge to laugh. It tickled in his chest.

"What?" Nezumi drew his chin back. "What're you grinning about?"

"No... just thinking about how great it feels to say 'follow me' to you. Before, I was always the one to be told that."

"―You know, Shion, you're―" Nezumi closed his mouth mid-sentence, and shook his head.

The door opened fully. The light hit them head-on.

"Let's go, Nezumi." Shion unclenched his fist, and glided out into the white light.

He smiled? Nezumi shook his head, and chewed his lip. He felt suffocated, though only a little. How can he smile at a time like this? And from the bottom of his heart, like he was really happy. It wasn't bravado. It wasn't fake. In a moment they would be stepping into the Correctional Facility, and yet, Shion had smiled. He had been able to smile.

Just thinking about how great it feels to say 'follow me' to you.

What the hell? What are we, a couple of students making idle chatter and laughing on the way home from school? Why? Why is it that you seem not to feel nervous at all? Don't you understand what kind of situation you're in right now?

He could hurl as many insults as he liked. But, Nezumi muttered under his breath, but it's still amazing. He couldn't help it; his feeling of awe was stronger than his desire to insult the boy.

I can't smile like that. Give an innocent and carefree laugh―it's just not gonna happen with me. Right now we're about to step into a danger zone that might as well be a minefield. I can't spare the energy to laugh.

He wasn't afraid. He wasn't going to flinch. But he was tense. This stance prepared him for battle. He needed this shift in mind and body so that he could manoeuvre himself out of the way of an attacking enemy; so that he could turn around and sink his fangs into the enemy's throat. Shion had none of that. He didn't even have the fighting mentality.

Numerous times, Nezumi had felt frustrated at him. Where did you leave your fangs and claws behind? he would think. He had even slapped Shion's cheek out of sheer frustration.

He had thought that Shion was frail. He was far weaker, far more fragile than Nezumi. Like a newly-hatched chick, he was defenseless and powerless... he had not a single skill to survive in this harsh reality. But that didn't mean that Nezumi scorned or looked down upon Shion.