Marionette

Cosmos, Chapter Seventeen - Akusei [悪性]

Unlike his usual, haughty self, Hayashi appeared to have become rather quiet, haggard even.

And that did not bode well, for whatever it was he wanted Amaya to do for him.

An air of awkward tension had overcome the underground art studio like a thick smog, all the while Reiko and Amaya remained silent in the kitchen turned-workshop. She'd decided to turn her phone completely off and remove the battery, and she'd told both Reiko and Hayashi to do as such.

The delinquent humored her, along with a more complying Reiko, though he didn't fail to cast her a suspicious look.

'Alright, guess I'd better start from the simple...' The delinquent muttered, straightening up on his backwards chair slightly as he decided to look her straight in the eye. 'The favor I need from ya more than anythin' else Katsuragi, is t'go on one of ya infamous rampages.'

Amaya shook her head slightly at that, ignoring the wide-eyed look Reiko had shot at her.

'Wait ... one of my rampages?!' Amaya questioned in disbelief.

She knew exactly what he was talking about of course – Karma loved to mock her for them, calling her yangire amongst other things.

If Hayashi legitimately needed help, the way he was wording things wasn't helping his case.

'Look, it's in a nutshell exactly what I need ya t'do.' Hayashi sighed, lifting a hand to run it through his hair. 'But not in a "murder anythin' and everythin' in sight" way. Just a group of very specific people.'

Amaya could only sigh as she buried her hands in the pockets of her pants, her shoulders slumping as she leaned against the edge of the doorframe.

'I think you need to re-examine your vocabulary...' Amaya muttered as she fixed a rather cold look upon the weary blond. 'I don't do rampages, and even if I did, that's something completely different to what you're saying.'

'No, it's not.' Hayashi affirmed with a steely gaze, his hands clenching over the back of his chair. 'I legitimately want ya to brutalize to the point of mental and emotional trauma, on mass. Worse than what ya did to Ryoji over that knife to ya bro's neck.'

'Fine, but why me?' She questioned with a sigh, sparing a glance to a perturbed Reiko sitting silently on the chair. 'Karma's always up for torturing people and worse, I'm sure he'd leap at the opportunity.'

'To be blunt, Katsuragi, it has to be someone who ain't scary to cowards who ain't encountered your type.' Hayashi explained, his gaze darkening. 'Akabane nor any other guy would be able to instill sheer terror of innocent bystanders in the streets by doin' this, but any girl or woman would.'

'So, they're the sort that smack down on those they think are weaker than them?' Amaya's brow furrowed slightly as she thought on that for a few seconds. 'That would probably make the target victims women and children...'

'Y'got it in one.' Hayashi agreed with a sigh. 'Ya met some of their sort last time before school I bumped inta ya.'

Yeah, the easily angered swine that got mad when she dropped a so called friend when he tried to grab her.

She couldn't claim to be particularly fond of their kind.

'You know, honestly it sounds more like you want me to legitimately kill them.' Amaya responded cautiously.

'No, but I want ya to come within' an inch of doin' that, on all of them. Their spirits have t'be broken beyond repair, otherwise it won't finish anythin'.'