The Butterfly Effect [DISCONTINUED]

Chapter 1.19 ー Eyes

Author's Note:
This chapter is dedicated to LackadaisicalPerson, who courageously aided me when it came to a certain pale-violet graphic down below. Thank you so much!
❀✿

Hɪʙɪᴋɪ

It's been a while, hasn't it?

My apologies, for my previous snark-filled retelling. I've heard the complaints. I'll try to be nicer.

As soon as Haruka heaved the lesser of two twins and alcoholic sunshine over to a clearing, I ordered her to go back and pick up something edible from the gardens. She looked a bit peaceful, which made me wonder if the lack of orders until then was unnerving for an artificial intelligence. I did feel bad, that her previously white attire had greyed, stained with ash, but I shoved the pity away at the thought that I might resemble Tomoe for such things.

I had picked up a piece of debris from the mansion, tossing it on a pile with an assortment of rocks and sticks, courtesy of Sora, who also offered to make a fire, most definitely to shy away from the stillness between Kotone and myself.

The two of us were strangers, her brother was unconscious by a tree stump, next to yet another stranger, and here she had a demon trying to read her soul. I'd call it sympathy, but I didn't feel as kind as I could've.

At the moment, we were all surrounded by the woods, and the darkening eve. Sora was kneeling, rubbing two sticks together like her life depended on it-- not that she would get a fire like that, the fool. Kotone sat next to her, but I could smell her anxiety from a mile away. Days like this make me hate having a stronger sense of smell than humans.

Twenty minutes, I knew. Just twenty minutes until Haruka comes back to end the silence with her arrival. Twenty, long, awkward minutes. I can't wait that long.

Kotone looked up at me. She was staring at my horns, and I could feel it. I stared right back. A predator's gaze, I was once told. Too direct, too unblinking for a human being.

"Little witch, why do you glare?" I queried, pulling my cowl over my head.

She fiddled with her hands, picking at her nails. Stumpy nails, expected of someone who does manual labor for a living. "Who are you?" She paused, and Sora glanced at her, "What did you do to my brother?"

Introductions were tedious, are tedious, and forever will be. "Akki Shadou, Emperor to the Shadou Empire. You may call me Hibiki, formalities bore me."

She placed a hand on her chest. "My name is Kotone. I had a last name but it was removed when I became a servant."

Sora chimed in too. "Sora Kitsune... I actually have no official titles." She stuck her thumb out at me. "Hibiki calls me a fox anyway. Tomoe's the one in the pretty dark blue suit, and Haruka--"

"Yes, I've met her. She's not human. Are you two...?"

Stupid girl. I decided not to respond.

"I haven't the faintest idea anymore." Sora sighed, grabbing my attention.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Kotone and I spat in unison. We shared another icy glare, and I crossed my arms too.

Sora stopped rubbing sticks together, scratching a particular area on her neck. "I mean, H--"

"She's just a silly fox, though not as cunning as you'd assume. It's ironic, really." I knew she was going to mention the contract, so I intervened.