Cirque du Minuit

Epitasis

— Epitasis —

Eisuke led Kaori through the hallways and into different passages up until they’ve finally exited the interconnecting tents. Fresh air once again filled Kaori’s lungs and the light coming from the moon peaked out, enhanced by the mechanical lights that flicker around the circus. They’ve walked around for a bit and Kaori couldn’t help but study the whole place as it is. It was then that her curiosity began to peak when she had noticed that a few signs were actually placed on the entryways of the different tents. Signs like, Dancing animals, Acrobatic performances, and Ethereal Enigmas tapped her curious mind making her to ask Eisuke as they’ve walked.

“Eisuke, what are those signs for?” She asked while pointing on another sign when they’ve passed through another tent.

“Oh…They are signs for the crowd if they want to see a specific acts,” Eisuke said and continued walking.

“Wait, then this is like a tour-kind of circus where people walk around and not sit down to watch a show?” Kaori asked, confused than ever.

“Yes and no. People can tour around the whole circus if they want as long as they don’t go to places that are off limits. It would provide them to see the acts, and the members of the circus up close and don’t doubt how real they are. After the tour, they’ll be all gathered to the main tent to watch the actual show. Right now, if we don’t hurry up, we might even bump into the crowd of people as the tour start in a few minutes,” Eisuke explained.

“Oh…Looking at it like that, it seems like I’m having a private tour from you,” Kaori suddenly said while smiling.

Eisuke looked behind him and grinned at the girl before turning his head again.

“Yeah. You could think of it like that. Hope I don’t bore you.”

“Nope. Not at all,” Kaori answered and kept quiet after that.

“Eisuke!”

After that conversation, a woman dressed in frilly clothes came running to Eisuke’s side with a grimace on her face. Once she got closer, her eyes flickered to the girl beside Eisuke and a look of hesitation ran to her face before shrugging it off and focused her eyes again on Eisuke.

“It’s bad! We need you in the hauling area right now. A bit…of a problem came up and one of those animals…err, uhm…got away,” The woman said, mindful of her words but the urgency on her voice made Eisuke moved without a second thought.

Things happened so fast and Kaori found herself following Eisuke and the woman before stopping abruptly when Eisuke suddenly turned to her direction with a scary look on his face. Kaori flinched from the sight and the once puppy-looking eyes of Eisuke turned into a menacing slit giving the aura of danger around him.

Seeing the frightened look on Kaori, Eisuke tried his best to ease back to his usual calm face and directed a small smile on Kaori before he spoke again.

“I’m sorry if it will take longer to help you, Kaori. I need to attend on this matter first. You just stay here and I’ll come back as soon as I can.” Eisuke gave a full smile and his puppy dog eyes came back again, calming the girl in the process.

“Okay, take your time. I can manage on my own,” She said and watched as Eisuke gave her an assuring smile before turning his back and speed walk to another tent and disappearing before her.

Kaori sighed, finding herself alone again. She walked back and forth for a minute before settling down on a barrel just located near her and started playing on the hem of her clothes before she felt awkward sitting alone there. She stood up, deciding to look around for a bit and stopped short when she heard a whimper in one of the tent.