Devil's Wonderland

Anri

Halo Seven: Anri:

She's trying to keep it together. Mikado is still awkward around her. The little time they really talked was were he took her to the clinic to get a prescription for the morning after pill.

"I am so sorry, Anri," Mikado said in the waiting room.

"It's okay," she said. The waiting room was virtually empty that morning. The teenaged pair had gotten in as soon as it opened. They couldn't go to Shinra because he didn't have the license to prescribe something legal. The tadpole shook his head.

"No, it's not okay," he said. "I raped you. Why didn't you stop me?" The last parts came out in a whisper. He started to replay the events from the night before in his head. Anri rubbed his back.

"You didn't," she said. "You weren't in a good place at the time."

"How can you say that? Why didn't you stop me?" he asked. "You knew it wasn't right. But you still let me go through it. Just... Why?" The doctor came into the room.

"Sonohara-san," she said. Anri stood up and walked to the back with her. She looked over her shoulder at Mikado.

"Come on," she said. Mikado shook his head.

"Are you sure?" she asked. The tadpole boy nodded once. Anri followed the doctor without a single word. Moments later, she came back out with the paperwork in hand.

"Are you ready to go?" Mikado asked as he stood up.

"Yeah," she said. The pair headed out of the clinic and straight to the drug store. Minutes later, Anri had her morning after pill.

It's been awkward ever since.

Even Kida's jokes weren't helping anymore. Not with what Chiharu had become now. Plus, everything didn't feel right around the city again. That fact came as a reminder this morning.

Anri awoke to hearing her phone buzzing. She reached over to her nightstand for it. It felt strange to be back in her own bed for a change. Masaomi stayed with Mikado last night. He gave her the night off, in fact.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" she asked.

"Yes, it's fine," Masaomi said. "Saki is doing fine and I have a couple of my guys looking after her. You can take a rest." She wanted to argue back but figured that it wouldn't produce much.

"I'll be back in the morning," she told him instead.

"Call me as soon as you get home," the blonde Shogun said back. "Please be careful tonight."

"I will," she said. Saika's mother bowed and walked home.

This morning, Anri flipped open her phone after she put on her glasses.

"One new message?" she asked. Saika's mother opened the message. A confused look came onto her face.

"What... is this?" she asked herself. At first, the message looked like it was all coded. Smilies and weird symbols covered her screen. Anri scrolled through the message looking for something coherent. She didn't know why she didn't close out of it. Her eyes and fingers stayed glued to her the screen

"What happened to my phone?" was the thought that crossed her mind at one point. Anri was about to get up to take it to the store to have it reset when she got to the bottom on the message. Four little words gave her pause.

The Woman in Red.

Right then, a strange memory ran through her head.

Anri saw herself in hospital bed. Tubes were sticking out of her arms. A yellowish pink liquid was being pumped into her body. Her breathing sounded labored. She felt so fragile in the bed. A heart monitor beeped off to her right. There was a mirror on the other side of the room. The sight awaiting her just made it even worse. Her skin looked so ashen gray with her face so sullen. Her eyes lost of life to them. She could see her bones underneath her skin. Anri couldn't even hear Saika's voice anymore.