The Knights Himura

#17: Otherside Breeze

Tsukiko passed through the door and she returned to the same empty plaza. No corpse or blood was present. She didn't find the young girl in the strange clothes.

Somehow, time had gone backward, and she didn't know how. It was all too much for her to think about or even handle. Her mind kept coming back to the man and the girl.

After a while, she grew bored, sitting down by the fountain. Everything looked odd. The town seemed almost photogenic. The sky was blue, and perfect. The restaurants, or at least she assumed were restaurants, were calm and only had a few customers.

She had never seen so many wooden buildings in her life. The streets seemed to stretch for miles, yet it wasn't crowded. It was in no way comparable to the never ending glass skyscraper hell of Tokyo.

The town was peaceful. Everything around her moved slowly. There was a gentle, calming breeze blowing up and down. Tsuki lowered her head, and she began to doze off. She almost fell asleep, but a scream woke her up.

--

"...and you will know the-- again, Tsukiko?" Aurelia laughed.

Tsukiko shook herself awake. "Wha- What?"

Aurelia stayed silent as Claudia tugged on Tsukiko's jacket and pointed her to the door again.

--

"Alright, I got this." Tsukiko mumbled to herself.

She sat by the fountain and watched as the man and the young girl approached the plaza from a connecting street. On cue, the two violent drunken men appeared, and Tsukiko ran into action.

She jumped toward them. This time, her fists were ready. Before she could make her move, everything went white.

--

Tsukiko came to Aurelia's shop again. Claudia held a sign this time, almost like a silent cartoon.

It was a white sheet with a message in red pen. "You didn't make it in time, sorry."

Underneath it was a little doodle.

--

Tsuki passed through with a big frown on her face. It wasn't their death that was getting to her, but rather their fear and pain. She didn't want them to suffer over and over.

It was all her fault. Her movements were too slow, her mind wasn't focused. Even though she knew what was going to happen, she had failed.

Taking this into consideration, she stood by where the crime would take place. She leaned against the wall of a small liquor shop and waited. When they appeared, she dove in front of the knife.

It tore into her. It was the most excruciating pain that she had ever felt in her life. It was like all of the energy in her body had drained in an instant.

Her body went limp. She couldn't control herself. She simply dropped to the floor in a heap.

In the few moments of consciousness she had left, she looked down. She saw the blood staining her jacket.

--

Again, she returned to the shop.

This time, Claudia's sign read differently. "Knights can't save people when they're dead."

Under it was a doodle of a robed figure holding a knife. Tsukiko tore the sheet out of her hands and crumpled it up before walking through again.

--

Tsuki sprint through the door toward the usual spot. She crouched and hid behind some boxes. The man and the girl approached slowly.

The man seemed quite mundane, yet he had an air of importance to him. The girl, however, was a bit strange. She seemed older than Lily, but younger than both Tsuki and Fumiko.