Scarlet Strings of Love

Chapter 7: Gūzen ni

"There are chance meetings with strangers that interest us from the first moment, before a word is spoken." —Fyodor Dostoevsky

"Yoru ni naru mae ni ie ni kaerimasu, okaa-san." She assured her mother. She's walking around the mall, looking for the national bookstore.

[Wakarimashitaga, mō tochūkōki shinaide kudasai. Watashi wa anata o shinpai shimasu.]

"Shinpaishinaide, Okaa-san. I won't make any stopovers," she said. Finally, she found the bookstore. After reassuring her mother three more times, she was finally able to end the call and focus on looking for the supplies that she needs. After finding brushes and calligraphy pens and a couple bottles of ink, she went to the counter to pay for the items.

She was walking towards the exit when she saw the arcade and heard the noise, like there was a commotion. She usually just shakes her head and leaves since that was always the case with arcades, but something about the music that's coming from the arcade made her curious. When she was two meters away she had to cover her ears because of the loud music. She managed to pass through the crowd to get at the front, and what she saw left her in awe.

It was the woman. The woman that looked like Anne. The one she saw at the ceremony. She was so different now, than when she saw her at the opening ceremony. A lot of people were watching her, whispering to each other as the woman slightly head bangs to the beat of the music and hitting all the keys perfectly. She was wilder, and she was definitely great at playing the drums because she kept getting combo scores, and by the end of the song, a lot of people were already recording her performance on their phones.

The woman looked back and was shocked to see the crowd that had formed behind her. She smiled sheepishly and gave the drumsticks to the person next in line and the crowd dispersed except for those waiting for their turn. Czarina followed the woman and she stopped in her tracks when she saw two familiar faces by the entrance of the arcade.

"Red, andito ka lang pala."

"We were looking for you everywhere."

Hindi siya makagalaw, for she saw Ysabelle and Luxus. Her old friends, but can she really say that she even had the right to say that they were friends? She didn't know what to do. Walk away? Hide? Act like nothing happened? Observe them? Why is this 'Red' even with the two? Are they already friends?

"Czarina!"

Nagulat siya nang may tumawag ng pangalan niya. She panicked. Nakita niya ang tumawag sa kaniya na papalapit sa kanya. "A-ate Ivy?" She muttered, shocked to see her sister, who was supposed to be busy with work, here at the mall. Fuming mad. Oh no. She looked at the clock on her phone and she almost cursed. It was already night time. When she told her mother she wouldn't stay until night time.

"What the hell are you still doing here? Mom is already worried sick. I had to go all the way here just to find you staring at nothing?"

"L-let me explain--"

"You can explain when we get home!" her sister said, dragging her away. But not before catching a glimpse of Red who looked at her with a confused expression, and the shocked looks from those with her.

"She looks familiar," Red said to the two. She didn't get a reply and when she looked at them Red saw sadness and something else, something she couldn't describe. There was guilt and longingness, but mostly guilt. That expression again. Do they know that person? I wonder if something happened between them?

"Well, enough about that. We need to go home," Red changed the topic. Ysabelle and Luxus turned to Red who was smiling at them. They looked at each other, Red noticed, they thought.