Tricks and Thirst

Eighteen

Screaming your head off wouldn't help anyway, so you do what any sensible person would in your place -- you pull out the darn seat on the other side of the table. Your decision pleases your... guest? because she hums in appreciation and proceeds with eating her cheesecake with neat and elegant gestures. It's obvious she isn't in any hurry.

Hey, maybe it's just that she is a lonely godlike creature who really hates eating on her own? No other reason, right? Nothing to do with the other crazy stuff going on in your life. 

Without thinking about it, you rub your clammy hands on your grey linen pants before folding them on your lap. It's hard to refrain from tugging at your black apron. 

Time seems to come to a stand still while you do your best to regulate your ragged breathing and stare at the wooden knots of the table to keep yourself occupied. The only noises in the room come from the clicking of the tin fork against the delicate white-blue porcelain dish with pretty royal blue wave patterns all around its rim. For some reason, you remember the day you went to the pottery town of Hasami to choose all the ware needed for your shop.

"Hasami-yaki is simple yet so elegant. I always found it more pleasing to the touch and the eye than Arita-yaki." Her melodious voice startles you, or it's maybe the fact she's reading your thoughts like an open book.

Her crystal laugh is both beautiful and frightening, like a mountain stream that threatens to turn into a torrent at the first sign of rain during the typhoon season. "I am not reading your mind, little one. This isn't my area of expertise. But you mortals, and your reactions, are easy to read, and your thought patterns are fairly predictable."

Half relieved, half offended to be called 'predictable', you pinch your lips and glance up at the powerful being in disguise who loves New York-style cheesecake. She shakes her head, amused, and waves her hand.

"Fairly being the key word here. I have to say that you caught me by surprise, and for this reason alone, I had to meet you. That and your cakes, of course. How are your hands, by the way?"

"My..." Eyes wide, you glance down at your palms. They are still angry red after your stunt in the garden of Kanako's parents and scarred with the impact of gravel. "You were there? Were you... that squirrel?" That little rodent had looked way too intense for comfort.

Welcome to my new life, where animals have intense and soul-piercing looks.

Another burst of laugh fill the café. "Me, a squirrel? Careful there, young lady, don't go and insult me to my face. No, she was only one of my informants. I was... much amused by her recounting of your risky acrobatics."

A blush paints your cheeks, and you stare at the wall clock over the kitchen. Your eyes have adjusted to the dim light.

"All right, you have been following me for a while," you say, not bothering to hide your annoyance and bitterness. "Why? Since then? And why bother with a chitchat today?"

"Tsk, tsk, so straightforward... disrespectful, almost," the beautiful creature states; she sounds still amused but the steel is back on. "But your cake was delicious, so I'll let it pass. I am here, little one, because you are a pawn in a dangerous game your weak mind cannot fathom, and you are about to unleash powers you cannot imagine. I will be blunt," the woman says, and her eyes flash silver in her perfect ivory face. "Renege your pledge, walk away, leave this place and never come back. Don't give this thrice-damned wild dog the tools to cause even more chaos and mayhem."

Her words are such a shock that you recoil on your seat, so violently that you almost fall from your chair.

"I-- I don't-- what?"

"I have neither the time nor the desire to delve on the details, but I am here to warn you that much more than your little love life is at stake. Oh, I don't care much about what is bound to happen to you -- after all, you are free to forfeit everything to anyone, however you prefer, it is your choice. Your birthright! But when such choices have a direct impact on me, this is another story."

Anger washes over you. Jumping on your feet, you slam your hands on the top of the table. "It's not about my love life! I am doing this to save my beloved from a life of pain. I don't have any other option, Mori sensei gave me a difficult but efficient way out. I don't care much about whatever power games are going on your side of reality, this is about Kanako san and me, the rest doesn't matter."

A languish smile tugs at the woman's full lips, and she slowly gets on her feet, like a lioness.

"Oh, you have spite and little claws, kitten, but it's not enough. You want to save your girlfriend? Go and give her father money! The honor and pride of this kind of man have always a price."

"I don't have any money! Or at least not enough for his greedy type!"

"I'll give it to you!" the woman exclaims, her eyes two pools of molted silver as she towers over you despite your own height -- was she always so tall? "Go to Mori, break your pledge, and by midnight, you will have all the money in the world, enough to buy your sweetheart's freedom, enough for the two of you to start a new life far away from here. Be brave, save the world!"

Save the world?! It can't be that freaking bad, right?!

Could you have been wrong from the start? Was Kanako dead right when it comes to Mori? Is he truly evil at heart despite... despite what your senses, body and heart tell you? Your heart drums widely in your throat and a rush of blood deafens you. This incredible creature has the perfect plan, the solution to your doubts and fears, the key to a new life filled with happiness and delight. Why didn't Mori suggest money in the first place? 

A nagging thought worms its way through the storm raging inside your head.

It sounds way too perfect. And... doesn't she sound... nervous?

The thought gives you strength and builds up your resolve. "If it's so important to you, why don't you try to force my hand? Or even better, why not kill me? Me gone, everything crumbles down."

This time her smile turns dangerous, almost an ugly grimace that sends shivers down your spine.

"The rules are what they are, kitten. What has been freely given must be freely taken back. If I killed you now, your pledge would still exist, he would still gain from it. No, little one," she says, moving around the table and leaning toward you until her long hair brush your shoulders. The scent of forests and streams, and somewhere, under all of it, a hint of mold reaches you. "As much as it pains me, as much as all of this is a waste of my precious time, I cannot force your hand. But I can reward you to... encourage you to take the right decision." She straightens up and grabs her handbag. "I'll know when you have done the deed. You'll find the money on your deck at midnight. Choose well... choose wisely."

And with those ominous words, she flicks again her hand. The room is flooded by sunlight when the curtains open wide. Before you react, she is by the door.

"Extraordinary cakes, by the way. Make sure you teach someone the recipe before you leave town. That would be a tremendous loss."

Two steps and the white and scorching hot brightness outside swallows her.