The Takamori Story

Wrong

What followed were a series of re-encounters that were quickly ended upon Kiara's body staying severely deformed or unbalanced. Some times Calliope would see a Bird with human legs, others a human with bird limbs and face, and a huge problem was her arms being stuck together. Because of this, Kiara's life didn't last long and they could see each other plenty of times frequently, despite not talking much.

__________

When Kiara was finally face to face with Calli once more, she posed with pride, showing off her new looks after last reincarnation.

-"Is it good now, Mori-san?"

Calliope stared at her body with a soulless expression.

-"You forgot... A lot of it this time"

Kiara angrily frowned.

-"Hah?!"

She yelled into the void.

"I thought it was good for sure now!"

-"Then how about your legs?"

She said as she pointed at Kiara's scaled bird legs.

"And your arms?"

Her arms were still shaped like wings, even when she had lost some feathers.

"Can you even move them separately?"

-"Of course I-..."

Her mind went blank and her face numb when she noticed her simultaneous movements.

"..."

-"look"

Said Calli.

"Why can't you just... Go back to your bird shape and find bird friends?"

After having tried for at least a century, Calli had almost fully decided to give up and make Kiara return to normal.

Kiara stomped the ground.

-"I don't want to!"

Calli stood in place, still emptily staring at her.

-"Why?"

-"Because..."

She sat down on the ground

"There's no one left..."

She wrapped her arms around her knees and hid her head, silently grieving.

"If I knew what happened to the rest of my kind, I would've followed them right away, But it's as if they wanted to leave me behind...

She looked up at Calliope. Whoever she was, she couldn't even call her a friend.

"I don't want to be alone anymore, I can't handle it"

Calliope didn't know how to answer. For a split second, she thought "but you have me!", but she discarded that right away, it's not like she wanted to befriend a bird as annoyingly enthusiastic as her, or sentimental.

Kiara cracked a smiled when she noticed her apathy.

"Well... It's not like you have to care"

She looked back down. She Still had lots of feathers and scaled legs. Her only decent change was her face.

"I guess I'm destined to be alone after all..."

Calli's eyes shot open.
It was almost as if that one sentence had touched her empty soul in more ways than one, but not in a heartwarming or meaningful way. She just couldn't stand seeing her that sad, not because she wanted to help her, but because she had no right to be. Yes, Takanashi Kiara had no right to be alone.

Kiara heard steps coming closer to her, and a noticeably annoyed voice.

-"Hey, stupid bird"

One second after Kiara looked up, she felt a hard metal hit her face. But it wasn't the usual clean slice she always felt before waking up, it was dull, it was a hard hit.

She fell on her back and got up right away.

-"Ow!"

She whimpered while grabbing her cheek.

"What was that fo-"

-"Shut the Eff up!"

Calliope immediately interrupted.

"You think you are doomed to be alone?"

-"Wh-what are-"

But Calli kept going.

-"The only times I meet people is when I have to kill them or reap their souls..."

She came closer to Kiara with every stomp.

"I can't befriend or even tall to shades in the underworld..."

Stopping in front of Kiara when she was still in the ground, she looked at her angrily.

"I can't even frequently talk with Death-sensei!"

She lifted her scythe and nailed it to the ground next to her before getting closer to Kiara's face and look her in the eyes.

"You have no idea what loneliness is, so don't give up!"

Kiara didn't back off but stood still in shock instead, despite being slayed every time they met, Calli had never expressed such despise.

Some seconds after the screaming, Calliope finally found peace, she had been forcing herself to hold her rage in for so much time she didn't notice how bad it was.
She lifted back her scythe and took a deep breath, despite not having lungs, it relieved her in a way.
Kiara slowly pulled herself together and up.

-"Is... Is that why you're helping me? So I don't end up like you?"

Calli's before enraged voice became docile as usual.

-"You won't end up like me, because you aren't me"

She said as she cleaned off the dirt on her weapon with her own cape.

"And I'm doing this so you know that. So please, turn around, and let's try again"

Kiara's eyes lit up in a second. She still couldn't call her a friend, but if she helped her, that was enough.

-"Yes!"

~~~~~~~~~~

Not stopping to stare at her corpse this time, Calliope headed back home since Kiara had used what time was left of her shift.

Looking around her house, she noticed how small it was. Not like it was supposed to be so big anyway, so she just relaxed and laid down on her bed.

Staring at the ceiling, she thought again about what she said back then.

-"(But...)"

She thought.

"(Is it really that bad to be lonely?)"