The Takamori Story

Life and death

The days felt longer.
Every time she took a soul near that forest, she'd stop by, again and again, to stare at the field. To see Kiara.

Kiara was doing something different every time, sometimes she was playing with the girl, sometimes she was just sitting by her, and sometimes she would be out somewhere else.

The girl looked different over time. Every time Calliope saw her, she'd be taller, and her hair would be longer, up to a certain point.

But then the day arrived.
The portal took her to the same forest, but this was a special case. The death mark was laid upon the girl, and she wasn't a wandering soul, she was still alive.

Kiara didn't notice her presence, since she had been playing with the girl, but after watching them for a long time, at some point, the girl got lost when they were chasing each other between the forest, and Kiara was looking for her.

Calliope, on the other hand, had already found the girl. She was hanging from her foot on a high tree she had climbed. Calliope knew she'd have to finish her off, maybe the apparent cause of her death would turn out as a heart attack, or a concussion, but in the end, Calliope would be the one who killed her.

She was about to approach her, and the environment was already turning grey, when suddenly she heard Kiara's panicked screams in the distance, Calling out to her in fear, running through the forest to find her.
There wasn't much time.

Still full of doubt, Calliope pulled out her scythe as a reflex.

-"It's... It's still my job..."

She said under her breath.

Kiara's screams didn't stop, and the girl kept trying to get up from her position. Her foot didn't look like it would come off if she wasn't helped by someone else.

Just when Calliope was ready to take her words back and end the girl's life, she was startled by Kiara's scream.

-"CALLIIII~!"

She turned around.

"Please! You said you'd do it!"

Her mind went blank. She no longer knew what to do. It's not like Kiara had the right to choose who lived and who died, and when Calli said she'd do something, she didn't mean it. But now she just couldn't bring herself to kill the girl, and she hated it.

Before she could pull herself together, Kiara arrived and immediately helped the girl down from the tree.
Calliope had let the opportunity slip, she had never done something like that before, she had never skipped on her job. The death mark was gone, she didn't know what to do next.

Because she was nearby, she heard how Kiara and the girl talked about how glad they were to find each other and how scared they both were.

Kiara told the girl to go ahead and get home, that she'd catch up to her later.

-"...(I better head out now)"

-"Mori-chan"

-"Eek!"

She screeched with surprise. Kiara heard her.

-"I knew you were here!"

She said as she turned to Calliope, now clearly visible.

"Was it supposed to be today? Was she supposed to die today?"

Calliope tried to come up with any type of excuse, but she couldn't think of anything. It'd be worse if Kiara learned that she visited constantly for no reason other than stalking her. Her head was already clouded enough, so she finally answered after a brief silence.