"Kana, I've been looking for you all over the place."long red shoulder-length The sweat pearled on Miyako's forehead as she came to an abrupt stop to catch her breath. "I'm so sorry. I really wanted to show up, but something really important came up."
"Miyako...? You came?" Kana's lip quivered slightly as she spoke. The tips of her red shoulder-length hair swayed in the icy wind as she turned. "Don't worry." She tried to form a faint smile but couldn't quite get it right. "I haven't expected anyone to show up anyway, so this is a pleasant surprise."
"But that's the problem," Miyako said as she threw her arms around Kana, whose body was as stiff as a metal pipe all of a sudden; however, the warmth that radiated off Miyako seemed to have exceeded 1500°C — the melting point of the very steel Kana was made of. "I wanted to be different…"
Kana's head was forced sideways to not drown in Miyako's bust. Her glassy eyes, which rested among the speeding cars now once more, barely took any notice of them anymore. "You are different… You've always been so kind to me... I'm aware that I can seem like a real brat from time to time, but you never took offense because of this fact... I never told this to anyone, but some of my old managers or producers used to beat me when I acted up. They never hit me where it was visible, but I think my mom knew what was going on regardless."
"That's stuff from the past. Nothing like that will ever happen again to you," Miyako said.
"But still, all of them always left me. Even my mom left me once I wasn't popular anymore," Kana replied.
"I know how it feels when the people who are closest to you leave you when you're at your lowest; thus, I'd never leave you, even when everyone else would forget about you." Miyako placed one of her hands on the side of Kana's head and began to gently caress her hair. "I don't know how you feel about it, but I don't think our relationship is just idol and manager anymore."
"Actress..." Kana mumbled.
"Actress," Miyako confirmed.
The sounds of the surrounding world faded into irrelevance, while the only noise that remained for Kana was the quiet rustling of Miyako's hand brushing over the side of her head. After a while of this, Kana finally reciprocated her affection by wrapping her own arms around Miyako's torso and closing her hands behind her back. "Do you want to know how I feel?" Kana asked.
"If you wanna tell me," Miyako replied.
Kana thought very hard for a short moment, then she slowly shook her head. "I don't know... I'm sorry," she mumbled.
"It's alright, you can take your time. If you ever do know, I'll still listen," Miyako replied, keeping Kana locked up just as tight.
They continued to stand by the side of the road for a while. This particular spot Kana had picked out was perfect for this. She wanted to remain undisturbed — something that luckily didn't work out whatsoever. Due to this, foot traffic was nonexistent where she stood; it really was a wonder that even a single person, much less two, actually found her there. "You wanna get something to eat?" Miyako asked. "I could use a bite, and you must also be hungry."
"I suppose I am," Kana mumbled as she reluctantly let go of Miyako. "Do you have a spot in mind?" she asked as she fixed her attire, which was all crumpled up by now due to Miyako's lovey-dovey, yet almost bone-crushing, touchiness.
…
"You know," Kana said while tearing her pair of chopsticks apart, a steaming hot bowl of spicy ramen right in front of her. They had no reservations planned, so they just picked the next best ramen spot and went there. "Ruby has been behaving weird the last 2 or so days… You know what's up?"
Miyako looked out of the window for a long time, her eyes following a plane that flew high above them. Her voice was quiet as she finally spoke up, "I suppose I do know the cause… It's just." Miyako looked back at Kana, her voice filled with empathy. "She will tell you if she is ready. Until then, you'll have to wait."
Kana bit her lower lip before quickly nodding. "Of course, I didn't mean to be noisy or anything." She quickly picked her chopsticks back up and began slurping her ramen while looking down into the cloudy broth. The hot noodles burned her gums slightly, yet to her, anything was better than looking up right now.
"J-Just don't be too harsh on her, alright? Don't take anything she says personally. She doesn't mean it right now…" Miyako said as she leaned back and buried her face in the menu, even though both had their food already in front of them. In reality it was to hide her face. She had no way of knowing if Ruby really was just temporarily hurt or permanently broken. Ruby had rejected the idea of going to therapy, as well as the idea of taking a break from B-Komachi, with a smile on her face. She said that it was nowhere near bad enough to 'keep the show from running.' All Miyako could do now was wait and hope.
Kana finished chewing what was in her mouth and took a long sip of her glass of water. "Okay, I will keep that in mind," she said, her tone more casual than before.
"So, how did you like my performance?" Kana asked, hoping to switch the topic after bringing up such an apparently hot one.
"As I said, I haven't seen it. But I really planned on coming," Miyako responded.
"Oh, of course. I wasn't thinking." Kana's pale cheeks flushed in a deep, almost crimson shade of red that perfectly matched her hair as well as her little cap resting on the table in front of her.
"Well, I think my performance was really good. I just feel a little bad. I might've overdone it a bit." Kana drank a sip to cool her hot cheeks down.
"What do you mean by 'overdone it'?" Miyako asked as she placed her chin in the palm of her hand with her elbow on the table.
"I totally embarrassed him... It was so bad he tried to physically attack me… Like he almost crushed me beneath his weight," Kana explained.
"He did what?" Miyako's chin would have probably fallen open right about now if she weren't holding it up with her hand. "We can probably get a juicy lawsuit out of this."
"Can't we just drop it?" Kana asked as she fidgeted with her chopsticks. "I would like to have as little to do with such corporations as possible."
After what she had heard and lived through, she was quite frankly somewhat scared. She had no intention whatsoever to be trapped in some scheme she wouldn't be getting out of... Not again... God, please never again... She had known it since forever, but only recently did she also truly accept it; acting was her biggest passion, and risking it all for a little bit of money would be greedy and wrong.
"You're right, the businesswoman inside of me just got the better of me… Staying far away from such people is probably the best move you can make," said Miyako with a bright smile on her face. "Also, look at it from the positive side; the way things are right now, they will probably also stay far away from you."
"Akira said that they would come after me as soon as I take their business card, though."
Miyako's smile shifted into a confused expression, her eyes moving around in their sockets as she scratched her head. "This would be news to me… I've never heard of a practice like this. Maybe you misunderstood what he said?"
Kana shook her head. "No, that's definitely what he said and meant."
"Who even is this Akira?" Miyako asked. Her eyebrows were slightly raised; the confusion hadn't left her face just yet.
"Ohhh, just a guy I've just met. He told me his name is Akira Kouboku or something like that, and he said he's also an actor. Maybe we could Google him or something."
"Akira Kouboku?" Miyako exclaimed, her confused face turning rather puzzled, "We don't need to Google him; he already is sort of a big name. You really haven't heard of him before? He is the prodigy of..." Miyako thought hard for a moment. "Damn it, I can't remember the name of his manager."
"Really? To me, he looked like a total goofball." Kana shrugged. "I guess you really should never judge a book by its cover."
"If I can recall it correctly, then I just got an email this morning. It was from some B-class producer, so I initially didn't plan on replying, but I think he also acts in the movie… So if you want to act with him, I could probably arrange something."
Kana quickly shook her head. "Nah... I mean, I am not opposed. But if I'm allowed to be picky, then I'd like to act alongside Akane again. The last time the both of us were in a project together, I acted really immature towards her... Anyway, this still bugs me. I want to show her that I can be more than that."
"Oh," Miyako mumbled while avoiding Kana's gaze.
"What do you mean by 'Oh'?" Kana asked, her voice filled with a hint of curiosity as she tried to rebuild the eye contact.
"Didn't she tell you...? I thought she would..." Miyako sighed. "Akane quit acting about 2 weeks ago."
11th of January, 11:00 pm, Aqua's hideout
"Fuck," Aqua said as he glanced at the time. He knew that his time was limited; if he didn't find something to sacrifice, the moon would soon begin to fall again. If that had happened, he would have had to wait another full day; by then, it was most certainly far too late for Akane.
"Ruby or Kana… They would definitely work as a sacrifice," Aqua murmured to himself as he walked in circles through the room.
"What am I saying? I would never do that…" He looked out of the window overlooking the path leading up to the house. Apart from one lone streetlamp in the distance, the entire street was plunged into complete darkness.
Aqua's long fingernails bored into the wooden windowsill; the rotten wood made a deep creaking sound as it easily gave way for him. "But what should I do then? I could try it with myself, though I doubt that would work… Of equal worth, it said…"
Aqua pulled his nails back out of the wood and began to walk in circles all over again. The knot in his stomach tightened every time he passed by Akane. "There is nothing I can give… Unless…"
Aqua stopped dead in his tracks, his back turned to Akane, who looked like she was just asleep, although the reality was much crueler than that. "No… God no." Aqua's hands began to tremble as his mind finally managed to connect the strings.
But he couldn't do it. It was impossible. Not for Akane, not for anyone. It was just too brutal, vicious, inhumane, and downright evil. His head shook violently so that all the filth that had accumulated on top of it, like blood, sweat and even tears, flew through the air around him, as he finally realized what it would take to make the wrongs he had done right again. Only little in this world comes without a price tag attached to it, and he had ignored the payment requests that warned him for so long that the interest had amounted to something as big as Everest, K2, and Annapurna atop each other — at least in his world.
"I can't do this to Ruby… Taking it from her would be more than selfish..." he mumbled.
Unbeknownst to Aqua, the sheer beauty of his gemstone-like eyes that looked like the raging waters he was destined to swim in forever had begun to shift into the ashy gray that had once before engulfed them already, looking like the things he had now burnt down by refusing to die. Tera, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, couldn't help but smirk as he caught a glance of this.
Aqua gently stroked through Akane's silky-smooth blue hair with his shaking hands. It flowed by his hands, through his fingers, and around his wrists, like it wasn't a consistent object but rather an ever-changing liquid. "You would forgive me, right?" he asked, looking at Akane's closed eyelids. "You would understand my decision, right?"
…
I stood at one end of a long external corridor. To my right, I could see over its railing, but to be honest, nothing I saw made any sense to me. Like, there should definitely be a skyline of some sort, or at least anything, so why was there a massive blur? It looked like someone had tried to censor the skyscrapers.
When I looked ahead again while searching for what exactly went on, I saw a few doors. Most of them were completely shut, locked by dozens of padlocks. Certainly weird, but sure, better safe than sorry, I guess. All but one door, that is, one was leaned open just enough for me to spot the difference.
My steps didn't echo. As a matter of fact, nothing echoed or even moved. The wind, which should've been blowing through my hair, didn't blow, while even the side where my rib was broken stopped hurting.
I finally reached the door, since, well, where else should I go? The elevators didn't work. Trust me, I've tried, and I'm not crazy enough to leap from the railing… yet. What I didn't notice about it before, it was made out of a single piece of thin wood, almost enough to see through, while the other doors were made out of steel, like for bunkers or vaults.
I slowly pushed it open, making sure not to break it just in case. The sight before me was like out of a thriller. Everywhere, all over the walls, floor, and even the ceiling, was red blood. Everything around me was disheveled, too, like someone had desperately attempted to keep themself upright.
Then I finally saw it; no idea how I didn't see it before, but there, sitting leaned against the door, was Akane. She stared right at me, not saying a single word. And in her arms, there was a blond boy, with a shadow that looked to be about as tall as the blond boy peeking through the other side of the milk glass behind her.
I could lie and say it took me by surprise, but seeing all this had virtually no effect on me. However, when I looked down at my own body, I jolted a bit, regardless. In my right hand, tightly clutched, was a glowing knife, red blood trickling off it to the floor.
It clattered to the floor the moment I spotted it — That is, if you could even call it that without any clattering noise. Instead, it was just gone, disappeared as if it had never been there to begin with.
The blond kid looked up at me as I entered into the room. The moment he did, though, he too disappeared. This left just Akane and me behind.
"Isn't it ironic? You turned out just like he did, after all…" said Akane, in a voice that made the entire place shake beneath my feet. It wasn't even particularly loud or different from her typical voice.
"Yes, you have heard me. You are just like Hikaru Kamiki," she said, as she emerged from the pool of blood on the ground.
"You killed me because your greedy mind would not be able to lose what is most precious to you," she continued as the blood from her once white dress seeped onto the floor. She slowly walked around me, feeling all over my body while doing so, yet I still just didn't feel a thing, damn thing.
"You took away my ability to ever find a truly special bond with a person who doesn't use me for their personal gain," Akane said with a smile on her face as she booped my nose. "I should've listened to the people around me, telling me that you were a bad influence.
She continued to circle, her mouth now directly next to my ear, gently whispering into it. "You even adapted his beliefs already… You know, about loving concepts?"
"Silly little me really thought that you were different from him, Aqua." She turned away from me; the blood coming from her dress had by now filled the room enough to fully submerge our feet in it.
"Ai might have said that you are strong enough, but I believe that she lied to you… Matter of fact, you yourself know that you are not nearly strong enough." The blood had reached by now all the way up to my knees, and it didn't think about stopping either. It violently crashed against the walls of the small room like it was a wild storm in the middle of the ocean.
Akane turned around to look at me again, her eyes sparkling with black stars as she stared right through me, right into my soul. The blood was rising faster and faster; it was almost at her chin as she spoke again. "I wish you never would've saved me on that day two years ago… If I just died, I wouldn't have needed to suffer for two years and still die an even worse death…"
"Aqua… I wish I never would've met you…" She growled right before her mouth was swallowed by the blood.
…
"Gah—" Aqua gasped for air. He could feel his heart beating against his ribcage so strongly he feared his ribs would shatter into pieces. Cold pearls of sweat had begun to form on his forehead while his entire body was covered in goosebumps.
"Wha-What happened?" He touched everything around him; Akane's cold face, the same face he caused so much distress in the past; her short yet vibrant hair, reminding him of the time it was still longer just for him; her coat, woolly and a bit too itchy for his liking. He even touched the walls around him; they didn't remind him of anything in particular. It was still nice to feel them, though.
He was sure of it, the dark house, which initially felt freeing to him, which began to turn into a prison more and more over the last hour, was real again, not feeling as dark as before when compared to the far darker experience he had just lived.
"Just a dream," he whispered with a hoarse voice while gently pressing his nose against Akane's before getting up from the cold floor. Every step he took was followed by a loud creaking sound. This room was in an even worse condition than the rest of the house.
His legs quivered slightly as he approached the ritual site; his hands, on the contrary, were wrapped around Akane's brooch even tighter now. The almost completely burned-out incense were perfectly aligned around him as he stopped.
"I hope you can forgive me for what I need to do… I think you will…" Aqua attempted his best at a smile, but the best he could muster up was a grotesque failure at one, if you could even call it that. "You wouldn't forgive me if I didn't do it, right? Ohh, definitely, I can see it clearly. You would probably hate me if I were to kill Akane. So what choice do I even have?"
Aqua glanced down at Akane's bright phone screen, looking too modern compared to everything else. The time was just a few minutes after 11:00 pm. He knew this was his only chance.
Tera, who stood in the doorframe, silently waiting for Aqua to finally give up, had stopped leaning. He was physically unable to have the color drain out of his face, but if it were possible, it would probably happen right now.
"Hey, stop this foolishness right now!" Tera's voice was raised as he quickly, essentially glid over to Aqua, trying to place his hands on his shoulders. Yet, the only thing Aqua felt was a cold sensation on his arms and an even colder one running down his spine.
"Tera, I almost forgot you were here." Aqua smirked while taking a step away from Tera, "Let me be honest with you, since this will most likely be the last time we speak. I always hated your guts."
"I think you don't understand what you're doing right now." Tera walked around Aqua. "You're right, I tried to fool you, and I also tried to steal your body, but it doesn't matter."
"How so?" Aqua asked, glaring back at Tera.
"The world would be a better place under my reign. Think about it; you have experienced so many bad things in your life. What if I told you I could prevent them from ever happening to anyone else?
Aqua stayed silent for a moment, his eyes now looking slightly past Tera at the empty wall right behind him, trailing off ever so slightly. Then he spoke, "Even if that were true, I've already told you I wouldn't press the button that ends all the suffering. So why are you even trying it?"
"But why?" Tera's voice sounded like it was about to crack, his by now ghostly form slightly shaking. "Everyone just dying and being in a neutral or even positive state for the rest of time is objectively far better than this infinite cycle of dread! I can turn this dream into a reality-"
"Tera," Aqua shouted, his voice firm. "From a utilitarian perspective, it would probably be the best… That's right… But it would also destroy every bit of beauty this world has, everything others have worked so hard for to achieve… Who am I to decide if these people shouldn't be rewarded just because I've gotten unlucky?"
"That is no-" Tera began but was once again promptly interrupted by Aqua.
"Tera," Aqua attempted to place his hand on Tera's shoulder, but it fell right through it, too. "The world, as it is right now, is horrible for some… I will not try to deny this… But your world would be horrible for everybody."
He turned away from Tera, who was still talking; however, to Aqua, it only sounded like static noise in the background as his ears began to block out any sound. Then he firmly shut his eyes. "I know you can't hear me, but I want to say it one last time: I love you, Mom."
The room began to glow in a subtle golden light as the incense were blown out one after the other. He closed his eyes as a blue cloud of matter came right through the ceiling, slowly hovering towards Akane's chest.
This wasn't an ancient Aztec sacrifice where the gods would only accept blood. The book explicitly said that anything, as long as it was truly valuable to the subject, would be sufficient. Thus, Aqua tried his luck, or perhaps misfortune, depending on how you put it.
"I choose to sacrifice the thing that's the most important to me… The only thing I have left to give in this life…" He held in for a moment and gulped. "I sacrifice every last memory I have of my mom, Ai Hoshino."