Sparks flew.
✦ ✦ ✦
"......!"
✦ ✦ ✦
By the time a flustered Asukai reached his side, Spooky E had already burned out all the cells in his brain with his own electricity. Blood poured out of his eyes and nose. Smoke trailed from the wound on his right ear.
✦ ✦ ✦
He was dead.
✦ ✦ ✦
The world around her was still pitch black. There were no windows or lamps in the room she was imprisoned in.
✦ ✦ ✦
She was sprawled out on the dust-covered floor, her hands and feet handcuffed from behind. Spooky E had put her here.
✦ ✦ ✦
She could no longer tell how long she had been sleeping.
✦ ✦ ✦
Despair seemed ready to tear her open.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Mmph,” she twisted herself upright.
✦ ✦ ✦
Dust flew, and she coughed.
✦ ✦ ✦
“I have to. . .I have to get away...”
✦ ✦ ✦
But it might already be too late. The thought made her teeth chatter violently.
✦ ✦ ✦
“I have to go. . .I have to tell him...”
✦ ✦ ✦
Tormented by anxiety and fear, she moved like an inchworm, looking for the door.
✦ ✦ ✦
But it wasn’t that simple. The door was locked, and there was no other way in or out.
✦ ✦ ✦
"Augh...!"
✦ ✦ ✦
She was shivering violently. It was cold, she was exhausted, and she was powerless.
✦ ✦ ✦
But she kept on moving despite the handcuffs, frantically searching for a way out.
✦ ✦ ✦
As her body twisted, something fell out of her jacket pocket.
✦ ✦ ✦
...Her cell phone.
✦ ✦ ✦
Spooky E had forgotten to take it away from her, but regardless of how brightly the low battery light was shining. . .there was still hope.
✦ ✦ ✦
(Aaah...!)
✦ ✦ ✦
Aya quickly planted her face next to the phone. With this, she could tell him...!
✦ ✦ ✦
She prayed there would be a signal.
✦ ✦ ✦
(P-please. . . . . . !)
✦ ✦ ✦
Using the tip of her tongue-the only part of her she could; move-she tried to push the buttons.
✦ ✦ ✦
Suddenly, there was a click from the, door.
✦ ✦ ✦
Aya’s face jerked.
✦ ✦ ✦
"......!"
✦ ✦ ✦
It was no good. She had no time. She couldn’t hide the phone in time.
✦ ✦ ✦
The handle turned, and the door swung open.
✦ ✦ ✦
Light poured into the dark room.
✦ ✦ ✦
But the silhouette standing before her was not Spooky E.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Wh-who are. . .?” Aya thought she had seen this tall man in white clothes before.
✦ ✦ ✦
“We’ve met before,” the man said, agreeing.
✦ ✦ ✦
“You are...!” she remembered.
✦ ✦ ✦
The man who had saved them the day she first met Masaki.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Why are you. . .?” she murmured, then her head jerked up.
✦ ✦ ✦
“P-please! Help me!”
✦ ✦ ✦
“I’m sorry, but I can’t do that,” the man said quietly.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Eh...?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“I need you to be a sacrifice,” he said, sounding very lonely.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Wh-what do you. . .mean?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“I don’t have much time. . .I didn’t expect Spooky E to die.
✦ ✦ ✦
Sooner or later, another Towa Organization agent will come here.
✦ ✦ ✦
I need to be ready for them. I have at least brought ‘lightning’ to this town.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Aya couldn’t understand most of what the man said, except for one thing...
✦ ✦ ✦
(He’s dead...?)
✦ ✦ ✦
She was sure he’d said that.
✦ ✦ ✦
The man who had bound her like this, was dead?
✦ ✦ ✦
Then that means. . .that means he was...
✦ ✦ ✦
“Um, excuse me. . . !” Ignoring the man’s sinister promise to sacrifice her, Aya tried to ask for the one thing she cared about.
✦ ✦ ✦
And then the phone in front of her lit up, and began to ring.
✦ ✦ ✦
"......!"
✦ ✦ ✦
Aya knew instantly.
✦ ✦ ✦
Only two people ever called her phone number, and one of them was Spooky E.
✦ ✦ ✦
The man in white reached out, and picked up the phone.
✦ ✦ ✦
He answered the phone, and like when the headphones are yanked out of the stereo when you’re listening, it got really loud, and a boy’s frantic voice filled the room.
✦ ✦ ✦
“......Orihata! Orihata, is that you?!”
✦ ✦ ✦
It was Taniguchi Masaki.
✦ ✦ ✦
(Ahhhhh......)
✦ ✦ ✦
Relief stole all the strength in Aya’s body.
✦ ✦ ✦
Asukai had heard the voice that came gushing out of the phone before.
✦ ✦ ✦
(That boy...)
✦ ✦ ✦
He looked back at Orihata Aya.
✦ ✦ ✦
She looked completely and utterly relieved.
✦ ✦ ✦
(She had been about to ask me if the boy was safe.) He nodded. That was more important to the girl than he own safety.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Hello. . .? Hello! Orihata?! Say something, please?!”
✦ ✦ ✦
"............"
✦ ✦ ✦
Asukai listened wordlessly, and at last held the phone out...to Aya’s ear.
✦ ✦ ✦
"...?"
✦ ✦ ✦
She looked surprised. Whoever this man was, he didn’t.
✦ ✦ ✦
seem like he planned to forgive her. So why was he giving he the phone?
✦ ✦ ✦
Asukai gazed down at her coldly. No trace of pity or pride.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Orihata?! Orihata?! !” the boy’s voice continued, nearly: shrieking.
✦ ✦ ✦
Asukai Jin and Orihata Aya looked at each other as the voice between them rang out......
✦ ✦ ✦
Because I’m a complete idiot, it took me half the day to sort things out.
✦ ✦ ✦
I just sat in Orihata’s empty apartment, flat on my ass, trying to work out what was bugging me.
✦ ✦ ✦
(What is it? There’s gotta be something...) When I got hungry, I ate some Calorie Mate I had left in my pocket. I pondered as I ate. But as I thought, I guess I must have dozed off. When my eyes snapped open again, several hours had passed.
✦ ✦ ✦
"Sh-shit...!"
✦ ✦ ✦
I looked at my watch, panicking. It was broken. I must have smashed it on something during the fight, or maybe the stun gun my sister hit me with took it out. I had only just noticed.
✦ ✦ ✦
(When I got to the bus stop, the bus had come right away, so I never even glanced at my watch...)
✦ ✦ ✦
I looked around the room.
✦ ✦ ✦
Nope, there were no clocks. No TV or stereo either.
✦ ✦ ✦
What now? I couldn’t just sit here. I had no clues, but just as I stood up to go out and look for her anyway, it finally hit me.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Oh...”
✦ ✦ ✦
I was standing in the middle of an empty room. I»: There was nothing in it.
✦ ✦ ✦
Nothing at all...
✦ ✦ ✦
I looked along the walls towards the comers, and that’s when I found it.
✦ ✦ ✦
The phone jack had the lid down. There was nothing hooked up to it.
✦ ✦ ✦
There was no phone in her apartment...
✦ ✦ ✦
But I had called her here many, many times. Which means.
✦ ✦ ✦
“I wasn’t actually calling her home phone at all!”
✦ ✦ ✦
I’m such an idiot.
✦ ✦ ✦
I bolted out of the apartment and onto the road, looking around frantically.
✦ ✦ ✦
Nothing.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Shit!”
✦ ✦ ✦
Iran and ran, and at last, five hundred meters down the road, I found a pay phone in front of a convenience store.
✦ ✦ ✦
I grabbed the receiver like how an infant grabs his mother’s knee, jammed my phone card into it, and stabbed the phone num-her I had seared into my memory.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Come on, pick up. . .pick up. . . !”
✦ ✦ ✦
Orihata’s phone was a cell phone.
✦ ✦ ✦
She might still have it with her. Wherever she was, I could call her!
✦ ✦ ✦
It rang, and rang, and rang.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Damn it! Pick up. . . !” I shouted, fretting.
✦ ✦ ✦
I’m sure it was less than twenty seconds, but it felt more like twenty minutes to me.
✦ ✦ ✦
At last, there was a click as someone answered.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Orihata! Orihata, is that you?!” I cried.
✦ ✦ ✦
There was no response.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Hello. . .? Hello!” I could feel my voice rising, getting worked up.
✦ ✦ ✦
I kept on calling her name.
✦ ✦ ✦
After what seemed like an eternity of silence, at last I heard a faint voice on the line go, “Ah...” And I knew instantly. It was Orihata’s voice. I almost burst into tears. She was safe.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Hello? Orihata, it’s me, Taniguchi Masaki!”
✦ ✦ ✦
Yes, I know,” she said, sounding very distant.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Are you safe, Orihata?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Y-yes. . .n-no. Why do you ask?” she said, awkwardly. It sounded like she had nodded, then corrected herself?
✦ ✦ ✦
“Kinukawa was arrested by the police. . .did you hear?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Really.
✦ ✦ ✦
“What about you? Are you in any danger?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Not really.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Kinukawa-san was brainwashed apparently, so...”
✦ ✦ ✦
“...Yes. Please, don’t blame her...”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Is someone there with you? Are they. . .making you do anything?” I didn’t know how to ask this.
✦ ✦ ✦
"............"
✦ ✦ ✦
“I might be out of line saying this, but I want to help you. I want to save you.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Sort of a corny line, but I genuinely meant it.
✦ ✦ ✦
"............"
✦ ✦ ✦
“Orihata, you. . .I mean, maybe you’re just fed up with me by now, but I really don’t mind being used. So, just go ahead and use me anytime you want to. I really did like being with you, and that was enough for me. . .so anything more than that, I. . .your.
✦ ✦ ✦
As I babbled, I could feel my sentences making less and less sense.
✦ ✦ ✦
I felt like nothing I said was getting through.
✦ ✦ ✦
No matter what I said, no matter how much I meant it. . .it was never enough.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Masaki. . .” she said, quietly.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Y-yes?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“That’s enough. I don’t need you anymore,” she said, bluntly.
✦ ✦ ✦
I felt a sharp pain in my chest.
✦ ✦ ✦
“You should find yourself abetter. . .normal girl. You shouldn’t see me anymore.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“N-no, that’s not. . .I don’t...”
✦ ✦ ✦
“No. We’re finished.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Uh, Orihata...”
✦ ✦ ✦
“You know by now? What I’ve done?”
✦ ✦ ✦
"I-I..."
✦ ✦ ✦
“No matter what they told you, it’s all true. It never occurred to you that I was like that, did it?”