Bound by tragedy

The rain refused to let up; in fact, it only became more violent. A woman with blonde hair and pale skin sat at her desk, a cup of steaming coffee in her hand, classical music playing silently in the background as she took a quick swig. She set down the cup and folded her hands together, a plain expression on her face. Her cold eyes met those of hers and then the man at her side.

“I appreciate your attempt at trying to capture the beast; you were closer than anyone else here, from my understanding.” The blonde woman stated.
“Yeah.” She plainly replied.

“I’m sure from your pursuit, you managed to find out for yourself that that monster is far different from most. It can speak in full and clear sentences, formulate its own ideas.” She stood from her chair and approached the long window at the side of the room, gazing outward at the bleak environment and the gray storm clouds.

“This was a matter that I wished to keep restricted between the higher-ups within the Takeba group; however, my men proved to be inefficient with how they conducted today's meeting, and as a result, you have gotten yourself twisted up in this mess. I’m sure this goes without saying, but please refrain from speaking of what happened here today. This is a highly confidential matter, and we aren’t sure if we want the rest of our group knowing about the beast's existence just yet.”

“Right,” Himeno nodded her head, her hands clenching at her sides.

“That was all I needed. You two may return to whatever it was you were doing before.”

“Thank you, Ms. Linda.” The man beside her bowed deeply.

“Actually, Shindo, I need you to stay behind a moment.”

|

Night had fallen, though the rain still refused to let up. Himeno sat before the mirror in her bathroom, examining the small scars across her arms, shoulder, and face, all from the shattered glass of that clothing store. She sighed, throwing on a plain black tee and sweatpants before shutting off the light in her bathroom and shutting the door.

A sudden pounding at her front door caught her attention.

“Hold on.” She approached the door and swung it open, only for Shindo to be standing on the other side with an open umbrella, his body still covered in that two-piece.

“We should talk.” He stepped inside without hearing her response, his eyes gazing around the small room where they resided.
Himeno said nothing, her eyes lingering over the railing just outside her door, and at the towering building just ahead of her own. She shut the door and turned around with a sour expression.

“You could have called.”

“Not for this.” He sat himself atop her bed, eyes dark, body shuddering.

“What’s the matter?”
“Why did you let it escape?” He asked abruptly.

“What-”

“I know what you’re capable of, I know how fast and strong you are. I refuse to believe that creature managed to escape while you sustained zero injury.”

Himeno was taken aback, her eyes failing to meet his.

“If she escapes, that makes her a higher priority, so if I find her again and turn her in, I’ll rise even higher in the ranks.”

“Is that so? ”He sighed.

“Is that what you and Ms. Linda discussed? Did you rat me out?”

“Trust me, if those were my intentions, I wouldn’t be the only one here right now. If they knew for certain that you let that creature escape, let’s just say no words would be exchanged.” He pulled a cigar from his pocket and a lighter from the other, lighting it up and taking a quick puff.

“Then what did you talk about?” She stepped before him, snatching the cigar and taking a puff from it herself.

“She suspects that there’s some foul play, but isn’t too sure, she wants me to keep an eye on you and report any mishaps.”

“Is that what you plan to do?”

“I already told you… I don’t intend on it.” He stood, snatched his cigar back, then sat back down.

“What I’m really here to do is to ask you one simple question.” He held up a finger, “Why are you working for K-Corp?”

“Are you serious?” She crossed her arms and cocked a brow.

“Deadly. Let me put it like this. Everyone who works for K-Corp works for one of three reasons. The first is out of necessity, they have no money, no family, nothing, so they decide to give their lives to K-Corp instead of rollin over and dyin’.” His speech was muffled as he began chewing on his cigarette. “The second is to protect the people of our country, people with a strong sense of justice, believing that by joining K-Corp, they can actually make a difference. The people who fit into the third group work for K-Corp because they were quite literally given no other choice. People from the youth program, criminals who were sentenced to give their lives to the cause, things like that. Looking at you and your background, I can tell you don’t fit into any of those groups. Your parents left behind a good sum of money for you; you have plenty of family across Japan that could take care of you, so why?”

Himeno stood in silence for a few moments, her expression darkening.

“You work like no one else, pursue the top like your life depends on it. Most people in K-Corp become strong as a result of the job; you became strong as a result of your desire to be better at the job. What do you gain?”

Another brief moment of silence.

“You want to know what I gain? Why I joined K-Corp?” She repeated his questions silently, her eyes appearing devoid of all color as she stood, motionless.

“A man working for K-Corp killed my mother, and for that, I want to kill him. It’s that simple.”

Shindo was taken aback by her answer, his cigar almost falling from his mouth.

“You can’t be serious? According to your file, your mother died due to natural causes.”

“You wouldn’t understand, just take the answer as is.” She stated plainly.

“Fine.” He stood and approached the door, “but now I’m interested. Who is the man you plan on killing?”

“The head of the Takeba group.”

“Mr. Takeba.” He turned back with wide eyes, “Do you have a death wish?”

“No more questions, you can report me to Linda if you want, I would if I were in your position.”

Shindo let out a heavy sigh, “I’m not the Takeba group's lap-dog. I work for money and nothing more. I would suggest you seriously reconsider your end goal, because with a dream like that, it only ends one way.” He spoke not another word, opening the door and stepping into the rainy night.

|

Himeno left her apartment not too long after Shindo, in hopes of clearing her head. She found herself alone in a women-only cart, mind racing with endless thoughts. Why didn’t I kill that monster? She allowed her head to fall between her thighs, a silent groan escaping her lips.

The train stopped minutes later, the doors silently whooshing open.

Himeno slowly waltzed through the half-empty station, examining the brightly lit booths selling food, the advertisements along the walls, and then the bright lights embedded within the ceiling. She returned to the surface not much after.

It was dark out, and the stars were hardly visible through the clouds in the sky. Streetlights kept the road ahead just bright enough to see her immediate surroundings, but anything beyond that was consumed by an all-encompassing void. The streets were as dead as the train station. There was no foot traffic, no cars running up and down the road, no clamoring voices. The only thing she could hear was the wind's silent humming as it gently swept past her body, the hair on her head fluttering alongside her jacket.

She roamed through the darkness and stopped at a small park, her hand held firmly on her chest as she began to examine the small swing set. She stepped onto the wood chips, approaching the swing and staring down at it with tear-filled eyes. In that moment, she swore she could see herself, sitting on that swing and smiling, waving back and forth as her mother pushed her from behind.

A painful memory shattered her heart, voices she long wished to forget ringing in her head.

“Himeno, darling, be a better woman than me, be the type of woman I could never be.”

She held the chains of the swing in either hand, using them to prop herself up as she leaned forward, her eyes shut tight in an attempt to fight back the tears. It was to no avail.

She fell to her knees, thighs planted into the wood chips, staining her jeans with caked dirt.

Her sobs were cut short, the sound of crunching silently approaching her from behind.
She quickly stood and whipped her body around, using the sleeve of her sweater to wipe her tears and staring down at what was before her. Standing motionless, nearly masked by the shadows, was the creature. Its clothes were tattered and dirty, small rips forming on the sleeves of its button-up. She wore an oversized jacket with a hood over her head, though that silver hair it possessed couldn’t belong to anything else.

“What the hell-”

“Wait!” The creature interjected before she could finish, holding out a single, shaky hand, “I have nowhere to go, I don’t mean any harm but…” Its soft voice trailed.

“Have you been following me?”

The creature hesitated, then nodded.

“The man who took me in, they killed him for disobeying their orders. He sacrificed himself for me, for a greater cause. Please, I know there’s good in your heart, that’s why you didn’t kill me when you first had the chance.”

“What are you?” She spoke with a grimace.

“I’m a monster. Or rather, an anomaly. According to what he used to tell me, that's what you would refer to me as.” She held her hands together nervously, body practically trembling.

“I’ve never heard of a monster being able to talk the way you do,” Himeno responded with skepticism.

“Believe it or not, I’m not the only one like this. Others like me have been born time and time again; however, most of them are killed before our beings are even considered. I know it may be hard to believe, but I bear no ill will toward human beings. I don’t feel any desire to kill or harm anyone. Please, I swear!” She was pleading by this point.

“A pacifist monster?” She grit her teeth, shaking her head in disbelief.

“I know you humans are accustomed to the idea that most monsters are inherently evil, and I won’t deny that truth. By design, monsters can only feel and dish out negativity; they are the culmination of humanity's darkest parts. All that anger, sadness, anguish, they embody it all, but I- we are not like that.” She stepped closer to Himeno with pleading eyes, “we aren’t like other monsters!”

“You keep saying we. Are you telling me there are other ones? Others that can talk and act just like you do?” The creature frantically shook its head up and down.

“I haven’t met them, but I can feel them all out there, around the world. I feel connected to them somehow. I know it’s a lot to ask given your position, but I can tell you have true goodness in your heart. Please, save me.” The creature got to its knees before her, hands clasped together with tightly shut eyes, “please! Don’t let the man who saved me… Don’t let his death go in vain!” She planted her forehead into the dirt, hands still clasped together above her head.

“I-I.” Himeno struggled to find the right words, to understand the situation, to understand why she was so conflicted, to understand the turmoil in her heart.

Why? What is this feeling? She- No, It! It is just a monster! I’ve killed hundreds before. So why does looking at her fill me with such sorrow?

“I don’t know, ok? Why would you come to someone like me for this? You think I’m so good? You don’t know anything about me!” Her voice echoed through the night, her hands clasping around her ears as she tucked her knees to her chest, crouching toward the ground with shut eyes.

Then, through the abyss of her closed eyes, could she see her. A small girl, holding the hand of her dying mother as she lay in her hospital bed.

Himeno stood once more, shaking her head and regaining her composure.

“I’ll help you.” She calmly stated, her hands clenched tightly at her sides, “My mother's old house would be the perfect place for you to hide.”