Casting Shadows On A Decent Life

A few days passed after this incident between Akira and Leon. In those few days Priscilla’s training intensified, thanks to the fact that now Akira could fight without having to limit himself, a fact that allowed them to start fighting each other. In those days Priscilla’s training was divided in two parts: the first one was a total revision and improvement of the fundamentals, like how to stay on guard, how to advance and retreat, how to threw punches, how to handle a sword and so on. The second part was a mock fight between Priscilla and Akira in which he tried to give himself handicaps to favour Priscilla so that she could use all the things she had learned in her training in order to master them or at least to know how to use them. Needless to say, even with the handicap Akira easily defeated Priscilla every time they did those mock fights: they really lasted for some minutes maximum, giving the opportunity for both of them to repeat them over and over. Once, they battled for 15 times before they understood that they were overdoing it a bit. The fact of fighting with handicaps didn’t really bother Akira: it served Priscilla to focus on determinate moves so that she could know how to use them, and he didn’t always do that. Plus, in his reality Akira often did a similar thing: in some fight, where he knew he had the upper hand, he put on some music on repeat and for the first take of the track he just defended and dodged, and then, when the track started repeating itself, he started fighting. Those fights were just a show off for him and a way to make the ones that were fighting him know that he was superior to them: in fact, he was hit only once in those types of fights and he always won them, also because nine out of ten of those fights were against punks that didn’t even know what the world was. Anyways, Priscilla was seemingly improving, and this was the important thing: she even once succeeded in slightly hit him, which was a great achievement. When that happened, she, Akira and Samai went out eating and feasted like they had won an important competition. Moreover, Akira didn’t really expect it: hitting him was an achievement that Priscilla could have been proud of, because he expected her to hit him after various months of training. Instead, she did it only after less than a month he had started tutoring her: it was real that she had practiced for some hours every day, but still, the improvement she showed was even more than Akira could have predicted. Maybe she would have hit a still point not so much later on, but still, that was a good sign, because it showed that she was capable of breaking her limits. Or maybe he was a good teacher, who knows. Or even both, why not?

He only saw Leon once after the duel, when Priscilla dragged him along and made him apologize to him, which showed how stubborn Priscilla could be. Since then, Leon had been confined in his room, probably tending to his wife, who, in the meanwhile, was slowly arriving at the day in which she should have conceived, or working for his father, as he had an important role in the family business. Still, from their duel, Akira had started harbouring some contrasting feeling regarding Leon: he was a cool and laid back dude, but, at the same time, he started feeling like he needed to be on guard with him. He didn’t really know why, but that feeling probably would have gone away with time, once the reminiscence of the duel between the two had disappeared from his mind, so he kind of ignored it, only thinking about it once in a while.

From there days passed like nothing had happened: he continued training with Priscilla, then went to the library and studied the world around him, sometimes alone, sometimes with Kjeo or even Priscilla and Samai, which sometimes accompanied him when Priscilla had nothing else to do. In fact, her routine didn’t really seem like a tour de force: apart from the lessons she had, she didn’t seem to have any other important business anywhere in town. It was true that that town was still a frontier one, so not the biggest of the cities out there, but still, Akira supposed that she had friends, or even only people to go see sometimes. However, when he once asked her that, she immediately dropped the subject with a sour yet sad expression which made Akira understand more than words would have: she was probably alone in that city, even though he didn’t know why. That was also probably why she was always with Samai: there was no one with whom she could pass time. That also explained why she seemed so happy to hear about other cultures: it was like she was confined in Zuvaskja against her will, like she couldn’t leave the city. Akira didn’t venture further in the subject: everyone has a secret or two that they want to hide from others, and the only way you’ll ever get to know them is just because they will tell you, trying to extort it from them is pointless and risks to ruin what good there is between the two of you. Akira knew that very well: if someone tried to venture into his secrets without him permitting it, he would have gone mad. Literally. Plus, there was the fact that, since he became her teacher, she had never shown him again the mighty attitude that she showed the first time they ever met. In fact, that attitude didn’t suit her and it seemed like she didn’t want to do that, or at least that was the impression he had when he scolded her the first time they met. Was it because of her mother? Was she the one that tried to imprint in her that horrible attitude? Or was it a natural defence against the people that she had to see because of her mother’s will or her father’s work? He didn’t know, but he was sure of a thing: that wasn’t the real Priscilla, but just a societal mask that she had to wear in many occasions and that now was slowly trying to merge with her real self.

Apart from going to the library, he sometimes went into the city or in its surroundings, trying to get familiar with the territory near him, and in this he was sometimes followed by other servants that had free time: the group with whom he had gone around more was composed by him, Kjeo, Wahlia and, occasionally, Priscilla and Samai, who normally aggregated to the team when they were going to climb between the mountains, an activity that Priscilla seemed to like a lot and that Samai found relaxing, or so Akira thought, considering that she smiled more in those occasions than she did back at the Natò residence. However, without the last two, that group of three was also used to another activity: drinking. Akira didn’t really like alcohol, even though he was capable of handling it well, but when he was in a good company he was at least willing to drink a pint of beer at the local inn. On the other hand… Kjeo wasn’t really versed in beers, but he sure was when it was time for a grappa or a liquor, while Wahlia was literally a miracle drinker: she could drink how much she wanted, but she was still not going to become drunk. Akira once saw her drinking two bottles of a special liquor made out of a mixture of apricot and peach – that was the normality when she had a bad day, he later discovered – and was still able to converse like a normal human being and didn’t even show any sign of drunkenness. At the inn they were just three friends who chatted about their day, their life, their dreams, and also about other more vulgar or idiot topics. Apart from that, they got to know each other more through these inn evenings and got close as friends, which gave Akira an insight on the lives of the other two. Kjeo was born in Zuvaskja, but then, when he was 16, he left for the capital, bringing some coins and a book with him. He then became famous in the underground fighting scene for his weapon, which was literally a book, and his streak of good results, which made him debut in not-so-legal tournaments held by some of the richest people in the city. Then, those fighting circles were closed due to a big operation from the city guards, but he succeeded in not being imprisoned by serving some years in the army. Then, when he had the possibility, he went away and returned to his hometown, where he was hired first at the public library and then at the Natò residence. All of this happened in the span of a few years: he was hired from the Natò family when he was 22, and now he was 24. Whalia, instead, didn’t come from Zuvaskja, that’s all she said about her origins: she didn’t really say a lot about herself, but that was the same as Akira, so he couldn’t really judge her. Once, she said “There is no need to know everything about the past of your companion: what is important is the present. After all, if they are going to stab you in the back, it will happen even if you know everything about them, and you can understand and prevent it even without knowing their past”. Seemed like she was talking from experience, but, still, what she said was true: no matter how well you know the persons near you, if they want to betray you, they will do it anyway. On one of these evenings, Akira contemplated what he had around him: friends, a lively place in a lively and quiet city, a job he liked… He felt like he made the right bet when that door showed him another way to live his life: that bet could have killed him, instead it gave him what he always desired. In a moment of weakness, without thinking that life is a long journey that can change like nothing for the most stupid reason in the world, he thanked whoever gave him the opportunity to change, to leave his old himself behind and to restart all again.

But that was the moment when a shadow started obscuring his normal days.

A night, he woke up, seemingly unable to sleep. In those cases, he normally read a book or took a walk around the garden, illuminated by some lamps that made it look more suggestive than it was during the day. That time, he decided to go take a walk, as he hadn’t any book to read. He could have snuck inside the Natò library, but at night it was closed and it really had no sense at all to do that. He put on some clothes and then got out, going through the silent corridors of the house until he got to the garden. There, a pleasant surprise awaited him: while walking around the garden he encountered Priscilla and Samai, which seemingly also couldn’t sleep and so decided to walk a bit around the garden, with a lamp in their hands so that they could see something in those points where the darkness ate the garden. While they were talking, Akira saw with the side of his eye a little glint coming from the darkness. As it was really unjustified, because it really came from a dark spot where nothing lay apart from grass and flowers, Akira thought that he had seen things just because he hadn’t slept enough, but then he saw it again, this time more clearly: that was the moment when, impulsively, he jumped against Samia and Priscilla, pushing them all on the ground.

“Hey, what are you doing?!” asked Priscilla, shocked by the fact that she and Samai were pushed on the ground, while Samai looked at Akira with a confused look.

That was when they heard a sound: it was the sound of moving air, like an object went through it. Then, Akira heard the sound of something sticking in the wall and so he turned around: what he saw was a lonely knife, one of those little pieces of iron that you throw like a shuriken, firmly stuck inside the wall of the villa. Immediately, Akira whispered to the two girls “Stay here and don’t move, no matter what happens”. Then, he got up, picked the lamp that Priscilla had in her hands when he pushed her to the grounds and faced it towards the dark zone from which that weapon supposedly came from. At first he saw nothing, but then he caught a glimpse of a dark cloak, or so he thought, and subsequently swiftly moved the lamp towards it. That was when he saw it: a person was standing there, totally dressed in black, its face covered with a mask and a cape. Various little knives were hanging from its belt, badly hidden by its cloak, and he also saw a little sword, which was probably what betrayed its presence, considering that it was visible even though under the cloak and that its hilt was shining a bit, hit by the light of the lamp. It was easy to imagine who that person was: a hitman. And, considering that the Natò residence had literally no patrolling at all, it had probably been a piece of cake for him to enter undisturbed in the garden. The eyes of the two met each other: those of the assassin were cold, yet they seemed to have a faint light of entertainment in them, like he was doing that just for hobby or because he liked it, while Akira’s ones were as cold as the hitman’s ones but, instead of excitement, they showed something akin to hatred, like a mother when she has to defend her children from an external threat. After they held that eye contact for some seconds, Akira started to quickly get near him, even though he was at a disadvantage, not having any weapon apart from his fists, while the hitman rapidly took out a throwing knife and threw it at him, aiming at his chest. Akira lowered himself and dodged it, but, while he was still down, the assassin launched another one of those knives and then took out its sword. The knife didn’t hit Akira, but it was enough to destabilize him and make him retreat a bit. In that moment the hitman quickly got to him and tried to pierce his chest with a simple lunge. Still, Akira succeeded in dodging it and tried to land a punch right on its face, but the hitman easily avoided it and tried to hit his leg with a slash, trying to reduce his movements. The hit missed its objective, but it still succeeded to inflict a light wound to Akira’s leg, which made him lose a bit of equilibrium. In that fragment of time the assassin leaned in Akira and tried to inflict a mortal blow on him, which could have easily ended Akira’s life in a moment, but, instead, the attack seemed to had aimed at one of his arms, which made it relatively easy for Akira to dodge it. Then, the two of them distanced a bit from each other and looked again in the eyes, like they were challenging the other to make a move. That battle wasn’t going well for Akira, but right in that moment things got even worse: behind him a shadow appeared and subsequently a voice, which asked him “Akira, what’s happening?! Are you all right?” and then the shadow entered the zone illuminated by the lamp, making it clear that it was Priscilla. In that moment the hitman’s eyes emanated a faint glow, like he was smiling under its mask, making it clear who its objective was: he was aiming at Priscilla’s life. Priscilla froze up on the place when she saw the scene that was unravelling in front of her eyes, while Akira immediately said to her, with the most authoritarian tone he could muster up in that situation “Priscilla! Turn back, NOW!”. However, in that moment, the assassin tried to do his move and quickly threw another throwing knife, this time aimed at Priscilla’s throat. Priscilla didn’t see it coming, also because of the poor luminosity that she had from her position, but Akira saw well what he was trying to do and he did the only thing he could have done in that moment: he put himself in front of the target and took the hit.

“AKIRA!” shouted Priscilla, when she understood what happened.

The knife hit him right near the shoulder, the place that Akira chose to be the one that should have been hit, as it wasn’t a vital point and he could bear with the pain for a while, but then he did the only thing someone who was stabbed shouldn’t do: instead of leaving the knife in the wound, in order not to make a bleeding start, he took it out. That way, he obtained a weapon with which he could have stood up against his opponent, hoping that the blade hadn’t been soaked in poison: in that case, he was probably going to faint or, worst case scenario, to die. However, he doubted that was the case, otherwise the assassin wouldn’t have aimed at Priscilla’s throat, but to an easier place to hit. He ignored Priscilla’s screams behind him and leaped forward, brandishing the knife in a hand trying to horizontally hit the assassin at its lower chest. The assassin dodged him, but its eyes looked like it understood the error it did by missing its target. Plus, with Priscilla screaming all over the place, people would have probably woken up, and it was better to not be found there when that happened. So, when he dodged Akira’s attack, the hitman moved forward with a sudden movement and passed Akira, not before pushing him, trying to throw him to the ground so that he could not follow it. That didn’t work, though: Akira was still standing and he followed it, until the assassin disappeared for a bit, only to reappear on the top of the walls that surrounded the Natò villa. That was the moment when its cold eyes met for the last time those of Akira before that figure said to him, with a voice that seemed to have been altered with a voice changer in order to make it impossible to understand whether it was the one of a male or a female, 

“You have done well today, Akira Demoni. But remember, demise is inevitable, you can’t save anyone. Like what happened with Makoto. Like what happened with the members of the Anemakai”.

Then, that mysterious figure disappeared right behind the wall. Thanks to Priscilla’s screams, the entire house was on light, and Giorgio and Leon had come down to see what happened, along with the majority of the other servants and teachers. While Giorgio, Leon and Samai were assisting Priscilla, who was trying to reach Akira to see if he was alright, time had stopped for Akira. How could someone know? Who wanted Priscilla dead? What had he to do with that? How could things that didn’t even happen in that world pester him? All alone in an angle of the garden, while Giorgio and Leon were going to call the guards and Priscilla and Samai were quickly trying to get to Akira, he looked at the dark moonless sky, scared and resigned, wondering how his past could still succeed in capturing him in its dark embrace even in another world.