Degraded and Reduced

The hotel’s security team found Raven minutes after E.T. had left. She was restrained and handed over to the police. I didn’t resist on her behalf; getting arrested was the best move to make. There were plenty of chances to shake off the charges.

Her freedom came earlier than I expected. It only took three hours of interviewing before the Tokyo Metropolitan Police determined that she was innocent. Raven stepped out of the police station; her head drooped, as if her neck muscles had been removed. The new moon judged her and the brightly lit city from above the clouds.

“Did they treat you poorly, Karasuya-chan?” Raven’s guardian angel asked while leaning against his sedan. It was Hasekura Jō… Joe.

“Why are you here?” Raven barely got her words out. “I told you I didn’t want your help.”

“I know. But I owed your mother a lot. And it just so happens I’m friends with the Superintendent General. He pulled some strings, made a few calls, to get you released early.” Joe opened the door of his sedan. “Do you need a lift?”

“I’m not getting into a car with you.”

Joe chuckled. “Of course not. I’ll be taking that car.” He pointed to another sedan parked behind the first one.

Raven made her way to Joe; her loafers clapped especially loudly on the pavement. She whispered in Joe’s ear. “Listen. I’m guilty. I’m in league with the Robin Hood. We totes were going to steal money from you fuckers. Do you regret it now? Do you regret letting me out?”

Joe leaned away from her and patted her on the shoulder. “You got tricked by a handsome man. You must have felt so awful about yourself that you lashed out at me. But, don’t take my kindness for granted. I’m not your servant.”

He slipped into his sedan, the one meant for Raven, then both cars drove off onto the road. Raven watched them navigate the night traffic, until the two vehicles vanished around a corner.

Raven strolled along the sidewalk. Headlights and wheels buzzed past her, but she barely spared any glances. All the noise must have sounded the same to her, as it did to me.

Her stomach growled as she approached a convenience store. She patted down her dress. No wallet. It was in her purse. The purse that was stolen by the Robin Hood.

“There is a 500-yen coin inside the bush to your right. Behind the bench,” I said.

“Is there?” Raven wobbled to the bush and kneeled to search for the coin. The hemline of her dress dragged on the grimy brick tiles. She found the copper piece and raised it so the moonlight could illuminate it better.

After staring at the coin for a while, she trudged into the store, stopping by the sweets aisle. I noticed a little boy picking out candy next to Raven. My quasi-omniscience started barraging me with the reaction of Taisuke’s parents as they had learned of their son’s death. The plain statements that they had felt anger, pain, and grief. I felt nothing as I learned these facts.

But… was there a better way? Could I have shown myself and distracted E.T., so Pestilence could escape and reprogram the servers? Did Taisuke have to die? As expected, quasi-omniscience couldn’t give me an answer. You should. You should judge me! I want to know! Not those useless crumbs of information. Did I do the right thing? Did I?

My complaints were lost in the wind.

I wouldn’t ever know if my actions had led to a better future.

Raven bought a white chocolate bar and unwrapped it outside. “Chocolate bar as dinner? You might as well buy a jar of sugar.” She ignored my advice and chomped it.

The sweetness overwhelmed her tongue, and I could feel it too. A repulsive and exaggerated taste. Raven gagged. She stumbled back into the store and spat the chocolate into a bin.

“Awful,” she murmured and dumped the rest of the bar away.

“What a waste,” I said.

She didn’t react to my comment, silently beginning her shuffle back home. The unpleasantness of the bar still lingered on her tongue. And I was forced to relive the taste too. The sensation must have been inconsequential compared to whatever misery she was drowned in. She deserved everything, every ounce of guilt and shame, for involving herself with a murderer.

The lampposts showered the neighborhood with faint rays of light, mocking the night with the glow. The dark corners couldn’t hide anything from me, but they took away colors from my vision nonetheless.

Joe had arranged for five Yakuza members to secretly protect Raven on her journey. But Raven didn’t know that. From her perspective, something or someone could pop out of the dark, and I might not protect her. Yet she didn’t care that she was venturing into the night alone as a young woman. I wanted to mock her for her carelessness, but couldn’t find the right words.

Raven turned onto a narrower path and stopped. She stared at the wall, and I wondered what image of me she saw. “Death, you are a good person, right? Everything you do, it’s totes for the greater good, right?”

There it was, the desperation I was looking for. If I affirmed her here, an emotional dependency would build, and she would finally be my obedient pawn.

“No, there is nothing great about anything we do.” The wrong answer came out. Maybe I needed to find E.T. first; there just wasn’t time to deal with her. I had to search for clues as to where he might have run. I had to think about something else…

Raven nodded. “Okay.” Tears welled up in her eyes. She crouched to the ground, rubbing her arm over her face.

“I just want to be a good person,” she whimpered.

I didn't know what purpose this declaration served, and whether she expected me to respond. Whatever... I was just too tired to think of anything to say.