Chapter 23 — “Live Well”

Chapter 23 — “Live Well”

“I told you, you’re too aggressive. You gotta focus more on protecting your support. What If I wasn’t at the back with her? She probably had gone to join your mom and dad up there,” Bitter pointed upwards with his cigarette dangling between his finger. The smoke made a random pattern as the three of them walked to a black car, “We’re lucky we only face a couple of Princi. Imagine if there is a Domini —“

“…I’m sorry,” Lemon, who still wasn’t half of Bitter’s size grabs his own shirt, crumpling and stretching it as he follows Bitter. His other hands holds tight his little sister, who is covered with bloodstains across her tiny, healthy body.

Bitter opened the trunk of his car — the smell of tobacco exploded the moment it’s exposed to the outer world. He stretched his arms, grabbing a gym bag hidden at the very back of the trunk. He takes a towel out of it, and wipe Lime’s bloodied face.

“Don’t roll around, you hear me? You’re going to wreck my interior again if you smear blood all over the couch.”

“ M‘kay.” Lime waltzed straight to the backseat without a single care. Bitter let out an exasperated sigh, watching the little girl nonchalant behaviour even after what should’ve been a gory battle. He takes another huff from his cigarettes, before getting in the car. He sits there, watching into nothingness. His left hands were tapping on the car’s steer, while the other’s swayed outside the car’s window with the lit cigarette.

“What are you doing?” Bitter asked Lemon, whom stood next to the him in the scorching sun, “Get in quick.”

“…I messed up,” Lemon whimpered.

“You did.”

“…I almost got Lime killed,”

“You did.”

The hot summer sunlight heating up the car and Lemon’s head, the heat is almost palpable, and the sweat is coming out from every glands in their body.

“Get in the car. Quick.” Bitter commanded the little boy. Lemon squirmed — he drifted to the passenger side and reached the door handle slowly. In a manner that is unlike Lemon’s usual shenanigans, he entered the car, and sat beside him without uttering a single word.

“Why did you get in slowly?” Bitter asked with a sharp tone.

Lemon’s mouth shut. He fiddled with his fingers, holding his best to not let the tears stained his cheek.

“Throwing useless tantrum like that — like an idiot. You think it will do anything?”

No response again. Bitter clicked his tongue. He reached to the ignition switch, and twist the key stuck in it. The car vibrated, and the air conditioner finally brought the breeze from heaven — refreshing every soul, while also being the sole reason of the car’s smell.

“Do better. Fight better. Improve yourself everyday. Maybe someday, you’ll be able to useful enough to pay your life debt” Bitter said with a straight face.

Lemon nods, drowned his back in the car seat. Bitter pushes the gas pedal, and the car finally move from the empty car park in the middle of nowhere.

. . .

“— But you…I can see that quality in you.”

“Yamamoto-sama?”

The air felt different. Bitter studies Katsuo’s gaze — it has long diverted from what should’ve been the trophy of the campaign, but focused to him. Bitter can feel the cold air biting down on his neck, as his coldest sweat runs down.

“All my life, I have met various people with various personality — with various dream. Those who are willing to pay with everything they have for the sake of glory. Those who are willing to sell their family for a dime or two. I saw that ambition in you…that grit, that selfishness — unwilling to give up for more.”

Bitter’s eyes scans the area around him. The soldiers encircling Lime — now he knows. All along, they have been encircling him too, pointing their guns toward the both of them.

“I saw the great potential in you, really I do. It’s really a shame that you chose to back down from your path,”

“With due respect, I never strayed from my path. Not once, not ever… Everything for the sake of the SCF…and humanity” Bitter swallowed his saliva. His hands get closer to his holster.

“Did you think I would survive on the top with wealth and luck, Bitter-san? I have keen eyes. I know you are quite a smart man. I know you are also a cunning, overly cautious man. I know, because we shared the same characteristics. The only difference is, loyalty — I am a man that sticks to the mass until the very end.”

Lime raises her heads up, staring at Bitter. Her eyes filled with bloodlust, and craves for violence. He notices, and gives the very subtle head shake.

“You covered your tracks very well. Your financial records were almost clean. Too clean.” Katsuo continued, “So we have to sniff around a little bit more. Imagine my surprise when we struck the gold. You, of all people, would stab the SCF in the back in the worse way possible — I have hard time to find it to be true,”

“Are you accusing me of treachery?” Bitter’s breathing becomes more erratic, “I’ve brought you an Ordained One candidate, if you forgot.”

“You’re so dedicated to your role, I love it,” Katsuo chuckled, “Even that last bit in your office — you don’t have to go that far, but you did it anyway. All for the sake to fool us. Poor Lemon, it must be hard taking all your deceit. He doesn’t even know what the plan is. Your real plan.

“You based these allegations on nothing but assumptions. You don’t have any evidence —”

“Oh, but I do.” Katsuo’s lift the tablet he’s been holding. On its screen, three green circle can be seen, with a green line rotating across the screen. A red dot can be seen, beeping at a distant from the centre,

“You should’ve known what this is. The radar to track your Princi. You know that’s how we found The Ark’s location so quickly… So, if the centre of this radar marks our location, then shouldn’t the red dot be in our location? Then if the radar said Lime’s not here, then who is it here with us?”

Katsuo had his face on plastered in front of ‘Lime’ — eager to pounce on him.

“I know who you are. I have a guess on how you attain your appearance, and the reason you teamed up with him. But that doesn’t matter now…The question is, are you going to take your revenge on me, that has nothing to do with the murder of your ‘sister’, or her murderer?” Katsuo whispered.

“You asshole—!” ‘Lime’ tears off her cuffs in an instant, as she jumps to Katsuo. A punch strikes true on Katsuo’s chest. Blood spurts from his mouth, sending him flying to the open air. In another second, gravity pulls him down, as he disappears to the abyss.

“Damn it, Cham! It’s too early! ” Bitter takes his gun out, turning to his back —

Todachi has stood right in front of him. With a single step, he slammed Bitter down.

“She attempted to kill Yamamoto-sama! Open fire!”

The gunmen blasted the blitzing ‘Lime’ across the platforms. The rains of bullets cut her skins bit by bit, as she withstands the shrapnels of the blazing firepower. She quickly approaches the apprehended Bitter —

“No, don’t!”

‘Lime’ stopped her movement just in time, before an explosion blasted in front of her. Debris comes flying through her guarding hand, grazes the girl’s skin all over the place.

“Go — Just go! You did your deed!”

“But—!”

“Don’t worry about me, go!”

She hesitated, but the sounds of the bullets hasn’t stop yet. She bit her lower lip, and dashes toward the open sky.

Bitter studies the flying ‘Lime’, as she jumps to her freedom. Her back is much bigger than it used to be 15 years ago. In his heart, he says his wish to her and Lemon, accepting his unchanging fate.

—