Interlude: Part 2

That night the sky was clear and bright. The full moon hollowly lit up the landscape and drew small shadows like it was a gentle version of the sun.
Kana loved the moon. She would just stare at it for hours when she was lost in her thoughts; even if it sounds unbelievable that she is capable of such a thing.
As long as she saw the moon, she felt relief and knew she was at the right place. 

'But this hole has no windows... Or anything.'- She complained.
No natural light could seek into the building, it was all electric lights.
'I mean... It doesn't look half bad in here, actually... I just miss the moon... and stars...'

They were already long past dinner. Ash was still cleaning in the kitchen, but Rose already said her goodnights a while ago.
Kana was lying on the sofa with her legs crossed, staring at the blank ceiling. She didn't have a room, of course, so she was just getting used to her sleeping spot for the night.

'This sofa is actually quite comfortable. And Ashie gave me some pillows and blankets as well, so... It's gonna be okay.'

At least that's what she thought.
Suddenly the faint rumbling of the shower disappeared; Ash finished his shower, too, and barged out, wearing soft and baggy clothes, ready to sleep.
Kana looked back up at him, but after some staring Ash just turned around and left to his room.

"Goodnight to you too, shithead..."

Finally, the building was in complete silence; but that's when it struck Kana:

'I'm not sleepy at all!'

She tried closing her eyes and clearing her mind, but still nothing, no matter how many sheep she counted. There was no way she could fall asleep soon. 

'Is it just the messed up sleep schedule I had lately...?'

She was awake for the whole 24 hours lately, getting a lot less sleep than she should have gotten. The surprising thing was that still, she never woke up feeling tired. 

'Guess this is what being shut in does to a person...' 

She kept tossing and turning, but nothing happened. Her body just filled with energy from moving around. She tried pretty much everything: She drank water, she microwaved some hot milk, which helped a bit, but still she wasn't able to fall asleep.

'Should I exercise a little...? No... That would make too much noise.'
...
'Well, not like the microwave was silent. But there was no going back once I put the milk inside.'
In the end she just simply lied down and waited. 

Maybe it was just a matter of time.
...

No it wasn't.

Still not a single second of sleep. 

'Well, fuck.'- She concluded. She realized she didn't have any more options to try. 

Suddenly, Ash's door creaked opened. She quickly covered herself with the blanket and pretended to be asleep. But she had one eye half-open.

Ash stepped out soundlessly and gently knocked on Rose's door, making sure not to make too much noise. There was no answer. He looked back once, then opened the door only so wide that he could fit into the room and closed it immediately after himself.
A little noise, then silence again. Kana had seen everything. 

'...The hell? Why did he just go into her room? I don't hear them talking or anything. They can't be talking so quietly.'

She realized there was no 'normal' answer, her mind came up with the wildest ideas.

 'Nonononono... Nah, that can't be... She is his aunt. Or... can it?'

She felt disgusted by the idea. 

'I mean... I'd understand if it was really that... Kind of... Like... I bet he doesn't really have the opportunity to really have a love life as a monster hunter. Not like I know what kind of life they have, but I can only guess.'- For a moment she thought she understood why it would be that way.
But it wasn't for long. She still couldn't convince herself that it was reasonable in any way.

'Ashie, really...? I can't believe it! Actually... I think I can. But still!...'

When she felt like she thought about the topic inside-out, she was bored, again. And still not sleepy at all.
As the last resort, for some reason, the thought of her friend came to her mind.

"Yun..."- She said quietly.
'I made a promise. I will join them! And make every single one of those monsters pay. Even if I have to tear them to pieces with my two hands, I will. I will try until I succeed.'

She was filled with frustration. Her sadness and pain turned into anger a long time ago, showing all kinds of wild ideas about slaying the demonic creatures that came and ruined everyone's lives... And ended the life of her only friend.

"My best friend... My only one..."- She muttered.

She dropped a tear. It feel as if the world slowed around her. She came crashing onto the sofa's soft and firm surface.
'Why... Why is it always the good people who have to suffer...? Why??? She was so...'

She couldn't hold back her tears. 

'Why couldn't it be me instead?! Who am I?! A fucking annoying weirdo, who is disgustingly egoistic and eccentric...! A pile of shit, compared to her! And still... it was her, who died.'

She got angry and grabbed the blanket tight in her hands.
'Nobody ever talked to me... They were always afraid or disgusted. And they just left. I never made a big scene of it or anything at all. I was used to being alone. I couldn't even imagine not to being alone. But she...'

Kana slowly calmed down while she was thinking of her.

'She just talked to me. She just wanted to. And she wasn't disgusted or scared. She didn't even see the real me at first. Just the good stuff.'
She started laughing quietly.
'What did you even find in me that was so good? I'm not even close to good. There is nothing such in me.'
She wiped her tears away.
'But somehow you still did. And the least I can do is keep my promise in return. I hate to owe anyone anything, you know. I made up my mind. I will kill all of them.'

Her mind finally cleared.
She didn't even know how much time has passed, while she was thinking about this. 

'I feel like I could sleep now, actually. Can't let this chance slide!'

She pulled the blanket onto herself and made herself comfortable.
'Finally... I just have to...'

Suddenly some noise came from Rose's room. She could hear Ash's deep voice and Rose's soft sounding answers. But she couldn't make out what they said. Some parts sounded highly questionable.
'Rose's voice is weird... It sounds either sleepy or like she was just woken up, or... Or else...'

She didn't like the thought her mind formed, but it was what it was.

'AAaaarhhh...! I just got sleepy, don't tell me these two start making love now! Literally the worst timing ever!!'

She lost all the sleepiness she gained before. But the noises stopped. For a second, everything fell silent, then the door slowly opened.
Ash stepped out and walked to the couch. 

"Hm?"- Kana let him now she is awake.

"So you are awake, huh...?"

"What were you... doing in there?"- She asked, not sure if she would rather want to know the truth or not.

"...What do you mean?"

"I mean in that room."

Ash stopped for a moment there.
"Well, it's..."
Kana stared at him intently, waiting for the answer.

"It's...What?"- She asked, with a drop of sweat trailing down her face.

"It's... complicated, okay?"- He said, which made things even worse.
She felt disgusted.

"Ashie..."
"W-What?"
"Tell me you are joking... She is your aunt!"

He took a deep breath and sat down into the armchair.

"What the fuck are you thinking?! It's nothing like that! Don't even think about it!"- He said, clearly.

"So... You weren't deep in your a-"

"No! Don't even continue! I want to vomit from even the idea...!"

Kana wasn't really bought.

*sigh*

Ash grabbed the remote control and turned on the tv.

"...What are you doing?"

"I just wanna watch some tv. I can't sleep either, before you ask."

"..."- She wanted to tell him down, but she couldn't fall asleep either, so she decided to go with the tide.

"Well, you are lucky 'cos I can't sleep either."

"I know...."- He answered, knowing she really thinks he is that dumb.
He switched between the channels until he found a late-night news report. 

*Today, the rate of monster-encounters decreased significantly. The Evergreen city is past a day yet again, nearly hitting its 130th year aniversary since the apocalypse. Infection-rates also dropped by a significant amount. Compared to yesterday there was a massive 30% decrease, thanks to the successful defense strategy of the Evergreen Government. The number of recorded deaths are also at a decrease. Further...*

"Fat fucking lies..."- Ash commented, with a disgusted look on his face and turned off the tv.

"Come ooon! I still wanted to watch!.."- Kana said.

"Watch what? Watch what they made up this time to look good in front of the people?"

"...I mean... Are they really doing that?"
"Yes. Wanna know how the rate of infections decreased?"
Kana nodded.

"Today, we were assigned a mission: a monster attacked a building with a bunch of civils inside. The objective was to kill the bastard. And we did. But it was quite a big one. Usually the civils just get infected... But they... They were all half-eaten by the time we arrived. I've never seen anything such before... But it was what it was."

"So... How does this connect to the rate of infections?"- Kana didn't quite catch the point.

"These event are usual. But the victims only got infected before. Now, they all died. That's why today, less people were infected. Because they are dead."
Kana finally understood and for the first time that day, they agreed in something.

"The number of recorded deaths is the same. When something like this happens, we are just assigned to dump the rubbish out. Meaning any civils that died in such a way that information about them would be difficult to retrieve, are just dumped into a black bag and let go."

"That's terrible. But I don't know if the victims were lucky or not..."

"Mm... That's hard to figure..."- Ash agreed.

"My friend was... bit by one of these fuckers and... she suffered. A lot. Alone."

"But you... visited her, didn't you?"- Ash asked curiously.

"Yeah, every day. I always found my way inside. I would find it anyhow. I was ready to kill if I had to. Until one day I arrived to her... not being there anymore."

Ash listened intently.

 "In return I got locked up into some appartment for years. Say I'm stupid, if you want to, it's of course my fault. Anyone would think the same. But..."

"You did the right thing..."

Kana looked at Ash with surprised eyes.
"In a piece of shit world like this... is there really anything so wrong you could do?"

"Fair point..."

There was a pause.

"Actually, Kana... I..."
Although he spoke up, he didn't really know how to say it. But this pause was for te worse. Or maybe, she just wanted to tease Ash, even she herself didn't really know.

"...I know, Ashie, but.. It's still not okay to bang your aunt..."

"The fuck...?! How did this even...? Arhhh... You see, Kana, I wanted to talk to you, but I had to talk with Rose about it first."

Kana listened eagerly.

"Y-yeah?"

"So... I discussed it with Rose and we decided you could join us if you want to."

Kana's mind shattered at that moment.

"W-what?"

"...Well, she was against it at first and she still doesn't like the idea. But I don't think it would be a problem if you joined us"
"W-WHAT? Please, I know I wanted to pay for my stay somehow, but this is too much, I don't even know you really... It's a... big ask from me to make love with you right away...! Please spare me, I'm... Not ready for something like this so soon, please...!"

"W-WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!"

"H-heh?"- Kana looked up.

"I asked Rose if you could join us in hunting monsters and she agreed! That's what I wanted to tell you!"

"Oooh, so that's what you were doing...! So you weren't makin-"

"Don't even continue!!"
Kana's face lit up.
"Really? Like... For real, real?!"

"Well, yeah... You have some basics to start with. But you still lack actual skills in combat."

He stopped there for a bit.

'Is he.. talking shit about me?!'

"So, if you're okay with it, I can teach you."

"Yeah, yeah, I know I'm-.... wait, what?"

"...What do you mean 'what'?"

"What did you say?"

"...I said I could teach you..."

Kana's eyes glittered to the sound of that idea. She couldn't help but smile. And for the first time, she said something she should have many times by now:
"Thanks, Ashie!"

Ash didn't really know how to feel about it.

'Should I be happy that she at least thanked me, or beat the shit out of her for still calling me Ashie...?'

But in the end, before he could say anything back, Kana called it a day.

"Good night!"- She lied back into bed, pulling the blanket on herself and suddenly she was sound asleep.

"Did you just...???"
Truth is, Kana just didn't want to deal with Ash anymore that day, but Ash didn't know that.

"Well... good night."- He said and walked back to the door of his room.
Again he stopped, turned around to check if Kana was really asleep and soundlessly slipped into Rose's room.

-------Chapter 4------End---------

'...That's it? This chapter is over too? I mean... I'm not against it! I can finally sleep and it's soooooooooo good! I hope the Author will be lazy and let me sleep for a while before he makes the next chapter. I hope he isn't thinking about starting the next one right away, just to make me wake up... Maybe he just wakes me up and abandons it there... What an asshole move that'd be! Wait... Shit, he probably heard that, didn't he? You fucking-! Wait, that ain't going to work... Pleeease, dear, beloved Author~! I'm begging you... PLEASEE!!!'