Chapter 11:

Yellow

Scorpion Grasses or simply, Forget-me-nots


“The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world and the world at large.” — Confucius


What was he thinking? He trusted her, a total stranger, and now he’s waiting for Aiko’s return.

This is stupid! She might have lied to him. Why does he still wait?

She is crazy and free, she already achieved what he desired for so long.

It was almost time for work. Where is she?

“I hope you won’t come back!” He says out of frustration and prepares to leave.

“Then should I go home?” A feminine voice follows his words.

He turns around.

“Well, you sure took your time!”

Kibo gives him a smile.

“Good morning to you too!”

She was right before his eyes. She kept her promise. Haru lets out a sigh in relief.

“Let’s go to the factory!” He says while grabbing her arm.

She makes a goofy face at the thought of waiting for again for a whole day.

“I will take you with me this time.” He says amused.

“You’re not going to make me do your work, right?”

“We’ll see about that!”

“You’re such a bully!”

“No, I’m not!”

They laughed and walked away from the park.

The sun was shining brightly on the clear sky. The weather was nice.

“If you keep holding onto my arm it will look weird to others. Don’t forget you’re holding air!”

“Let them stare then. It’s not like I care about their opinion anyway!”

“At least don’t talk to me until we get to a safe place.”

Haru takes his phone out and acts like answering a call.

“I should have thought of this earlier.”

“You never disappoint me!” Kibo giggles.

“Now we can be both crazy!”

Suddenly her mood changed. She should be more careful around him, at least until she understands how those bandanas work. It’s better if he doesn’t have a hard time because of her.

“Haru, are you alright?”

He couldn’t restrain his smile.

“Worried about me?”

“You wish! What on earth happened that night at the fountain?”

“It doesn’t matter! In fact, I forgot already!”

He starts to walk faster, making the girl almost run to match his steps.

He’s definitely not ok, but it doesn’t seem like he wants to talk about it.

“If you say so… Anyways just be more careful next time! Don’t get too excited to stay with me, happy boy!”

“Don’t think so highly of yourself, suicide girl!”

She lets out a deep sigh. He’s like a kid.

“I’ll let you win this time. But don’t get too confident!”

*****

“Wow! This place is so luxurious!”

“Is owned by the government, what do you expect?”

“It’s so beautiful! I don’t get how you can ever get bored of this!”

“You are too materialistic.” He cuts her with a tired voice. “There is more going on in here. This factory is not beautiful. It’s very dangerous, Aiko!”

“What a mood killer you are!” She whispers with a pouting face. “Wait for me!”

“We are going to the third floor. There is my office.”

“An office? To yourself? You must be some kind of boss or so…”

He let out a small chuckle.

“If it were that simple… I do not own a lot of political power, nor authority here. I’m just advanced because I have a good background.”

“Is your family well known?”

He nods.

“What do they do? You never told me a lot about your family.”

“Neither did you.”

They both give each other the “it’s complicated” look.

After that, the two of them walked in silence.

On the third floor, there was a big door right in front of the stairs. It had the words “Fear’s Representative Manager” engraved on it. It was covered in light purple paint and the doorknob was missing. As soon as they got closer, the door opened on its own, revealing an interesting room.

On the front walls, there were 3 giant screens with photos and information about a lot of people. In the corner of the office, it was a big desk with many papers on it. On the sides, there were bookcases with hundreds of books.

“Beautiful!” She thought to herself.

“You will spend your time here. Take a seat on an armchair or on the sofa and help me out with some papers.”

“I’m not your secretary!”

“But I’m the one who saved your life once. You will repay me by helping out!”

“I didn’t ask to be saved!”

“And I didn’t ask you to follow me.”

“Screw it! You won again…” She says while jumping on the sofa. “It’s really comfortable!”

“I will give you a few documents and I want you to read them. Then write down the essential things and give the notes to me. I will decide if it’s worth signing them or not.”

“Yes, sir!” Kibo brings a hand to her temple, giving Haru a military greeting.

*****

“Can I take a break?”

“No.”

“But I’m bored!”

“I don’t care!”

“You’re so mean!”

She stands up to stretch a little. A groan leaves her mouth without realizing it.

“Can I explore the building?”

“No.”

“But-“

“I said no for The Ninth Heaven’s sake!”

“Why not?”

“Because I said so.”

He seemed tired so Kibo used this opportunity to leave the room.

“I can bring you coffee! I’ll be back!” She runs outside before giving Haru a chance to say something.

“You don’t even know where anything is…” The boy says with exasperation. “What a fool!”

She walked into the hallway with a curious look. As she went further, the offices became fewer and fewer. At some point, there was one left, but in place of those, workers used long tables. They shared even the computers and giant screens.

“This is unfair!”

She looked around for a while before finally finding a coffee machine.

“I don’t know what he likes…” She says while staring at an empty cup. “What should I do?”

She decides to make espresso after some intense thinking.

“You better like it or I’m spilling it on your stupid documents!”

When she returned to the main hall, a slim figure stopped in front of Haru’s office.

Kibo approached the person slowly. It was a woman with two funny hats. She had two-party cones on her head. The right one had a red heart on it, while the left one had a broken heart. She was about the same height as Kibo.

The woman had the hair and shirt the same color, a soft yellow. Her eyes were green and her look had foreigner features. Maybe European?

She turns her gaze towards Kibo’s direction.

The girl looks around to see if anyone was there besides the two of them. There was no one.

Is she looking at her? But how can she see an invisible person? Can someone have more soulmates?

When Kibo decided to say something, the strange woman sighs and leaves without a word.

“She would have said something if she saw me, right?”

Kibo enters the office and finds a worried Haru.

“You’ve been gone for hours! Where the hell have you been?”

He runs to her, making sure she’s ok.

“I went to get coffee!” She says with an innocent smile on her face.

“From now on don’t leave without me!” He grabs the cup and brings it to his nose. “Espresso?”

“With a fade scent of vanilla!”

“What if I don’t like it?”

“What if I pour it on your documents?”

“That will be a waste.” He drinks without complaining anymore. “It got cold. Did you stopped by somewhere?”

“Sort of. I had a staring competition with a yellow woman.”

He approaches her to check her temperature.

“Do you feel sick? How many fingers do you see? He asks while showing his middle finger.

“Very mature of you! But for real, there was only the two of us and she looked into my eyes.”

“You said, yellow woman?”

“Yes. Do you have any ideas about who she might be?”

“Yellow is the official color of Surprise District. Was it a light or dark shade?”

“Light. That was a pretty yellow!”