Chapter 08 - Accident (Part B)

Chapter 08 – Accident (Part B)

Against the backdrop of the setting sun lies Capella, on the ground in a dark alleyway. Her arms spread out. Hovering inches above, between her eyes, is the tip of knife. No expression, no fear, as she blankly stare at the person on the opposite end of the weapon: a person in a black parka with a hood obscuring their eyes…

Hi, my name is Capella. I bet you’re wondering how I got myself into this precarious position. In fact, I wonder that too! But, I’m not scared or anything, because I always face life head-on with a smile and optimism. Oops, getting off-track here! Where was I? Oh, right, how I got myself into this situation! Umm…let’s see…let’s rewind to the start of this day. REWIND

No, wait! Let’s rewind back to the night of the bar, leaving the bar! REWIND

There we go!

***************

Okay, I was leaving the bar. I was so drunk that there was no way I could return to my apartment by myself! Haha! The new inductee, Vega, was the last one sober in our game of D.D.D, so he dropped Pollux, Procyon, and me at our respective places. After entering my apartment, I stumbled here and there, bumbled to and fro, and finally, CRASH!

“Perrrfwect landing!” I slurred to myself. I could feel my eyes getting heavy. Heavier... 

Wait! It feels like I’m forgetting something! Oh well, I’ll deal with it in the morning…

Brrrrinnnnng! Brrrrinnnnng! Brrrrinnnnng!

“Urgh, what’s that raucous racket?” I fumbled around the darkness of my room, sluggishly searching for the source of this aggravating sound.

Brrrrinnnnng! Brrrrinnnnng! Brrrrinnnnng!

“Geez, shut up already, won’t ya? Please?” This hangover is splitting my head! I’m sure it will go away soon.

Brrrrinnnnng! Brrrrinnnnng! Brrrrinnnnng!

I’m practically destroying my bedroom now.

Brrrrinnnnng! Brrrrinnnnng! Brrrrinnnnng!

“What’s causing this sound and why won’t it stop?!?!” I am whining profusely.

I crawled back into my bed, determined to finish my sleep. I’ll deal with this infuriating sound in the morning.

I pulled the covers over my head. Thunk!

Ouch! Something fell onto my head from inside the covers!

Brrrrinnnnng! Brrrrinnnnng! Brrrrinnnnng!

The sound is blaring in my face now. And it’s vibrating. It’s my phone.

I grabbed the phone and struggled under the covers until I poked my head out like a rabbit coming from its hole on the first day of spring. I sleepily pressed the answer button.

“Hello, this is…erm…Ms. Neso speaking.” I almost revealed my real name.

“Good morning, Ms. Neso!” a forced cheerful voice on the phone spoke. “This is the babysitter, Lizbit.”

“Haha, silly Ms. Lizbit! It’s not morning, it’s still night; late night at that!” I smiled as if there’s not a care in the world, that everything is okay. The tone of my voice is cheerful like the flowers in April. That’s the way I smile and that’s the way I talk, so please get used to it. “And I don’t have a child, so why would I need a babysitter?”

“That’s what I want to know when you ask for my services!” Lizbit sounded furious. Fuming, even, so much that I could hear something like a teapot steaming through the phone line. Furiously fuming! Fwwshhhhh!

“Sounds to me that you need a good night’s sleep, Ms. Lizbit. So, I’m gonna let you get some sleep.”

Click!   I ended the phone call. No less than a second later…

Brrrrinnnnng! Brrrrinnnnng! Brrrrinnnnng!

“I wonder who it could be.” I tapped ‘Answer’ on my phone.

“Hello, this is - -”

“IT’S 7:30 IN THE MORNING!!!” Lizbit’s shouting vibrated throughout my body.

“Uhh, no, it’s 7:30 at night.”

A helpless Ms. Lizbit pleaded, “Ms. Neso, please open the curtains to your room.”

And so I did, and lo and behold. “Oh, what do you know? It’s morning!”

“THAT’S WHAT I’VE BEEN TRYING TO TELL YOU ALL ALO--. SIGH Please, Ms. Neso, come and pick up this…person you left me to babysit, erm, to look after before your night out on the town last night.”

Person? Who could she have been talking about? 

“Uhh…and who is this person exactly?”

“UGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Roscoe!!!”

That name, Roscoe, jolted my memory. I remember the important thing I had to do! 

“I’ll be right over in a jiffy, Ms. Lizbit!”

After I ended the call, I leapt out of bed…and stumbled over the contents of my destroyed room, landing flat on my face. I didn't bother to move for a while. 

"I'm just resting my face, don't mind me ~"

My name is Capella, age 23, the fifth strongest knight of Crux. I’m the unluckiest person in the world…but, there’s always a sunny side to life!

***************

I dressed myself in my usual attire: white dress shirt, a buttoned black blazer jacket and trousers, black tie, red lucky lantern earrings, and a gold and pink Crux necklace. Gotta look your best, no matter what! I brushed my hair to get rid of any rogue bedhead strands. Aaaand complete!

“Okay! Nice and ready!” I said to myself as I examined myself in a mirror. “Now, onward to retrieve Roscoe!”

Who is Roscoe, you may be wondering.

I arrived at Ms. Lizbit’s in no time. I knocked on the door to let her know of my presence. The door opened. Waiting for me was no other than…

“Roscoe! I’m so happy to see you!” I happily threw my hands around his shoulders to hug him. He’s certainly quite taller than little ol’ five feet, three inches me, or roughly one hundred-sixty centimeters.

‘Roscoe’ is about five feet, ten inches (178 cm). He, too, is dressed in a similar attire as me: an unbuttoned black blazer jacket, black trousers, dark olive green dress shirt, red tie with silver vertical stripes. His left ear was pierced, wearing one metal earring on his earlobe and two on his upper cartilage.

You see, there’s something peculiar about ‘Roscoe’: He’s always sleeping. Even as he stood in the doorway, he’s still sleeping. Yet, somehow, he is still able to communicate and function normally, as if he is awake. For as long as I and the other knights have known ‘Roscoe’, since our days at Crux Academy, he’s always been this way.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, ‘Roscoe’ is actually Betelgeuse, the seventh strongest knight of the Crux Knights. I call him ‘Roscoe’ in order to, as you may have already figured out, prevent our identities from being discovered.

“Come on, Roscoe, let’s get some breakfast!” I tugged at his hand to let him know that we are setting off. He slipped his hands into his pockets, slouched, and began to walk behind me as I cheerfully skipped down the steps.

An exhausted Ms. Lizbit walked to her doorstep, waved, and said her partings with a soft smile. “Thank you for choosing Lizbit’s Friendly Care Service! Hope to see you again!”

Ms. Lizbit almost always appears stressed whenever she interacts with me. But behind that stress is a woman who is gentle, caring, and patient. She also checks up on me throughout the week to see if I am okay, if I am eating well, things like that. She’s my age, too! Nice Ms. Lizbit. I hope she is happy in her life and that she is doing what she’s always wanted to do. Though…she seems familiar…like I have seen her somewhere before… Maybe it’s one of those ‘in an alternate reality dreams’ people have from time to time. Oh well! La-la-la~

***************

Betelgeuse and I walked down the street of the East Prosperity business district, en route to a diner named Pepper's for breakfast. With each step I took, I lifted my arms outward, opposite of the foot I stepped forward with.

“What a lovely day it is today! Not a cloud in sight!” I radiated with cheerfulness and joy.

“Tch, yeah whatever you say.” Betelgeuse was still walking with his hands in his pockets, still slouching. Despite how he’s dressed, he speaks in an uncouth manner. He also seems to only speak depending on what he hears or in response to a situation he is experiencing. Not only does he speak in such a way, but he also acts accordingly.

Betelgeuse…can be wild and reckless at times. And it happen at random moments, usually during battle against UROs. Because of this, he needs a handler or else he will cause havoc as he pleases. 

Everyone within the Crux Knights have tried to be his handler, including Sirius, the strongest knight! But all have failed. All except me. For some reason, he is tame whenever he’s around me. The knights have said that it may because of my personality or the nature of my heart.

But, whatever the reason, his manner of speaking doesn’t bother me. I accept him for as he is, and if he’s an uncouth person, then I embrace that part of him because it’s what makes him himself.

“Oh!” Something caught my attention as Betelgeuse and I walked along the sidewalk of East Prosperity. There seems to be construction going on in an alleyway across the street. If I recall from yesterday’s meeting, that’s the site of Vega’s inductee mission. If there’s construction going on, then without a doubt Pollux was included on the mission. Ehehe.

Hold on, there’s a few familiar faces I see. Vega and Pollux, helping with the construction! Vice Commander Saturn must have arranged it for them help repair their costly mistakes. Ehehe. Oh? There’s another familiar face! Procyon? He seems to be walking by the alleyway. He stops. He leans against the wall, attempting to hide himself. He sneezes. Vega turns towards Procyon’s direction, but he doesn’t move to check behind the wall. Once his attention is focused elsewhere, Procyon hurriedly shuffles off to anywhere else but there.

I giggled amusingly, closing my eyes. I’m so happy to have Pollux and Procyon as my friends and comrades. They make my life sunnier than I could have ever imagined. With Vega joining us, I’m sure things are bound to become livelier.

“Hey, let’s get going already! I wanna to eat. Zzzz….” Seriously, is he really sleeping?

“Right! Sorry about that!” And so, onward to our destination that is breakfast!

Betelgeuse and I walked in the same manner as we have been, making minimal stops along the way, such as waiting for traffic. There’s one more crossing we gotta make, and we’ll arrive at the diner!

Green! The signal chimed, allowing the pedestrians to cross the street. Once we had crossed, the crowd of pedestrians went their separate ways, leaving just Betelgeuse and I alone to proceed towards the diner!

You know, whenever I walk by an alleyway, I can’t help but look. There could be a distortion that needs to be eliminated, but most of the time I’m just curious, curious about what I could find.

And so, as we walked by alleyway next to a diner, I saw the most unusual thing…

(Disclaimer: What Capella had witnessed in the alley was certainly unusual. It’s here that the chapter will now be told from both Capella’s perspective and the person in the alleyway, who will be referred to as ‘A’ for now.)

“I successfully finished the task that was asked of me,” ‘A’ narrates. “Just as I pulled the blade of my knife from the shoulder of my target, I saw the worst possible thing.”

(Disclaimer: The following narrations takes place inside their own minds)

Capella: “I saw the most unusual thing…”

‘A’: “A civilian witnessed me during my assassination hit!”

Capella: “A cook in a black parka wearing a hoodie cutting tomatoes on the ground in an alleyway!”

‘A’: “What’s she doing having business looking down alleyways? And is that guy behind her asleep?”

Capella: “She must work at the diner. Why not cut tomatoes in the kitchen? Is it too crowded? Too many cooks?”

The messy knife began to drip blood.

‘A’: “Shit, she’s still looking! She must have realized what I am doing!”

Capella: “Oh no, she caught me staring! How rude of me! She must be embarrassed about the tomato dripping from her knife!”

Capella quickly averted her eyes, smiling nervously. “Sorry, Mr. Cook! I didn’t mean to interrupt your work! I know how shy cooks can be! I’ll leave you to your creation, and we will be on our way!”

‘A’ begins to think. “What does she take me for, a fool? I’m certain she witnessed my assassination! I’ll have to do her off! Leave no witness alive!”

‘A’ slowly raised the handle of their knife to their chin. Capella’s eyes are still focused elsewhere. Suddenly…

“Oh!” Capella exclaims, reverting her attention towards the assassin.

The assassin froze the moment they heard Capella, still kneeling over their victim.

Capella closed her eyes and smiled. “We’re heading into the diner next door. You’re a cook there, right? I look forward to eating the meal you will prepare for us!” She waved and walked away from the alleyway’s opening. Betelgeuse followed behind her, still asleep and slouching. 

‘A’s’ eyes carefully followed the two until Capella and Betelgeuse could no longer be seen. The assassin hastily swung their blade downward, spilling the loose blood onto their victim. They raised their knife towards their chest and cleaned the remaining liquid from the blade in a single wipe.

“Boss,” they began to speak to themselves. “I botched the mission. I was too careless. But, I will make up for my mistake. She will be eliminated!”