Killing Eyes and Faerie Hounds
I left school early. To be honest, it probably would have been wiser to just rest in the Infirmary, but if I did that at this hour, who knows how long it would be after school ended that I�d wake up? Ahika would probably have to be called and would end up worrying a lot, so I decided it would probably be better to just go home by myself, even if it required pushing my body.
I was lucky Akihiko caught on to how I was feeling, honestly; most times I would just end up silently passing out on the floor instead, but I started feeling a bit better once I was outside and breathing the fresh air. It had been awhile since I�d collapsed from dizziness and my bouts of anemia had gotten less and less frequent in the years after the accident, but they still came upon me now and then. I suppose that was a fair price to pay for having been able to survive that near-fatal accident.
I turn into the main street, walking slowly in the hopes of not getting sick. It�s just through here and the residential district and then it�s a straight line to the Tohno Mansion. Hah�I suppose at some point I�d have to start think of that place as home, but�that wasn�t something I was certain I was capable of doing. After all, that was the place where I�d�
��Ah,� I suddenly exhaled. I guess I wasn�t feeling as well as I thought. Looking around at where I am, I nearly sigh. No; there was no way I�d manage to get all the way to the mansion just by pushing myself. At best, I�d end up collapsing by the side of the street.
There�s no helping it, then. I move to the guardrail and lean against it, breathing in and out carefully. I�ll just rest here until my anemia calms down a bit.
There isn�t really anything else I can do, so I just blankly watch the street in front of me. A part of me is surprised; it�s only a little past noon but the streets are full. Many people are walking by where I�m sitting, hardly casting me or anyone around them a glance. Of course, I don�t recognize any of them, either, and am only watching them because I have nothing to do, so that�s understandable. It is, after all, just a normal crowd of people; the type one sees every day. Not something worth any particular attention.
�At least, until I see her.
All she does is walk past me, but I freeze. The air comes from my lungs in a helpless sigh, my hands tightening on the guardrail against my will. My eyes widen as I look at her�at her, and no one else, as my heart starts to race, and my back arches, as if my spine were about to tear free from it.
She was beautiful. Her hair is blonde and her eyes are green�and she�s not paying attention to me in the slightest. I felt warmer just by being near her, like she was a fire and I was a moth�and even though I felt like I would be burned if I did, I wanted to get closer to her.
She passes me by and I suddenly feel cold, like something important is getting away from me. My heart is pounding still, as if telling me to hurry up, and I can�t bare it any longer and stand up. My blood is rushing through my veins so fast it drowns out the sounds of the street, and I can think of only one thing.
Her. That girl. I�m going to�
I realize I�ve stopped breathing only when my lungs start burning, and I force myself to take in air. I feel so cold and it�s only then I realize I�m drenched in sweat. I tremble for a moment before I realize what I have to do.
I have to follow her. I have to follow that girl. I have to chase after her and talk to her.
My feet start to move.
She�s walking slowly, taking in everything around her with careful eyes. If I rush up to her now, she�ll notice me and I can talk to her and ask for her name�
Ask her name? Who am I kidding? I know very well that�s not what I want to do.
But I don�t know. I can�t think; what do I want to do? If I know, then I should know, but somehow it�s something I can�t put in to words.
My lungs are burning again and I realize I�ve stopped breathing once more, but so what? After seeing such a beautiful woman, it�s understandable that I�ve gotten breathless, right?
That�s right. Stop and ask for her name? Why would I do that? I�m not a kid, after all; there�s only one thing I have to do.
My breathing returns to normal and I put my hands into my pockets. My fingers touch steel and I remember the knife I was given just a few days ago.
How fortunate. It seems the tools are all here.
As she walks, I leave plenty of space between us, so she won�t notice. So other people won�t suspect. My pace changes, becoming more natural, and I shift my eyes to something else, showing the right amount of interest and no more, just like I was taught by my�
She and I are complete strangers, after all. I have to do my best to make it look natural as I follow her. Slowly, like I was riding a bike again after a long time and just brushing off the dust, I change; the way I walk, the way my arms and eyes move, my expressions, everything, and then I�m just a normal person. I continue to follow her like that as she heads towards a building�an apartment complex.
I look through the glass after she enters and see her heading towards the elevator. It opens immediately as she pushes the button and it�s empty; I see my chance.
�Ah!� I say, coming through the door and seeing her in front of the elevator. �Hold that, please!�
I �rush� towards it, moving normally as she looks at me. I have her attention for that moment and I wonder how she�ll react to me. I feel her eyes look over the sweat on my skin, my uniform, my hair, my build, my glasses�everything I appeared to be, she captured in a moment, and then I felt something brush over my skin, and knew it was looking at me too, trying to see what I was. But I was just a human; I had no _____ for her to find. A moment later she dismissed me completely.
I smiled at her as I stopped by her side and waited politely as she entered first before following her inside.
�What floor?� I asked.
�Eighth,� She replied simply and I nodded as I pushed the button. It might seem odd if I was taking the elevator up to the second floor and the third could be borderline, so without hesitation I pressed the button for the fourth and stepped back to lean against the rear of the elevator. She glanced at me as I moved before turning her attention once more to the front.
Good. Everything was in place except�
These glasses were in the way. I can�t do what I�ve come to do while they�re still on.
�It�s a promise, Shiki; you should never cut those lines thoughtlessly.�
�A woman had once told me that, but�I couldn�t even remember her name or face right now.
I take my glasses off.
I can see the lines. Not just them, either, but countless black dots covering everything. Has something happened to my eyes? The sight of them makes me wonder again; what am I trying to do? Why am I trying to do this? What do I want to do with that girl? I don�t know anything.
I put my glasses in my pocket as the elevator reaches the second floor. The motion draws her attention again�I can tell even if she�s not looking at me�so I wait. She�s different, now that my glasses were gone, and I took a moment to watch her in the periphery of my vision. Her blonde hair had faded to a silvery-white and she was tall�taller than me, actually, standing over two meters. Her skin was pale and beautiful, and though I was behind her, I could make out some of the features of her face in the reflection of the elevator doors. Her lips were cherry red and her eyes shone through shifting shades of catlike green. She was beautiful beyond words, even more so than before, but that beauty was marred by the lines and dots, like everything else I saw. But I do nothing, even as we reach the third floor.
But then we reach the fourth. The opening of the doors draws her attention away from me for an instant and I see my chance. I take a silent step forward and pull out my knife.
��W�� The woman says. No, she tries to say. She will never finish, because I�m already cutting her apart. The words fall silent as the steel of my blade passes through her pale neck, white flames erupting bright against the white of her skin at its touch. She tries to do something, fingers curling into some trained gesture, but it�s already meaningless. I finish with her neck and trace the line along the back of her head, turning as I pass her. My blade traces from her right shifting eye to those beautiful red lips, and then down to her abdomen, through her left breast, up from the rib to the heart, across her right shoulder, right below the elbow, through the middle of her hand, across her right thigh and above the left knee, across her left thumb and index finger, through her left forearm, across her stomach in two places, down through her groin, across her right ankle, and through her right foot, and I leave her in burning pieces on the floor of the elevator as slipped through the barely opened doors, not even taking a second. It had happened in a passing moment and was done�and she was nothing but swiftly burning meat.
I left school early. To be honest, it probably would have been wiser to just rest in the Infirmary, but if I did that at this hour, who knows how long it would be after school ended that I�d wake up? Ahika would probably have to be called and would end up worrying a lot, so I decided it would probably be better to just go home by myself, even if it required pushing my body.
I was lucky Akihiko caught on to how I was feeling, honestly; most times I would just end up silently passing out on the floor instead, but I started feeling a bit better once I was outside and breathing the fresh air. It had been awhile since I�d collapsed from dizziness and my bouts of anemia had gotten less and less frequent in the years after the accident, but they still came upon me now and then. I suppose that was a fair price to pay for having been able to survive that near-fatal accident.
I turn into the main street, walking slowly in the hopes of not getting sick. It�s just through here and the residential district and then it�s a straight line to the Tohno Mansion. Hah�I suppose at some point I�d have to start think of that place as home, but�that wasn�t something I was certain I was capable of doing. After all, that was the place where I�d�
��Ah,� I suddenly exhaled. I guess I wasn�t feeling as well as I thought. Looking around at where I am, I nearly sigh. No; there was no way I�d manage to get all the way to the mansion just by pushing myself. At best, I�d end up collapsing by the side of the street.
There�s no helping it, then. I move to the guardrail and lean against it, breathing in and out carefully. I�ll just rest here until my anemia calms down a bit.
There isn�t really anything else I can do, so I just blankly watch the street in front of me. A part of me is surprised; it�s only a little past noon but the streets are full. Many people are walking by where I�m sitting, hardly casting me or anyone around them a glance. Of course, I don�t recognize any of them, either, and am only watching them because I have nothing to do, so that�s understandable. It is, after all, just a normal crowd of people; the type one sees every day. Not something worth any particular attention.
�At least, until I see her.
All she does is walk past me, but I freeze. The air comes from my lungs in a helpless sigh, my hands tightening on the guardrail against my will. My eyes widen as I look at her�at her, and no one else, as my heart starts to race, and my back arches, as if my spine were about to tear free from it.
She was beautiful. Her hair is blonde and her eyes are green�and she�s not paying attention to me in the slightest. I felt warmer just by being near her, like she was a fire and I was a moth�and even though I felt like I would be burned if I did, I wanted to get closer to her.
She passes me by and I suddenly feel cold, like something important is getting away from me. My heart is pounding still, as if telling me to hurry up, and I can�t bare it any longer and stand up. My blood is rushing through my veins so fast it drowns out the sounds of the street, and I can think of only one thing.
Her. That girl. I�m going to�
I realize I�ve stopped breathing only when my lungs start burning, and I force myself to take in air. I feel so cold and it�s only then I realize I�m drenched in sweat. I tremble for a moment before I realize what I have to do.
I have to follow her. I have to follow that girl. I have to chase after her and talk to her.
My feet start to move.
She�s walking slowly, taking in everything around her with careful eyes. If I rush up to her now, she�ll notice me and I can talk to her and ask for her name�
Ask her name? Who am I kidding? I know very well that�s not what I want to do.
But I don�t know. I can�t think; what do I want to do? If I know, then I should know, but somehow it�s something I can�t put in to words.
My lungs are burning again and I realize I�ve stopped breathing once more, but so what? After seeing such a beautiful woman, it�s understandable that I�ve gotten breathless, right?
That�s right. Stop and ask for her name? Why would I do that? I�m not a kid, after all; there�s only one thing I have to do.
My breathing returns to normal and I put my hands into my pockets. My fingers touch steel and I remember the knife I was given just a few days ago.
How fortunate. It seems the tools are all here.
As she walks, I leave plenty of space between us, so she won�t notice. So other people won�t suspect. My pace changes, becoming more natural, and I shift my eyes to something else, showing the right amount of interest and no more, just like I was taught by my�
She and I are complete strangers, after all. I have to do my best to make it look natural as I follow her. Slowly, like I was riding a bike again after a long time and just brushing off the dust, I change; the way I walk, the way my arms and eyes move, my expressions, everything, and then I�m just a normal person. I continue to follow her like that as she heads towards a building�an apartment complex.
I look through the glass after she enters and see her heading towards the elevator. It opens immediately as she pushes the button and it�s empty; I see my chance.
�Ah!� I say, coming through the door and seeing her in front of the elevator. �Hold that, please!�
I �rush� towards it, moving normally as she looks at me. I have her attention for that moment and I wonder how she�ll react to me. I feel her eyes look over the sweat on my skin, my uniform, my hair, my build, my glasses�everything I appeared to be, she captured in a moment, and then I felt something brush over my skin, and knew it was looking at me too, trying to see what I was. But I was just a human; I had no _____ for her to find. A moment later she dismissed me completely.
I smiled at her as I stopped by her side and waited politely as she entered first before following her inside.
�What floor?� I asked.
�Eighth,� She replied simply and I nodded as I pushed the button. It might seem odd if I was taking the elevator up to the second floor and the third could be borderline, so without hesitation I pressed the button for the fourth and stepped back to lean against the rear of the elevator. She glanced at me as I moved before turning her attention once more to the front.
Good. Everything was in place except�
These glasses were in the way. I can�t do what I�ve come to do while they�re still on.
�It�s a promise, Shiki; you should never cut those lines thoughtlessly.�
�A woman had once told me that, but�I couldn�t even remember her name or face right now.
I take my glasses off.
I can see the lines. Not just them, either, but countless black dots covering everything. Has something happened to my eyes? The sight of them makes me wonder again; what am I trying to do? Why am I trying to do this? What do I want to do with that girl? I don�t know anything.
I put my glasses in my pocket as the elevator reaches the second floor. The motion draws her attention again�I can tell even if she�s not looking at me�so I wait. She�s different, now that my glasses were gone, and I took a moment to watch her in the periphery of my vision. Her blonde hair had faded to a silvery-white and she was tall�taller than me, actually, standing over two meters. Her skin was pale and beautiful, and though I was behind her, I could make out some of the features of her face in the reflection of the elevator doors. Her lips were cherry red and her eyes shone through shifting shades of catlike green. She was beautiful beyond words, even more so than before, but that beauty was marred by the lines and dots, like everything else I saw. But I do nothing, even as we reach the third floor.
But then we reach the fourth. The opening of the doors draws her attention away from me for an instant and I see my chance. I take a silent step forward and pull out my knife.
��W�� The woman says. No, she tries to say. She will never finish, because I�m already cutting her apart. The words fall silent as the steel of my blade passes through her pale neck, white flames erupting bright against the white of her skin at its touch. She tries to do something, fingers curling into some trained gesture, but it�s already meaningless. I finish with her neck and trace the line along the back of her head, turning as I pass her. My blade traces from her right shifting eye to those beautiful red lips, and then down to her abdomen, through her left breast, up from the rib to the heart, across her right shoulder, right below the elbow, through the middle of her hand, across her right thigh and above the left knee, across her left thumb and index finger, through her left forearm, across her stomach in two places, down through her groin, across her right ankle, and through her right foot, and I leave her in burning pieces on the floor of the elevator as slipped through the barely opened doors, not even taking a second. It had happened in a passing moment and was done�and she was nothing but swiftly burning meat.