Her eyes widened—suddenly a brighter, more vivid cerulean blue, laced with a sort of youthful joy that lit them from inside, pupils dilated like a cat’s in the dark—and a smile slowly spread across darkened lips. “Ah, are those waffle cones?” The blonde’s thin, studded heels clacked against the ground as she skipped up to the counter and gently gripped the glass edge, leaning forward until she tipped. “I haven’t had waffle cones in, well, forever,” Glancing over the rows of sweet flavours, her gaze lingered on each one as if not wanting to leave, her lips pursed tightly with a hesitance that would make anyone think she’d shared a long history with the cold cream, one she’d have to let go if she only glanced away. Orbs the colour of oceans stopped on the chocolate, staring at it with the intensity other girls eyed their crush's chiselled chests with, then glanced up at the almost frightened sever with a sharp, bird-like nod of ‘yes, I need this flavour’.
Her eyes rested fleetingly on Aiden, who watched her from the wall he leaned against in a casual smirk, almost laughing at her with a smirk that made her heart flutter dangerously in protest to its mischievousness. And if she hadn’t felt the same every time he smiled at her like that, looked at her like that, then she might have rushed to the hospital and complained of an impending heart attack. “O-oh, princess, is it?” Emiko stuttered out, hiding behind the flaxen ponytail that rested on her shoulder, and returning her eyes to the rich chocolate, praying silently that he didn’t notice the red that usurped her cheeks and attacked her nose—he must have been teasing, he didn’t like her, anyway. “W-we? A-are you a-asking me to stay out past c-curfew, w-with y-you?” She swallowed, threw away caution and turned to eye him again. “Well, hopefully, I don’t wake up behind a couch with a couple party hats on, right?”
Moments later, her cheeks flushed a deeper red as she clutched caution once again and slowly considered what that might have implied. “F-forget I s-said that, please.” Turning to shyly watch the man at the counter once more, just as he pressed a cone topped with a too-large scoop of ice cream that teetered scarily to one side into her hands, her head immediately tilting to let her lick the slow trickle of chocolate that flowed down the edge of the cone and whisper ‘thank you’. Emiko licked the ice cream itself, something resembling a soft groan pressing past black-chocolate painted lips, then smiled at Aiden. “Thanks. It’s really good. Makes me wonder how you don’t like ice cream, anyway, if you know somewhere like this.”
An overwhelmingly strong scent of metallic, syrupy red blood clung to him, a dizzying reminder of the death and destruction that he'd caused. With each shaky breath, the scent grew more pleasant, the disgusting urge to taste the spilled red threatening to overtake what little of his sanity he had left. With each hurried breath, he found the bloody bodies less repulsive, the sick feeling in his stomach cooling and his lips curving into a smile.
Dark eyes widened as nails hooked his skin through thin shirt, arms wrapped around his bloody middle and squeezing tight in a hug. Shocked, he started, cringing at the gentle touch of the petite figure pressed against him. Tilting his head to see a thick head of black hair, body trembling with rocky sobs and wheezing, his arms wrapped hurriedly around her shoulders and his shoulder stung when he hugged tight, almost afraid she’d fade or disappear or simply leave. “Yumi—“ His voice, soft and gravelly hoarse, broke off at the sobs that came, in a voice he knew all too well, though not the one he’d expected to hear.
“No, not her. Not now.” Not after he wanted his sister, not after he’d killed his sister. He didn’t want to see her. He didn’t want her to see him like this. “D-don’t touch me, I,” She ignored his whispers, traced his body with soft fingers, ushered him into the bath room and ruined a perfectly good dress to wipe him down. Barely daunting the blood that seeped into his clothing, she still laboured to clean him, tying her jacket around his arm to stop the trickle of red that flowed from his wound. “M-Mag, I—I can’t l-leave,” Daichi stuttered, his throat seemed to close up and his ears felt blocked, “I killed them. Mercy, I killed my sister, Mag. I killed a bunch of people. Innocent people. I can’t go. It’s wrong, I’m a criminal and they’ll find us anyway. Don’t get involved with me. Don’t touch me. I—“ He took a deep breath, steadying the tremor in his voice as he murmured “I’m a murderer.”
“Ｗｈｅｎ Ｉ ｗａｓ ｙｏｕｎｇｅｒ , ｔｈｅ ｓｋｙ
ｗａｓ ｃｌｏｓｅｒ. Ｓｏ ｍｕｃｈ ｃｌｏｓｅｒ.”