10th of January, 12:00 am, Akane's room
Akane finally finished the last page of the book given to her by Tsukuyomi. It wasn't particularly long, yet she still needed hours upon hours to truly understand it all. She takes one worried look out of the window before swiftly standing up; her legs feel like jelly as she grabs her coat from the rack.
She carefully peeks out of her room, checking if the coast is clear, before stepping out. The faint smell of the dinner she had ditched is still lingering in the air as she passes by the kitchen.
She fidgets for her keys, trying to make as little noise as possible — her mother always locks the door before heading to bed, acting like they wouldn't live in one of the calmest neighbourhoods in Tokyo.
After a few quiet scratching noises, she can feel her key entering the lock. She begins to turn it in the contraption, one click, and then a second one. Just as she pulls her key back out and reaches for the handle, she's hit by the blinding, bright lights of the ceiling lamp.
Akane flinches, dropping her keys to the floor as her eyes instinctively snap shut.
"And where do you think you're going?" Her mom's voice makes the hair on Akane's neck stand up.
"Nowhere… I mean, I go jogging." She slowly turns around to face her mom, her posture a little crooked.
"Oh, is that so? I didn't know that today's youth wear coats for midnight runs."
Akane turns slightly red, followed by a short sigh. "It's really nothing, Mom, just go back to sleep."
Akane's mom stands still for a moment before sighing, too. Her arms, which were crossed before, fall, now hanging limp down next to her body as she looks down. "Akane…" She can't bring out the words, yet her body language tells Akane everything she needs to know.
Akane is hit by a surge of guilt as she looks at her mom's exhausted body. "I'm past that… But I must do what I need to do."
Akane's mom sits down on the second step of the staircase behind her, her head still hanging. "But… It's just lately you've been acting so strange again… I know your pattern… I'm worried," she says. Her voice is quiet.
Akane listens to her mother. Each word she speaks feels like a stab right into her heart, but the worst part is that she knows her mother has every right to be worried.
"I-I'm sorry, Mom…" Akane says. Then she quietly sighs before continuing, "I'm sorry for not speaking to you back then… back when…" Akane trails off for a moment before continuing. "But now it's different, and it's important, really important… So please, I know I don't deserve your trust, but can you give it to me anyway?"
The hallway stays quiet for a long moment before Akane's mom stands up, rubbing her eyes for a few seconds before stepping over to Akane, only stopping when their faces are mere centimeters apart.
Akane feels hot breath hit her face, still avoiding her mom's gaze.
"Look into my eyes."
Akane hesitates for a moment before looking up, finally meeting her mother's gaze. She always thought that she would never see eyes sparkle brighter than Kana's while she acts, but she was wrong. Her mother's eyes look like the stars and distant galaxies in the night sky.
"It's said that one gaze can say more than a million words… I hope that saying is true, because then you know how much you mean to me. No mother would want to bury their child. I hope you keep that in mind when making decisions."
Akane stands completely still, fully engulfed by the ever-changing look of her mother's eyes. Dozens of emotions course through Akane — It seems like the saying was right.
Then Akane finally looks away, letting out a breath that she didn't know she was holding in. "Thanks," she mutters, before quickly opening the door and stepping out into the cold night.
The fresh January air makes Akane shiver — A few minutes in the climate and her lips would probably bust open.
She keeps her head down as she walks onto the sidewalk, her steps fast and determined.
What have you just gotten yourself into again…
Well, I suppose it's not entirely your fault this time.
This Amaterasu guy seems to be a real piece of work…
And him making Tsukuyomi completely useless also doesn't help even a single bit…
What should I do…
How am I supposed to beat this ancient power of nature?
If you really still don't want to go on vacation with me after all this is done, then I'm seriously mad…
Akane turns onto a different road; she is just a few blocks away from Aqua's house as she hears a faint siren in the distance, yet she pays no mind to it since medical emergencies can happen anywhere at any time.
Amaterasu is really OP, but that dread part could be useful.
The book says that Amaterasu can only influence people who were sad beforehand.
I think this means that people who aren't like that can't be influenced by him.
That would mean that I am safe from him…
It is just Aqua, but if I somehow managed to just ease his mind by a little bit, it could be eno-
Another turn, and Akane is ripped out of her thoughts as she sees what's causing the commotion. She is standing on one end of Aqua's road; multiple police vehicles and an ambulance are parked along it.
Wait…
one…
two…
three…
…
Akane begins to count the houses as she keeps going, picking up pace when she realizes that most vehicles are parked right in front of Miyako's house, where Aqua lives. Even a few neighbours are standing around the property.
Akane, who is now almost running, tries to enter the premises, but before she can slip beneath the tape, she's roughly shoved back by a bulky officer, making her almost fall. "Nobody is allowed to enter the crime scene before the forensic team is done with their job." His tone is harsh and unapologetic.
"What happened? Is my Bo-... friend okay?" Akane says while stepping closer again.
The officer, who had already begun to walk away, turns back. "I am not permitted to share any details of an ongoing investigation."
Akane has stopped listening to him midway through his sentence; instead, she is now looking right past him. Miyako is standing in the doorway, seemingly talking to another detective.
"Hey! Miyako!" Akane shouts while waving her hands, trying to draw her attention. After a moment of this, Miyako turns her head, spotting Akane. She lets the officer she was talking to finish and excuses herself. Then she walks over to Akane, her steps are quick, before elegantly slipping through under the barrier tape that's drawn around the entire property.
"What's going on? Is Aqua okay? Where is he? What happened?" Akane starts to let a barrage of questions rain down on Miyako as soon as she is close enough to understand her.
"Calm down."
Akane looks past Miyako, who's trying to console her, trying to get a better look through the partially opened front door.
"Then tell me what happened. Where is Aqua?" Akane's voice becomes more panicked with each word she says.
"Alright, alright. I suppose I can tell you…" Miyako drops her voice a bit. "But don't say anything to the officers."
Miyako waits for Akane to nod before continuing. "Earlier, while I was gone, someone broke into Ruby's room and attacked her. Aqua heard this and came to help her. While helping her, he lost his temper a bit…" Miyako looks around again, making completely sure nobody is standing close by. "You should've seen the guy… I've seen a lot of gruesome stuff in my life, but I've never seen a face look like this before… The officers told me that if I had waited for just a few more minutes, he would've most certainly died-"
"Okay, but where is Aqua? Did they arrest him?" Akane, who was in complete shock, regains her voice and chimes in, interrupting Miyako.
The sirens of the surrounding vehicles are off by now. Maybe so as not to wake up the entire neighbourhood, maybe they realized that Aqua is gone and they won't find him.
"No… Aqua fled the scene…" Miyako says, "The police are saying that nothing is certain yet, but that fleeing from the scene can be seen as admitting guilt… They want to charge him with attempted homicide…"
Akane's chest tightens. Her eyes turn watery, and she falls onto her knees. The hard asphalt of the road rips the fabric of her pants open, the skin on her knees busting open right along with her pants. "Attempted homicide…" Her voice sounds monotone. "That's at least a few years… Maybe even death…"
Miyako can do nothing except quickly kneel down in front of Akane and hold her tight as she begins to cry into the crook of her neck. Miyako can feel the moist fabric on her skin. She doesn't mention it, though; she just holds the back of Akane's head.
"Please stop crying…" Miyako whispers, "It will be fine… We'll get Aqua the best lawyers money can buy…" Miyako makes a break between her sentences and sighs, "Listen, I'm already doing everything I can to save him. I even placed the attacker's weapon closer to his unconscious body. I know this is much, but you should just sit still and let me handle it."
Akane's sobs halt in an instant; the two of them just sit there, like frozen in time for a moment. "You handle it?" She pushes herself slightly away from Miyako, looking at her with glassy eyes. "No. I appreciate you doing this for him, I really do. But only I can really help him now."
Akane hastily gets onto her feet and clears her nose. Now that she stands, she too can feel the pain in her knees. But it doesn't break her down; instead, she uses it as fuel. "God damn it, as if this wasn't already bad enough, now he is injured and wanted…" The words are aimed at herself. Her gaze had already stopped resting on Miyako a moment ago, it's now surveying the surroundings, searching for something, anything-
Akane turns, and a cold gust of wind blows through her hair as she begins to walk, this time even faster than on her way here. "I need to find him."