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The water was beginning to finish filling the tank, and the little fish wasn’t even awake yet. The main onlooker reveled in her work. In the severe hatred of that fish, and the fish’s wife, most of all. No one in the clan would approve of this, but after all Kirari had done, wasn’t this poetic? And deserving? Terano couldn’t help the wicked smirk forming on her face. She vibrated with a terrifying happiness.
A small fish bumped into Sayaka’s leg. It grew curious at the disturbance. The foreign object invading its ecosystem was unexpected, so it began to move along Sayaka’s side, upwards enough that it reached her neck. The water didn’t go any higher, so the fish began to maneuver around the figure, before fixating on a part of her arm and nibbling at it. The sudden disturbance startled the girl, who looked further upset upon embracing her new surroundings. She let out a wail immediately, once setting her gaze outside of the glass wall, at a barely visible Terano, without the assistance of her glasses. The disturbance, and the wet coldness was a jolt to the senses. While regaining consciousness she remembered being knocked out, her frame being held down and a needle pushed into her arm quickly.
Terano enjoyed the glass-muffled screams, as the girl bobbed and flailed. This is what she had been waiting for. The terror. The absolute shock to the system. The floor to ceiling aquarium was perfect just for this experience, and fixated on the bottom was a heavy cinder block and chain attached just long enough to keep Sayaka from reaching the top of the tank for air, once completely filled.
She couldn’t stay for the main event, however. Terano wondered if Kirari would simply smash the whole aquarium to rescue her love. Or realize immediately that there was no way for Sayaka to still be alive. The message had to be clear enough, right?
Terano waved her hand behind her, expecting immediately to be pulled away. She didn’t need to stay for the theatrics of the drowning, hearing this terror from the woman who indulged Kirari’s musings was enough, for now. But there was an unusual pause, and the sounds of water spilling into water and screams stopped suddenly. Sayaka was staring, but at something else, that reflected slightly in the glass.
“My my.” A chill washed over Terano, and she felt a hand on her shoulder, alongside the breathy voice in her ear. “You’re full of ideas now, aren’t you, Terano?”
She couldn’t control the panic filling her face. Her breathing grew rapid but she knew already that if Kirari was here, there was no reason to try screaming anymore. Terano swallowed, and held her chest in an attempt to slow her rapid heart beat. Kirari moved swiftly to the front of her wheelchair, and Terano noticed the smug expression on her cousin’s face. It was befitting of someone who thwarted a plot such as this: her worst enemy trying to drown her wife in her own aquarium.
“You should know, everyone who works for you, also works for me , at this point, Terano.” Kirari chuckled. “I’m surprised that you would even attempt such a thing. I thought better of you. Perhaps I was wrong, to give you that chance.”
She turned around and studied Sayaka in the aquarium, who had grown more relaxed as a house worker in a wetsuit dove into the tank to begin releasing her from the cinderblock’s grasp.
“Sayaka, are you alright? I’m sorry for the scare.” Terano looked in disgust as Kirari placed a hand on the glass, staring at her most beloved fish with a degree of care that seemed unreal. Sayaka smiled back, but still wore an expression of light fear. Kirari looked into the tank and upwards, at the staff waiting to retrieve Sayaka. “Make sure to look her over thoroughly for any marks. I want to know if anything, and I do mean anything is wrong. Please have the drug test back within an hour.”
Terano was straining to understand where she had gone wrong. She had made sure that all the staff was properly checked. Everyone was briefed before the mission had started. The careful background check was completed by her own sister.
“How is Yumi, by the way?” Kirari turned around and walked back over to the wheelchair-bound figure. The tone in her voice hinted at knowing a secret.
Terano began looking around the room for any sign of her sister, but the sudden realization that Yumi was no longer in the same room as her, sent another shiver through her body.
“W-what did you do with her, Kirari?” Terano struggled to maintain her composure, the weight of being found out starting to sink in. Kirari stared down at Terano. The smugness began to hint at the ferocity that scared any lower family in the clan. Terano hadn’t witnessed that gaze since Kirari’s own grandmother had donned it many years ago, causing adults to grovel before her. It was new and disturbing, to see Kirari’s fully grown face form the wicked expression.
“I received a call this morning from Yumi. Very distressed. She said that you had told her you wanted to play a joke on me, initially.” Kirari pulled Terano’s face up to look into her eyes. Terano gripped Kirari’s arm with her own, trying to tear her hand off, but was too weak as Kirari continued the story. “...Yumi told me you had a last minute change of plans, however? That you decided seeing Sayaka drown was a more satisfying revenge. You had cameras installed so you could witness me coming home next, right?” Kirari’s face held a composure that barely shook as she spoke. Terano began smacking at the hand that held her face tightly. Her face began to hurt, but Kirari didn’t budge at the assault.
“She couldn’t partake in murder, so she begged me for forgiveness and asked for guidance.” Kirari’s voice lowered with the last few words, and the glimmer of pure anger scared Terano further. She made a last ditch effort by scratching Kirari’s face, enough to leave a mark, which finally made Kirari flinch, but she continued anyway. “I was more than willing to oblige, granted she understood the consequences for you. ”
Terano’s eyes began to form light tears in response to Kirari’s words. She knew better now than to believe Kirari would bluff about something like this. Yumi’s betrayal was hard to stomach, but not impossible. Her sister was not one for causing others pain, even her awful witch of a cousin. No wonder she had left the room. Kirari finally backed up, and placed a hand near the newly formed scratch mark. She rubbed it like a scar, before smirking.
“Which brings me to the consequences. As much as I would enjoy hearing you beg for mercy, I think we’ve grown old enough for that to no longer bring me any real joy. I also doubt you’d allow yourself to do so.” Kirari began pacing in thought. “The dyes in Sayaka’s clothing will certainly do a number on the water quality in my tank, don’t you agree? It will be quite an expensive fix, overall. All the fish will have to be removed and eventually reintroduced once it’s deemed liveable again… it takes months to properly set a tank like this, yet you’ve ruined it in one swoop.”
“What are you even going on about?” Terano wanted Kirari to get to the point of all this. Nothing could possibly make this day worse, anyway.
“You know my tanks are amongst my biggest treasures, and you defiled it, and planned to further ruin it with your murder plot, Terano. What even is befitting of someone so ugly and boring?” Kirari said, dryly. “I think the best thing for me, would be to never see your face again. Does that have to mean you should die gruesomely?” She turned to frown at Terano once more, ferocity completely present now. “I’m afraid you don’t deserve that kind of luxury. There are things far worse than dying, my dear cousin. Don’t you think it would be interesting for you to experience them?”
Footsteps came from behind her, and the briefest sounds of others shuffling alongside followed. A shivering woman greeted her wife weakly, still soaked and recovering.
“Sayaka, my dear.” Kirari smiled and embraced Sayaka tenderly. Terano’s panic had seemed to reach its maximum ages ago, but the sudden appearance of Sayaka wrapped around in a towel, was enough to send her heart rate up again. “How are you feeling?”
Sayaka cried, truly upset by the whole ordeal. The unexpected drugging to knock her out, all the way to waking up cold in the tank. She melted into Kirari’s arms for a moment, looking about ready to collapse in them. Terano could almost feel satisfied, until Sayaka’s face turned and fixated on her, and became a glare. She released herself from Kirari’s embrace, and asked softly for permission.
“Kirari, is it okay if I..?”
“Of course.”
She was unprepared for Sayaka’s sudden movement, and two hands lunged, pushing her over, along with the wheelchair. The crash sent her head spinning, along with the right wheel of the chair. Her face contorted in pain, and she could begin to taste metal in her mouth. She heard further footsteps surround her, and a hand reached quickly for her arm, to drag her out from underneath the chair. Her body slumped easily as she was being pulled. She used her last remaining energy to fight the grip, but it was too easy to continue moving her out of the room.
“Kirari!!” Terano called on the way out, at the top of her lungs. “Someday you will die, and the world will be a better place without you!”
“Such is life, to die, Terano. You might be wishing for it soon enough.” Kirari hurled back before moving to dote upon her shaken wife again, hugging Sayaka reassuringly.