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The air in your apartment is scented with some kind of air freshener you only vaguely remember buying. A lot of things have been like that for the last couple of days. Your tea is cold but the cup is still full. Wasn’t it just last week when you had invited Kaname over? She was sitting just over there with a teacup in one hand and a half-eaten cake in the other. You flip your cell phone to look at the contact list just one more time. There is only a couple of emergency numbers, a very distant cousin who lives in America…
You close the phone with a snap to place it next to the tea pot. Your eyes wander to your Soul Gem: it’s still glowing faintly yellow but the darkness within it is worrying. It transforms back into its ring form as you stand up. Perhaps you should clean up the table. No, that won’t do. It’s improper to leave the tea out yet there is something you have to do that’s more important than what’s proper. Nobody would notice the table anyway.
The key to your apartment is set next to the phone, next to your identification. If someone shows up to investigate (Sakura, Kaname?) they’ll wonder. They’ll wonder a lot, perhaps. If a thief does, well, money never has been an issue to you. Your parents did leave you with that small comfort. Maybe a thief would have better use for it.
When the door closes behind you with a small click you don’t look back. Where your feet take you is a mystery. A few people turn their heads. You hear their voices only as static; gossips wondering about why a school girl was wandering about during school hours in a place like this. It’s far darker out than when you first left. This fact barely registers. You only notice the people who walk past more. They don’t even look your way. They hardly notice each other.
What a lonely way to live, you think. To pass by people and not even notice that they exist…nobody deserves to live like that. Don’t they realize what they’re doing? If someone has no one to talk to, no one to live for then they shouldn’t…
“Hey, kid, you shouldn’t be out so late.”
You look up from your feet. The sky is almost pure black now and the stars are blotted out by the street lamps. A man dressed in a worn out suit is standing in front of you; the street is unfamiliar but the few office buildings with dark windows tell you all you need to know. He’s a businessman who probably stayed after hours.
Is he married? Does his wife worry? Does he have children? Do they miss their father? The line of thinking your brain decides to focus on is so inane you laugh to yourself. The man looks puzzled, worried. You both seem to be standing under a streetlight “You don’t look alright,” he said. “Do your parents know you’re out?”
You don’t answer. You look at the shaggy cut of his hair, the bare growth of stubble on his face, the worn but well-kept suit he wears. This worries him. It vaguely makes the ache settling in your stomach lessen slightly. He’s worrying about a stranger he doesn’t know.
“Hey! Can you hear me?” You hear the desperation in his voice. He moves closer. Maybe he owns a good heart but…
He’s only doing this because people expect him to. The same way people say “hi” to people they’ve never met. He doesn’t actually care. If you died right there he would just call the hospital then go home to his wife and kids without a second-thought. Maybe he would have a nightmare. He wouldn’t care, though. Not in the end. Nobody ever does.
You coolly look at him straight in the eye “I was thinking,” you say half to him and half to growing pain building in your stomach. “If someone vanished without warning would anyone care?”
The man steps backwards. The worry doesn’t leave his eyes but confusion makes his brow furrow. “W-what are you talking about? Kid, you’re not making any sense.”
You take a step forward. “Would anyone miss you?” you ask. “Would it even matter?”
Confusion is mingling with fear now. He stumbles out of the light of the street lamp. He’s shaking his head. “I don’t know!” he yells. “Kid, what the hell are you saying? You look sick.”
The familiar weight of your Soul Gem is in your hand now. You hold it out—half for his benefit and half to see what you already feel—there is just a faint speck of yellow now. The pain in your stomach is more than that now. You want to buckle but you can’t. You have to know his answer. “You don’t know? That’s not really an answer,” you say. Your voice shakes but you hardly can control it anymore.
“How am I supposed to know an answer to something I’ve never thought about?” he asks.
He’s looking backwards and when you see him run there is no surprise. You watch his fleeing back turn around a corner in only a few moments. After that, well. You don’t know how long you stand there looking at where he should be. Your Soul Gem is heavier than it should be. Something makes you worry only for a brief second. That man must be going back to his family so they won’t be lonely anymore, you think. It’s alright.
You barely register that there are two sets of footsteps behind you that stop suddenly. Someone gasps. “M-mami-san? What are you doing—?” Kaname’s voice draws your attention.
When you turn it’s a heavy movement. You barely register it when you see the two people: Kaname with her bow and Akemi still un-transformed. Akemi isn’t flinching away but she’s not standing forward. She’s clutching Kaname’s arm like she—you step forward and your shakiness transforms it into a lurch. Kaname runs towards you even when Akemi digs her heels into the pavement to stop her. “Don’t go near Tomoe! Something doesn’t seem right!” Akemi’s voice is loud in your ears.
How dare she stop Kaname from at least trying to make contact with you! The pain flares. You really drop to your knees this time. Kaname’s bright eyes are wide with fright and Akemi’s glasses glint in the street lamp. “Mami-san!” Kaname’s yell and push forward breaks Akemi’s grip. She runs recklessly towards you. Akemi isn’t far behind.
You smile. “I was wondering if you would show up,” you say as she nears. The Soul Gem throbs in your hand. “I never got a call.”
Kaname looks confused as she reaches to touch your shoulders. She’s trying to get you to stand but you don’t make the effort. Your legs couldn’t handle the weight, anyway. Akemi is trying to pull her away; you briefly wonder why she doesn’t use her buckler to stop time. She never could keep her head cool in tense situations like Kaname or you. Such a pity, really… “I suppose it’s too late for that.”
Akemi manages to pull Kaname away from you. Both of them say nothing but you can barely make out Kaname’s horrified face and Akemi’s—is that regret mixed with the fear?—frightened one. She steps backward with Kaname’s arm firmly clasped in her hands.
You think you hear the sounds of far-away laughter: a promise of a party that never ends where the guests promise to stay. It’s far more tempting than just looking forward. If Kaname or Akemi or both cry out when your Soul Gem shatters you don’t notice.