Work Text:
Amane sat in the chair of her secret hideout, petting a cat that snuggled in her lap. Amidst her hectic life, this was her only refuge. She wasn't breaking any doctrines, right? Just taking a quick detour from her route home. Just taking a quick break from the pain in her home life. Just spoiling herself a little with a fuzzy friend. And she was giving it some food as a sign that she believed in it. See, wasn't she such a good girl?
The clouds in the sky parted, and the sun cast shadows at a slightly lower angle. This was the cue to head home. After one last pet, Amane stood up and placed the cat on the chair-
Okay, one last pet. And another. And another. And-
“I’m sorry, I really have to leave,” she told the little critter that was staring up at her with the biggest, wettest eyes yet. But still, she indulged it with one last pat before heading out of the alley.
The streets weren’t so busy at this time of day, with only the occasional van passing by.
Amane had taken a few paces out on the sidewalk when, all of a sudden, a large dog bounded up to her, panting heavily. She took a tentative step back, but the dog closed the gap with another step and sniffed. Unsure of what to do next, she froze in place as the dog stood on its hind legs and pawed at her.
“Katsu, no! Katsu, back!” The dog turned as a woman in a blue jacket and shorts sprinted towards them.
Amane didn’t realize she had gone still as a statue until the woman waved a hand in front of her face.
“Are you okay there?”
“Huh?” Amane blinked a few times. “I… I suppose so.”
“Sorry about my dog. He thinks he can just run up to everyone like that.” By the look in her eyes, this seemed to be a common occurrence.
“It’s fine. I’ll… I’ll be going now.” Amane took a step to the side.
“Alright. Take care. There’s a lot of shady activity going on in this area, so be careful.”
“I will. Thanks!” Amane turned and bowed slightly before shuffling away and continuing on her path home.
Over the next few days, Amane crossed paths with the woman on her way to and from school. Sometimes she had her dog, other times not. They exchanged polite nods each time. The dog—Katsu, was it?—seemed excited to see Amane again and again but knew better than to ditch its owner for a semi-stranger. Amane picked up on little details along the way, like the vest with wing patterns that the dog wore.
The sky was bright and sunny. The cat was very happy (and a lot less willing to let Amane leave). She was almost tempted to let it come with her, but animals weren’t allowed in the apartment complex. So she took a stray bowl from the dumpster and filled it with her leftover lunch. While the cat was distracted, sniffing at the food, she ran.
Later, she would learn that her lunch wasn’t good for cats. But for now, she needed to finish her day.
Just as she was about to set foot on the street, someone pulled her back by the collar. A black van zoomed by, its roaring engine eclipsing the little yelp that escaped her mouth. As she regained her footing, she looked up to find a familiar blue jacket. It was the same woman she kept running into.
“Th-thanks again,” she muttered, tapping her fingers together.
“Don’t mention it.” The woman moved her arms akimbo. “Hey, didn’t I warn you to be careful?”
“Sorry!”
“Don’t be sorry. Be careful.”
They stood quietly for a moment. Amane should probably leave, but she didn’t want to let the encounter end on such a loose end.
“If we’re going to run into each other more, shouldn’t we know each other’s names? Let’s not be strangers.”
The woman glanced to the side in contemplation. “I suppose so. My name is Kotoko. And you?”
“Amane! Nice to meet you, Kotoko-san.” She smiled and extended a hand, which Kotoko shook after a second of hesitation.
“Nice to meet you too, Amane. Let’s hope that we-” A buzzing phone interrupted her sentence. She pulled it out and glanced at the screen. “Well, I have to go now. Take care, Amane. Don’t run into trouble again.”
“I promise I won’t! Thanks again!” Amane bowed, then checked the street before crossing.
One day, Amane spotted Kotoko walking her dog past the alleyway, in the same direction that Amane herself would be headed. She scurried up to the woman’s side and matched her pace.
“Kotoko-san, is it? It is nice to see you again!”
“You too, Amane.”
“Do you mind if I join you?”
Kotoko responded with a shrug but didn’t shoo her away. Amane hummed happily and walked closer to the dog.
As they reached a crosswalk and stopped, Amane knelt down to the dog’s level. “Is it okay if I pet him? Katsu, was it?”
Kotoko scowled for a moment, but then she shrugged. “Fine. What’s the harm?”
While petting Katsu, Amane got a better view of his winged vest. “That’s a pretty detailed vest. Where did you get it?”
“At a fan convention.”
“A what?”
“It’s a place where…” Kotoko paused. “It’s a fair of sorts.”
“Oh. I see.” Fairs were expressly off limits, but then again, so were petting cats in a dumpster alley and talking to strangers.
On her way to the alley, Amane spotted Kotoko by her lonesome. “No Katsu today?”
“Mm, when you say it like that, it sounds weird.”
“Then why did you name your dog after food?”
Kotoko crossed her arms. “First of all, it is considered good luck to name pets after food. It helps them live longer.”
“I didn’t take you to be superstitious.”
“I’m just saying. Second, it means ‘victory’ and is short for Katsuya.”
Amane tilted her head. “Katsuya?”
“It’s from an old video game- well, you probably wouldn’t know.”
Fair enough. Amane couldn’t name any games off the top of her head.
As they rounded the corner, Amane beckoned, but Kotoko put her hands akimbo.
“You shouldn’t be going into alleyways with strangers.”
“But you are not a stranger. I am already on petting terms with Katsu.”
“Well, I’m warning you that you can’t always be this careless.” Still, Kotoko humored her.
When the dumpster was in sight, Amane took a few more paces and called out. “Neko-san! I’m here!”
The cat crept out of a pile of discarded furniture, its gait steadier than before.
“You call it ‘Neko-san’?” Kotoko asked.
“Yes. Why not? It is the only Neko-san I know.” Amane crouched down to pet the cat.
Kotoko leaned on the wall and watched. “Couldn’t you name it something more creative? How about ‘Zorro’?”
“What is a ‘Zorro’?”
“It’s the name of a famous fictional vigilante, and it means ‘fox’ in Spanish.”
“First food, and now other animals… You have strange ideas for names.”
“You’re one to talk.”
Amane giggled and scratched the cat’s chin. “I suppose so. Also, what is a vigilante?”
“Someone who delivers justice to criminals outside of the law.”
“Outside the law? You mean… illegally?”
“Well, yes, but some things are more important than the law. You’ll understand one day.”
Maybe she already did.
It was a day like any other, if a little cloudy. On the way to school, Amane came across a familiar blue-jacketed acquaintance walking a (much better-behaved) dog.
“Kotoko-san! It’s nice seeing you again.”
Kotoko nodded curtly. “Amane. I hope you’re doing well. I might not be here this afternoon, but I trust you to keep in mind the advice I gave you.”
“I will!” Amane bowed before picking up the pace and heading to school.
On the way back, Amane passed by a parked van with its lights flashing and garbled noise blaring from its speakers. Strange. Nothing was supposed to be parked on this part of the curb. She wasn’t meant to go near it, so she ignored it and kept walking.
The van pulled up next to her, with the window rolled down and the “music” dialed down.
“Miss,” the driver said, “It’s dangerous at this time of day. Could I offer you a ride?”
“No thank you.” Amane kept walking.
After several steps, she realized the van was still nearby, tailing her. Her instincts were screaming for her to run, but before she could act on them, the driver grabbed her arm and pulled her in through the open door. She didn’t have a chance to scream or fight before he threw her into the back and slammed the divider shut.
“Hey, let me out!” She pounded her fists on the divider. “Someone, help-”
But the driver turned up the sound loud enough to drown out her screams.
After a short drive, the van came to a halt, and so did the infernal noise. The momentum slammed Amane against the divider. She was still reorienting herself when the door opened, and the man walked in front of her, peeling a roll of tape between his hands.
The dreadful sense of isolation permeated through the cracks in the doors. No use crying out now.
The rest of the drive was eerily quiet. There was no need for music, no noise to be concealed with more noise. Amane tried counting the rhythmic bumps on the road to measure time and distance, but her thoughts were quickly lost in a blur. All she knew was that she was “too far from home.”
The light of day had shifted behind the clouds and dimmed by the next time the door opened. Amane wondered if it would be the last time she saw it.
Outside was a dreary wasteland of hollow buildings. If the foreboding absence of life wasn’t already clear, now it was plainly visible. Nobody was around to hear Amane scream, even if she could. As her captor dragged her towards one of those buildings, she kicked, stomped, and tried to twist out of his grip to no avail. But even if she could break herself free, where would she go?
Once they were in, the man hurled Amane to the ground with enough force to leave her collapsed in a heap. While she tried to push herself up, he walked away and squatted by the corner.
Amane craned her neck, trying to get a better look, but the clinking and scraping of metal was the only hint as to what the man was doing.
Then he turned around with a maniacal grin. Amane had barely managed to sit upright when he stalked towards her, waving a hammer in little circles.
This was it. This was how she was going to die. All alone, far from home, at the mercy of a stranger who was so eager to see her suffer.
Nobody knew where she was. If she never came home, they might just assume she ran away. If they ever found out what happened to her, she would become an example to scare the other kids into obedience.
This is what happens when you flout the tenets of faith at every turn.
Now she was face-to-face with a monster. No more words to argue. No arms to defend herself. In her last moments, she would have no choice but to accept her punishment as the good girl she was supposed to be.
As the man lifted the hammer over her, she squeezed her eyes shut and ducked her head.
Just then, a barrage of thunderous knocks sounded out from the entrance. Amane cracked an eye open and saw her captor turn towards it, dumbfounded. The door burst open, and a figure clad in red charged at him and tackled him, causing him to drop the hammer in shock.
Now was her chance to escape. Amane looked around the warehouse for anything that could break her bonds. By the far wall was a row of wire racks, well-stocked at the top and empty and fraying at the bottom. She scrambled over to get a better look. There was a boxcutter on the lower shelves, but she couldn’t grab it with her covered hands. Anything on the higher shelves was out of the question. What else could she do?
The wires at the bottom of one shelf poked out at sharp angles. She sat in front of the shelf and began scraping the tape over the edge.
From there, she could see the fight unfold, a barbaric show for her, the captive audience. It was incredibly one-sided, owing to the kidnapper being caught off guard. Amidst the flurry of kicks, grabs, and punches, he had no time to recover or strike back. It wasn’t long before he went completely motionless on the ground.
Amane managed to free her fingers, but a sharp pain ran through them as she brushed them against a stray piece of metal. Now she realized how frail and crooked the support was, but she continued to scrape away until the rack tilted towards her. She jumped out of the way right as the contents of the top shelf hit the ground, and the rack collapsed.
That seemed to catch the savior’s attention, leading them to quit the fight and hurry over. “Amane, are you alright?”
The voice was more feminine than she expected. For that matter, it was more recognizable than she thought it would be. Once the mysterious figure knelt by her, she could make out the shape of those bangs… the glint of red eyes…
Kotoko-san, she would say if her mouth wasn’t covered, but all she could manage was a whimper. She felt herself starting to tear up.
“Easy there. You wouldn’t want to suffocate now, would you?” Kotoko steadied her face in one hand and began peeling the tape off with the other.
Once Amane was sure she wouldn’t have to worry about breathing anymore, she leaned into Kotoko’s shoulder and sobbed.
“Hold on, we still have to free your hands.”
Kotoko pulled Amane close, seemingly to embrace her. But she realized that wasn’t all to it; there was the clicking of a blade, and the tension in her wrists eased.
“There you go.” Kotoko moved back and patted Amane’s shoulders.
Amane brought her hands in front of her and flexed, twisted, and rolled them. Then she picked at the residual tape. Kotoko extended a hand to help her up.
Instead of taking it, Amane jumped and wrapped her arms around the woman’s shoulders, clutching the jacket as if it were her only anchor to the earth. She feared she would slip away forever if she wasn’t holding onto anything.
It was a few moments before Kotoko returned the hug genuinely, and along with it, a reprimand. “We can't waste our time here. That man could wake up any moment.”
Amane stepped back and nodded.
“Isn’t it illegal to break into a vehicle?”
“Any more illegal than kidnapping and attempted murder?” Kotoko smashed a brick through the van window. “Don’t tell me you changed your mind about your backpack.”
“No… go ahead…” Amane stood by, but she kept an eye on the warehouse entrance in case that terrible man would wake up and chase after them. But there was still no sign of him when Kotoko exited the van with the backpack in hand.
“Here you go. Now the nearest bus stop is about ten minutes away. Are you good with walking that far?”
Amane nodded in response.
The next bus was luckily just a few minutes away. In the meantime, Kotoko helped Amane fix her hair and dust off her clothes.
“Where to? There’s a police station on the way to-”
“I just want to go home.”
“Very well.”
The initial suggestion sounded hollow, like a formality.
The last bus stop was a short walk to the alleyway and a shorter walk to the complex.
Amane scurried over to the entrance and turned around to bow.
“Thank you, Kotoko-san. I’ll be fine from here.”
“Are you sure? Shouldn’t I make sure you get inside safely?”
Amane shook her head. “The neighbors don’t take kindly to outsiders.”
She bowed again before turning around and entering the complex.
Once she reached her apartment, she opened the door, leaning on it for support. As she stepped inside and closed the door behind her, little did she notice the shadow looming over her until she met her mother’s eyes, crackling with fury.
It had been a few days since Kotoko had crossed paths with that girl. Was she okay? Had the abduction and attempted murder scared her into staying home? Did the girl’s family decide to keep her inside for fear of what had happened?
That fear wasn’t unfounded. The kidnapper was still at large. Kotoko had gone back to the warehouse after seeing Amane off, but it was empty. The van was gone too.
Neko-san, or Zorro, as she preferred to call the cat, had recovered enough from the leg injury to run around freely. But it seemed a bit lonely without a human companion, so Kotoko visited it when she wasn’t busy with Katsu.
She finally saw Amane on one cloudy morning while taking Katsu for a walk.
The girl was staring at the ground, with the brim of her hat covering much of her face. She was trying to walk briskly, but she had an obvious limp. Her legs were dotted with cuts and bruises that hadn’t been there on the day of the incident.
Don’t get too attached, Kotoko told herself, but it was days too late to think that. She approached the girl.
“Amane, do you need some help? I could-”
“Don’t talk to me.” Amane sidestepped and continued on her way.
Well, that resolved the issue. There was no reason to be attached to someone who didn’t care.
It would be a better use of time to look for the kidnapper. Now why was he roaming around here of all places?
The search turned out fruitless. After dropping Katsu off at home, Kotoko found herself wandering alone near the alley. At least she told herself it wasn’t intentional. She hadn’t gone there out of concern for anyone.
A green-haired figure went through the entrance. Whatever the poor girl had gone through in the last few days, it wasn’t enough to stop her from seeing her beloved cat. What a relief.
But wait, Kotoko thought after a moment, Amane would have come from the other direction.
Besides, she wasn’t the only green-haired person in the world. Whoever that was, that was an entirely different person.
…
None of this was Kotoko’s concern. She decided to mind her own business and keep walking.
…
Her gut was telling her something was wrong.
She turned around and ran into the alleyway, where she found the suspicious figure—an adult woman—crouching over a bleeding cat.
No wonder she’d thought that was Amane at first; the woman’s resemblance to her was uncanny. But she had longer hair and was visibly older. Was that her mother?
The woman stood up and walked over to a swivel chair. Amane’s chair.
Without thinking, Kotoko rushed over. This woman was easily a head shorter than her. In her hands were a collar and a handkerchief.
"Ma'am, was that your cat?"
The woman did not dignify her question with a response.
"Was that your daughter's cat?"
Again, she did not answer.
Kotoko grabbed the chair and hurled it towards the entrance. “You can’t go around killing animals like that. What do you-”
The woman cut her off with a harsh slap. Without a second thought, Kotoko shoved the assailant back. Her head collided with the brick wall with a sickening crack, and she crumpled to the ground in a bloody heap.
Kotoko hadn’t expected her to be that frail. She was sure she had used the same force against the kidnapper, so why was that enough to crack this woman’s skull?
After a moment, she felt the sting of the slap. She held her cheek to ease it, and when she withdrew her hand, she found blood on her fingertips.
Amane refused to let the fear of punishment stop her from visiting the cat. If she was going to go home to be beaten anyway, then she may as well do something worthwhile before then.
Or perhaps she was submitting to the fear of the inevitable by taking this detour. Instead of dwelling on her fall from grace, shouldn’t she accept the discipline to grow into a better girl?
Just to be sure she wasn’t about to be ratted out again, she spared a glance towards the hill. Nobody was watching.
Where the sidewalk gave way to the alley’s entrance, the swivel chair stood. Amane quickened her pace, as much as her bad leg would let her, to get a closer look and found a handkerchief and a broken collar in its seat.
Her handkerchief and the cat’s collar. What were they doing here? Nothing bad happened to the cat, right? If so, then the culprit would have to be punished accordingly. Interfering with an innocent animal’s destiny? Unforgivable.
Amane continued into the hideout and found a familiar blue jacket. It was Kotoko standing over a bloody heap. A dead cat. Bloody hands. Green hair.
Amane’s mother.
She gasped.
“Oh, Amane,” Kotoko looked over her shoulder. “What did you see?”
“I… I just got here…”
The woman turned fully and approached. “So what does this look like to you?”
Amane stepped forward to get a better view of her mother. Open head wound, bloody hands, the dead cat nearby…
Then she squared her shoulders to face Kotoko. There was a smear of blood on her cheek and a faint trace on her fingertips. At first glance, she might have looked like a killer, but she couldn’t have killed the cat with that little blood on her.
“It is clear that my mother killed the cat. And then she must have slapped you, so you shoved her in turn.”
Kotoko nodded placidly. “Very well. I was worried you wouldn’t believe me if I told you my side, but you figured it out for yourself.” She leaned forward and locked eyes intently. “But the police are a different matter. I’m sure to get caught. What will you tell them?”
“Exactly what I told you,” Amane responded coolly. “And… that you stepped in because you saw my mother was hitting me.”
Kotoko raised a brow. “You would tell such a bold lie?” Lying is a sin, it sounded like.
“No, it’s not a lie…” That came out more frantically than Amane would have liked. “You saw me on the way to school. You already knew what my mother had done. Besides, you did not mean to kill her, right?”
“How do you know that?”
“You look too clean. Not like on the day you saved me.”
Kotoko tilted her head. “And you’re sure nobody can disprove your statement?
“There aren’t any cameras around. I checked long before. And I’m sure nobody is up on the hill.”
“Very well.”
The trial was over. It was a miracle that Kotoko had been let off on self-defense. She had known it would be an uphill battle from the moment that woman’s head hit the bricks. And even though Kotoko could walk the streets once more, it stung how she was branded a monster in the public’s eyes.
As she roamed the streets, she hunched under her red hood, willing herself not to drag her feet. Such pettiness would be unbecoming of her.
She wished she’d brought Katsu to comfort her, but her lead was so close that she couldn’t let him get in the way.
Never mind all of that. As long as she was more discreet, nobody could stop her from continuing her work.
As she passed by the alleyway, a familiar figure stepped out.
That ungrateful brat! Why did she retract her statement after everything they’d been through?
Kotoko ignored that girl and kept walking. There was nothing to say.
“Kotoko-san,” Amane called out.
“What?” Kotoko spun around and glared at her. “What more do you have to say to the woman who killed your mother?”
“You should not have done that.”
As if the whole world hadn’t been telling her that already. Kotoko rolled her eyes and began to turn away, but the girl kept talking.
“All struggles in life happen for a reason. These are trials given by God. Only by overcoming them can we grow stronger as people. My day-to-day struggles are not yours to interfere with. I had almost attained perfect virtue. There was only one thing left to do, but you stole it from me.”
“So what?” Kotoko responded with a scoff. “You would rather I had left you to die at the hands of criminal scum?”
“I… I…” Terror bubbled up in Amane’s eyes, but after a moment of stillness, she shook it off and dipped her head. “Perhaps, if that was my fate…”
“You know nothing of what you speak. Useless weaklings should shut up and let me protect them.” One final time, Kotoko turned away.
But Amane continued to call after her. “You hoist yourself up as a savior, but truly you are nothing more than a persecutor!”
Those condemnations meant nothing. Not coming from such a self-righteous child.