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"Careful, now. You wouldn't want to get hit by a car."
Especially since Satou's about to send a lot of people to the hospital very soon, the man thought. He exhaled a puff of smoke, not bothering to turn away from the lady about to jaywalk across the street in front of where he sat.
She gave him a glare that looked fleetingly familiar. His ex-wife? No. He put it out of his mind.
-----
She smelled the smoke and squinted in annoyance as it wafted past her face. Thank goodness Kei had taken her advice and not developed a habit like that former friend of his she always saw loitering around. She'd been right that that kid would turn out to be a delinquent. She had an eye for those sorts of things. It was always best to keep on the straight and narrow, and she did her best to pass that wisdom down to her kids. She wondered where Kei was right now. She hoped he was doing okay, despite his reassurances that he would be.
She took a half step forward, but a car came around a corner onto the street, leaving her no choice but to continue waiting. Another strong puff of cigarette smoke accosted her nostrils.
She turned her head sharply. "Do you mind?!"
She looked the man on the bench from head to toe. He looked shabby, and normally she'd guess he was drunk, but his eyes twinkled too much to be the glassy effects of alcohol.
"I don't, but obviously you do." He drawled.
Sarcasm. What unfunny people thought passed for humor. That got on her nerves. She turned around.
"And you." She scolded. "First thing you'll set this whole town on fire, dropping those cigarette butts on dry grass like that."
-----
Ogura let would've let out a snort if not for the cigarette at his lips. He raised an eyebrow. "Is that right."
The woman glared at him, realized he had no intention of mending his ways, and approached the bench where he sat, grinding his discarded cigarette stubs into the dirt and muttering something about how a decent person would offer to reimburse her for her shoe soles getting singed.
Job accomplished, she turned back to the road, watching the traffic for an opening. Ogura now noticed she was carrying a plastic bag from the convenience store he had passed by on his way to the bench with a few items in it.
"If you want to cross the street, you could walk over to the crosswalk on the corner." He pointed out.
"It's much faster to cross here," she snapped without looking back at him. "I'm just going across the street." She paused as a truck rumbled by. "Besides, if I hadn't had you distracting me, I would have found an opening by now."
Ogura glanced around, taking in the cars, the hospital across the street, the crosswalk off to the right, and next to it, a signpost for a different convenience store.
"Why didn't you go to that one? Seems like it would've been faster, if you're so hell-bent on efficiency." We're all going to die anyway. Why's she in such a rush? And for that matter, doesn't she know Satou could seize this entire town within the hour?
The wrinkle between her eyebrows deepened. "If you MUST know, THAT one doesn't carry Dr. Pepper."
-----
"Ah, the thinking man's drink," commented the despicable man. "It takes one to know one." He let out another puff. Disgusting. "You could find them everywhere in America."
He continued, forcing her into a conversation she wanted no part of. "Who's in the hospital, anyway? Must not be urgent if you're out here buying soda."
She tapped her foot and continued glaring. Just because listening was the socially acceptable thing to do didn't mean she had to respond.
"A family member? We're both getting on in years"-- She scoffed --"but I can't imagine your folks'd have any interest in Dr. Pepper. So a kid? Your kid's in there?"
-----
Her eyes narrowed. He was on to something. "So it is your kid. Sorry to hear that. My deepest sympathies, really. How old's the kiddo?"
"None of your business."
He smirked. "You got me there. Fine, none of my business."
The daggers from the glare she was shooting him... really reminded him of someone. But she definitely wasn't his ex-wife, he remembered that much at least.
"Old enough to be left alone, I suppose?" Once again, death glares. "Okay, okay, okay. Go about your day. Who am I to stop you."
"You ought to see a doctor about that hand."
This genuinely caught him off guard.
His hand, yes... he'd been ignoring it so hard the pain was like a distant memory, a haze vaguely present in the background of his thoughts. It didn't need to heal, not when there were fewer FKs left in the pack than fingers on the hand.
"Leave it too long and it'll go septic. Not that that's any of my business." She tossed her hair and looked back at the street.
It was that way of caring-but-not-caring utter indifference to whether you lived or died yet still somehow well-meaning advice. Why DID that seem so familiar? It nagged at him.
By the time he refocused his thoughts, she was halfway across the street, taking advantage of the break in the cars to head straight to the hospital entrance.
Ah, well. He thought. My hand, her kid... what does it matter, really? If it's meant to happen, it'll happen.
Then he looked up, and saw the black particles streaming skyward in the distance.
Time to go, then, he thought. He picked himself up and started walking in their direction.
But not before thoroughly stamping out the remnants of his cigarettes.