A man with forest green hair and emerald-colored eyes wearing traditional chinese clothes clenched the hole on his right side. It just missed his heart, but a knife was there moments ago. It was dark, so he did not see the assassin's face.
"B-boss-?"
Seeing the face of his underling, a relieved sigh passed his lips. It seems like he made it back to his base.
He took something out of his robe. "Sumire- give this to her."
Those were the last words he said as he collapsed on the ground.
___
Despair, it is the absence of hope. It can be a very useful teaching tool.
The nightmares start of the same way as usual. Sitting alone in a pitch-black empty space, the voices of dissatisfaction towards her very existence. Then all of them would end with the fire that happened three years ago.
At least it should be like that. This nightmare was different. There in the center was somebody familiar, but her vision would blur whenever she tried to make out his face. Sumire tried to reach out to the person, but the darkness wrapped around her and threw her backward.
Ah, this is the first time she is falling in the nightmare. Sumire closed her eyes. But does it matter?
Even if it is different than usual, the outcome will be the same. The ending will have her fall into despair.
After a few minutes, she landed on the tile with a huge thud. It seemed like she was in somebody's mansion based on the decorations. But her role seemed to be playing dead on the ground. The door not too far from where she lay was half open.
"-she is a cursed child. We should get rid of her."
"She is still your daughter!"
Ah, she knows where this is. This is her old home before it burned down, and the voices that are currently arguing belong to her now-deceased parents. Is this something that happened in the past? Did they have a conversation like this before that she overheard?
Sumire tried to move closer, but the closer she got, the more distorted the voices became.
"This is not what you should see." She heard a man's voice approaching her, but when she tried to reach out, the scene evaporated into smoke.
Once again, she was in pitch darkness, and she was falling again. When she opened her eyes, she felt the cold ground neath her. She was looking up at the sky, and she could hear the sound of the trees rustling. Sumire stood up and looked at her surroundings.
She was in a forest; it was a familiar forest.
This is the forest she ran to when she tried to make her escape, right?
She walked for a few minutes before she saw a small child kneeling on the ground praying. Is that her? The girl turned around, and she caught the sight of a silver blade in her hands tainted with blood.
Then she sees corpses next to the young child.
Sumire felt her face color turn pale. Are those not the family guards? Is that child not her? But what is this?
She hesitantly tried to call out to the child, but the child did not respond. Sumire knew it was a bad idea, but she continued to take a few steps forward until she stood directly behind the child. Then she caught sight of something terrible.
There was a familiar red liquid in the girl's hands alongside something else.
The young child was stabbing a human brain over and over, mangling until nobody could recognize it.
'How could you forget? How could you forget what you did?'
'What a silly, silly child. You're so transparent. That person's real nature, that person's real nature.'
The forest scene quickly changed, and she saw her young self beaten bloody, her limbs trapped under her stomach. Different types of birds swooped down and started to crawl at her legs, neck, and face.
A young shadow appeared before her lifeless body.
'I can save you; you can take revenge. Will you drink my blood? If you do, you cannot turn back.'
Sumire watched the young her drink the blood of the strange cloaked man.
'That's it, drink it. I will come for you in the future, my bride, but rest for now.'
...
Sumire woke up in cold sweat, her breathing unsteady. The sound of her rapid heartbeat. Sumire sighed deeply as she picked up a cloth from the bedside drawer and wiped her sweat.
'This is a problem. What I just saw then is what happened when she ran into the forest? The reality is I do not remember what happened after I ran into the forest. Aki, Aki saved me. That happened. But before he came- the things I just saw might have happened.'
What frightened her was not the young her killing people. But, Sumire wrapped her arms around her body. Who was that man? What did he mean by bride? Moreover, she drank his blood like she was some type of monster.
She needs to investigate this more. Aki does not seem to be in the headquarters recently, so he is most likely wandering off again. She ought to ask him questions when he returns.
It was three am in the morning, and despite the nightmare, she intended to return to sleep. After all, Ru was beside her. She decided to stay over tonight again, considering how they had to head over to the university today. Or rather, she would have, but she woke up to the sound of her phone ringing non-stop.
Sumire sighed and decided to pick it up. Is it Aki? Only he would call her during this crazy hour. Maybe that guy finally decided to return? "Hello?"
"Sumire-san, please come quickly. Our boss-"
Sumire briefly looked at her caller ID and frowned. It was Jack's number, but this was the voice of his assistant. It seemed like he called to tell her that quote their boss came back heavily injured after digging up more information on the cases he just gave them.
She interrupted them quickly, asking for their location and the location where he was supposed to be.
Sumire tossed on a coat on top of her nightgown, not bothering to waste time getting dressed. Her gaze fell on Mamoru, fast asleep beside her; she paused for a moment before she decided to wake him up.
It did not take long before they were both out of his house and on his bike, speeding down the highway.
Sumire kept looking back, ensuring that the police weren't following them. It would be bad if they ended up in the police station now.
Thankfully the roads were clear, and it did not take long before they reached the harbor where the base was. It was very dark, it seemed like somebody had broken the lamp posts.
It seems like something happened here.