"There were many events leading to that one particular moment. It was as though a domino chip was tipped and fell, then it hit another and another leading to a domino effect. All these events came to a stop at 10.23 pm of that night."
* * *
Akira.
Every breath she took was like needles in her lungs, each step heavier than the last. She wanted to stop so many times, but stopping would be a betrayal, and a certain guilt weighed on her every time the tempting thought crossed her mind.
Her fingertips, knees, and knuckles were red and numb. Every so often, she could see her frosty breath as she panted. A soft stream of watery mucus would cascade down her red nose. She would carelessly wipe it with the back of her jacket and move on. Even though she ran, the distance seemed to be getting further and further.
Every once in a while, she would glance at her smartphone. Though the screen was broken and not visible, it did not matter, that much that she needed to know was visible. Her heart raced faster and faster as she watched the vague number . . .16 turn to . . .17. It was 10.17 pm. She still had time.
"Akira! Stop this is absurd." she heard the call of her name behind her, but she ignored it and pressed further.
There it was the gate was within sight. All she had to do was run faster. Just a few paces from the gate she could see a feminine sillhouette that stood looking at her direction. With the falling snow and her rapid random movements, she could hardly make out who it was, but the closer she got, the easier it was to identify the blonde hair and the pale skin.
"Miss Akira," called Gebriel stopping Akira in her tracks.
. . . And, as if all the momentum in her had vanished, she fell forward just but just in time to be caught by Gebriel. She was grateful, she was glad it was her. She allowed herself to feel the relief. She allowed herself a brief moment of calm.
* * *
Gebriel
The phone on the sink vibrated mildly shaking the whole sink. Gebriel rinsed her mouth spat out the water and wiped her hands on a clean white towel. She picked the phone up slightly surprised that Akira had called. Usually, she just texted. She tapped the green telephone icon and placed it against her ears.
"How are you Miss Akira," she asked.
"Is Cain around?" Came Akira's voice curtly, "Sorry to bother you suddenly but it's an emergency." She spoke so fast not even taking a second to catch a breath.
"Am afraid, he's not around right now,"
There came no reply. In the background, however, she could hear a sort of running, it came in the form of tapping of feet on the floorboards, then the rough movement of clothes.
"Where is he? When will he be back?"
"Hold on Miss Akira, calm down and do tell me what the matter could be?" as she spoke, an accent slipped as it often did when it was getting harder and harder for her to maintain her composure.
"Sorry Gebriel, no time, please do what you can to reach him and . . ."
The call was cut. Quick as a flash, she called again, the phone rang but there was no response. Immediately sensing trouble, she dashed for her coat. She made pace for the door through the halls, and as she did a maid rushed to her side and maintained pace with her.
"Get a hold of Lord Cain now, tell him to contact me as soon as he can,"
"Yes ma'am," replied the maid branching off.
At that moment her mind raced. Clothes, footsteps, phone cut off. She was probably running. But from whom? If it was from a person she would have said, to whom then? She had asked for Lord Cain but why? Deep down she had a hunch it all had something to do with Kitsune.
"I have to get to Miss Kitsune's." she thought.
"Akira, this is absurd," were the first words she heard when she arrived just a few paces from the gate. She turned just in time to see a dashing Akira and a young man following closely.
* * *
"What's the wrong?" Gebriel asked, "Your phone was cut off. . . "
"Kitsu . . . ne, it's Kitsun . . ."
"Akira . . ." another voice called behind her.
Gebriel looked sternly at the young man who was running after Akira. She held her protectively and her eyes not once left the man who approached. The young man stopped just paces from them, still panting heavily. She noted he was not the athletic type; it was the jacket that made his frame a bit bigger.
"Who are you? Why are you chasing Miss Akira?" asked Gebriel.
"He's my brother Kosuke," said Akira quickly catching her breath, "We have no time to waste Kitsune's in danger."
Akira said quickly pulling her hand and running to the gate. Gebriel, too confused to ask ran along.
"Akira, wait up," she heard Kosuke's voice, "damn that girl can run."
Past the gate, Gebriel was the first to notice. There was a boy, but what caught her attention was the blood on his hands. She instantly stopped and pulled Akira back. Kosuke bumped on Gebriel and the three had a good look at the boy before them.
The first thing Akira noted was the blood dripping on the white snow from his fingertips. The school uniform he wore was the same the boys from her school wore. In what seemed like an age she made her way to the boy's face and had a good look. Her eyes widened as her's and the boy's eyes locked.
"Adam . . ." she said her voice shaking, " What have you done?"
There was a guilty surprise written all over his face.
* * *
Adam
"Is this how I die? How uncouth," thought Adam out loud, "By the time I get home, I will be an icicle."
His eyes ventured to the blanket of thick fluffy snow stretched across the streets. He felt a slow and creepy tremor arise from his lower back to his shoulders until his entire body shook. He dug his hands deeper in his pockets and looked up at the thirteenth floor. His eyes like hawks focused on the lit windows in room 1098.
"Should I go back and ask for a jacket?" he thought, "Nah, never mind, she'd never let me hear the end of it."
His mind frantically recalled a few moments ago. He had been offered a jacket, but feeling a need to show off he had declined, "he was used to the cold" being his main excuse. He felt his body shrivel up as he desperately tried to warm himself.
"It is what it is," he said to himself, "I'll wait a while before I go, I need to be mentally prepped."
"Cold weather we are having here ey," came a voice beside him.
He was a bit startled by the voice. It's not the fact that he hadn't noticed the man's approach, it's the fact that the man spoke English, a Canadian English accent. Then, he felt something hard probably metallic pocking at his back. The man leaned in closer to his right ear and whispered.
"Come with me boy, let's take a walk shall we mate?"
Adam sighed. He took one last glance at the falling snow and then followed the man walking beside him quietly. He was relieved, at least he wouldn't be battling the cold any time soon. Still . . .
"This is going to be one of those days huh," he thought, "I really wanna go home."
He was led to the parking lot where they were joined by two other men. He took a moment to scrutinize each of them. The Canadian man was fairly tall. From his huge jacket, anyone could tell he was well built, a wrestler's build perhaps. He had a black mavin but bangs of brown hair stuck from his Marvin slightly covering his eyes.
The other two were about an average height. One had a distinct whitish hair, the kind albinos have, and the other blond. Both had the physique of an average male nothing flashy, nothing imposing about them. All three had guns loaded, he could tell from how their jackets seemed to weigh on them.
"Is this the kid?" asked the albino hair guy.
"Blond hair, blue eyes, high schooler hard to miss. Not that many foreigners with that description. Ohh and look mates, the chap still in his uniform ey," said the Canadian.
"He seems too docile," commented the blond.
The Canadian who by now had been established to be their leader stepped forward. He held him by the hair and glared down at him. Adam looked up at him creating a a bit of tension. The man scanned the boy's face and frowned. He couldn't find what he was looking for.
"You look like a tough kid boy," he said, "but I need you to understand something lad, you might die tonight."
"Shinsuke Yatagawa," said Adam, "Tell me, is that the name of the man who sent you after me?"
"Hey hey hey," cut in the Albino, "we'll do the talking here, got it kid."
As he spoke, he took Adam by the shirt pushing him hard against a pillar. Adam looked at the man who was partly surprised. How could a boy so young have such a stiff body? For some reason he couldn't understand, every time he looked at the boy's eyes, his heart seemed to be startled.
"What are you?" the man found himself asking.
"Me, am just a hischooler,"
As he said that he grabbed the hand that held him and twisted it. Before he could react to the pain, he pushed the man back tilting him off balance then a swip. As the man fell he bashed his head against a pillar, hard enough to knock him out but not kill him. The other two were startled and quickly rushed for their guns.
The Canadian was fast. Adam ducked and went in for a tackle, but he had already fired. The sound of the shot was silent like a hammer driving nails through the sand. A silencer. He felt a sharp pain cut across his hand. Ignoring the pain, he twisted the hand holding the gun, disarming the man but before he could stand, there was a barrel of a gun on the back of his head.
"Don't move a muscle,"
"Tell you what," said Adam," I dare you to shoot, and when you do, you better not miss."
The two were surprised.
"I'll do a countdown for you," added Adam, "three . . . two . . ."
"You psycho . . ."
The monologue was cut short by the grunt of a man followed by a heavy fall. Adam looked at the three unconscious men. He sighed heavily and picked up his school bag.
"They weren't sent to kill me, just to scare me," he thought.
As he walked on, he felt a sharp pain in his arm. He looked at his arm and sighed. There was a numb feeling at his fingertips and a pulse of painful waves that ran from his hand to his body. The wound was deeper than he expected, but not something he could not bite through.
"At least now am glad for the cold, my arm should be completely numb for a while,"
But then, all his thoughts came tumbling down when up ahead, behind a young lady, stood Akira. An accusing look all over her face. His mind was quickly thrown into a frenzy, a myriad of excuses flooded his mind but none that could accurately satisfy the situation he was in.
What the hell was he doing at Miss Kitsune's place at that time of the night?
* * *
"Is this how I die?" thought Adam "If Akira knows, then Master Cain will surely find out, he will kill me for sure."
"Akira I can explain," Adam quickly said, "It's not what you think?"
"What did you do to Kitsune?" asked Akira her face full of rage.
"I . . . I . . . It's not my fault; you have to believe me. . . I only wanted to help,"
"You monster!" shouted Akira, "After all Cain has done for you after he spared your life? How could you betray him like this? And to think that Kitsune bargained for you!" Akira's voice was out of control.
Adam was dumbfounded when he saw the stream of tears on Akira's face. The severity of his transgression was indeed high. If it had come to a point where Akira shed tears, then surely, he deserved the coming wrath.
"Wait . . ." Kosuke spoke, "Judging by how you two are acting it may be that you're not on the same page."
Both looked at him with puzzled looks on their faces. He then turned to Adam, slightly amazed by how fluent his Japanese was.
"Blond boy, seems you got an injury from a fight, am I right?"
Adam nodded still not sure what the young man was getting to.
"Akira says Kitsune's in danger, did anything happen to Kitsune in that fight?"
"Wait Kitsune's in danger? What kind?"
Akira's eyes widened. She looked at the broken digits on her phone. The number was 21. . . 10.21 pm. She had wasted too much time. Akira dashed past Adam and into the apartment complex.
"Miss Akira wait!" Gebriel called out following her.
"What's going on?" asked Adam, "What's happening?"
"I don't know," Kosuke said dashing past him.
Adam still puzzled looked at the trio and then at Kitsune's window for a moment. He shrugged and followed the lot. As he ran through the corridors, he could see a flustered gateman looking at the elevator. It had just closed heading for floor 13.
"Daam!" he said and dashed for the stairs.
A premonition flooded Adam's mind. As he ran up the steps, he felt tired, unnaturally so. He noticed the wound on his arm was still dripping and the air in his lungs felt heavy. Why was he so tired, usually, a flight of stairs was a breeze for him, but as he looked up from the fourth floor, it seemed like an eternity, and he was already out of breath.
He ran past Kosuke on floor five who could only look on in shock. "What does that kid eat?" That was all Kosuke could think as he ran.
"Floor 6". A Japanese automated voice in the elevator spoke, the door opened, and a young lady stepped out. Akira felt a wave of panic as she looked at her phone. Gebriel patted her head, she calmed down a bit.
"Don't worry Miss Akira, all will be well," she said.
Just then a buzzing sound startled the duo. Gebriel frantically searched through her coat pockets and pulled out a smartphone.
"It's Lord Cain," she said tapping the receive button.
Akira snatched the phone from her answering it and immediately talking.
"Hello. . . Cain no time to explain, you need to save Kitsune now. You have to please . . . You have to if you ever want to see Rachel again!"
"Floor 13". Akira jumped out of the elevator Gebriel followed her. She ran straight for Kitsune's room almost bumping against a wall as she took a corner. She got to the door and immediately banged on it. The door was thick, a heavy cedar.
"Kitsune, Kitsune. . . It's Akira, open the door please,"
With no response, she twitched the lock violently hitting her shoulders against it, in her mind the only thing she could see was the counting of numbers. 18, 19, 20, 21, 22. . ..
"Allow me," came Adam's voice.
He briskly walked past her and held the doorknob. He then slammed his shoulder against the door tearing it from its hinges and opening the doors wide. No sooner was he inside than two deafening bangs filled their ears. The sound was sudden and frightful, leaving them in a mixture of fear and panic.
Then, through the door, right past Adam. Kitsune's body flew out, landing heavily outside. Her immaculate white shirt was soaked red with blood, a wound on her stomach that oozed blood in abundance. Her hair was in a mess but, there was no doubt about it, one of the shots had gone through her head.
Adam looked across the room. Standing before him was Shinsuke holding a pistol. The pistol dropped from his hand, and he fell on his knees. He clutches his head almost tearing out his hair, his eyes wide and tears streaming out.
"Kitsune . . ." Akira called trying to take a step forward.
Gebriel stepped in front of her embracing her, blocking her from the view. Akira felt her knees cave, and she and Gebriel knelt. As they did, a muffled painful cry escaped her lips. She screamed out.
* * *
At 10.23 pm, the last domino fell and Ohashi Kitsune died.