Kasai pulls the car to a stop under a red light. The driver behind her honks at her for driving so slow but she doesn't care. The slower she drives, the better. The slower she drives, the longer her parents get to live. The slower she drives, the longer she has before she has to take another's life. The red light turns green. Slowly, Kasai presses her foot on the accelerator. Her knuckles are bone white from how hard she's gripping the steering wheel.
"We're going to be cutting the power in the block." Emu talks to her from the passenger seat. "The security cameras won't be able to see anything but neither will you. You'll have to go in blind. Can you handle it?"
"I think I can." Kasai sighs. She's thankful for the small mercy of not having to look her parents in the eye as she kills them. "How am I going to clean up afterwards?"
"Leave that to us."
"Alright. If you say so." Kasai raps her fingers against the steering wheel. She's sweating. Why is she sweating? She turns up the A/C in the car but that doesn't help. If anything, it just makes her feel like what little warmth she has left in her is leaving her body. Then, she notices a streetlight in the distance go out. Then another. And another. Like dominoes, they die one by one, the darkness overtaking the light.
"Turn out your headlights."
Kasai quickly turns her beams off.
"Take out your gun. Keep your finger off the trigger. It's loaded."
She reaches into her pocket and her fingers brush against something rough and grainy. The gun's handle. Careful to not touch the trigger, she picks up the weapon and fumbles around with it until she's pretty sure she's holding it correctly.
"Good. Exit the car and head into the closest alleyway. What you choose to do here is up to you."
Kasai steps out of her car, using the pull of gravity to figure out where the dubious floor is. It's so dark she can hardly see her own hand in front of her face. The soft moonlight is the only thing that separates the alleyway's darkness from its surroundings. Kasai slowly creeps into the black obelisk-like opening.
The way she thinks about it, there's two ways to go about this. She can either play this passively and wait for her parents to come to her, or she can play this aggressively and come to the targets. One way or the other, the tiniest amount of strategy is enough to distract her from the fact that she's about to take a human life. Thinking about it some more, she'd rather get this over with as fast as possible– rip the bandage off before her spirit has the chance to waver.
Kasai barely manages to hear a pair of footsteps coming towards her.
It's not personal.
The footsteps are so close. She raises her gun.
It's just business.
She takes a deep breath and then dives into an ocean of blood.
BANG.
The first shot goes wild, but the muzzle flash paints the alleyway in a mural of light and shadow. It's only an instant, but she sees her parents' faces– painted with horror.
BANG. BANG.
The second and third shots bury themselves in her father's head and stomach, killing him nearly instantly. She sees the light leave his eyes as the light from the muzzle flash fades. A gut-wrenching scream bursts from her mother's mouth.
BANG.
The fourth shot buries itself in her mom's stomach.
BANG. BANG. CLICK– CLICK– CLICK– CLICK– CLICK– CLICK–
Kasai fills her mother's body with lead. It's the least she can do for the woman who raised her. Who lifted her up when she was a toddler. Who cheered her up when she fell off her bike. Who always provided. That's all she can do. Ensure she has a swift death.
Little by little, light begins to seep into the alleyway, the streetlights coming back on one at a time. Kasai tosses the gun to the side. She tries to walk but it feels like her head's been detached from her body so she stumbles out to the side of the road where Emu waits for her. "I did it."
"Congratulations."
"I… I did it." Kasai collapses.
Kasai lunges at Emu, gripping the fabric of her collar as tightly as she can. She opens her mouth. A scream that feels like she's vomiting out all of her internal organs erupts. Tears begin to stream down her cheek. She looks up at the night sky, as if the moon or stars might offer some kind of salvation. "Did– Did I do the right thing, Emu?"
"Of course not." Emu states it bluntly.
"Huh?"
"You had the option to turn away at any moment. You even saw their faces the moment you fired the first shot. You could have stopped there." Emu's voice sounds like it's somewhere far away– buried under the horizon. "You idiot."
"What… what are you saying?"
"I'm saying that you just did something irredeemable. You just killed your parents."
"What are you talking about?! This whole operation was your idea!"
"True. But you were the one who listened to me. Did you forget? I'm the Awano Head. It's in my blood to manipulate people into doing things they hate. But you listened. You actually listened. And for that, I thank you. I've never met anyone so willing to do what I say. So eager to earn my praise."
"But–"
Emu reaches down and wipes Kasai's tears "I lied to you. You're not a dog, not really. You're more like… a toy. A pretty little toy. That's what I love about you. You listen. You really listen. You take what I say and make it a part of you. It's cute. You're cute. I love that about you."
Kasai collapses onto her knees. This whole thing is her fault. 'Her fault'. The words echo in her mind over and over. "...What am I going to say to Yuki?"
"You don't have to say anything." Emu turns away from Kasai. "Disappear. Your sister doesn't need someone like you anymore."
"..." Kasai wipes her tears on her sleeve but they don't stop flowing. At last, she's come face-to-face with her own nature. What she was seeing before was nothing more than a reflection– a deception she created to keep herself from finding out the truth behind who Kasai Ryusei really is. The part of her that killed her parents in cold blood. That is her true nature. She really is just a toy.
"Don't worry. You'll always have a place in the Awano Family." Emu places her hand on Kasai's shoulder. "If no one else will take you. We will."
"Mama… Papa… Forgive me."
She offers a prayer to the night sky.
"Forgive me…"
But the stars are silent.
"Anyway, let's go. Your master wants to play dress-up."
"Happy Birthday, Kasai."
Emu sets a boxed cake on the ground while Kasai stares at her old home through a pair of binoculars. It's an antiquated building, filled with wooden floors and sliding doors. Yuki's opened the kitchen window to let out the smell of her cooking. Kasai wishes she could be close enough to smell it herself. Yuki's cooking enough for two again today.
"Give it up already." Kasai isn't sure if she's talking to herself or to Yuki. It's almost been seven months since she disappeared and still, Yuki cooks for two.
"You should take your own advice." Emu crosses her arms. "There's nothing left for you here."
"I know that…" Kasai grips the binoculars tightly. "I know that already."
"Then why are you still here?"
"Because I'm a hopeless person." Twisted beyond belief and yet, still wishing for redemption. Perhaps it's human nature to desire what you've lost. Or perhaps it's just Kasai's nature to want what she doesn't deserve. She doesn't know. Still she continues to desire, still she continues to want, still she continues to long. Not just for her own sake, but for Yuki's too.
"What do I do, Emu?" Kasai frowns ever so slightly.
"I don't know." Emu sighs. "Kasai, Listen… I've been sitting on this info for a while now, but your sister, Yuki, she's joined the ICMG."
"I know."
"It's only a matter of time before they lead her to you."
"I know that already."
"Are you ready to face her once that happens?"
"I don't know."
In the distance, in an old house, masked by the whistling of a boiling pot of curry, there are sobs.