It's Sunday. The day where I go around Kyoto and go shopping. Well, I wouldn't say shopping. It's more like chatting with the store owners and buy one thing just to be nice. I let nice cold breeze of wind hit my face. Kyoto, the place where I was born and raised. In Kyoto you can meet a lot of cool people around here and there are a lot of tall buildings around here. I take in the view of all the scenery and start heading to my first stop, Kiya Pharmacy.
Murata Kiya, the owner of Kyotos most popular pharmacy. Me and him go way back. I remember when I was 6 when my dad first took me here. Kiya looked really scary back then, but I use to think that any old man was scary back then. He would babysit me whenever Father was out on his job, so I basically lived with him pretty much.
I soon arrive at the pharmacy. Despite its small size, theres a lot of stuff you can get here. It included the basic medicines that people would usually get, but it also had rare ones made by medic executioners that were really hard to come by.
"Yooooi, Daitan!" I turn my head to the eager voice in the distance. It's Kiya behind the cash register today? I wave to him and walk up to the register.
"What's up with you being at the register today?"
"Araka wasn't able to make it here today." Araka is the usual person at the cash register. She just had a kid a few days ago so that may be why shes busy. "More importantly, I heard from the DES that you're an illegal executioner. What's with that?" The tone shifts dramatically. I start sweating. Did they already find out who caused that power outage?
"What do you mean?" Play dumb, play dumb, play dumb.
"Daitan, don't play dumb with me. I have to stock up the executioners medicine that they make for us, they tell me everything."
"I did nothing bad, I swear!"
"I ain't gonna rat you out. Me and your father were childhood friends and me protecting his kids is one of my duties that I promised him after he died. I do it even if it means throwing away my morals."
"Actually?"
"Of course, bud. Now get out of here before the DES ends up spotting that uniform you got on."
It's dangerous with me being outside in the public now that I'm a wanted executioner, but I really wanna go to the gun store to see my classmate. Eh, I suppose it wouldn't hurt. It's right around the corner from the pharmacy, so it'll only take a couple of minutes.
Now that I know that I'm most likely going to be hunted down by the DES, I need to keep up a constant guard. I'm sure that their goal is to kill me, so I can't hesitate to fight back. What if I end up killing a DES executioner though? It'll be even worse…
I make it into the gun store and a girl with long blonde hair and brown eyes waves at me. Is my friend not here today?
"Uhh, who are you?"
"I told you I was going to dye my hair blonde! Does it look good?" The girl starts running her hands through her hair.
"Oh yeah, thats right. I totally forgot! But yeah, it looks decent."
"Decent? Ugh, should I go back to brown?"
"No, no, no don't worry! It's perfect okay?" The girl leans over the counter and hugs me. This is Mako. We've been friends since junior high. She's always been protective and caring for me after my father died. We use to hang out a lot after school, but now she has to run the gun store after school and on the weekends all day.
"You still haven't said happy birthday." CRAP! I totally forgot that it was her 18th birthday! I didn't even buy a present!
"I was getting to it, trust me."
"You're a big liar, Yuki!."
"Of course I'm not! Why would I lie like that?" I let out anxious laughter.
"Your voice gets shaky when you lie Yuki! Not like I care too much anyway." Mako pouts.
"I'm sorry, but this time I'll make su—" The loud ringing and rattling of the bells on the door interrupt me.
"Welcome to the Makammo gun store! How could I help you?"
"Mako," I say silently, "I have to go."
The man who entered the store puts his hand on my should and smiles. "Hey there, kid. Aren't you too young to be in a gun store?" He says in a soft tone.
"He wasn't purchasing anything, he's my boyfriend. He comes over here to talk to me on Sundays." BOYFRIEND!?
"I see. Kid, could you come with me? We need to talk about safety." I slowly turn to the man. It's the DES! The part that made me almost fall to my knees was what was on his badge. It read: DES RANK 2: MAYUMI MASASHI
He takes me to the parking lot behind the shop. "So, you were the one who caused the outage. What's your name?"
I struggle to let out any words. I'm shaking so much and I might just run off right now. Everything feels so cold and the mood is so somber.
Mayumi places his hand on my shoulder. "I see. I won't ask any questions, alright? I'm not here to hurt you. If anything, I want to hurt whoever put me up to this bs."
His reassuring words gave me the ability to finally speak. "Sorry if I caused trouble. I just wanted to do some good for you guys."
Mayumi burst out laughing. His laugh joyful laugh made me confused and I slowly stepped back. "Cmon! I know you're lying! You just don't wanna join the DES, and that's perfectly valid. Tell me the real reason why."
I take a deep breath. "I want to kill deceits until I find the one that killed my Father. The DES is the reason for his death! If only they didn't make him go out into that deadly swarm…" I hold back my emotions, not wanting to be too vulnerable around a DES member.
Mayumi's face hardens as he turns his head away from me. He mumbles something while staring at the parked cars before turning his attention back to me. "Are you an orphan as of now?"
"Uh… yeah?"
He seems to hesitate before asking me a vital question. "Would you like to stay with me and my girlfriend?"
Oh wow! That's a very batty request! Even if it is a crazy request, me and Mya could benefit heavily from this protection, but what if this is some sort of ploy? Better safe than sorry I guess. "Can I bring my sister along?"
"Sister? Of course. My girlfriend will be there all the time, so she'll be the one taking care of you two. If she makes bullshit rules, then don't blame me, hahaha!"
———————————
We arrived at their house and a woman ran down the stairs so fast that I don't even know if she teleported or not. She hugs me tightly. "Welcome back, Mayumi!"
"I'm not Mayumi! I'm Daitan!" She quickly lets go of me and hits me with a puzzled look. She started twirling her long orange hair with an embarrassed look. Mayumi laughs at her. He introduces me to her while also telling her my current situation.
"This kid is so badass! If Me and Mayumi had a kid, Mayumi would raise them to be respectful and not rebel like you!"
"Don't act like he wouldn't become a smoker because of you!"
"Smoking is reliving! They would totally need it!"
"Daitan, do you really agree with her?"
"You guys are gonna be terrible parents…" I said that out loud…
They both looked perplexed. Their moths were agape as they stared at me. Mayumi speaks. "He's probably right."
"Totally right."
I stir the conversation back to me and Mya. Fumiko agreed to go pick up Mya and let us bring all of our belongings here. There were two unused rooms that were available for us, so we'll be using them.
Me and Mya are moving things to the back of Fumiko's truck. While we were grabbing stuff out of our room, Mya asks me a question, "You sure you can trust them? We don't even know them."
"You'd rather be with suspicious people instead of wandering around here without any sort of protection? Besides, we all talked and they seem genuine. Take my word for it."
"Okay, bro." She didn't sound like she completely agreed, but I'm sure she'll get used to them overtime.
After what felt like hours, we finished clearing out the house and making our way back to our new residence. Fumiko pointed at the two rooms that were adjacent from each other, informing us to choose wisely. I agreed to take the smaller room to the left and Mya took the bigger one to the right.
What a Sunday. Today went completely off the rails. Living in the house of a DES member and his girlfriend was completely abstract to me, but now it's real, and I don't feel like it'll be that much of a challenge for me and my sister. As I lie on my mattress, I hear two people bickering in the hallway.
"God dammit! Can you stop smoking? I'm trying to take a quick nap before I unpack!"
"You'll live!"
"I won't live if you don't stop puffing clouds out of your ass!"
"What does that even mean!?"
I'll just leave them at it. I plop back onto my bed to get some rest before I also unpack. The comfy sheets make my consciousness slowly drift off elsewhere.
My eyes open. I'm greeted by a crimson sky without clouds and the comfort of peonies surrounding me. I slowly pick myself up off the ground.
"New Kami! Welcome!" A middle aged man with a kimono and a black haori waves at me with an ecstatic grin. "I am, Izanagi! This is your subconscious!"
Did I hear that right? "Izanagi? Subconscious?"
"Yeah! Are ya deaf or somethin' kid?" He smirks at me with wit.
"Whuh?"
He throws a red kimono and a black haori— the same outfit as him— at me. "Let me test your guts! Save the chatter for later!"