They are dead…
These words kept echoing in Natsuki’s mind. Her parents were dead. They are not coming back. Forever…
***
The mayor was furious. He ordered the police to search for the murderer in every nook and corner of the village. The boundaries of
After those three days, the mayor held a meeting at Ninken Hall. That night, the hall was filled with villagers of Ninken. Some of them were curious about the case, some were just busybodies, and only wanted to listen to the latest news, some were worried, some just went there because the mayor ordered them to.
‘Who do you think is the murderer?’
‘Dunno, some outsider I guess. Nobody in Ninken knew the Irazumi family, nor held some grudge against them.’
‘Do you think the murderer had escape?’
‘Of course. Which murderer would be dumb enough to stay here?’
‘Where is Natalie, or Nutty, whatever her name is, staying?’
‘Well, the Sabers invited her to stay with them temporarily. But it seemed that she rejected the invitation.’
The villagers were discussing about this case. Apparently, this was the hottest news in
The hall was drowned by the sounds of villagers chit-chatting in groups and exclaiming in loud voices when they heard about some unconfirmed news about the murder. Nobody seemed to pay attention to the two important figures standing on the stage. Mr. Tunnel called them to lower their voices, but they just wouldn’t lower their voices, instead, it got louder and louder, until…
‘SILENCE!’ roared the mayor. That worked. Now everyone was paying their fullest attention to the mayor in silence.
The mayor cleared his throat, then spoke in a clear voice, ‘As you see, the Irazumi moved to our humble village a few days ago. Not long after, they were murdered. It was a tragedy. The murderer is nowhere to be found. But I believe that one day, the long arm of law would catch him. But this is not what we would be discussing today.’
‘We gathered here to discuss about the Irazumi’s only daughter. As you can see, she is now an orphan, with no relatives that we possibly knew.’ said Mr. Tunnel, in a strict voice, ‘Besides that,
‘That is why we want to get suggestions about what we could do to help her.’ continued Mr. Tunnel.
‘Are there any suggestions?’ rang the mayor’s voice.
The crowd fell into discussion. Finally, a fist was seen among the sea of heads.
‘What is your suggestion, Adam?’ asked the mayor.
‘We could take the girl in.’ suggested Adam, ‘The Saber family would treat her as a part of our clan.’
There were discussions again. The Saber family is famous for becoming the first to volunteer to help in any given situation. This was no exception. Then, another fist was seen in the sea of heads, this made the crowd became quiet.
‘I think that the Saber had too much things on their hands. They already volunteered to guard the boundaries of Ninken, and helped with the Irazumi funeral. We should let the other villagers to take care of the girl.’ said Sushi Uomaru, the owner of the Sushi Restaurant in
‘Well then, who should be this kind person then?’ asked the mayor. No one raised up their hand.
‘Nobody?’ asked the mayor, and looked disappointed. Then, some miracle happened, and the mayor’s lips curved upwards, someone raised up his hand just at the back of the hall.
‘I could take care of Natsuki.’ said the young man who just raised his hand. He wore sunglasses even though the moon was hanging on the sky.
There were whispers among the crowd. The young man too, just moved to
‘But you are still young. Are you capable of taking care of the girl? Why don’t you let me…’ asked Adam who was doubtful of that man’s capabilities.
‘I assure you that I would take good care of her.’ assured that young man, ‘and treat her like my sister.’
***
There was a funeral the next day, and Natsuki’s parents were cremated. That was the last time she would ever see their peaceful face, as if they fell into an eternal slumber.
Natsuki was staring into space the whole time the funeral was held. She tried to remember what actually happened the night before the funeral, but all she remembered was a flash of light.
Natsuki walked robotically back home, closed the door, and sat there, tears were rolling down her cheeks.
Why? Why did they leave me alone? Why must they die? Why…
Someone knocked the door, and Natsuki was pulled back to Earth. Natsuki quickly rubbed away her tears and opened the door. Standing in front of her, was a man with cat ears protruding out from his cap. He seemed to resemble Tsi Inn a lot, especially with his olive green eyes.
‘Good morning, Irazumi. May I enter?’ asked the mayor politely. Natsuki was surprised, but nodded and invited him inside. A young man with sunglasses followed, Natsuki recognized him immediately, he was the “good-for-nothing thief” she saw before her parents were murdered. What is he doing here?
Natsuki invited the mayor and the young man to sit down, and poured a glass of water, for the mayor. She then sat down opposite them, while looking daggers at the young man, who seemed to ignore her.
‘Irazumi, I know that this is a hard time for you.’ said the mayor, ‘but the dead could not be revived.’
‘Yeah, I know.’
‘Do you have any relatives?’
‘No.’
‘As the mayor of Ninken Village, I could not bear to see you all alone here, with no ways of taking care of yourself.’ said the mayor, ‘thus, we held a meeting yesterday, and concluded that you need a guardian.’
Natsuki sensed danger coming ahead, and hoped that he wouldn’t be saying what she expected him to say next.
‘This young man would be your guardian.’ Oh great…This is not happening…
‘Nice to meet you. My name is Kishirou.’ greeted Kishirou, he held his hand out. But Natsuki did not shake it.
‘Well, Kishirou. I would leave her to you.’ said the mayor, and he left the house, leaving Natsuki and Kishirou alone.
‘I see that you aren’t happy. And it definitely has nothing to do with your parents death.’ said Kishirou. Natsuki opened her mouth to voice out her dissatisfaction, but Kishirou continued, ‘You could tell me during dinner.’
The food that Kishirou ordered during dinner in Sushi Restaurant is not food that a normal human being could afford. Even Mr. Sushi was surprised, yet he conjured the food for them. Natsuki felt uncomfortable, she felt that everyone was staring at them, or their food.
Abalone, shark’s fin, and anything you ever dreamt of eating, was present on the table. All Natsuki did was stare, with bulging eyes. All Kishirou did was eat, with satisfaction. It took Natsuki a while to digest what was in front of her.
After dinner, Kishirou spoke, ‘I am really kind to adopt you as my sister.’
‘Yeah right.’ muttered Natsuki. Kishirou raised an eyebrow, Natsuki forced a smile to indicate that she did not say anything.
‘I heard that your parents lived like nomads, but I don’t. So we will stay in Ninken Village.’ continued Kishirou, ‘Do you have anything to say?’
‘Yes, four days ago, I saw you down the street.’ said Natsuki furiously, ‘and you were holding an old man upside down, shaking him vigorously…’
‘Wait a minute, I did not shake him vigorously…’
‘Whatever. You took his possessions that fell out of his pockets!’ Natsuki stood up shouted, everyone stared at them.
Kishirou held a deep breath, then spoke, ‘You misunderstood what happened.’
‘Then what happened?’ demanded Natsuki.
‘That so-called old man, is a thief, and he had stolen this,’ Kishirou held out a necklace. It had a golden chain, and a green pendant, with a yellow gem which looked like an eye. It looked so much like the necklace Natsuki’s parents gave her.
‘Where did you get that pendant?’ asked Natsuki.
Kishirou ignored her question, and changed the subject, ‘To be my sister, you have to follow three rules.’
‘There are rules to be a sister?’ exclaimed Natsuki, but Kishirou ignored her once more.
‘Number one, I would appreciate it if you called me “brother”.’ said Kishirou, ‘Next, I will accompany you to school, and back home, or wherever you go, except at home. Unless you are accompanied by your friends.’
‘Not again!’ groaned Natsuki, ‘Why must everyone do that?’
‘Not everyone, only your parents and
This third rule seemed to call upon Natsuki’s wrath.
‘Why couldn’t I! They are murdered and the murderer was not caught! I can’t let father and mother die like that!’ shouted Natsuki. The people in the restaurant stared at the pair, including Sushi, who was taking orders from a lady opposite them.
‘Natsuki, taking revenge on the murderer could not revive your parents.’ said Kishirou calmly. He stared straight into Natsuki’s light orange eyes.
‘Why? Is it because that murderer is your friend?’ said Natsuki without much thought. And then, she ran away, out from the restaurant. Kishirou was surprised, he quickly settled the bill and ran after her.
Natsuki ran back into the woods, back to her home. She was not aware of a shadow tailing her. The shadow raised his hand, and was going to clench it into a fist when he was being pushed onto a tree trunk, his throat was being constricted, but not tightly, just enough for him to breath.
‘Hello, long time no see, old friend?’ greeted the “shadow”. He had blue, wavy hair and blue-green eyes.
‘It was you, Hoi Fong. You killed Uncle and Aunt, didn’t you?’ questioned Kishirou.
‘Well, I have to carry out his orders, you know. If not, he’d punished me severely.’ Fong smiled forcefully. ‘But my mission’s accomplished.’
