The irritated businessman put his ear against the wall. The walls in this place were quite thin so it was possible to hear people speaking in the rooms next to you if you listened carefully. He was originally supposed to stay in this cheap motel for just a day or two but due to incompetence from above his business trip had been needlessly extended and it had now been a week since he first arrived here. Not having much to do originally he opted to just enjoy the city for the first few days, but after a while that got boring and that's how we ended up in this strange situation. Really, creeping on strangers in a motel was one of the lowest things one could do, however his boredom got the better of him and the otherwise strict businessman now found himself eavesdropping on strangers due to a lack of anything better to do. Being bored is truly one of the most dangerous things an upstanding citizen of society could be.
From the other side he could hear a female voice, she sounded to be somewhere in her early 20s and she spoke with a cheerful, careless even, tone of voice. “I don't get it, people eat stuff all the time but when I do it it's suddenly wrong?” There was a hint of confusion mixed in there as well, like she really didn't know what she had done wrong. A heavy sigh could be heard in response to this, apparently whoever she spoke to had to deal with stuff like this on the usual. It was not long until the voice of a guy in his late teens could be heard in response “Well yes, but don't you think there's a slight difference in their choice of food and yours?” A short pause ensued like whoever he spoke to was thinking for a moment before the female voice responded. “You have known me for quite some time now, you know that I'm anything but a picky eater.”
It seemed like food was the subject of their discussion, the businessman considered himself sort of a gourmet, despite that he was forced to eat the terrible food they served at his motel. After he was done staying at this place he was originally supposed to move on to another hotel in the same city, it being a proper five-star hotel and all. He could thank his boss for that since he was the one to plan this entire trip, the man's incompetence was what caused all of this. It really was that old man's fault, instead of his own, that he was now eavesdropping on strangers in a motel. The neatly clad man removed his ear from the wall and sat down on a nearby sofa. He picked up a magazine with various pictures of motorcars on it and began reading.
He could still faintly hear the conversation from the other room but since he wasn't actively listening anymore he couldn't make out any actual words. The man now regretted not bringing any sort of pornography with him, although he was married he believed it to be a decent way to pass the time when he had nothing else to do. The businessman checked his watch as he had an important meeting in two hours. That was two hours that he needed to fill with, well, something.
Oda was once again walking over that damned bridge, just a few hours earlier a police officer had knocked on his door and told him that they wanted to speak with him at the station. Luckily enough, they hadn't given him a set date or time and were fine with him just coming in when it suited him within the next few days. It had been a little embarrassing speaking to that uniformed officer in front of Alice, but she didn't seem to mind it. Not wanting to delay the inevitable, he told Alice that he was going to be back in a few hours and with that he had departed from the small apartment. Now he was walking just a few dozen meters away from a place where a massacre had taken place just a week prior, yet the countless cars that crossed this bridge didn't seem to mind it, either that or they were blissfully unaware of the cold truth that rested underneath its concrete pillars. Oda had once heard details of a special flower that would bloom in ground that had been soaked with blood. He wondered if that flower would bloom under this bridge as well in the future, although he did doubt its existence since he had never seen a picture or drawing of it.
After about an hour he finally arrived at the police station, the tired receptionist would look at Oda before telling the young man to sit down. The reception had a few couches in it for visitors and there was even a table with some magazines on it. He mindlessly picked up a magazine Before flipping through it and putting it back down again. The police officer had assured Oda that he wasn't under investigation for any crime and that they just wanted to talk a bit more about what had happened under that bridge that day. The young man leaned back on the couch and closed his eyes, he just wanted to get over this as fast as possible so he could move on with his life. He didn’t understand why they were doing this, he had told them all he knew yet they still persisted. Perhaps they were simply so lost for clues that they had no choice but to hope Oda would churn out something useful.
After about 5 minutes of waiting he heard his name being called out by a stern voice and as he opened his eyes he could see an older policeman in front of him. His physique appeared to be some mix of muscular and overweight and he appeared to be in his late 40s. The policeman led Oda to a room in the back of the building where another, much leaner police officer was waiting. The room was small, consisting of a table with three chairs around it and a small bookshelf. There was a singular lamp in the room, shining bright light directly down on the three of them.
As he sat down, Oda was offered a cup of coffee as a sign of good will. He politely refused it, wanting to just get this over with. The questions they gave him were ordinary at first, where he had been that day, what first drew him to the scene, and so on. Eventually the question started to approach uncomfortable subjects and it became clear from the way that he squirmed in his chair that Oda didn't want to be here anymore. One of the policemen took out a syringe and placed it on the table, according to him it had been found by the forensics team at the scene of the crime. What they were implying was clear, they thought that Oda had gone there that day for another cheap thrill. The young man gritted his teeth as the officers came with more and more accusations, yet none of them ever claimed that he had been involved with murder.
Halfway through the interrogation he asked if he could go outside and take a smoke, the two policemen looked at each other with worried glances before telling him that it was okay. Well outside he took a cigarette and put it to his lips, not wasting a single second before lighting it. Although he knew perfectly well that this was nothing but a momentary respite, the sense of calm that the smoke filled him with was enough to put his mind at ease for the moment. Eventually the leaner police officer came out and asked if he could join him. Reluctantly, he accepted, thinking that this was an attempt at playing good cop, bad cop. “Man I have really been thinking about quitting these last few days, the whole town is watching us and wants answers. But what am I supposed to say? That these people were killed by someone who might as well be a ghost?” The man lit his cigarette and took a deep breath before exhaling, causing a cloud of smoke to hang in the air before him for a few seconds before it dissipated.
“For some reason, since I have a good track record, the higher up thinks that I can solve anything.” The man would sigh before taking another breath of nicotine filled air and exhaling. He seemed tired, most likely he hadn't gotten much sleep since the incident. In a way Oda was happy that he wasn't in that position, the job market was harsh in this country and people committing suicide due to workplace stress was not unheard of. So far Oda hadn't said anything and it became clear that this conversation was one sided to the policeman. He dropped his cigarette on the ground before stomping on it. “Sorry if I started venting out of nowhere. Now then what do you say, should we just get this over with?” The young man reluctantly nodded his head in response. He put out his cigarette before heading into the cold concrete building that was this town's police station. Since the town owed much of its later development to a government project, buildings like this one weren't uncommon throughout the town.
After maybe 20 more minutes Oda was finally allowed to go home, he breathed a sigh of relief as he exited the building for what would hopefully be the last time. He checked the time on his cellphone and it displayed three o'clock, far too early for people to be going home from work. As such when Oda walked the streets of Pandemonium, there were few people that greeted his eyes. The policemen had promised that this was going to be the last time they reached out to Oda but somehow he had the feeling that wouldn't be the case. Eventually he arrived at his apartment and unlocked the door, at the same time he would make his presence known to Alice by announcing that he had arrived by loudly shouting “I’m back.”
On his way home Oda would have taken the opportunity to drop by the grocery store and managed to get two cartons of milk and some cigarettes. He immediately went to the kitchen to put the milk in the refrigerator, after which he opened the sole window and leaned outside. Ever since Alice moved in, Oda had begun to smoke outside his windows like this. She had unpacked her stuff in his living room which was where she was sleeping, Oda would have offered her to sleep in the bed while he himself would take the couch but in all honesty given the sorry state of his sleeping quarter it was probably better if she stayed away from it. Even though he wanted to buy her something sweet he needed to save every penny.
As he peered out from his window, he could see an old guy walking his dog. After a moment the tiny creature lifted its leg and began pissing on the metal leg of a park bench, Oda made a mental note to avoid that bench in the future.
Normally in these establishments there would be a phone leading down to the reception area, using it one could order food, drinks or other types of refreshments to their room. However this place was so cheap that not even that was possible and the bored businessman was disappointed over the fact that he couldn’t abuse it. If he could have decided his entire room would be filled with all manners of food, ranging from pancakes with maple syrup to ice cream and even expensive steaks. He leaned further back into the sofa to the point where it felt like it could almost swallow him whole. The man reached into a bag that lay next to him and drew a pack of cigarettes from it. Although the rules of this establishment banned smoking in the rooms, he knew that he would be able to get away with it and simply didn't care to follow them.
A sudden wave of curiosity washed over him as the businessman remembered the conversation that he had eavesdropped on earlier, he wanted to know what they were talking about now or if they were even talking at all. As such he once again put his ear to the thin wall and listened, almost immediately he could hear words that eventually formed sentences coming from the other side. “But don't you agree that someone like a rich banker or businessman would deserve it more than the homeless?” The emotion that could be heard from those words seemed to belong to someone fresh out of high school. Whatever the young man on the other side of the wall was talking about, he sounded like he was really passionate about it. “Deserve? I don't get it at the end of the day they both still taste the same.” The same female voice that he had heard before responded, from the small snippets that he was able to hear, the businessman assumed that the topic of their conversation was that of morals.
The man himself had always considered himself to be a philosopher of sorts, someone who pondered the meaning of life and what was right and what was wrong, although to his great frustration he hadn't been able to make any solid conclusions from all this thinking. Suddenly a loud crunch could be heard from the other side before the male voiced his protest “Hey, those apples were expensive, if you are going to eat them try and enjoy it a little would you?” There was about two or three seconds of crunching before the female voice responded to him. “But I am enjoying them!” she cried out in protest “Why are you always so mean to me?” She continued in a voice that seemed to be on the verge to tears. In response to this the man would almost immediately try and comfort her, Stating generic remarks of how he didn't actually mean it. After this had gone on for maybe a minute the female would speak up in a cheerful tone “Just kidding! Bleh!”.
The last thing that the businessmen could hear as he removed his ear from the wall was a heavy sigh. Perhaps they were a young couple, although their demeanor was more similar to that of siblings, friends then perhaps since they both had distinct ways of speaking.
The young woman allowed her hand to grace against the countless books that lined the bookshelves as she moved, it was their first time seeing this many books in the same place. There must have been hundreds if not thousands of books in this building, for most people a library was part of everyday life but for Violet it was something extraordinary. She remembered the books she used to have back at the mansion, even all of them combined were little more than a drop in the ocean that this library housed. Eventually her hand would bump into an familiar book, the original version of it was printed in the early 1600s and only a few copies were ever made of it at the time, one of which ended up in her parents private collection back home.
What she was now touching was little more than a reprint made mere years ago, the book having gained much attention during the last few years. Just thinking about how much her original copy must be worth by now made Violet shiver. She took out the book from the shelf and looked at it. On its cover there was a drawing of a knight and some windmills. She recalled from memory that no such drawing was on the original cover, instead that had only displayed fonted text. She carefully held the book in her hand, not wanting to accidentally drop it, opened it, flipped through a few pages and found it proper to put it back where it belonged.
This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
After looking through the bookshelves some more, Violet eventually found a book that managed to catch your interest. As she flipped through the first few pages she could see that it had been printed just three years ago, in 1996. After walking back and forth for a while she managed to find a table in one of the large building corners, the black haired girl had a hard time interacting with other people and the mere thought of speaking to someone made her anxious, yet there existed exceptions like the man she loved. As she advanced from word to word she found that the book was actually quite anything but a page turner, although she liked its original concept, mere humans given the arrows of angels that could either control someone's heart or outright stop it. But as the book went on she became bored with how repetitive it was and after a mere two hours she put this back where she found it. Now looking for something else to read she would stalk the halls of the pristine building until another book would manage to catch her interest.
As she rounded a nearby corner, she came upon a small cafeteria where one could enjoy various sweets as they were reading. Violet would never dare to do something like that, what if she accidentally got some on the precious books that she was reading? Yet a girl with bright red and pink hair, far too outstanding for Violet to ever feel comfortable wearing a similar style, seemed to be perfectly fine with a few crumbs nestling themselves between the pages of the book she was reading. As she watched a girl Violet could feel a sort of rage well up inside her, this great place allowed them to read as many books as they wanted for free and this was how she repaid her kindness, by dirtying the books? She imagined herself going over there and giving the girl a stern talking to; however, this never moved on from being anything but a fantasy inside her head.
She glared at the girl angrily for a few moments before she looked up from the book she was reading in and met her glance, this caused Violet to immediately retreat back among the bookshelves. The library was built in such a way that it was possible to see the large clock that was mounted on the ceiling regardless of where you were within the building. The man that Violet loved had promised to meet her here at a quarter past four, looking up at the clock she could see that it was not long until he would arrive here. The thought of meeting that man again, the man that had shown her this entire world, filled Violet with excitement. She randomly picked a book from one of the bookshelves before sitting down in a chair that was located not far from the building's entrance. She planned on personally greeting her savior the moment he entered this building.
As to not look suspicious, Violet began reading the book she had randomly picked. It was a book about the various types of flowers that one could expect to encounter in different biomes, back at her mansion Violet had spent a terrific amount of time in its garden, as such she was quite knowledgeable about the different types of plants and flowers that existed. Therefore there was little in this book that Violet didn't already know and she began to aimlessly flip through the pages, simply looking at images for several minutes. Eventually a silk smooth voice called out to her from behind it was gentle and calm at the same time like it was talking to someone about to drift asleep. “I hope that I didn't keep you waiting.” Violet would immediately recognize who that voice belonged to, turning her head around, she was met with a sight that couldn't do anything but fill her with joy.
For behind her stood the most beautiful man she had ever laid eyes upon in her life, his light blonde hair, golden eyes and soft white skin melted together to form a visage that was more similar to that of an angel than a human being. The innocent smile that rested on his face could disarm even the most bloodthirsty of warriors and the formal white suit that he wore gave off an aura of elegance. For a moment he took his eyes off Violet to adjust one of the golden buttons that adored it before returning his gaze to her almost immediately after. “Oh no don't worry about it, There are plenty of books here that I can read…” A high pitched “Eeep!” Would escape from her lips as Violet realized how what she said could be interpreted as. “Not that I would prefer reading over being with you in a thousand years!” As she said that Violet would use the book she was reading to hide the obvious blush on her face from the blonde man.
“I heard that this library had a cafeteria with really good food, do you think that we should go and take a look?” His voice held no hint of uncertainty, this was what Violet liked so much about him and although the prospect of seeing that strange girl with multicolored hair again made her uneasy she didn't want to seem obtuse and simply nodded her head.
Now the businessman really did believe he was done eavesdropping on others, but these last few sentences were just so interesting that he couldn't be compelled to stop his immoral act in a hundred years. The first one to speak up as the businessman put his ear against the wall was the male voice, “Yes, but everyone is talking about the mess you made…” Putting a special connotation on the word ‘everyone’, a small giggle could be heard in response before the female spoke up herself “You know that I can't stop myself once I get started-” he almost immediately responded to this “But can't you at least try and clean it up a little?” from his tone of voice it became obvious that he was disappointed in the female’s behavior. “Ah, I'm sorry I'll try to think about it more in the future.” and “Well, it's a little late now when the entire damn city is looking for you.” was the last two sentences he heard before the two voices fell silent. He pressed his ear harder against the wall in hopes of hearing any little minute detail, yet all that met him was silence. Just as the businessman was about to remove his ear from the wall he could hear someone speak from the other side.
It was the younger female voice that spoke out first, seemingly inquiring her companion about his advice. “In that case what would you have me do with our little guest here?” From the way she spoke it seemed like there was a third person in the room somehow, yet the uptight businessman couldn't remember hearing a third voice from the other side, this did confuse him a little but eventually his mind settled on the solution that the third person had simply opted to remain silent. “Beats me, if you want to eat them then go right ahead, they sure deserve it more than those poor homeless schmucks.” What a peculiar way of wording things, if someone else were listening in to this then perhaps their first thoughts would be that of cannibalism. But the eavesdropping man was a rational human being and as such dozens of different possibilities filled his mind, but he was soon pulled from his theory making as the bright female voice spoke out for the last time “In that case, I'll go right ahead!”
The man had no idea what those words were supposed to mean until he saw two slender, tanned arms appear on both his sides, seemingly phasing through the wall like they belonged to a ghost. He Didn't have much time to think about what he saw, however, as a terrible crunching sound filled the room for a second before it went quiet.
Jonathan looked at the beverage in front of him, its yellowish color reminded him of what they served back home. The bald man would sigh, this was supposed to be a relaxing vacation but it didn't feel that way in the slightest. With every sip Jonathan felt more and more like a sad alcoholic drinking his problems away. Perhaps that was what all vacations were, an excuse to drown yourself in booze and escape from your sorrows. Regardless, the man took the third drink that he had ordered this night and put it to his mouth once again. He had long since grown accustomed to its bitter taste and it was the only liquid that he drank more of than water. The young bartender looked at him for a moment, perhaps hoping that he would order something, but when he saw that Jonathan's glass wasn't even half empty he soon diverted his attention to other customers. The relaxed bar had slow jazz music playing from a set of speakers mounted above the bar, the red and black tapestry along with the dark wood that covered the walls of this room made it easy to relax for anyone but him.
Jonathan sighed, and like a spell a younger man with white long hair and lean appearance sat down next to him. “I assume that this chair is empty?” In comparison to Jonathan's bulky and muscular physique he was like a matchstick that could be crushed in an instant. Instead of answering his question Jonathan would simply tell the man to go ahead, since he didn't care if the man sat down next to him or not. It became clear that he was no good at hiding the pain that he carried because almost immediately the white haired fella would offer to buy him a drink. “Thanks but I will have to decline.” Jonathan had more than enough money already, still he liked the strangers kindness and as such asked for his name. “Mifuyu, although my friends call me Mii. ” Jonathan would introduce himself as well after shortly apologizing for not doing that first. Not having anything better to do he would ask the young guy if he was interested in hearing a story from Jonathan's past. “I would be delighted.” was the short yet clear answer that Jonathan received.
As he began telling his story it became obvious that Jonathan was not a native speaker of Japanese if his western appearance didn't make that clear already. Perhaps it would have been better to tell all this to a therapist, but Jonathan was drunk and he felt like he needed to vent to somebody, this white haired Japanese man just happened to be in the right place at the right time. The story he told was one from the war in Vietnam, thirty years ago. At that time Jonathan himself had barely been twenty years old, not much younger than the man that was now sitting next to him. He explained that during the first few months everything had been going smoothly, there had been daily exercises that were only marginally harder than those he had performed back in America, he had been assigned as watchout for the first few weeks. Eventually a new recruit took his position and he was able to enjoy some luxury time with his squadmates instead, usually they would just play cards and partake in some banter, but on rare occasions someone had managed to smuggle alcoholic substances into the camp which they greatly appreciated.
Eventually their squad was assigned a mission, it wasn't really anything fancy, they would assist a translator as he tried to bribe some of the local civilians with various goods and boons in return for their help. The boys saw it more as a field trip than an actual mission into enemy territory, and who could have blamed them for through their entire training they hadn't seen a single drop of blood. They arrived at the village and everything seemed to go smoothly, and although you would never know with those damn vietnamese, it seemed like they were about to accept the offer. That was until someone realized it was an ambush, about half a dozen men with machine guns appeared from inside a nearby building and began shooting. The Americans were seven in total including the translator, two of which couldn't make it to cover in time, Jonathan remarked that he could still remember their screams to this day. What really traumatized him, however, was what came after. He had separated from the group and jumped into a nearby wooden building to escape their gunfire, inside he saw a mother with two children at the side, she was clearly pregnant and looked at him in horror.
It was not long until bullets began ripping through the thin walls of the small house, none of the attackers outside wanted to risk going inside and getting shot therefore they simply bombarded the building with shells until they were certain that the man inside was dead. Being a soldier, Jonathan had immediately thrown himself to the floor as he entered the building, but the Vietnamese family inside wasn't that wise and they were blown apart by the bullets as a result. Jonathan could do nothing but watch as the mother and her children were transformed into bloody carcasses right before his eyes, he wanted to look away but he found himself unable to, strangely entranced by the horrifying scene. It was not long until Jonathan was shaken back to reality as he could hear his allies returning fire to the attackers, after a moment he had managed to gather himself and stormed out of the building to help them. They were eventually able to drive off the attackers but three of the seven men died that day. Yet this was just the beginning of Jonathan's three years in Vietnam.
As Jonathan told his story Mifuyu wouldn't make a single sound, at the end all he would offer was an understanding nod. “War is a terrible thing, I myself was once a warrior.” For some reason Jonathan severely doubted that the man next to him had ever seen any real combat, he just seemed far too young and easy going for that. Not at all like the battle hardened man that Jonathan was. Perhaps he had participated in this country's basic military training and thought of himself as an expert on warfare as a result. Despite his rather drunk state Jonathan was not interested in continuing this conversation any longer and as such only gave him a barebone response “Yeah…” It seemed that the younger man had picked up on his intentions as well and they continued drinking in silence for a while before Jonathan got up and left.
The sound of soft fabric brushing against the cozy exterior of a sofa could be heard, the young man's company had planted a bug in the sofa. That was the reality of corporate espionage in today's day and age. There was little the higher ups would not have them do to be just one step ahead of the competition, and if that meant rigging a hotel room to invade on someone's privacy then so be it. Alas, their effort had been wasted when it became apparent that one of the higher ups at the company that they were spying on had messed up, now all they had was this worthless bug that did little but compromise the privacy of some poor random schmucks. Just as he was about to cut the connection, however, a sound of metal rustling against metal could be heard from the other side. Intrigued by this strange noise, the operator decided to keep the link alive for a few more moments.
“How did you get in here?” The voice that spoke seemed to belong to a middle aged man, maybe somewhere in his mid 40s, there was a brief pause before he continued speaking “Well it doesn't matter. Did you come here for any particular reason? I assume you're not here because you enjoy my company.” A slight giggle could be heard before a female voice responded, it was the same female voice that could have been heard in a motel not far from here earlier that day. “Well I have been doing a lot of thinking lately, and so I wondered what makes someone a good person.” The man remained silent for a moment, as if he was pondering what to say to the woman, in the end it was not long until he spoke up. “The hallmarks of a good person, diligence, truth and most importantly justice. In my opinion, someone who goes through with what they have decided to do is good while someone who doesn't is evil. Someone who lies is also evil and so is someone who refuses to punish injustice wherever they might find it.” The voice remained quiet for another moment, as if he was pondering what to say once again. “Although good and evil are complex issues, I myself do not fully understand them.”
“Someone who goes through with what they have decided to do?” The way the female voice spoke those words was similar to how one would say them for the first time, almost like she was tasting them. A moment of silence ensued, then another, the man listening to the conversation almost began thinking that they had stopped speaking until he could hear that voice once again. “I see, you know the moment that I decided to eat everyone in that place there was someone missing. But thanks to you I now know what to do. Really, you are a lifesaver!” Was the last words that could be heard from the eternally cheerful voice before light footsteps could be heard through the bug, and then the sound of a door opening and closing. From the looks of it whoever that was had decided to leave the room on their own. Thinking that nothing more would be sad, the man was about to close the connection until he could hear the male voice speak up one last time.
“I'll get her, just a few more weeks then I'll get her for sure.” After those words, all was silent.