it was black ◎ psycho pass

~Chapter 37~

what a roller coaster ride

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"Why does everything have to end badly?" I whispered, crouching by the doorway. I sat there for a few minutes, taking deep breaths, trying to stem the drops of tears. Suddenly, the hiccups stopped.

"Actually, everything doesn't end badly." My mouth moved on its own. "In fact, why do we classify things as 'ending badly' anyway?"

I slapped my hand over my mouth and viciously scrubbed my eyes. At this point my conscience seemed to return:

~CC (Conscience Conversation)~

oh fantastic, you've snapped again!

Describing the passing of the psychological barrier of safe thinking as 'snapping' doesn't seem like an appropriate word.

Great~ Now I have a smart sarcastic Zara!

Technically, you are my conscience, so you are Zara as well.

Stop. Akane's going to come back any minute, and YOU'LL be the one who looks like a crazy person.

Don't people already think I'm crazy?

What?

Everyone knows. But who's to say what is normal in this world? I could be the normal one.

Can't you stop? I'm the annoying one in this relationship!

What relationship?

If I could hit you, I would.

It's fortunate that you can't.

Because my conscience had disappeared from my area of thought, I scanned the area for any signs of Akane. Amongst the grey buildings and deserted streets, she was running towards me with an expression of fear. I hope she is alright.

"Run Zara! Run!" She shouted towards me in an aggressive manner. I watched as a group of people (predominately men, but the leader was a woman with a black hair and green eyes) made their way around the corner with dominators. Ah yes, they're the dominator pirates that I encountered on the bus!

"What are you doing?" Akane shouted, waiting for me. I stretched my lips and began jogging along with her down the pavement, Akane looking at me with a confused expression. "I know you can run faster than that! Come on! They mean to kill you this time!"

Kill me? Oh.

"That's a shame, I really wanted to become friends with them." I answered back sarcastically. I stopped and held my ribcage, which was already hurting. Why did I have to run? Running could kill you... too much of it anyway. Too much of anything could kill you.

"What's into you?" Akane stared gobsmacked.

"What's wrong with you?" I cooly answered back. "You're the one who slapped me."

Akane declined to answer my query and instead looked behind her. In one quick movement, she picked me up and swung me over her shoulder. I gasped softly, spotting the Pirates that were starting to aim their dominators at me. Luckily, they were complete imbeciles and couldn't aim. I was more surprised that Akane could carry me and still run, but I didn't question it. Stretching on Akane's back, I tried to make myself comfortable. Suddenly, a thought came into mind.

"Why do you think we're running?"

"What... are you... talking about Zara?! You know why-" Akane wheezed.

"To talk, why do we need to talk?"

"Because..."

"Because. Why that word?"

I have so many questions, but none can be answered- because I am surrounded by imbeciles. My questions went on for a while, before I stopped to let Akane breathe.

"You're strong." I bounced on Akane's back. "You certainly used your strength when you slapped me."

She bit her tongue, pausing to take breath.

"I didn't want to! I just- GAH!"

The Pirates were now running along side us and I waved. Their faces were moulded into scowls, dominators dropped on the floor long ago. They must've been too heavy to run with. Imbeciles.

"Hi again~" I waved at the leader, who growled. "It's nice to see you, how are you?"

Somebody tried to grab me, but I pushed them away so they landed on the floor and rolled.

"Sorry." I said after them. I hope that male is okay, he might break a rib on that lamppost.

The leader panted a bit before answering, managing to keep up.

"Why are you so different from last time?"

I nodded thoughtfully.

"I passed the psychological barrier of safe thinking into the sad 'version'. Therefore, I am sad." I smirked. "At this point you would normally ask how the other person is?"

The leader gave me a 'what?!' look before blurting out the question.

"I'm okay, but I don't think Akane is." I replied nonchalantly, observing both struggling with their running.

Akane shouted into thin air in frustration. "I meant that I didn't want to slap you, but-"

"Don't worry Akane. I know at this time in your life you might feel uncomfortable with your body." I tried to rest my hand on my shoulder. Does another person need my counselling?

"Zara, I think-"

I encouraged Akane, patting her back. "Akane, I'm always here if you want to talk."

"Can you just-"

"We all feel like we need to slap somebody don't we?" I sarcastically directed towards the leader.

"What??" The leader was in disbelief.

"Do you need somebody to talk to? Do you want me to start a support group?" I carried on. The leader didn't reply, but panted and pushed on.

"The Sibyl Support Group has been formed~"

As I looked at the buildings around me, I recognised some of the buildings and tried to to turn around to Akane.

"Turn right here, don't question me." I whispered as best as I could. Most of the Pirates had passed out from exhaustion by now and I could see them dotted along the road ahead of me. "You probably need to check up on your minions over there." My hand pointed behind her. The leader spun her head around for a moment, cursing silently. In that moment I pushed her shoulders so she fell backwards and onto the floor.

"Haha." My monotone voice mocked her. "Bye bye." I waved. She grew smaller and smaller as we ran away, disappearing from sight. Akane came to a stop.

I rolled over and looked at the sky, completely still. The clouds were fluffy. They floated fluffily through the sky. In the corner of the sky, there was a building. You couldn't really describe it as a building, it was more of a hollow, charred shell that held dust and broken furniture.

It was shorter than most of the buildings, but had a electric fence around it that had a 'Danger!' sign multiple times along it. There was a 89% chance somebody would enter anyway. Out of one of the gaping holes, you could spot a black painting. It used to be a nice painting.

"What is this?" She breathed, straightening her skirt.

"My old house."

~END~