The Rising Sun Saga

63. Spin the Web, Lock the Prey

With her head down, Anari kept to those shadowy pockets, stepping out onto the illuminated sand only when it was necessary.

It would be impossible for you or me to tell, Dear Traveler, but the longer Anari walked, the more her guard dropped. Hardly anyone wandered this far along the shore.

And so, lost in the rhythm of her own steps, the spider's thoughts wandered.

Too soon, Dear Traveler. Too soon.

Anari stepped out under a beam of light without dampening her stride.

That's when she saw a spirit staring out at the water. The evening breeze caught in the wrinkles of his cheap lemon lime jacket.

He was in half darkness while Anari stood frozen under the artificial light.

The spirit turned his head, his mouth glowing behind a very tiny torch.

Sun Ritsu blinked through a cartoonish line of smoke and whispered the impossible.

"Anari?"

The spider was too fast for that. She had already dashed out of sight. Though she didn't get far.

With her back to the pillars, Anari edged deeper and deeper into the blind spots while Ritsu fruitlessly checked under the patch of light where he could have sworn he saw her.

Finally, Dear Traveler, the sun clone gave up. He stomped out his cigarette and took one last look at the bridge overhead.

"It's cold tonight."

Anari was still watching, Dear Traveler. Whether Ritsu knew that or not, she did not know.

She simply held her breath while he removed his wrinkled jacket. Then he folded it and laid it in the sand right under the beam of light.

Ritsu stood up straight and stared down at the lemon lime windbreaker. Based on the rise of his shoulders, it seemed as if he was about to say something. Then the sun clone thought better and shook the notion from his head.

He lit another cigarette and went away.

When his footsteps could no longer be heard, Anari carefully approached the pile of clothes. She took off her leather jacket and tied it around her waist before replacing it with Ritsu's windbreaker.

The spider sat down in the sand, soaking in the feeling of her hero's warmth all around her. She breathed in his scent. It was like he was holding her.

Anari closed her eyes and sat with the feeling a little longer. She found it both painful and comforting.

That's when a new sense began to creep its way into the spider's little world of missed chances and suppressed emotions.

Anari stood up. It had been some time since she had a tail.

No matter. She would simply employ the network of webs she had installed along the underside of the bridge.

As soon as Anari prepared to spring, sparks exploded in her periphery. The spider backflipped into the shadows, flexing her fingers to draw out her silk.

Whoever her pursuer was, they happened to be just as acrobatic. They danced into the shadows with her, firing out some kind of solid extension. Anari was able to block, but not without detonating another star bomb.

The attacker managed to get the spider in a convincing headlock, but that was a mistake. When you have the shadows on your side, the last thing you want to do is let your opponent get a sense of your build and stamina levels.

Anari was used to tight holds and she used this one to assess exactly how strong and capable this spirit was.

Then she flexed her wrists, engaging her silk to draw her ankles up to the sky.