Flight of Cendrillon

Chapter 6: Surging Emotion

Luka kept her pace behind the doctor. Blending into crowds and shadows was exceptionally easy for someone like herself. Gakupo walked with a slow pace, far too absorbed in the thoughts of the day they'd shared for him to even think of himself as being stalked.

She kept her fingers on the throwing knives in her shirt. When he caught up with Rin, she'd throw just two – one for each.

That would be all she would need.

Then she could move on. She needed to move on.

She recognized the boarding house he was approaching – she'd passed it on her way into the district. Before he got inside, fortunately, Rin hobbled outside on her crutch. "You made it back! I didn't want to start dinner without you..."

She saw his head raise up and it was as if just the sight of the girl forced him to hold his emotions in check again while a smile spread along his face.

"Oh, you didn't have to do something like that! It's not very healthy to wait so long to eat!"

"Yea, but after today... you probably could use a warm meal more than the cold one."

"Ah now, it wasn't so bad! I had a lovely companion after all."

Luka slipped into a better position to make sure her two throwing knives would land on the first throw.

"Oh, Leia... right? You aren't crazy enough to hit on a nurse are you?!"

Gakupo laughed nervously, rubbing the side of his face. "N-now Rin, why would you think I would..."

"Just tell me the color of her eyes already."

He released a long sigh. "Blue, glowing like the midday sky... with the depths of a thousand years!"

Her hands were shaking again... she'd let the day's events rattle her too much. She had a job, she had a task, she was an instrument... she couldn't accept just letting them go!

"So, any sign of that brother of yours? Len?"

Rin leaned on her crutch. "Nothing. I hope he's still here..."

"Now now, you can't lose hope! Look, if Leia comes back tomorrow, maybe you can spend more time on the search!"

"The hospital won't miss me?"

He clapped her shoulders. "Rin... it's not that saving lives is meaningless but... you've been separated for far too long. You have to take this chance to get your old life back. You can come back to nursing when you're done. All right?"

'Of... of course... I can't kill them yet... because...'

Luka slipped the knives back into her coat as her targets entered the boarding house for the night. '...because they're going to lead me to Len Kagamine. And he will lead me to the Prince.'

How thoughtful of her to hold back on killing them for now – letting them live would only make things easier.

And when she killed the Prince...

... she could finally lay the remnants of the past to rest in the ashes.

The door slammed behind Len as he entered the shack again, clutching a checkered bandana in his hand. The radio was blaring out a news report on the bombing.

"-50 confirmed casualties so far, with 15 fatalities! Blood and smoke in the sky! Thanks to the quick work of local medical personnel, far less of the children passed on in the aftermath, but there were many dead from the initial blast!"