Marionette

Cosmos, Chapter Forty Eight - O wakare no tegami [お別れの手紙]

As far as Amaya knew, day one of the Culture Festival ended with what was a fair share of profit considering that they were at a satellite campus in the mountains. While three thousand odd yen was undoubtedly her own contribution on the behalf of her siblings who were so excited they wound up ordering, it was still a good turnout.

While Isshin had called her back and informed her that they would come visit on Sunday with a few additional others, it was a prospect she was comfortable with.

While Amaya had decided that she wanted to know absolutely nothing about what was going on with Nagisa's change of wardrobe and his companion, that didn't mean that she didn't happen to see quite a few of her classmates hovering around the two like pests, or hear about bits and pieces of it from spectating. During the whole event, Reiko was giving a wonderfully painful commentary on the events, since she happened to be able to watch the whole thing without being obvious, no matter how many times Amaya pleaded her not to.

However, just as Reiko had come to mention that Karma had wandered over to cause mischief as well, the sudden presence of multiple forms in the area had rerouted Amaya's attention within a heartbeat. A man with a sniping rifle came walking out of the forest with a green pheasant he'd undoubtedly just killed, followed by a looming, frightening looking man less than a minute later.

The scent of blood and gunpowder began to fill the area, and far faster than Amaya could comprehend, many people of frightening appearances came up the mountain trail one after the other. She didn't recognize a single one of these people, but it didn't take her long to realize exactly what they were, and who had invited them.

It was one of the instances that Amaya had been terrified of seeing come to life ever since the incident with the reaper occurred, and she knew it the very instance she had caught a glimpse of her classmates taking down the orders with no qualms or concern about the firearms, or the bloodlust that permeated the air.

'Change of plans.' Amaya spoke as she lifted herself out of the chair as calmly as she could, earning curious looks from both Reiko and Yuta. 'Time to go.'

What?' Samuel squeaked out as he looked back at his unfinished meal. 'But we're still eating!'

'Now.' Amaya reaffirmed.

'I want to finish--'

'Don't argue with her.' Yuta cut in quickly, though he kept his tone quiet as he and his twin quickly pocketed their belongings and got to their feet. 'If she says it in that tone, do as she says.'

'What's wro--' Reiko had begun, though she quickly silenced herself at the look Amaya shot her.

Now wasn't the time.

Even as Amaya quickly lifted an upset, but thankfully compliant Samuel from his chair and proceeded to lead the way towards the back trail down the mountainside, she could feel gazes falling upon her and her siblings, more with every passing second.

She grit her teeth as she tried to keep as straight an expression across her face as she could, hoisting Samuel up a bit higher against her side.

'Amaya-san!' Somebody called out to her, though she didn't slow in her steps. 'Amaya-san, please wait!'

She could hear their footsteps closing the distance quickly, and the slight tug of the back of her jumper by Reiko was enough to bring her to slow to a halt with a frown.

There, she saw that it was Isogai who had come chasing after her, who was still clad in his apron, and his outdoor shoes were tugged on rather haphazardly, undoubtedly in his haste to catch her before she got too far.