Requiem

Lifting the Veil of Truth

“Hello, Sage,” the boy called Akito greeted, taking a slice of the Hawaiian Delight pizza. He was building die towers with the smaller girl beside him, who I assumed to be Thalia.

“Hi.”

Akito chuckled in response to the monosyllabic answer, and took a bite of the pizza. Beside him, Thalia simply smiled meekly to acknowledge my presence, not saying a word. She was about the same height as K, except maybe on the very shy side. At least I meet someone halfway normal.

No, Sage, nobody plans a murder out loud. The best can hide it until it's too late. I took a slice of pizza for myself, cutting it with a fork and knife as I pondered. Then again, they could have simply disposed of me when the car hit... What happened? I was barely able to form coherent thoughts as Hizumi spoke again.

“How are you finding Rimona, Sage?”

I didn't know how to answer that question. K obviously enjoyed watching me squirm, because for once there was a darker twist to her charming smile. Fine would be the most expected and default answer, but expected doesn't always work out in anyone's favor.

“I think I saw a corpse.”

Thalia's mouth fell open, and she looked as if she were about to say something. She closed her mouth again, her gaze falling onto the die tower again as she added yet another dice to the top.

“One of things that looked like a hand down at the dump, huh?” K mused, resting her head against a fist. “I admit, that made me jump the first time too. But hey, what do you know? Just some old folk's plastic glove.” She gave a small laugh. “I guess I have to apologize too, Sage. I didn't mean to sneak up on you like that, I...”

Everything seemed to spin, sucking me into the vortex of self-doubt. A glove? Maybe the 'blood' wasn't actually blood either. Must've been ink or something; fuck me, right? So much for getting run over. A burn spread across my cheeks, and I cursed my jumping to conclusions.

“The whole hatchet thing was a prank, Sage. I was just kidding, I didn't know you saw something scary beforehand...” She twiddled her thumbs guiltily.

Hizumi rolled his eyes, reaching for another slice of pizza. Then, as he moved the crust, a small black envelope came into view. He turned to look at K, surprised, and there was a gasp. Pizza delivery guys don't usually put black envelopes under pizzas.

“Sage, we need to talk.” Akito stood up, pushing his makeshift chair backwards a bit as he did so. In the process of that, the die tower collapsed, small white cubes bouncing off the wooden floorboards. He didn't bother to pick them up. Turning towards the hall's exit, Akito beckoned for me to follow. Beside me, Thalia turned to me in horror, and Hizumi nodded from the other side of the table. I stood up, scurrying towards the glass doors after Akito. He held them open and ushered me outside, taking me by the upper arm and leading me into an elevator.

What was just happening? I couldn't comprehend the situation at all. That was one huge reaction for a small, unexpected envelope. The back of my neck burned with anticipation, and my hands closed into fists. Yes, Akito. We need to talk. The elevator reached the ground floor a silent minute later, and Akito led me out of the building. The street was quiet and rather run-down, the lone lamppost looming high overhead as if to mourn the atmosphere. We stood underneath it, sandwiched between an unmoving car and a mailbox. The driver exited the vehicle, catching my attention as she opened the backseat door.

“What is it that you wanted to talk about, Akito?” Or are we meant to wait until the car left first? I found myself wondering out loud.

The answer was brought in front of me at the blink of an eye.

I was shoved into the car, stumbling forward at the loss of balance and crashing inside with the lack of other options. By then the driver had gotten back into the front seat, the ignition sparked and the engine ready to roll. She hit the gas pedal, and the vehicle lurched forward.

“...”

“Always know how to pick 'em up,” she commented. “Smooth as hell.”

Akito laughed in response to this, nudging me with an elbow. I let out a sharp yelp as he hit something beneath the bandages that probably wasn't meant to be hit, and Akito flustered in response.

“Holy crap, I'm so sorry!” It sounded sincere.

“Used to it,” I muttered.

“Anyhow, I wasn't lying when I said we needed to talk, you know.”

“...” I didn't care anymore. Wherever I went and whatever I did, I would end up dead sooner or later. The heart would stop beating, and the mind would shut down. That was the ultimate end for everyone, was it not? Suppose I longed desperately not to die — What could I accomplish here by staying alive? The thoughts dispersed through my gritted teeth in the form of a groan.

“Sage? It's kind of awkward talking to a nonrespondent dummy...” Akito sighed, feigning irritation. “I was saying, Mika and I are investigating Hizumi and those people. We think that they might have, or know something to do with Anneke's case.”

“Oh, goody!” I exclaimed, with a heavier tone of sarcasm than I had intended. I cringed at myself, feeling my cheeks light up in embarrassment. “I'm not the only one who sees K as potentially homicidal, then?”

“...” Akito didn't respond, probably on the brink of seeing me as insane myself. That's not completely wrong, is it? “It's more to do with the black envelope,” he finally said. “People have been receiving it at random times and occasions since the day you arrived. You saw one for yourself, in the pizza box. Inside is what looks like hate mail, the type that screws with everyone's mind. Curses, threats and death, that's what was mentioned. Some students think that you're behind it, Sage. That's why Hizumi allowed me to kidnap you, to put it like that. You see... They think you're the one with Anneke's curse.”

“...” Guess that means it will take me a while to live down the reputation of a cursed child, then. “Anneke's curse?”

In the darkness, Akito smiled sardonically. “A girl called Anneke committed suicide near the trash dump three years ago, but they never found the body. She never left a suicide note, and therefore a lot of people were blamed for her death. You got into a fight with Anneke, and she killed herself. You bullied her once, so you killed her, that sort of thing. Now, what looks like her suicide note has emerged, claiming that a bodies will appear. They think your arrival made the note surface."

I tried to take in all the information as the car turned across the darkened streets, but nothing seemed to click in my head.

"Anneke's already dead. Why are they still so worried about the so-called suicide note, and the bodies? They must know it's a hoax, Akito."

"Not if someone wanted to avenge Anneke."

"They used a lot of cold reading and scared everyone shitless, too," Mika added as she put the car on reverse.

I sighed, leaning against the seat and staring out the window. I couldn't make out anything, much less where we were — Everything seemed dark and the naked lightbulbs hanging from trees failed to illuminate the place. “So where are we now? Am I going to get publicly beheaded or something?” 

 Akito shook his head and replied, “We're back at the trash dump."