The red tunnel led handsome Naz and Rose into a dark room. The deeper they plunged into the darkness, the more impenetrable it became. Loud romantic music drowned out their steps, and they could not hear that they were not alone in the room. Big Jim walked a little behind, biding his time to strike Rose with his blade.
Maybe now? Or now? Or give her the opportunity to complete the game? No, she's already lived longer than she should have.
Big Jim pulls out his blade and... parries a slashing blow from the other blade. The green-eyed shinigami pushes the angel of death aside and stands up, blocking his path to Rose, who sinks deeper into darkness and disappears from view.
The red glow at the far end of the room attracts Rose and Naz like the moths are attracted to light. Naz walks towards it and smiles, anticipating his victory. He knows that in such darkness Rose cannot see his smile, and he knows that there is no other way to leave the room than to fulfill the requirement of the game. Handsome Naz didn't see Rose either, but he felt a woman's footsteps next to him.
A captivating glow emanated from the luminous figure of kissing lovers. Cute statuette. And below was the inscription: "Love takes you through a dark world and guides you into the light."
Everything is clear, in order for the doors to open, you need to kiss. There must be infrared sensors installed here. But Naz was not interested in the technical side of the issue, he was only interested in the long-awaited kiss for which he had come all this way. She will be mine!
She won't be yours! At the other end of the dark room, Tim fights Big Jim, trying to end the duel as quickly as possible. But it doesn't come out. Faster, faster, otherwise Rose... otherwise Naz... otherwise he'll steal the kiss...
Naz reached out and touched a soft female hand, gently took it and pulled to him.
No! No! Strike! Hit! Parry! Come on...
Naz gently wraps his other hand around her neck and leans in for a kiss...
No! CLASH! Tim repels the attack and for the third time in a day pins Jim to the floor, and hits him on the head with a sword with the words: "Sayonara, Jim-san!"
Yes! Finally, all opponents are defeated. Tim runs into the darkness, but the bright light coming from the opened door blinds him. Oh no! This means the game is over. It means that...
A woman's silhouette appears in the doorway, Tim looks up and recognizes it as Rose. It's Rose, at the door. Alone... But then who?
Away from Rose, nearby the luminous figures of lovers, the man and the woman were passionately kissing. Their eyes are closed and they pay no attention to the bright beams of light rushing in from the door where Rose came out. Naz opens his eyes and is horrified to realize that it wasn't Rose, who was next to him all this time. The Baroque woman smiles, stroking his strong arms. His strong, shining in the rays of light, biceps.
* * *
The joint evening of four Parisians ended surprisingly quickly after close encounters of the third kind between the handsome Naz and his fateful mistress from the Baroque era.
Rose said goodbye to her friends and took a walk through the winding streets of evening Paris. It ended up being a good evening. Her mood has risen. Yesterday's incident was forgotten, and the bump on the head from the blow with the mirror no longer hurt.
A pleasant breeze reminded her of the painting, the green-eyed man and her favorite landscape. It must be magical there right now.
She saw them again – those sad, but so dearly beloved green eyes. The image of a mysterious guy in black now clearly appeared in her imagination. She saw the glow of his eyes against the starry sky above the city of love.
The owner of the roof was absent, he must have been walking somewhere with his kitties. Rose sat down in her usual place and looked again to where she first felt a strange but pleasant feeling of bonding... looked to where those green eyes first appeared to her. She couldn't see them, but he really was sitting there, looking at her just as tenderly. She reached out again, almost touching his face as if she could. And he again lightly blew on her hand, coolly enveloping every curve of the young artist with a soft wind. Her bronze hair played in time with his breathing.
The shinigami's gaze moved gently from her fingertips, over smooth girlish skin, to seductively looking thin collarbones, and climbed up her neck to slightly parted lips, a neat nose and mesmerizing eyes.
Aw! Her eyes... Aw! His eyes...
It seemed as if they would sit forever under the sunset rays of the city of love. It probably would have been so, but the lingering voice of the owner of the roof dispelled their daydreams and warned of impending danger. However, it was already too late, they were already here.
There are only two things that shinigami fear: the Great and Powerful Chef de mort and the angels of death in red. The first was feared, simply because little was known about him, and what was known was frightening. And the second was feared, because meeting with them did not bode well.
Three shinigami in red surrounded Timothy and Rose. He had never seen these three girls before, but the reputation got ahead of them. Tim knew that he was facing an elite squad of Bouchers, liquidator-shinigami hunting down delinquent shinigami like himself. And the most terrible liquidators, butchers, everyone considered these three deadly ladies: Carolina, Madame Jeanette and Viper.
If he was a kitten, they would be lionesses in their prime. So, you get the idea. He didn't stand a chance, even if there was only one of them in front of him. And there were three of them. Three adult lionesses against a small kitten and Rose.
Timothy looked at each. The warriors in red only silently let him know that this was the end. Caroline jumped down to his roof. The red boots silently moved towards the green-eyed shinigami. Tim looked at Rose again, he tried to memorize her the way she was now.
Carolina reached for her sword, but at that moment a gray cat jumped out in front of her and hissed. The shinigami in red jumped back. You can not touch other creatures, except for those on the black lists.
"Oh! It's you? What happened?" Rose scared and saw a familiar cat that hissed into the void. "Who are you hissing at?"
The other shinigami liquidators were about to attack, but more cats appeared from all sides on the roof. Feline army surrounded Rose and Tim.
"How many of you are here? What's happened?"
The cats didn't let the deadly ladies get any closer, but Viper's weapon transformed into chain-linked blades similar to a kusarigama. The cats hissed. Rose was scared.
"What? Why you are angry? Should I get off the roof?"
Rose tried to move towards the exit, but the cats wouldn't let her in. They hissed. They began to drive her in the other direction, further along the roof to the adjoining ones, clearing the way from the girls in red.
"What's happened? You're scaring me?"
The cats were looking not at Rose, but somewhere to the void, and she realized that they were hissing at someone else. She looked at her old friend, the gray cat.
"So you really saved me back then? Do you feel something? I shouldn't go there, but... Should I run?"
The gray cat looks at her. Yes!
A cool wind blows in the direction that the cats point. Rose runs across the uneven rooftops of Paris, accompanied by dozens of stray cats. Tim runs after her.
Ahead is a descent, a staircase. A little more, but...
Madame Jeanette unleashes a strong crosswind that knocks Rose off her feet, she rolls down the slope to the edge of the roof. Timothy grabs her hand – but the shinigami is not able to influence the physical world – and he, holding her hand, rolls down into the abyss with her. Rose tries to scream, but either fear or the sudden acceleration from free fall compresses the air in her chest, making it impossible to squeeze out a single sound.
I always wanted to fly – the last thing she thought. Too bad it didn't work out...
With every second, the headwind squeezed every cell of the body more and more, or maybe it was the fear of approaching death, squeezing her in his arms.
No! Yet the last thing she thought of was her painting, which she had not had time to complete, and those green eyes.
"... It's impossible to learn, impossible to train. But there is one thing... Only one thing is able to awaken this ability..."
Tim grabbed Rose and...
The air in chest stopped squeezing. The body relaxed. It suddenly became so quiet and calm. Rose opened her eyes. She flew. She flew over the city, moving away from the roof with cats, moving away from the noise of the city, moving away from the bustle of the world. The green-eyed shinigami held her in his arms and flew with his beloved. And the gray cat contentedly blinked at them.
Over the city of love, in the setting sun, two lovers flew. The girl – Rose. And Shinigami – Timothy. She did not see him, but she felt his airy embrace, thin breathing and green eyes.