A Red Spider Lily - A lovely crimson, with a dangerous core. With a poisonous bulb, the flower also symbolizes death. It was her favorite. There was a time she told Uyama about this flower, how much she loved it- its uniqueness and grace. But also of a folk legend, saying that if you lay eyes on someone you may never see again, the red Spider Lily will bloom between the both of you. There must've been another reason she told him this. Maybe she knew they were blooming at the time, so that's where she decided to say goodbye. Maybe it was so he could lean in one last time and embrace him- at least one more time. She wasn't around to answer his questions.
The warm spring breeze blew as the three came to the graveyard. "Omega—word of advice—every time you visit someone at their grave, you gotta make sure you come with something. For Uyama, it's flowers." Enjō pointed at the flower in Uyama's hand. "Speaking of, what's today's flower?" Omega looked at the graveyard with an agape mouth. The grass grew lushly here. There were mementos of all sorts on each grave, standing out brightly among the rest of the city. "This place is..." Omega began. "Beautiful, huh?" Uyama looked down and inspected the flower in his hand," This is the red spider lily - lycoris radiata. Her favorite." Enjō smiled softly as he tapped Omega's shoulders for him to stop. "Is this it?", Omega stopped as Uyama walked towards the grave and placed the flower down in front of the headstone. "Should we say something?" Omega whispered beside Enjō. "If you can't think of anything, it's best to say nothing at all," Enjō replied.
Uyama wiped the top of the headstone and then sat down in front of it. Enjō looked around for somewhere to sit and found a bench not too far away. Tapping on Omega's shoulders he whispers, "Let's leave these two alone for a moment." They walked off quietly and Uyama stayed, sitting down in front of her. "I'm sorry I couldn't be here sooner. There's been so much going on recently. It should be a good thing, though. It's what you would've wanted for me." Uyama shifted on the grass bed, "You're magical to me. Whenever I lay a foot on this grass, I feel like I'm in my 20s again," He chuckled softly. "I got you your favorite flowers again, to make up for missing you last time. I remember the last time I saw your face. I never did want to board that plane. I wanted to stay with you, to watch the chaos with our blind civvy eyes. But that's all in the past now. When I came back on the very same field -but with a completely different man-, I saw this very same flower. Right in between the grass and concrete. It was right below where we said goodbye."
"This place is so..." Omega looked around in wonder,"...different." Enjō looked down at his feet," Yeah, it's the only place here with fresh air. Kinda ironic, huh?"
"It's more than that, I think." Omega looked at Enjō, "I know I haven't seen much of this place yet, let alone the world outside, but there's something special about this place." Enjō fiddled with a blade of grass," My dad wouldn't hang out with me much. If we were together, he'd be on my ass talking about "life lessons". Didn't believe him 'til he brought me to see my mom. At a place just like this. The town I used to live in was almost like this one: quiet, but loud, packed, but felt so empty. This was the one place I felt the most..." He thought for a moment,"...how do I put it? Connected to all of life?" Omega snickered," I never knew you could sound philosophical." He scoffed in response," I'm not stupid you know. Anyway, my dad told me that graveyards are the only places left in the world that show any sign of humanity."
"Humanity? In a place with dead people?" Omega furrowed his brow. "Ironic, but yeah man. I mean look at it!"He waved his hand across the field," Compared to the rest of the city, it's real colorful." Omega leaned back on the bench.
Uyama coughed softly into this forearm sleeve. "That was when I knew you knew about the world better than me. Even a person like me, who almost knew it all!" He dropped down onto the grass bed, "There were so many times that I felt more than human, but at the same time, less. You really did outsmart me. You make me feel human."
———
"Who are they all to define humanity? They—they who have thrown away their humanity to fainéant and rudimentary feelings such as hate, greed, and bigotry. They have no right to define what is human. Do you know what I think? We are all the same. "Omega", "Theta", "Lambda", or "Zeta". Those words mean nothing to me. The pressure that comes from these titles are what limit some of us, and uplift some of us. If there is any time to be united, it is now! We cannot watch as our people are tormented by their own race!" The television cut off.
"He makes quite the point, don't you think?" Steele put the phone up to his ear. "Yes. He sure does. Why does it matter to me?" A voice spoke back.
"Because he's returning to Abadd to run his political campaign."
There was a moment of silence, "Returning? What's his name?"
"Izaak Mandel."
Again, a moment of silence. "What is my little brother planning to do?" Her voice sounded blank.
" I'm quite surprised, Sheba. To think you wouldn't remember your own brother's voice."
"Like you have any right to say that. I haven't seen him in 10 years."
"Well, he's returning to his motherland after going on his lavish journey across the world. Izaak has become quite popular—no, not popular. Famous is more like it. I'm guessing the reason you never heard of his campaign is because of censorship."
"Don't talk about that on the line." She sounded annoyed, having to repeat herself.
"The only reason I haven't been able to intervene is because it would seem radical. I mean, think about it. A chief executive of some company wants to seek reforms in Abadd. Although I may be the most influential person in the world, I can't involve myself in national politics outside of Shacia." He sighed, laying his head on his hand.
"I won't need your help anyway, Steele. This works fine for me. If Izaak fails in Abadd, then I'll know what to do." Her confidence was like music to Steele's ears.
"I like to hear that, Sheba. But I don't think he'd fail, his ideals are so strong, after all. So strong that even I feel inspired. Especially after this new "Omega".
"What does that mean?" She sounded annoyed.
"It means I'm going to help achieve his goal!" He stretched his limbs out like a star on the couch.
"You're eccentric." Sheba hung up the call and put her phone on the table. She walked into the kitchen of her house to eat lunch. She ignored the people sitting down in the living room and grabbed a plate of her food. "What are you even going to that grievance thing for?" Sheba's father exclaimed. She ignored his question, "Izaak is coming home to run for president."
"Oh, well that's great. He best not show his face around here, though." Her mother shouted from the living room.
"There isn't room for him to stay here anyway. I'm not staying here any longer either. I'm cutting my visit short." Sheba proceeded to finish her food and as she turned to leave, her mother shouted, "I thought you said you weren't like him! That you wouldn't just go away on some "heroic mission" that you know won't work."
"I said that when I was 15. I'm 26 now. Plus, I only said that to please you." Sheba countered without facing her mother. She scoffed- but didn't persist to make Sheba stay.
Sheba went to her parent's room and searched through the cabinet. After a couple of minutes of searching, the door slammed open. "What the hell are you doing?!" Her father was already red in the face and pumped his skinny arms. "Looking for Izaak's old phone number. Maybe, he didn't change it when he went abroad," Sheba calmly replied as she continued to search through the cabinet. Her father ran up to her, "Thieving liar!" As he moved closer, he felt himself bump headfirst into some wall and fell. Found it, she thought to herself as she closed the cabinet and walked towards the door.
Her father got up from behind her and blocked the door. His face contorted in anger, but also fear. Sheba continued to walk to the door, almost ignoring his presence blocking it. He felt himself get pushed against the door until the door creaked and burst open, causing him to tumble backward. Sheba looked down at him and analyzed his expression, his loose t-shirt, dirty jeans, and messy hair. That was when she knew she couldn't ignore them anymore.
"I've had enough of you all's particularly wrinkled skin." Her father looked back up at her, sweat running down his neck, and fear in his eyes, "You have no power to change anything, so you think your kids can't either. When in fact, it's parents like you who drain the will of rebellion from their soul." She shoved her finger into his revealed neck, the sharpness of her nails digging into his skin, leaving a droplet of blood trickling down his neck. "You could have stopped the cycle, but you didn't. So I've decided it'll be me who finally puts their foot down in this lost place." Sheba walked off, grabbed a suitcase of her belongings, and walked out of the house, slamming the door behind her.