Besides the rowdy nature of the card game played with Teru and Chinami, the mansion had been eerily quiet today. If both women hadn’t been available for distraction’s purposes, Ayame couldn’t help but wonder if her day would have been filled with nought but those horrible images in her mind again.
Not just of the excursion of last night, but incidents long since passed; as well as intrusive, violent thoughts of things to come. The thought of all the blood and the smells was hardly a nice memory to harbour. Trauma was a ghost that lingered all too long in the abyss of the mind, and that was something Ayame Tokugawa was painfully familiar with to the point of unrestrained fury.
The appeal of playing cards had faded once Chinami had taken her leave, leaving both Teru and Ayame to be bored rigid in the lounge together. Teru moved to sit on the couch with a few other clan members to watch some mindless television, whilst Ayame had opted to stay seated at the table, thumbing through a Kyoto travel guide someone had left lying around.
Even if she had picked it up out of sheer, mind numbing boredom, Ayame found herself strangely taken by the photos of the historical architecture laid out in the guide; though it covered much of the length and breadth of entertainment and culture Kyoto had to offer, in particular, the shrines continued to call to her.
Much to Ayame's delight, the shrine they often drove past on the way into town had a small paragraph dedicated to it. It was called the Tejima shrine, and despite being relatively small and out of the way compared to some of the more well known shrines in Kyoto, it was famous in its own rite.
Tejima was recognized not only for the particularly beautiful woodlands surrounding it, but for housing some of the oldest Shiisa statues in the prefecture as well. Ayame found herself unable to take her eyes off of the page, carefully studying the photograph, and letting the tranquility of such a place wash over her very being.
Of course in true, typical fashion, just when she finally started to feel at peace, the lounge door was recklessly slid open with an obnoxious clatter. She didn't need to turn around to know exactly who it was.
“Oh, great...” she mumbled.
“Oh? My, it seems like we just can't stay away from each other today, Ayame-chan.”
Turning around to the source of a familiar voice once again, Ayame was greeted by the unpleasant expression that Owner consistently wore. She had a real knack for appearing at the worst possible times.
“You again? You’re really getting on my fucking nerves today.”
Owner giggled. The light behind her eyes remained as dead as it ever did.
“Aww, don’t be like that…” she said with a fake, bubblegum tone of voice. “How can you talk to the love of your life so cruelly?”
Ayame remained quiet, though her jaw was visibly clenching. Despite all the warning signs, Owner continued to poke the bear.
“That horrible look on such a pretty face…I truly love you, Ayame-chan.”
It suddenly felt like a twig had snapped loudly somewhere in Ayame’s mind under the heel of Owner.
Grabbing her roughly by the throat with a lightning-fast impact, Ayame’s fingers curled around her flesh and slammed her against the wall with a violent bang. A gaggle of gasps sounded from the members sat on the couch, eyes now glued to the scene playing out before them.
“A-Ack…!”
“Ayame!” Teru called, leaping up to her feet; though this was the Ayame that she could never quite reach with words.
Hurriedly pressing her body to Owner’s own to keep her in place, Ayame felt a crude sensation of violence overtake her body as she wrest the ability of struggling from the woman beneath her.
“Call me Ayame-chan one more fucking time…” Ayame snarled, “and I will listen to the sound of your windpipe crunching in my fingers with a smile on my face.”
Owner laughed, even as Ayame held her violently against the wall. Teru looked on with grave concern.
“You…have impressive reflexes…don’t you? Even I…couldn’t see that cominggg--! Ghaa...!”
Ayame’s grip tightened as Owner’s typically unshakeable expression began to turn puce. The smile on her face faded immediately.
“Do you understand? I really will kill you…even if I have to endure punishment for it.”
“Ayame, put her down already!”
Owner’s smug smile began to fade out of desperation.
“I-I understand…! Listen...listen to your sister...!”
As Owner’s face began to turn all the colours of the rainbow, Ayame loosened her grip; and Owner dropped to her knees. Teru let out a heavy sigh.
“Seriously...” she grumbled, and sat back down on the couch as though nothing happened.
Owner choked and writhed with a violent wretch on the floor, before she looked up at Ayame with her smug smile and a delirious blush dusted across her pale face.
“Ooh...If only. If only you weren’t my boss’s daughter,” Owner chuckled, “I’d do what I daydream about all the time.”
“Which is?”
Owner laughed through the pain in her throat.
“I’d slice your beautiful face up into ribbons.”
“Hmph…guess I can't stop you from dreaming, can I?” Ayame replied sharply to Owner’s seemingly permanent, misplaced smile. “Pervert.”
“Aah…you'll get me all excited if you talk like that...”
“Gross.”
Owner stood up once more, tottering slightly as she rose to her feet. As if nothing had even happened, she had reset to her usual grinning self in an instant, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she took a good look around the lounge.
“Oh, I nearly forgot amidst our moment of passion! Have you seen Chinami-chan?”
A white hot flash of anger momentarily blinded Ayame; something about someone she hated so severely mentioning someone she was quite fond of just didn't sit well with her.
Teru, too, narrowly watched from the sofa over the sound of a gameshow on the television before her.
“No.”
“Ehh, really? But I have something reeeeally important I need to get from her...” Owner whined, feigning innocence as she swung the sleeves of her lounging kimono to and fro.
“Try checking in the baths,” Ayame lied through her teeth. The baths were in the second building on the complete opposite side of the Tokugawa property; a good twenty minute trek that would keep Owner out of her hair for some time.
Everyone in the room knew this was a lie, and yet, no one said a word to the contrary.
“Okay...I don't suppose you'd like to join me in the baths, Ayame-chan? I'll wash your back for you, and if no one else is in there...we could even...ehehe..."
Ayame turned to look at a now giggling Owner in utter disbelief.
“You just don't know when to quit, do you? Get the fuck out.”
Owner had ghosted her way out of the room before Ayame had time to finish her sentence. Teru flashed her sister a thumbs up, though it felt like all of the good energy she and Chinami had help build up in Ayame's heart had evaporated at the mere sight of Owner.
What the hell does she want with Chinami, anyways?
“What the hell does she want with Chinami, anyways?”
Ayame nearly yelped aloud upon hearing Teru voice her own thoughts verbatim.
“Who knows? I'm just glad she's gone.”
Ayame hadn't even realised that she was roughly gritting her teeth throughout the interaction; unclenching her jaw made the ache set in terribly. Teru noticed her wince and observed her quietly, eyebrows knitting together with concern.
“You doing okay? I feel like you need medical assistance anytime Owner comes skulking around...”
“And you'd be right,” Ayame grumbled. She stood up, shoving her hands in her pockets as she began to make her way to the lounge exit. Teru followed with a quizzical hum, her visible confusion only mounting as Ayame set her sights on the mansion's front doors.
“Hey, you're not thinking about going out tonight, are you...?”
“What's it to you if I am?”
Teru shrugged her shoulders, and a few loose hairs that tickled at her forehead bounced against it with the motion. Though she sounded quite amused, worry was written all over her features.
“It's just not like you to go against orders, I guess,” she admitted. “Where're you headed? I'll come with.”
“I'm just gonna go for a walk to clear my head. I'm not goin' far enough to get into any trouble, so don't worry about me...”
“Don't worry about you? What are sisters for, if not to be total worrywarts about each other? 'Sides, you’re dumb as a box of rocks sometimes, so someone has to look out for you.”
“I feel like I should be offended, but I know you mean it with love,” Ayame said, though she couldn't hide the genuine grin the cheeky concern had managed to put on her face. “Seriously, I'll be an hour at best. I promise.”
“What kind of ass-backwards situation is this, anyway? I just got a hot new tattoo, and you're the one breaking curfew?”
Ayame laughed; and, waving a hand behind her, she was out of the door before anyone could stop her.
It felt nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of the Tokugawa mansion at any point in the day, but especially after it had gotten to the point where Ayame had felt the uncontrollable urge to strangle Owner to within an inch of her life.
The cool, night air outside was a welcome reprieve, just as it always had been; and in Ayame's mind, there was only one place that she really wanted to go, though if she'd admitted it to Teru, she would've probably gotten more than a few scoffs and a look of disbelief.
Tejima shrine - a place that had always caught her eye, just as it had done before Owner messed things up all over again.
After a brisk, excitable walk, Ayame found her legs finally coming to a gradual stop as her eyes met with what to anyone else would be a daunting sight. Perhaps it was her nature coming out, or perhaps it was just that she was an abnormal kind of girl; but the sight of a dark shrine at night set her soul at such peace that she often thought she'd live here if she could.
“...Thank God,” she exhaled quietly, and began to make her way up the steps as the wind rushed through her hair.
Taking them two at a time, Ayame found that she could hardly contain her joy at being at a place like this. The impartial nature of shrines to the horrible world around her was nothing less than a perfect comfort, and one that she relished the longer she remained here.
She could smell the summer heat lingering
in the air as she rushed up the steps; closing her eyes to imagine
how the bright sunshine must have looked on the leaves that now
surrounded her every move; and eventually...
“Wow...!”
She came to the top of the stairs; and there before her was Tejima shrine in all of its glory.
A beautiful sight to behold, Ayame felt as though she was taken aback at the sight of the lights illuminating her surroundings. If this was a more rural place, there was no doubt in Ayame's mind that this kind of an area would be pitch black; but as it was a little more towards the inner city, she was thankful that there was some semblance of light to guide her path.
The tall, red beams of the shrine's gates surrounded her as she passed under them, and the small, wooden buildings boasted of a rich tapestry of history that Ayame actually wanted to know about. She hadn't ever found the time to really devote herself to looking into local history or anything remotely religious; so it made sense that this would be exactly where her passions seemed to lie. The irony of being so invested in the pursuit of peace and tranquility was not lost on her, though it was something she often shoved to the back of her mind for the sake of a good night's sleep.
Her footsteps carried her along the paving without even thinking about where to go. Her eyes were dazzled at the sights of colour and stillness; a beautiful example of faith, hope and tradition all rolled into one place, surrounded by powerful, burning reds, and the vivid greens of the summer's trees.
“I wish I could just stay here...” Ayame mumbled to herself, and sparked up a cigarette as she stood in the soft breeze of the summer night. “Fuck.”
Her eyes felt so tired.
Thoughts raced through her mind of the day that had just passed. Owner, Chinami, Teru, Akira; so much death; so much anxiety. She'd even almost seen Teru get shot in the head today by their own mother, and yet here she was, still standing.
“...Where is my life going?”
A question that had never passed her lips before suddenly came out in a billow of smoke.
Where is my mind? Where am I going with any of this?
Do I even want this?
But before Ayame could even muse over the subject of her future aspirations, she suddenly felt a huge, heavy blow to the back of the head; and the crunch of her knees as she fell to the concrete as a result.
Someone had followed her here...and that someone had not just violated her safe space of the Tejima shrine, but also infiltrated her silence - and that meant when Ayame Tokugawa woke up, they were going to have hell to pay.
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