Hisoko watched in horror as Maiko dropped Fumio's body to the ground, the younger co-worker's eyes glazing over and his neck twisted at an awkward angle. Maiko, the frightening manager of their division, stalked over to him and grabbed Hisoko's collar.

"Listen to me, Nagai. You will cooperate, and if you utter ONE WORD to Ryuu about warning the target, like unlucky Ikeda over here-" She jerked her head over in Fumio's direction. "-then you'll end up like him. Got it?" she growled.

"Y-Yes m- sir! Yessir!" Hisoko stammered, unwilling to oppose the powerful Elemental. Maiko set him down and returned to her desk, returning to her work. Hisoko did the same, walking by Fumio's limp, lifeless body as he did. He tried not to look at him, avoiding showing any weakness to Maiko. A sudden will to quit took over Hisoko. Maybe it was just a will not to die. He didn't know. All he knew was that he had a family he wanted to raise. Hisoko Nagai, not even bothering to sit down at his desk, suddenly stopped and turned to face Maiko, the Maiko they all feared. She won't know what hit her, he thought, his mind flying out of control, his thoughts going from sentences to mixed jumbles of words and letters, gibberish. "Maiko... Maiko Akiyama..." He chanted the name under his breath like a demonic chant that would somehow make her choke to death where she sat. After saying the name several times, in vain, he fell silent and his eyes landed on Fumio. Poor Fumio. He died so young, not even nineteen. A shaking rage soon overtook the will to live, and, blinded by it, Hisoko cried out and raced towards Maiko.

"This is for Fumio, you bitch!"

.

"Idiot." The blond-haired woman sat back in her chair, taking a look at what she had done.

"Great, now I'm out of inferiors," she muttered as she dragged the bodies from the room and into a closet towards the other side of the room that looked much like an elevator. Inside was a small door in the wall that sat in the middle of the wall. In large, red, bold letters was a word written "INCINERATOR." Pulling the handle up, and the metal flap with it, the woman revealed a long, dark tunnel that only lead down. In her left hand, she held a young boy named Fumio Ikeda. In her right, she held Hisoko Nagai. She dropped them both down the tunnel towards the fabled incinerator.

A loud thud echoed through the black room as the bodies of the two men landed on top of other miscellaneous items. A buzzer sounded, and a sound similar to that of leather flapping could be heard. The chamber was soon filled with an eerie orange light emanating from the fire, which was quickly consuming everything in its path. It felt the cold metal walls around it, and it began moving in a different direction. It had quickly eaten everything else in the room and had the two bodies of the men surrounded. The lifeless men could not move- they were puppets tied to strings that had been cut. Unable to move, the motionless pupppets could do nothing but watch as the burning flame burnt nearer and nearer until it had reached their feet. It licked at their feet, then, unsatisfied, the angry fire started at their legs, then moving up to their torsos, and finally, the two men's faces. The two cut-string puppets were quickly reduced to ash. The fire blazed only an instant longer before cold water began pouring out of the ceiling, killing the flames and cooling the metal walls. A sweeper came and swept the ashes away, vacuuming it up into its hollow, mechanical body. It then scurried away, fearful of becoming the next victim of the merciless flame that had produced those ashes.

The two men, innocent, young, and now nameless and faceless, had been burnt away like paper. Somewhere, upstairs, their names were scratched off a list.

---

I sat up, seemingly faster than humanely possible, wide awake in a matter of seconds. Sweat dripped down my forehead as I tried to recall my dream. It wasn't a solid story, though - bits and pieces coming together to create a jumbled, sloppy, no-end-no-beginning sort-of-movie. I shook my head, trying to clear it. Glancing at my clock, I sighed, laying back onto my bed. It was only 4:21, and still dark outside. My phone was still charging and my homework was done, so I couldn't do much other than just go back to sleep. Before I knew it, sleep caught up to me and I closed my eyes, but it was as though I only had them closed for about a second before I hear my alarm go off - a loud, screeching, repetitive buzz. I forced my eyes open and sat up, this time slowed by half sleep. The time it took for me to get ready for school that day seemed faster than usual. I barely paid attention to anything I was doing, instead noticing only my thoughts. Two men, woman who looked strangely like me, only with black hair, a fire... Pieces from my dream flying around, trying to place themselves in a correct order. By the time I got to school, I had at least a quarter of the confusing dream put together. Then I felt something hit my leg.

"Ow!" I looked up and saw Koichi and Takumi's faces peering at me. "Uh... Is there any reason why you just kicked me?"

"You wouldn't answer. Anyways, Koichi and I had an idea. Since it's Sayuri's birthday, we're going to take her to dinner, and we wanted you to come," Takumi explained matter-of-factly.

"Why me? You know I-" I broke off, realizing that neither of them would understand.

"Huh? You what?" Koichi tilted his head questioningly.

"N-nothing. It's nothing. But why invite me? I'm just someone she knows. It's not like I'm her friend or anything."

Takumi sighed. "You... don't know anything about friendship, do you?"

"Not much."

"She considers you her friend, just so you know, and we wanted to invite you because you're her friend." Every time he said the word friend, he sounded out the word as though I'd never heard it before.

"Okay, okay. I get it. Fine, I'll go." I sighed and followed the two of them into the building.

---

Koichi had told me to meet them at around sixish at a cafe near school. It was a small place, but it was a great place, with great service and even better food. I got there right at six, which was pretty amazing considering I walked there. However, although I got there on time, Koichi, Takumi and Sayuri did not. I was waiting there for half an hour before they finally arrived.

A small, black car pulled up to the curb, roaring as it came to a complete stop inches away from the corner. It sputtered off, and three of its doors opened almost simultaneously. Takumi stepped directly onto the sidewalk an shut the door. "How long have you been waiting?" he asked, exasperation showing clear in his voice.

"Only about half an hour."

"Sorry to keep you waiting!" Koichi called from the other side of the car, stepping around the front and joining Takumi in front of the cafe. Koichi and Takumi were wearing almost identical outfits. It wasn't so abnormal, considering that 1) they were brothers, 2) there weren't many clothes stores to choose from unless you wanted to go to Yasu's which I had told them about so they probably hadn't been in a while, and 3) given the financial state of the Raito clan (most of them, anyways), they most likely couldn't afford much anyways. They were both wearing button-up shirts and jeans, and I was wearing something very similar myself. The only difference was that I could (not so proudly) say that mine was "made for and provided by" Yasu. I inwardly shuddered.

"Hope you weren't waiting long," Sayuri, having not heard the former half of the conversation, added, following Koichi just seconds after. I gasped a little, my eyes widening a bit when I saw her. Her brown hair was in a semi-messy bun, pinned in place by a light blue flower clip sort of thing, but in the afternoon light it almost looked like pure gold. Her bright green eyes seemed brighter than usual, shining so brilliantly I was surprised I hadn't noticed it before. She was wearing a bluish-teal sort of colored dress that hung down just below her knees and black shoes. For some reason, I remember thinking that she looked stunning.

"...ait's pretty long, so we might just go somewhere else. Any ideas?" I blinked myself out of my thoughts as Takumi finished speaking.

"We can wait it out. It's only twenty-something minutes, really," Koichi pointed out.

"I agree, twenty minutes isn't long. Let's just go inside and wait it out." Sayuri nodded and headed inside the cafe. The three of us followed her.

The cafe, on the inside, was must larger than the outside would suggest. The floor was a dark, ebony-colored, and the tables were light aspen wood. Light, freshly-scented candles were lit in birch-bark vases. Those candles served as the only or main lighting, that besides the very dim, hardly noticeable lamps hanging from the ceiling. We were instantly greeted with a friendly, blonde, familiar... face...

"OHHITAMOTSUIDIDN'TKNOWYOUCAMEHEREDOYOUCOMEHEREOFTENAREYOU... oh... you're with Sayuri." Kokoa gave a little nervous laugh and glanced at Koichi and Takumi, relief washing over her face, which was then quickly replaced with panic. "Oh! Uh, right. How many tonight?"

"Just... four, please...?" Koichi sounded out each syllable, as though he were distracted by something else.

"Alright! Right this way." Kokoa grabbed three menus and led us toward a table.

"Twenty minutes, my ass," I muttered as I followed Kokoa to our table. We all sat down, then Kokoa placed the menus down, but as she only grabbed three, Sayuri was left without one.

"Um... I don't have a menu..." Sayuri said awkwardly.

"Oh! Hah... I'll, uh, I'll get you one." Kokoa walked away, a defeated look about her. Soon she came back with another menu and then asked us what we wanted to drink. We basically all wanted water, besides Takumi, who decided on a strange mixture of tea and... I don't even know what he said.

"I'll... be back with your drinks." Kokoa, indeed following her word, was back within five minutes with our drinks. Glancing around, I noticed almost no one was here. I wondered why Takumi had thought there was at least a twenty minute wait when there was next to no one here and we got a table instantly.

"Do you all know what you'd like to order?" Kokoa's loud voice rang in my ears.

"We haven't gotten much of a chance to even look at the menu..." Koichi observed, gesturing to his menu.

"Oh! Uh... Okay, I'll give you some time." Kokoa glanced at me, her eyebrows twitching before she turned away, her long blonde hair flipping behind her.

"No fair! You get all the girls," Koichi grunted, resting his face on the palm of his hand.

"Wh-what makes you say that?" I sputtered.

"I think Kokoa likes you," Takumi joked.

"Ya think?" Sayuri laughed loudly.

"Come on, you guys..." I groaned, but they took no notice of me.

"Oh, but I think Sayuri has a thing for him, too," Koichi smirked.

"WH-WHAT?!" Sayuri shrieked.

"There's no... No, shut up!" My ears began burning.

"And then there was Yas-"

"DON'T MENTION HIM. I SWEAR IF YOU DO I WILL STAB YOU." Sayuri flinched, clearly not doubting I was completely capable of stabbing them both.

"Violent... Okay, okay, I won't talk about... he-who-shall-not-be-mentioned." Takumi burst out laughing at that, for whatever reason. "It wasn't that funny, Takumi."

"I know, I know. Just the way you said it... IT WAS PERFECT!" Takumi started laughing all over again. Koichi sighed, and went back to looking at his menu, seeming to have forgotten the previous tease.

By the time Kokoa came back around, we all knew what we wanted to eat, so we ordered.

"So this is the 'twenty minute wait' you were talking about," Koichi muttered after ten minutes.

"Well, it's only 7:00 or so. We can afford to wait," Sayuri tried, attempting to get our hopes up. "It's not like there's anything that we needed to be on time for, anyways."

After the fifteen minute wait for our food, we ate it in silence, said silence broken only by occasional jokes made usually by Takumi or Koichi. At around 7:40, we finished paying for the meal and we walked out, only to find...

"OMIGAHD MY CAR IS GONE!!" Koichi wailed, whipping head from side to side, trying to find it.

...But that wasn't what grabbed my attention. What did catch my eye, though, was a dark, shadowy figure heading into the alley next to the cafe. I glanced around, tugged on Sayuri's sleeve and dashed into the alley.

"What are you doing?" Sayuri whispered. I gestured towards the hooded figure standing by the back wall of the alley. Her mouth formed an 'O' shape and she nodded. I creeped closer and narrowed my eyes, watching the figure move his hand in a strange pattern. Seconds afterward, a hole opened up in the floor and the figure stepped over it, simply falling down.

W
Well, am I gonna die or what?

-<~*~>-

A/N: okay let me explain

IAMREALLYSORRY

Wattpad had me logged out all week two weeks ago and I never got the chance to log back in until I was off wifi so yeah. And when I finally FINALLY started having time to write, things like Steven Universe were taking my time and soaking up all my thoughts. Also I had temporary writers block. The only reason you're reading this chapter is because of KNXStuffs . I tagged her KNX fan account cos she musta changed her username agAIN so sorry. BUTIHAVEITNOWSOBEHAPPY I'll try to catch up with the time I've missed. THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME A CHANCE BYE NOW
-Rainflight