|| 𝔅𝔩𝔬𝔬𝔡𝔶 𝔎𝔞𝔱𝔞𝔫𝔞𝔰 || ℂ𝕙𝕚𝕫𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝔸𝕜𝕒𝕘𝕦𝕣𝕠 𝕩 ℝ𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕖𝕣

幽玄 | Yūgen

The next morning felt strange. Chizome woke up rather late in the day, somehow breaking his habit of only getting four hours a night, and he felt completely out of it. Normally, this would feel great, but the break in his sleep schedule only made him cranky. He sat up, hands behind him as he let the strength of his arms hold him up. The air was warm, and the silence seemed deafening. Why was it so quiet?

He glanced at the wrist watch he'd always worn, now laid out on his bedside table, a crate he'd picked up awhile ago. It was noon. He'd slept like a lazy teenager on the weekend, he thought, and it only worsened his mood. Any sane person would lay back down, maybe get a bit more rest to improve their mood, but he pushed himself out of bed. He pulled his sheets up, laying everything neatly before leaving the comfort of his sleep area, now walking past the shoji that separated his living space from his personal space. He had a shift today at 6 o'clock at the local 7/11, and even though it was hours away, he didn't feel like he had the time to go out and serve his vigilante justice. He'd sit at home and wait then.

But what was a serial killer to do? He could always get ready now, but the longest he could drag that out to was an hour. He'd still have 5 left. He could reflect on the previous night, but how long would that last? He was always thinking about a million things a minute. His brain was so scattered that-

Oh yeah. That person he saved. He felt bad that they'd gotten involved with him as they were just an ordinary citizen, someone he was killing to protect. There wasn't much he could do from then though, nothing more that he could say. 

Well that wasted 45 seconds at least.

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Needless to say, you accepted your boss' offer to be driven home the next day. He'd asked about your sudden change of heart, but there wasn't much he could do to pry once you'd threatened to just walk home instead. You'd felt bad, of course, but you didn't want to worry anyone with the details of your run-in with the hero killer. You hated a lot of things, and making other people worry about you was second only to cooked salmon. 

Now you were here, sitting in the passenger's seat of your boss' car, giving him the occasional direction towards your residence. "I'm sorry for how I spoke to you today, senpai."

He chuckled, though there was a certain darkness to it. "No, no, that was on me for pressuring you into giving me an answer. You were only defensive because I gave you a reason to be." Your eyes settled on the aggressive way his hands gripped the wheel, the veins in them almost twice as visible this way. That was pretty attractive, honestly.

"Still, I should have at least a bit more self control than that, shouldn't I?"

"I s'ppose, but I still don't have a problem with your reaction." Well..

The digital clock below the CD player's mouth read 5:34 pm. You'd be home just in time for your favorite show, wouldn't you? Try looking forward to that.

Your boss lowered the front two windows a smidge, allowing some cold inside. You had to admit that it felt good like this. 

Soon enough you were outside your apartment building, waving goodbye with a cloudy mind. As soon as your senpai was out of sight, you turned and entered your building. You stuck to the inner hand rail as you slipped up each stair, almost weary of your surroundings throughout. That feeling only intensified when you heard heavy footsteps coming from a few flights up. 

You were so startled that you considered hiding, but there really wasn't any use in that. Whoever it was had to be approaching rapidly, and you only had two more flights to travel up. With a sigh, you continued your journey. 

Eventually, an extremely tall man came into view, standing at the top of your next staircase. You were a little creeped out by how he stared down at you, but you figured it was all in your head as you made your way up and brushed past his muscular frame. 

"You didn't make your way home by yourself, did you?" The voice, vaguely familiar, had you stop in your tracks.

"No.. I uhm.. I caught a ride from a colleague."

"Good. It's dangerous out there, even at this time." After another couple of seconds, he was marching back down the stairs, and you couldn't help but glance back and watch. What a creepy encounter.

You mentally slapped yourself. The guy was probably just trying to be nice. And he was right, it was really dangerous to be out in general, especially with that hero killer. Even though he didn't kill you last time, risking another encounter with him is the last thing you wanted to do.

But writing the event off didn't quite feel right either, so you'd decided you'd give it more thought after catching that program you'd been so excited to come home to.