hakai | gabimaru

十

italicized means flashback

Three days later, 

"M-Master...how do I read this?" 

"Hm? Have you lost your knowledge on how to read?" 

"Master...that's not it. This...this handwriting...it's like a child written on it!" 

Sitting on the ground with both of her wrists bound behind her back, Rika stared at the magistrate with a small yet twisted smile on her face and head tilted to the side. The red kimono she wore now askewed past her shoulders and a bit of her cleavage exposed. The golden kanzashi pins remained in her hair and the soot covering her cheek no longer staining her face. But in all honesty, Rika thought the process would have sped up by now. Thinking that she would finally and immediately aboard the ship that would send her back to Horai. 

"Nevermind reading it anymore!" The magistrate spoke, waving his hand dismissively at his attendant. His attention reverting to the woman who sat on top of the ground and under the sun. To Rika. 

"The capital suffered a major damage because of you! Edo nearly collapsed on the ground and would have no remains. It's thanks to the Shogunate who helped restore the city! Do you have anything to say to this matter?" 

The smile on Rika's face turned to a beaming one. "I don't have any!" She chirps to him. 

"Do you know how long the fire remained in the capital? Three days!" The Magistrate cried. "You've committed the worst crime most prisoners have made! As the fire was put to rest, an estimation of a hundred thousand people died! Do you have anything to say to this matter?" 

The smile remained on Rika's lips. "Like I said, I don't have any." She replies back to him. 

Riku, who stood a few feet behind her, maintained a cool expression. 

"Rika of Yoshiwara, you have been sentenced to crimes of mass murder, populicide and mass destruction. Any words for this?" 

Once more, the smile on Rika's face remained. Not even batting an eyelash to the stout man sitting high and mighty in front of her. "I don't have any." She replies again. 

The Magistrate heaves a sigh, nodding his head towards Riku. "You can put her back to her cell." 

Acting his part, Riku gently tapped on her back before taking a hold of the loose rope that binds her wrists together. 

It was a great shock to everyone in the Yamada school at what Rika had done. All of them believing that Rika wouldn't be capable of doing such a heinous crimes as she didn't looked like the type to even hurt a fly. But alas, never judge a book by it's cover. 

"I am deeply sorry and will hold myself accountable over my older sister's actions. To do so, I wish to be her executioner." Riku begged two days ago, his own head bowing deeply until it touches the ground.

At first, the magistrate didn't wish to let his request happen but it was due to Shugen's persistence that made it possible.

"Confer his request." Shugen spoke, his head bowing deeply before the magistrate. "It is a family matter that we cannot look past."

Returning back to her cell, Rika sat down on the earthly ground. On her left is a woman, an oiran dressed in blue kimono that is also askewed just like hers. Although they haven't formally met nor spoken to each other, she knew just who this woman is. Famous in Yoshiwara is Akaginu, a woman who fed on cannibalism, particularly following to nutrition herself with male bodies. Rika considers herself lucky as she is a woman.

"She looks at you like you're her next meal." She teases Riku as she watches him lock her cell. "Aren't you at least scared, Riku?"

The white haired male remains quiet. Heaving a soft sigh past his lips as he drops his hands to his side. "I would be more scared if you were part of the hundred thousand that died." He replies to her in a quiet tone.

Rika's eyes slightly widens before she beams to him. "You're still a baby boy!" She beams to him. Hand pinching out his cheeks.

"Don't call me that!" Riku responded, a vein popping out of his right temple.

As the wooden bars are padded shut and tight, the two twins stare at each other for a good second before tearing their eyes away from each other. Riku has come to understand that he needed to continue playing his role as a Yamada Asaemon; working for a good cause, cleansing the country of criminals and maintaining order. Whereas Rika has come to understand that in order for her time to return back to Horai will eventually come. Sooner or later. However, a small part of her began to grow bigger and bigger.

Leaning her back against the earthen ground, she closes her eyes and heaves a deep breath. It is cold and dark; the only source of light comes from the lit torch perched up on either side of their cell chambers. It is no brighter inside rather than a gloom of dusk. There are no futons, cushioning neither even a thin blanket. One has no idea how much time has passed by.

The isolation is total and the stimulation is little to zero. The only time the inmates were ever allowed to talk is when their assigned executioners spoke to them behind their own chambers. Not much light and furniture of any kind could be seen. The design of their chambers may be disorienting but Rika isn't one to complain. Her surroundings may be dim lit, cold and dangerous but she could practice taisoku, shuitsu and shuten in her hollow cube of concrete.

Opening her eyes, she only comes to notice a white haired male behind a cell in front of her. 

Looking at him, she thought he resembled a cat. Alert, dominant and independent. He may look calm but his stoic expression says otherwise.

"Do you think dreams come true?" She asks him; debating to herself on whether or not he would respond to her question.

He lifted his head up. Yellow eyes staring right through her. A stoic and expressionless disposition he embodied.

"No such thing exists." He responded to her.

"Are you sure?" She asks him again, a small teasing tone laced in her voice. "Not even for a tiny bit?"

He gave her a dark expression, yellow eyes piercing through her purple ones. "It's just what I've said." He responded. "No such thing exists." He repeats.

Could she even be able to speak with him a little more? There was more of a doubt than a guarantee. It seemed as though he isn't the type to strike long conversations with fellow inmates. Rika wonders, just what kind of crime had he committed? Was it shallow? Was he framed? Or was it just heinous as hers? Either way, his air of mysteriousness...allured her to him. Wanting to orbit around him.

"You're right." Rika spoke to him, her wrists bound over her head just like him. "You're absolutely right." She agrees with him again.

"Huh?"

"Although dreams may shed some light on heavy concerns, they are, in fact, have no any real purpose." She explains to him. "They may have meaning however it isn't that deep. They aren't even symbolic either. We don't even dream just because we want to." 

Without any exertion of effort, a dream will only be a dream.