Twisted Innocence

The Black Lizard

"If he is taking his ease, give him no rest.

If his forces are united, separate them.

If sovereign and subject are in accord, put division between them. 

Attack him where he is unprepared. 

Appear where you are not expected."

- Sun Tzu (The Art of War) 

~oOo~

"Did you know? There's a fate much worse than death out in the world."

"Really? What would that be, ****-san?"

"Are you sure you want to know? It may be a little too heavy for such a small child like you, though, *****-chan..."

"Don't worry, ****-san! I can handle it! If you didn't want me to know, you wouldn't have told me about it in the first place!" 

"Haha... Very well, if you insist."

"What's much, much worse than death...the thing that's equivalent to hell itself..."

"...is none other than..."

~oOo~

        BOOM!

        Seiko shot her blue eyes open after being startled awake by the thunderous noise of an explosion outside. She sat up on the couch she was sleeping on, blinking wearily as the now-recovered Atsushi looked out the office window in shock to see a plume of smoke rise from a nearby building. 

        "An explosion?" The boy gasped, running towards the window and placing his hands on the glass to take a closer look. "What's going on?"

        "Ah, Atsushi-san..." Seiko attempted to speak up, only for Atsushi to run out of the office to look outside, causing the young girl to stop and sigh. "...I'm too sleepy to care right now. I'm gonna go back to sleep..."

        With that, she laid back down on the couch and pulled the blanket over her shoulders, not bothering to wonder who could have placed it over her while she slept. 

        ...weird. I wonder why I was dreaming of that time just now. Does it mean something...?

~oOo~

        Sirens blared in the air at the scene of the explosion, which took place at some sort of warehouse. Policemen investigated the area while barring out anyone who tried to take a closer look. A crowd had formed in front of the scene, gossiping amongst themselves about the incident.

        "I hear it's a massacre." 

        "Damn."

        Atsushi carefully pushed his way through the crowd to take a closer look at the scene, while listening in on their words. He widened his eyes as he took in the level of damage the warehouse suffered, coupled with the covered corpses of those killed in the explosion.