Karasu no Tengoku

Epilogue: London Fog…

(He vaguely remembered falling asleep, he’d dreamed so many different things during his sleep he didn’t know at all if he’d been really awake or not…the All-Seeing Eye, even not activated, was a troublesome thing when you wanted to sleep, he very vaguely remembered he’d fell asleep with Kurt in his house and saying he’ll look after his life while he slept…though he’d dreamed a lot of things, and though all what he remembered of before falling asleep was vague and seemed distant, it hadn’t really felt like if a LOT of time had gone by…but he’d not checked the calendar when he’d fell asleep, and something that somehow he liked was that, when he woke up he felt the presence of Kurt in the house, so he looked for him, he was dropped in HIS sofa, in HIS living-room, watching HIS T.V….)
“Wow~~, so that’s how you look when you wake up?? My god…you’re stunning…”
“Shut up…you said you’ll leave as soon as I woke up…why are you still here??”
(Though he really didn’t mean to sound so cruel, it kind of relieved him that Kurt was there, Kurt turned off the T.V. and grabbed his things…)
“Ok…I got it…I’ll leave…”
“No! Wait…I want to ask you something…”
“What is it??”
“How much time did I sleep??”
“You really want to know?”
“Of course…”
“Three months…don’t you feel renewed??”
“What?!...ah…um…I guess so…”
“Yeah…3 months…you slept for 3 months…I guess you really were tired…well, I guess…you got the rest you needed…so, now I can leave…”
“Yeah…by the way…thanks…were there any attacks to me, or things like that while I was asleep??”
“Nope…I…have to go…maybe I’ll see you again…”
“Ok…see ya…”
(Hideki went back to his room and heard the entrance door closing and locking, so he went to take a bath…)

(Two days later, he received a phone call from someone he’d not seen in a while by now…)
“Hello??”
“Hideki?? It’s you?”
“Yeah, who’s talking?”
“Can’t you remember the voice of your own uncle?”
“Lars?”
(Hideki’s voice had a note of displeasure…he’d never really gotten QUITE along with him…)
“Yes…but, I’m not calling for something unimportant you know?”
“Oh really?? What are you calling for then?”
“It’s Fritz…he’s dead…”
“What?! You’re joking, aren’t you?! You always liked to tease me like that!”
“I’m most certainly not…”
(And Lars’ voice did sound a bit sad)
“This can’t be…”
“But it is…”
“How?...”
“He was shot…and his blood was then drained…just like those murders in Shinjuku almost a year ago…”
“This can’t be happening…”
“You can’t know how I wish what you said was true…oh well Hideki…I’ll leave you…I really don’t know how to deal with this myself so…”
“You need time…you definitely need time…”
“Yeah…I think so too…”
“But wait…why me? Why did you decide to call ME out of all people??”
“Because my sister’s dead too and…you know that your father and I don’t get along…”
“Ah…”
“Besides you and Juliette were the only close people in the family to Fritz…”
“I guess…you’re right…I’m sorry about Juliette too…good-bye…”
“Thanks…auf Wiedersehen…”
(It made something inside of him wake up when he heard Lars’ voice…he’d taken Kurt’s words too lightly up until that moment…Lars and him hadn’t been very close, and if it had been something that even Lars was pushed to call HIM, maybe, yes, even if he’d gone as far as turning himself into a vampire and travelling half around the world just to find Kaito, maybe he could let alone everything and go back to Japan, it kind of made him wary, wanting to leave everything behind seemed safer…though he wasn’t sure if he’ll be able to tolerate it…)

(Two weeks more went by in London…and nothing had changed, Kaito’s energy was permeating the city…he told himself that a single person didn’t have that much energy, so it was obvious someone or something was amplifying it and that it was probably that vampire Kurt had mentioned, Ashura, and in the past two weeks since he’d re-awakened, he’d noticed that something was also blocking his All-Seeing Eye, he couldn’t seem to completely open it anymore…at least not to look for Kaito, he was really getting tired and considering the possibility of going back to Japan and lead a peaceful existence again, well, not so peaceful, but anyway…)

(The day was cloudy, and foggy, very foggy, so it was easy for the eye to be deceived by the figures in the fog of Trafalgar Square, and that’s what happened to Hideki…he was walking by one of the streets that took to said square and it was visible already, though only the top of the tower, the part near the floor was perfectly covered by fog, he wondered how did the cars manage not to crash against each other…he saw the figure of a man walking in front of him, not very far, at least near enough for him to distinguish it, and it was a bit smaller than himself, wearing a black coat, then he walked pass him and saw he was Japanese too, it wasn’t that common to find Japanese people in London when it was wasn’t holidays, but he ignored the idea…)

(After some minutes, he wondered if it was just a mirage of the fog, or the man was actually real, so he followed him, the man didn’t seem to notice him so Hideki continued to follow until they fully reached the square, there the man crossed the street faster than expected and began to run to an alley that was right across them, so Hideki followed him suit, he crossed the street but didn’t pay attention so a car almost ran him over…)
“Hey! HEY!! Wait!!”
(The man kept running and for some brief seconds, Hideki thought in how similar were this situation and the time in Shinjuku, but he kept running and the stranger turned to the left, Hideki turned also after some minutes and so that the man wasn’t there anymore, there weren’t any doors opened, then he heard the clattering of the staircase of the building at his right and saw the man climbing to the top of the not so high building so he followed him…when they reached the roof of the building, there wasn’t any fog at all up there so he looked around him for the man and saw him, standing at the edge of the building…when he looked at his face, he saw that not only the man was Japanese, he had a terrifying resemblance to the object of his quest…)
“Oh…my god…it’s…no…it can’t be…”
“Right…it CAN’T be…”
(But…in closer inspection, his hair was longer and redder and his eyes had a different colour, and he was way thinner…the man was swinging a little on the edge of the building and Hideki got closer but stopped, he wasn’t sure why…then, the man smiled and opened his arms…)
“And will NEVER be…”
(And he left himself fall…Hideki ran to the edge and peered down, he wasn’t there…he wasn’t anywhere…)
“Ashura…”
(And he fainted…)