The Challenge: Part Two I walked along the streets slowly, well aware that this was not the best place to be dallying. Daisuke’s words kept ringing in my mind causing me to be completely indifferent to the strange stares I received. I have no idea how long I had been walking. All I knew was that I had not stopped since I left Daisuke’s side. Finally I stopped when I realized that I was standing on one of the many bridges that spanned the inlets of the bay.
It would be easy enough. I’ve always hated the dark water. Too many memories, none of them buried deep enough, I guess. But all it would require is a bit of mind over matter. I’ve always been exceptionally good at that. Even now, I can almost convince myself that I can see my eyes staring back at me. But I won’t. I want to, but I wont.
Only because my responsibilities are no longer only to myself.
[Back to Dai-chan]
Daisuke watched Ken walk slowly away. He wanted to scream out for Ken to come back, to try and convince him that he was crazy just one more time. Daisuke knew that was all it would take for him to give in. Ken had accepted it all so softly, so calmly… so Ken-like. It only served to scare Daisuke more. And then he was gone, disappearing all too soon into the omnipresent fog. It took everything Daisuke had to turn in the direction opposite of what Ken had taken and head back to their apartment.
‘This idea wasn’t any better than following Ken,’ Daisuke thought bitterly. Ken was everywhere here. His books were staked neatly on the table where he had left them when Daisuke had suggested they go to the park and the warm fleece blanket they liked to snuggle under while watching movies lay where he had casually tossed it over the back of the couch. Daisuke did not even venture into their room. Instead he grabbed his coat again and headed back out the door.
The Challenge: Part 3
“Hey I know you!” a voice said from behind Ken where he stood looking out over the dirty water.
“You’re Ichijouji Ken,” the voice continued. Ken did not bother to correct the girl but his mind began to rage. ‘How could you know me?’ it asked mockingly, ‘You know nothing about me or you wouldn’t be bothering me now.’ But Ken did not say anything to her. He just continued to study the slowly moving water until his anger had passed. He was well aware of the fact that he should not allow things like that bother him. In fact Daisuke would no doubt laugh at him if he were here. The great Ichijouji Ken, cringing under the adoring stare of an eight-year-old girl.
“So…” the girl continued, “What are you doing?” Ken could not help the small smile that crept over his lips. The girl had now joined him on the side of the bridge and was also desperately searching for something in the water. Probably trying to see what he found so absorbing. It took Ken a moment to realize the girl was still waiting for his answer. ‘Good attention span for a kid,’ he thought with a smile, ‘I’d have lost Daisuke long before now.’ Ken smiled at the girl again.
“Just thinking,” he told her resisting the urge to add ‘don’t you ever just want to think?’ to the end of his statement. For on thing, she seemed a little too young to be exploring the deeper sides of the human mind, and secondly, people tended to get insulted when he asked them things like that. The young girl was still watching him attentively, waiting for him to continue.
“My boyfriend broke up with me,” he told her. He could not help the small wince that passed over his features, completely voiding the smile he had hoped would soften the entirely too personal disclosure. Strangely enough, the girl did not seem shocked.
“Oh, that’s sad,” was all she said. Ken could not help but wish every encounter with a fan, although they were admittedly more rare now that the dark spore was no longer effective, was this nice. Ken plucked her from the bridge’s railing were she stood, still searching desperately for something in the water. Her tenacity reminded Ken of Daisuke.
“You should be careful,” he told her before he began to head for home, “You don’t want to fall in.” Ken need to talk to Daisuke again. Perhaps he had given in too soon.
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