39 The Red Flood of the Death Flowers (1/2)
Instead of going home for the 12 PM action time, the couple went to a further place from home. They had lunch in the train and traveled till the 4 PM action time to a place only Attori seemed to know. She ran through the long, abandoned road, and Arata had to chase her till they end up in what looked like an old farm. The trees were brittle and sturdy, but they were not as healthy as the ones in parks. Their leaves were almost withered either from the season or from very little care. The girl got to a blockade of rotten wooden fence, and she went over the stump to keep it intact. Arata, who had High Strength, managed to go over just fine. He knew he would fall face-flat on the mossy ground if he lacked the stat.
[You just pulled off a stunt! Your destination choice gave a boost of 50 to Mad Bitch Attei Attori's Date Meter! It is now at 50/100! Keep on going!]
After the shuddering entrance, he happened into a big house with a huge patch of land surrounding it. However, everything had been burned down. The scorch marked and claimed the big house, as well what could have been planted in the patches around it. Attori walked to the main doorway and held the wooden bar that kept it close. There was also a big lock pad guarding it.
It was disappointing. Attori stared at the two locks before her. It was as if she was being barred from entering a place she knew. She took a hold on the plank and shook it, but she was too weak to make it budge. She pushed the door, hoping to slide the nail off, but there was a lock pad holding the double doors together. She began banging at the door, but it would not respond.
”Attori, where are we?” Arata asked the girl as he noticed her trying to find a way to open the door. He went to her side and stared at the plank that was keeping people out of the burned property.
[You have enough Strength to destroy the beam! Would you like to destroy it? Yes / No]
The player chose to destroy the beam. He took a hold on it and pulled on it with his all. He noticed Attori move away from him. He heard the beam creak and noticed that the underside was already rotting. Even though the feel was uncomfortable, he still broke the beam in two, making the door less secure. He then tugged on the lock pad and broke the latch it was holding onto rather than picking it. With the door free from any hold, he twisted the knob and found it needed a key.
'Should I break the doors down?' he thought as he looked at the hinges of the door.
”Ah, I can handle that part!” Attori laughed out and reached for her wallet to take out an old key.
[You just pulled off a stunt! Your gift: Arms with Real Beef, gave a boost of 20 to Mad Bitch Attei Attori's Date Meter! It is now at 70/100! Keep on going!]
The doors opened, and Attori was able to get inside the empty house. The girl turned to the staircase, only to see it collapsed beyond repair. She looked at the second floor railings and thought of climbing it. The girl smiled at her boyfriend. ”Arata, do you want to get up there? There's no stairs so we might have to climb up and down.”
”Where are we? What exactly is this place?” The man looked up to the holes on the ceiling which gave light inside the place. The whole second floor to the left collapsed to the ground, making it inaccessible. The one to the right looked it held against the fire, but it seemed to be weathered to danger.
”This was our old house. The one I grew up in, where my mother and my father are still together. Does it look awful?” The blue-haired girl swung her arms behind her and bent to the side to peek at her boyfriend's face, the guy not looking at her. She waited for him to turn to her and offered an apologetic gesture. However, she only smiled as she straightened her posture. ”I burned it down.”
Arata froze at what he heard. For the first time, he questioned the heights of Attori's madness. Burning down her own home was nothing he thought she would do. She would normally hurt people that hurt the ones she likes. Hurting her family? The player did a double take on her words, chuckling at what could have been a joke. ”Don't pull on my leg like that. I mean, I believe this is your house, but... why would you burn it down?”
The girl hummed with her eyes and lips curving in a suspicion. ”Really? You don't believe me?”
[You just pulled off a stunt! Your pep talk only gave a boost of 5 to Mad Bitch Attei Attori's Date Meter! It is now at 75/100! Try harder!]
She then ran to the edge of the collapsed stairs and started collecting some blocks and debris to make a ladder. Moving those old concrete blocks were already taxing to her arms. It also seemed Attori forgot she had to stack them. She only realized it when she moved the third one.
”I'll give you a boost, but I doubt it's safe up there.” Arata went to her and took her hands away from the concrete blocks. He cleared the blackening caused by the fumes from her fingers with a hanky. ”Do you really need to go up? Are you trying to get something from your room?”
”I'm going to show you my room!” She laughed out before looking down at her hands that were being cleaned. ”I really like red spider lilies, Arata... but do you know what they like?” She lifted her face and smiled at him. ”Death.”
She pulled her hands away and ran out of the house. She waited for Arata to the patches surrounding the house, before gesturing to them with a twirl. ”This whole place was surrounded by red spider lilies! I love how red they were, and how they moved with the wind!” She stopped spinning and looked up at the house. She could remember what it used to look like, but the image left her mouth with a bad aftertaste. She turned to Arata. ”They were the only things I loved about this home. My parents started arguing, and my little sister had become numb to them.
”Here, in the second floor, I always sit on my window.” She pointed out a spot as if Arata could see the overlaying image of her memories of the house. ”I always see my lilies dancing, but I also hear their complaints. Soon, it drowned into silence between them. I hate it. I hate it so much...”
”Did you blame the lilies for it?” Arata frowned at her.