Rob
Pew Pew Pew
On the Road Again
1045 Words
1045 Words
For all her childish wants and needs, Miki never did find her long lost brother. She couldn’t remember when the transition into moving on had started, but she figured it was somewhere around the time that she met up with Aragon Tenbanto and his band of misfit gunslingers. They had become her new family, and he had become her new confidant.
She couldn’t go, didn’t want to go anywhere without him or his permission.
He had become her scapegoat, her access to the outside world when signs showed that she wouldn’t find her brother any time soon. The sadness and feelings of loneliness were slowly turned into feelings of love and a sense of purpose. Of course, she never told him any of that because she was happy enough to just have something to do again.
That was nearly two years ago now, and she still hadn’t gotten over the fact that he was no longer with them. She still used the apartment he used to rent - although she was now the one taking care of the expenses - and a lot of other stuff he used to share with her that he left in his wake. It was odd how, despite her sadness over losing him, she was pretty composed when it came to her memories of them together.
After all, they were fond memories of the two of them together... there was no room for sadness in them, and as such she took them at face value rather than dwelling on them for whatever reason.Still, if there was one thing that kept with her through all of this was that she had never really gotten the chance to say her goodbyes to him.
She wasn’t even there for the funeral, but since his body had never really been found there had been some kind of feeling rooted deep within her that if she went to his alleged funeral, she’d be shutting his chapter of her life for good. By not going, she kept her hopes alive that he might still be... well, alive.
Smiling softly at that silly thought, she closed her eyes for a few seconds as she laid back on the sofa they once used to share together. She’d gotten kind of used to the Orpheus live by now, but that didn’t mean she didn’t enjoy her time off as much as the next person. Though she was never one to sit quiet for long periods of time, she didn’t really feel like doing a whole lot right now.
Of course, just as she thought that, her cellphone went off inside of her pockets.
“Yoshikawa residence,” she spoke through her phone.
“I’m calling you on your goddamn phone Miki,” the voice on the other end of the conversation retorted, “I’m pretty fucking sure I know it’s your residence if I’m calling you.”
“Yeah well,” Miki countered without raising her voice in the slightest, “Maybe I just don’t like you either. So, Scarlett, what can I do for you at this time of day?”
“I need your help, of course.”
Of course, Miki thought to herself as she rolled her eyes around in its sockets and let out a mild sigh. It’s never a casual call with you is it little student, always business, right?
“Okay,” the pink-haired lieutenant responded, taking the engineering student’s bait. “What is it that you need help with? And it’d better not be something illegal again, Scarlett. I don’t mind getting into trouble once ever so often, but I can’t keep on sending you supposedly classified equipment just to keep your goddamn body in pristine condition.”
“This...” There was some hesitation in the way Scarlett began, even Miki could tell that much. “I... uhm, you know...”
Sitting upright on the sofa she’d be laying down on, her eyes widened a little bit as she prodded the young student for further information. “What’s wrong, Scarlett? Did something happen to you?”
“I... no, not yet,” came the half hearted response. “I just... I could really use your help.”
“Okay, what do you need me to do Scarlett?”
“I need you to come over to America.”
“...”
Miki didn’t know how to respond to that, really. There had been times when she went from country to country on missions and everything, but most of the time that was done with a lot of preparation beforehand. To suddenly be asked to go to America for some as of yet unexplained reason was a bit much, wasn’t it?
“Miki?” Scarlett asked again on the other side of the phone connection.
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Huh?”
“I asked if you were fucking kidding me?”
Of course Scarlett wasn’t, she knew that much. She still had to ask, though. Just for her own sanity. She could easily go there, Orpheus had a couple of missions going on in her friend’s general direction anyway, but something was nagging at the back of her mind. Something she couldn’t quite put a finger on. As if something big was going to happen in Tokyo, Japan. Something she really didn’t want to miss.
However, when she heard Scarlett trying her hardest to subdue her tears she could feel her convictions waver.
“I... no, Scarlett, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to, look... just... let me get my belongings, okay? I think I can take one of the Initiative's carriers, so I’ll be there like... tomorrow. Just, don’t cry anymore, alright?”
“I’m sorry,” Scarlett responded, “for everything.”
“Don’t be,” Miki responded as she got up from the sofa and began making her way to her special ‘on-the-go’ backpack that kept most of her bare essentials in it just on the off chance she had to go somewhere in a hurry.
“I’ll let you know when I get there, okay?” she said as a kind of ‘farewell for now’ type of deal and, when she heard Scarlett’s confirmation on the other side of the phone she closed her cellphone and stepped out of her apartment.
Just before she turned the key to seal everything off, she hesitated for a moment.
Did I just hear my phone go off inside...?
Shaking her head at the thought, she turned the key around and made her way down a flight of stairs.