For a moment both of them didn't say a word. They just stood there staring at each other as if the other wasn't supposed to be here.
"What....are you doing here?" Kiyo asked hesitantly.
"I thought you wouldn't come, that's why.....I came." Kashime's gaze flickered between Kiyo and the ground, restlessly.
A pause.
"Are...you still living in Kaatoumo?" Kiyo didn't move forward. They were still in their positions without even trying to move from there, while Lights passed by beside them.
"Umm." Kashime nodded in response. She just couldn't find what to say, what words were accurate.
"You can go and take the wages." Kiyo shifted away from Kashime, adjusted her scarf, and started moving.
Kashime moved her gaze toward Kiyo. A strange kind of suffocation was building inside her.
Her hand reached forward then fell back. She wanted to reach out, didn't want to let this moment go to waste. Then she made a decision, shut her eyes forcefully and opened them again.
"Mother!!"
Kiyo paused. Her veins went still. The Lights around them glanced at them but didn't pay much attention.
"Sorry." Kashime's voice was barely audible. Kiyo shifted toward Kashime. Kashime met her gaze even though her mind was pushing her to stop looking into Kiyo's eyes. She didn't follow it. She met her gaze, fully ready to face whatever response came from Kiyo.
As soon as the realisation that Kashime was doing all this in a crowd sank into Kiyo's mind,
"Okay, we will talk about it. Come with me." The awkwardness pushed Kiyo to at least talk to Kashime about the things both of them were holding.
Kashime followed Kiyo away from the Sold Area. She wanted to spit out everything and feel relieved no matter what the response would be.
"Okay, what do you want?" She swung toward Kashime, irritably.
"I don't want anything."
"Then why are you causing all the problems?" Kiyo's gaze didn't soften.
Kiyo didn't have to tell Kashime that. She already believed it.
"I know, but if it's because I call you..."
A pause.
"Sister? I will stop. I just don't want things to stay messy."
"I can't pretend to be fine anymore. It's tiring, it's exhausting, worse than anything." She said it. Her reaction? There was nothing—absolutely nothing. The nights' memories when she felt restless, when she couldn't shut her mind even though she wanted it to.
Kiyo didn't respond. She never wanted her to feel that way. Now she was trying to avoid Kashime's gaze when Kashime wanted her to look into her eyes, look at her restlessness.
"No one..." Kashime cut herself off, turned left. Kiyo's gaze followed her, then Kashime turned to Kiyo again. "No one stopped me when I was pretending. I wanted them to notice. No one did."
"I don't want any sister. I don't need any. If me calling you 'sister' bothers you, I will stop."
For a moment no one spoke between Kashime and Kiyo. She had poured everything she was holding, not because she wanted to but because she couldn't keep pretending anymore.
"You don't have to." Kiyo's voice was barely above a whisper.
"I hadn't intended to learn the habit of calling you 'sister'. It's just that's how I am." Kashime didn't even listen to Kiyo's words. She was lost in her own sorrow. "Nor had I wanted to lose my position as 'Village Head'."
A pause.
"It's almost funny, you know." Kashime added with a smile, before it faded deliberately.
Kiyo didn't speak. She opened her mouth to do so but the words didn't come.
"I want to live with brother and you." Kashime's words left her throat before she could process them.
"You aren't living with your father." Kiyo refused without a second thought, her voice turning serious all of a sudden.
"Why? Since I became 'Head' you never let me come home."
"Your father doesn't want you to see him....I forgive you but he....didn't. That's why." Kiyo said abruptly as her voice cracked.
"I didn't even see him since that day. I don't even know how he looks. Please, let me come." She took a step forward. Kashime's mind was torn between crying out or staying numb.
"You aren't seeing that psycho." Kiyo clutched instinctively.
What if you tell everyone what happened to him.
Kiyo stepped forward as the thought appeared in her mind.
"I forgive you. Just don't ask me to allow you to come home." Kiyo tightened her fists.
Kashime felt relieved and unhappy at the same time. She wanted to see her father, unaware of his condition.
"I won't take the wages. I don't want them. I don't need them. You can take them and use them however you want." She pulled her blue card that had a bolt sign on it from the pocket of her coat and handed it to Kiyo. Kiyo didn't respond even when Kashime started heading back to Heavenly Kaatoumo.
Kiyo and Kashime went their different ways, Kashime back to Kaatoumo, Kiyo to take the wages, processing everything that had just happened.
Kashime reached the gates of Kaatoumo. She stopped and started to wipe her face properly as if nothing had happened.
She pushed the gates open, entering inside.
"Didn't you bring the wages?" Flint asked as soon as Kashime entered.
Kashime paused, realising she had forgotten to take Flint's wages.
"I forgot, sorry."
"You had told me that you would bring them by yourself." He stood up from the chair.
"You didn't even bring yours too." Asami asked, who was sitting in front of the door.
"I...I met sister. She will take the wages." Kashime said hesitantly.
"Such a wise woman with such a good memory." Akarum remarked sarcastically. He never changes.
"Right." Kashime responded, heading inside.
"That's new coming from you. You accepted. You should have gotten irritated. My plan failed." Akarum said once again sarcastically.
"She's gotten used to you." Asami commented. Kashime didn't respond. She went inside, then stopped and turned behind.
"Is there something to eat in the kitchen? I am hungry."
"There is, made by me." Akarum smirked, posing himself as noble.
"Alright." She headed inside afterward.