| Hotaru Nakamura |
| Interactions: --- |
The sun stood up and stared down over the earth, glaring intensely at the metal on the vehicle. Trees waved and fluttered around, the wind forced its leaves to pick up with faltering strength. Bystanders would simply swat the blinding light being reflected away and watch as the yellow cab trail away into a one way street. Vendors and glass shopping civilians would take no notice and continue on with their separate lives. The car rocked itself to sleep with a turn of a key, the driver turned his head and pivoted his torso to the left. He held his nose high and kept his gaze towards the customer. She was like a wilting flower with a bright green steam, preserved and nostalgic at the same time. The driver cleared his throat to catch the dying flower's attention,
"Ahem....miss?"
The response was a slight stir, strengthening the man's first thoughts about her being preserved. She had knocked on the window of his car just an hour ago and handed him an address. Half time she spent the trip looking out the window, the other half she had spent it sleeping. The girl did not look drowsy as he would have expected, what unnerved him was her continuous stare,
"We are at the town, should I drop you off here or further in?"
The woman raised her wrist and rubbed under her eye,
"Up to the address, if you would." In a modulated tone she spoke, her words were unlike of a foreigner, choppy and decisive. Now was a chance for the driver to spark a conversation with her,
"Are you from here? Or are you from England?" The girl turned her head back to the window,
"America." The driver let out a shaky laugh from her deadpanned voice,
"Sorry, I can't tell the difference."
She exhaled through her nose and closed her eyes,
"Slow the car." The cab driver looked up at the mirror to glance at her. The dark haired girl was resting her head on her hand, with her eyes closed it appeared like she was sleeping. The driver wondered if she meant to slow the cab down or to stop. Just as his foot reached the breaks, a dark figure darted across the road. In the midst of panic, the man slammed his foot on the breaks. A young girl came running across the road after the dark figure, behind her was a dog barking at the vehicle as it ran past,
"Fuck, that was close." The man quickly cleared his throat of any more swears,
"Hey! Don't cross the road!" He poked his head out of the car and yelled at the child who was far gone from his sight,
"Are you okay?" He looked up at the rear view mirror.
"Fine. Did she get the cat?" The elderly man frowned a bit, he wondered how she saw all that in the panic,
"I didn't see.." Her eyes fluttered open,
"It's alright." She knew that the dog caught up to the cat before it landed into anymore problems. The cat was, however, not happy to see the canine by the way it's heart was pumping more blood. The automobile slowly started back up and rolled into streets, slower than before. The car quickly rolls up to large estate.
She propped open the door and grabbed her groceries, once she exited she balanced herself by holding two bags in each hand. The younger of the two looked down at the ground, stiffing a yawn,
"How much?" It was a long ride, the price wasn't going to be cheap, especially since she had taken a cab from the city to the suburbs. The cab driver could just predict her being a dine and dash once she heard the amount,
"¥16,335..."
The young woman placed her bags down and pulled her wallet out. With a click of her mouth, the girl pulled out two 1,000 bills, a 5,000 bill, and a 10,000 bill. She folded the bills up and placed them on the man's hand, without waiting for her change she shut the passenger door close. The driver called after her, but she simply ignored his cries for change back. Her hair slipped from her high bun as she crouched down to pick up her groceries. She started making her way up a long stone staircase, at the peak would be a large inn overseeing the town, standing tall for tourists to come and stay for a while. By the inn was a shrine dedicated to Buddha, the bells in the temple echoed in the deep green forests around her.
"Hotaru..?" She blinked up to the voice. An elderly woman stared down from the top step, Hotaru quickened her pace up the stairs to be on the same ground as the woman. Hotaru lugged the bags towards the inn, her relative began to shoot off a few questions about her travel,
"Was it safe? You didn't spend more than we gave you, did you? The people didn't give you trouble did they?" Hotaru nodded and shook her head to receive the most positive response from her brother's mother-in-law. The elderly woman sighed and held her hand out. Hotaru pressed her lips to a straight line,
"In a moment, let me just put the offerings inside the shrine."
"I don't want the oil to burn just yet." Hotaru sighed, pulled her wallet out, and handed it to her. She picked her bags of offerings up and dragged it to the shrine. The elderly woman walked back into the inn leaving the young girl to her chore. Hotaru walked into the shrine, her footsteps echoed as she placed the food on the large bench. She closed her eyes and made a small prayer for the luck of it,
"...taru....Hotaru!" She glanced back to see a young girl in red and white,
"There's something happening on the TV!" Voices of guests and her family members yelled from inside the inn.
Not good...
She held her hand out for the little girl to take, tiny fingers wrapped around her index finger as they made their way to the inn. People were crowded around the television, foreigners stood closer to the walls feeling uncomfortable. Their minds were filled with worry about leaving the country without being labeled as a terrorist. Though they couldn't understand the words being spoken on the visual box, the images were plain to see that this wasn't going to end well. Hotaru stared for a moment before realizing that she should help the tourist as the only translator around the large inn,
"The TV....it's an accident so far. Fatalities haven't been confirmed just yet."
A loud sob echoed the room, the children suddenly broke down from seeing some of the adults crying. Her grandpa stared angrily at the television,
"Damn thing is just the beginning. For all we know this could be another hoax." Hotaru neared the box and frowned at the images being replayed over and over. She turned her head,
"Mind if I record this?"