‘Whistle while you work.’ It was more than just a silly saying, it was a way of life for Zoe Khatoran. A song in one’s heart made the day brighter, the work lighter, and the world righter. The proof is in the pudding as they say; she was convinced the tunes constantly on her lips had at least a little to do with the kaleidoscope of floral blooms that surrounded her. Sure, most people scoffed at the notion that music would have any affect whatsoever on plant growth; but whether they were right or wrong, Zoe felt like the luckiest girl in Japan to be able to share her peculiar brand of happiness with such an attentive audience.
Her employer, Mr. Satoaki, definitely did not share her enthusiasm but at least he tolerated her particular quirks. It was hard to argue with results; Zoe was without question the most competent employee the old man had ever hired.
With a large tin watering can in her right hand and a straw broom in her left, the foreigner sashayed through the flower shop, personally seeing to each of her charge’s needs with a drink of water, a radiant smile, and/or a few cheerful notes, whatever was called for. The floor was always spick-and-span, since very few particles of dirt or dust ever escaped the diligent, dusky-skinned woman’s attention for long.
‘Huh, that was odd,’ Zoe thought, peeking out of the shop’s front window. The grey tomcat that was always sitting on the fire escape across from the shop was gone. Off to find a bit of fish, she mused. Or perhaps he wandered off to find a lady cat. She mentally wished the feline the best of luck on its assuredly exciting adventure and turned her back to the storefront as she made her way towards a pot of particularly violet crocuses that she felt could benefit from an extra sip.
Before she could reach her destination, wooden floorboards beneath her sandals began to tremble and the daylight streaming in from behind her dimmed ominously. The tune on her lips began to falter as she turned around slowly, hoping to see that the sun had just decided to play hide-and-seek with a particularly dark rain cloud. Her eyes widened and her half-full watering can hit the ground with a loud clang as she struggled to figure out what it was she was actually seeing.
Before a swirling, dark mass of hair, eyes, and teeth ran two figures: an attractive young man and a girl wearing a fedora of all things. It was curious how in the midst of the oncoming chaos a detail like the unusual nature of the girl’s hat would stand out so clearly. The man reached the door to the shop first and held it open as his partner dove inside. With the door open Zoe could hear a cacophony of growling, hissing noises, punctuated by the sound of tearing fabric as the man pulled the door closed behind him and locked it. The back of his shirt was torn to shreds by several long, painful-looking slash marks.
“W-Welcome to Satoaki’s Flow-“ Zoe began to say nervously, but was quickly cut off as the girl bounded to her feet.
“Catnip! Do you have any?” she asked. Maybe Zoe was crazy, but it seemed to her almost like the newcomer was more excited than terrified.
“Third shelf, over there,” Zoe indicated by pointing. The blonde girl rushed over and took two small, hand-sized pots with the herbs off the shelf, then rushed back towards the door. Halfway there, her leg shot out in front of her as it slipped on the pool of water from Zoe’s dropped watering can. The girl went up vertically into the air before landing on her back with a loud thud, but the two plants continued their forward trajectory as they sailed through the air towards the door. Her partner nimbly caught both pots, then dumped their contents out through the door’s mail slot.
Immediately the terrifying noises from the chaos outside grew louder, so loud that Zoe strained to hear her own thoughts. Even though the door was closed, it sounded like the two newcomers had dropped a microphone connected to an amplifier out through the slot instead. The crazed, bloodcurdling yelping continued for what seemed like an eternity, but in reality less than ten seconds later the sound began to abate quickly. A few moments later, the sun shone back through the store’s windows as mass of animals had completely disappeared.
“W-What in the he-“
For the second time in less than a minute, Zoe was cut off by the girl bouncing up to her feet. This time instead of a question she had an announcement. “My name is Yukiko Kuwabara, and I’m on a case.”
Sound returned first. A low, thrumming hum that she couldn’t identify but that sounded machine-generated. She thought she heard the sound of conversation as well, but it was too muffled to make out… and it sounded wrong.
Dizziness… mental disorientation… an incomplete short-term memory… Hanae Ikina had just enough puzzle pieces to assemble a rough jigsaw picture of her situation. She had been knocked out, and was just now regaining consciousness. As soon as she identified the state of affairs, the proper course of action immediately leapt to mind: ‘Play Dead.’ Not dead as in deceased, but give her captors (she could feel that her ankles and wrists were bound in some manner, so she was definitely a prisoner) absolutely no sign that she was awake and alert.
As luck would have it, her patience paid off. There were at least two different voices speaking in the room, and neither of them appeared to have any concern about having a discussion in front of their unconscious prisoner.
“Mrrrow. This human was strrrrong. We had to use fourrrr puppets to subdue herrrr,” said a low yet female voice.
“Should we contrrrrol her too then? She would be verrrry useful.” The second voice also belonged to a female, although this one sounded higher-pitched and younger.
The first voice replied at first with nothing more than a long, low purr. “No, not yet. We still have otherrrr priorrrrities and not enough contrrrrol units. Besides, it will be morrrre fun to find out what she knows with an interrrrogation.”
Both voices purred in approval with the last statement, and even though Hanae could not risk opening an eye for a peek, she felt strangely certain that the both of her captors were grinning quite viciously.
Mon Dec 10 01:07:54 2012
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