1.2 - Smells

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Houses fell along with the rest of the world. People had stopped screaming an hour back. This couldn’t be &*^%$. It couldn’t be. He was….Who was he? He instinctively walked-

-down the sakura filled road. The cold wrapping around his body, his scarf the only weapon against abrasive air. A purple haired girl walked ahead of him with a slight bounce in her step. He was %&^#$. He looked to his left with the sparkling ocean reflected the rays of-

-Swords. Countless swords. An endless forest of steel in every direction. He was $*^@#$ the embodiment of a world of-

He snapped awake, and sat up. The air was different, more open, instinctively rolled away from the spot he sat on trying to get his bearings.

The rooftop. He was about a foot away from the edge, but it was nice. Shirou closed his eyes to feel the fresh winds from the alleyway and the air above it flowed without obstructions or smell.

Except for that obnoxious Ramen one, an affront against-

“Oh, you’re awake.”

He looked around to find a face to match the voice. The same blonde twin tails, he had saved in the alleyway in a white tattered lab coat covering her faded orange shirt, peeked over the ledge of the building she was on. Piercing blue eyes he could make out from this distance, he wasn’t sure if eyes even got that colour.

“Don’t get up yet.” She hauled herself over where there weren’t any hand holds. He put his palm against the building-

-78 years...rter, concrete with a compressive strength at the age of 28 days not less than 2,000 p.s.i.s...fire escape to the right of your position, none on the opposite of where she is...cracked walls...30 meter climb-

How did she climb up here?

“I got some hot ramen and a heat compress.”

She passed them to me and I put them on.

“What’s your name?”

She looked down, “M-Miso Nakano.” She looked up at him, “What about you?”

His expression shifted for an instant, “Shirou.”

Curiously asked, “No last name?”

“I..” a flash of someone calling to him, “Don’t remember.”

“Oh, you have amnesia.”

“Hmm, something like that.”

“Mrs. Nakano could you-”

“My name is Miso!” The blonde twin tails shouted looking down in anger.

Shirou paused.

“Right, Miso could you tell me where I am.”

She pointed to the tall buildings, “You’re in New York.”

“New York...” It was an unfamiliar name on his tongue. Even stranger than the language he was speaking, because he was pretty sure he didn’t speak english this well, much less understand it. The skyscrapers themselves were more spread out and of vastly differing elevations as the sun peeked over the horizon giving everything a yellow hue.

She took a deep breath. “Did you...Can you see them?” She asked.

“What do you mean?”

“The...Monsters.”

“If you mean the dog that was about to attack. Yes.”

She hopped closer. “You can really see them.”

“Yes?”

“You’re not lying? You really, really saw them.” Staring him right in the eye.

Shirou had been unsure of everything and the sense of unease had honestly gotten stronger but he know this for certain. “A giant black dog was about to attack you and it burst into sand when I stabbed it with a pipe.”

“YES! I’m not crazy! Take that stupid old lady!” She jumped around in joy.

“Who are you talking about?”

“The dumb caretaker at the orphanage. Oh and then there’s also the police officer and a whole bunch of other people...None of them ever believed me.” She turned and looked at him, “You’re not lying right?”

“No.”

She got a giddy smile and went back to bouncing around.

Shirou couldn’t remember much, but he felt the existence of monsters was something normal. Not that he had any memory or impression of ever facing one.

“Do you know why they’re after you?

She stopped, “They always say that I would taste delicious or I was one of them or something. Or whatever would get them to eat me.” She stuck her tongue out, with a disgusted expression.

“I always got the better of them of course.” Finishing with a victory pose.

“What about your…Guardian?” delicately avoiding the potential landmines.

“You mean my parents?” there were none.

He blinked, “Yeah.”

“I never knew them, there was this random homeless guy that taught me how to read, make traps and stuff. He said he ‘fought in the Nom war’.”

“And you lived…” he looked around at the makeshift ‘house’. To be perfectly honest it was incredibly well built and structured even with it being made out of a random assortment of materials, “here?

“Yep!”

-On.

-touching it he could tell it hadn’t been destroyed, but the material had seen some use. A number of things here were brought from somewhere else.

Like the strange overhang, which had multiple nets below the ‘ceiling’ attached to hanging weights in each corner. There were a few harder to see traps involving fishing and steel wire. Both were lethal.

There were numerous other escape holes that could only be fit through by her, and few latches indicating the entire house itself was a collapsible trap. Deducing how intricately it had been built she had quite a bit of practise. With the recent monster attack, he deduced she must’ve had other bases.

“Have you always been attacked by monsters?”

“Since I could remember. No place ever lasted long because they would always smell me....” She turned to him, “Why did you help me?”

Shirou tilted his head in confusion, it was rather late to be asking this, “Because you were in trouble?”

“No I wasn’t, but even then, no one’s...You could’ve died.”

“You…” Shirou’s heart clenched in anger, he couldn’t express where it came from even as he kept his expression and mannerisms calm, “It’s never wrong to save people.”

“...Thank you,” she muttered, “But I would’ve been fine.” She looked away, “You can stay here until you’re better.”

Shirou nodded, but couldn’t help but feel there was something fundamentally wrong to leave Miso behind. He didn’t recognize this city, or how he got here, but he knew he couldn’t stand by and do nothing.

“Miso if you want-” The wind picked up and when he inhaled-

-Leaves, roots, wood, branches spearing through meat...fear, hunger, exertion-

Shirou snapped his heard around in the direction of the sharp scent. He rubbed his nose just to see if there wasn’t anything wrong with it.

“What’s wrong?” Miso looked at him in concern.

It was the same smell he got when he had found her.

“Monster.”

Her eyes widened, “We need move-”

“And someone running from it.”

“Then what are you waiting for!? Let’s go!”

Her face was terribly close to his, something about her seemed familiar and it made want to push her away. But his hands grew weak when her hopeful blue eyes earnestly gazed into his amber ones. She knew what it was like.

How long has she been going to people for help only to be dismissed as a child calling wolf as real monsters hunted her.

No, he would not allow this to go on any further. A desire rose within him.

A desire to be a hero