K – Seven Stories - Chapter 4

K ~ Seven Stories: 24 Pieces

Piece 4: Miwa Ichigen (Destiny)

by Azano Kouhei

“To be honest, I was surprised,” Miwa told his impression without any artifice.

“About what?” his decade-long friend – and calling him that to his face felt both deadingly incredible and embarrassing – Kokujouji Daikoku asked back in a low voice.

“The meeting earlier. That was likely my first time seeing you as amused as you were during it.”

“Amused… Is that what it looked like?”

“Yes, it looked like you were having a hearty laugh.”

“Hmph.” At Miwa’s remark, Kokujouji stroked his chin beneath a well-maintained white beard. His eyes narrowed, as if he recalled the scene he had witnessed earlier. “That was… Well. Maybe I was laughing at my own pettiness.”

Miwa’s eyes flew wide open at the unexpected answer.

Kokujouji, on the other hand, curled his lips daringly. “No matter what the likes of me may do or how much they may fear it, the red and the blue ended up clashing yet again. I’m now sure the concept of a “king” is not something human intellect can truly comprehend. And when I think about it, my own pettiness of calling myself a leader becomes apparent… or rather, being a king who cannot escape that kind of pettiness starts feeling oddly thrilling.“

“A mischievous twist of fate at play? Or, perhaps, this, too, is but the Dresden Slate’s designs?”

“If that thing does have a mind, I sure wish to have a talk with it. I have an endless list of complaints to make, after all.”

The last part, Miwa wholeheartedly agreed with.

The red and the blue were about to start weaving their destiny anew. Just where would it take them? And what meaning would it have?

Miwa smiled a calm, gentle smile and, unusually for him, recited a tanka in a joking manner, “What thoughts, carved into stone, with what intention…”

Having listened to it, Kokujouji shrugged. “..I wish to know, I wish to know not.”