4 - Good Days

“Do you want anything else?” Oskar asked. “Maybe something more to drink?”

“Nah, I’m good.” Ausra replied. “Are the two lovebirds doing fine?”

“Yeah. Better than ever.” Oskar said, pulling up a picture on his phone. “This is them taking pics outside in the moonlight... and right next to a confidential military base.”

“They look fresher than ever.” Ausra sighed. “Ah, just the fact that I don’t have to worry about that girl anymore...she’s in safe hands now.”

“You’re not the only one thinking that way.” Oskar said. “I’m just glad Sakuto got his shit together.”

“It was pretty bad, huh?”

“Yeah. It got pretty damn bad.” Oskar said.

The restaurant was busy that night. Most tables were filled to the brim, and the distinct sounds of their chatter and silverware cluttering made for some great background noise. They sat together by one of the dark brown tables, on those oversized and somehow uncomfortable wooden chairs that should all be burnt.

“Hey, you two are already here.” Dima said, approaching them. An awkward silence followed. Aside from his bringing his traitorous self, he brought his girlfriend along too.

“I thought I told you that meeting up with us isn’t the best idea.” Ausra said.

“It’s not that deep, Ausra.” Dima said. “We can just get some good food like we always used to, you know, when the group was still together-”

“What were you doing once Hayk died?” Ausra asked. “Where did you go? Why didn’t you contact us?”

“Had to lay low for a while. Let’s leave soulful business out of this conversation, alright?” Dima said. “I’d like to introduce you guys to my partner. Her name’s Ana. Ana, these are two old friends of mine.”

The girl seemed genuinely confused, but she looked like a decent person. She had neatly organized blonde hair and a pair of shy blue eyes. She waved to them and took a seat, as if feeling embarrassed for something she didn’t even know about.

“What a great life you live, Dima.” Ausra said. “Running away with the girl of your dreams, leaving everything behind. Ana, if you were to take my advice, you’d leave this asshole.”

“Why the hell do you have a hate boner for me?” Dima asked, slightly raising his voice and abruptly sitting down.

“Hey, keep your tone down.” Oskar noted. Dima followed the warning.

“I’m sorry, uhh...Dima? Is there...something I don’t know about?” Ana asked, still as confused as ever.

“Let’s get to know each other first.” Ausra said. “I’m Ausra, and the guy with me is Oskar, and we’re part of the ‘didn’t bail out on Hayk the moment things got difficult’ group.”

“Dima?” Ana asked, waiting for any type of response.

“If you think I was going to let this soulful bullshit break down my relationship or even worse, separate one of us from life together, you’d be dead wrong.” Dima said, slowly losing his temper. “I wanted out of this mess more than anyone. I had things to lose.”

“As if we didn’t?” Ausra yelled, her soul presence jumping up to a much higher level. It felt that she was ready to turn the calm dinner into a destructive confrontation with zero cares given.

“Hey, Sakuto’s calling.” Oskar said. “What’s the bet that it’s the both of them?”

“Both?” Dima asked. “What, that guy ended up with Ichika? Really?”

“You seem surprised.” Oskar said, answering the phone. “Hey, you two. How’s things? We’re at a public space and you’re on speaker, so please don’t yell anything that might get me arrested.”

“Makes me wanna do it even more.” Sakuto laughed. “What’s up? How’s life?”

“Living good. We’re actually at a restaurant.”

“What, you and Ausra?”

“Yeah. Dima is with us too, with his girlfriend. Here.” Oskar turned the phone around. “You can say hi to them.”

“Does ‘can’ imply that I don’t have to?” Sakuto asked. “Hey, Dima... been a while.”

Dima didn’t reply with anything, he just stared at the phone. Ana, however, still disoriented, waved a little.

“My God, she looks like she’s being held hostage.” Sakuto said. “Hey, blink twice if he’s kidnapping you, three times if he didn’t tell you that he’s a coward.”

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“Dima, what’s going on? What are all these people saying?” Ana asked, starting to lose her temper. “What’s-”

“Hey!!!” Ichika yelled, running into the camera with excitement. “Ausra, we gotta talk later, I have so much to- oh...who’s this? Dima?”

“So y’all ended up together after all?” Dima asked.

“Yeah. Been happy ever since.” Sakuto replied. “You don’t look too happy though.”

“Sakuto.” Oskar said, turning the camera towards him. “I got the details regarding whatever the hell you guys gotta do in Warsaw and Prague. We’ll talk about it with the four of us later.”

“Okay. Then I’ll call later.”

“No, you’ll stay in the call. My food’s gonna arrive soon.” Oskar said.

“You...want me to stay on call so that I can watch you eat food?” Sakuto asked. “Do you have a cognitive impairment?”

“No, I just wanna eat food.” Oskar said. He kept eyeing the waiters, carefully trying to remind them of his order. But sadly for him, strength as a soulful did not determine the amount of time he had to wait to get his food. So they all sat in silence, that was, until Sakuto spoke up again through the phone.

“Hey pussy, are you still there?”

“Who are you-” Oskar tried to question that sentence, but the person it was aimed at was already in route to respond.

“What the hell do you want from me?” Dima said, standing up. “Ana, we’re leaving.” He grabbed Ana by her arm and essentially dragged her out of the restaurant.

“See, I told you it looked like a kidnapping.” Sakuto said. “Are you sure she isn’t on a missing people list?”

“She’s just an average, normal girl.” Oskar sighed. “She has no idea what we’re even talking about. I’ll go get him. Ichika, keep Ausra busy, alright?”

“Dude, why aren’t you just letting go of him?” Sakuto asked. “He could very well be a spy. Stabbed our back once, won’t stop him from stabbing it twice.”

“Oh come on. We’ve known each other for a while.” Oskar said. “He’s my friend.”

“Your ‘friend’ is an indecisive pussy.” Sakuto sighed. Ichika was behind him, like a wolf waiting to attack its prey, ready to snatch the phone when the opportunity arose and talk for hours on end with Ausra regarding her day and experiences. Sakuto didn’t complain when that happened though, he found it cute.

Outside the restaurant, by the street, Dima lit a cigarette. He smoked less and less during the course of the war, but recently picked up the habit again. Oskar approached him and sat down on the lonely wooden bench.

“So what was that about?” Dima asked.

“You can’t blame them for not being friends with you.” Oskar asked. “I mean really. You basically just ran away. We could’ve used your help quite a lot during the war.”

“Oh believe me, I was involved in the war.”

“On whose side?”

“...”

“Dima, whose side were you on?” Oskar asked again.

“A third party.” Dima replied. “Not affiliated with the GSC, potentially affiliated with Otto Richter.”

“Otto Richter, huh? You’re lucky that Sakuto doesn’t know about this.” Oskar said, lighting a cigarette himself. “You know, he’s pretty strong now. He’d probably try to kill you.”

“And why the hell is that?!”

“Cause Otto Richter killed his older brother.” Oskar said, inhaling the smoke. “And Hayk too. And you allied with him, huh?”

“I didn’t know that the group I was working with was allied with Otto Richter, alright? I left them as soon as I found out.” Dima complained.

“And what about the mission to retrieve the soul crystal? I tried calling you, you know?” Oskar asked. “With your soul expression, it would’ve been a walk in the park. So just be honest with me, what do you want in life?”

“I just want to live in peace.” Dima said. “You know, like, on autopilot. I wanted to live a peaceful life, but I couldn’t. You know, I really, really don’t feel like there’s anything good about being a soulful in this world.”

“And what about it?”

“I’m calling quits. I called quits right before the crystal incident.” Dima said. “I’m gonna find someone that can erase all my records and pry my stupid soul out of my body. I’ll just live a normal life for as long as I can.”

“While you’re aware that the GSC has some...plans regarding the world?” Oskar asked.

“There’s nothing I can do about it, sadly. I’d rather enjoy what time I have left than try and sacrifice myself and leave someone like Ana alone.” Dima said. “I just wanna be done with this shit.”

“Really?”

“I'd rather live as a soulless and be happy than be a soulful and go through this shit.” Dima said. “I’m not the only one who suffers because of this.”

“Well, that’s your choice I guess.” Oskar said, standing up and tossing his cigarette into the trash. “I just don’t want you to regret these decisions.”

“I doubt I will.” Dima said, also standing up.

“I... don’t know what type of life path you’re choosing, Dima.” Oskar sighed. “Just... I don’t know, man. Nothing comes to mind. Can’t give you any advice.”

“You don’t have to.” Dima said. “Just having this conversation with you helped me quite a bit.”

“Just... be careful, alright?” Oskar said. “Plenty of monsters lurking around.”

“You’re right. And it’s not like I’m fit for combat either.” Dima said. “Gotta be honest, I don’t think I can properly use my soul expression anymore. Must’ve gotten rusty.”

“I’ll go back to Ausra now.” Oskar said. “Take care, Dima.”

“You too. I guess I’ll have to take care of Ana too. It’s fine, I’ll take her to a concert and she’ll be head over heels for me as if nothing happened.”

Oskar looked at Dima with a hint of sorrow in his eyes, and left him. Dima finished his smoke, tossed it on the ground, and walked away.

“There’s only one place I can go to if I want some type of answer to my problem.”

“There’s gotta be a faction with someone who can help me out.”

“To just help me escape.”

“I’ve got money. A lot of money, in fact. I just wanna get out and live the rest of my life in peace.”

He looked up to the sky. For him, the moon was hidden away.

“I guess I’ll have to head to Prague.”

“There’s some pretty nonstandard soulfuls there...”

“I wonder how Mukawa is doing, though...”