Sleepless Night

Written by Avarice Aeon

The ramen shop in the Kitamuro shopping district is rather hidden, but the cook is a master at what he does. Within this little restaurant tucked away in the corner of an alleyway are two vigilantes, waiting for their food after a fairly boring day of sending criminals to prison. Their names were Ryukari and Fio, an inseparable pair of best friends that clean up the streets of Ralaneas from organized crime. Despite being the only ones in the shop, the bowls were taking just a bit longer than usual to prepare, mostly because Ryukari requested extra ingredients in her order. She browsed the news on her phone with a large grin on her face while Fio sat in silence, eyeing the bottle of soy sauce on their counter.

“Hey, Fio, you gotta hear this!” She shoved the phone into her line of sight. “This mage back in Benito was about to meet his end at the hands of some cult leader or whatever, the big muscular guy over there, right? The guy went off on this huge monologue on how ‘he can’t do anything without a proper mana supply’ or whatever and POW! The mage just pulled out a pistol and shot him in the face! What a way to prepare! Ahaha...he’s on trial for murder.”

Fio, not even flinching at her friend’s last-minute tonal shift into black comedy, continued to fixate on the soy sauce bottle.

“...Fio, I know you’re great at stabbing things with knives and all, but that soy sauce doesn’t really deserve to have daggers stared into it. Are you just that hungry?”

The little ninja sighed.

“Well, the guy’s done anyway. He knows how you like your ramen, so eat up, yeah?”

With the bowls of ramen finally complete, Fio stopped threatening the life of a soy sauce bottle and proceeded to chow down. Even with all the extra ingredients, Ryukari was halfway done with devouring her meal in a matter of minutes before noticing her friend’s solemn expression as she slowly poked at her noodles.

“What’s wrong? You usually scarf that down when we eat here. C’moooon, a shortie like you needs food to grow!” she said with a brief, yet forced giggle.

“...I’m not hungry.”

“...Oh.” she said with a light tinge of worry. Having known each other throughout their entire life, Ryukari and Fio have grown to perfectly understand how the other feels, even without speaking. “Well...we can’t just waste perfectly good ramen. Want me to have it?”

She nodded.

“...Okay, thanks.” Ryukari wolfed down the rest of her ramen before taking Fio’s bowl. Thankfully, it was still a little warm when she started eating. As she did this, Fio pulled out an ornate dagger with a blue blade and gazed into it silently. Not another word was exchanged between the duo, a sight that the shop owner was not used to, especially with how talkative Ryukari could get. When both bowls were empty, the two of them paid their bill and disappeared into the night.

The vigilantes arrived at a small apartment that they call home. It was rather small, consisting of one rectangular living space, a bathroom, and a single bedroom with a bunk bed positioned in the corner. With one stomach filled, they took their baths, went off to their beds and called it a night. Thirty minutes later, however, Ryukari noticed that the bed above her began to toss and turn more than it usually does. Knowing that neither of them will be able to sleep like this, Ryukari stepped off her bed to take a peek at the one above her. Her concern became justified upon seeing Fio squirming in a cold sweat, her sheathed ceremonial dagger clutched in her right hand.

Ryukari lightly shook her awake. “Fio! Fio!”

“Aah!” the small ninja cried out as she jolted back into consciousness. She sat up, mildly hyperventilating as though she had seen one of her greatest fears.

“Fio, it’s just me. You’ve been tossing yourself around in your sleep…”

Fio said nothing. She simply looked down at her dagger in an attempt to calm down and fix her breathing.

“This has been happening for a while now...you’ve somehow been quieter than you usually are. You can talk to me, you know. I know you better than anyone else.”

Fio began to normalize her breathing. “I...I’m sorry. I can’t rest.” She looked out into the small window by her bed.

“Fio...what do you see when you sleep?”

Fio looked back down at her dagger.

“...Fio.” Ryukari repeated. “What do you see in your sleep?”

Having known her throughout her entire life, Fio knew that Ryukari wasn’t going to give up on something like this. Not when a friend is bothered by something. “...I see faces.”

“Faces?”

“I see the faces of men and women. Their ghosts in all sorts of forms and colors. When I close my eyes to fall asleep, their spirits surround me, cursing my name for killing them. Their lives, what they could have done, all their lost wishes, I hear them all. I never forget the face of someone I’ve murdered. And for a while now, especially lately, I’ve been haunted by more and more spirits.” She unsheathed the dagger’s blade ever so slightly, its blue blade softly shining against the pale moon outside. “I do not regret killing many of these people, however. In truth, they were still people I felt had to be stopped. But I didn’t have to kill them all. You’ve stopped me from murdering many people, but not all of them.”

Ryukari remained silent, letting her friend pour out her feelings until she was done.

“There aren’t a lot of things I’m afraid of. You know that better than anyone.” Fio’s hand began to quiver, a sight rarely seen by her friend.

“Ryukari.”

“Yes…?”

“I’m not afraid of going to hell. I already know I’ll end up there even if the Gods decide to forgive me. What I’m afraid of is seeing the people I’ve killed come to greet me once again.” She was quiet for a brief moment. “Ryu. Be honest. God or not...after everything I’ve done and everything I will do...do you think someone out there would still think I’m human?”

Ryukari embraced Fio, not knowing what else to do. Though she did not return the favor, a single tear fell from Fio’s cheeks. “You might think God will turn his back on you, but the Vigil and I won’t. You and I have been through a lot together. If anything, I’d dig my way down to hell to meet you. If they do decide to haunt you for the rest of your afterlife, I’d at least wanna help you shove them back.” She let her go and proceeded to head back to her own bed. “I can’t stop your nightmares, Fio. Hell, I don’t even know a guy that can. But I think that the fact you’re thinking about this means you’re still you. Sometimes I get scared that you’ll just be consumed by all the killing to the point where even I can’t stop you. That I’d lose my best friend right then and there, and no amount of remembering happy memories would save you. But I guess this proves you’re still human after all, huh?”

Fio stared at her in silence.

“Ah, s-sorry. That came out kinda rude…” Ryukari said, forcing a laugh. “Hey, I bet you’ll still be extra hungry in the morning. Whaddya say we go chow down on something before work? Your choice!”

Fio simply nodded and tucked herself back into bed. She placed her dagger by her pillow, apparently comforted by suggestion.

“...Sleep well.”

Ryukari climbed down the bunk bed and wrapped herself in her blanket. Silence once again filled the room as the night continued. Some time after Ryukari began to grow drowsy, she heard a soft whisper from the bed above her.

“Thank you.”

With no further noises to interrupt the night, the duo drifted off into sleep.

The ramen shop in the Kitamuro shopping district is rather hidden, but business can really boom in the afternoon if the owner gets lucky. Within this little restaurant tucked away in the corner of an alleyway are two vigilantes named Ryukari and Fio, waiting for their food to finish before starting a long day of fighting criminals. Ryukari browsed the news on her phone while Fio gazed into her ornate dagger once again.

“Hmm...hey, Fio, check this out.” She shoved the phone in front of her face, breaking Fio’s contact with the dagger’s blue blade. “That ‘Karpist’ kingdom or whatever is repairing itself pretty quickly after descending into anarchy for a while! Isn’t it kinda surprising that people can fix things in like two weeks? Man, people are amazing, huh? Do you think they got some wizard to do it all or what?”

“You have the news article right there, Ryu, you can at least get it right. It says the kingdom was called Carus.”

“Oh yeah…”

“And I don’t think they got a wizard. A wizard would have just mind-controlled everyone into acting like nothing was wrong.”

“Huh. Never thought about it that way.” Just as Ryukari finished speaking, two bowls of ramen were placed in front of the duo.

“This one’s mine,” said Fio. “thank you.”

The chef looked a little perplexed. “Wow, missie. It’s been a while since I’ve heard you talk this much. Something nice happen?”

“No.” She slurped up some noodles from her bowl before adjusting her scarf and looking at the blade of her dagger once more. A faint, yet obvious smile grew on Fio’s face, though it was somewhat obscured by her hand. She sheathed the blade and ate the rest of her meal quickly after noticing that Ryukari was already finishing her broth. With their stomachs full, the vigilante duo paid their bill and set off to hunt for gang members. Fio stored her dagger in one of her pouches before marching off into the street with Ryukari at her side. One look at the city and they knew they’d be getting into a lot of fights today. Fio steeled herself once more.

For she knew that once the sun set, she would have a long night ahead of her.