X character file: Seishirou Sakurazuka. * Monologue. SEISHIROU I found an old comb this morning. A red comb. The comb belonging to the one who gave birth to me. The comb that always used by the person I used to call Mother. She was like a girl. Small red lips that looked like they were dyed with flowers, and long black hair...... I think she was a beautiful person. Her white skin color is still a vivid memory. White skin. Colored by red, of blood. Mother, in my memory, is always coupled with the smell of blood. My mother was the Sakurazukamori. The one before me. I wonder how old she was. I still am not completely sure. The one that always smiled quietly forever seemed to be a young girl. I first met her when I was nine. It was winter. I do not know where she was until then. I was born in Kanazawa, and Mother was in Tokyo. As long as I can remember, I had never thought of wanting to meet my mother. I have no interest in who gave birth to me, nor who my father is. It doesn't matter. Mother was in a traditional Japanese house in the outskirts of Tokyo. Deep inside a vast one-story mansion. In a dark room where the sun never shone. A room lined with bars. In retrospect, I guess that was a prison-room. A prison to enclose the girl that was my mother. When we first met, the girls smiled suggestively and said. "You're my child." Nobody told me, but those words felt right to me. When I answered yes, she pressed her red lips against my cheek, laughed joyfully, and said again. * Drama. SETSUKA I will be killed by you. A dark Japanese-style room. Iron bars surround the room like a prison cell. Faint candlelight. Next to the light are Seishirou's mother "Setsuka" and a junior-high-school aged Seishirou. SEISHIROU You look like you are having fun, Mother. With a smile like a young girl, Setsuka leans against Seishirou. Giggles and puts her hand against Seishirou's cheek. SETSUKA Because you came, Seishirou. Setsuka, with a smile. SETSUKA See, my kimono with designs of winter camellias. They said you were coming today, so I wore this for the first time. SEISHIROU Beautiful. SETSUKA Really? SEISHIROU Really. SETSUKA Me or the kimono? SEISHIROU You, of course. Setsuka happily embraces Seishirou. SETSUKA Seishirou... I love you. SEISHIROU Me? Love? SETSUKA Yes. I love you. Setsuka smiles her usual suggestive smile. SETSUKA But you don't think anything of me, Seishirou. I know. SEISHIROU Is that so? SETSUKA It is. Well, it's true, right? Can you disagree? SEISHIROU I wonder. SETSUKA You can't. Setsuka laughs again. SETSUKA You're so honest, Seishirou. Setsuka gently presses her ear against Seishirou's chest. SETSUKA Funny. You have no heart {emotional. =kokoro} but you have a heart {physical. =shinzou}. SEISHIROU People would die without their hearts. SETSUKA Oh? You are not troubled about dying. Setsuka looks up at Seishirou with black eyes. SETSUKA You wouldn't be troubled, right? You have nothing to fear about death, right? That's because. You have nothing precious. Nothing you would regret losing. You have nothing that would be painful if you left in this world. SEISHIROU .................. Seishirou looks at Setsuka, not answering. SETSUKA Yes? You look like you want to say something. Setsuka smiles mischievously. SEISHIROU Do you love something? Setsuka smiles and whispers into Seishirou's ear. SETSUKA .... That's a secret. Setsuka giggles. SETSUKA I went outside for the first time in a while today. SEISHIROU Who did you kill? SETSUKA I don't know. A man. A big man. He looked at me with sad eyes when he died. He said that he was scared of dying. He said that he loved someone, so he didn't want to die. SEISHIROU Was it fun? SETSUKA Very. SEISHIROU That's good. SETSUKA Why? SEISHIROU Because I'm happy when you are happy. SETSUKA Liar. SEISHIROU I am not lying. SETSUKA You don't care about me at all. SEISHIROU That's not true. SETSUKA How can you say that? SEISHIROU Because you are beautiful. Setsuka laughs again. SETSUKA You like beautiful things? SEISHIROU Yes, I like them. SETSUKA What part of me is beautiful? SEISHIROU The hair, the eyes, the lips... everything. Mother, it's hard to believe that you gave birth to me. Seishirou stares at Setsuka. SEISHIROU You are always.... a young girl. SETSUKA But... the end will come soon. SEISHIROU .............. SETSUKA Right, Seishirou? SEISHIROU .............. SETSUKA You're going to end this for me, right? SEISHIROU ........ I guess. Setsuka laughs happily. SETSUKA ...... I'm glad. I picked these because I heard you were coming today. See? Setsuka pulls on her sleeve and holds the flower arrangement on the vase. SETSUKA Camellias. Red camellias. SEISHIROU Your favorite flower. SETSUKA I love it. I love camellias best when they fall. Setsuka gets a dreamy look. SETSUKA It falls on the ground.... plop, like a human head. I love it. When there is a red camellia on the ground on a snowy day. It looks like white snow is covered with red blood. I love it. SEISHIROU Then should I bring you camellias next time? Red flowers that you love. SETSUKA Are you going to decorate my grave with it? Setsuka answers with no bad feelings. SETSUKA But you can't, because the Cherry will eat my corpse. Setsuka laughs. SETSUKA I'm going to be eaten by the Cherry underneath the cherry tree where the past Sakurazukamori's all lie. If you bring a camellia, the Cherry will be mad. SEISHIROU ..... you like a camellia more than the Cherry? Setsuka suddenly smiles more maturely. SETSUKA I *am* the Cherry. Setsuka, holding the camellias, leans against Seishirou. SETSUKA See, they smell nice.... Seishirou takes Setsuka's fingers that hold the flower, putting his lips against them. SEISHIROU ..... smells of blood. SETSUKA I wonder whose blood? I've killed so many, I don't know whose blood it is. Setsuka takes Seishirou's finger and bites hard. SEISHIROU ..............! SETSUKA ..... Seishirou, your finger tastes good. Setsuka smiles suggestively. SETSUKA Does that hurt....? SEISHIROU .... no. SETSUKA ...... The smell of your blood, Seishirou..... I love it. Setsuka traces over Seishirou's lips. SETSUKA Kiss me. Seishirou silently kisses Setsuka. Setsuka, mumbling. SETSUKA I love you.... Seishirou..... Soon..... You will kill me. * Monologue. SEISHIROU Just as Mother said, I killed her. When I was fifteen. Snowy day. Under a camellia, the plant that she said she loved. The white snow was painted by the red from the camellia and the red of her blood. Mother happily died in my arms. She smiled as she got colder. Her smile was still that of a young woman. Beautiful. I killed Mother and became Sakurazukamori. I didn't feel anything even when I killed her. Even now. I don't feel anything. From long ago, I couldn't make the difference between people and things. Killing someone and breaking a glass cup is the same to me. Corpses, broken items, they're all the same. The Bet that I started with a one year limit didn't cause any change within me at all. The boy that was unknowingly participating in the Bet. Today, I saw him for the first time in a while. He looked more mature, but his pure, transparent eyes were the same as before. People cannot change easily. Me. Nor Subaru-kun. Will he kill me for the sake of his sister that I killed? And will I..... him......