Supernatural Investigation 101: Chronicles Of Nakashima Wakana

After two men are gone, Dierre Virevo looks over shoulder. "You aren't leaving?"

"I won't die from your gaze," Choi Minho replies with a flat voice. "Hurry up."

She clicks her tongue, annoyed. Usually, people are afraid of her. Does she truly not have any effect on an immortal? She can find out later. First, she's curious to find out if she can dispel grudges from souls. Dierre Virevo takes off her black sunglasses. Her bewitching purple eyes stare at the woman lying still on the bed. She narrows her eyes on the woman, frowning. Is something happening? She can't sense anything, okay?

In the next instant, she realizes that she can see more. The room around her becomes abnormally quiet. The woman's figure disappears, replaced by a shimmering human shape filled with white rays of a diamond-shaped object in the position where a human heart should be. However, this diamond-shaped object has a gruesome sticky black tumour attached to it. Dierre leans closer to take a look. To her surprise, the black tumour evaporates into nothing under her intense stare. The diamond is shining again. What is this though? There's something cloudish inside the diamond. It's slightly blue and foreign, obstructing the diamond rays to fill the soul. 

Dierre Virevo hates human, but she also takes her jobs seriously. Knowing well that the deal can be broken if she doesn't do a thorough job, she decides to get rid of the cloud too. She concentrates her gaze on the sea-green cloud. Just like the black tumour, the cloud flows out of the diamond, dissipating into nothing.

It looks like she's done. Dierre Virevo blinks her eyes. Suddenly, the woman is lying in front of her again. The greyness of her skin is filling up with some colour. She turns around to face Choi Minho. "I think that it's done."

Thanks to this immortal human, she has a new skill. Maybe she should find Akabane Houmi. But that phoenix's temper is volatile. Anyway, she doesn't even want to live in this world. Her goal is to go to a nice human-free world and live a carefree life. 

Choi Minho checks Wakana's vitals. The health of her soul is improving. The scent of death is leaving her body. He lets out a breath of relief. This death has been prevented. But how many are there? 

"When are you going to talk to the Council?" Dierre Virevo asks him.

"After she wakes up, I will go to the Council." Choi Minho watches her picking up her hat and covering her head. There's someone who can kill people with her gaze alone. He takes a long glance at Wakana. If her abilities are awakened, she will be able to kill people with her touch. But that's not the biggest problem. 

Life for life. Death for death. Life in exchange for death. Death in exchange for life. Though she's saved by him again and again, he is not doing her a favour. It's his responsibility and retribution in someone else's place.

Even apologizing to eternity can't give her back what she could have if she didn't have these gifts that are nothing less than a curse.

And he sighs. Can he prevent that prophecy from coming true? When he went to hell, he met an oracle who showed him the person he would fall in love with. Back then, he thought that it was a ghost. When he was looking for Wakana, he was also looking for her. But both of them turned out to be the same person.

Choi Minho brushes his fingers against her hair. She had long hair in that vision. How long would it take? Will she truly die and become a ghost whom he saw on the rooftop of the hospital in the vision?

***

Nakashima Wakana stares at the downward staircase at a daze. Where is she exactly?

She can stand here or she can take a step down. Surely, this place leads somewhere. Wakana takes a step down and sees a memory. 

This looks like the hotel room. She sees Choi Minho beside the woman writhing in pain. Minami Sei is also there. The memory returns to her immediately. 

In the next step, she finds herself near the apartment with the phantom rapist demon. Choi Minho words, his assurance and his coat… everything comes back to her.  

She sees him suppressing her ability after she left Minami Sei's apartment that day. In her bedroom, he sat beside her body and held her hand. "Sleep well, my little ghost."

Ghost? What does that suppose to mean? She's alive, right? She steps closer to his figure. He kisses her forehead and strokes her hair, gazing at her with heart-wrenching affection.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Wakana's soul asks him. But the man in the memory doesn't respond to her. 

The scene changes again. She sees herself sitting on the bench near the park, depressed. 

Wakana recalls the day. Her superior scolded her a lot because she ran away from the crime scene. She was insulted and told to never return to the police station. That day, she considered resigning.

She widens her eyes when she sees a black shadowy thing inching toward her. "Whoa! What was that? I don't remember seeing that at all."

Just then, Choi Minho appears behind her. The black thing runs in the opposite direction. He sighs when Wakana raises her head and looks at him. 

"Looks like I am caught." He smiles at her. "Wakana, do you really want to resign?"

"How do you know?" Wakana exclaims, shocked. "Do we know each other?"

"We do." He takes a seat beside her. "You think that I am an angel."

"You… cemetery…" Wakana scrutinizes him. "You are truly angelic."

"I am not an angel." He replies to her calmly, "I am someone who owes you a lot."

"Owe me?" She shakes her head and laughs. "It's me who owes you for saving my life that day."

"I wonder if you would say the same if you find out the truth." Choi Minho gazes at her. "But I want to tell you… Even if it's shameless and unforgivable… I can't stop myself from telling you this."

"What is it?" She asks curiously.

"I have been in love with you since the moment I saw you." He places his hand on her head. "Since that moment in hell… When I was too arrogant to admit that you were dazzling because I knew that I would be in pain to see you like that… I still fell for you and I fell for you again when I got to know you more. Don't think that nobody appreciates you, Wakana. I am always right behind you, watching you, and protecting you with everything that I have. Even if it's difficult, you are never alone. You will forget these words. I have no choice about that. But the unconscious part of the mind can never forget. So, don't forget that I am with you. Always."

She watches herself falling asleep in his arms. She knows now. Why she has always been feeling that her guardian angel is protecting her? This cruel man… Wakana curls her fingers. He's been saying these words to her and making her forget. This stupid man… That's why she could recognize him immediately. Even if the conscious mind was made to forget, she knew him from the bottom of her soul. 

One by one, all the missing memories come back to her. On the day she passed her police recruitment exam, he was there to congratulate her. When she was going through difficult days in the academy, he listened to her woes. Always beside her. Never making his presence known. And then, he would make her forget whenever he showed himself to her. Wakana realizes that he's been guarding her with a smile ever since the moment they met in the cemetery. He has never expected anything back from her. Even when he was confessing his love to her, he didn't wait to hear what she had to say. She was never given a choice. He already thought that she would hate if she found out.

And what is that reason that is tormenting him like this? He has never told her. Is it that bad? Why is he always apologizing to her? Back then, when he stopped her awakening in the hotel, he was in tremendous pain. Going this far and yet always hiding from her…

"You are an idiot." Her eyelids flutter. Minami Sei leans closer to hear her words. Wakana whispers weakly, "You can't hide from me anymore."

"Wakana?" He shakes her lightly. "Are you having a nightmare again?"

She opens her eyes slowly and looks at him. It's Sei. Why is she not happy to see him? Why is she still thinking of Choi Minho? Tears roll out of her eyes. That man forced her mind to forget while he hoped that her heart won't forget him. "I hate him, Sei. I hate him a lot."