𝐬𝐲𝐦𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐲

Yamamoto Itsuki

>Maybe we can ask Saiki or Umi to drive us back home, it’s been well over 3 hours now.< Ito offered softly, I could tell he was pretty shaken up. He never liked fighting, never liked the sight of blood or anything remotely gory or laced with violence, and so I knew just how much he hated being here right now.

′I’ll talk to them,′ I mused, passing by a staircase leading to dormitories that housed elders and most recently turned 18-year-olds. Baba had asked me to move in as well, calling it a right to passage but I knew neither I nor Ito would enjoy being surrounded by the juvenile boys that lived here so I passed. However now, something tugged me back to the staircase. A strong concoction of scents I’d gotten when I first walked into the washroom.

I looked up, eyes trailing to the very top where something called to me. I didn’t want to go; I’ve seen way too many horror movies to know just how bad of an idea that was but something in me compelled me to follow after the scent, see where it led and what its source was.

It was likely my stupidity, or maybe even a part of me that yearned to delay me getting to the masses past the backyard door so I thought to indulge. If it turns out to be some blood-thirsty monster and I die, at least I wouldn’t have to confront whatever punishment or lecture waited for me outside.

>It...smells nice.< Ito piqued, just as intrigued as me as he nudged me to go up the stairs. I did, blindly following the scent, and strangely, it...made my mouth water. It did smell nice, almost as strong as handmade scented candles, only far more exciting than their wax forms. The scents called to me, screaming for me to claim them yet I didn’t understand why, neither did Ito.

I reached the top of the stairs only to find the scent wrapping beside me as it led me up another flight of stairs, blending somewhere into the second floor. It was a mix of a myriad of scents, a confusing mix nonetheless but I could taste some of it on the tip of my tongue. Notes of something citrusy like lemons and oranges weigh heavy on my tongue before the bitter smell of freshly brewed coffee cuts through it all. It brought the mental image of the lemon tart and coffee combination Umi swore by whenever we’d drop by a café.

I followed after the scent, albeit blindly but I had no idea where I was going. The packhouse was recently renovated and I’d never been on this side of the building, rather on the opposite end where baba’s now was.

>Faster!< Ito begged, forcing my feet to pick their pace as I stumbled after the scents, tracing it through a dark hallway on the second floor and to a...broom closet..?

I could tell it was a broom closet because the scent of cleaners and dirty water was heavy around this door, though it somehow intertwined with the scents I’d been getting earlier, the door acting almost like a barrier between me and the source.

The door was white, yet it chipped along the sides as if accustomed to being handled roughly. The knob was silver and reflected a stray light bub at the far end of the hallway.

The scents seemed to filter out from underneath the door, almost like an aphrodisiac calling to me, exciting and enticing. My heart raced with anticipation, my palm pulsating impatiently as I wrapped it around the knob and twisted it to- oh hello.

Before me and cramped uncomfortably in the tiny broom closet were two people, two men; one taller than the other with tan skin and long dark hair and the other even shorter than me with short blond hair.

I couldn’t see their expression, it was far too dark for that, but what I did notice was that I’d definitely interrupted them in the middle of something. The brunette’s shirt was unbuttoned, the blond’s hands fisting it and both their lips seemed swollen as they looked like a pair of deer in a headlight.

The realization that one of them was the source of the scent that drew me here oddly made my heart squeeze within itself.

I stared between the two with an indistinguishable expression, my feet frozen to the ground and I didn’t snap out of my daze until one of them, the blond, grumbled his distaste at being interrupted. ”What the fuck?" He snapped, eyes flickering to me and I instinctively stepped back without a word, turning on my heel as I booked it out of there like my ass was on fire.