Should There Be Walking Dead?

Queda, Queen of Destruction, the master of all plots. She's been the sole reason for this world's chaos. She can wage war on everyone with just herself.

She has been famous since the assassination of the previous president. That name has been stickered through my mind since she appeared to destroy our family. Not that someone died from our family, but it's the same when they dirtied a name.

The proudest days of being me in my life crushed down the moment I'm entitled to be the son of a criminal. We are wrapped up in lies where everyone has their ears covered when we spoke the truth.

It's just tiring to convince them why an apple can't be red. What they see, hear, or sense, those sources of manipulation, is what's real to them.

That's the moment I, and even every one that became victims too, aimed for Queda's identity, especially the head. The current president already put the highest bounty on her mask worth two billion.

I might have not needed the money. I just want to clear our name. I want my dad to go home like he always does. If there's everyone with their hands tainted with Queda's blood… That should be me. I'll do what it takes to find her here.

Running down the green vines and branches, I rushed with my full stamina.

"Aimi!" I shouted before I caught her arm while crying with her pinched lips together.

"You… You shouldn't have followed me. I need to be alone," Aimi cried as she tries escaping while shaking her arm.

"I… I'm sorry… I'll give you space if you want to be alone. But we're already far enough from the village. It's turning dark already. We can't afford to lose you."

Suddenly, the tension from my grip lightens as her shoulder slumps. "The farther, the more air I can breathe. Please forgive my wish, just this once. I need to think of what will happen," she sobbed. "Should I care or not? Should I still continue to obey him… even though he follows a serial killer?"

"Why do you know about that!?" I exclaimed the moment I let go of her hand. I believe she didn't hear a bit from our conversation.

"I… I already know… but…" Her tears flooded down more than before. "I can't accept it… It hurts… seeing him like that. It's all my fault!"

"Aimi," I said with a soothing tone as I rub her back. "Don't blame everything to yourself. It's his choice why he chose to be like that."

"That's not the whole story, Ikeda… That was two years ago before he changed… And there's nothing more to blame than I.

"Every time I see him like that, it feels like I've been looking at a mirror, a reflection of what I shouldn't have done once before. He's a modest and honest person. He'll remain the same if I didn't exist in his life.

"He shouldn't… He shouldn't have protected me… He shouldn't have been involved in my life!" She screamed.

She bows down, after all the energy she released, and mutters. "He has a choice, to become selfish, but he didn't. He did it… He killed a person… for my sake…"

She surrendered to me with a lean on my chest and wrapped her arms throughout my body. I hugged her back as I rub her head while comforting her with a soothing voice.

"Don't worry now. It's alright."

So, out of all the roots of the problem, this is the only time I got everything noted. Kenshin killed someone to protect Aimi, and the next thing is waves of questions.

What happened to Kenshin? Did he get punished? Did he get satisfied with what he has done? Or does he have no choice? What's Queda's involvement with him?

And in general, why everyone I encounter has a history or connection to killing? Besides Mayumi, Kenshin, and Aimi, only Saori has a blurred background within us.

Kenshin got into involvement with the puppeteer and Aimi suspects it was either Saori or the enemy. Whoever it may be, it might be Queda's puppet. She never showed her face behind her mask.

It would be impossible that it's Saori. I've been with her since a year ago, and I still remember her now. She wouldn't have the strength to do things like that. She didn't even excel at academics like me.

But even if I'm convinced that she's innocent, there's this gut feeling that pinches my heart. There's some unknown force pulling me towards a decision that I need to investigate her.

We've been together, and I accidentally saw her naked, but I still don't know anything about her, her life, her past, or if there's anything, a connection to a murder. If she's just acted since the start, she should have performed ever since she encountered Mayumi.

But it's been too long to be impossible. There are too many reasons why I can't suspect Saori. The only resort should be by now.

I should ask Saori later about what happened. Did she encounter Kenshin like that already, stunned to speak, or that she was threatened to lie about what happened?

Now that we're here in the forest, the timing is just right. Aimi stopped crying and pulled her body away from me. She wipes her watery eyes and looks at me.

"I don't know what to say. If not for you, I wouldn't have calmed down. Thank you for everything, Ikeda."

"O… Oh! No worries," I chuckled as I scratch my head.

She sniffs. "Now that we're here, there's something I need to check. Will you accompany me?"

"That's exactly what I've planned as well!" Really? We've been thinking the same thing for the whole three minutes. "You're going to check the survivor, right?"

She nods. "Let's go."

Her brave spirit comes back to her senses. My spine is all bent down with embarrassment as I follow her in the way. It's weird that a woman leads the way through this dangerous situation.

"We're here," she said and stops.

Unlike before, the leaves, greens, and blacks, scatter around the ground where the center of the explosion is. It is also where the trees fall and the survivor is bound, but from what we've seen…

"It's… gone…" I muttered the moment the fallen trees are the only visible. The armor is gone, together with its heavy gun.

Aimi stares straight without any blinking in her eyes. She then mutters.

"Wherever it is, it shouldn't be far."