Chapter 11: Torikku.

                                    

                                          
She blinked as her breaths came ragged with the potential salty death caressing every angle. Immediately sitting herself up, she was greeted by the turbulent water that slapped her across the face. She screamed a mouthful of bitter saltiness before running away. Quivering, she gathered the inner thoughts together. This wasn't home. This was a very estranged place compared to home. As she calmed, so did the sea. She braced herself as she gradually made her way back to it. She stared into the water, as if she could find anything there besides the sand. After a while, she eventually focused on her reflected image. If she hadn't hated the way she looked before, she sure did now. Her hair was a tangled mess, her face scarred up and dirtied, and her clothes completely a mess as well. She struggled to remember why she was like this or how she got in this place. Did she get wasted and ended up deserted here? Did she get in a fight with someone or something? It wouldn't surprise her if she did. She was more than enough aware about her temper issues, after all. She didn't have trouble starting a fight, but she always had trouble with keeping herself not messed up in the process. She took off her black and orange track jacket before washing her face from the mess it was and attempted to clean the jacket as best as she could. She strolled the beach until she found a place to hang up her jacket and sleep for the night. 
	Her dreams weren't just ordinary dreams. They were memories that she could remember clearly, memories she didn't want to think of. She was chasing after someone who was taken away from her, watching the blood drip from the person's body. She screamed while sobbing over the dead person. Why couldn't she have the power to bring others back? She was always good at everything, but she couldn't change the impossible to make it possible. She was stuck alone for once and that was what frightened her the most. How could she live without her reason? She never wished for this to happen to her because she believed everything would be good for the rest of her life. Yet here she was, totally as happy as can be. 
	She woke up again, this time with the remaining tears escaping her eyes. Anger engulfed her entirely as she got up and snatched her track jacket. She had to find a way out of this place. Maybe, just maybe, all the death here was fake. Maybe there was a way out of this where everyone truly lived without having to fear the death that's been waiting for them. She searched for a way forward, more than ready to face whatever was thrown her way. However, there was one problem. She did not know exactly what she would be facing out here in the inky depths of Control. 
	Eventually, she came upon a forest with a cave that could be seen in the distance. She ached all over but stubbornly persisted onward. She tied the track jacket around her waist as she made her way through the thicket. There were sights of a village existing along the trail she took, and she took her time searching from house to house for anyone or any clues. She came across neither, which only left her more furious than before. Instead, she made her way to the cave. 
Standing before her was an enormous sakura tree that somehow grew in the middle of the cave. Cautiously, she made her way around it and noticed four statues circling the tree. The statues read: CONTROL. JEALOUSY. RAGE. REBIRTH. She was unaware of the meaning of these statues or why they read these specific phrases. Right then, a person appeared in front of her. Except, it was not exactly human. She created a distance between them, her fists ready to fight. The person spoke as it bowed, "Place the scrolls from the flesh bags onto these statues and you will be granted the answers to your questions." She replied, "What are flesh bags? How do I get these scrolls?" The person tilted their head, "What do you mean by that? Surely you know what they are. You are Juno Masashige?" Juno nodded. 
The person pointed in each of four directions before speaking again, "Within each of these entrances will you find the flesh bags that contain the scrolls of the four beasts. Each scroll is color coordinated to the statue it is for." She could hear echoed screams from each of those very directions that made her cringe. "But how do I obtain those scrolls?" The person giggled, "However you desire." Before Juno could ask another question, the person had disappeared. Juno became even more frustrated. She had several questions that were left unanswered and now she had to actually deal with whatever the hell was screaming her ears off.