Extra Chapter 11: Bellflower

[Extra Chapter 11: Bellflower]

[TO ALL MONOBLANK THEORISTS: This is a different universe where Monochrome Blankness never happened. Instead, it's Polychromatic World that happened. Happy reading!]

[Though, some of that information is accurate to the Monochrome Blankness world.]

[TW: Violence, Descriptive Gore, Suicide]

“Campanula…” Someone’s mother came and hugged me. It’s my mother. I love her so dearly to this day.

I desperately tried to reach my hand out to her. She seems so near, yet so far apart.

I even ran towards her, but I’m stuck at the same place. She’s even trying to hug me, yet my arms are so far apart.

But one thing felt off.

She never called me “Campanula”.

And the girl named Campanula opens her eyes.

It’s midnight.

A blue-haired girl woke up in bed. Someone else, her caretaker (or her girlfriend), is sleeping.

It’s quite early for her to be waking up at this time.

She misses her mother dearly. Campanula contemplates whether she should find her mother or not.

It’s been a lot of years now. Her mother disappeared when she was 15, 2 years after her dropping out of school due to financial issues.

Maybe her mother is somewhere. She shouldn’t be dead.

She forgot her surname. After all, she’s almost 30 years old. Campanula has been forced to work in an evil gang, killing so many people that she forgot her own humanity, that was, well, until someone saved her from that lifestyle.

Still. 

Her bed with broken springs, her extremely out-of-style laptop, her broken windows. She misses her home. It’s been taking her some time to get comfortable with the new, decent lifestyle, because she spent her entire childhood in this poor apartment.

The blue-haired girl took a few things; a can of energy drink, a bag of chips, microwavable shrimp fried rice, and a random book she bought from a convenience store.

Campanula opened the door, and ran away from Kasuri's Interdimensional Traveler Support Organization. A young girl watches her leave, before sipping her cup of tea.

The still-busy city, filled with night owls. The Naikoians include people who sleep during the day. 

They have mothers that escort them to school.

Some of them have their mothers to help them operate their food stall.

Some of them are on their playground with their parent’s supervision.

Some adults are arguing with their mothers over silly things.

Sigh.

It’s not like she has a mother that’s with her, not anymore. She chugs her energy drink, and eats her breakfast on the couch near the reception.

A girl came out of Apartment 101, the place where the KITSO is. Ambroise Rosewood. The scary girl.

“Miss. Is there a reason as to why you escaped the premises of the KITSO?”

“I… Aah!” Campanula almost spilled her shrimp fried rice that was placed on her lap, but Ambroise held it so it didn’t fall. “I… I wanted to see the city.”

“That is understandable. I am only questioning you to ensure your safety and to prevent self-inflicted injuries. From further examination, it seems that your emotions are neutral.”

“Why are you here anyways, Broise?”

“Please address me by Miss Ambroise.”

“Uuh… Sorry, Miss Ambroise.”

“I do not smite one by addressing me with the wrong method. It is a minor inconvenience, and I do not desire to have one.”

“I’m sorry… Miss.”

“There is no reward in being heavily apologetic, Miss. Please proceed with your course of life.”

“Okay, m-miss.” 

Ambroise walked away, as Campanula shivered, but she continued eating the shrimp fried rice anyway. The shrimp was tasty, the rice was tasty, the veggies were tasty, and the tomatoes were tasty. There’s pretty much every nutrient for her to keep going. 

In fact, her mother recommended it to her. She only ate one-third of a box, to let her be able to save money for rent. Now, as she has a caretaker with a similar age as her, she can now eat the whole box without any worry.

She left her when she dropped out of school due to financial issues. She promised that she’s going to work hard, so she needed to stay at her workplace.Campanula never knew what job her mother worked.

After eating her meal, she put them into the trash can and called an elevator up to her old apartment, on the third floor. Apartment 392.

It seems that her old stuff are here, apart from a few things that Ms. N.M, her caretaker, brought to her house a few days ago. Weaponry from the evil gang, some baby things, like cribs or whatever.

There’s also her old, dusty desk, her old wardrobe full of the evil gang uniforms and some intel and contacts. This used to be her career, and it was sad. Her caretaker had a similar fate as her, formerly a mercenary, now one of the KITSO combat departments, who is paid well.

Huh. She missed the view here. It’s been years since she’s seen her mother in the same bed as her, giving her the love and comfort she needs.

“Campanula, I assume?”

A woman with a scythe, and red-black hair entered the apartment. 

“Hey-” Campanula, before attacking, “Oh, you’re one of the people I saw in KITSO.”

“I’m Glaive Kiepur. Nice to meet you. Is this your old room?”

“Yeah… Why?” Campanula looked confused. “Why are you awake, anyway?”

“I don’t sleep.”

“That explains it. But why are you here?”

“Ambroise told me to watch you, in case you get injured.”

“Leave me alone.”

“If you get injured, no one’s going to help you.”

“No one helps me anyway. I just want to find my mama.”

Glaive handed Campanula an umbrella. It’s her old umbrella that was blown away a long time ago.

“My umbrella…”

“...” Glaive looked a bit upset. “You’ll find the truth soon enough. I believe in you.”

“The truth…? What about mom?”

“Your mom should be alright. It’s been years, but she’s probably still working. Also, keep this umbrella with you. It’s rainy season.”

“T… Thank you.” Campanula bowed.

The woman with the scythe now waited outside the apartment. The blue-haired girl, on the other hand, decided to lay down on her old bed, with many broken springs. 

There’s no one to tuck her in now.

“Where did you go, mom?” The poor girl said.

Glaive overheard the sentence, and she felt bad.

She’s come across many deaths. Suicides, murder, accidents, neutral causes, whatnot. But it’s not everyday that she hears someone who’s clueless of their own loved one’s death.

“I’m sorry for keeping this from you…” The woman whispered to herself. 

Campanula… Her life was doomed, but she was saved while chasing a certain Akaya Nanomaru. She was the weakest in the division, being able to manipulate adrenaline and use magic bombs.

She used to be addicted to drugs when she was a child. The girl met a mysterious person in the alleyways once, and came back a second time, and a third time, and fourth, until she was caught doing cocaine.

Her father stole her family’s only valuables, and escaped the family. She doesn’t know where he is, but he was the only person that Campanula had wished death on.

She cried. That was the only way her past would’ve been. Campanula was promised care, and her girlfriend couldn’t forgive herself if she died. 

The past is the past.

You’re in the present now, Campanula.

The poor girl in the turtleneck suit got up, and walked back, passing Glaive.

Now, she’s departed, far away from the very person sent to protect her.

She walked alone, as the rain was already falling from 11PM. Her small bag in one hand, and her umbrella in the other.

Campanula liked playing with the rain, but her mom said it’ll make her sick.

But she doesn’t have time to play with the rain. As she walked, her small umbrella protected her coat, her turtleneck, the blue bowtie at her chest, her straw hat, her plaid knee-length skirt, her black socks, and her boots. Her straw hat already protected her short blue hair, down to her neck level, plus preserving the four ties of varying sizes at the side of her hair. Her cute stickers that she puts on her face are still sticking fine, and it’s safe for the skin.

The hand from the sleeved coat holds the umbrella, and it has two small yellow buttons, with the end of the sleeve looking like the end of a sweater’s sleeve.

Campanula’s style of clothing doesn’t quite match, but it makes a new, avant-garde type of style. Cute, cozy, luxury, and other styles do fit in well, somehow. In her opinion, stockings are way too overrated.

She didn’t want to bother buying any jewelry. Campanula shopped out enough of her girlfriend’s money, and buying more would make herself feel bad, and worry if she would lose it somewhere.

In her bag, there were a few things she liked to bring around. Her communication device, and her wallet. There are a lot of other things in there, like a pen, a notebook, and some candy. The weather is almost always cold, so it didn’t melt.

She looked up to the city lights, the street lights, and car lights. They’re still on, and the community of night owls are still there, and… there’s also some sleepyheads.

With the tap of her boots on the street floors, it made the water bounce up. A lot of alleyways can be seen, including some back doors and some dumpsters. 

Of course she won’t steal from them anymore. She’s no longer the kind of person to steal from the innocent, as the same happened when she was a child. She only stole because she didn’t have a choice.

With the heavy rain, one light stood out. It’s a convenience store. Campanula put the umbrella at the umbrella rack while under the outer roof, and went inside.

She already ate, but she wanted to buy something else. As she searched around and grabbed the things she wanted with her own hand, Campanula placed things on the counter.

Water, mint chewing gum, and a random small book at the front counter. It’s quite a new one.

Checkout. She paid the cashier some money, and walked away without a single word spoken.

She cracks open one part of the chewing gum, and chewed on it. It’s really cold, and makes a freezing sensation all around Campanula’s mouth. 

Yeah, this one is good, she thought. 

The not-so-busy road is so pleasing to look at. People drive around, trying to go to work, and get some money. Back then, she didn’t want to work, but it looked like a nice lifestyle. But after all, she would want to work with the same job as her caretaker girlfriend, so she can stay with her for longer.

Campanula came across a crosswalk, and pressed the pedestrian button. Some seconds later, she passed through the road, and onto the graveyard. 

So many people died. From the start of Mokkato, to the rise of Naiko, and to the present. All the names, soon to be forgotten by the eras. 

One had a graveyard so grand, and one had a graveyard so common. It’s a place to mourn the dead, but some of the people who mourn are no more. 

Campanula has someone to mourn. But she doesn’t remember her own name, neither does she remember her mother’s.

When she joined the gang, they gave her an alias, “Campanula”. It was a beautiful name, the scientific name of bellflowers. Since then, she’s forgotten her name, but even if the name was given by evil, she can still be a good person. 

The rain washes the dirt away from the graves, with spider lilies growing left and right. She walks around, looking at the names and the year that they died.

Anno Domini, the year that started at the day Jesus Christ was born. But Campanula didn’t know any better. After all, she has all her faith in the spirit guardians. There were people being born at minus years, too. The earth was made billions of years ago, but no one would have counted the days themselves, so they used the day that a religious person was born, someone who preached the world about their God.

Mokkatoians put most of their fate onto spirit guardians. Other nations with no confirmed godlike being believe in deities.

God is real. As are the spirit guardians, and the several Hindu gods, Greek gods, and others. You just need to believe hard enough.

Some believe in rationalism, having faith in science. People once said that religion sprouted from fear of the unknown. Back then, no one knew what caused lightning, what caused earthquakes, and where meteors came from. But with science, you know better. Scientists do believe in religion, having faith that they can save them from things that transcend their ability, and things that transcend science, like their fate, luck, death, and life.

Of course. There’s magic in this world. Campanula herself could manipulate adrenaline. Isn’t that a wonderful thing?

Yes.

This world is wonderful enough.

A light tap on the shoulder.

“Miss.” A young, male voice. 

“...!?” Campanula was startled. ”H-hello.”

“Are you here to mourn the dead?”

“No. I’m just… Walking around.”

This had been a silent movie for quite a while. Campanula was stuck in her thoughts.

“Oh, I do have some flowers, but they cost some money. Do you want anything?” The boy held a plastic bag with various flowers.

“Oh… Sure.” Campanula decided to pick the bellflower. That’s her name.

“The flower language of the bellflower… It expresses gratitude, but it also expresses affection, faith, and love.” He gave the bellflowers to Campanula. “Say, miss, you’re dressed pretty nice at this time of the night.

“Thanks.” Campanula opened her wallet, and gave the boy more money than necessary. She doesn’t have any other banknotes. “Keep the change…”

“10000 yen? Thank you! I’ll let you pick another flower!”

“No… No need.” Campanula sighed. “I have enough.”

“Okay… Thank you! Thank you!” The boy walked away, waving to Campanula.

Campanula continued walking around the graveyard, and stumbled upon a grave. 

Hasu Kioku. She doesn’t know who she is. Or, at least, she doesn’t remember, but she felt like paying respects to someone today. For some reason, this is the only person she wants to pay respect to as of now. Campanula gently set one of her bellflowers on the grave, and stood still. 

This person feels familiar, somehow, but she just walked away. 

Onto the café you go, poor woman. 

The café is still sparkling clean, after all the chaos it’s been through. Campanula, once again, put her umbrella on the rack, and fingerprint-locked it. 

She decided to take a seat near the window, one with a table attached to a wall. It had a menu, a bell, and a little cactus. 

Campanula decided to order some chiffons, macarons, croissants, and a plastic cup of matcha latte. She’s never eaten any of them in her life.

As the three plates arrived right at her table, she decided to eat them. The long sleeves got in the way, but she got used to it. Sipping the matcha latte every now and then, it was really good for a café. Though, she liked chiffons the most. It’s just flavored bread, but it’s soft, and her teeth don't have to go through the trouble of breaking.

When she was done with the chiffons, another person came to sit at a seat next to hers. It was the employee, Kazai Mizuganai, visiting the café on her day off.

“Hiiii…” She looked at Kazai.

Kazai waved back. “Weren’t you the person who stole our food that day?”

“No! I’m sorry!”

“I forgive you. Back then, you looked like you were wearing clothes they threw in the trash. I was the only one who knew…” Kazai pouted. “Welcome back.”

“O-okay…” It felt awkward. 

“How are you doing now?”

“I… I have a girlfriend who takes care of me, and…”

“Oh, a lesbian! That’s awesome. I have one too.”

“Uuuhhh… I have to eat my food. I’ll be going in a few minutes.” Campanula felt uncomfortable talking to strangers, but Kazai wasn’t quite a stranger, was she?

Once Campanula was done, she picked up the plates, and returned them to the counter. She wasn’t supposed to do that, but the employee was amused and thanked her for her assistance. She went to the bathroom and washed her hands. 

She went out of her safe place to find her mother. It’s dangerous out here.

The slightly-flooded sidewalk tiles had ripples everytime Campanula took another step, making a satisfying splash. 

A lot of cars pass by. It’s a busy road now in this part of Naiko.

Without a single lead where her mother went, she aimlessly ran around, and around, getting lost in the rain, and the traffic, and the endless waves of pedestrians.

She’s going nowhere. 

The rain sounds like white noise at this point. Peaceful, no thunderstorms.

She’s out of breath, yet decided to go back on her feet. Start by walking, one of the least tiring forms of natural transportation.

Stride around a cute cosmetic shop, a CD shop, a hardware store, and a bank. 

She’s been at all of those places before. With her mother, too.

Her mother cared so much about her. She would do a lot to make her feel happy. 

She cut her own food just to buy Campanula some cute face stickers, a CD of Campanula’s favorite movie that the teacher closed in the middle of it, a simple, and weak laptop, and her mother being in loan debt.

Even if Campanula cried, “Mama, don’t buy it, we don’t have money!”, her mother pushed forward, ensuring that she had a better future. 

That was all her mother could buy, and more than she could ever ask.

She walked to a hospital, stopped, and turned around. Oh, do those commands feel familiar.

This is where Campanula’s been the most times. Her mother was sick. She was sick. 

Her mother broke her arms. She broke her legs.

Her squadmates were shot. She was slashed.

No injury or disease was fatal. This place just… Felt like a place she came to often. 

She stepped in front of the automatic door in the hospital. So much has changed since then. 

“Hello, is there anyone with blue hair and purple eyes?”

“There’s a lot, ma’am. Let me check your patient records.” Files rustled. ”Ma’am… You’ve grown up a lot since then. Your mother is not currently in the hospital. Your father is.”

“My dad…? Can I privately visit him?” She put the umbrella on the coat rack.

“Yes. Please be careful, now… He’s suffering from something really painful.”

Campanula almost smiled a bit. “Oh…” 

“He’s inside the VIP room 5.”

She slowly walked there, to the VIP room, and she entered. There’s a small TV, some snacks, and accomodation. Her dad is sleeping. 

Campanula brought out her knife. She disabled the security camera, and turned off the heart rate monitor. 

“Wake the fuck up, [derogatory term for people with bad brains].” Campanula punched her dad. She manipulated adrenaline and his cortisol, so he woke up to witness her payback.

Right as her dad woke up, Campanula stabbed him, moving the knife around, making sure it’s painful. She put her rain-wet boots into her dad’s mouth, and pushed her dad down from his mattress. Her special potion, named AntaAgony was shoved down her dad’s throat, weakening him and enhancing how much he’s hurt. It made him feel uncomfortable.

The angry woman broke the TV, and impaled her dad with glass shards, making sure it left a bloody mark. She didn’t pull the knife out. Her dad shouldn’t lose blood yet. She won’t stop until she’s satisfied.

She kicked her dad until there were bruises. She slashed her father’s abdomen until organs were seen, as her dad tried to scream out for help, but he recognized his child.

He ruined her life. He should know that.

Campanula went about her madness. Wounding her father, leaving a bloody mess. Slitting his throat, skinning him alive at some point, 

It lasted for several minutes. Several minutes of pain and agony for one, but satisfaction for the other. eventually stabbing her father in his heart.

The entire room was coated in red. 

She used the items in the first-aid kit to wipe up her blood stains, and walked out of the room. She decided to change into her father’s outfit, and then went into the room, and got blood all over her clothes.

Campanula then disposed of the worst father’s clothes in a trash can, before setting off. She couldn’t help but smile, but she doesn’t know where her mother even is.

The scene was unpleasant, to say at least. But Campanula never felt bad for her father anyway, ever since his selfish betrayal. He stole so much money that, without Campanula even knowing, dragged her mother to death.

Her mother’s corpse was spotted by some kids.

“Hey, Rasheru!” A boy shouted. “Get the baseball!”

The group of kids, 5 people, played together one day. They were playing baseball, until one of the kids got a homerun. 

They ran, like how Campanula ran when she was trying to find her mother.

Into an abandoned warehouse, full of messy grass and insects, there was one thing that smelled like a rotten corpse.

“Ewww… What’s that smell…”

The kids pinched their nose. It was foul and they investigated the source.

Rotten brain parts, dried blood, but the center of it all was a corpse.

The police were called to investigate. She shot herself with a pistol. The kids were terrified, and cried to their mothers.

Yes, their mothers. They all had mothers.

Campanula doesn’t.

She must keep going, believing that her mother is still alive, although the truth was fabricated from her.

The poor girl ran aimlessly, once more. She has nowhere to go, and no clues to follow.

She only hoped for the best. Someone with light blue hair, and blue eyes.

Speeding past the many busy people, going in all 360 directions…. She hoped, and hoped, and hoped, and hoped. 

But there was nothing but strangers. She’s lost between the streets. Her communication device does have GPS, but she’s run so far away.

She looked at the sky. It’s full of vibrant colors from the streets, but most importantly, the rain clouds.

Campanula sat down at her bench to contemplate. The rain sounds so beautiful already.

17 years of searching, but always, to no avail, there wasn’t her mother. She interrogated everyday, she asked everyday, she never believed she was dead.

She always loved her mother more than anyone else. She was the only one she could hug, and that warmth gave her hope.

Lately, she had been facing the cold. She couldn’t wish upon the snow everytime. 

She tried to find someone to hug, but they rejected her. She tried finding somewhere to live, and they kicked her out.

Most of the time, people hated someone like her, but when she heard about the KITSO, she also heard that it was run by a child. She didn’t take it seriously, but now… It’s where she lives.

Campanula decided to flag down a taxi. When getting in, she got in the back seat, and silently showed the KITSO on a search engine. 

The taxi driver was silent, and just drove her there. In the middle of the long trip, she looked through the rain-soaked windows, at the streets. She’s been everywhere, yet in all sceneries, natural or synthetic, its beauty remains.

She only ran everywhere. Her first time on a vehicle that isn’t crowded was relaxing, to say the least. Only the car sounds, and the rain sounds. Utoko could even prevent floods, so this rain could go on forever without any problems.

Once she arrived, she walked into the KITSO, and asked Ambroise.

“Miss Ambroise… Can I apply to KITSO?”

“I am positive. The amount of Combat Department agents the KITSO is allowed to hire is unlimited. I am merely a manager, but I have the right to admit you into the occupation.”

“So… Will I get the job? That was quick… Wait, how did you know I wanted to apply to the Combat Department?

“...You have a romantic relationship with Nyx Moonlight.” Ambroise gave Campanula a blue rose with a red leaf.

Campanula attached it to the part of her clothes, near her heart. She smiled, ”Thanks.”

“If you are currently dealing with psychological symptoms such as depression, anxiety or other symptoms, you may have a seat on this table and converse with me.”

Campanula no longer felt sleepy anyway. She slowly took a seat, and then they had a nice talk.

“Are you attempting to seek the crowded metropolis for your mother?”

“Y… Yes, miss.” Campanula looked down.

“All mothers will eventually pass away and return to dust, as do other biological entities. But I do believe that your mother is still in the mortal realm.” Ambroise looked at Campanula. “I believe in you.”

“Mhm…” She isn’t used to talking to someone this formal. Honestly, she just killed somebody, and isn’t regretting it at all. 

From everything that’s going on in this world, Campanula is very concerned.

“We must talk of an event, occurred a few days ago.”

“No… No!” Campanula tried to shut Ambroise’s mouth. 

Ambroise grabbed Campanula’s hand, and pushed it back. “Your conscience signifies that there was another incident happening at the time. Regardless of my sheer curiosity, I must uphold the topic of this conversation. It is regarding the partner of Madella Inanis, I assume?”

“Inanis?” She tilted her head. “I thought she was an Alrich.”

“Those two surnames are both legitimate surnames which you may refer to this Combat Department agent by.” Ambroise sighed. “This enemy has turned into quite the powerful individual. It was quite fortunate that Mr. Ichika had manipulated Nyx Moonlight’s account to send a teleport request… If it did not happen, Veronika would not be able to ready the KITSO fortifications before the attack.”

“That’s… great to hear…” She nervously tried to get off her chair, but she was afraid of Ambroise injuring her.

“Do not worry. You may leave the conversation.”

Campanula was so awake by then. She walked to the Grand Balcony, and sat there, on a couch, watching the scenery, waiting for everyone else to wake up.

She’s at peace now. Maybe she would have a chance at it… Tomorrow.

…

…At the end of this Memory Flower, a note was read. A note unread by Campanula, currently sealed tight and had a certain “Nyx Moonlight” as the recipient.

The note was found and sent by the Gravekeeper.

[XX/XX/2012]

I’m so sorry, Kikyo.

I lied to you that I was going to go to work. I can’t forgive myself for doing this, but I can’t live anymore. 

Everyday, I gain less and less money, my boss shouts at me, and I get fired. No one wants to accept me in their job anymore.

I know I’ll feel guilty for doing this, but I did it anyway. I can’t handle it. I don’t think you will, either. I don’t want to leave you to die, so I wanted to give the insurance money to you.

It’s the only way. May I be tortured in the afterlife for eternity, for what I’ve done.

Mom