@darksonofsparda — kokoro&vergil
Today was going too good to be true, she should have known it would be a matter of time until the world came for her throat. There had only been a small handful of days where Death didn't come knocking at her door, but it seemed like today was not one of them. It was closing hours now, though Kokoro often left the door unlocked to let last minute stragglers in; she never minded staying up late while she was organizing the shelves and doing the usual clean-up. Kokoro wanted to encourage reading, and never had the heart to turn anyone down until she was ready to count the til for the day.
Akio had always told her that was stupid. That it was inviting trouble. But, she's never had any problems with it before. Everyone on the block knew her by now as the book keeper with the warmest smile and the biggest heart. No one's given her problems.
Well, not no one. Their visit had been sudden and unannounced, as it often was. But they often worked like clock work. Oddly enough, the loan sharks that have had her under their thumb since their arrival in this city had always been minduful about not visiting her home, with her brother around.
A circle of men surrounded Kokoro at the back of the store, one of them boxing her in.
"I know we're a lil' early, little lamb," one of the men cackled, "but the boss needs yer pay sooner than expected. Understand?" He had a vice grip on the woman's chin, forcing her to look up at his sneering mug.
Kokoro's pleas to let her go were muffled down by the laughter, though it came to a stop when the bell announced someone coming into the supposedly locked store, all of them looking towards the front in dumb-founded surprise.
Little did the men know, the lock to the store was finickey, and it typically took Kokoro several tries to get it to latch properly. Not that she had the money to fix it.