POV: Isozaki Izumi.
Date: 26th Nov – Wednesday.
Timeline: *eleven hours after the talk with Mirai.*
"Listen, Izumi, people are greedy! And for their greed, they will do anything! They are demons wearing a skinned mask! Don't ever trust them!"
The words that came out from an 8-years-old boy, shook me to the bones, and as they slid inside my ears, I had a thought…
'Then what … what about you?'
I thought it was something complicated for the 7-years-old me, that it is something I can live on without understanding, that it might not be the truth, but I learnt, I learnt the truth firsthand from the person who spoke it.
And despite years passing and me aging, I still do not know, I still am not aware of the reason people use to throw away others.
Why was I thrown away? Why was I not needed anymore? Why did you leave without explaining anything? If you were planning on leaving… then at least you could have taken me with you… then at least you could have left me in a brighter place, just why did you leave me here alone in this scary world? I would never know… no, I would never understand the meaning of your actions, but perhaps not knowing is a bless I am unaware of?
But why… Why is it that even after everything you have done to me, I still want to see you one more time? Maybe, just maybe, if I see you this time, you won't have to leave anymore, and we will be able to go back to the time where everything was alright.
—-
I opened my eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling, as I got up and fixed my posture, I knew I was in my bedroom, it is funny how even though I have been here for almost a week now, I still take a while to recognize it.
"You're awake?" a girl's voice echoed through my ears after the door to my bedroom creaked open, she rushed inside till she stopped in front of me, "hey," she greeted me.
I lifted my eyes upward to take a better look at her, "aren't you Nao's sister?" I asked as I finally recognized her familiar face.
"That's right, but I go by the name, Iori, rather than 'Nao's sister', but sure you can call me that too," she said while dragging the chair from the desk and placing it next to the bed.
"Yeah, well the thing is I never actually got to hear your name before," I responded with my excuse while she sat on the chair.
"That's weird, my brother with his huge siscon never mentioned my name to you before? I thought for sure you would have heard it many times that you're sick of it," she laughed with her hands moving to the desk and pouring water in a glass that's on top of the desk.
"Actually, I never knew Nao had a sister up till recently," I answered as I took the water glass that she handed me.
"Was I a secret!?" she asked me surprised by my statement with her eyes widening.
"uh… I don't know?" I hesitantly answered, "so, why are you here?" I asked her back.
She stood up from the chair and while swaying her hands widely, she answered, "I got discharged this morning from the hospital, and was troubled where to go now, since I haven't heard from you or Naoki, basically, I was lost but really! how would I have known where to go!? I haven't gone outside the hospital for six whole years!"
"You got discharged this fast!? No, wait, you've been in the hospital for six years!?" I asked surprised, but she frowned and shushed me, "shush! I didn't finish yet, now is the best part."
S-she shushed me!?
She walked toward the window that's next to the bed and crossed her fingers together and stared outside the window while continuing her story, "and then while I was panicking what to do, a handsome man approached me, his bright beamy sky colored eyes imprisoned my heart, he was like prince charming, no wait he's too old to be a prince… I guess I'll call him king charming."
Is this going to take a while? But blue eyes… does she mean Yasahiro?
As she continued to stare outside the window, she said, "king charming told me he can't reach Naoki at the moment and asked if I had a place to stay in, but after knowing the truth… that I don't have anywhere to go! He asked if I knew any other person in the city, that is when your name came up in the subject!"
Naoki is out of touch? But to think Yasahiro went there and met her, I should be grateful that he took care of her, he sure didn't look like the type to notice these tiny things…
She turned facing me again and continued excitedly, "then king charming told me, that he will take me to Izumi-san and you'll take care of me till you get in contact with my brother, but when I came here you were sleeping and sleeping and sleeping and you continued to sleep."
"I get it, I get it, I was asleep for a really long time," I said hoping she would get to the point already.
"You don't have to get cranky, but you really slept for a long time, and didn't wake up no matter how many times I called out for you!" she pouted while moving back to sit on the chair.
"I slept for that long?" I confirmed again, she nodded and answered, "I came nine hours ago but you were sleeping then, and you slept and slept and slept and slept for a really really really really really long time!"
"I get it! so stop repeating words!!!" I yelled as I lost my composure, she tiled her head and said while laughing, "but I wanted you to know how long you've been sleeping for!"
Man, she so different from Nao! But I see, it took me more than nine hours to revive… eh? But wait, where is Yasahiro? And that Junzo guy… Did… Did Kenta appear?!
"Did Naoki give up on me? Why didn't I see him?" she asked me with a leftover smile on her face with her eyes screaming with pained stare.
"No, he would never give up on you! He is away searching for a way to heal you from cancer, we can't find a way to contact him to tell him you're alright, till we do, you can stay here," I said while finally getting up from the bed.
"I see," she mumbled with her face blushing and genuine smile appearing on her face.
I started walking toward the door and exited the room, I looked around the living room, searching for Yasahiro or Junzo but I couldn't find any of them but instead I found a small bag filled with clothes on the couch.
"Sorry!" Iori yelled as she took the bag from me, "I just didn't know where to put my things, so I left it here, I'll take it with me when I leave."
"leave? I told you that you can stay here," I restated my previous statement, she frowned and answered, "I'm not sick anymore, I would never want to be a burden to others any longer. I can take care of myself now!"
"You're so small to be taking care of yourself, it's okay to depend on others in times like these, plus, I feel like Naoki would have preferred it better if you stayed with someone he knows," I objected.
"About that, I think Naoki knows me, so won't it be fine to stay with myself?" she asked sneakily.
"Don't play smart games with me, young girl," I lightly scolded, "there is a room, I never used yet, do you want to move in there?" I suggested opening the door to an empty room.
"It's empty, huh?" she stated when she peeked over to see the room, "well, yea…" I answered feeling a bit awkward.
"Ah, sorry I didn't mean to complain! I bet sleeping on the floor would be so comfortable! Or sitting on the window with risking to fall outside it, would be fun to test!" she sarcastically said while moving inside and putting her bag in the corner of the room despite what she was saying.
"I'll take you to buy furniture today," I suggested feeling a bit of guilt, "but I need to go meet with someone first, so can you stay here for the meantime, I'll be back soon," I said and headed inside my bedroom again and took my coat and started heading toward the front door.
I have to meet Yasahiro and ask him what happened with Kenta…
"Can I eat something while waiting?" she asked me after following me to the front door, "sure," I nodded, "thanks! Take care!" she said seeing me off till I closed the door behind me.
She's really polite… that shocked me, when was the last time people actually talked to me this politely…
As I exited, I started heading toward Yasahiro's apartment, and knocked on the door.
It didn't take long till the door creaked opened, as Yasahiro saw me, he got out and closed the door behind him, he said with a low voice, "let's go somewhere else to talk."
"Okay," I answered confusedly and followed him, we passed his car and continued walking, heading to the main road.
"Where are we going?" I asked him but Yasahiro didn't answer and continued to walk in front of me, while walking the buildings around us started lessening, and instead a forest appeared on the left side, with a riverbank on the right side.
"Isn't this … Blickroad?" I asked him as I recognized the very familiar surroundings, Yasahiro stopped walking and sat next to the riverbank.
"Why are we here?" I asked again and sat next to him.
Yasahiro moved his head sideways toward me and said, "he didn't appear."
So, Kenta didn't come out because I suicided? As we thought someone have to kill me for him to appear?
Then Yasahiro moved his sight toward the water and continued, "is what I would like to say, but he appeared."
What a roundabout way to say it…
"So, what did he say? Does he want to meet me?" I asked him with a smile surfacing on my face.
"He wanted me to find a way to kill you," Yasahiro answered without turning his head toward me.
I moved my head sideways denying, "no way, Kenta would never say that. Why would he even want me to be dead?"
He would never tell someone that… He wouldn't…
"I don't know much details either, but it seems that if he manages to kill you, he would return to life or something like that," Yasahiro answered.
If I'm killed… he will live? So, we can't both live… I have to either live alone or… die for him to live.
"It was so much easier to accept when I thought Kenta was dead," I said out loud with my back facing Yasahiro, "because he was dead it was natural that I would be left alone, but now even though he is here, why am I still alone? I hate this, it's so unfair, it's …so… unfair."
"We don't have to do it, it seems there isn't a way to disable immortality too," Yasahiro said from behind me.
"No, if it's you, you can probably find a way to disable it sooner or later, can't you just try to figure a way?" I asked him.
"Why go that far? Why do you want to meet someone that is trying to kill you?" Yasahiro asked me.
"Without Kenta, I was just a dull crybaby that didn't live for anything, but he showed me the way to survive," I turned around to Yasahiro, "it's too sad to think one of us have to die for the other to live."
Yasahiro stared blankly at me then said in faint voice, "Izumi, I am sorry."
"Why are you apologizing? You don't have to," I reassured him.
"for me death is a salvation, but to you, death is a nightmare, huh," he mumbled staring at me with a face that lacked emotions, "there is something else that you don't know of, while you were unconscious we met this woman, who knew about the abilities and she told me how we all ended up getting them," he said.
"Getting them? So, it's not something we're born with?" I asked him, and he nodded.
"It all happened in an orphanage, they seemed to have conducted experiments on us till we got the abilities or something like that, you can ask her for details when we meet her," he stated before starting to walk toward the direction we came from.
I ran up to him and asked him, "orphanage? that's possible for me since I don't really have a family, but don't you have parents and the chairman? You're not an orphan."
"It seems like I was an orphan without having any recollection of it, my memory of it seem to have been erased by something or someone," he answered without his expression flinching.
"Oh, that's dark, so who are we meeting?" I asked him, and he answered, "someone that goes by the name, Ikehara Mirai."
My feet slowed down till they stopped, "Ikehara Mirai? Isn't that the one that Dr. Frost recommended for me to go to?!" I mumbled.
"You know her?" Yasahiro asked shocked by my reaction, I nodded and answered, "not completely but kind of."
And that is how we set off, to know of a past we were unaware of, a past that we were oblivious to, a past that might change our life for good.