"What happened? Haruko, tell me!" I shouted, I'm really worried.
"Is there any problems?" Yuuma asked.
Before I'm able to answer him, he stunned. No... Not again...? I heard a familiar sound, it's the tapping sound from Ryutenji walking towards me. With this, I remembered a dream I had last night. Is he manipulating my dreams?
"Rika-chan, it seems like you remembered me." Ryutenji said. "Rika"? Why are you using this name?
"I knew you by this name back then, well or you prefer Rinka-chan?" Ryutenji jested. I had no time for this. I looked at my phone, Haruko sent a message, it's her address. I have to head there first. With that in mind, I rushed to the station, I saw an awful scene. People are all slumping, just like they had lost their soul all sudden. I was stunned by the scene. Despite it should be a noisy atmosphere with this much people, it's in a deep silence. I couldn't feel my legs anymore, I grabbed a pole next to me to remain standing.
"While you ignoring your trials, someone had already completed theirs. Leaving these people purposeless." Ryutenji followed up, and said. Someone... So there are also people other than Haruko as well. Ryutenji said that I ignored my trials, what do I have to do to clear the trial?
"I know what you want to ask. I gave you a hint last night. Other than that, you might want to get to your friend first." Ryutenji said, while looking into a distance. Following his gaze, a few people started moving, acting like nothing happened. While some of the people are still the same, perhaps these are what happened to my parents when I was not paying attention to them. I mustered my courage and runs towards the train. I passed by a slumping person, it's strange, that he moved! It murmured something...
"Kyo...ko..." He said.
Kyoko? Is it a name of one of the other people who had a trial before? Or... It's a part of what he said before he turned like this. No, I have no time. I hopped on the train, and it started moving. Ryutenji didn't follow me, he waved at me but I ignored him. The man who said "Kyoko" and many others of his kind approached Ryutenji slowly, they moved like... Zombies. Ryutenji looked terrified, he agilely escaped and ran away. It took me fifteen minutes to reach there, as the train passed through a crowd of "zombies", some of them returned normal, while there are plenty others who remains unchanged. As the train's door opened there is a "zombie" standing on the platform. The passengers just walked through him as he's nothing. The zombie get trampled by the passengers. At this moment, he caught one of the passenger's feet. The passenger slips and fell down. He acted like a normal person, but when he screamed, no one noticed him. The zombie climbed up using his body and merged into the man. The man slowly changed into a zombie, just like how the others look like.
I'm once again terrified, Haruko is in danger, I must save her! I rushed out of the train and headed to the address Haruko sent me. A book cafe... So she lives here... I sent a message to her, I saw a short figure waving from the window, it's her, she came out to open the gates.
"Come in first." Haruko said. I went into the cafe, it was empty, perhaps it's closed. Haruko invited me to her room.
"Rika-san, please look outside of the window, they are the odd people I mentioned to you earlier." She pointed outside the window. I peeked through the window, exactly as I thought, the oddity Haruko mentioned is about the zombies. I told her what Ryutenji told me.
"The trial guide, Ryutenji said that I have been ignoring my trial. At this time, there are already people who finished their trial and left this world. These zombies... Are much like people who had nothing to do with other people who are like us, who are here for a trial. They seemed like people who lost their meaning to exist, yet they still hope to cling on their own existence." When I finished explaining, she seemed like... Trembling. She stood up and opened her drawer, a book, perhaps the one that gives her mysteries to solve?
She showed me the book, it's written in a very implicit manner.
"Haruko... I can't read this, is it some cryptic language?" I told her that I couldn't read it.
"Impossible. It is written in a simple language." She replied. Is it only for her? Anyways, she worked on her next mystery, and she solved it after a few minutes. What a girl... I thought. She looked at her book and gasped.
"What's the matter, Haruko?" I asked.
"It says... When people in this world lost their existence, they will consume others, to maintain their existence... Same applies for us..." She said, while trembling.
"Does that mean... If we didn't finish the trials in time... We will turn into zombies...?" I asked, knowing the answer is yes. She did not utter a word, just a slight nod. A silence filled the room.
There is a crucial question I wanted to ask. I turned around, she is working on the next mystery.
"Hey, Haruko. Did you know what your trial is?" I asked. She looked at me.
"I don't know that myself. All I wanted is to study folklore. Since this book is giving me mysteries, I guess solving everything will be my trial." She said. So I take it as Haruko's trial is to solve this mysterious book's mysteries, she find out her own trials herself, how about me? I wished to see Yuuma again. However I did see him again. It should be considered as my wish had came true, but... I remembered what Ryutenji told me last night.
"I'm your answer to your trial." This is the hint he gave me, but what did it mean?
To think that it is logical to have other people who came to this world for trials, Haruko, and Dr. Hiro... Could it be Dr. Hiro had left this world? All the zombies I met before, could they be acquainted with Dr. Hiro? Kyoko... Is that the name of his patient's mother? It all made sense... Knowing the answer, I rushed out of the room. I rushed to the station, hoping to meet Ryutenji again. Ryutenji appeared behind me, he tapped on my shoulder. I knew it's him, when I turned my head around, his finger poked my face. I'm quite angry, this is what Yuuma did to me, how dare you to do it on me? Ryutenji saw my reaction and chuckled. To be honest, I'm a bit bothered by the fact of him being terrified to the zombies.
"Well, you wished to see me, didn't you?" He asked. It's true. Whenever I wanted to look for him, he will appear, especially when I am aware of my ability.
"I know what am I supposed to do now!" I said, with determination. Ryutenji looked around, and lets off a shaky chuckle.
"I don't mind hearing your answer, but perhaps, let's talk about it when we made it out safely." He said. I looked around, we are surrounded by zombies!
"So you are also a part of their prey aren't you?" I asked.
"Well, they will target anything that 'exist', although I technically exist in this world, that makes me a legit 'prey' for them, I guess." Ryutenji stopped joking around, it seems like he is finally serious. It's logical, since this is a life and death situation to him, and me as well, I guess.
The zombies approached us slowly, unlike the zombie movies where they moved quickly to swarm the victims, I know that I shouldn't touch them, since that will cause them to merge with me easily. As they moved closer, I closed my eyes. Am I going to be disappearing like that? What will happen to me if I disappear like that? I had a lot of questions. I felt a warm hand holding me, who is it? Yuuma...? No, it's Ryutenji. I tried to push him away, but it seems like he is protecting me. Maybe I should let him be. Since he showed an expression that tells me that he wanted live on as well.
Before they get too close, I heard someone running towards us. I wonder who is it, but it's dangerous, please stay away!
"SLASH!"
It sounds like a sound of a blade slashing through something. Ryutenji's grip loosened. I opened my eyes to see another guy with a detective hat and some weird getup. Seriously, give me a break...
"You are so slow, Jun!" Ryutenji said.
"I had no obligations to save you at all. It was you who begged me to help you." The guy with the detective hat said. He took out his pocket watch. The pocket watch absorbed the remains of the zombies.
"You. You still had no idea about your trial? You must figure it out faster. Otherwise, you are going to spend your life in this horrendous world." He added.
Hearing those words, it seems like a storm is about to happen, all this uneasiness, are just the premonition of the world collapsing, a cloudy sky before a rain.