"Listen well child. When the time is upon you, the almighty Jagiri will awaken and descend from the heavens to lend you its strength, for you are to inherit its power and succeed the Jagiri as the snake deity. When all is done, and the world reaches its end, you will rule over it and usher the world into a new era of destruction and chaos. This is your fate, it is inevitable. Unavoidable. Inescapable."
Such is the prophecy that I received when I was young. This has haunted me my whole life. Every night I dream of snakes. Snakes, snakes, snakes. It started as just being surrounded by snakes, but it quickly evolved into dreaming of being enveloped in anacondas, getting devoured alive by pythons, taking one thousand snakes' venom into my bursting veins at once, even having an Ouroboros stop feasting on itself to give my flesh and bone a taste. Eventually I began seeing and feeling snakes during all my time awake. Anywhere, everywhere, snakes. No doctor or medicine could fix whatever psychological phenomenon I had going on. In the few minutes of my life I had where I wasn't affected, the condition would start up again when in any way, shape, or form "snake" ran through my head. My parents named this condition "Snake Vision" (creative, I know). I don't know why they named it that. They knew that it didn't stop at seeing snakes. I see, hear, and feel snakes. Everywhere I go are snakes. There's no escape. My life is horrible, and it's all because of one stupid hallucination I had as a kid.
Well, not entirely. I was socially outcasted anywhere I went because of it. Nobody wanted to have part in the life of the "Snake Demon". It sounds like the kind of nickname that you give a powerful villain, but it's actually just the nickname that the other kids had given to me to make fun of me during elementary and middle school, and I hate it. No one wanted anything to do with me, except for a few people. My parents, Kagawa Momoe and Kagawa Toshio. My one childhood friend, Shiba Keiko. My middle school teacher, Komatsu Shika. Those people are dead, because they associated with me. All of them died. Starting my first day of high school, and concluding on the fourth day of that school year, one of them dropped dead each day. All of them were found in my neighborhood, in the same fashion; stomach ripped open, intestines, wrapped around them, with a heart made from blood on the left cheek. I had the pleasant (sarcasm) experience of discovering the brutal scenes before anyone else. When I saw each of them, I wanted to puke, not because of the brutal nature of taking one's life in the way it was performed, but because the way they were wrapped in intestines. Through that four day hell, losing the only people who I could turn to was traumatizing enough, but what oddly was worse was the way each of them was wrapped in their own intestines. The intestines were wrapped so tightly around them, which resembled a dozen snakes wrapping themselves around their prey. Of all that was going on, it wasn't the loss of those dear to me that was the worst part, nor was it having to discover how brutally killed they were, It was how their intestines resembled snakes, and that was the worst. There was so much more going on, so I'm ashamed that I freaked out the most over "Oh, this looks like snakes. Scary."
All four of them were killed by the same person. A girl. I thought "Is this the beginning? Is it the end? Is what that woman's voice told me years ago true? Is it happening?". It was happening, Just not yet. My thought process had neglected the key thing that linked all the deaths. The letters that were placed in my locker each day a murder occurred. Day one;"Hello Izanagi. I love you so much. So, you will be mine, and only mine. To make sure that no one else takes you, I'm going to kill anyone who gets near you, and everyone close to you. I'll do this so we can be together and I can show you in person how much I love you." My dad was killed that day. Day two;"Izanagi, did you like my present? I hope you liked it. I worked really hard on it. Your dad struggled a lot, It was hard to get him to stay still. Now, there's one less barrier between us." My mom was offed on that day. Day three; "Izanagi, I killed your mom. That makes both your parents gone. Don't be mad at me please, I had to do it, to make sure that no one except me was close to you. I've decided that it's best that you don't find out who I am for now because you would hate me, but when the time is right, and you accept that I'm doing all this because I love you, we can meet. Oh boy, I look forward to that day." My only friend Keiko was killed that day. Day four; "Izanagi, that bitch Keiko is gone. You won't need to worry about her bothering you anymore. Now, I'm the only friend you have, as it should be. Remember Izanagi, I love you." my middle school teacher Ms. Komatsu was killed that day. Day five, all of the people I cared about were dead. "Izanagi, I took care of that pesky teacher of yours. I doubt that she had feelings for you because that would be really gross, but she still had to go, because she was close to you. I couldn't have her being alone with you during private tutoring sessions. With her out of the away, it's done. There is nothing and no one between us anymore. We can finally be together, we just have to wait. I should have said this earlier, but I'll say it now since I hope it will make you feel better about this. I didn't want to do any of it. I had to, because they were keeping you from me. I had no choice. Hopefully it makes you feel a bit at ease that you know me. We have met before, that time you helped me and became my savior. And, I'm sorry. For doing what I did. I really am. There's no way you'll believe me, but I'm being sincere. I may have sounded excited about it in the previous letters, but that was only because the barrier between us was fading. I hated killing them. I hated that it was people in the way instead of distance or some other circumstance keeping us apart. I'm sincere when I tell you, I'm sorry. But soon, we will meet. I can tell you that I'm truly, sincerely sorry in person, and I can also tell you that I truly, sincerely, love you. Until then. -Saki"
Who the hell is Saki? Why the hell do I care? Why the hell did this happen to me? Why the hell did she need to kill my loved ones? The shock and despair sat in over those four days. I had lost everything I had, and the girl who calls herself Saki thought that I'd be okay if I had her when I don't know who she is other than meeting her one time. What was going through her head that made her do this, and how does she justify her actions? From that moment onward, my high school life was hell. Word had gotten out that my parents, friend, and teacher were murdered, and soon enough the entire school had heard about the curse of Kagawa Izanagi. They were afraid that if they talked to me, they would die, and I don't blame them because they probably would have. It's not their fault, nor is it mine, its Saki's fault. The girl who calls herself Saki, ruined my life. Here I am now, In the third year of high school. Alone, with no one, because everyone is scared not of me, but the consequences of knowing me. Damn you, Saki. Just who are you and why have you done this to me?
There was one other thing that happened to me that wasn't Saki's fault. Although she would eventually get wrapped up into it. On a normal night, while I was laying in bed, I felt an immense pain in my right forearm. I looked at my arm, and guess what? The snake mark, rather, snake insigina was glowing with a bright black light. The pain was extremely immense, like a burning through my veins, akin to a snake's venom. after two minutes of that excruciating pain, the black light faded, but not entirely. Instead of a dark light enveloping my room, the pain had subsided and the snake insignia I had on my forearm my whole life was lit up black. I had not realized then, but the prophecy was true.
The Jagiri was awakening.