"This neighborhood is quite big." Airi thought to herself as she kept walking along the way. "And it is surprisingly looking familiar."
"I guess I should get outta here to find any shopping complex." She picked up pace and started jogging towards the main road.
After jogging for somewhat like 10 minutes, she arrived in front of a shopping mall. Since it was yet early, the mall wasn't open yet. But people were already bustling around her. Some were going to the office, some seemed in a hurry as they hurried towards the subway station. Some kids were walking, forming a little group, probably to attend summer classes.
And all of these views seemed extremely familiar to her.
"Where exactly I am…"
"The area where you were in as Shin." A voice spoke up behind her.
"Woah who the hell..." she jumped out in surprise hearing that voice out so near her ears, and when she turned around, she never expected to see the person there.
"Ryo! What are you doing here?"
"Just checking up on my little subject," Ryo replied with his signature peaceful melancholic smile. "And this is Jonson Road, in Gotham City. I'm sure you know where Jonson Road and Gotham City are."
"That's my... home, right?"
"Yes, it is. Both the Shin household, and the Arne household, are situated here. Just the difference in the time, location, that's all."
"Then what year is this?"
"This is, 1999, mid-May as all the schools are having their summer vacation."
'1999... so that's two years prior to my birth.'
"Then Arne is the just previous life of mine?"
"Yes."
"Then if the Arne is still alive, did she die after 1999? And when is that?"
———
"Oi Arne!"
Her conversation with Ryo got interrupted as a loud voice called her. It was flashy looking girl, a bit weirdly dressed up, and most likely to be the same age as Arne.
"You didn't get any recollection about your past life, right? Then wait patiently, you will." And with that, he vanished just like he appeared out of nowhere.
"Hey, you seem totally fine to me now. Well, you sounded all good yesterday though."
… She must be Maria.
"Yeah, I suppose I recovered quickly." Airi carefully replied to make her convinced that she was the real Arne.
"To think you were in a coma for almost 5 months, you seem okay." Maria swatted her hands sideways to discard the possibility of Airi's condition being serious at all.
'Wait, Arne was in a coma? All along? What happened to her exactly while the alteration happened?' hearing from Maria about Arne made her think about the situation she was put in all over again.
"Well, you got what you wanted at least. People sure gave enough attention, hahaha. But don't go that far next time, what if you never wake up or what?"
Something about her tells that this Maria, is so not concerned about her at all. She seems so rude to someone she claims to be a friend. On top of that, she had been sick.
All of a sudden, Maria hooked her arm around Airi's, "So, let's celebrate your recovery. I have got summer classes right now, so I am heading to school, after that ends, I'll call you. Let's go shopping then."
"I don't have a phone with me." Airi slowly replied her back. Even if she had, she doesn't think she would call someone behaving like a clown to this extent even to talk, let alone going to shopping; Airi thought to herself.
Maria looked up at Airi with a weird look on her face. "Hah, what are you talking about, what about that oh-so-cool cell phone of yours? C'mon, I know you are trying not to spend money on me. Hey, you could buy your friend a dress or two, right? Not that you got any scarcity of money."
"She is such a sucker...", Airi mumbled to herself. She already was feeling tired just by seeing this little weird bird chirping continuously.
"I'll call you then. See you." And the girl went towards where she was coming from.
At least something was clear to her by now. There were a lot of things about Arne's life that were outright weird, and people surrounding her except those old couple, sounded as trashy, as her lifestyle sounded.
That girl Maria said Arne had a cellphone. But Airi searched the entire room yesterday, but found nothing as such.
Then where was it?
She rushed back to the house.
She needs to search for that phone.
There is no way a high-school girl's cell phone doesn't tell anything about her life.
———
She straight went to the kitchen upon reaching, to ask Mrs. Arne about it.
"I... couldn't find my cell... I mean my phone... hah... in my room. Do you... huff... know… where is that?" She was breathing heavily from running for so long. And so, it was difficult to talk properly for being out of breath.
Mrs. Arne looked at her for once and then replied without looking at her, "That was broken, so I threw it out."
That was for a split second, but Airi's eyes didn't miss the hesitation Mrs. Arne had in her eyes before replying.
Her mother was not being honest about it.
"Oh okay... well, I suddenly remembered I was in a hospital, maybe I was awake then briefly, what happened to me?"
And just as she expected, Mrs. Arne totally avoided her eyes, "You just collapsed, didn't have anything proper to eat for all the pressures of studies. That's why. Nothing... serious."
Judging from the words she heard from Maria, about being in a coma, and all the attention-seeking stuff and all, and the way Mr. And Mrs. Arne never told her something like this, and now she was avoiding and feeling nervous, Airi was sure that they were hiding the fact about her being in comatose.
But why?
"Okay. Imma freshen up and come down for breakfast."
'Surely, there is more to it than it seems.'
———
Airi came to her room, and after making sure she locked the door behind her, she sat down and thought about what to do in order to find out about Arne.
"What should I do? Where to find out anythin' about her? I can't possibly go out askin' around about her, cause if I do, I'm sure gonna make myself look crazy. And there is no way her parents gonna admit anything, they are tryin' so hard to hide it."
She strolled around her room wondering about any possible way that could be of help.
"Damn gurl, what the actual f*ck didya' do? Did you kill someone or what? Did drugs? Wait, people did drugs back in 1999? Argh, I don't know!!! That's way too ago than I was even born!"
Wait, I guess one person can surely help me…
Should I call him?
She gave another thought about it, but soon enough she decided to act on that option that just crossed her mind. "Well, what other choices do I have now? By the situation I am now, he would be the only available option."
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*I wanted to add this on author's note, but the blabbermouth Nam ran outta words ;-;
So here we go!
Gotham is an imaginary city according to Alan Moore's fictional tales, and after that, this city has been used by many other writers. Such as in the Batman and DC comics, aka detective comics.
According to Moore's tale, a Norwegian mercenary founded Gotham City in 1635 and the British later took it over. To an extent, this mirrors the history of many American cities that changed hands over the course of time. During the American Revolutionary War, Gotham City was the site of a major battle and rumors held it to be the site of various occult rites. So what would be better option for my fantasy world other than Gotham?!
It is situated in the United States of America.
Except for the fact that Airi Arne lives in Gotham City, I probably won't mention any other aspects of the USA, because I don't think my knowledge of it would be enough.
But rest assured, I will bring out aspects of my version of Gotham city in my later chapters.
And also, as this is a fantasy story, I would prefer to use as little real stuffs as I can, except for those which I would need for my story development.
*Actually Nam is lazy, so she doesn't want to search up and add to her story at all! ;-;
Forgive Nam ~_~
Well then, Happy Reading! ><