A Day In The Fated Future
Location - Unknown
(???'s POV)
With my back being supported up against the wall behind me, I rested upon what had seemed to be a familiar mattress bed. In fact, the bedroom not only felt nostalgic but it gave me this sense of home.
The bedroom was a little small in size, but it didn't feel cramped either. In fact it felt pretty cozy given its lack of complexity. For example the coffee table that stood over there was a little low in height, similar to that of a kotatsu. Its smaller size allowed it to blend into the background and feel more natural.
There were some tall bookshelves which were decorated with several books consisting of a wide range of subjects which dabbled into themes like fantasy or the scientific nonfictional. It was odd, but even from a glance, I could've sworn I was able to recognize some of the titles and even its content….
There was even a small bathroom and possibly what seemed to be a small walk-in closet off in the far right as well.
There were many other details that caught my attention, but if I paid them too much attention, I would've been talking about this room for a while.
As I continued to observe my general surroundings, the sense of nostalgia wouldn't leave me. In fact, it only amplified the more I decided to notice more of the insignificant details.
As hard as it was to explain it, for some reason, this room was definitely catered to my tastes. It was as if I myself had personally designed how the interior should look. Understanding that much, a small question floated throughout my mind.
"Is this my room?"
If someone had told me "yes", I probably would've believed them. And even if nobody did, this dramatic sense of satisfaction and security probably would've convinced me sooner or later.
But there was something here that was off.
Although this room unmistakably felt like home for whatever reason, I could tell that something was out of place or simply not here in general. It was missing something important, no, "several things" if anything.
The problem was, I couldn't recognize exactly what. Realizing this, I reached an interesting conclusion.
The bedroom reminded me of one of the many problems you see in the art world. As if being nothing more than a replica, it felt as if somebody tried to paint a famous painting onto another blank canvas, but was unable to capture the "true essence" of the picture. This room without a doubt gave off similar ominous vibes that spoke the word, "counterfeit".
As I was starting to get lost in my thoughts, the mysterious woman spoke up.
"So you noticed it too, huh? The "void" that exists inside this room, I mean."
Puzzled by what she meant, I glanced back towards her with my eyebrows raised.
"What do you mean?"
Was she referring to the lack of "significance" I sensed earlier? But if so, up until now, I haven't even voiced any of my thoughts relating to this topic.
Not to mention my expression still felt blank like some sort of poker face, so I assumed she wasn't able to read my intentions.
Perhaps she's simply good at reading people. I suppose, that's good to know moving forward.
"Ah, nevermind me. More importantly, how are you feeling?" She asked me. Although her tone felt natural, it was obvious she was trying to dismiss a very important topic as if it was mindless chatter.
"I'm fine, but right now, the two of us need to talk."
Despite my lack of strength, I channeled resolve into my voice so that she would hear my intentions.
"I understand. After all, you must have a lot of questions right now. But that's fine, because one of the duties of being a wife is to provide her husband with whatever solution he may need!~"
Although her movements were not overbearing, her voice was filled with an unexpected sense of joy.
But as cute as it was, I still don't know how I feel about referring to the two of us as if we were some sort of married couple.
In any case, despite how weird it was in the first place, her personality was actually a blessing in disguise in many ways.
For starters, her twisted sense of self projected delusion made her much more receptional to verbal interrogation. While she may not mind if I don't play along with her games, so long as I don't negatively react to her advances, I might be able to pry out some necessary information that I need from her.
As such, I needed to tread very lightly, and be careful with the words I say. I'll also need to read into her every movement very carefully. They alone paint a picture of their own.
"Let's start with who exactly are you."
Given the context of this situation, it was a perfectly normal question and yet probably one, if not, the most important one to ask.
Although the moment was short and almost unnoticeable at first glance, I noticed she paused for a second as if to consider her choice of words.
"Blair. You can call your lovely wife, Blair~"
Good, now I got a name. Not going to lie though, that name does indeed sound familiar, but not in the aspect of personal knowledge. It was more like a "I think I heard that name in passing" type of familiarity.
But that wasn't the only thing I noticed.
In fact, the importance of her name was the last thing I was focused on. What really caught my attention was the way how Blair initially responded to me.
Despite how simple it was, under the pretext of being a wife, it was most definitely unnatural.
If you ignore the way she "dressed" up her sentence with subtle movements, what she did was give me a textbook reply as to how somebody would react to a person that they had just met.
In other words, she just gave me, albeit not absolutely concrete, proof that this was our first encounter.
Of course, there were other ways to truly prove our relationship, but I decided not to delve into those methods for now.
"What about you? Do you remember yours?"
My name?
As if seeing through my hidden interrogation, she replied with a ground breaking question of her own.
Up until this point of time, I had been so focused on regaining my memories or making sense of the situation, that I had completely overseen the need to re-establish a basic sense of self identity.
Without knowing atleast that much, I wonder how strange it would have been to be if we kept talking had she not pointed it out in the first place.
In any case, ignoring that awkward possibility, I try to think long and hard about myself specifically.
Searching through the gaps of my memory, there was one name that did eventually come to mind.
Dazai? Yeah, I think that sounds about right. I take a moment to get used to my name. If someone was to call me by that name, I need to be able to naturally respond to it.
"Hm…" As if lost in thought however, Blair seems to be observing me closely.
"You sure you're not forgetting anything else? Like last name or perhaps you're true–, nevermind, forget about it."
True? True what? You can't just say something like that and then try to dismiss it like it's nothing....
But she did make a point earlier. Do I have a last name? Obviously that would be in regards to my relationship with a certain family bloodline. But is that really important to worry about right now?
No, actually, it might indeed be. Like I stated earlier, I need to solidify a basic sense of self identity. The more I can learn about myself, the better, regardless of how trivial the details may be. Besides, for all I could know, my last name could tell me I might be related to some noble family.
So I search within the corners of my mind yet again, but this time, I use the word "Dazai" to make some headway into the unknown.
Until finally, one word came to mind. That name must have been the family I was born and raised in.
If that was the case, then that means that my full name is "Dazai Crowley".
In fact, just recovering those two names, I think I was able to recover a great portion of my memories.
Atleast those who were related to the name atleast.
Several images of familiar people surfaced within my mind. Three of them were obviously fully grown adults, but the other two, a boy and a girl, seemed to be about my age. Although these silhouettes weren't clear as day, I was able to make out their faces, and possibly their affiliation with me.
"Mom, Dad….Uncle? That's probably my sister…and I think cousin?" By accident, I voiced my thoughts.
"Oh? Did you remember some of your old family members?"
"I think so."
Still a little unsure if I truly remembered anything new, I noticed something in the corner of my eye.
"Wait, what's going on over there?" I asked while pointing Blair to the general direction of a weird phenomenon.
In several places in the room, strange specks and/or blobs of light appeared out of nowhere. Each of them began to form into a variety of other items and adornments.
"Hey, what's this?" Blair asked, but before I could answer, she walked over to the nearby dresser and picked up a newly formed item frame, one of the items that materialized from the odd light.
When I raised my eyebrow and was about to ask a question, I noticed her lips perked into a smile.
"Aw, now isn't this just adorable!"
When I asked for it, Blair handed it over to me. Checking both the front and back, it looked like some sort of large family photo encased inside what I assumed to be a thick waterproof protective frame.
As if the very life of the moment was captured inside this piece of film, six people were happily enjoying the company of the other while having their picture taken. Each of them were dripping with their own sense of individuality and character traits, making them unique and able to stand out in their own way.
Five of them I was able to recognize since they were the hazy faces that came to my mind earlier, but the sixth one, the boy who stood in the middle, was a complete enigma to me.
Actually, wait. I think I may have a clue who he is.
Was that kid, me?