"... Please... Forgive me... Masako..."
As the familiar voice fades into darkness a warm feeling touched my cheeks. When I slowly opened my eyes, what greet me was the usual moldy ceiling.
"Mn~"
Still half asleep, the morning light coming from my window lit up the room while I got out of my bed. As the drowsiness still lingers from a good night's sleep with needing to use the pill, I yawned while making my way through the corridor.
Taking a turn to the bathroom, I used the stool and start washing my face in the sink.
"What a weird dream..." I muttered to myself
It was blurry scene where I was held tightly in a warm embrace. But I didn't think too much of it since I'll end up remembering it again if I continued my daily writing.
Deciding to have breakfast in a long time, I went down 2 floors beneath me, exhausted.
I entered the counter then through the kitchen. Looking over at my small can stack, I grimaced as I would end up exploring the lower floors sooner than I expected. Despite it should last me for a few days, I didn't want to eat these. Not because they're bad, but because it's a hassle to cook them.
Going through them looking for the easiest one, I grabbed the canned peas and poured its contents inside a small metal pot to boil them. Setting the stove to low fire afraid it might explode if I set it to high, I wait for it to boil.
Going back to back taking a bite from time to time to check if it is soft enough for me to bite it, it took me 30 minutes to just get it to my standards. It's low but I can't complain.
As I savor each bite, I remembered the boiled mushrooms I made which by far is the easiest to cook from the canned foods.
Though I particularly liked Cornbeef, I only had one can that inevitably wasted some of it to the floor. At that time I didn't mind much until I opened another can labeled 'Cornbeef' but it was actually meatloaf. I felt so betrayed when I just finished all the cans labeled 'Cornbeef' to be not actually cornbeef.
Wasting away as the crunchy peas fill my mouth, I grabbed a glass of water to refresh myself. Breakfast was somewhat appetizing but not filling. After that, I looked around and noticed the piling dishes I haven't washed for 3 days.
"Might as well wash it since I have time..."
With barely enough dishwashing soap, I washed the ones I probably need such as cups, pots, and spoons. Forks are optional because I think spoons are more superior.
After 30 minutes of washing, I left them on the counter to dry. With nothing left much to do, I went to the usual staircase and head towards the office area.
Arriving at the floor with my legs aching as usual, deep in my mind I wished the elevator is still working, just without the unnecessary trauma.
After catching my breath, I went to the desk where I left my folder containing all my handwritten memories and drawings, which I then pulled the chair towards the desk and climbed on top of it. After moving myself in a comfy sitting position, I picked up my pen from the beside the folder.
"Hmm~ Mmhmm~ HmmMmm~"
Humming an old classic song I knew, I let the scratching sounds of paper flow with the rhythm. Writing the characters from fast to slow then stopping whenever there's a break point, I immersed myself in writing my biography with a smile on face.
"... Next!"
Finishing a page filled with ink filled words in record time, I immediately grabbed the next paper and start doodling. As time passed, it became my one of my other entertainment aside from fluffing my ears and braiding with my hair.
With my pen moving in a fluid motion, my hand slowly adapts to my drawing skills from my previous life. The quality became better as the lines are more polished compared to what it was before.
Looking back into my memories, I visualized the person from the dream I had this morning. Until I realized something strange.
"... Hm?" My pen stopped causing a small black puddle on the paper.
Checking if I'm remembering it right, I reread the last page again to see events that happened after my supposed 'death'.
"That's weird..."
Looking back into my memories once again, I double checked if I made a mistake, but what's stange is that I didn't.
Going through the events after my 'death', I felt even more uncomfortable with everything at that point gives blur effect giving me a gist of those experiences.
There were some that triggered fear and instinctively urged me to forget it and there are some that made me feel safe and happy wanting to relive to moments once more.
"..."
Taking a glance at the unfinished portrait of a woman I drew, I don't remember meeting her yet somehow I did.
Scratching the back of my head from this confusing situation, I immediately dropped my pen and compiled all of the papers I've written and drew so far.
"Okay... That enough for today. I'll just continue the rest for later."
Closing the folder, I jumped down from my seat then took the stairs until I reached the rooftop.
- - - - -
Upon my arrival, I met up with the usual view of the ruin city while the wind flutters my clothing. Taking deep breaths of fresh air, I calmed myself. Since I'm already up here, I decided to check upon the futuristic tablet again if there was any progress. Last time I checked, it was fully charged but it left me with a loading screen which I begrudgingly had to wait again.
Carefully treading over the ledge, I held on to the railings while I made my way by stepping on the grassy patches the snails left behind. Upon arriving on the grass patch where I left the tablet, I noticed it's screen change.
Before, it only stated 'LOADING 'FROLIC.MMR' PLEASE DON'T EXIT THE SCREEN...' inside a typical neon frame-
"Oh!"
Voicing my surprise I saw a Live2D animation of a cute high school girl wearing a lab coat. Thinking this is a futuristic feature, I excitedly wanted to test it out.
I immediately picked it up and went to a safe place where I can have fun with it. When I got to a spot shaded by the tree, I left it on the ground and start observing it first.
For her appearance, she had long straight black hair tied by a red string ribbon and letting it flow over her shoulders. Aside from that, while she had a deep thinking expression on her face, I can see the concrete surface as her background indicating that, except for her, everything else was semi-transparent.
Noticing her head tilts from time to time, I had the urge to touch her forehead. And in doing so, it flicked her forehead taking her by surprise.
"Wah!"
"Heh." I laughed at her cute reaction.
"What was that for—Huh? Masako?!" When she said that, she starts to tear up.
Hearing what she said, I took a step back and watched her with caution. Noticing my gaze, she looked confused like I was about this situation.
"Umm? Why are you looking at me like that?"
Confirming that she can interact with me real time, I raised up my guard against her. Normally, I would be ecstatic to finally talk with someone but this person immediately knew my name which is really suspicious.
"Is there something wrong? Masako... sweetie your starting to scare me a little..."
"... How do you know my name?" I said in a cold tone.
Upon hearing what I said, her eyes widened. Following with an audible gasp, I can see her opening and closing her mouth wanting to say something but couldn't.
"..."
"...?"
Not breaking eye contact despite the awkward silence between us, she eventually broke the silence.
"You... don't remember me?"
Hearing her question, I thought hard about it. Since I practically drew the faces of every important person of my previous life, there is no way I would miss someone as cute as her.
"Uhh... No?" Giving my honest answer, while she did gave off a sense of familiarity, but when I said that, she had a face filled with shock and disbelief. In a state denial, she then asks me for reassurance.
"Not... one bit?"
Though I knew my memory was a bit weird right now, I still can't think of any person I remember resembling her no matter how hard I tried. Since in the end I didn't find a match, I shook my head which she looked down with lifeless eyes.
"I... See..."
Even though it was unintentional, I still felt guilty for hurting her. With my hands making all sorts of gestures, I rack my brain on how to cheer up someone.
"Umm... That is... I, i..."
I fumbled on my words while cursing at myself for socially inept at this crucial point of time. Shortly after that , I heard her gentle laugh which made me a bit embarrassed for my needless worry. Though she still looked a bit sad, there was nothing much I could do about it at the moment.
"It's okay. Sorry for not introducing myself." With a dry cough as her preparation.
"Ehem. My name is Frolic Sorlaies. About your question on how I know your name, you could say it's because you're my daughter."
"So you're my Mother?"
"We're not related by blood but I already considered you as my own."
Adding her name to the sense of familiarity I had before, I tried to pinpoint where I knew it. Leaving her alone anxious from my silence, I tried my best to remember.
After a while, her name popped up in my mind through the book I found weeks ago.
"...!"
My body perked up and I wanted to run away, but I immediately stopped that line of thought. Looking back at her and along on what she said, it made me think she's not a bad person. Though I feel kind of embarrassed for overreacting for a bit.
"Masako, Is there something wrong?"
Contemplating whether to trust her or not, I went with the former since I feel somewhat safe around her.
"No... It's nothing."
After some time of getting used to her, I gradually opened up to her. Although it was mostly her initiating the conversation, I still followed through and enjoyed answering her questions.
"-Must be hard being alone-"
"-Yeah... Since you're here with me I don't think I'll be lonely anymore-"
"-I'm glad to hear that-"
While I enjoyed the interaction I've been longing, there were times when I called her by her name, she felt a bit sad. I knew what she wanted me to say, but I can't right now.
I could never casually say those words she wanted to hear because uttering those words caused me feelings of dread. Even if it hurts, I don't want her to end up like them.
"-Thanks for forgiving me, Masak-"
Growl~
Disrupting the sweet atmosphere, my rude stomach decided to butt in and complain as it told me it's way past noon. While looking away with a flushed face, Frolic gazed at me with understanding.
- - - - -
Going down to the 8th floor with a distressed Frolic wrapped around my arms. The reason for that was because I forgot to tell her she was inside a tablet.
Although she talked about happy our life was, which led to telling me trivial things one after another. We barely touched the topic why she can't feel anything and the reason why she couldn't move.
Thinking back how panicked she was when I picked her up to go downstairs, I had a hard time to clear up the misunderstanding about that we being in heaven.
...
Arriving at the Cafeteria, I then entered the kitchen with Frolic by my side. Going to the counter, I look over the remaining cans I have left. With all of them remaining being luncheon, Frolic noticed my displeasure.
"Do you not like luncheon?"
Remembering the disappointment I felt about the Fake Cornbeef, especially more so about it's taste when I boiled them. Since this is all I had left, I don't have time to be picky about it.
"It's not like I dislike them... It just hard to cook them."
"I don't know what's hard about cooking luncheon but if you're having difficulties how 'bout I teach you."
Knowing I how terrible I am at cooking, I won't waste this chance of learning something. Seeing my enthusiasm, I heard Frolic's faint chuckle under her breath.
"What's so funny? "
"Sorry I couldn't help it, seeing you this excited reminded me that you'll always be the same Masako I remember."
"Hmph..." Though I didn't deny those words as there were some habits I formed unknowingly, I pouted feeling like she's mocking me.
After our useless banter, she then asked me to be careful before teaching me how to cook.
While opening a can of meatloaf, we talked about the things I've eaten so far. Although she jokingly said I'd finished off the Cornbeef first, I couldn't help but turn my head away in embarrassment.
[Am I really that predictable?]
After opening the can, she taught me how to separate the loaf from the can. I cut open both lids using the can opener and removed one of the lids.
Using a small knife carefully cutting around the edge, I then used the shell of a smaller can from the trash, which I washed properly, from the sink to push out the loaf. Gathering all my strength, I pull the can down against the cup and successfully seperated it.
When I commented how easy this was compared to what I did before, Frolic asked me how I first did it.
"I opened one side and just forked the contents to the pan."
"..."
Hearing my method, she deadpan against my response. I retorted, thinking it wasn't that bad but she doesn't seem convinced.
"Masako..."
Failing to convince her, we just moved on and continued to the next step.
"Do you want the flat ones or the small cube ones"
"The small cube ones."
Seeing me wait for something in anticipation, she sighed as she somehow knew I wanted to learn some easy tricks to do it.
Telling me to slice the loaf horizontally, she made me stack at least 4 or 5 of them and cut them into 3x3. It was simple but I felt stupid for not thinking such obvious method. After that, I went back to the sink to grab the small pot I used before.
"Since you're using that, I'm guessing you wanted to deep fry it."
"Anyways... How do you deep fry something?"
Telling me how to do it, I grabbed the bottle of oil from the shelf which I struggled to get and poured it inside the small pot. She then told me to stop pouring when she noticed how much oil I had put in.
"That's should be okay... All that's left to do is heat it up and I'll tell you when you add the cubes."
Noticing the small fire, Frolic gave me a terrifying idea.
"You can raise the heat if you wanted for it to cook faster."
"Are you sure it won't explode?"
"It's doesn't look like an ordinary gas stove so I don't think you'd have to worry about explosions or burning something since there are already safety mechanics that prevents it from happening."
"Okay... I'll take your word for it."
Turning up the heat a little, the metal plates touching the casserole glowed from bright orange to light blue. As we're patiently waiting for it to heat up, she then gave the signal to add it.
"WAAHHHH!!!"
With the oil popping the moment I placed it, I panicked as it splashed some of it on my skin. While I cowered on the corner feeling betrayed, Frolic tried to comforted me.
While I held a grudge, it didn't take long for the meaty smell to fill the air. This time a grabbed a pair of tongs and a large lid as my shield.
Although Frolic told me not to worry about it anymore since all the water inside had evaporated, I didn't believe her.
I then cautiously picked the cubes one by one, though some of it looked a bit charred, I served it on an empty square plate. Seeing the result, it made me feel giddy now that I learned something.
"Hehe~"
"You look happy."
"After all I can cook now!"
I know it is childish being happy about learning such simple cooking but no one really had the time to teach me anything, even in my previous life. Since I lived my life mostly being self taught there's a limit how much I can without the help of others.
With a spoon in my hand, I scooped out a small cube and started blowing it.
"Fuu~ Fuuu~"
Mentally preparing myself, I then put the fork inside my mouth. It was a simple dish but the taste alone was completely better than the ones I previously made: The bland Cornbeef, the crunchy peas, and even the boiled mushroom and meatloaf I made 2 days ago would pale in comparison.
As much as I wanted to share this accomplishment my childhood friend, it was sad that I couldn't.
"So what do you think?"
Noticing my tears falling down, I wiped my eyes with the back of my palm. I didn't know why cried, but it didn't feel bad. Frolic on the other hand, had a proud smile on her face.
With such a warm atmosphere, I unknowingly grabbed another extra plate and served it in front of her.
"Now then..."
I clasped my hand together like the shows I watched.
"Ittadakimasu~"
* * *