Unrecognizable faces, indistinct voices, misinterpreted sounds.
The smell of iron wafting in the air.
The whirring of automobiles, an uneven tire slowly rolling around as if to hypnotize.
The distant lights. Police cars. The sticky reddish liquid flows on the asphalt.
"So? How was school?" A soothing cold voice asked. A face from the front seat turned and smiled.
The unrecognizable face of the man. His lips curved upwards as if to say everything was going to be okay. That smile. It had never faded.
A sudden flash of light, a deafening noise, and a crashing sound all drowned the response that the voice was about to receive. It was all in a matter of a split second and everything became a fleeting moment, just like snow as spring began to approach. All of their eyes met, it was just a split second but they could feel the connection between them. Everything is going to be all right, that's the expression written on their faces filled with longing and despair.
It all happened so fast that no one was able to react. The passengers by the front seat. The girl. Their eyes fixated on him and him alone. 'What... what can I do?'
Gone.
All Gone.
Only the sound of the ambulance could be heard in the background.
Everything's all gone.
.....
"Another nightmare, huh."
The sun pierced through Hajime's eyes as they shot wide open. His jaw felt slightly painful as if he had been clenching them all night. Figures, he experienced the nightmare once again and today, he didn't scream when he woke up. For the past few days, the nightmares seemed to have been more frequent, and more vivid, causing Hajime to wonder if something happened to his head when he was hit by a bat back then. Was that the sole cause of more nightmares? He couldn't figure out why it was happening to him, now of all times.
A month has uneventfully drifted by and there were still no improvements in Hajime's mundane life. Because of his savior, Hiroto, he managed to escape getting into debt by paying for the college students' hospital bills. In turn, he even managed to wring money from them, credits to Akamine-sensei. Of course, the money didn't go straight into his pockets though, since he didn't need it anyway. 'Oh, I guess today's the day, huh.' Hajime said to himself, a yawn escaping his mouth.
'It's been two months, now I can pay some of it back. I still have a long way to go, though. What a pain.' Hajime staggered towards the bathroom, then he brushed his teeth. He was surprised that water still came out of the faucet. It's been more than four months since he last paid. 'Seriously, they need to replace whomever that guy is. I'm basically getting water for free here.'
Hajime almost regularly took a bath, taking advantage of the water that was still there. He could never get used to the freshness he feels every time he did take a bath. It gives him a nice boost to start the day as if he had just won over the system or something. Of course, he'd use free water while it's still there. There's no harm in using water when it's been freely given out to you, right?
Hajime's reasoning was misplaced, that much was obvious.
One might think that Hajime's house had reverted to its former state. After all, it's been a month since Megumi came for a visit and spring-cleaned the entire house from the bottom up. But such wasn't the case, however, since Hajime decided to keep the house clean from now on. And he miraculously kept it clean, even he was impressed by his own abilities. He realized that he just needed that little bit of a push in order to maintain a higher standard of living. Every free time he had, he didn't spend it by the park anymore, instead, he would go straight home and clean as much as he could.
The only thing going against Hajime's life right now was his food. He still eats once or twice a week, and that's on a good day. Another problem that Hajime doesn't think about too much were the debt collectors that endlessly harassed him. As long as he escaped every encounter, they'd give up on the chase. Besides, they didn't want to damage the house so as long as he stayed inside, they won't bother going in and demonstrating violence to him.
Hajime didn't know what time it was, but he figured it was almost nine. He went through his routine once more, grabbing his hoodie, wearing a somewhat respectable shirt and pants before heading outside, and checking everything at home, just in case something was amiss. "What time did she say was the meeting?" Hajime asked himself but he couldn't remember. It had been two months since they last met and he had a lot on his plate to have the leisure of remembering every single detail. That's why he decided to just go to the meeting place earlier than usual and wait for her there.
"Hopefully no one would see me. The last time we met led to quite a few misunderstandings." Hajime shivered after remembering a certain memory of Megumi, who insulted him about things he didn't do as well. "How's Megumi doing though, it seems like she was absent more than I was this past month."
'Wait... did I seriously just think of her? N-n-no, I'm not worried about her or anything. In fact, I'm having the time of my life! I don't have to see her that much in school, she'll just look down on me anyways.' Hajime shrugged, heading to the park to get a quick sip of water by the drinking fountain. It had been three days since he last ate, but since the weather had been chilly these days, probably due to summer almost approaching, Hajime didn't feel all that hungry.
A few minutes passed and Hajime finally reached the busiest part of the city. By the heart of the city is where all shops and stalls gather, as well as large facilities such as the supermarket. Hajime doesn't really have the time to go to these places so he wasn't used to the noise and all that hustle and bustle, as well as the occasional screams and haggling that invaded his ears.
"She said by the cafe, right? Which cafe? There are a lot of cafes here?" Hajime's brows tightened. The best of him couldn't remember the meet-up time, much less the cafe in question.
"Over here!" A voice called out from afar, and Hajime noticed a faint figure of a lady, waving her hand towards him.