Waiting hours upon hours yielded no results, the phantom in my bed kept snoring until the other morning. Staying holed up in that cramped apartment with nothing to do I had grown bored beyond reason. Thus, I finally decided to take a stroll outdoors and figure things out for myself.
Putting on a shirt and a pair of jeans that'd been neatly folded near the bed, I headed for the door to gather some info. Pushing the door open, my eyes were nearly blinded by the sharp sunlight hitting my eyes for the first time in twenty-four hours.
"Uhh…" Shielding my vision with my arms, I stepped out in the open to let my eyes get adjusted to the sun.
"Oh!" A sudden shriek from my right made me shriek away in the other direction. However, with my eyes still adjusting, I had no idea what was happening. "Finally out of your bat cave, are you? Yeesh…You look like a vampire, should really get out more often you know?"
Giving my eyes a moment to adjust, I turned to the lady talking my ears out. With bags full of groceries and yarn lying by her feet, a relatively young woman was curiously gazing at me. Her violet eyes reflected a glint of worry, almost as though she'd mistaken me for her own kid.
"You okay?" She asked, slowly reaching for my face.
Before her fingers landed on my cheeks, I instinctively grabbed her hand a little too tight. A sudden squeal escaped her lips, and soon enough a frown took over her brows. Drawing her hand out of my clasp, she crossed her arm with a look of great discomfort.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"Haa…" Heaving a sigh, her expression quickly changed to one much lighter as if nothing had happened. "It's okay. I shouldn't have tried touching you anyway. My daughter's nearly the same age as you so I guess those maternal instincts kicked in."
Letting out a chuckle, she turned to the apartment next door and punched the key to get inside. However, picking up a few bags in her hands, she looked me in the eyes before hinting at me with her gaze to help her take the rest of them in.
"S-sure," lifting the kneading equipment and the yarn bags in my arms, I followed her inside the apartment.
Unlike the one I'd been stuck in yesterday, hers looks much more spacious with homely furniture and all the other necessities.
'Perhaps, the room in the corner was what was left after building the rest of the complex? I hope the rent's cheaper too then.'
"By the way," putting away the groceries in the kitchen, she pointed at a spot near me to lay down the rest of her stuff as well. "Your mother told me you're here to get an education, but how come I haven't seen you going to school even once in this past month?"
"My mom?" I mutter to myself, wondering who exactly she was referring to.
"Yeah, she was quite emotional too when she left for the village again," picking up a teapot, the violet-haired lady began to brew something on the stove. "Almost moved me to tears as well when she started crying. Being a single mother at that…I guess that made me see myself in her the most."
"Did she say anything else?" Pretending to know who she was talking about, I decided to dig for some answers.
Pouring some tea leaves into the boiling pot, she kept gathering other herbs as well as sugar from the shelves while talking to me.
"Just that you don't like to be disturbed, even though I did try to get you out of the room quite a few times by knocking," her answer only cleared one thing for me.
Someone was helping me while I was unconscious, and I'd been out cold for a month with no recollection of what was happening. Giving it some thought, the girl in my room could easily be the one pulling all the strings, after all, she didn't seem normal if anything she was far from it.
"Here…" While lost in my thoughts, she'd finished making the tea and was now even offering me a cup. "This should help boost your immune system, you're gonna need all the help you can get if you're living in that room next door."
Taking the cup from her hands, I wrapped my fingers around its warm outline. Spreading down my arms, the warm cup helped warm my body up a little. Sitting on a chair by the kitchen counter, I leaned forward onto the granite and slowly raised my sight to meet hers.
"Thanks, Miss…uhm,"
"Saki, Saki Imai, my daughter's Sakura Imai," the moment she revealed her name, something razor-sharp grazed my heart.
The name itself haunted me, that is, the name of her daughter. Sakura Imai, the leader of the female bullies back at my high school…This was her mom? With such a contrasting personality? Was I really supposed to believe this? It has to be someone else, no way it was the same person, it can't be!
"Is something wrong? You're staring at me as if I'm a ghost," giving off a nervous chuckle, Saki patted my shoulders before moving to the opposite side of the counter. There, picking up her own cup, she leaned onto the granite with her still fixed on my face. "Come on, drink up, you have somewhere to be right? I wouldn't wanna keep you here for long, especially since you've been staging indoors for nearly a month now."
"Y-yeah…" Unsure how to feel, I finished the soothing tea quickly and took my depart.
The moment I stepped outside, without looking forward I kept walking. In my carelessness, I felt myself phasing through a mist the same way I'd phased through the phantom girl yesterday. Brought back to my senses after that, I saw the blue-skinned phantom girl standing right behind me after I'd just phased through her.
"Mizuki, you can call me Mizu or Spider if you want," she told me, her hands stuffed in the pockets of her ripped jeans. "And if you're done fingering the neighbors, maybe it's time for a little stroll in the open after all?"
"I suppose you're right," looking at her smug smile, I knew I could no longer show any weakness, or whatever she was would play me like a fiddle.
"Alright then, lead the way, I'll answer whatever's stabbing down your neck," gesturing me to take the lead, she lifted herself ever so slightly off the ground with her bat-like wings.
'If nothing else, then at least let this bitch be a hallucination.' Hoping it was all in my head, I led us down the stairs and into the heart of a familiar city.