"I love you so much, Kafka Sumikawa…"
In the obscure dream, I was in an endless white space and met with the sight of my late mother, who had been murdered about ten years ago. She was on her knees with a warm smile that, for some reason, made me react with a face of pure disgust.
"What is this?"
I questioned myself about what exactly was happening. As my heart sank, I felt sweat forming around every corner of my malnourished body. I took a step back from my mother. I swallowed hard and said something I'd always wanted to say for years.
"You're not my mother. I don't have one."
The eyes of the mother, which were threaded and crafted into my dream, widened immensely. The warm smile soon dissipated from her face. After a couple of seconds, the same black substance that had leaked from John began to leak from my mother.
Her body started to turn into what John was after he had died. A 『Corpse』
"Ah! G—get away fr—from me!"
The corpse of my mother, who was still on her knees, began to crawl toward me slowly. I turned around to run and realized I couldn't. I looked down at my legs with an expression of despair. Two chains were shackled to my ankles.
Repeatedly, I tried to break free, to run away, like I always did.
But to no avail, I could not break free. Until an empty thought drifted into my fearful mind. As Mother drew nearer, I readied myself.
Then, without thought, I pulled my feet from the chains as hard as I could, ignoring the pain and only focusing on my will to live and survive.
Blood began to pour from my ankles, and I ignored that searing feeling, focusing only on breaking my ankles to get away from Mother.
『Where are you going, son? I made so much food for you!』
Her voice was incredibly different from John's when he was a corpse. Instead, for Mother, her voice was creepily distorted and loud, something that incited me to go beyond the pain.
GRRRRRRK!!!
I fell to the ground. I tried to get up and stumbled. A million thoughts raced through my mind after breaking free, and I forgot about my ankles. As I lay on my stomach, I glanced down at my ankles and saw that the bones in my feet were mangled and dislocated beyond repair.
I also saw that Mother had gotten extremely close to me and was about to bite my ugly feet. I instantly drew my feet closer to me and crawled my way into the endless white space for survival, running purely on adrenaline.
[He's amazing! I can't believe it! I thought he was a coward, but no! End the dream. I know who should use him!]
I looked around mindlessly for who said those words. It sounded like an echo that came from all directions. Then, a dark and endless hole formed below me, and I fell into an empty abyss.
"Ahhhhh!!!"
I sprang up and hit my head against the bottom of the bunk bed.
"Gah!"
I soothed my wound, which felt like it would become a bruise. I looked around and realized I was in my room, and it was 7:30 am.
"Ah! Crap! I'll be late!"
I immediately jumped out of the empty bunk bed, quickly put on my school uniform, and readied myself for another normal day of school. I grabbed my backpack and any other things I'd need and headed out the door.
'Am I forgetting something? Ah never mind'
I walked down the stairs of the medium run-down apartment and passed the landlady. She was in her mid-twenties and greeted me as usual, which was always nice.
"You're late for school again!? Get your ass over there, you idiot! If you fail any class, I swear I'll boost your rent!"
I felt my heart sink.
"I won't fail any classes, I swear!"
"That's a good idea! Now hurry up, you idiot! And here's a pork bun!"
"Gah!"
She tossed the pork bun, and it hit me at what felt like the speed of light. I quickly caught the pork bun before it hit the ground, smiled warmly with a faint blush, and held it close to me. I waved back at Akari before I soon left her sight.
Truth be told, I do have a crush on her. Why, you ask? She's in her mid-twenties, and I'm 16! Well, it may sound weird, but she's the only person who's ever been nice to me and has been taking care of me since my mother was murdered. She took me in when I wandered the streets after running from the police station for questioning.
I don't see her as a mother, a stepmother, or any type of mother. My image of a mother is what my previous mother was, and now, I just can't see it in her. I just physically can't see her as my mother.
I made it in time before the bell rang at 8:00 am. I sighed and sat at my desk, which was near the front of the class. I sat next to some people I occasionally talked to, but I wouldn't say we're friends.
I began to lay my head down on my desk and sort of ignore all the talking. Right when my cheek touched the desk, the door banged open, and the teacher came in. I quickly pulled my head back up, hopefully before he noticed.
The day progressed like any normal school day. I did interact with some of my classmates, but it was mostly just small talk like "Where's this class?" and "When does intermission end?"
'The new freshmen seem tolerable. Hope they don't fail their classes or anything.'
As I entered my last class of the day, I realized that my old art teacher, Mr. Kim, had retired only yesterday and that we had a new one. She said her name was Ms. Ueno.
She asked us if we could introduce ourselves since she was new.
Coincidentally, I was the first one she asked to introduce myself. I walked up to the front and cleared my throat.
"My name is Kafka Sumikawa. You can use my first or last name. I'm a foreigner, so it doesn't matter. I'm from Germany, and my mother is Japanese while my father is German. I like writing and anything involving art."
Silence…
'Seriously?'
"Ah! Thanks, Sumikawa! You may sit down now,"
Ms. Ueno said. Everyone after that introduced themselves, and at least one person asked a question about them. When it was my turn, I had zero. I guess I'm desperate for someone to be curious about me.
It was about an hour before the day officially ended. I ran to the bathroom during class after Ms. Ueno let me go. I sat in the stall and sort of just went on my phone for a while, checking the news.
"Wait, I forgot that!"
I rushed out of the bathroom and ran back towards my class to warn everyone about what was going to happen. I slammed open the door and shouted,
"Guys! We have to get out of here!"
Everyone was taken aback. Ms. Ueno was as well. She walked up to me and attempted to reassure me and ask if something was wrong.
It was going smoothly; maybe it won't happen after all?
"AHHHH! WHAT'S THAT!?"
A girl in my class let out a blood-curdling scream and pointed towards the windows. There it was. The thing that I wrote was currently playing out in real life right in front of me.
More of my classmates backed away from the window and started to panic.
"What's wrong with them? It looks like an angel, but why is blood leaking from its eyes!?"
"What's it grabbing from its pouch!?"
Everyone shouted with fear. Ms. Ueno attempted to calm them down and evacuate, but my classmates were too stunned by the angel.
It pulled out a horn from its pouch and let out a sound that was similar to the first horn of the Rapture.
"Ahh!!! My ears!!!"
I, as well as my other classmates, covered our ears and gathered in a corner of the room. Under my breath, I whispered to myself,
"Crap. Miyuki should be here soon…"