The sun was rising. A hint of cold air gave away the end of summer break.
A young man was walking to school with a tired look on his face and dark circles under his eyes.
Someone soon approached from behind and gave him a light tap on the shoulder.
"Good morning, Kaoru."
The young man briefly glanced at the figure next to him and opened his mouth to speak.
"Morning, Katagiri."
"Geez, you look tired. It's the first day back to school, you better wake up." Said Katagiri.
Not wishing to reply, Kaoru just kept on walking alongside Katagiri, finally reaching their school.
As soon as they stepped in, a swarm of students came to greet them. They didn't care about Kaoru, though.
He sat down and placed his head in his palm, yawning as he did.
' I'm so sleepy. Maybe I'll leave early. Why did I only sleep for seven hours?!'
Cutting him out of his thoughts, the teacher walked in and silenced the class.
She was a rather young woman, with black hair and brown eyes.
The class fell silent, and the first period had just began.
First period was history. What a subject to have first thing in the morning!
Well, it was not like he was bad at it or anything. In fact, Kaoru scored among the top three of his year.
But it was still boring.
How would he survive this period?
...The bell rang, signaling the end of the first period.
'Finally!'
Opening the door leading to the roof, Kaoru found a quiet place to sleep. He had fifteen minutes for a quick nap.
'Here, this place should be fine.'
He approached a small bench, lied down and looked at the sky.
He closed his eyes and attempted to sleep.
But...
His eye suddenly twitched. He rose up immediately.
"The sun is pissing me off, why is it so damn irritating?!" Shouted Kaoru.
Albeit summer was over, the sunlight was rather hot today.
Kaoru shook his head in dejection and tried to fall asleep, blinking one last time and...
He was surrounded by complete darkness. It did not feel bad though, rather, it was comforting. He was now asleep.
Or was he? He had consciousness, but everything around him was dark, he couldn't discern anything.
Thinking that he is already asleep, he relaxed and tried to think of nothing.
But unfortunately for him... a loud sound was slowly coming into hearing range.
And then...
He opened his eyes, his whole body sweaty, and looked around.
Practically being forced awake by the cacophony of a screeching sound, Kaoru jumped out of a white bed. Only to find that there was only silence and no one nearby . There was no sound either.
'what the hell was that? Ahh, my ears are ringing like crazy!'
For some unknown reason, Kaoru's ears were ringing very loudly and were in so much pain.
"Ahh,but hurts so... Much. What is this?!"
He was in great pain, most likely because his ears were bleeding an irregular amount of blood. It was as if his whole body's crimson liquid flowing in his veins, was pouring out of his ears .
But the pain was starting to ease and felt strangely... fake. It still hurt, nonetheless.
The next moment, the white bed he was lying on, disappeared. Only darkness remained.
Startled, his eyes immediately wide, he shot upright and desperately gasped for air. His breath sounded rough, and shaky, like he had been running for hours.
He just woke up.
'T-that... that was a dream, in a dream?'
Trying to calm his panicked heart, a look of vague understanding appeared on his face. He was starting to understand, kind of. And then he muttered under his breath in a slow, but shaken voice.
"That was a dream! I thought I would die. Oh right my ears, why are they ringing!?"
Such a weird dream. He woke up and then woke up again?
He observed his surroundings as he was starting to finally take in what was happening.
He looked at his phone, causing his eyes to widen.
' It's half past twelve. I overslept!'
Putting his phone back into his pocket, he ran to class.
School was almost over by now!
In the end, he decided to just leave, because even if he returned back to class, he would get yelled at.
Reaching his home, Kaoru greeted his mother.
"I'm back, mom."
"Welcome back, Kaoru." She replied.
His mother was a very... Beautiful woman. She had deep black eyes, in contrast to her lustrous-blond hair. Her face was clear and smooth, barely any wrinkles, hiding the fact that she was over forty years old.
She looked more like she was in her late twenties than forties.
Kaoru's face lightened up a little.
"Well, I'll be upstairs." He said.
"Okay. I will call you when your father finally
arrives."
...After some time passed, his father came home.
Kaoru descended the stairs as his mother called him.
"Welcome back, dad."
"I'm back Kaoru. I'm back, honey."
Standing Infront of Kaoru, his father radiated an aura of reliability and calmness. He was very tall, too.
He had light brown hair and a chiseled face. His jaw was pronounced, his slicked-back hair and glasses gave him deceptive looks. He too, looked younger than his age, like his mother did.
They walked over to the kitchen and sat down.
Lunch was already ready. As they were about to eat, Kaoru suddenly stopped his utensils from touching the food, suddenly tense.
'This looks so unappetizing.'
Hesitating for a second, his mother spoke up.
"What is it, Kaoru. Do you not like the food?"
"No, I just don't feel like eating that much."
"Well, eat as much as you feel like. I won't pressure you." Uttered his mother.
Kaoru nodded his head downwards. Just a moment later, he forcefully tried to quickly eat his meal.
'Better to not drag it out.'
And so, he was quickly demolishing his food, with only blandness entering his mouth.
... Lunch was over. Kaoru had forced himself to eat more than he wanted, so he was not feeling very good.
'Time to study. I guess.'
This was going to be a long day of studying.
***
Procrastinating your studies until night was probably not good. But that's exactly what Kaoru did.
After a weird day, he moved up to his room to study. He had to keep his grades up, after all.
Ten or so minutes passed, with Kaoru absolutely zoning out, his eyelids half open.
He slapped himself on the face to wake up.
It was still nine pm, there had to be a convenience store open nearby.
He put on his shoes and a light jacket and headed out.
"I'll be back in five, mom."
"Okay, be careful." Said his mother.
Moving through the streets and entering the convenience store, he stopped for a moment, catching his breath.
The moment he stepped inside, an intoxicating scent permeated in the air, causing his pupils to narrow. The scent was sweet and pleasant.
He got an energy drink and headed for the register, the smell becoming more and more intense.
'Whew! This smells awesome.'
"Ahh, fuck! I hate this job." Muttered the cashier under his breath.
His finger was bleeding and a bloody sharp box cutter blade lay down on the register beside him.
He put his finger in his mouth and looked at Kaoru.
"I'm sorry, can you please wait a moment? My boss just had to rush me."
"I understand, take your time." Answered Kaoru.
It appeared that the blood streaking down the cashiers fingers was the source of the smell.
The cashier wrapped his finger with a paper towel and turned to Kaoru.
"Is that all? " He said.
Kaoru glanced at him with a weird expression, before answering.
"Ah, yes. That'll be it. "
After paying the cashier, he exited the store while taking a sip of his drink. The cold and refreshing liquid tasted a bit odd, but Kaoru didn't pay it any attention.
It was still refreshing, after all.
After reaching his home and finishing his homework, he fell asleep.
***
Waking up in the morning was hard, but he had to.
He freshened up in the bathroom, ate some breakfast and left for school.
"I'm going out mom."
"Take care!"
As usual, he got approached by Katagiri and they walked together. And as usual, he didn't like the attention Katagiri got while they were walking together.
'What's so great about him anyway?'
After they reached their class and sat down, the teacher opened the door.
"All right everyone, sit down." She said with a cold glare.
'Damn, she does not like us at all. Like usual.'
The teacher took some papers out of her bag, set them on the table beside her and spoke up:
"I have finished grading your tests. Come get them when your name is called out."
When she said that, the class suddenly tensed up.
"Amasawa."
"Aoyama."
More and more students got their tests back, some sighing in disappointment, while others smiled in satisfaction.
After many students got their tests, it was Kaoru's turn.
"Fujimoto. Congrats. A perfect score, like usual."
'Like usual she says.'
He sat down, waiting for everyone to get back their tests.
The next person to stand up caused a scowl to appear on Kaoru's face.
"Katagiri. Congrats. You got the second highest. Again. Better luck next time."
The next moment after Katagiri sat down, almost everyone jumped to see his grade.
"Katagiri you got a 97! You really are a genius." Someone yelled in admiration.
"Hahaha. Thanks." Shyly said Katagiri.
'Tsk. What's so great about this guy. I don't get it.'
Kaoru was a little mad.
Why should Katagiri get all the fame? I'm much better anyway. Thought Kaoru.
Indeed, why did he?
...The classes today were especially boring for Kaoru, but he managed to make it.
Today was Wednesday. In others words, his favourite day of the week.
Every Wednesday, he had less classes than normal, but not the least out of all the days. But, the library usually stocks up on Wednesdays. So, he chose to spent some time after school in his school's library.
He picked up a certain novel, placed it on a table infront of him and sat down. He took in a deep breath and opened the first page.
'Finally! The third volume.'
His blood pumping and his excitement reaching high levels, he started reading.
He was surely gonna binge this!
***
It was time to call it a day. In the end, Kaoru read about half of the book and got so immersed he forgot about the time.
It was starting to truly become dark so he decided to head home.
Darkness was slowly enveloping the sky. Walking under the pale moonlight after studying for hours in the library was most definitely pleasant.
But that's when Kaoru heard a voice shouting for help. It was so faint, it almost got drowned out by the wind.
And then... A faint running figure could be seen in the distance. Approaching Kaoru.
The figure was gradually getting closer.
Kaoru was debating whether to simply run off or see what it is.
Eventually, curiosity won.
' That's creepy as hell. I'm curious though.'
Close enough to see clearly, Kaoru realized it was just a middle schooler running toward him.
His uniform was torn. His face had a fresh cut, blood trailing down his cheek.
Then he shouted —
"Run! He'll get you!"
Kaoru flinched.
"What are you talking about!? Is this some kind of prank?" Startled.
The boy didn't stop. He ran straight at him.
When he reached Kaoru, he grabbed him by the shoulders.
" I have no time to explain. Just run or you'll die!"
Something about his voice made Kaoru move.
They sprinted together.
"Hey, what are we supposed to do now?" Kaoru shouted between breaths.
The middle schooler breathed sharply but deeply, trying to conserve energy.
" Just run. If we get caught, it's over. We just have to reach the nearest police station. I'll explain then.
Kaoru suddenly stopped.
" I knew it, this is a prank. What, am I going to be on social media?" Claimed Kaoru.
He was familiar with these kind of pranks, after all.
"What? What are you saying you idiot!?" The boy yelled.
But before he could say more, a thought flickered across his mind.
' Wait a minute. If he gets caught, he will slow him down. I just have to run.'
A slow breath.
Decision made.
"Bye bye."
And he left Kaoru behind...
...The faraway steps of the boy echoed until finally disappearing.
Kaoru glanced over his shoulder, in the direction the boy came from.
Everything around him was dark.
Some faint street lights flickered, illuminating the darkness of the night slightly.
A creepy silence settled over the street.
And then... more steps echoed.
Slowly at first but getting faster and faster.
The steps abruptly stopped.
The lights flickered once more, barely reaching the darkness infront of Kaoru.
But it was plenty.
What Kaoru saw next made him shiver...
...Barely visible, two crimson-dyed eyes stood in the darkness.
Theie owner slowly walked forward.
A black figure appeared out of the darkness, black claws and a long coat.
Kaoru's heart skipped a beat.
'This is a little eerie. Is this really a prank?' He thought.
"Oi, you brat. Why the f*ck are you stealing my prey!" Said the figure.
"H-huh?" Muttered Kaoru, confused.
"You heard me. Try to steal my prey one more time and you are dead."
Clearly confused, Kaoru's mind barely managed to make a coherent sentence.
"Um, I-I don't know what you are talking about. But..."
'Yeah, maybe... Maybe this isn't a prank.'
In the next moment, straining the muscles in his legs, he turned around and kicked himself off the floor.
"I'm out of here."
The black figure stared at him, unmoving. He was so still to the point of being creepy.
Then, he let out a laugh. A very loud one.
'Yeah laugh all you want.'
But just as Kaoru was thinking that, the black figure stopped laughing and disappeared. Kaoru was too busy running to notice.
Inhaling with his nose and exhaling through his mouth, Kaoru slowly breathed, conserving energy, like the middle schooler did.
Huff, huff.
But his efforts were meaningless. A sharp pain suddenly erupted in his left leg, causing Kaoru to stumble, his school bag flying away.
" Ahh... My leg. It hurts, damn it," Cried out Kaoru. " What just hit me?"
Turning around, he saw the black figure. Up close, it was an older man, no older than forty years old.
His body got paralysed by fear.
He had an ominous smile on his face and his eyes were bright red. He pointed his claws straight to Kaoru's face, scaring him further.
'How did he catch up to me?! I was so far away!'
Unfortunately, there was no one to answer his questions. Because, the man angrily shouted :
"Did you seriously think I would believe your innocent act? Cut the crap. When did you turn?"
Kaoru was breathing hard, the pain in his left leg agonizing, the fear debilitating. The older man's words barely reached his ears.
They didn't do him any good, anyway. It's not like he understood anything that was being said.
"Turn? Innocent act? You've injured my leg and now you are asking me what, exactly? You know you will not get away with this." Answered Kaoru, his heart beating like crazy.
The man sighed in exasperation, his anger replaced by a feeling of disgust.
"Another one of these, huh?" He muttered under his breath.
" I wholeheartedly hate you cowards. I guess you'll continue playing dumb, right? What a bummer."
The streetlights awkwardly flickered again , the light bulbs at their limits. Then, they gave one last flicker before going out . Only for a short moment though.
Immediately after, the light returned, dim and weak.
Barely enough, it's shine illuminated the dark street once more, allowing Kaoru to see.
Kaoru's eyes widened in surprise. The black figure was nowhere to be found. Like it was never there to begin with.
It was as if the older man disappeared into thin air.
***