A boy opens his eyes. He finds himself in a black school uniform, resembling those worn by junior high school students. Standing in front of a blossoming sakura tree while standing on a concrete path — a confused expression was worn on his face, as if he had woken up to a place he wasn't supposed to be at.
"Here again…" The boy thought to himse — wait a minute, that isn't part of the script…Wasn't I supposed to point out the weird ethereal vibe this place gave off or something like that? Hen desu ne[1]…
Kane looks around, but weirdly… it was populated? This was a new discovery for Kane. He had grown accustomed to the old version where it was just him and… the person running towards him.
There were passing conversations everywhere he looked. There was smiling, people placing their arms around their buddies' necks — it was new and strange. He felt out of place. Back then, he felt out of place because there was nobody around… but now, he feels out of place because he doesn't have somebody beside him.
Was this the reality of his life back then? His only friend back then before he met Satoshi and Kazuo was Erisa. It had always been Erisa that accompanied him throughout his childhood.
Kane looks around, trying to discern Erisa within the various groups passing by him. Without a sight of her anywhere, he sighs in defeat, before looking down at his hands. Weirdly enough, he only noticed right now that his hand was wrapped in a gauze bandage.
"Strange… this is absolutely strange…" He thought as he felt it with his other hand. As expected, it was rough to touch. He sighed, before looking to his side where all the students were coming from.
Staring at the gate, he watches closely. He waited for the girl in his dreams to come running toward him. Seconds turned to minutes, as he waited there patiently — something he had never had to do in this dream.
It felt wrong how she never arrived. Usually by the time he thought he was alone, she would come and relight the fire in his heart. But this time, she never came. Had Kane… forgotten?
"Kane-kun!"
"That voice…!" Kane jumped at the rather sudden exclamation of his name that came from behind him. He turns around and stares at the person that called him. It was the girl that ran towards him.
Weirdly, there was a strange blur that covered her eyes. Kane tilted his head, confused by who this person was. On the other hand, the girl that approached him stood there with her leather briefcase held behind her back.
"Mou~ Kane-kun, you shouldn't really let a woman wait for you, you know? That's just downright rude and ungentleman-like!" She teased him with a sly grin. Despite this attempt of making him laugh, he only stood there silently with a stunned gaze.
The girl then covers her mouth as she giggles to herself. She then takes a step forward and straightens her back, before reaching her hand out to Kane with a smile. She said, "I hope we can have a great school year together, Kane-kun~!"
Her voice began to trail off. Kane looks down at her hand, before looking at his injured hand. Hesitantly, he reached for it — it was slow. He didn't know who this person was, despite all the memories he held… she wasn't in any of them.
Before their hands could meet, he felt himself getting pulled back at a rapid pace — her figure growing smaller and smaller. He screamed in terror as the school scenery faded into darkness.
He tried to look back and catch a glimpse at what was pulling him, but he saw nothing. Kane struggled, but he couldn't move anything aside from his head. Now screaming in terror, "L-Let go off me!"
Now being held high above the ground, he suddenly began his descent to the ground — it is as if the thing that held him suddenly let go. He continued screaming in terror, the wind blowing aggressively against his face.
As his descent was about to meet its untimely end, he began to scream his lungs out. "GOD DAMN IIITTT!!!"
"BWAAH!"
jolted up from his bed with a shocked expression. With breathing so frantic, you would assume he had ran an entire marathon without breaks. His eyes widened to an extreme degree, dark-brown eyes piercing the wall caught in his gaze.
Sweat dripped off his forehead, his back, and his chest — basically, sweat dripped from every pore in his body. He closes his eyes and tries his best to slow his breath. He was still suffering the after-effects of such a dream… wait, no… nightmare.
With one final rotation of breathing, he reopens his eyes, before wondering to himself, "W-what the hell was that dream?" After that thought, he looked around his room, which he instantly noticed how organized it looked compared to before.
He squints his eyes in curiosity. Kane didn't exactly remember fixing up the mess Erisa made when she left last night. Kane then chooses to recall what happened last night, his gaze then grows weak as he remembers the wrong thing. "...Right, last night…"
Looking out his window, he watches the bright blue sky. His heart grows weary, wherein he holds his chest as he voices out his thoughts, "...I almost did something I would regret."
He looks down at his hands, before tightening them into a fist. His resolve grew as he muttered, "I will never let that happen, ever again." This would be the last time such a sensitive event would ever happen in his life.
"It may be hard, but…" His dark-brown eyes shut. Kane recalls the faces of those he held dearly to his heart — the people that cared for him, his friends and family. His life meant more than that. He knew that it wouldn't be downhill.
"...I can do it."
He nods as he finally accepts that fact. That stunt he nearly did last night, he would never do it again. Moving on from that, Kane's eyes open, and he shows a rather uncomfortable expression. "B-but still…"
Kane raises his two arms — he almost resembled a scarecrow with the way he held up his arms. He looks at his drenched sleeves with a disgusted expression. "...Am I really that sweaty of a person?"
He pauses for a moment.
Sniff~ sniff~ sniff~
Kane gags at the smell of his clothes. He furrowed his eyebrows, before standing up and taking off the shirt he wore ever since yesterday.
He started treating his shirt like a biohazard as he held it in front of his face. If he could just get one of those claw gadgets, it would be a godsent for him. Sadly, today is not that day.
Despite pinching his nose, the odor makes its way through the smallest gap in his nostrils. It feels embarrassing how he was capable of producing such foul body odor. "I… I should bury this shirt and take a bath."
He waves the bad smell away from the front of his face using his hand, before walking to his door and opening it quickly. As Kane steps outside, he doesn't bother with closing the door since he wanted to get this over with.
"Good morning, Kane-kun. I prepared some food for you. It's not much, but I'm making you some rice porridge."
"Ah, good morning… thank you, I'll take a quick bath first though… I woke up drenched in sweat…"
"Ah, souka[2]? No worries then, I suppose. I also prepared the heater for you, the water should be warm by now."
"You're a lifesaver, Erisa-san."
"No problem."
Kane began walking toward his bathroom while still waving his hand in front of his face, trying his best to waft away the odor his shirt held. He walked up this bathroom door and opened it with his wafting hand.
He closed the door behind him and sighed. Kane then walked to the laundry basket placed atop the washing machine, getting ready to toss his toxic bombshell of a shirt into it — before freezing.
His face remains blank. With a prominent shine, his dark-brown eyes signify his realization of something.
"NANDE KOKO NIII[3]?!?!?" He slid back into the hallway leading to the living room / kitchen. Kane stood there with his legs spread apart and his shoulders raised up as he pointed at her with the same hand he is using to hold his shirt, while shouting with a funny looking angry face.
Erisa looked at him for a moment as he stood there, huffing and puffing. She sighed while shrugging, still holding the ladle she was using to cook the rice porridge. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm cooking you food," she then looked back at her cooking with a pout. "Could you at least be somewhat grateful? Baka."
Kane begins rubbing his chin as he speaks with a rushed and somewhat barbaric tone, "Hm~, yes indeed, you do look like good housewife material… You even made sure to wear the apron my mother gave me before she sent me here…"
"BUT STILL!!!" He pointed back at her once again, reusing the same face and pose he had already performed earlier. His mouth froths out of unbridled rage, before continuing. "You could have at least told me you would borrow the kitchen!"
Erisa looks over her shoulder while covering her mouth, a sly grin forming over his face. She casts a mocking laugh directly at Kane, before speaking with a playful tone, "Mou~, Kane-kun, what was I supposed to do~? You were sleeping so soundly in your bed — I didn't want to disturb such a sweet looking baby~."
"The only baby here is you with the way that you're acting." Kane flatly remarked.
Erisa turns back to Kane for a moment as she processes what he said. After a few quick seconds, her expression becomes less amused as she clicks her tongue out of irritation, purple eyes shifting to the side as they remain half-closed.
Her eyes the lazily shift back over to Kane. She then points the ladle at Kane, her other hand resting horizontally below her chest. Sighing deeply before muttering with a demanding voice as she stared at him with one eye lazily open.
"Whatever; take your bath already, or else I'll spit in your rice porridge."
A pang of realization hits the side of Kane's head. She did indeed hold the power over him since she was the chef — he chose to play safe… for now. He straightens his back and salutes proudly. "Hai! Right away, ma'am!"
He then performed a sharp turn toward the bathroom, and began marching. Erisa watched him as he did this, causing her to snicker and have a grin form on her face. "I'm glad he's back to his usual self now."
Unexpectedly, her nostrils catch the smell of something burning. Erisa slowly looks down at the pot she was using to cook the food, and the expression she wore on her face said it all.
"Shimatta[4]."
⋆｡°✩
Kane's eyebrow began to twitch and a half-smile had formed on his face as he sat at the dining table. The 'rice porridge' in front of him had purple stink lines coming off of it. Yes, it was fresh from the stove… but it reeked of death and decay.
Erisa sat across from him on the dining table, her face firmly looking down as she tried her best to not make eye contact. Her soul had already left her body and all that was left on this mortal plane was a husk.
The only sound she was producing as she sat down was a long groan of disappointment.
Swallowing some saliva, Kane reluctantly clapped his hands together — disregarding the fact that this bowl of poison had a daunting aroma lingering off of it. He shook his head, before speaking in a low and terrified tone.
"I-I-Itadakimasu."
[1] The term, “Hen desu ne” (変ですね) translates to “That’s strange”.
[2] The word "Souka" (そうか) is an informal way of saying, “I see” or “Is that so”.
[3] The word “Nande koko ni?!?!?” (なんでここに ? ! ? ! ? ) translates to, and I quote directly from the sentence, “What the hell are you doing here?!?!?”.
[4] The term, “Shimatta” (しまった) is a form of exclamation that is used to express disappointment, regret, or a simple “Oops”.