"Get up, big bro!"
The words, accompanied by an impact to his stomach, knocked the wind out of Kaito. He jolted awake to a familiar white ceiling. It was his room. It was home.
"Sayo... can you please stop waking me up like that?" Kaito groaned, sitting up.
Sayo, his little sister, a cheerful whirlwind of energy, put her hands on her hips. "Someone's got to wake you up, since Mom and Dad are away on their honeymoon." She pointed a thumb at herself. "Now, get ready! I made breakfast downstairs."
Kaito, still groggy, went to the bathroom. As he brushed his teeth, he glanced at his reflection in the mirror. For a fleeting second, he saw a small girl with long white hair where his own face should have been. He blinked, and the image was gone. It was just his tired, bed-headed face staring back at him. He must be more tired than he realized.
Downstairs, a simple meal of sunny side up eggs on toast sat on the table. It wasn't much, but Kaito ate it happily as it's made by Sayo, adding a dash of soy sauce for flavor. Then, the doorbell rang.
"It must be Kanon," Sayo chirped, running to the door and opening it.
Kaito's heart gave a strange lurch as he saw her. Kanon's slightly wavy brown hair framed a cheerful face, her brown eyes sparkling. An unknown feeling of sorrow washed over him, a deep, soul-wrenching sadness he couldn't fathom. Why did seeing her make him feel so profoundly sad?
Kanon blushed, a slight curve of her lips. "Kaito, you shouldn't stare at a lady so intensely."
Sayo looked back at him. "Big bro... you shouldn't keep Kanon waiting."
He finished eating, put his dishes in the sink, and joined them. The three of them walked together toward their local schools. At an intersection, Sayo waved goodbye as she crossed the street, heading to her middle school nearby. Now, it was just Kanon and him, walking alone together.
Kaito turned his head, a strange compulsion, and thought he saw a familiar figure in a shrine maiden outfit standing at the edge of his vision. "What is it, Kaito?" Kanon asked.
He blinked, and the figure was gone. He turned his head back to the road, shaking his head. "It's nothing."
"Are you excited about the first day of high school?" she asked, her voice full of anticipation.
"Yeah," he said, but the answer felt hollow. He was attending... where was he attending? A strange, conflicting thought flickered in his mind, something about a high school abroad and an... academy? He shook the strange thoughts off and they arrived at the school.
The rest of the day was a haze. He sat next to Kanon, listening to a principal's opening speech that felt like a blur. He let out a small yawn. He felt strangely tired, and the desire to sleep flickered constantly at the edge of his consciousness. He listened to his classmates introduce themselves, but their faces and names were a fog. He couldn't understand the opening lecture, as if it was being spoken in a language he didn't know.
Then, it was lunch.
"Hey, Kaito! Let's hang out together!" A group of people crowded around his desk.
"Sorry, but... do we know each other?" he asked, genuinely puzzled. He recalled being a loner in middle school, his only friend being Kanon.
"But Kaito," a girl said, her voice filled with confusion. "You said you would join us for lunch with Kanon."
"I did?" Kaito was baffled. When had he gotten so popular? Who were all these people?
"Sorry, I need to go to the restroom," he mumbled, making his way through the crowd and escaping the surreal scene.
"I did?" Kaito was baffled. When had he gotten so popular? Who were all these people? He was a loner in middle school, aside from his childhood friend, Kanon, he didn't have any notable friend.
"Sorry, I need to go to the restroom," he mumbled, making his way through the crowd and escaping the surreal scene.
He went to the sink and splashed water on his face, trying to fight off the suffocating drowsiness. He looked up, and his heart nearly stopped. He stumbled and fell to the floor on his butt. A girl with pitch-black eyes stared right at him from the mirror, her face pressed against the glass where his reflection should have been. A chilling sense of terror filled him, yet a strange, familiar sensation of warmth overcame it. He got up and approached the mirror again, but she was gone. What was going on?
"Kaito..." A voice called out, but he couldn't find the source.
"Kaito, are you alright?" Kanon's voice came from outside the restroom door. "I heard a noise of someone falling."
"I'm alright," he said, getting up and walking out.
"Well, let's go home."
"Huh? What about class? Lunch break isn't over yet."
Kanon gestured toward the window. The afternoon sun cast long shadows across the empty classroom. "What are you talking about, Kaito? School already ended; everyone's gone home."
Kaito clutched his head as a strange, mesmerizing song began to ring through his ears. A faint, distant voice, like a fragment of a memory, whispered, "M...ster..."
"Kaito! Are you alright?" Kanon held onto him as if he were about to fall.
"I'm alright, I think... I need to get home and rest soon, I'm more tired than I realized."
As they walked, he noticed the sakura trees had changed. The once pink blossoms were now a stark red and black, and the afternoon sky seemed to have gotten a lot brighter. They stood at the crosswalk of an intersection. The red crosswalk sign blinked, and an incredible amount of unease washed over him, a sense of dizzying foreboding that made his skin crawl.
The light turned green. Kanon began to hum an unknown, haunting melody as she started to walk.
"Wait, Kanon! Don't go!" Kaito's hand shot out, grabbing her arm and pulling her back into a tight hug. Kanon yelped in surprise.
A moment later, a speeding truck, its brakes screaming, flew past them, skidding and crashing into a building to the side. The deafening sound of metal crumpling was all that was left.
Kaito held Kanon tightly, his heart pounding against his ribs. "Kaito?" she whispered, her voice confused.
Tears streamed down Kaito's face. "You're not real." He tightened his embrace, the painful truth of his reality crashing down on him. "Kanon had died. She committed suicide while I was helpless to intervene." His grip tightened further. "It was my fault! I was too ignorant to look past your pained smile."
Kanon smiled, and her face began to shimmer, a look of profound peace on her face. "It's alright, Kaito. I'm sure the real me would've forgiven you." Her form began to fade into a gentle light. "So forget about me and live. That's what we would have wanted of you."
The world crumbled around Kaito, shattering into millions of red and black sakura petals. An unbounded sadness and a furious, unyielding anger burned in his eyes as the illusion collapsed.