"Home, at last." Yuki said.
The faint smell of bleach still clung to her fingers—no matter how much she scrubbed. It never fully went away. She stepped over a pile of crumpled clothes and a few empty instant noodle cups.
Had the smell gotten worse?Maybe it was like this all along. Hard to tell anymore. She thought as she sniffed a couple times.
She dropped onto the living room floor in front of the TV and pressed the power button. A pale blue glow washed over her filthy house.
A man in a sharp blue suit appeared on screen. The news anchor was standing in the middle of the streets of Kyoto. The man had short black hair and beautiful brown eyes. He wore a brown suit and black tie. And a large black coat over his suit.
Below him, bright red letters screamed: KYOTO MASS DISAPPEARANCES.
The man started talking.
"Authorities have confirmed over twenty thousand individuals missing across Kyoto, based primarily on clothing and belongings recovered from various sites."
The man's hand started twitching as he was holding the mic.
"Sources close to me have reported that among the missing are my own parents and younger brother."
he swallowed his saliva and said:
"But... personally, I don't remember ever having a family."
The remote slipped from Yuki's fingers and clattered against the floor. The screen flickered as the channel switched to a blonde woman in a red dress talking about tomorrow's weather.
Yuki didn't hear a word of it. Her mind spun, faster than she could catch.
I understand it now. It's like a curse that makes you forget someone close to you the second they vanish. Like they were never a part of your life to begin with. Yuki thought.
However, after thinking about it a little longer, she pressed the palm of her hand against her forehead realizing there was one big flaw in her theory.
"But...this does not explain why me and Riko still remember Igarashi," she said.
Her hands dug into her sleeves, clutching as she grew annoyed that her theory was possibly wrong.
There might be something I'm missing. Damn it. She thought.
The TV went dark, while the floor creaked as she pushed herself upright. Then—Yuki's phone buzzed against the floor. She flinched and snatched the phone without thinking.
"...Hello?"
There was a pause on the other end.
"Yuki Ayano, I'm sorry for calling so late. I wanted to apologize for punishing you today. I know it must've felt unfair." Miss Nishimura said.
Yuki stayed quiet, her eyes locked on the dead TV screen.
"But... as a teacher, I had to do something. When someone disrupts the class like that... even if I understand you had your reasons... I still have to take control."
Yuki squeezed her phone tighter. There was no point in getting angry. Miss Nishimura was just doing her job and it's not like she was faking her reaction. She truly didn't know Igarashi anymore.
"You're right. Sorry. It won't happen again," Yuki said.
Miss Nishimura let out a breath, almost like she had been holding it the whole time.
"Thank you, Yuki."
Another awkward beat of quiet passed.
"So... how did your therapy session go? Was it helpful?" Miss Nishimura said.
Yuki's mind flashed back to her dolls. The way they moved, while their disfigured faces watched over her.
Her throat tightened until it hurt.
"It was... okay, but... can I ask something?" Yuki said.
"Of course."
Yuki twisted her skirt between her fingers, holding on tighter than she realized.
"Did you tell Sasaki Shin anything about me before I met him?"
"No — of course not. I only recommended his clinic to you. I didn't even give him your name," Miss Nishimura said, sounding genuinely surprised.
She didn't sound like she was lying. The only conclusion left was that Sasaki really could read minds. It had to be the case.
Miss Nishimura hesitated, then gave a nervous laugh.
"He's just... strange. The kind of strange where he can figure you out just by looking at you."
Yuki closed her eyes.
"Tell me about it," Yuki said.
"You've been through a lot. Please take it easy tonight, okay?" Miss Nishimura's voice softened again.
Yuki mumbled a goodbye and ended the call.
***
She sat there, staring at the dead phone screen, her mind whirring so loud it made her skin crawl.
Across the edge of her vision, just beyond the TV screen, something moved.
Yuki stiffened. Slowly, without turning her head, she shifted her eyes toward the living room window.
Outside, across the street, a figure stood under an old streetlamp.
The individual had a long brown trench coat and no face or eyes. He was completely dark. Yuki's hands grabbed at her skirt. She blinked once, twice, then scrubbed her hands over her eyes, trying to see the individual's face.
Maybe I'm just tired. I should really go to sleep.
Then the streetlamp started flickering.
On the third flicker—the figure disappeared.
Her eyes widened. When the streetlamp light re-illuminated, the figure was standing a few feet closer to her window.
Yuki's mouth went dry.
No, no, no... Not again. Not another monster!
She scrambled for her shoes with shaking hands, shoving them on without tying the laces. And ran outside, feet slamming against the overgrown yard. She circled wide, cutting across the cracked sidewalk. Without looking back.
However, the figure in the brown trench coat didn't move.
Yuki kept running, her chest rising and falling fast. The longer the figure stayed still, the more her panic eased, bit by bit.
Wait...It's not following me? She thought.
A shaky breath escaped her lips.
Before she could untangle her thoughts, something wet-sounding echoed behind her — a slimy, dragging noise.
She spun around fast but there was no one behind her. The streets were completely empty.
What is going on, I'm i hearing things?
She stopped moving, standing still in the middle of the broken sidewalk, heart hammering against her ribs.
Then, out of nowhere two black, slimy tentacles shot out from the shadows and wrapped around both of her ankles.
She screamed, stumbling as she tried to kick free.
"LET GO OF ME! LET GO!"
She beat at the tentacles with her fists, but it was like punching wet rubber. No damage. No effect.
The tentacles yanked hard, dragging her backward across the rough street. Her screams echoed into the empty night.
"HEEEELP! HEEEEELP!"
But no one answered.
Her skin scraped raw against the concrete as she thrashed, arms flailing, legs kicking.
The trench coat figure stood ahead—unmoving—as the tentacles dragged her toward it.
I have to do something. I have to—
Frantic, her eyes scanned the ground and caught on a loose rock—the size of her palm.
She grabbed it and slammed it against the tentacle wrapped around her leg.
"TAKE THIS!"
It flinched—but didn't let go.
Gritting her teeth, Yuki kept swinging again and again, tears stinging her eyes. She was getting closer to the creature. Only a few meters separated them.
"LET GO OF ME!" she said, as she kept slamming the rock against its tentacle.
The creature loomed right in front of her before she even realized it. Fear swallowed everything else, locking up her body until the rock slipped from her hand.
It stood at least seven feet tall, more tentacles spilling from underneath his coat. Its face still couldn't be seen—still dark, still blurry.
The creature slowly reached down and grabbed Yuki by the neck with its claw-like hand.
She gasped, fingernails scraping at its wrist as it lifted her off the ground. She couldn't breathe.
i-i'm about to die... i-i-I can't breathe...
The world blurred into a gray haze. The creature's grip tightened, and it didn't stop. As it squeezed harder around her neck, Yuki stopped resisting, her body hanging useless in its grasp.
The creature ended up dropping Yuki like dead weight onto the ground. She crashed onto the pavement, coughing violently as she held her throat, gasping for air.
What...I—I'm alive...?
Still choking, she blinked through the tears. The trench coat figure turned and bolted in the opposite direction, its slimy tentacles slipping back inside the trench coat as it ran.
She crawled to her knees, mind still reeling, when a red flash tore across the street. A glowing cage of energy crashed down over the figure, snapping shut around it.
The creature let out a horrible screech as it was thrashing against the cage. Its coat tore apart, revealing a mass of dark tentacles.
A swirling portal tore open beneath the creature as it tried to cling to the cage bars. However, after a few minutes, the monster's tentacles burst into flames and it screeched louder this time.
Yuki covered her ears and squeezed her eyes shut. She stayed that way until the noise stopped.
When she opened her eyes again, the streets were completely empty. However, after a few seconds a rustling sound was heard in the distance.
Her head turned quickly, just in time to catch a shadowy figure slipping behind the bushes. Something was glowing red in that figures hand. It almost looked like the same red energy that had saved her.
"HEY! COME BACK!" Yuki yelled.
But the figure kept running.
Was that... Sasaki? Was he really the one that saved me...? She thought.
She attempted to get up, but her legs were barely holding up. Ignoring the pain, she tried one more time to stand, but her knees gave out the second her foot touched the pavement.
Her socks were soaked in blood, and every cut along her legs burned like hell. Only once the chaos faded did her body register the pain, refusing to be pushed aside. Her eyes grew heavy, eyes dragging shut on their own.