Riku was used to the whispers.
Back in Kyoto, they had come like shadows between dreams, faint echoes slipping into his ears whenever the city went quiet enough. Sometimes, walking home from cram school, he would swear he heard someone trailing him, calling his name from the other side of the street. At other times, lying awake in his mother's apartment, the sound would come through the pipes, as if water had learned to speak.
He never told anyone. Not even his mother. Not even Chiyo.
Because who would believe him?
But here, in Nigeria, in the cramped heat of the small apartment, the voices were louder.
That night, the fan above him spun uselessly against the humid dark. Tosi was sound asleep next to him. Riku turned restlessly on the mattress, his chest rising and falling too fast, as though sleep refused to take him. And then, the sound slid into his mind again.
Not thunder. Not dreams. Not imagination.
Nataba
You don't belong here.
Return to the water.
The blood remembers
His throat was dry. He pushed himself out of bed, moving barefoot across the small corridor, making his way to the fridge.
He opened it, the pale glow spilling onto his face. His hands wrapped around a plastic bottle, but he froze. The glass shelf shimmered as though liquid rippled across it, and for a split second, his reflection changed. Eyes too dark. A smile that wasn't his.
He stumbled back, chest rising and falling.
Rejected one. Forsaken child. Come home. Nataba… come home.
He pressed his hands against his ears. "Shut up," he whispered,
"Guy, wetin dey do you?"
Riku spun around. Tosi leaned against the doorway, dreadlocks falling across his face, half-asleep, half-curious. His oversized shirt sagged over his lean frame, his eyes squinting against the fridge light.
"Don't you hear that?" he whispered into the silence. He wasn't even sure who he was asking.
hear wetin?"
"You dey craze? Middle of the night, you dey follow fridge talk?"
Riku blinked, his lips parting. "I thought, never mind." He poured the water into a cup, taking long gulps, like swallowing could drown the echoes.
Common man, it might just be jet lag, okay, get some sleep, give your brain rest. No dey drag me enter your oyinbo nightmares." He padded back down the hall.
The night dissolved into gray morning. Tosi stretched and yawned; the strange moment forgotten as hunger pulled him out of the apartment. He told Riku he would be back with proper food. "No miso today, my guy. Na ogi and akara go baptize you into Lagos life."
When he returned, balancing a nylon bag, he found Riku already sitting quietly at the table.
"Awele never comot from her room?" Tosi asked casually, dropping the food.
Riku shook his head.
Tosi frowned. "Strange. He went to her door, tapping on her door first, then knocking harder.
"Awele! Oya ooh Food don land!"
Silence.
He knocked again, more firmly this time. Still nothing. His grin faltered. He pressed his ear against the wood, listening.
"Awele?"
Still, no response. He glanced back at Riku. "She never locked her door before. Na because you dey here? Abi, she dey shy?"
He tried the handle. It wouldn't budge.
"Guy, something dey off." His voice lost the teasing edge. He banged the door with his fist. "Awele! Open this door na!"
Behind the locked wood, Awele was not awake.
She was falling.
Her dream had pulled her under again, deeper this time. The water lapped around her feet, voices rising like a tide. Shapes moved beneath the surface, familiar yet twisted, reaching for her.
She tried to run, but the ground was pulling her down.
Awele stood again in the mist. Her dream-self in river-blue was still there, lamenting, bitter, eyes wild with grief. But this time, the cries were louder.
"You are not safe!" the dream-self wailed.
"They will take you. They will break you. They will finish what they started."
Awele shook her head, clutching her chest. "Who? Who are they?"
The water behind the dream-self surged, higher now, waves folding into shadows. Dark hands stretched toward her.
And through the storm, she thought she saw her dream-self reach out to her with dripping hands.
"Come with me… or you will be lost."
Tosi's fist had barely landed on the wood when the door creaked open.
Awele stepped out, eyes heavy with sleep, a wrapper tied loosely around her frame.
She blinked at him, frowning."Tosi, what on earth is it? Why are you knocking like that?"
Tosi froze mid-bang, caught off guard. He lowered his hand slowly."I've been calling you. You didn't answer. I thought something was wrong." And the door was locked."
Awele rubbed her temple, yawning softly. "Locked? I didn't lock anything, you know, I don't lock the door. I was just asleep. You're the one shouting as if the house is on fire."
Riku, still seated at the table, let out a small breath he didn't realize he was holding. He'd expected… he didn't know what he'd expected. But seeing her standing there, perfectly fine, left him oddly unsettled.
Tosi muttered something under his breath, relief and irritation tangled together, "Anyway, breakfast is ready. Come on out. Before this oyinbo faints from hunger."
Rolling her eyes lightly, she disappeared back into her room.
Riku stared at the doorway long after it had closed. He didn't know why, but the sound of her voice lingered in his mind like he had heard it somewhere else, long before this night.
Inside her room, Awele leaned against the door for a moment, eyes shut.
The echo of the dream clung to her skin like a damp cloth. The words still rang in her head, each syllable heavy as stone.
"They will take you. They will break you. They will finish what they started."
She shivered. It hadn't felt like a dream at all, like… a warning.
Moving slowly, she untied her wrapper and reached for her clothes, fingers trembling as she buttoned her blouse. The mirror across the room caught her reflection, and for a fleeting second, she thought she saw water dripping from her hair, her dream-self staring back at her with hollow, accusing eyes.
Awele blinked, and it was gone. Only her face remained, flushed and unsettled.
"Get a hold of yourself," she muttered under her breath, tugging the blouse straight. "It's just dreams. Just dreams."
And yet… why did her chest feel tight, as if the water from her dream had followed her into waking life?
She brushed her hair back, tying it up quickly, forcing herself to move. Breakfast was waiting, and Tosi would tease her again if she stayed too long.
But as she opened the door, a thought slipped unbidden into her mind, chilling her spine.
What if the dream wasn't about some stranger?
What if it was about her?