Chapter Text
June 29, 5:57PM
The sky over Hyogo was dreary, rain clouds were forming, darkly, which was strange, it was the middle of summer, this sort of weather wasn't to be expected. A loud gust of wind broke through the serenity of the town, not many cars passed through there, and recently, barely anybody visited, it was a quiet town outside of peoples homes, everybody just kept to themselves, and this was accepted behaviour.
" Suppose the weathers not lookin' great..." Osamus resturaunt had a few customers filling out as the closing time had hit, it was around six in the evening, and his workers were clearing up. He had some indie song playing in the background, he had never looked at the name of the song properly, he didn't care all too much, background noise was just what he needed, not many customers were very talkative, and he wasn't a fan of the quiet, it just made the whole place feel creepier than it should have.
The blonde waitress, Yachi, looked out of the window with disdain, she didn't like sour weather, she sighed to herself, " I guess you're right..." she replied to him, before taking in a breath. " Well, there's no harm a little rain can cause to me anyway!" she beamed, a little fake, to Osamu, and Osamu leant across the counter, looking at Yachi.
She always seemed to be cheery about things, he'd noticed her confidence grow as she worked with him, it was a lovely thing to be able to watch, Osamu considered himself lucky to bare witness to such a development, she was shy, and stuttered a lot when they had first been acquainted, he couldn't imagine seeing that side of her again. He looked over to her, tilting his head slightly, confused.
" I can give ya a life home if ya'd like, Seriously, t's not far from where i'm goin..." he said, watching for her reaction. Yachi just smiled at him again, shaking her head. Osamu wouldn't pressure her to make her go with him, though, so, he just accepted the fact that she was content in getting soaked with rain, he walked around past the counter, and up to Yachi, holding out his arm.
Yachi took the umbrella that he was offering to her, it was just plain dark blue, as Osamu didn't like cute patterns or anything like that. " Well, since yer not ridin' with me, at least use my umbrella so ya don't get completely soaked, 'lright?" he stepped away from her, as he didn't like being in a close proximity of other people, even if he'd known them for a really long time.
" I'll give it back tomorrow, I promise!" She started walking towards the exit of the restaurant, which was just called " Samu's" , Yachi thought the name was actually pretty cute, which was one of the reasons why she decided to apply to work there, that and also needing the money so she could feed her cat.
It was already raining by now, so Yachi pushed the door open with one hand and opened the umbrella with the other, she was really thankful that Osamu had given her his umbrella, or her hair would've gotten drenched...she shivered at the thought of it, as she turned back and waved to him shortly, before walking off as quickly as she could in her heels.
Osamu waved back, before going back to work on closing the shop, He had a pretty long drive to get back to where he lived, but that didn't bother him, it's not like he would pass any other cars to crash into on the way back there anyway, Nobody went out past the woodlands.
He flipped the sign on the front of the restaurant to now say " Closed ".
Yachi walked down the empty street, house lights were on next to her, curtains were closed, everybody was inside at this time, most likely as a result of the stormy weather, on her other side, there was a block of apartments, she looked over to them. Not many people lived there, so what could they ever need so many floors for? She thought so herself as she stopped in her step, having to fight the wind to be able to hold her umbrella in place, well, not her umbrella, but hers for the time being.
There wasn't much colour in that area, it was all muted, toneless, just bleak, but, it is what Yachi and many others had grown used to, this was their home, colourless and all. All besides the occasional flowers which had been planted. Yachi wasn't sure who by, she's pretty sure they must've moved out a while ago, one of the flowers was wilting, but the rest of them looked perfectly fine.
The rain got heavier, colliding on the ground with a splash, Yachi quickened her pace ever so slightly, the rain making it a little difficult to see infront of her, but she knew the way home like the back of her own hand, she walked this way every single day of her life after her shift at work would end.
She took a left at the next street sign she saw, and she was almost to her house, She might have accidentally left a light on, she was in a rush to leave that morning, so she had to also go back to make sure that her electricity bill wasn't about to be through the roof, as she would definitely not be able to pay for it!
She walked down the stairs which led to the underpass, which she has to go through to then go to her house, she gripped onto the handrail next to it so that she wouldn't end up tripping and injuring herself along the way, the lights were a little dingy, but it sort of made sense, with it being an underpass and all.
The noise of her heels echoed throughout the structure as she walked through it, thankful to not be in pelting rang of the rain anymore. She sighed, just glad majority of her was still dry, she really was thankful for Osamu giving her an umbrella, he was always so kind to her, just as if he was an older brother to her.
She was surprised when he'd told her that he didn't have any siblings.
There was a loud CRACK of thunder, the rain beginning to hammer down even louder than before. Yachi jumped at the sudden loud noise, letting out a yelp as she looked up, before putting her hand to her chest with a sigh, she really needed to work on not being so jumpy to every noise around her, although, she supposed it was a good thing to be cautious, it means that she'd easily be able to tell if somebody was with her, or, she thought it would be useful for something like that.
She kept walking through as now the loud RUMBLE of thunder was drowning out the clack of her heels, which she had just started to like the rhythmic pace of.
The lights of the underpass had been flickering on and off, which made sense as nobody had ever really looked at the lights since they were installed, and, only people living on Yachis street even needed to use the underpass to get around anyway, so why would they bother with resources.
The piercing sound of flesh being stabbed wasn't a pleasant one to hear, so Yachi would never watch horror films, unfortunately for her, real life cannot be avoided so easily.
A knife went straight into her stomach, in and out, in and out, as she was grabbed from behind and forced against an attacker, her back was against his place as his hand covered her mouth, Yachi cried, and tried screaming, which his calloused hands muffled, she tried to hit him with her arms, or to elbow him, but the attacker only forced the knife deeper into her.
The deep shade of blood was dripping through her dress, and it was dripping down her legs and to the floor.
She gasped for air as all of it was being taken from her, she clung to her fragile mortal life like everything depended on it.
She scratched and she kicked and she did all that she could as she sunk to the floor, the person behind her cradling her, as if to mock her in her final moments. Tears streaked down Yachis face as she slowly felt her body going numb, looking up to try and see who the person who had stabbed her was as her mind was going completely blank and her vision was slowly fading out, however, the underpass lights had gone off, again, meaning she could do nothing but stare at the darkness as she lost herself.
After Yachi had stopped breathing, the assailant checked her pulse, before he pulled her skirt up, revealing her torso. They looked at the deep stab wounds littering her stomach, before digging their fingers into it, blood soaking over them as they stretched Yachis wounds open, with a look of hunger on their face, before sinking their teeth into her bloodied skin.
June 17, 11:10PM
You had just woken up, the whole room seemed to be spinning for you, as you found yourself in a hospital room, a heart monitor next to you was beeping steadily, and couldn't remember how you'd gotten into a situation where you needed to be in the hospital. You were still in your everyday clothes, and more than anything you just needed to figure out why you were in this hospital, and what had happened to you, there were no nurses in the room where you were sleeping, so you presumed they were busy.
The light in your room was piercingly bright, and when you looked through the very shut blinds, you could tell that outside, it was daytime, the sun was out, you couldn't find anything to open the blinds with the fully looked outside, so that was all you'd gotten.
You slowly sat up, not wanting to agitate any wounds you may have, but, it caused you no pain whatsoever.
You took the blanket off of yourself, and couldn't see anything outright. You must have just caught a dangerous virus, or something along those lines, is what you thought.
You kicked your legs out of the bed, and pushed yourself onto them, it was a little strange, you weren't certain how long you'd been out for, but, your legs had felt like they'd forgotten how to work, very odd, thats for certain at least, you steadied yourself, grabbing back onto the bed, before taking a few experimental steps forward, the floor was cold, icy, and you didn't have any shoes on. You looked around, and found some on the other side of the bed, you walked over and slipped yourself into them, you'd have to walk around and find a nurse to talk to.
You opened the door of the hospital room you were in, to the hallway outside, and you could've heard a pin drop. You looked around, and there was nobody there, no nurses rushing in to help any patients, no patients roaming around after leaving their rooms, no family members waiting to hear how their loved one were doing.. it was just...you? Why were you of all people the only one here...you asked yourself, to no answer, You weren't sure, you had no idea of how you even got here in the first place.
This was just the hallway though. There were probably just no other patients in your bay, so there was no need for anybody else to be here.
You paced down the hallway, until you reached a door, you walked through it, and still, there was nobody, no sounds besides your own breathing, this...this was weird, was this just a dream you were having? Probably not, you never had any dreams, or, at least you never had any dreams which you could remember.
You cautiously stepped through this new, larger hallway, and decided to check one of the rooms, you opened the door to your right, it made a creak as it swung open. looked in, and the rooms light was on, however, nobody was in here. Maybe this patient had just been discharged? You opened the door to your left, empty, you walked further, and opened both of the doors on your sides again, both empty. At that point, you had connected nobody was here either. You walked until you were able to find some stairs, which led downwards, and you took them, grabbing the handrail, as you were still a little shaky, as you walked down, not wanting to trip.
The lower floor was completely lit up as well, but the awful thing was, that nobody was in there.
" ...Hello? Is anybody in here?" You raised your voice to speak, hoping that somebody would at least hear your voice, and hopefully come over to you, but all you'd managed to receive in return was the sound of your own voice as it reverberated, you stood still on the spot for a second, holding your breath, as if to hear even the tiniest shuffle of somebody's foot as they moved towards your voice, but who were you even kidding, the place was completely derelict.
You walked down towards a sign which was labelled " Front office ", maybe there would be a desk worker there, or just anybody waiting, you prayed to see anybody at all, with every step you too towards the next door, anxiety bubbled up more inside of you, this whole situation, something wasn't right. Why were you here? What's going to happen to you?
At least the lights were on, it would've been far more creepy to have to navigate through a dark building which you've never been in, in the entirety of your life, although, everything there looked the same, so, it was still unnerving, it was like you were in one of those mirror mazes that you'd find at an amusement park, and you never really liked amusement parks, the fundamental idea of them was just so dangerous, you couldn't understand how anybody could enjoy going to them.
You pushed the door now in front of you open, there was no time for you to stand there and think it over, you wanted an explanation, more so, you needed one.
Surprise! Nobody, again. There were empty seats in a formatted pattern, and there was a front desk, but, nobody was sat at it, it was just you, alone in there, now you were beyond confused, why were you the only person in there, and why were all of the buildings lights on if you were the only person there? You pursed your lips, trying to think of any way you could've gotten into this hospital, but really, your memory was completely foggy, and trying to think anymore wasn't going to help you.
After deciding to check if there was anything useful there, you walked around the desk, opening all the drawers behind it, checking under everything, checking the water dispenser, where all the water had spilled out of it, and onto the floor, but everything was empty, there weren't even any medical records, or something along those lines.
Upon seeing this, you panicked, just slightly more than before. There had to be a reasonable explanation for all of this, there just had to be, you just had no clue of what it was, or where you'd be able to find it, but it had to be somewhere in there, nothing could change your mind.
A sigh escaped you, before your eyes fixated on a glass door, which led you to what you presumed was outside, and since you were fine enough to explore on your own, then you were also fine enough to go outside and try to figure out what happened on your own. You stumbled towards the door, looking back one last time into the hospital, as you rested your hand on the cold glass, and from the corner of your eye, you saw a strange red blur. It was a little odd, however, you'd just deduced it down to your mind playing tricks on you, the breeze hit you harder than it should've as you ventured out to look for answers, answers to anything.
You waddled around for a little, trying to figure out...where exactly were you? You thought you'd been everywhere in town, but, you never knew you'd had a hospital, or any street that looked like this.... This was bad, you didn't know where to go, nobody was around, and if you wandered forever, it would result in you being even more lost than you were before, which you didn't want.
You studied the buildings around you, which were all lit up by the sun, but none of the homes or apartments seemed to be vacant, it was as if nobody was living there at all, or if somebody was, they definitely didn't want you to see them.
The sun was harsh, it wasn't warm, or comforting, and neither was the wind, It came and went, but, it made things a lot less warmer, then again, the hospital was pretty cold as wel, whoever had turned all those lights on, certainly hadn't turned on the heating for you.
You sat down on the sidewalk, even though having roads was pointless, since it appeared that nobody came down here, and looked at what was in-front of you. What had you been doing before you came to the hospital...where was it that you were trying to go back to..? You couldn't remember, you couldn't remember anything. Had it been memory loss that they took you in for? Was that it? You had no idea why you couldn't remember anything, which made you even more scared. Had you been banished to this strange place perhaps...that thought did cross your mind at least.
Everything was just so quiet, it was eerie, and a little upsetting, what were you even supposed to do in this situation...you felt as if you hadn't eaten for days, and like at any point your body could just call it quits. You decided you'd wait around a little longer, if nothing happened, you'd get up and search for either some people, or some food, if you just waited forever, you'd probably end up dying here, and, dying in some random street isn't as cool as you'd like your death to be when it inevitably comes around.
You sat, and you waited, and waited, and waited, the clouds in the sky moved, but that was about the only piece of action you saw for the next around ten minutes.
You slapped your hand on your thighs, signalling " Right, no more sitting and waiting!"
Just when you were about to stand up, and walk around somewhere else, you felt warmth. that was odd, the wind was never warm, so, you looked over, and you saw a hand on your shoulder, you sighed with relief, somebody else was here, thank god! Or, whoever was up there.
Looking up to the person, you saw it was a man, he seemed neutral, with a smile on his face.
" You've been sat here quite a while haven't you..? " he saw your response as a nod, he had grey hair, with black tips, it swayed slightly.
" Do you need help?" he asked, to which you nodded again, you weren't sure why, but now you didn't feel like talking anymore.
" I can take you somewhere, please, follow me." he spoke, and you complied, standing up, any help is what you'd take in this situation, even from a complete stranger.
He started to walk, and you trailed behind him, he had quite a stride, you noted.
" I'm Kita Shinsuke, by the way. "
MAY 28, 3:39PM
The church had many pretty glass panels, Bokuto had no idea what they were meant to symbolise, he wasn't really a religious guy, but, ever since the death of his boyfriend, Ushijima, he'd always found himself in the church, praying for him to just be okay up there, he wasn't sure how to talk or connect to him any other way, as he wasn't the brightest of guys, he sat alone inside, his hand pressed together, and his eyes firmly squeezed shut, he could hear the sound of footsteps inching closer to him, but he didn't pay attention to them.
" Back again, Bokuto? Has it gotten any better?"
Bokutos eyes snapped open, and he looked up.
" Father Koushi...it's good to see you! I suppose it has, life's actually adjusting pretty.,.fine! I haven't been haunted by him or anything, so, I think things are going well!" His voice was far too loud for the church, Sugawara had told him this many times, yet the man never listened, he wasn't certain is Bokuto was ever listening.
" I am always at the church, don't be so surprised..." he spoke pleasantly, yet, he sounded very passive aggressive. " That's amazing to hear, though. As long as you keep praying, his spirit will definitely stay with you. " Sugawara smiled, before walking over, to go and greet the people who had just entered the building.
Bokuto always thought that the priest at the church was a little strange. He was always a little rude, but very reinforcing of his religious remarks, which Bokuto tuned out most of the time, he wasn't here to hear all about the saviour, he was here on his own accord. He'd thought maybe he would stop coming to the church, he rarely felt sad about what happened anymore, he had just, grown used to it, he visited his grave less, as he didn't have the time to be going back and fourth, after twenty years, it was expected of him to move on, he had grown old now, he had natural grey hairs, growing and a walking stick, he had long lived past his deceased lover, he should really just go and try to live the rest of his life the best that he could, soon he would end up joining him, and he didn't want to spend all of that time mourning.
He made up his mind, and slowly made his way from the church, lifting a hand to wave at Sugawara, dressed up in his priest outfit, as he limped out, going to his old car, he used to have a more flashy car in the days of his youth... but he couldn't drive that one, not anymore.
He drove slowly, just because it was comforting to him to be able to take in his surroundings as he drove. It was cloudy outside, yet there was no wind, at least it wasn't raining, he didn't like the rain, as it mean it would be easier for him to slip over.
He looked out of the front mirror, and he saw two kids running down the path together, they looked like they were having fun, Bokuto smiled, it was nice seeing that kids still found fun in this town, even though it was pretty dreary, he remembers when it used to be a lot nicer, before quite a lot of people all left, seemingly out of nowhere, he never understood what had happened.
His house was on-top of one of the hills, they lived in a forest-y area, Bokuto liked the secluded-ness, it mean he could be up to whatever he wanted, and it wouldn't end up bothering anybody, or any neighbours, as he had none! He drove up the rocky path, it made the car shake a little, but he was used to it by now, the crunch of leaves under his wheels was faint, but, Bokuto couldn't hear all that much anyway, due to his old age.
He reached his house, it was three stories, a little much for him now, since climbing stairs took a lot longer than it used to, but he didn't mind it that much. Maybe he'd rent the third floor to somebody in the future.
He pulled up in the driveway, and slowly got out of the car, he walked up to his door, and fished around in his pockets for the door key for a minute or two, before pulling it out, he had a keychain attached to it, which he'd brought on a holiday to italy.
He unlocked the door to his house, and stepped inside, putting the key back in his pocket.
He decided he would sit and listen to the radio in the kitchen, he liked the music they would play, if his joints would have allowed him to dance to it, he certainly would have.
He hobbled on over to the kitchen, passing the living room, which was nice and cozy, it was all brown, or red. and he passed the big grandfathers clock, which was loudly ticking with each passing second, he doesn't remember when he brought it, or how it got placed there.
He opened the door to the kitchen, and the life was sucked out of him, he felt his heart beating faster than the speed of sound, his cane dropped to the floor, clattering.
" Koutaro. I was so hungry, so, I made myself some food. I made enough for two, incase you wanted any. "
He recognised that deep voice anywhere, he looked at him, but he couldn't believe it, He was dead. Ushijima was dead, why was he sat in his kitchen eating pasta? What the hell was going on? How was he here?
" Why do you look like you have seen a ghost?" Ushijima asked, standing up, alarmed.
Bokutos mind was racing, this wasn't real...this was an illusion. It wasn't him, it was this house which had the problem! This whole house was what was wrong, he needed to get rid of it, to get rid of his memories of Ushijima for good!
" Don't worry...I'm getting us out of here Wakatoshi..." His voice was quiet, as he stepped away again, Ushijima questioned why he sounded so old, but, Koutaro didn't reply to him.
Leaves aren't all that loud when one drives over them in your car, however, when the whole forest is on fire, that's a totally different equation.