Crimson leaves fell earlier than my eyes, piling up on the backyard that lay past the porch. My youthful sister lifted her face barely, broom in hand. I didn’t communicate a phrase to her.

Her cheeks, as soon as as beautiful as apples, had develop into gaunt and pale.

Her eyes, gazing up on the sky, have been full of an inexplicable weariness and deep sorrow.

She should have sensed my gaze, for she turned to face me. I rapidly appeared away, afraid of assembly her eyes. There was one thing darkish inside them. I imagined tears brimming in her eyes, tears that refused to spill over. Seeing it drove me to the brink of insanity.

“Are you offended, Brother?” she requested timidly. There was unhappiness in her eyes, I used to be certain, and it plagued me relentlessly.

“There’s nothing to be offended about,” I replied, although my phrases fell flat.

Her eyes have been devoid of any mild they as soon as held. By no means once more would she smile. I used to be painfully conscious that I had stolen that mild from her, however there was nothing I may do to carry it again.

I wished to beg her to smile. I wished to embrace her, inform her to be blissful, to have enjoyable.

However doing so would solely burden her additional. I knew that a lot.

“Brother…” she mentioned, however the phrases acquired caught in her throat. Letting out a small sigh, she started to place the broom away, her skinny again shifting away from me.

Watching her often press her chest, I mirrored upon my errors.

I took away your smile. I made you unhappy and depressing.

I used to be totally conscious of it. Her smile was as soon as so lovely. The distinction between her then and now tormented me, however there was nothing I may do to vary it. I touched my wounded wrist, a reminder of the time after I had tried to finish all of it. However my sister’s unhappiness solely intensified, and now she regarded me with fearful eyes.

If I couldn’t even die, what may I do now?

Your eyes terrify me. They fill me with dread.

Even when I voiced my ideas, my sister wouldn’t perceive. Her eyes betrayed sorrow and disappointment, shedding tears endlessly.

Every time I noticed the feelings in my sister’s eyes, I felt sick. My candy sister didn’t know that her eyes hounded me, stirred my feelings.

Recently I’d been pondering, day-to-day.

If solely you didn’t have a look at me. If solely you didn’t flip your eyes to me.

If solely these eyes have been gone.

I…

I opened my eyes.

A dingy ceiling greeted my sight. A wave of melancholy washed over me, deep and profound. Unbeknownst to me, tears had spilled down my cheeks. I wiped them roughly earlier than lifting my physique up.

I used to be in a darkish and empty room, tinged with the faint scent of decay. Meat gave the impression to be rotting someplace. I used to be disgusted at myself for being accustomed to the stench.

Propping my fingers on the shaggy carpet, I attempted to rise, however each bone in my physique screamed out, and the ache and nausea compelled me to take a seat again down.

Huge bookshelves and cupboards loomed forbiddingly within the small room. I felt as if I had been buried alive. The remaining tears trickled down my face, falling on the again of my hand. I groped round within the darkness, my fingers tracing the define of a shelf. Why was I right here? As quickly as I attempted to recall, my reminiscences blurred.

My sister. Her mournful gaze. I’m frightened of your eyes. If solely they weren’t there.

My eyes have been moist, however inside me a violent emotion surged, a thirst for blood. Drenched in a chilly sweat, I attempted to regular my breath.

“Relax,” I advised myself. “It’s okay. These will not be mine. Relax.”

But the phrases supplied no solace. A pointy pang shot by means of my stomach. The ache of flesh tearing subsided right into a uninteresting ache, and I centered on that, utilizing it to regain myself.

I rubbed my abdomen, calming the kid down. I remembered Mayuzumi standing silently within the car parking zone.

“Mayu-san… Mayu-san!”

What occurred to her? The foul stench of decay led my creativeness to the worst doable situation. What dreadful factor might be rotting right here?

The picture of Mayuzumi’s empty eye sockets flashed in my thoughts. However even when she was already lifeless, it was too quickly for her physique to decompose. I didn’t understand how lengthy I had been unconscious, however it couldn’t have been lengthy sufficient for putrefaction to start.

What am I pondering?

My very own rational ideas chilled me to the bone. I slapped my brow. A pointy ache lanced by means of my head, and I cried out in agony, remembering the blow that had break up it open. However I didn’t truly really feel the wound. Fearfully, I touched it, perplexed.

A bandage had been wrapped tightly across the wound, with gauze layered inside. The bandage was damp, however it managed to cease the bleeding, albeit barely. Who did this? The query flitted by means of my thoughts, however I pushed it away.

I may take into consideration that later. Discovering Mayuzumi was of far better significance.

I stood up and commenced strolling. My hand touched the door and turned the frigid knob with warning. The hallway was simply as dim.

The putrid stench grew stronger. The floorboards felt as chilly as gravestones. I proceeded cautiously. My complete physique ached with every step, and my eyes stung.

Often, it felt as if somebody was jabbing needles into my eyeballs.

Dimness out of the blue turned to blackness. I rapidly stopped. My eyes noticed nothing. After blinking repeatedly, my sight returned to regular.

A number of steps later, and my imaginative and prescient darkened as soon as extra. Scorching, sticky tears streamed down my face.

One thing was improper with my eyes.

Getting hit by the person’s umbrella did one thing to me. The second I got here into contact with the blood on it, I relived the ache of a sufferer whose eyes had been gouged out. The shock was inflicting my imaginative and prescient to go darkish on occasion. One other query popped in my thoughts.

The reminiscence I noticed… Was that from another person’s blood?

Fumbling for the wall, I continued onward. My imaginative and prescient was a continuing battle between mild and darkness. I’d lose my sight one second, regain it, then lose it once more after a couple of steps.

I stretched my hand out within the darkness, and my fingers brushed in opposition to a doorknob.

I didn’t know what was behind the door. The person might be inside. However I turned the knob earlier than I may cease myself.

Earlier than I had time to remorse it, the door creaked open.

And I heard a well-recognized sound.

One thing was shaking within the room.

An animal-like silhouette appeared in my darkish imaginative and prescient, a big shadow swaying in a gradual rhythm.

My imaginative and prescient returned, and my eyes steadily perceived the odd sight.

A rocking chair sat within the middle of the room, organized oddly, ignoring the opposite furnishings. Figures, giant and small, stood silently round it.

Somebody was sitting within the rocking chair, holding a vibrant crimson umbrella.

Colour returned to my imaginative and prescient, but the particular person within the chair remained black-and-white.

She twisted her crimson lips and appeared up at me.

“Hiya there, Odagiri-kun.”

For a second, I struggled to understand the state of affairs. Mayuzumi rocked elegantly within the chair, comfy as if it have been her personal room. My mouth flapped open and shut.

“Mayu-san, what are you doing?” I managed to formulate a obscure query.

Mayuzumi flashed a mocking smile. “What am I doing? Nothing. As you’ll be able to see, I’ve nothing to do. Tedium appears to not wish to go away me.”

Wrapped in a classic costume, she appeared like an deserted porcelain doll.

Preserving her disagreeable smile, she reached for her pouch and pulled out a tube containing candies. The candies have been formed like eyeballs, organized vertically like specimens.

“By the way in which, the place have you ever been all this time?” Mayuzumi requested.

I heaved a deep sigh, realizing I used to be frightened for nothing. She appeared to know extra in regards to the present state of affairs than I did.

“I’m glad you’re protected,” I mentioned. “I used to be unconscious in a unique room till a short while in the past. The place are we? And what in regards to the man?”

My imaginative and prescient turned black once more, and Mayuzumi’s determine vanished into the darkness for a quick second.

The one sound was the creaking of the rocking chair close by.