Gallows

Keshita came to in a small room of a capsule hotel.

"What? Where am I?"

"I rented us a room nearby so we could have some privacy, and you could recover. I barely dragged you here… How are you?"

"W-where did you get so much money for a hotel?"

Before Miku could respond, Keshita partially read her mind and remembered who her parents were.

“Exactly, your parents were wealthy…”

"Are you reading my mind again!?"

"S-sorry, I really can't control it very well yet…"

"Grrr… but you're right. A side benefit of their obsession with work."

Keshita was still on the edge of daydreaming and reality. The afterimages of Aoki's parents fussing around a hospital bed flickered in the room. Tamiya tried to see who was lying on it and suddenly recognized himself.

"R-Run! As far as possible… from… Mukibutsu!" That image bequeathed its last will, as if on its deathbed.

Tamiya grabbed his neck sharply, gasping for air and choking.

"What happened!? Are you asphyxiated?"

Miku quickly searched for something in her bottomless backpack.

"Don't do this… I beg you… Doctor Aoki!" the ghost from the vision begged.

"I'm sorry, we… we really don't have a choice!"

"We’ll do everything in our power!"

"There he’s!" Miku finally found him.

She immediately brought the inhaler to Keshita's mouth, and he was able to breathe.

"T-thank you…"

The images faded, but the sense of unease remained. Keshita saw other afterimages, but they came and went so quickly that he couldn't piece them together. What he did realize was that Mukibutsu weren't his comrades, and Aoki might not be who she said she was.

"…but she probably doesn't even know that." He thought to himself. "I should run away from her too, but how? And can I trust everything I saw?"

"Your condition is becoming more and more frightening, but…"

"?"

"…it seems the lab thinks the experiment is going well so far. If you're okay, we'll head off… to Shibuya."

"W-what!?"

***

Shibuya is a neighboring area of Meguro, so it didn't take long to get there. Professor Iendo decided to stimulate Keshita's unexpected ability by sending him into "hell."

The couple approached the famous intersection, and Keshita was only getting worse. To somehow cool his head, he applied a can of previously purchased soda. Suddenly, he heard the annoying sound of a can being opened.

"Are you going to drink it? It'll get really hot."

"Damn it! What have you done!?" Keshita was indignant and began shaking his jar. "You’ve to shake it ten times before opening it!"

"Huh? Is it that important?"

"Yes! So that the grapes inside are evenly distributed!"

"N-never mind…"

Miku took her first sip and froze in the middle of it.

"What???"

"Well, I see you at least appreciated it."

"What is this taste? It's like I don't feel any liquid here, my whole mouth is filled with either grapes or aloe! It's so sweet and moderately sour, and it makes my tongue tingle."

"Lightning! Electric acid. But so gentle." Keshita took a sip. " Wow. More powerful than usual in this state! This is something incredible…"

"You were right about that. It would be a shame to miss this… Oh no! The chocolate has melted."

Miku was about to throw it in the trash can, but Keshita immediately stopped her.

"Hey! Don't throw food around!"

"But it's all melted. I'll buy a new one."

"Damn rich kids, whenever something goes wrong, they immediately get rid of things."

"You're not going to…"

But Tamiya couldn't stop, he licked the entire package, getting his face pretty dirty. This only made Miku laugh. Her foresight didn't fail here either, the wet wipes came in handy.

“You look much calmer, even cheerful…”

"Huh? That's true… probably because I’d some sugar or was just distracted."

The guys looked around, they were walking in the center of the busiest intersection in the world, where several thousand people pass in a couple of minutes.

"Do you feel something special?"

"Strange, but no."

"Hmm… We can go to the mall then. There are a lot of different triggers there."

"Tsk, you're as ruthless as the professor!"

"Well, you can always refuse, but I don't think you want that."

"A moment of weakness. Although I've been more tense in these past couple of hours than I've ever been in my entire life. But we mustn't forget what this is all for, right?"

"Y-yes…"

Keshita thought.

As they entered the mall and looked around, Miku pointed in the direction of the map.

"A museum of visual art recently opened. I wanted to go once, but I never had time. Would you like to?"

Meanwhile, Keshita was disoriented by the numerous lights of the shopping center.

"You're so helpless. Here." Miku handed over the sunglasses.

"You're really ready for anything. Do you’ve any aspirin?"

"Certainly."

"Just kidding. We can go, it looks interesting. This is starting to feel more like a date than an experiment…"

"W-what? Are you completely stupid? The fate of Japan, and perhaps the entire world, depends on the results of this research!"

Miku was more embarrassed than usual, Keshita was even pleased, although he was only studying the potential enemy. However, deep down he hoped…

"By the way, I wanted to ask… You scratch your neck a lot. Did you just get a tattoo recently?"

"A few years ago, but… it still itches."

"That's weird. Why the snap zipper? Do you’ve a removable head?" Miku chuckled, trying to be funny.

"Just symbolism."

"You look like some kind of rocker. "

"I like heavy music, don't you? "

"Not really. I prefer classical or electronic…"

Miku, unusually talkative, was deep in her own conversation about music, and Keshita thought about the tattoo, slowly running his fingers over it. He remembered how after losing his parents, he couldn't find his place. There were only two small bright lights left in his life. Although he couldn't remember what they were. But he’d to protect them.

However, at some point, they also went out, leaving Tamiya completely alone. Depression and grief drove him to attempt suicide. Keshita tried to hang himself, but his own body was able to break the noose, desperately fighting for life. It was as if his head and body existed on their own.

The guy found the strength to live on. And to return to society, he hid the marks on his neck with a tattoo.

"Everything is as foggy as before, but… now I see the silhouettes of monsters in it. I must meet them face to face to find out the truth."

The truth is out there.