Hurt

“How could you read that?” I exclaimed, my voice tightening before returning to normal.

“Read? Can I?” he asked, looking genuinely doubtful. “I don’t really know. Your book here, or whatever that is, I can understand it, like it’s translating in front of my eyes. Though I don’t remember ever learning that language in my life.”

“That’s impossible…” I murmured, shocked and somewhat confused by the revelation. “But… how does this work…?”

“I don’t know. Would you want my eyes to see, or to possess my body to see through them? We could try,” he said, grinning playfully.

“He’s lacking sincerity… there’s something here… something I can’t quite grasp… but he’s not telling the truth and is hiding behind… a joke.”

“You’re acting strange, Ryota. First you brought me a disgusting apple pie the other day, even though you always bake them perfectly! I was surprised, you know? You came out of nowhere like in the old days, asking me how I was, even with your famous pie—but the taste was nowhere near as good as before! And now you’re acting all strange like this. Seriously, what happened to you?”

“A pie…? But…” I stared at him, trying to find the slightest clue, but nothing. He believed what he was saying with all his heart. “I didn’t bake one, though…”

“You already forgot? Oh, sweet misery… I still have some leftovers at home if that helps you remember. We should go when you finish packing your things or whatever you’re doing.”

“So the person behind all this… caught you and changed your memories… you were the only one left… and you were eliminated like the others… I’m truly alone now…” I sighed and managed to sit on the bed, Naoto following me with his eyes in silence as I didn’t utter a single word in response to his delusion.

We continued to lock eyes. Doubt was still raging in my mind as I didn’t know what to do from now on. Should I try to kick him out? Or try to make him an ally again? The choice was hard, and the trap behind it was far too obvious for me not to see it. I shouldn’t fall into this bait—but what other choice did I have? Naoto was too frail to even be the slightest inconvenience for me, or so normally. But right now, I was as frail as a leaf. One push and I would crack my bones against the floor in an instant. I would be at the mercy of I don’t know who and of this changed Naoto.

“But you see… I am truly happy… happy… happy, I was.” Naoto made his way to the bed slowly, in broken movements, as if something had taken possession of his body. Yet in his voice, he was somehow still the same—though more robotic, filled with a madness I couldn’t fully grasp, neither the why nor the how. “I was truly down in a hole when you came! Oh, that time! You appeared like a savior… and…”

“Are you okay, Naoto?” I put my hand on his shoulder as he sat on the bed, stopping his speech at the same time.

“Well? I am! More than ever now! Now that I remember how you helped me get rid of that coworker who harassed me and almost killed me, I can say that I couldn’t be happier than I am right now!” he laughed passionately, his words filled with the same fervor that seemed to flood his mind as he recalled every detail.

But it wasn’t a happy memory for me. Or at least it couldn’t be—not right now, not with this impostor next to me.

“Fuck… the more the seconds pass, the crazier he becomes… I don’t know how long I can keep this fake attitude…”

I faced him with a forced smile that he didn’t seem to notice, too lost in his laughter to comprehend the fear crawling inside me.

He slowly calmed down, his laughter turning into ragged breaths as he searched for enough air to sustain this fragile body that shouldn’t have been animated with such intensity.

“Shall we?” Naoto said, pointing at my hands while wiping a tear from his eye.

“We? What?” I looked to my hands and saw I still held the notebooks in one of them. I had completely forgotten about them and couldn’t hide my surprise. “Why do you want to look at them, Wouldn’t it be too easy for you?”

“If you struggle to decipher it naturally, like I somehow can, then I’m here to read it. But you can struggle and work hard to translate those words yourself. Just ask my help if you want it,” he replied seriously. His personality had shifted once more.

“There’s more than just his memory changing… they completely broke him at this point… Why do all the people close to me have to suffer so much? I can’t fight… I can’t flee… and I’m here in this dangerous situation… how could I even save anyone like this, if it’s to be imprisoned again without being able to retaliate?”

I looked at the notebooks without opening them for seconds that felt like long minutes. I felt the pressure of Naoto’s gaze on me, as if he were reveling in my unease. He was nothing like the man I used to know, and it hurt me more than I thought possible. I, who believed I had become immune to certain things, was sorely mistaken.

Almost forced, I opened my notebook and Hayate’s. I couldn’t find the page I had seen earlier, despite skimming frantically. I gave up on that one and stopped on another with a large cross drawn on it.

In my notebook, I carefully followed the transcription of this alphabet into my own. Each letter, slowly, until the message revealed itself before my eyes. They widened. My pupil dilated. I jumped up suddenly, the notebooks falling to the ground as I narrowly avoided collapsing forward, my blood rushing to my head.

“Something’s not right… no… that can’t… or can it? But that would mean…” I whispered, my gaze fixed on the open notebooks where I could still read those words.

A murder will take place. An abyssal void. The mind wanders. Blood floods the vision. The dead man vanishes into thin air, beyond retrieval. A difficult escape, impossible without lasting consequences. The murderer is on the prowl. Beware!

“Warning? Divination? But that can’t be… he didn’t have those kind of abilities… I need to ask…”

The shock was too great. I walked to the door—maybe my answer would be there.

I was slow. Walking was even more difficult than before. Was it because my mind was shaken? I didn’t know. Still, I walked without stopping. My legs wouldn’t obey me and simply followed my instincts.

I reached for the handle, but stopped myself as a thought crossed my mind.

“And what about him… he might have read too–”

My thoughts were cut short by the sound of glass shattering against my head and scattering across the floor.

My blood began to pour down my face as the glass cut deep inside me.

“You went too far in your understanding. I should have stopped your research a little earlier, as he asked me to.”

I turned around only to see Naoto staring at me with a look full of hatred. His hands were bloody, his face stained with it—but that didn’t seem to bother him in the slightest. He was ready to kill at any moment.

Poking out of my backpack, I noticed the doll. But that wasn’t a sign of hope. It jumped out and advanced toward me without Naoto showing the slightest surprise—not even glancing at it. His eyes never left me.

“I told you before that it would soon be your turn. But you didn’t listen. I've always acted in your best interest from the beginning, but you haven't learned your lesson,” the doll laughed.

My body was starting to give way. Was fatigue finally getting the better of me? Was I going to collapse like this, powerless? Blood burned across my face more than usual. My body was hot and trembling. I didn't understand anything and searched frantically for something that might help.

The doll began to climb my leg as Naoto stepped back slightly.

“I will now begin the real operation. This will be the fun part, you’ll see. You can thank this guy. Now you’ll only be able to watch your fate–”

I grabbed it, yanked it hard to make it let go of my leg, and in a thoughtless movement, flung it toward Naoto. As surprised as I was, he couldn't avoid it, and it hit him square in the head.

Naoto immediately fell to the ground, unconscious from the impact. The doll, on the other hand, hit the floor and its two porcelain legs shattered into a thousand pieces.

“I knew you’d try something… but not so soon, you fucker! I should have kept a bit more energy and it wouldn’t have been only your legs that broke, but your entire being!” I shouted in anger, staggering in place. I held onto the door as I slowly slid down until I was sitting on the floor.

Blood still poured from the cut. I wiped my forehead with my hand, but it didn’t stop—it kept flowing. I held my hand in front of me and stared at it. I felt everything.

My body felt warm. I didn’t understand why. But the warmer it grew, the more I remembered. The tears flowing uncontrollably helped too. This situation was nowhere near normal—or at least, not for me. But for a normal human being, maybe it should be. My nerves were screaming, reminding me of what I had forgotten for so long—the sensation that disappeared. The weakness of every being on this planet.

I pressed my hand against the wound, and my body tensed at the contact.

“It hurts…”