Who are you?

Panic stole both the scream from Yota's lungs and the will to fight from his limbs for several horrid seconds. But the arms around him were distinctly human-shaped and the person that owned them smelt familiar. Like pine trees and sweet bubblegum. Whether it was out of consideration or impatience he did not know, but they wasted no time in turning him around as soon as they closed the door.

“Yota!” exclaimed Tomo, clapping his hands on the other's shoulders. “It's great to see you're still all right, man.”

He had no right to sound so happy after the last hour or so that he and Hikari had suffered.

“I'm not all right,” he replied breathlessly before his brain could filter his immediate reaction, the words wavering like a mirage. “Hikari –”

He had no right being there, safe in another apartment, while she was most likely fighting for her life on the floor above.

“Hikari's here?” Tomo frowned, an expression that didn't belong on a face like his, or so she would have said.

“Yes but the monster –” His lungs convulsed as though they were ensnared by its tentacles, shoulders rising and falling faster by the second under the other man's palms. “– that monster got her. We have to go back and help her.”

“With that big noisy thing in the way? Impossible,” said Tomo. Somehow his eyes were still alight with curiosity, as though they couldn't be doused by defeat. “Did you see the other one on the stairs too?”

“No. Yes. Sort of, but it doesn't matter.” Yota grabbed the front of his red T-shirt. “We have to go back.”

“I've seen what these things can do,” he replied with an empathetic shake of his head. “And if one of them got her, there's nothing we can do –”

“- Don't say that,” hissed Yota, slamming him back against the nearest wall as the edges of his vision darkened. “I'm not letting her go.”

Not Hikari. Not the airsoft champion who was only months away from going global. Not the daughter who checked the fridge for ingredients and the bathroom for supplies whenever she planned to go shopping. Not the sister who asked for names, honesty, and other details whenever her brothers or sister had any issues at school or nursery. Not the friend who laughed both with him and at him, and made it impossible for him to resent her for it either way.

“I know, I know,” replied the foreigner. “But just hear me out for a second, okay? Just a second.”

“We don't have time –” Yota's knuckles stung.

“It'll be worth it, I promise.” Tomo rested placating hands on his wrists, eyes widening when he noticed the red welts that covered them as well as either side of his hands. “But we should probably do something about those first.”

“I don't care about my hands or anything, Tomo,” gritted out Yota, his light grey eyes narrowed. “I just need to make sure Hikari's safe. And, if you're not going to help me, I'll just do it by myself.”

His throat burned and his tongue throbbed as he swallowed. When was the fast time he had managed to fit that many words in a single breath?.

“How're you going to do that though?” asked Tomo, running a hand anxiously over his close cropped curls. “Do you even know what those monsters really are?”

The tilt in his tone made Yota's loosening grip re-tighten around handfuls of his T-shirt again.

“Do you?” The question left his mouth casually.

The uncertainty that usually flooded his system seemed to have been delayed by the onslaught of emotions he had been through today. As if his heart itself had short circuited.

 “Yeah,” replied Tomo. He looked around, over his shoulder, as if they weren't the only two people standing in a stranger's apartment.

“What are they?” Yota's stomach swirled.

He leaned forward and spoke softly. “They're not real.”

“What?” Yota sighed sharply and pushed the other man against the wall before he let go of him. “What're you talking about? Of course they're real.”

But Tomo held onto his wrist and stopped him from approaching the door.

“They're not,” he insisted. “Come on, just think for a second. How can monsters like that just appear out of nowhere?”

“I don't know,” muttered Yota. “But –”

“Exactly. Because it doesn't make any sense,” he continued, pointing to the window at the other end of the apartment. “Would you believe it if an alien invasion happened outside right now?”

“I would now.”

“Why?”

“Because if those monsters can exist, why can't aliens?” He winced as Tomo's hand tightened over the red marks on his arm.

“But why?” he asked again. “What's made it so easy for you to believe they're really here? Why are you accepting it without a fight?”

“Because I saw them, of course,” he exclaimed, gesturing vaguely at the upper floors with an aggravated slash of his left hand. “I saw the mess that first one made of Juri's foot. That fire one burnt my arm and I know the other one's trying to kill Hikari right now because she looks like this too and I still left her behind.”

He presented his forearms so Tomo could appreciate the full extent of the damage that had been done to his upper body, breathing hard and trembling non stop.

“You saw all of that?” asked Tomo after a uncomfortable moment.

“Yes,” he huffed, holding his throat.

“How?” The foreigner's head tilted to the left as he shook it. “How can you see anything when you're blind?”

“What're you talking about?” Yota took a step back. “Who are you calling blind? You're the one who's pretending those monsters don't exist even though they're trying to kill us all right now.”

“I'm not pretending,” he replied solemnly. “I'm just telling you the truth. And, if you woke up, you'd know what's really happening here too.”

“W-what're you talking about?” Yota jumped as his other wrist was captured again.

“But you don't want to do that, do you, Yota?” He sighed compassionately. “You'd rather not know, wouldn't you?”

“Why're you acting like this all of a sudden?” Yota tried to pull himself free, eyes water when he failed.

Even coming from someone as nosey as Tomo, it was strange enough to make his hair stand on end. Despite his usually concerned expression and absorbent gaze, it wasn't like Toma to push his analyses onto other people instead of waiting for them to give him the answers he sough so hungrily.

“There's the reason you want to believe all of this is true, isn't there?” he continued. “The monsters, the pain, Hikari. It's because you're scared.”

“Anyone would be scared in this situation!” he shot back, struggling against the other man's grip. “You should be too and it's weird that you're not.”

The stone monster had appeared with killing intent. The second had laughed at him. The third had been able to speak. All of them had clearly been monstrous in appearance. Each one had qualities that resembled humans. What if –

“It's not really the darkness that scares you, Yota,” said Tomo. “You're scared of what the li-”

“Who are you?” Yota kicked at the shin of the being that resembled his neighbour. “Let go of me.”

“You know who I am,” he replied with a fond albeit sorrowful smile. “Or are you pretending not to know that too?”

“You're not Tomo.” Yota's heart ached. “He's not like this. What the hell are you?”

“I'm –”

“I don't care.” A buzzing nose filled his ears as he leaned back, bringing his knee up to his chest. “Let. Go!”

He slammed his heel against the potential monster's stomach with all of the strength he could muster. It choked and let go of him. He stumbled backwards, tripping over a bean bag that should have been positioned in a different corner of the room, as the sound in his ears reached a crescendo. The stone monster burst through the door as though it were made of cardboard.

Tomo, who was directly in its path, cast it a resigned, mildly irritated glance before he turned back to Yota, who landed on the floor out of its current range.

“I was only trying to help,” he said softly.

The monster started falling without stopping its momentum and crashed straight on top of him. A red mist flew up to coat the closest furniture, the walls, and even the ceiling. Yota barely managed to cover his face it time as the red fluid settled on his crossed arms and head. Frozen in place, he waited for the stone monster to rise again and come for him. He had less than ten seconds to escape and couldn't think of a reason why he should any more.

“Yota!” called out Hikari from the broken doorway. She stood with one hand extended towards him, covered in wheals from head to toe but otherwise very much alive and free of tentacles. “Come on, Yota. Just a bit more, okay?”

Somehow he managed to drag himself upright and walk through the remains of Toma floating in the air. Keeping a hand over his mouth, he tried not breathe and fought back tears as he took hold of Hikari's hand.

“Come on,” she said again. “Let's get out of here.”