Chiyo wiped the sweat from her brow again. She could feel her fever worsening. Breathing heavily, she walked uneasily down the corridor alongside her friends, who chatted happily amongst themselves. They had yet to fully take note of Chiyo's condition, and Chiyo did not want to bother them. As her legs became more and more tired Chiyo began to stumble. They were approaching the stairs now. Even in her current state she could take on some stairs, Chiyo thought to herself.
"Hey Chiyo, are you feeling okay? You don't look too good…" Tomo's voice was the last thing Chiyo heard before she fell into unconsciousness.
Chiyo awoke sitting on an old wooden chair in the middle of a dingy looking room. The plain grey wallpaper was peeling off, revealing the wooden boarding behind it, and there was no furniture besides her chair and a small table with a cat ornament sat atop it. Chiyo could still feel the heat of her fever, her vision blurring slightly as her head began to sway. As she began to stand up, shakily, something entered her field of vision.
"Ah, M-Miss Sakaki…" Chiyo spoke breathlessly, barely able to get the words out as it felt as though her lungs were constrained.
"Chiyo-chan, you are so cute." Sakaki said plainly.
"What are you talking about, Miss Sa...Sakaki?" Chiyo asked as she stood, immediately stumbling backwards and knocking over the chair before she righted herself.
"I could never be like you, with such a cute little body." Sakaki stood before Chiyo in her school uniform, speaking almost in monotone. Chiyo felt too dazed to be creeped out.
"What're you…"
"Chiyo-chan, would you like to see my body?" Sakaki asked, leaning down to be at eye level with the smaller girl.
"Wha-I...I don't think that would be appropi...ah…" Chiyo found herself breathless once again. This illness must've been worse than she had thought to have affected her so grievously. Chiyo tried to steady herself by leaning on Sakaki.
Chiyo fell to the ground with an unceremonious thud. She was certain that Sakaki had been there, but now...Now she was on the bare wooden floor, curled up and shivering. A chill wind passed over her. Chiyo put her hands to her forehead, which was still hot as it had ever been. Using what little strength she had, Chiyo stood up and looked around.
Her mind took a moment to process what she saw. Chiyo stood in the middle of town, with the ground and all the buildings covered in a blanket of snow, with more falling from above. Chiyo didn't think, she merely began to walk forward. She could barely make out a dim red light down the street. Chiyo made her way towards it, shivering from the cold.
As she approached to light, she could see it was a fire, the kind made of wooden thrown into a barrel. There was a small shelter behind the fire with someone sat inside. This person was dressed in a big coat, a wool hat and a scarf that covered most of their face. Chiyo might've felt envious, but she was too out of it with her fever still running high.
Chiyo didn't speak as she sat on an old wooden chair opposite the stranger. Holding her shaking hands up to the flame, she cast a glance towards her companion. The person grabbed the scarf and pulled it down.
"K-K-Kaori!" Chiyo said in surprise.
"Did she throw you out?" Kaori asked in a defeated voice, nodding her head towards a mansion at the end of the road.
"W-who?" Chiyo confusedly asked. Perhaps she had meant Lady Luck, in which case, the answer was no, because she had never let Chiyo in to then throw her out.
"I don't even remember. I've been here so long, waiting for her." Kaori pulled her scarf back up. Chiyo brought her hands up to her face.
Chiyo looked up to see herself surrounded by a verdant green forest, trees all around her. Standing up from the old wooden chair she had been sat upon Chiyo looked around. There was a stream behind her and a dirt path lead up to a little cottage before her. Chiyo began to walk as best she could towards the cottage.
Reaching the door, Chiyo knocked quietly. She recoiled as the impact caused pain to shoot through her hand. When she looked back the door was open. Standing in the doorway was Tomo, dressed only in her underwear.
"Do you need something Chiyo-chan?" Tomo asked pleasantly, though Chiyo had the feeling that Tomo felt awkward, her tone coming across as rather stilted.
"Tomo, I need to come in." Chiyo said, her head leaning to one side as her balance began to give way.
"I'd like to Chiyo, I really would, but…" Tomo looked around. "I don't want anyone to know." With that Tomo closed the door. Chiyo raised a hand a rested it on the door.
The door was vibrating faintly and Chiyo could hear distant music and muffled voices. Turning around she surveyed the room she was in. The whole place was bathed in neon pink from lights that Chiyo couldn't see, and the only real standout feature was the black leather sofa backed up against the opposite wall. Walking over to it Chiyo plopped herself down, letting out a tired sigh as she did so.
Suddenly the door flung open and in walked Yukari. Music blared loudly from behind her until she closed the door.
"Miss Yukari, what're you doing here?" Chiyo asked. Yukari looked down at her.
"I don't usually get anyone this young here." She was dressed in barely-there underwear, and wore an egregious amount of make-up. "Whatever, so long as someone show up." Yukari grabbed an old wooden chair from the corner and sat it down in front of Chiyo, with the back facing towards the young girl. She then straddled the chair and began dancing. Chiyo shook her head.
"Miss Yukari...I didn't ask for this…" Chiyo wanted to be away from the older woman as soon as possible. She rolled off of the sofa, landing on her side before she scrambled to her feet. Turning around, she summoned her resolve, and pointed her finger as she did. "Miss Yukari, you can't just…"
Pointing at an old wooden chair in the middle of a poorly furnished apartment, Chiyo was alone. She looked around at the wallpaper peeling off the walls and the bare wooden floor. Rain could be heard outside of the window. Taking a few tentative steps forward, Chiyo motioned to sit down. However, before she could, she heard a voice calling out. Chiyo walked over to a glass sliding door at one end of the apartment, opening it and stepping outside into the rain.
She found herself on a small balcony overlooking the street, about one story up. Standing in the middle of the street in her sweatsuit was Kagura, waving her arms up at Chiyo.
"Hey, why don't you come outside?!" Kagura yelled up.
"Kagura, come inside before you catch a cold!" Chiyo warned. Kagura ignored her as she carried on waving her arms in the rain.
"You should come with me! Come on, let's go!" Kagura turned and ran down the street until Chiyo lost sight of her. Shivering even more intensely now that she had gotten wet, Chiyo turned and stepped back through the door.
Chiyo found herself looking through a one-way mirror, one that overlooked a small room. Inside were a number of childrens toys. Amongst them, however, was Yomi. She wore a yellow summer dress as she played with a skipping rope, smiling happily to herself. Chiyo place her hands against the perspex, propping herself up as she let out a breath.
"Don't you want to play?" Yomi asked. Chiyo looked up to see Yomi still skipping, not looking towards her.
"You don't want to play with me?" Yomi asked again. Chiyo looked around. Spotting a door further up, she made her way towards it. When she reached it however, she saw that an old wooden chair had been used to hold it shut, propped against the handle. Chiyo presumed Yomi must've been stuck there.
"Ah, don't worry Yomi! I'm going to help you out of there!" Chiyo yelled as loud as she could, before descending into a coughing fit. It took her a few moments to recover, but she removed the obstacle and reached for the door handle.
Chiyo's hand found nothing. She was instead met with rushing air and the feeling of falling. Chiyo panicked, looking around desperately. She was high in the sky, above the clouds in fact. Chiyo had no idea what to do; she had no means of slowing her descent.
"People, they always said I had my head in th' clouds!" A familiar voice came from nearby. Chiyo turned her head towards to voice.
"Miss Osaka! What on Earth is happening?" Chiyo asked her freefalling friend. Osaka looked towards her.
"My mother always said I'd fly! She told me that they'd all look up at me one day!" Osaka said to Chiyo, unperturbed by her fall.
"Miss Osaka, what do we do!" Chiyo asked desperately. Osaka didn't answer. Chiyo resigned to look down at the rapidly approaching clouds. She closed her eyes as they both entered the cloud layer.
Chiyo bolted upright from where she was laying. She was panting heavily, having just had the unpleasant feeling of falling. Her head spun for a moment from her sudden movement. She cast a look around the room. She was in her school uniform, laying on a clinical bed in what she thought was the school nurses office. She didn't feel too sure though, her head was very hazy.
Chiyo heard a noise beside herself and looked over. Tomo was sat, fast asleep on an old wooden chair at the bedside. Chiyo smiled at her friends sleeping face.
"I'm glad to see you're awake, Chiyo." A familiar voice spoke.
"Miss Kurosawa! What's going on?" Chiyo asked, hope to set her confused mind at ease.
"You fell down on the stairs just after class ended. The others carried you here to the nurses office. It turned out you had a fever, though it's mostly broken now." Chiyo nodded slowly. She felt drained despite the fact she had just slept. Stretching out her arms and yawning, Chiyo climbed off the bed.
"What is Tomo doing here?" Chiyo asked drowsily.
"She insisted on staying with you until you woke up. She also insisted that the others go home." Chiyo smiled again before she gave Tomo a gentle shake to wake her up. Tomo's eyes cracked open.
"Chiyo...chan, you're up." She said, still half-asleep.
"It's time to go home Tomo." Chiyo said quietly. Tomo merely nodded and stood up. "Oh and Tomo; thank you for staying with me. That was very sweet!" Chiyo said appreciatively.
"Don't mention it!" Tomo put her arm around Chiyo's shoulders as they walked behind Minamo out of the office.
(A/N: It's about 3:30 in the morning, I'm ill and tired, and I've been reading a few of other people's stories. Then this idea came to me. I tried to go for surreal, because that's how I feel right now. I tried to do some subtle character exploration here, I just hope you guys could make heads or tails of it.)