AruuYuda-1601: Hehe. Because no one reviewed my other fic...boo. I just wrote this out of boredom. Obviously based off Kagerou Days. The PV version, but has some difference in the beginning, end, characters (of course) and their personalities in my take.
Very well, please read on? :D
[Third-Person Point of View]
[In Some Unknown Dimension]
"I'm bored."
A pale-skinned boy drummed his fingers on the glass table and sighed as he said these words. He looked around the white room, searching for something interesting to do – to no avail. There was nothing around but a couch where he was sitting, the glass table where he was boringly tapping away, his single-person bed, a night table, and his baseball.
This boy, a century year-old teenage-looking Haze – a mere supernatural representation of temperature, elements, light and dark, weather and seasons – was...well, bored. He ran his fingers through his short, shaggy black hair, which had some red gradient, thinking of something to do. To no avail, once again. Nothing interesting came inside his head.
He heard the door creak. The boy looked up, seeing a girl enter his room. The male Haze narrowed his flaming blood-red eyes at the girl. The girl closed the door, turned around, and glared at him – fiery red clashing with icy, freezing sky-blue.
"What are you doing here, Cold Haze?" the boy asked, boredom in his voice.
"Searching for free people to hang out with. I asked Winter Haze, but she was busy. I went around, still looking, but everyone refused or was busy. Even Dark Haze," she replied, sighing. "I'm very, very bored, bored enough to even ask Dark Haze and the other evil or sadistic Hazes to hang out with me. As I said, they refused."
"You're redundant. Very," the boy remarked.
"Shut it. Well, even if I hated to see or talk to them and you, Heat Haze, my hated rival and opposite, I still did," she said, annoyance present in her cold, but flowing, voice.
Heat Haze, the boy, was the opposite and rival of Cold Haze, even though they were in the same group – the Temperature Hazes. There were three of them – the two opposite Hazes and Warm Haze, who seemed to have no care towards the two rivals. Warm Haze...he was neutral.
The reason why Cold Haze hated Heat Haze was that he was as sadistic and as dark as Dark Haze, Fire Haze, and Storm Haze. The reason why Heat Haze hated this annoying Cold Haze was that...nothing. He just hated her. Oh, she was annoying, that was why, maybe.
Oh, joy. A new companion to beat out boredom. But that companion turned out to be his enemy.
Cold Haze flipped her short-length light-blue hair, which had a white gradient, behind her shoulder. "Well, are you free?"
"I am. But I have no idea what to do," he blankly replied. He crossed his arms across his chest and immersed himself in thinking of something, anything to do. Cold Haze just stared at him.
"Well, looks like I have no business with you, too. Then, I'll just go," she said, stepping back slowly. As she stepped back for six steps, Heat Haze jerked up and extended his arm, stopping the girl in her tracks.
"Wai-wai-wai-wai-wait. Wait," he drawled. "I just thought of a game. Let's play a game, Cold Haze," he said.
Cold Haze raised her eyebrow. "Wh...what game?"
"A matter of life and death. A loop game that will go on for years and years," he smirked.
The girl scoffed. "Hah-hah. You're drunk. Go to sleep. We can't die. We're Hazes. Immortal beings. Hello? How can we die? And, a loop game is boring." She turned around gracefully, her dress which color was the same as her hair fluttering behind her.
Heat Haze aimed his baseball at the girl and tried to hit her on the head. However, she avoided it just before it reached her, grabbing the ball with her left hand. The boy rolled his eyes.
"Obviously, we're not able to die. So we're going to use humans. Actual humans," he said, amusement in his voice. Cold Haze slowly turned around and faced him.
"H-hu-humans? For a hundred years, give or take a score, I haven't touched and ruined a human life. And now you're going to ruin my innocence?!" she raged.
"Nope. Don't worry."
"How sadistic of you," she emphasized.
"I said don't worry."
But Cold Haze couldn't be budged, until...
"Wait. I think it will be very interesting. Quick, Heat Haze! The rules!" she chirped, flapping her left hand at Heat Haze, beckoning him to hurry.
The Haze boy furrowed his eyebrows and blinked at her because of the sudden change. Oh, he recalled. Cold Haze was known to be very fickle. But Heat Haze mentally smirked at that. At least, his pretty little game would be played.
On every August fifteen, one o'clock PM, the game would start, and it would end at the same date and time after a century.
The two Temperature Hazes chose two humans – Cold Haze's was a girl, and Heat Haze's was a boy – as their game puppets. On the chosen date and time, one of them would die. The Haze who lived in the alive one would be the winner, and that Haze could explore around freely outside the human's body. But that Haze could still control his or her human puppet. The Haze who lived in the dead one would be kept inside the body, but still controlling it, until the winner Haze's body died. Then they would exchange.
The cycle would repeat for a century – the humans chosen would not get old for that purpose. For them, the events would seem like just a horrifying dream. But for the Hazes, time still ran. The Hazes put up a hundred clocks, which serve as their calendar markers. Once a day had gone by, one clock would shatter, and they would be marked with hot blood or icy mist – hot blood if the Heat Haze won, and icy mist if the Cold Haze won.
All the Hazes had to do was to prevent their own human puppets to die, while pushing their opponent to death. All they could do was influence the humans' thinking. Even each other's thinking. The humans wouldn't know that they were being influenced. Much like being hypnotized unknowingly. Subconsciously.
But that could sometimes fail depending on the human's intelligence and common sense. If it was high, it would be difficult – it would fail most of the time. If it was low, the opponent Haze would be assured of victory, then the one who lived in the "dumb" human, the threat of losing.
As for the incidents that would kill the humans, it would depend on the surroundings and possible accidents and deaths that may occur at the location. For example, at a school rooftop, one may fall down to the ground and die.
On the first day of the game, both Temperature Hazes would be locked in the humans' bodies. Then if one died, the winner Haze could get out and explore around, as stated before. The loser Haze would just stay inside the body – he or she would only get to explore the human consciousness.
The game's ending was unknown. No one knew, even the Hazes. There were possible things after the game – the two humans' lives would restart from when the game started, and it would return to normal without remembering anything; the one who died would stay dead forever, and the alive one would either forget or remember everything; or both humans would be erased in the world and become reborn again bearing no memories of the game.
Then...the meaningless game now started.
[In a Bedroom, A House in Sapporo, Hokkaido]
Rei Kagene jerked awake, honey-colored eyes wide with a very small hint of panic. He inhaled fiercely.
He just woke up from a sort of bad dream. His dream...it was about two humans being used by supernatural beings as puppets...he didn't remember anymore. It wasn't vivid. It only showed a hazy environment and human shadows... What that dream meant, Rei didn't care. It was just...the dream had some sort of...a bad atmosphere.
He sat up and reached for the curtains, extending his arms. He set them apart, wincing as the sun passed through the glass window. It was too bright for him. Ah, it was summer – his hated season.
How long had he been asleep, anyway? He reached out for his cellphone from the night table and turned on the screen. He glanced at it.
August fifteen, twenty-nineteen, eleven thirty-nine AM. He overslept? He did – he slept late at night after indulging in front of the computer.
He rubbed his eyes and stood up, preparing himself to go downstairs for break-...no, brunch? It must be lunch, now, since it was near twelve o'clock. He was greeted by his sister, who was one year older. She was cooking lunch already. And her greeting wasn't...nice enough. Instead of "Good afternoon. Why did you oversleep?", it was:
"You overslept, Rei."
Rei sat down on a chair and leaned on the dining table, sighing. "Obviously."
"Well, you've indulged yourself in front of the computer. You're getting all pale from your seclusion. Why don't you go outside and get some fresh air?" she asked, stirring the soup from the other pot next to her.
"I don't want to. It's too hot. Very hot. I can't stand it because-"
"You hate summer?" she interrupted. "And that's why you're not helping the D vitamins in your body. And you lacked exercise. You only walk when you're going to and from school. Now, I want you to get out and have a leisure walk after lunch and stay out as long as you can," she said.
Rei clicked his tongue. "What if I say 'No'?"
His sister walked towards him, carrying a pot. "I will force you. Kick you out, even." She set down the pot on the table and turned back to the stove.
Rei scoffed. "Nah. You can't do that, provided that you're a softie, Rui."
Rui glared at him and exposed out her white-hot steel ladle, which she used while she was cooking. It seemed like she would use the ladle to burn his perfect, but pale, skin. It made Rei gulp and start eating lunch. Rui cocked her head to the side and smiled innocently.
As soon as he finished, he grabbed his gray hoodie and cellphone, then went out of the house, Rui waving at him.
Gosh, Rei didn't know that Rui had some violent tendencies. Well, her appearance was deceiving. She had wide, innocent-looking honey-colored eyes, and she had a white ribbon at the back of her head. It made her look like she was the younger, childish one.
Rei set upon the cemented sidewalk path, once again wincing as the hot wind blew against his face and arms, and as the strong light bothered his eyes. He sweated. He hated sweating and going outdoors especially on summer days. He muttered some minor swear words because of his annoyance.
He shouldn't be outdoors, he thought. Rui was also an idiot – no one should stay under the sun ten o'clock onwards. He might get skin cancer because of those ultraviolet rays. He furrowed his eyebrows.
[At A Playground, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan]
"Creak... Creak... Creak..."
Rei was sitting on a playground swing, moving slowly back and forth. The harsh hot wind once again blew, and he grunted in annoyance.
"It's near autumn, yet it's still very hot..." he muttered.
Just to shut Rui's mouth, he stayed outside for longer than ten minutes. Well, it was her challenge, he assumed. So be it. He walked around their neighborhood and rested at the playground.
The trees rustled as the hot breeze blew again.
"Um, excuse me, but may I ask what time is it?" a voice came. Rei looked up, seeing a girl in front of him, carrying a black, green-eyed cat. The girl's head was tilted to the side.
Rei took out his cellphone and turned on the screen. He glanced at it for a second.
"August fifteen...it's twelve forty-three."
The girl smiled. "Thank you." She sat on the swing next to Rei, muttering something near, "I have about one hour left before..." What she said after that, he didn't hear. And he didn't care.
The cat mewed softly and yawned. Rei eyed the cat, dark green clashing with cat-like amber honey. He turned away just before the girl caught him.
Another gust of hot summer wind, and Rei partly yelled "aagh". He wiped his sweaty forehead with his left arm. The girl glanced at him.
"It really is hot, no? Here," she took out her handkerchief and handed it to Rei. The jet black-haired boy nodded a thank you and wiped his forehead and neck. He handed it back, but the girl just smiled.
"It's all right. It's yours, er...what is your name? Mine's Miku Hatsune."
"Rei Kagene... Nice to meet you."
Miku petted her cat. "Nice to meet you, too, Rei. Well, since I have still free time, why don't we talk to each other? After all, we just made a new friend, no?"
The boy reluctantly nodded – he somewhat hated socialization, but it was rude to decline some sort of...request, right? The girl might get offended.
Miku wiped her forehead. "Ah, so hot. This is why I kinda hate summer..." she drawled softly. Rei raised his eyebrow.
"You hate summer, too?"
"Yes. But kinda. Do you?"
"I do. Very much."
"Then why are you here – outside?"
Creak... Creak... Creak... The swing creaked once again.
"Well..." Rei paused. "My sister just wanted me out. She said that I was getting pale because of just closing myself in my room. Well, I couldn't refuse – she was quite... Let's say that she's just wanted me to gain some color. Oh, right. She was quite obstinate...? Or harsh when I tried to refuse.
"If you hate summer, then why are you also out?"
Miku titled her head to the side and observed his skin. "You do look pale," she said. She then straightened up and looked at Rei in the eye. " As for that question, I have an appointment with my doctor. That's why I asked the time. And it turned out that I still have an hour left."
Rei nodded slowly. "Then, why will you go to the doctor?"
Miku blinked and swung back and forth at small distances. "I got a very bad sprain at my right arm. It's terrible, since I use that arm in playing tennis. And a tournament is up in three days." Miku frowned.
"Oh. I...hope it heals sooner."
The girl laughed. Her laugh is pretty. So as her. Long, silky, unique teal hair tied up in twin tails, fair, unblemished skin... Rei thought. Ah, what am I thinking...
They both jerked up and yelled as the cat suddenly jumped off Miku's lap, crossing the asphalt road fifteen meters away. Miku stood up and quickly ran after it. Rei also stood up and followed, but he halted.
He looked at the traffic lights.
Red.
Rei sighed in relief. He started to run but was halted once again when he heard some odd voice in his head. He even thought that he felt it smirking.
Looks like I'm going to win, the voice said. Rei raised his eyebrows. Was it just his imagination or something? Very strange...
Three...
Two...
One...
Beep... Beep... BEEP... A truck's horn's beep rang in the air.
CRASH!
A spray of red blood emerged, tainting the gray, asphalt road and the truck's front part. Teal, bloodstained strands of hair scattered on the ground. People around screamed in horror and gathered around, worry and fear plastered on their faces, observing the blood-drained dead girl.
Rei screamed and ran through the thick crowd, eventually getting at Miku. His eyes widened, shocked to see the girl on the ground. All lifeless. All pale. All bloodstained.
He quickly knelt down beside her, not minding that his knees became scratched by the cemented, rough road as he did so. The smell of blood choked him, and it was terrible. Very terrible. Traumatic, even.
He looked around, seeing the people whispering about Miku and the accident. Tears streamed down his face in frustration.
Why did this have to happen?!
And among the crowd, among the people, he saw a boy clad in black and red gradient, smiling down at them sadistically, his head tilted to the side innocently. He uttered something. Something that he didn't hear. But seeing how his lips moved, it was something like this:
I won...
Rei shook his head and closed his eyes. He opened them again. The boy wasn't there. Was it another imagination? A figment of his imaginations? But it seemed...real. Realistic, but a little hazy. Realistic, but not too vivid. Maybe it was his imagination after all.
Miku's cat just stared at them with neutral green eyes from the dark alley just across the road. It seemed like he didn't care for his owner. Ridiculous!
The cruel, hot wind blew, and the wicked, burning sun shined down at them. The incident happened on an evil, hot summer day.
[August 16, 2019, Rei Kagene's Neighborhood]
As expected in the game's details, on the next days after the chosen date and time, the incidents that occurred would seem nothing to the humans. The human that died just became normal the next day, all alive with no wounds or signs of deterioration, and both would remember nothing.
Nothing at all. Like a dream dreamed on an REM sleep all gone when a person woke up from an N-REM sleep. Not even hints. Not until the chosen date and time came again. On which they will remember some hints.
Heat Haze strolled around the neighborhood of his human.
Rei Kagene was his name, huh? He also looked just like him a little bit. Interesting. Interesting, indeed.
He looked up as he heard Cold Haze's voice in his head.
They could communicate by telepathy. It sometimes was convenient, sometimes annoying. Convenient, because if the Hazes needed something from each other urgently, they could tell them immediately. Annoying, because random voices would ring inside their heads without warning.
Heat Haze, I'm very wrong. The game was terrible and foolish. When I saw my human dying...it's... How sadistic of you, Heat Haze! How foolish of me to accept this game!Cold Haze raged.
The sadistic Heat Haze just smirked. "Your fickleness made you foolish," he breathed softly.
What the- Heat Haze! You're very wicked! I swear, once I get out of Miku Hatsune's body, I will end this game with my hands! I will shatter every clock left and taint it with my mist!
The boy just rolled his eyes. "If you end it with your own hands..." he paused effectively, feeling Cold Haze's nervousness, "We don't even know what will happen if this ends, right? So, if Rei Kagene dies if you win, and he will stay dead forever if the game ends, it will be your fault. You're very dumb, Cold Haze. Plus, your human seems dumb, too. See, I controlled her easily.
"And you seem to have poor mind-controlling skills, Cold Haze. That's why I won."
He felt the female Haze grit her teeth. With that, their telepathic communication ended.
The Heat Haze walked back to his human's residence and saw him inside his room, fiddling with his laptop like nothing happened yesterday. Heat Haze smirked. He walked back and went to Cold Haze's human's residence.
Miku Hatsune was alive and well, feeding her cat.
Heat Haze eyed the black cat – it's eyes seemed to regard him. The creature seemed to be able to see him. It seemed like it still remembered what happened yesterday, August fifteen, one o'clock PM. Its dark green eyes seemed to bear a hole through him.
Heat Haze shrugged his shoulders. No, he couldn't see Cold Haze – she was inside Miku Hatsune. What he could only sense was the blue Haze's presence inside the girl's body.
The Haze walked away.
[The Next Year, August 15, 2020]
Rei Kagene once again woke up late at eleven twenty-one, just like what happened everyday.
The sun was still blazing hot, heating his room through his glass window even though the air conditioner was on at twenty-four degrees Celsius. When normal, ordinary people would say that the weather was fine, he would say otherwise. In fact, summer was annoying and revolting.
But this day, it seemed peculiar to him. He didn't know why, exactly. Because he felt that what his sister Rui told him to do today was also said before. It was like...something was repeating...?
Rui told him to walk around and get some sunlight, which he truly hated. But the only thing different was that she didn't use a white-hot spatula to threaten him, but her pizza slicer. A sharp, shining pizza slicer.
He got out with his white-and-yellow hoodie and cellphone.
He ended up at the town playground, sitting on a rusty steel swing. He couldn't help feeling that this happened before. Did it? It must be only a dream, he thought.
"Excuse me...?"
Rei looked up. A teal-haired teenager was eying him,carrying a black, green-eyed cat. Very strange. The girl in front of him was awfully familiar. So was the cat.
The girl asked Rei what time it was, sat on the swing next to him and they made friends with each other.
Miku Hatsune was her name – a peculiarly familiar name. He should have heard her name somewhere... No, she wasn't a well-known person, but...how?
No...all of these were strange. Rei thought that he once dreamed that he and some girl were talking at the same location, same time, same date. No, Rei didn't believe that history repeated itself.
The girl...ah, the girl just beside him was the girl in that strange dream! Why, he thought.
Rei just remembered something vaguely – is it that something would happen later, according to that vague recollection? Something terrible and bad? Was that memory a warning? Or simply just a dream? Rei felt that he must counteract against it, if it were to happen.
"Hey, why don't you head home? I'll...escort you, I think."
The girl raised her eyebrow adorably. "Eh? Why is that?"
Rei gulped. He needed to think of a valid reason, mustn't he? "I just...want to stroll around...?" he said, unsure of himself.
"Well then, okay."
Miku grabbed Rei's hand, which was extended for her to take. Rei looked up and prepared to walk, but he saw someone staring at them with sadistic-looking eyes and smile.
Rei couldn't take it anymore. Why did everything seem to be familiar? That someone crossed his arms across his chest, saying something that, now, Rei definitely heard.
"It's useless."
The dark-looking hazy boy glanced at Miku for a semi-long period of time.
Rei's eyes widened, and his head snapped, glancing everywhere as hordes of screaming people pointed at a building which was being constructed.
Screaming, they were, because the crane which carried a large, heavy piece of foundation metal got out of control, and the object's weight brought it down.
"Eeee..."
"Aaaaah!"
"Crrrrk... Bang."
Miku Hatsune was knocked dead by the metal, pools of blood scattering around her. Rei felt something oddly familiar with the scene, even though what happened this day was different than before...
Rei Kagene found himself kneeling beside the pale, dead girl, choking on the metallic smell of blood, crying loudly over the tragic, overly-painful death.
He was taken away by the medics that arrived.
One thing he saw before he was fully taken away was Miku's profile – he thought that she saw her smiling faintly. He shook his head and closed his bloodshot eyes, then opened them again. No, she was dead! No way she could smile like she was alive, was there?
He heard the Heat Haze laughing ten meters away from the girl in the agonizingly hot summer afternoon.
[Ninety-Six Years Later, Hallway of the Hundred Clocks]
"Crash..."
A piece of broken glass fell on the ground, and Heat Haze picked it up, laughing quietly. He glanced at the hundred clocks – ninety-eight of them were already shattered and bloodstained with hot red blood.
"I will win these last two games, Cold Haze..." he drawled. He glanced at a boy just five meters away from his right.
"Are you tired yet of this game, Rei Kagene? Don't be. This is exciting, isn't it?" his voice echoed.
The boy, Rei Kagene – who was only the "moving subconscious" of the real one, didn't budge from his position – his fingers were against the glass panel that separated them and the clocks. He was standing there, motionless, observing the faint memories of the loop incidents that happened on the past ninety-eight years.
It was Miku Hatsune who died all the time – slipping off the stairs and crashing her head, accidentally falling off a seven-story building, and many more painful-looking incidents. Which were actually very painful. Rei Kagene tried to pull her away from those, but nothing happened about it. She just kept dying every year.
He didn't understand it. The game. The rules. The Hazes.
It was tiring. A sadistic, terrible game. What he only knew that it was the Heat Haze that started it all.
He knew that the Cold Haze regretted it all, and wanted to end it all.
Subconscious Rei Kagene glanced at Heat Haze with tired eyes. "Can't you see here?"
Heat Haze smirked. "I can't really see it. Really," he said, sarcasm in his mocking voice.
Subconscious Rei Kagene narrowed his eyes. "I swear, I'll end it now."
"Go. How are you going to do it?" Heat Haze asked, amusement in his voice.
"Simple."
Subconscious Rei Kagene dashed out of the realm and went back to his human body. Heat Haze's eyes widened in surprise... Why?
The real Rei Kagene woke up on another August fifteen, but he exactly woke up on twelve forty. He ran and ran, until he met Miku Hatsune once again at the same location – the neighborhood playground.
He waited until Miku stood up. It was the cat again, leaping off her lap and wanting to be chased across the asphalt road. Rei overtook Miku, which surprised her. She halted at the roadside.
Rei, at exactly one o'clock PM, faced the high-speed truck with an expecting smile, which finally hit him. His blood scattered on the ground, and he became much paler than before. Miku's teal eyes widened, and tears streamed down her cheeks in frustration, much like what Rei felt before when she was the one dying on the cursed loop. The cursed game loop.
The Heat Haze watched Rei, appalled by the sight. Without warning, he became hazy like the wind, and he disappeared. He completely became invisible after shedding a tear or two.
At last, after waiting for so long, Cold Haze appeared beside Miku, sighing in triumph. She looked down at the pale, lifeless Rei Kagene and frowned. Cold Haze immediately disappeared.
She transported to the hallway of the Hundred Clocks, seeing most of the clocks shattered and bloodstained. That was she expected – she lost the game most of the times.
This was her chance to end this game.
She walked over at the last two clocks.
"Miku...as I break these last clocks, I tell you these – both of your fate is unknown. If you are to live and remember all and Rei will stay dead forever, please try to forget the ridiculous game and him. It will only burden you," she uttered, voice soft and quiet.
Subconscious Miku Hatsune, who just got out of the real one's body once the real one was hospitalized because of shock, appeared beside Cold Haze, eyes serious but soft. Tired, even.
"I will...try..."
Cold Haze eyed her. "I regret joining Heat Haze in this game. I shouldn't have. So, I'll end this now..."
"Crash!"
"Crash!"
The last two clocks were shattered, all tainted with Cold Haze's icy mist – the game was finished. The horrible incidents wouldn't happen anymore.
Heat Haze appeared beside her.
"You...won the final round..."
Cold Haze glared at him.
"Let's go back home and think about what you did."
The two disappeared, leaving Consciousness Miku Hatsune in the hallway. Consciousness Miku Hatsune also disappeared, going back to her human body.
[August Fourteen, One Year after the Clock-Shattering, Miku Hatsune's Residence]
Miku woke up from her deep sleep. She clutched her head. She was partly dizzy.
She still remembered the game and its horrifying rules and Rei Kagene.
It was a burden to her.
She picked up her black cat.
The outcome of the game was that she remembered everything, and Rei Kagene became dead forever. Non-existent everywhere but her mind. Not even his family remembered him.
It was only her that had memories of him. Tears streamed down her eyes.
"I failed to save you...from that game. I should have been the one who died, Rei..."
AruuYuda-1601: Ohh-kay.. I think that the last half part of the story was pretty too fast and confusing, I think. Oh, heck, I think that everything was confusing. I'm very sorry, I'm very sleepy when I wrote this. I might rewrite this if I can, 'kay? 'Kay.
Notes here - REM Sleep is the state of sleep where our eyes move (A.K.A. We're dreaming in our sleep), then NREM is the state where we're not dreaming - our eyes do not move.
Reviews, please? :3
EDIT (4/1/2013, PH time): As I reread this one, I saw that some words were misused, so I changed some of it. That's all. Hehe.