They had had a fight. It started over something stupid. Something that happened all the time. She wasn't feeling good though. No. She hadn't been feeling good for a while. This pushed her over the edge and she snapped and threw a fit. And then Eri; pretty, always perfect Eri, tried to calm her down. By telling her the one thing she never wanted to hear from any and most especially not from Eri.
"You know I don't think you're meant to be a designer, Shiki."
She left when she heard that. She hadn't given Eri any time to explain or smooth talk her way out of it. Lord knows Eri could have too. Because Eri could do it all. Talking and getting people back under her banner without a sweat was just one of her many talents. Shiki knew that. That's why she ran from Eri's room and down the stairs and out the door not thinking even once about what impression this would leave on Eri's parents.
And then for some reason she just kind of blacked out. And then she had some silly dream about being dead and part of some game. And then she woke up. In the middle of Scramble Crossing. Why did she wake up there? Shiki didn't think too hard about it. No she got a text message that kept her from questioning it. She deleted it and once she heard that satisfying beep of confirmation Shiki stood up. Now she may have questioned why she had been sleeping in a crowded intersection, but she was then distracted by someone walking through her. Not around. Not pushing her out of the way roughly. Not bumping her with their shoulder and rudely walking away without so much as a "Sorry" or "Excuse me". No. That man decked out in the Lapin Angelique had walked right through Shiki. And then another did it. And then Shiki ran through someone in a panic.
She didn't react well to this at all. She shouted a bit. All she got from that was a sore throat. She couldn't even yell properly. How pathetic. And what was up with her voice? Still Shiki didn't question that much. No. She broke down like she always did instead. She started to cry and scrunched up her face in an ugly fashion. She tried to brush the tears away and stop. She couldn't. No. Shiki just whimpered and fell to the ground like the helpless childish thing she was.
She couldn't just whine in the middle of Shibuya all day though. Even if no one could seem to see or hear her. Even if people walked right through her like she was just air. So Shiki got up after she couldn't cry anymore. A walk might help she thought. Maybe it would just turn out to be dream and she'd wake up. Nope. She didn't wake up. Instead she got another text. It was the same as the one before save the time. Some sick joke about Reapers and a game. It sounded familiar. Maybe someone at school had mentioned it recently. This message too was deleted.
There was this feeling of wrongness about this all. Shiki just assumed it was because she was dreaming. Yeah. She had felt kind of like this in dreams before. Still. She couldn't help shake this feeling that maybe she was just a bit shorter than normal and that maybe things looked a bit different. Like clearer. Then there was a breeze and Shiki felt for certain that her midriff was bare. She ignored it though. It was just a part of her silly dream. It was one of those hyper realistic ones. Had to be.
And then Shiki tripped. Was it over a can? Or hr own feet? Regardless she still fell to the ground and landed squarely on her face. Damn that hurt. Shiki pulled her upper torso up and sniffled a bit. And then she saw what looked like Eri's hat. Her favorite hat. The one with the little pin she always kept on it. The one Shiki loved to death and wished to God that she could look cute in but didn't. And then she saw Eri's hands picking up Eri's hat. Eri's fingers were very distinctive. Shiki would know them anywhere. Not that Shiki would ever admit to having such an obsessively detailed knowledge on every little bit of Eri's person. Every bit Shiki had seen anyway and Shiki had seen quite a bit if not all there was to see of Eri.
But what were Eri's hands doing picking up Eri's hat when it was Shiki who was reaching out and lifting it up? And why were Shiki's arms so bare and not hers? Why were they Eri's? Shiki felt sick. She dropped that hat and stared at her hands. No. Eri's hands. Eri's perfect, never blemished, never bandaged hands.
It took her some time, but Shiki calmed down. Until she looked at her chest. Instead of seeing her flat unappealing A-cup she saw Eri's nice full and perfectly proportioned C-cup. And Eri's cute little red top that bared her midriff. And that mini hoodie that Eri loved so much that Shiki got for her as a present. And then she looked at her legs and didn't find her own unattractive lanky legs, but Eri's. And Eri's green miniskirt too. The one that went so well with her hair. Shiki wasn't shocked enough yet though. No she had to play with her hair and find that it wasn't her own head of short, dull hair, but Eri's shocking strawberry colored locks.
Shiki laughed. Loudly. Openly. And for a long time. She just laughed. Shock had broke her for a bit. Then she calmed down and came back to the world of sanity for a bit only to start crying again. What sort of cruel nightmare was this and why wouldn't it end she wondered. Then she smiled. Hadn't this been what she wanted? To be Eri? To be the loved by everyone, ever fashionable, amazingly talented Eri? But she started crying again at that thought. It was a dream. She'd just wake up. She wasn't really Eri and never wold be anyone else but plain, frumpy, unappealing Shiki. And then she'd wake up. But she didn't.
Her phone rang again. It was that same text message. Why the hell wouldn't it stop? Why were her dream trolls so persistent? Shiki put her cellphone back in her shoulder bag. The large hideously bland tote like thing was one of the few things she had with her that was actually hers. She had Mr. Mew and her tacky cell phone and her silly little embroidered doohickeys that served no purpose but to entertain her in her spare time too. Still those could be easily hidden though. The bag could not. Shiki couldn't help but think that it looked somewhat better on her now though. Now that she was Eri. Not Shiki. Shiki never looked cute. Ever.
There were two small sour hard candies in her bag. They caught Shiki's attention. Eri had given them to her last week for some unfathomable reason. Eri knew Shiki's taste was as boring as her appearance on account of her being so amazingly sensitive taste wise. Still Eri insisted they weren't so sour. That Shiki would like them. Shiki knew otherwise though. Still call it whim or what have you Shiki unwrapped one of the confections and popped it in her mouth. Except it wasn't her mouth and it wasn't her taste. Shiki didn't squint or cry out in surprise. No. It wasn't over powering. It was actually pretty damn good. Shiki's mood fell again. Even in the matter of taste Eri had her beat. How pathetic.
Shiki stood up and there was that phone of her again. She was about to erase the message when she heard a scream. Shiki turned to the source of that call. It had been one of desperate and absolute fear. It sounded so fake, not at all like what you hear in the movies. It still made Shiki jump out of Eri's skin though. And then Shiki saw it. A man was turned into nothingness by a frog. A huge frog. An evil looking frog. And that frog hopped towards her.
Shiki ran. She tripped again. She realized what it was that kept making her trip. It was Eri's shoes. She wasn't used to them. Shiki always wore plain flats or sneakers even though Eri tried to get her to wear other things. She didn't have the time to think about it that much though. The devil frog was still coming and it had friends.
Shiki ran towards Hachiko. Why she didn't know. She felt she might be safe there though. She always felt better near that faithful dog. Her phone rang again. She ignored that message. There were more frogs at the Hachiko statue. and a boy was fighting them off. And then Shiki remembered that nonsense that fellow with wings had told her before she woke up except it didn't sound like nonsense anymore. And Shiki called out to that boy hoping to God she could form that link thing the winged man talked about. And she did form it.