I don't know how I would begin to tell this tale, with all it's oddities and things I can't even begin to explain but I know I had to write it down somewhere, because if the 'I' of another universe were to find it, perhaps the mystery could be solved.

The mystery of why this is a story that's important to me, and yet it isn't. This is a story of one coincidence too many, and always coming up one memory too short. This is the story of how I met the people I had once known in an entirely different time and place.

Yes, I know this sounds kind of cliché, but it all began with a recurring dream.

I've been having these dreams for as long as I could remember - dreams of a flowing red scarf, bright red eyes, myself disappearing from the world's own eyes and the screaming, oh god, the screaming and the bitter taste of death and love and hatred - but I can't for the life of me figure out what they mean.

You see, I'm just your average, kind of quiet girl at 17 years sailing through school with not a care in the world. My name is Tsubomi Kido, and there is nothing all that special about me apart from probably the fact I have green hair. I'm surprised the school hasn't said anything about that either, but they never really cared much.

Or noticed me.

That's something I have in common with the Kido - I prefer it over Tsubomi, for some reason - in my dreams, the fact that we both tend to blend in with the environment. More or less, I mean, I don't have the red eyes or anything but everything I say is the absolute truth.

Speaking of truth, the first day of classes this year was what really got the snowball rolling. All I was doing was listening to music, chilling in homeroom before class started and this tiny girl I'd never seen before walked into the classroom and froze, before leaping over and practically jumping on me.

She started spouting nonsense like "I missed you" and "I can't believe you're here" and "oh thank god", and it took me 3 seconds to push her off completely and give her the coldest glare I could muster. I was so good with people, as usual.

She looked like she had been struck by lightning when she was pushed away, all pink in the face and hiding behind these big bows in her ... incredible long, white hair. What?

As I stood there still wondering what was going on, she managed to speak at a more tolerable level, a shy smile on her face.

"Hi," Her voice suddenly dropped in volume, only coming out as a whisper. "I'm Mary."

"I didn't quite catch that."

"I'm Mary." She tried again.

"Sorry?"

Clearing her throat, she stood up a little straighter, as if she were forcing herself to be more confident. "My .. name.. is .. Mary."

"Oh. Cool." I answered lamely, eyes wandering to the front of the classroom as I tried to imply that I didn't want her company. No luck, she sat down behind the desk right next to mine. I wondered why her name sounded so familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it and I was steadily becoming more irritated.

"It's my first day here." She began, idly fidgeting with her hair. "I was hoping someone would show me around.."

"And you came to me, why? Do I look like I want to be bothered?"

She flinched, but before she could say anything, I continued, having no idea why I was so suddenly on the edge but my word vomit wouldn't stop and my head hurt. "And what was that business before, huh? I look like someone you know, do I? Well, guess what? I have no idea who you are and I don't really care, Mary."

"I'm sorry, Kido, I didn't mean-" The expression on her face made me feel incredibly guilty and I decided I had had enough of school for the time being, even if I hadn't sat through a single class that year yet.

"No, look, I'm sorry. I have no idea what's wrong with me, and you don't deserve this treatment. I'll just go to the nurse. We pretend this never happened. See you later."

"I'll take you to the nurse!" She called after me, desperation in her tone.

"You don't know the way." I sighed, but let her catch up to me as I still felt bad and we walked down the hallway together. I got a closer look at her as we walked, her skirt well below her knees and her light, wavy hair miles longer than I had initially thought; she almost looked like a moving doll.

She seemed unnaturally pleased to be walking with me, but I didn't mention it. The nurse wasn't in when we entered, but that made sense since it was the first day of classes -before class - and you'd have to have really bad luck or really hate school to be in here at this time.

Mary and I sat down on one of the beds in awkward silence but for better or worse it was short-lived, and the door was slammed open before another girl ran in, an unconscious student in her arms.

Not noticing us, she let out a stream of curses before setting the student - a boy, I could see now - down on a bed and pulling out her cellphone and furiously typing into it. After a few moments of staring, I recognized her as one of the seniors who people gossip about because she's in a special class with a total of two people.

I assumed the boy was her only other classmate. She tossed her phone onto a pillow, almost hitting him in the face and slumped into the closest chair chair. "Goddamn useless nurse... she's almost as bad as her husband, oh my god..."

Deciding that ignoring everyone would be a good idea, I went to lie down and close my eyes when I noticed Mary perking up. "Ene, are you okay?"

The other girl's head snapped up so fast, it looked like it would come straight off. Staring straight at the white-haired fluffy thing that sat on the bed beside me, she pointed at her with an accusatory finger. "W-where did you hear that- I mean, I'm not- ah wait, the cultural festival, right? Does the whole school know?! Fff-"

"I'm Mary." She was cut off by Mary, who smiled at her sweetly... and was that a tinge of sadness? "I hope we can be good friends this time."

"Uh, hi. I'm Takane." She coughed, gesturing towards the unconscious boy on the bed. "That's Haruka. But you probably already knew that."

Mary nodded thoughtfully, as if she knew something we didn't and slid off the bed to look over Haruka. "Does this happen often?"

I was about to tell her to stay out of other people's business, but was surprised when Takane shrugged and told her it did and yes she freaked out every single time but she couldn't do anything for him herself, and so he could die at any second-wait, what?

I didn't have time to intrude on their conversation since the nurse quickly rushed in, breathing heavily but still looking as professional as ever. Mrs. Tateyama was a bit of an airhead sometimes, but she was good at what she did, and all the students loved her.

She got straight to work on checking Haruka after gently ushering Mary and Takane to my side, when she shot a kind smile at me.

"I'll be with you in a sec, okay?"

I nodded, really my headache had subsided by now but I still felt a dull throb in my brain. Something about this was really familiar, and it was driving me insane. Also, now that I thought about it, Mary did remind me of something... in my mind, there was a sudden flash of a gun and a girl with short, curly white hair crying her eyes out, scales littering her cheeks before everything faded to dull yellow and black.