It had been just over a year after the final fight with my twin brother. I never really thought about it after it happened, it had happened and that was it. I don't really think back on moments like those. They don't bother me, anyway. He wasn't going to bother me anymore. Maybe he would in another five hundred years, but not any time soon.
At least… that's what I thought.
Anna decided we were both going to go and watch a medium show. I don't really know why, since she's one herself. She told me that Manta could come too, so it wasn't really a date. Although I wouldn't consider being sat in a room full of people hoping to get their questions answered about the afterlife, a date. But I can see what she meant.
"Why are we going to see a medium? Who do you want to come through from the afterlife and talk to you?" I asked her.
"No one. We can see the spirits from the afterlife anyway, so what do I need to speak to a medium for?" replied Anna, not actually answering my question.
"Erm…" I stammered. "What do you need to speak to a medium for?" I asked, repeating her own question.
"I want to see what they do." She replied, simply. I thought about it for a moment, and she seemed like she really did want to go and see the show, so I decided I'd accept the invite, and go with her. "Plus I want to see if they're a fake." She added coldly and walked out of the room, leaving me in the kitchen lost in thought.
Manta arrived on time later that day, he would never arrive late to risk punishment from Anna. He joined me in the living room, and looked around to check if Anna was around before asking me the same question I'd been asking myself.
"Why are we doing this?" he said, expecting my answer. I shrugged.
"Anna wants to." I replied.
"But, I don't get it. We can see spirits anyway, what do we need to see a medium for?" he asked.
"Manta. You're asking me questions I can't answer." I giggled. "Ask Anna!" I insisted. But he didn't seem too keen on the idea.
"Yoh-dono. I am confused." Said Amidamaru, appearing by my side. "Anna-dono did not really seem to want to talk about her reasons to visit this medium. She left you quickly when you began to ask questions."
"Actually, Amidamaru, she left too quickly before I even had a chance to start asking questions." I chuckled. Manta and Amidamaru both looked worried, but they looked at each other and smiled. Knowing nothing would worry me. "It'll all work out." I smiled.
When we arrived there, Anna gave the tickets to the man stood at the front door and we were pointed into the direction of a hall. When we got in there, over one hundred people were sat on the aisles, talking and fidgeting. Some seemed embarrassed for being there, and some were only there because someone else wanted to go and didn't want to go alone. But little did they all know, surrounding them were ghosts and spirits. Most looked like relatives of the people who were there. There were also small children, sat at the feet of women, possibly their parents. I smiled. Maybe this was a good idea after all.
We climbed the steps to reach our seats, squeezed past people on the same row as us, and sat down. Anna crossed her legs and folded her arms, pretending she didn't really want to be there. Something told me that she did want to be there, but I couldn't really put my finger on it. Manta sat on the other side of me, he looked around, astonished by the amount of people – and spirits – that had turned up for the spiritual reading show. Anna looked at the time.
"This is an outrage, it should've started five minutes ago." She grunted. I giggled, Manta nudged me. A thought hit me, maybe some of the people in the room were also shamans. I turned around to have a closer look at everyone. Most of them didn't acknowledge the ghosts being there, like a shaman would. A human cannot see spirits, which is why they had come to see the medium, who can see spirits. Then another thought hit me. This medium could be a shaman! But then… how would they be able to tell every single one of these people that there is a ghost in the room? How does this person choose which ones are more important? I didn't have enough time to ask Anna my questions, as the lights began to dim, and the light on the stage lit up. It was a simple plain stage, with nothing on it. The lights on the stage shone inwards, towards it. And a spotlight appeared in the center of the stage. Everyone became silent, and stared at the spot of light. I then began to feel the vibes in the room, this was quite exciting.
"Hello everyone." Came a louder voice, spoke through the two speakers on either side of the room. And then she appeared, a tall lady dressed in green and black made her way onto the stage. She took her position in the spotlight, and smiled out to the crowd of people. Her green shirt hung green sequins and jewels and her black jeans had dark green splashes from the ankles to the knees. She wore light green sneakers and had dyed the ends of her dark brown hair neon green too. Manta nudged me and giggled.
"She likes green a lot doesn't she?" he whispered, making me giggle too. Anna sneered at Manta, and stared at the woman.
"Hello." She said again, her calm voice echoing the room. Several mutters of 'Hello' came from the audience. She smiled again, and then continued. "My name is Emiri and I am the medium you have all come to see. I don't know what you were all expecting, but here I am." She took a few steps towards the front of the stage, having a closer look at the audience. The spot light following her. "Now I'm going to explain to you what exactly it is I do. I can get visions and sometimes even see the people who have crossed over to the afterlife. And those who look over you and might even want to say something to you, tell me what they want me to say to you. As a message from the next life, if you will. Calling it the dead is very un-artistic." She looked over the audience again. "They explain to me some things about themselves and about you to prove and give you the general idea of who they are."
"Obviously by saying this, she means so this isn't a big fake." Muttered Anna.
"You still think it is?" I muttered back.
"Yes." She hissed, but I wasn't so sure.
"There is a lot here today…" she said, looking at everyone from left to right. I wasn't sure if she meant the living, the spirits… or both… She suddenly pointed to a lady who was on the right of the hall, quite far from us and further up the aisles. As she did this, a spirit got onto the stage and stood next to Emiri. "You there. The young lady with the fair hair." A woman wearing a red coat pointed to herself. "Yes you." The woman froze. "There is a man stood with me who is wearing what seems to be an army suit. A green and black camouflaged outfit. Does that make sense?" The woman nodded, tears forming in her eyes. "Yes he is telling me that you are his, fiancé? Is that correct?" The woman nodded again. "He said that he is very proud of …" she trailed off. "John… Jonathon…"
"Jonathon." Muttered the lady, too quite for anyone to hear, but the Emiri seemed to.
"Jonathon. So this is your son yes?" asked Emiri.
"Yes." Replied the woman.
"He said that he is very proud of him and that he has beautiful eyes. 'My eyes' he is saying. Jonathon has his eyes." The woman she was talking to seemed thrilled as well as tearful. There was an elder lady sat next to her, supposedly her mother, who comforted her as she wept. "Ronald, I think he said his name is, is looking out for you and you no longer need to worry of his safety. He is very safe in heaven now. And will look after you, okay?" The lady nodded. "Okay." Repeated Emiri. Everyone began to clap as the Army Soldier got down from the stage and approached his fiancé and stayed with her. Manta and I were shocked and pleased by this performance.
"I never thought that shaman skills could be used in this way. This would make so many people happy!" chirped Manta.
"I know!" I replied clapping as hard as I could. "I'm glad we came here to watch!"
"We didn't come her to watch." Muttered Anna, not clapping.
"Then why are we here?" I asked as the applause in the hall descended.
"I wanted to see if she was a fake, remember?" she hissed. But still, I didn't quite believe her. Emiri shuffled around on her feet, and then began to fan her face with her hand.
"Gosh, it's very hot in here…" she said, laughing slightly. She then walked further away to the left of the stage further from us and looked nearer to the front of the audience. "Hiza? Is it?" she said to a woman sat closely in front of her. "And…Kiban?" she said to the man sat next to her. "You're brother and sister, yes?" the two nodded. Now, next to Emiri on the stage was a young girl in her early teenage years. She was stood watching Emiri talk to the two siblings. "There is a young girl here, with long reddish colored hair. Says you are her older brother and sister. Is this correct?" The two people shook their heads. Emiri quickly corrected herself. "Oh she is your older sister I see." This obviously would have been slightly confusing, since the girl on the stage was a lot younger than Hiza and Kiban. "She passed away while you both were young, is that correct?"
"Yes that's right." Replied Kiban. Hiza began to shed tears, which was very acceptable since this was such an overwhelming experience, even just to watch.
"She says even though you have grown up now, you are still her little brother and sister. And she always used to take care of you, yes?" asked Emiri.
"Yes." Replied Hiza, nodding her head. "She was a good big sister."
"She says that the pain she had in her back has gone now, does that make sense?" calmly asked Emiri.
"She was hit by a car when she was thirteen." Said Kiban. "Broke her spine…"
"She is a lot better now and says not to worry, and also to be careful while crossing the road. She is your guardian angel." Emiri finished there, and the applause erupted again as the teenager climbed down from the stage and joined her two, now much older, siblings.
"You still think this is a fake?" I asked Anna as I applauded like my life depended on it. She didn't say anything, just diverted her eyes from the stage and then back to me again. Manta was really enjoying himself.
"Thank you for inviting me. I don't think I'll ever forget something like this." He said to me with a smile.
But the audience began to stop applauding quickly, and gasped at the actions Emiri was suddenly making. She was covering her face with her arms, facing our direction.
"Alright!" she screamed, angrily. She removed her arms and her facial expression had changed from calm to annoyed. Manta and me looked at each other, confused. "Fine I won't ignore you anymore!" she shouted again.
Wait a second…
Was
she looking at me?
"You there with the headphones." She said
pointing directly at me. Every eye in the hall searched for someone
wearing headphones, which obviously was me. Over one hundred eyes
laid them selves on me. Watching someone was a lot more fun that
being watched.
"Me?" I muttered stupidly.
"Yes you." Emiri replied. I couldn't understand it. No one I knew was stood next to Emiri on the stage, or was there someone I knew apart from Manta and Anna in the room for that matter. Why was she suddenly speaking to me? I looked at Anna, but she just gazed at me. Was she expecting this to happen? "A hand to your chest is what he is telling me to tell you is this correct?" I froze. I stopped breathing. I didn't react. "Yoh?' Emiri said, my name correct.
"A… hand… to my chest…"I stammered.
"He now is gesturing a hand movement towards your chest, does this make sense?" she said. Manta began to shake. I swallowed.
"Yes…" is all I could say.
"He is smiling at you. But doesn't seem happy. Just a smile. Did he smile often?" she asked. I nodded. "He tried to get my attention with fire. He burned me. My face hurts now. Does this make sense as well?" she asked. I nodded again. "I don't know why he did that." She added. "He seems very desperate to let you know he is there." Anna was still gazing at me, my eyes drifted from Emiri to my hands that had suddenly clenched into fists on my lap. "He is stood behind you right now, with both of his hands on your shoulders." I quickly turned around, but all that was behind me was air, and a woman who was sat in the chair behind me. "He is saying that he will always be with you. Always be you. Always be inside of you."
It all began to get too much.
Maybe it was the thousands of eyes that were watching me…
Maybe it was Anna who was still staring at me…
Maybe it was Manta who was panicking beside me…
Maybe it was Emiri who was waiting for my reaction…
Or maybe…
Maybe it was Hao…who was standing right behind me…
And my reaction was this: I got out of my seat brushed past the people on our aisle, ran as fast I could all the way down the steps and burst out of the doors, slamming them behind me. I could still feel the vibes from the people in there, now they were all shocked and stunned about my reaction.
Anna wasn't too far behind, followed by Manta.
I had now made my way out onto the street and into the town. I didn't know which way to go, my head was spinning. Home was best.
"Which way is home?" I said, completely loosing myself. Everything seemed to dissolve. I don't cope when I loose myself. It's really frightening.
Those words began to echo in my head…
"Always be with you. Always be you. Always be inside of you."
I covered my ears as if I was hearing them.
"Stop!" I screamed, closing my eyes tightly.
"Always be with you. Always be you. Always be inside of you."
"No more!" I shouted. People walking down the road began to stop and stare at me. People watching at me began to get annoying. But also scary. I opened my eyes to everyone. Their faces seem to change shape, molding into different colours. I couldn't focus.
"Yoh! Yoh!" shouted Anna.
"Yoh-kun!" screamed Manta, both of them surrounding me.
"Go away!" I screamed.
"Always be with you."
"No!" I staggered out of control and lost my balance, my headphones falling from my head and landing on the ground in front of me. Anna began to tragically scream.
"Yoh! Get out of the way!" she screamed.
"Always be you." I fell to my knees and looked to my left. A light shone brightly in my eyes, and before I completely blacked out, and was hit by that car, I saw a familiar pair or dark eyes. A smile. A face. There he was… just smiling at me. He reached towards me and placed his hand on my shoulder, and grinned.
A louder scream…
Screeching of wheels…
People panicking…
"Yoh-kun!!"
"Always be inside of you…"
And then it all went…black.