Deep exhaling and inhaling followed Subaru's sudden awakening from an overly realistic nightmare.
What the hell is this? It doesn't even feel like a nightmare, Subaru thought to himself, his hand covering his face that was covered with a thin layer of sweat as he looked into nothing in particular.
He looked at his alarm clock by the bed, coincidentally in a few more minutes, he would have gotten up for school anyway, taken a shower, fixed himself up a sandwich or two and then gone outside and see if Sayori was around.
"SAYORI!"
He practically flew out of bed, leaving behind all reason and logic as he wanted to make sure that what he saw in the nightmare was just that – a nightmare. He did not waste time getting ready much, only putting on his shoes and a sweater to cover up his pyjamas.
Although he wanted to be as fast as possible, Subaru made sure he did not slam the door on his frenzied way out, no need to wake up his parents. He ran out into the street and turned towards his neighbouring house, the home of his longtime best friend – now girlfriend since yesterday, Sayori. Subaru was not a superstitious person and did not really believe in omens or visions, but he would not take any chances with Sayori.
Not with her.
He reached their gate and, to his luck, it was open. Subaru had a passing thought on whether Sayori's parents were klutzes like she was. He reached the entrance door and exhaled a very satisfied sigh as the door was also unlocked.
Please let this luck persist.
The lights were not on anywhere and the morning sun was only barely shining through the windows, none the less he began running up the stairs without searching for the switch, he knew the stairs and where her room was by heart.
As he ascended the stairs, he remembered his nightmare very intrinsically – he saw this very same day in his dream, how he went to school and then came back to visit her, only to find out that Sayori had hung herself. Even more so, he remembered her bloody hands which could only mean that she had struggled and that she died of asphyxiation instead of having her neck snapped.
But why the hell did my mind come up with that twisted stuff in the dream, he thought. Perhaps his dream was trying to shame him for not being able to notice the depression that Sayori had been suffering from since it was she who revealed it to him.
His heart rate had been getting progressively higher upon nearing his destination, and that was beside the sprinting, but upon hearing off-putting sounds of struggle when approaching her door his heart almost sank. For a brief moment, Subaru found the doorknob to be weighing a ton due to his fear of turning it. Due to his fear of seeing what was on the other side.
He remembered how bad he felt in the dream for walking off to school without even checking up on her.
Idiot.
That was one of the primary reasons he was here now. Guilt over what his dream-self neglected to do.
The sound of a feminine gasp followed by "S-Subaru," made him come to his senses and roused him into action. He turned the doorknob and made a long step into her dark room, all in one swift albeit trembling motion.
A lump had already been forming in his throat, he only managed a "Sayo-" when his voice cracked, not letting him finish her name. He sucked back in his snot and searched for the light switch, painfully aware that the room was completely quiet now.
He found it and steeled himself. Wasting no time, he flipped the switch. What he saw was not what he expected.
Sayori was not hanging lifelessly. She was in her bed. Red-faced and completely naked, both of her arms covering her privates and chest.
Subaru could not help but stare. Not because he was perverted but because he had not yet registered the total difference in what he feared to see and what he got. But the mere fact that she was not dead let him calm down and helped in quickly dissipating the adrenaline that had been pumping through him.
"Um…I…" he was at a loss for words when it finally did dawn on him as to what he had walked into. Sayori all of a sudden became more self-conscious of herself as well, quickly covering herself with her bed sheet that previously was at the opposite end of the bed. Subaru could not help wonder if what he saw was a small puddle underneath her before she covered herself up completely along with it.
"Subaru…I…"
"Sayori, I'm sorry for…um…I'll explain later. We'll…we''ll walk to school together...right?"
Sayori had problems looking into his eyes, but she nodded meekly, her cheeks still red.
With that, Subaru awkwardly stepped out of the room, closing the door behind himself.
This is what happens when you give in to superstition.