Chapter 3 - Not A Good Day
"Hmmhmmhmmm~"
Kiriha Ruiko is walking in her neighborhood thinking 'What a good day this is!' while greeting every person that she meets.
Indeed, the day is so beautiful with clear blue skies free of gloomy clouds, the sun shining brightly casting it's warmth to the living beings below and the sweet smell of bread.
The sweet smell of bread is of course felt by Ruiko because she is currently in the bakery, smelling the aroma of those fluffy bread that are still fresh even though it's already in the afternoons.
She then proceeded to buy three cinnamon bread and the shop owner, Ms. Tarikawa was so kind to give her another piece of the bread just like she always does. After saying 'thank you' to her, she exited the bakery and resumes her stroll. While eating a piece of the cinnamon bread, her mind went back to what happened earlier in the day.
Ruiko' teacher was handing out their test results from the week before at that morning. To Ruiko's surprise, however, she manages to get full marks on that paper even beating her best friend, Subara Maki. She frowns when her Ruiko's other friend, Akazawa Ryuuko congratulated her along with the class. Having met because of their brothers, Ruiko knows how obsessed Maki is in being the top best student at school just like her brother. Ryuuko, on the other hand, is very lackadaisical and prefers doing peaceful activities like knitting, gardening and taking care of her many pet cats that she keeps in her house.
Unfortunately, Maki is a very competitive person who hates to lose and gets jealous easily so as a result, she didn't utter a single word to Ruiko until lunch break even when she tried to converse with her.
The three girls brought their lunches and ate in the school grounds. Ryuuko tells them about how his brother had to reject yet another girl that confessed to him. The girl, however, was very pissed and chased Shuuya all around the school while holding a small knife. Shuuya, being the most athletic person in the school manages to keep his distance but bumped into Ruiko's brother, Yuuta(who was half-asleep at that time) which caused them to fall down and the girl to near their distance. Just as the girl was right above them Sakaki, Maki's brother, came to their rescue(Shuuya's own words), tackling the girl and snatched the knife out of her hand. The girl was later apprehended by the teachers and Sakaki was treated as a hero by Shuuya and the other students who watched while Yuuta was being glared by everyone for the rest of the day.
After the story, Maki stood up and started boasting about how great her brother is and how Ruiko's brother was a klutz while laughing. Ruiko would say something if she's not being so embarrassed by her brother's sleeping habits. At least now she knows why he had a big bump on his head when he got home the other day.
Before heading back to their class, Ryuuko informed them of what she heard on the news that morning where there was an outbreak of violence by peoples in an area near Tokyo. According to what she heard, the cause of the outbreak is unknown and she advised us to be careful.
Noticing that lunch break was ending soon, the girls finished their lunch quickly and proceeded to their school building. During their walk, Ruiko noticed a hole in Maki's path. She tried to warn her about it but it seemed her jealous mode is still on and she covered her ears and ignored her causing her feet to trip on the hole and she fell face first onto the ground.
Ruiko and Ryuuko rushed to her side but Maki held back her tears and stood up without their help. She strode away hurriedly from them but unluckily tripped and fell down on her face again.
When Ruiko and Ryuuko rushed to her side again, Maki started to cry and apologized to Ruiko for not listening to her and ignoring her for the day. Ruiko just patted her head and said it's okay while Ryuuko helped her stand up again. The rest of the school then passes away uneventfully.
When she arrived home that afternoon, she observed that her mother doesn't smile like how she usually does. When she asked her, she said it was nothing to be worried about. Her mother seemed to brighten up a bit though when she shows her test paper.
When her brother returned home she was surprised that he had purchased a set of necklace that looked fit for couples. Of course, she didn't believe him one bit when he said he was coerced to buy them because he's always careful of what he spends. She would very much prefer if her brother can find a girlfriend so she can have another friend. That idea always seemed impossible though as her brother was never popular or likable in his life and his only friend is Sakaki and Shuuya.
After Yuuta's escape to his room, Ruiko decided to take a walk and maybe buy some bread from the bakery. One thing that she seemed to have in common with her brother is his 'devil-may-care' attitude for anything unnecessary or stupid as she brushed off her mother's warning to not go outside.
Ruiko now finished eating her cinnamon bread while sparing one for her mother, is walking back to her house as the night is approaching.
During her walk home, Ruiko notices how empty the streets are even if dusk is near. Not even a single car or bike was seen or heard. This seems to terrify Ruiko and she quickens her pace to reach home as fast as possible.
"..."
"What was that?" Ruiko quickly turned around when she heard a sound from behind her.
"..."
Ruiko heard the sound again, it was faint but she could definitely hear it. "Is there anyone there?" she asked the area in a cautious tone.
Hearing no answer, Ruiko was getting terrified and started to back away from the direction of the voice, hastily walking towards her home.
"..."
She heard the sound again and it was louder this time, indicating the source of the sound is nearer. Ruiko starts to run.
"..."
Ruiko could hear it again and now it was accompanied by the sound of footsteps, walking towards her.
Suddenly, Ruiko could hear the sound and the footsteps from all around her. She was greatly scared right now and ran as fast as her legs could. She arrived at an intersection and picked the right path, hoping to get away from whatever was following her.
Unfortunately, the sound seemed to come from her front too. Ruiko backed away and turned around hoping to keep as much distance from the thing that was making the sound, but what she sees made her let out a scream.
There, ten meters behind her was a being that resembled a human. The being, however, has its hairs dropped down covering the face, and its clothes were torn and battered with blood stains all over them. But what scared Ruiko the most were their mouths which had blood in them.
There were more coming from behind her and when she turned her head back to the front, she was met with the same being, only more of them. One of the beings approached her and grabbed her hands. She tried to shake it off but it was no use. More of the beings come closer to her.
"Help! Someone! Mom! Onii-chan! Help!" Ruiko screamed.
As the being brought its mouth closer to her, she pleaded on last time.
"Somebody, help."
"Gaap"
Inside the Kiriha family residence, Miss Kiriha is being very worried. Her daughter, Ruiko had gone out and still haven't made it home despite how late the time is.
Miss Kiriha had been in this state since morning when she heard her neighbors talking about those attacks committed by the peoples while she was hanging the laundry.
At first, she was skeptical and thought it was only false rumors but when she watched it in the news her opinion started to waver. She had tried to phone her husband but when he didn't reply it only served to worry her more. Even though her son, Yuuta had assured her that the situation would be under control, she couldn't shake the feeling of uneasiness. That's why when she had finished teasing Yuuta about the possibility of him having a girlfriend, she had locked the door and reminded Ruiko not to exit the house but she ignored her warning and left the house while she was busy preparing for dinner.
"knock"
Miss Kiriha heard a sound at the door. 'It must be Ruiko,' she thought. She rushed over to the front door, 'Gosh that girl, I'll make sure to lecture her about coming home so late.'
"Welcome back, Ruiko-," she didn't even get to finish because as she opened the door, what she saw was the image of Ruiko with her hair covering eyes and her clothes half-torn and stained with blood.
Miss Kiriha immediately grabbed her shoulder and asked her, "Ruiko! What happened? Who did this? Are you really hurt? Ruiko, answer me!" but Ruiko stayed quiet not answering her questions.
Instead, Ruiko lunged towards her mother with her mouth open. Luckily, Miss Kiriha managed to back away from her. It was then that she noticed the blood on Ruiko's mouth and the big wound on her left shoulder. Ruiko walked over to her slowly so Miss Kiriha retreated to the living room.
As Ruiko walked over to her mother, Miss Kiriha called out to her in the hopes that she will return to normal.
"Ruiko, stop. This is me, your mother," Ruiko continued walking towards her. "What had gone into you, Ruiko. What had happened to you!" Ruiko still ignored her scream.
As Ruiko's footsteps come closer, Miss Kiriha shed a single tear muttering "Sorry, Ruiko" and ran toward Ruiko, stabbing her stomach with a knife she had picked from the dining table earlier.
The being that was Kiriha Ruiko, however, was not affected and proceeded to bite Miss Kiriha.
Using her final breath, Miss Kiriha uttered a single word while crying.
"Yuuta"
