The Six Days Chapter 4
Misaka Mikoto had left the hospital leaving her little sister there. After seeing her off, Misaka Imouto reached under her Tokiwadai summer uniform and pulled out a small silver heart-shaped necklace. She inspected it, twisted it around in her fingers and grasped it in her palm. Worry and sadness filled her heart and mind. Her emotionless face cracked slightly, enough for one to tell that her mind was bothered by something. On the ground, a small black cat mewed at her and gently rubbed its cheek against her ankle. She reached down and picked up the small cat and headed back into the hospital.
From a window, in a high office, a frog faced doctor watched from a distance. A female assistant stood next to him with a clipboard in one hand. The frog faced doctor seemed to be rather interested with the scene below, much to the assistant's confusion.
"Is there anything interesting that you see down there?"
"Those girls…" He paused.
"What about them. They were part of that twisted project, right? We've been housing them ever since."
"Yes, but, they're progressing through the program quite fast right now. From my observations since yesterday, they have physically shown ten times the amount of emotional information in comparison to just last month."
"Well, that's great."
"Yes, it is. But why?"
"Maybe they're just getting used to the program now."
Heaven Canceler didn't seem to hear his assistant, and muttered, "Could he have anything to do with it…"
"Whose he?"
Heaven Canceller did not respond to his assistant and scratched the back of his old balding head; his grey hair rustled in between is fingers. He took a seat in his small black swivel chair and brought his hand to his lips. The assistant saw he was in deep thought and made a poor excuse to leave the room. Heaven Canceller tapped his finger on his face and went deeper into thought.
Sitting at the corner of his room Kamijou Touma rubbed his face in his hands. Even after having everything explained to him, he still had more questions than answers. Aside his boggled mind, he had just been told that there were corrupted souls hunting for a vulnerable body, like his. He looked down at the blue line attached to his chest as it floated through the air as if it were a piece of loose string being blown by a breeze.
Why… He thought. Why me…
The sun had finally set, blowing out its final breath of light until morning. Red and purple rays of light filled the sky until finally the moon became visible darkness enveloped everything else. However, the moon only gave a fraction of the light its counterpart did.
The cold night wind blew in from an open window and made one of the drapes fly forward as if it were alive. Touma shivered in his corner and tried to warm himself up by rubbing his arms. Then a thought came to him. Was he feeling cold because he wanted to feel cold? He pondered on the idea for a while, and then gave up since it was taking too much effort for him to figure it out. As the wind began to die down, the sound of the funneling breeze began to die down to a low hum. Then, under the soft sound of the dying wind, the sound of someone's voice could be heard. It was a slight, high pitched sound, like that of a child's. Touma's head shot up and he quickly grew paranoid. He stood up and looked around. He couldn't see anything abnormal, but he kept hearing the child's voice. Then it stopped, and he froze. He waited, until finally he heard it again, this time it was louder. Along with the voice, he also heard small footsteps accompanying the disembodied voice. As the voice grew louder, he noticed something else. The voice was singing, a soft melody of a children's song that was sung in most pre-schools. The steps began to get louder and louder, the voice getting closer and closer. Touma backed into the room as much as he could, until finally, he saw a small girl skipping past the doorway. She wore a small white dress and skipped rather quickly. Touma let out a huge sigh. It was only a girl. Then, an eerie thought hit him again. What is a girl doing skipping down the hallways of a hospital at night?
He debated whether to look out the door or not. Overcome by fear, he trembled in his place.
She's just a girl, there's no way she'd want to take my body. There's no freaking way she could be evil… No, what about all those horror movies, they always make children some spawn of the devil… HEEEGH, WHAT DO I DO?!
He finally decided to look out through the door and make a quick peek and then run back inside. He popped his head out through the door and before he could make out anything, he drew it back in. He threw his fists down, realizing that he did not get a clear picture at all because he was so scared. He recollected himself and tried to look out again. This time, he kept his head out. The little girl had stopped skipping and was now looking at the decorative paintings hung on the walls of the hallway. She hummed a soft tune and swung her arms playfully. The innocence of her behavior made Touma believe there was no way in hell that girl was demonic. She didn't even notice the other terrified spirit that was watching her. Touma, less shaken, decided to walk out from his room and confront her. He took a couple steps towards her, but she must have noticed him since her body language began to change. Instead of her once joyful swing, she kind of just froze in her place and seemed to be watching from the corner of her eye. Touma stopped in his tracks when he noticed the sudden change. She turned towards him and looked up at him.
"..." She was completely silent. Then she suddenly said, "Mommy says to stay away from strangers because they will try to take you away."
Touma remained frozen in his place. He had no idea what this girl was talking about. He took a couple of steps forward to get a better look at her. The small girl quickly raised her arms in front of her and threw out her palms, as if she was pushing something out of the way. Touma stopped again at the sudden movement.
"Stop! Don't come any closer. You're gonna try to take me, I know you will! STOP!"
Touma cautiously took several steps back and tried to show her he was not harmful. It seemed to be working, since she put her arms back down, but still watched him carefully. Then the little girl's eyes opened wide. She seemed to be staring at something near Touma's chest. He looked around to see what she was looking at, then she pointed at it.
"You have a blue line! All the people with a blue line are good." The little girl shouted. She seemed to be a lot friendlier in comparison to earlier.
He looked down at his chest and saw what she was pointing at. It was the spiritual string that kept him connected to his body. The little girl seemed to be interested in it.
"You have a blue line too! I used to have a blue line too, but someone took it and wouldn't give it back…"
Touma was intrigued by what the little girl was saying. Was she a lost spirit too, wondering the world alone by herself?
"After that man took it, momma stopped seeing me… I tried to go see momma, but she can't see me… Even when I call out to her." Small tears began to well up in the little girl's eyes.
Touma saw she was sad. Without a doubt, this girl was a lost soul, roaming the hospital all by herself. Touma walked up to her and kneeled down to her level and put his hand on her shoulder. For some reason, when he touched her, he suddenly felt her pain, as if her emotions were being shared with him. The little girl buried her eyes into her small hands and cried into them. Touma tried to make her feel better, and instinctively hugged her and patted her back lightly. The little girl must have stopped seeing Touma as a threat and hugged him back.
"Why's a little girl like you already in a form like this?" Touma said to himself. Then he noticed, he was able to speak.
The little girl continued to cry and he kept trying to comfort her. He knew already, that the only thing this girl needed was a friend.
"Hey," he said softly, "I could be your friend. Would that make you happy?"
The little girl looked up. Touma gave the happiest smile he could to her and patted her head. She thought about it for a while, and finally nodded her head slowly. The little girl wiped the last drops of tears from her eyes and looked up at Touma.
"Will you… stay by my side?"
"Sure."
The little girl smiled brightly.
"Ok, let's be friends, Onii-chan."
She grabbed his hand and pulled him. Touma got up and followed her down the hallway, the blue line trailed behind him as he walked.
Ok, short chapter, mainly because I am brain dead right now. I'll just start a new scene on the next chapter which makes the most sense to me right now. I'm still really overly self-conscious about the idea of the little girl though…
