Author's Note:

Hello and welcome again! I don't have much to say except that I hope you all enjoy!


Chapter 4

The Walk

I woke up on my bed, still with my last will in hand. The meeting with Adria… It felt like a blur to me. I know that I passed out, but I can't seem to remember...

What happened?

Then the pain kicked in. The sudden flooding of pain shot straight up my veins. My brain registered different kinds of pain throughout all the parts of my body. Each part of my body ached, just like it always did ever since the beginning.

I got up and checked my reflection on the mirror. The sight of my neck and how deep-red it's gotten… Tears went down my eyes like there was an endless waterfall of depression and sadness all over my face. I fell to my knees and sobbed. I remembered everything. The lab, the incident, the explosion. Everything was as clear as day.

I had to control myself, otherwise I'd puke all over the room. That god-forbidden place. It's like a renovated house. New paint, same old house. What was dad thinking sending me there? How could he?

I got up to my feet and slowly motioned myself to the shower. I took off my clothes and let some cold water flow through my body.

My body couldn't stand the cold. Almost immediately after the first drop of water touched my skin, I jerked out of the shower. I told myself that I had to go in, not only to take a bath, but to also ease the pain. For years, taking a bath after another encounter with Adria has always been difficult. There were times wherein I'd just skip a shower, but sooner or later I'd have to.

It's okay Reila, just let it flow. There's nothing that's going to hurt you. She's not here, she's in her little space.

I jumped right into the shower, forcing every part of me to get hit by the cold, freezing water. My hair. My chest. My arms and legs. Everything felt soothing, yet painful at the same time.

Then my neck met the water.

There was a sudden excruciating amount of pain going through my body and mind. The wounds on my neck never got to heal ever since the incident started, so it felt like exposing a newly fresh cut to a supply of alcohol. I slipped and fell while the cold water was continuously raining down on me.

It hurts to get up. It hurts to get back on ones feet after being knocked down by whatever fate has in stored for us. In the little pools that formed on the floor, I could almost see Adria's veiled face looking at me with her "eyes". She was laughing, seeing me weak and worthless like that.

How can I have the strength to keep moving on? Do I still have the strength to keep on living?

Darkness was enveloping my vision, I could neither see nor feel anything around me. Adria said that the only thing keeping me alive is as small as a butterfly? I doubt it. I'm weak, ill, and on the verge of collapsing. To live means to expect all kinds of pain in this world and actually tolerate it. Heh, I think I'm at my limit already. Maybe my time is almost here…

Big Sis? Reila?

"Huh?" I said half-consciously. The cold water has made me weak and I couldn't think clearly. But for a moment there, just for one moment, I thought I heard…

I took a deep breath and gathered enough energy to stand up. It wasn't easy, but I managed to get back to my feet, clearing the little pools of Adria's face. Take that Adria. I thought to myself as I cleaned my body. You didn't get me yet.

I carefully dried my whole body, especially my neck, and proceeded to check my full reflection. There I saw, my wonderful blonde hair flowing down my soft, smooth skin. Dad said that I looked prettier than my mother, but I can't really say for myself. How can I judge my own appearance if my neck's in the way?

Sure enough, my neck was the only thing that didn't "fit" well with the rest of my body. It was still red; dad said that it was possible to get it patched up but I believe that there's nothing anyone can do. Mercuria will always be back for me, so "patching up" my neck wouldn't be very effective.

Still, with the consideration of my neck, I really do look good. Face's all nice, waist's pretty okay, body's telling me to go easy on the ramen though. I just can't say for sure whether I'm absolutely gorgeous or just normal.

I sighed, but I just had to cheer up. Now's not the time to focus on appearance. I told myself quietly. I picked out a new set of clothes and dressed up for school. Speaking of which…

I checked my alarm clock while I was fixing my hair and noticed that the time was around five thirty in the morning. There's plenty of time to change and fix my stuff for school. I wandered through the room checking what's left of it after last night's struggle. There wasn't much of a mess except for my bed looking like… well, a mess. With my hair all done (which takes FOREVER), and my room looking all clean, it's time for me to make some breakfast!

I planned to dash through the second floor and go down stair and fix the groceries before anyone noticed that they were there. It's been five hours and the others would be so depressed if they started to rot or catch flies or something. That was the plan. Well, that was the plan before I ran straight into Akihiko.

"W-woah! Acck!" My body collided with his and, surprisingly, I managed to knock my senior down to the ground.

The tackle took him by surprise and he only mumbled a small "Oof!" before quickly getting back up to his feet. "Hey, where's the race? If you're training for something, it shouldn't be done in the dorm." He said as he offered me his hand.

I was about to reach his hand until I felt a small itch on my neck. I touched it and I felt my skin, all rough, and…

I FORGOT MY SCARF!

I swatted his hand away, got up and raced back to my room. Since I took him by surprise, I don't think he saw me well enough to recognize my neck. I got in, picked out a green scarf from my closet, wrapped it around my neck and calmed down. The wounds were still new so there was a little sting, but other than that, I was fine.

Now how do I act casual after that?

I just sighed and left the room. Akihiko was still there waiting for me, and when he got the chance to he asked, "did I do something wrong?"

I hesitated to reply, but he was my senior; I had to at least show some respect. "Well, you did come out of nowhere."

Akihiko raised an eyebrow. "So did you, but I didn't freak out and ran back to my room. What happened?"

I have a psychopathic friend who wants me to die.

My Persona always wants to strangle me to death

I have experienced many, many things that would scare the hell out of you.

"Um… I forgot to put my makeup on?" I bluffed.

Fortunately he took the bluff and replied, "you wear makeup? Huh, never knew. I just thought that you always looked like that."

I'm honestly not sure whether to thank God that he didn't believe me, or feel sorry for the poor guy, but at least I don't have to tell him the truth. "Yeah, all girls do. How else do you think we look this good?"

Akihiko shrugged. "I don't know anything that has to do with you, so I guess I'll just have to believe you. But anyway, I saw you last night while I was returning to the dorm. You were in a hurry; I could tell that much." He got all serious now and shook his head. "You went up to your room and forgot to put the groceries where they belong! Now, I don't know what you were up to, but at least have the decency to set your priorities straight."

Oh thank God the food's okay!

I bowed down in apology. "I'm sorry senpai." Akihiko isn't normally like this, but when he's all serious and everything, he's like an older brother of sorts.

"Hey, hey, I'm not angry at you or anything," he scratched his head with a little look of guilt on his face, "look, just be careful next time, okay?"

I nodded and went with him to the dining room. "Tell you what, I'll make you some breakfast," I offered. "I would've had to answer to Mitsuru if the groceries were left all alone there. You saved me from one heck of a sermon!" Sure enough, Akihiko accepted the offer. "Sure! As long as it has enough proteins for me to last the day!"

Proteins, proteins, proteins. Doesn't this guy eat anything else but proteins?

Akihiko just sat there on the dining table reading a newspaper while I was left in the kitchen preparing breakfast. He offered to help, but I insisted that I do everything alone. Who knows? Maybe I'm just paranoid that my scarf would just suddenly fall off and he'd be all panicking and stuff.

Well, there wasn't much I could come up with, but I made some waffles. Whole-grain waffles with sliced strawberries.

"Akihiko! Breakfast's ready!" I said. As those three words left my mouth, I wanted to hit myself with the frying pan while it was still hot. I smacked my face with my free hand instead and groaned. God, that sounded horrible.

With absolutely no idea, he asked, "did you say something?" Although he saw me pointing at the plates, he sniffed the air and the scent of waffles registered in his mind. One thing I like about him is that he can be clueless sometimes. Especially around women.

I took off my apron and sat next to him in the dining table. He looked very hungry and immediately munched his food away. There were like four waffles in his plate and two on mine, but he somehow managed to finish all of them before I started on my second one.

With a small burp, he thanked me for the meal. "That was a great breakfast! I wished I could cook as good as you." He was smiling, and I think it's because he underestimated my cooking ability.

I wiped some bits of waffles from my mouth and said, "If it weren't for me, you'd be eating some lame breakfast like instant noodles or something."

"If it weren't for me, you'd be dead in front of Mitsuru." He replied with a smile.

"Point taken. Now, can you pass me the maple syrup?"

He took the maple syrup, but instead of giving it to me, he just held on to it and wagged his finger. "Nope! This stuff's bad for your health! You're body's already weak to the temperature, and I'd hate to see you or anyone ending up in the hospital!"

I got pretty annoyed and let him hold onto the syrup bottle. I'd be in the hospital for multiple reasons, but I don't think it would be because of a cold.

He waited for me to finish eating and we both washed our plates in the sink. He then grabbed his coat and asked, "hey, wanna jog with me to school? It's be great way to exercise your body."

I checked my watch, not because I wanted to know what time it was, but I did so just to avoid his gaze. "Um senpai… I'm wearing a skirt."

That's when his smiling face turned into an awkward one. "R-right! Sorry about that! How about we walk instead?"

My gosh you're persistent.

I found out that it was five minutes before six thirty. Mitsuru's probably awake by now, and she'd probably want me to take blue boy to school again. I weighed out my options and decided to take the one which puts me far, far, away from wake-up duty.

"Fine. Just let me grab some things before we head out." As I walked up the stairs, I noticed that Akihiko was still in ear shot, so I asked him a small question, "what's the temperature today?"

"The paper said it would be around fifteen to twenty degrees Celsius." He answered back.

Well that's just perfect…

Going to school was fine at first, until I found out that the people were staring at me. Well, to be more accurate, the boys were staring at Akihiko for being with me, while the girls were giving me evil stares for being with Akihiko. Akihiko just casually walked to school like he was oblivious to his surroundings, while I was busy making sure that I didn't walk awkwardly.

Just keep calm and keep moving forward.

Just keep calm and keep moving forward.

Just keep calm and keep moving for- !

Well, I just made both Akihiko and myself public enemy number one.

I was too focused on moving forward that I wasn't focused on seeing what was in front of me. So it's basically me bumping into Akihiko for the second time of the day. Fortunately, I didn't knock myself down, and he didn't fall either. Unfortunately, we both stopped moving.

Picture this, two young, wonderful teens standing in the middle of the school yard with all eyes on them. The girl directly behind the boy, hands to her chest, but with her faced bumped onto the guy's back, and none of them moved an inch after that.

After a good one minute, which felt like an eternity, Akihiko shrugged and moved forward, once again, completely oblivious to what's happened.

With my face all burned up and my temperature rising, I just ran all the way to my classroom. I think I heard Akihiko say something like a "huh?" or a "what's wrong?", but I took no chances.

Day one started with rumours. Now, it'll be flaming arrows and death notes.

The entire day wasn't that long. It was just the same few hours of the same old stuff. What was different though were the death stares of the other girls in my class. Ever since class started, I focused my full attention to either the board or my table. I know for a fact that there were eyes staring at me because I just walked to school with the champion of the boxing team. The girls in school were head-over-heels for Akihiko, but they don't know what it's like to live with the guy. I mean sure, he's nice and all, but he can be clueless... a lot!

I swear, Junpei knew what happened because gossip travelled faster than the speed of light. Whether he knew it or not, it was good that he kept his mouth shut about it. I think Yukari knows about it too, but she just smiled and waved at me. As for Makoto… well, you'd need a bomb to get his attention away from his music.

When class ended, I got my things and bolted to the nearest exit. I heard some guys ask me on the way if they could walk me home, but I just ignored them and ran straight to the station. The farther I get away from school, the sooner I can forget what's happened today.

When I got back to the dorm, the first person I saw was my dad's friend. When I say "friend" what I meant to say is that he's a colleague of my dad when they both worked for Kirijo.

"Oh, hello there! Welcome back Reila! Is your father in good health as well?" That was the voice of Mr. Shuji Ikutski. Previous scientist of the Kirijo Group and our current supervisor.

"I haven't heard from him in a while." I replied, which is true. Last I heard, he's in a tropical island with his boss.

I just sat down on the opposite chair and twirled my baton to pass the time. It's just the second day of school, so not much homework was given. I can use this time to relax and recover from last night's meeting.

Just when I though I could relax any further, Yukari came in. She didn't look tired, but she definitely caught up to me. "Reila! I was looking for you! But you ran all the way back. Oh, hello Mr. Ikutski."

"Hm? Why were you looking for me?" I asked.

She sat down and tossed her bag across the couch. "Well I heard that you walked to school with Akihiko today, and I thought that you wouldn't mind walking home with me."

I stopped twirling my baton and fixed my scarf before I looked at Yukari. "One, whatever it is you heard, it never happened! Two, why all of a sudden?"

Yukari shrugged, "well, we're the only junior girls in the dorm, so it would be nice if we both got along together. Plus, I thought you'd already open up since you walked with…" She stopped talking probably because she knew that I was staring at her with an angry look.

Ikutski read the atmosphere and decided to stop the tension. "Now, now, let's not all get worked up around here. You both have had a long day at school, now's the time to…"

He didn't finish his sentence because the next person who came in that door was Makoto.

"Oh, he's back." Yukari noticed.

Ikutski's full attention was transferred to Makoto's presence. "So, this is our new guest…"

They both stood up and greeted Makoto. At first I wanted to stay with them, but when I heard Mr. Ikutski telling Makoto about his own name, I knew for a fact that he'd start telling lame jokes.

I stood up, got my stuff and went to the kitchen to prepare some dinner. Normally, they'd ask me to cook something up for them, but they'd be too shy and have something else instead. Bully for them. I thought. Nothing beats fried rice.

Once this is over, I just want to sleep.

After dinner, and after Mitsuru made sure that Makoto was already in bed, we all went up to the Command Room and spied on Makoto. I was against this, but I let it be. I can't change the mind of the Heiress. I didn't bother being with the controls, so I just sat back and played with my baton.

Soon, Ikutski came up to check on us. "Working hard? So, how's he doing?"

"He went to bed a little while ago. He's asleep now," Mitsuru replied. She faced back at the monitor and checked on Makoto. If he moved, we'd see him. If he sneezed, we'd hear him. Every place in this dorm has a camera, and everything can be seen right here in this room.

Observing Makoto was now a number one priority for Mitsuru. "Mr. Chairman, do you think he's…?"

Ikutski pushed up his glasses and crossed his arms. "Well, let's wait and see for now. The Dark Hour is approaching."

After he said that, the lights turned green and a familiar chill went down my spine. The Dark Hour has commenced, and Makoto didn't turn into a coffin.

All eyes were on him and the silence continued for a good few minutes. Ikutski's the one who spoke first saying, "Hmm… he's still sleeping. As you can see, he's retained his human form."

Yukari decided to question the Chairman. "So he must be…"

Mr. Ikutski only shrugged. "He's asleep, but he's definitely experiencing the Dark Hour. The only question that remains is whether or not he has the potential."

Unconsciously, I answered his question. "He does."

All heads turned to my direction, but I ignored them and kept on twirling my baton.

Mitsuru stepped closer to me and met my eyes. She spoke in a clear, but serious tone, "and how do you know?"

Thanks to my cursed gift, I knew that Makoto had the potential. He was the "blue hair" that I saw in my visions. I also know who's the "fallen girl", and I'm going to make sure that she'd stay "fallen" and not dead. As for the latter images, I had no clue whatsoever.

I shifted my eyes away from her and replied, "trust me, he's going to be the fourth member of SEES. He has the potential. He can summon a Persona. I know these things."

Whether they all believed me or not was not what I wanted to know; they can think that I'm crazy and all but I don't really care. Maybe I am? But all I want to know is regarding my last image in my vision. In my head, I saw Death. But how is that possible? How could I know what Death looked like? How did I know that Death would appear? Was it just a mere guess or…

Have I already seen Death?


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