SplitxEnd
Split 9: Lacuna
"If a man can bridge the gap between life and death, if he can live on after he's dead, then maybe he was a great man."
-James Dean
I suppose you're wondering why I'm claustrophobic. It all started when I was around ten years old back in the elementary school JK and I used to go to. I was feeding the rabbits that day when I heard someone scream. I rushed toward the source and found a couple of bullies picking on JK. Thinking quickly, I threw a rock at one of them so JK could escape. I then tackled one head on and tried my best to make enough noise so someone could hear me. No one did.
Instead, I was dragged to the school warehouse and they trapped me inside there by leaning against the door. I tried my best to push my way out, but they were too heavy. So there I was, in the darkness, feeling so cramped because I had no idea what I was bumping into. I begged for the bullies to let me out, but they didn't budge. "It's what I deserve", was what they said. I could only scream for someone to save me as the bullies laughed and jeered at the torture they gave me. I didn't know how much time passed, but when someone finally opened the door to the warehouse, I was a sobbing, nervous wreck.
Once I calmed down, and my mother and father were there to take me home, I learned that JK actually went to the bullies and fought them. He got a black eye and a bloody nose from it, but he managed to get help from the teachers just as the bullies were about to toss him into the warehouse. JK told me that he felt bad for leaving me to fend off the jerks who tossed me into the warehouse and decided to make amends. I was just glad that he wasn't hurt from doing something so crazy.
My mind was so focused on JK's whereabouts that I didn't hear what Haruto and Goro Kisaragi were saying until I heard someone knock against the closet door. Knowing that was a signal for me to listen, I leaned against the door and took a deep breath to calm my nerves as I began to hear their explanation..
"I'm sorry about that," Haruto began. "I didn't mean to leave, but I had trouble finding the bathroom and..."
"No, no, that's fine," Goro explained. "My grandson would've loved to be friends with you, though. I bet the two of you would've been comparing motorcycles and racing until sunrise."
"About that...What exactly do you know about Gentaro's life prior to his parents' death?"
There was silence. It felt like it was closing in on me, just like the darkness was. Thinking quick, I brought out my cellphone to at least shine some light around me. If anything, this would give me a good chance to look at the photo of young Gentaro. Using the weak light, I took the photo of young Gentaro into my hands. I could see Gentaro's hair was the color of fallen snow and he still had such a sweet smile on his face that could melt even the coldest of hearts. What did his parents think when they found their son having white hair? Did they have white hair also? That was something I was going to have to investigate once Goro left.
Then there was the matter of the diary. After the mentioning of his hair turning black, there was no big change in Gentaro's life. There were the people who befriended, their birthdays, things he did with his friends, and the like. Either that, or Gentaro just didn't seem to notice the strangeness. So, knowing that it would be better to focus on something that didn't revolve around my claustrophobia, I began to quickly skim throughout five months worth of entries ranging from what Gentaro ate for dinner, his classes, the friends that he made, etc. While it was nice, it didn't exactly help me figure out what I needed to learn about Gentaro's connections to Ophiuchus.
Then, about halfway through the diary, I noticed a strange entry.
October 31st, 2002
Tonight was Halloween and something strange happened. While grandpa was getting my costume ready, I went to the mirror and freshened up. While I was washing my face, I thought I saw someone staring at me. It was an old woman in a white kimono and such kind eyes that looked similar to mine. She told me that she wanted to visit me and said I had lovely black hair. Everyone's been saying that about me recently. I wonder why.
When I told grandpa about the woman, he said that woman was my grandmother. She died when I was two and commented that I had eyes just like hers. Then, grandpa began to cry...
I was too focused on the diary in my hands, that I didn't notice the door to the closet opening and me falling onto my back. I looked up, and screamed at the person standing over me before they placed a hand over my mouth.
"It's all right," he whispered. "It's just me, Haruto."
"Don't scare me like that!" I whispered, pushing his hand away. "And why did you have to push me in the closet? Didn't you know I was claustrophobic?"
"We were infiltrating someone's room and I didn't have time to ask!" Haruto exclaimed. "I didn't hear you panic or scream, so I thought it was all right. I'm sorry about that."
"Be lucky I was focused on this diary to not notice my predicament. What did you find out about Gentaro's childhood?"
"He has the same story as almost any other normal child. He was sweet, innocent, full of love, etc. What makes him so special?"
"He could see ghosts," I answered, rolling over. "Listen," I kept quiet, praying that Goro Kisaragi wasn't listening. "Um, is there a way for me to get outside without anyone noticing I'm here stealing stuff?"
"Of course there is," Haruto answered, pointing to the window. "Jump."
"Eh?"
"Trust me. I'll save you."
I really didn't want to break my leg or arm during this investigation, but Haruto saved me from experimentation and certain death from said experimentation. Plus, he was able to enlarge his hand like that to give me a lift...what's to say he'd make a hand like some cushion to save me from certain death from falling?
So I nodded my head, stood up, went to the window, turned to Haruto who smiled back and me, took a deep breath...and I jumped. After what felt like time slowing down for me, I landed on Haruto's enlarged hand. Looking up, I saw Haruto waving at me with a regular-sized hand and giving me a thumb up.
I jumped down to the ground as Haruto's hand retracted. All I could do was wait until he came out and we could go back to the Antique Shop. Until then, I had some reading to do.
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November 30th, 2002
Today is my ninth birthday. It's my first birthday since my parents' funeral, my hair turning black and my visit with my grandmother.
Today is also the day that grandpa says we have to move. I didn't want to because I'd missed being with Yuki. I begged him to let me stay with her, but grandpa was firm...we had to move. I don't know why though...I mean, I haven't done anything weird in the past, have I? Unless you count that time where I kept seeing all those dead souls in school...or those hovering over people's shoulders...They were so lonely, and the only way not to be lonely is to be friends with someone. With all of these ghosts wanting to hang out with me, it's such a blast! At this rate, I think I'll be making a thousand friends in no time!
….Well, that was something I didn't expect.
Gentaro did make lots of friends, but he never stated if they were alive. From what this diary was telling me, he could see people from the other side due to being a descendant of Asclepius and having the white hair and the yatagrasu symbolism. What exactly was this supposed to mean? And why was Gentaro the one who had it? Was he like a specific numbered descendant or the child born every one hundred years with that specific power? There still wasn't enough evidence to tell me what was going on.
The door to Kisaragi Motors opened and Haruto stepped out. We shared a glance with each other before smiling.
"Did you find anything important?" he said.
"Lots of stuff," I answered, closing the diary. "You?"
"The old man was amazed on how well I took care of the Machine Winger and gave me some pointers to make it more efficient," he answered. "But he's still mum about Gentaro though. Say," he placed a hand on my helmeted head. "Wanna go play some soccer?"
"Really?" I asked. "Won't Koyomi and Wajima be worried that we're out this late at night? And...what about..."
"Those scientists won't hurt you as long as I'm around. Come on," Haruto grabbed onto my hand. "Let's get started."
We approached his motorcycle and then drove off to the nearest park. I hadn't been to the park for quite some time, and I had lots of memories of playing there with JK. But JK wasn't there. I tried calling him, but he wouldn't pick up. Did the DenLiner have bad connection? Maybe the battery was dead...either way, I missed him. Haruto would never replace the friendship and memories I had with JK. That, I knew.
Still, why did my heart feel so twisted when I thought about Haruto? He just rescued me—this is the second time we've met. It's like the space between us is so close yet so far. I'm going insane—that had to be the only reason why I felt so weird about being close to Haruto.
"Um, just a question, Haruto," I said. "Why do you want to play soccer? I mean...it's just so random."
"I used to be a soccer player," Haruto answered back. "Then...I gained that phantom."
"Oh..." Soccer was something close to his heart, just like writing and investigating was close to mine. It reminded us of happier times—times before bad things got in the way. Before "that incident", JK truly loved music and singing, but now his heart has closed around it. He doesn't hate it, but the memories associated with it have made him so bitter.
"Hey," said Haruto. "You got quiet."
"I'm thinking," I answered back.
"Thinking means you worry, and thus you get anxious and you start to panic. You need to loosen up. A little bit of exercise will keep your blood pumping and put some color on your cheeks."
There he goes, sweet talking me like that. Still, it was kind of nice. Taking a deep breath, I leaned my forehead against his back, and wrapped my arms around his stomach. Just for this little moment, I felt that we were so close.
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Connect, Please.
Once we were at the park, Haruto used his magic to create a small circle of runes and pulled out a soccer ball. There weren't a lot of people at the park, so it was safe for him to use it in front of me. I stayed quiet as Haruto kicked the ball to himself. I watched his feet bounce the ball back and forth, and he was so concentrated on making it to a hundred, or even a thousand, kicks before it fell. My concentration broke on the fiftieth kick when the ball went to me and I caught it.
"Now you have a go," he said. "Come on."
"Whose soccer ball is this?" I asked, inspecting it. "Isn't that stealing to use your magic in such a matter?"
"This is my soccer ball," Haruto answered. "So technically I'm stealing from myself. Now go on and try what I did."
I nodded my head and tried my best to replicate his moves. Let's just say I only was able to do two before it pathetically dropped onto the ground. Trying my hardest not to show how embarrassed I was, I placed my foot on it and tried to kick it back and forth, using the cup of my foot to keep it from flying everywhere. After kicking it three times, I was surprised when Haruto appeared and slid in front of me, pushing the ball away.
"Hey!" I exclaimed. "That's not fair!"
"Yes it is!" Haruto answered back. "Now come on! You wanna get it back, right? You have to catch me!"
"Come back here!" I said, chasing after him. Haruto laughed as he swerved to the right just as I was about an arm's reach toward him. Then, he kicked the ball toward the air and stood under it, lightly bumping it with his head before using his chest to bump it away just as my hands were about to grab onto it. Instead, alarmed by him using his chest to let the ball drop, I skidded to a stop and accidentally collided with him. Then, the two of us landed in the grass.
There was some silence as we both tried to understand what exactly happened back there. My hands were on his shoulders, and his were on mine, and we stared into each others eyes for a minute or two. I held my breath, trying to calm my rapidly rising heart beat.
Then...Haruto laughed and I followed suite. I rolled off of him and we continued to laugh at how ridiculous it was for the two of us to look at each other as if we were lovers...or maybe because it was just a way to make us feel better about ourselves and to forget about all of our current troubles. We acted like two best friends who had known each other for so long.
After we let out all of our laughter, Haruto helped me up and we began to play soccer again. For that little moment in time, soccer was our bonding activity. For that little moment in time, I wasn't worried about Gentaro planning to destroy the world, or JK being sent to his death, or even how I was so close to become a guinea pig. Instead, I focused on what was in front of me.
I focused on how Haruto and I were kicking the ball back and forth to ourselves. Right now, that was all that mattered.
