Chapter 9: Escalation
It didn't take him long to make it home and greet his mother warmly.
"I'm home!" Dan called out as he kicked off his shoes and shot up the stairs to his room to finish the last bit of homework he had.
Fifteen minutes later he was back down the stairs watching the news. Miyoko came out from the kitchen to watch it with him.
"So how was your day?" Miyoko questioned the brunette holding a motherly smile on her face as she looked at him.
Dan pulled his gaze from the TV and answered his mother, "Good, I'm not the newbie student anymore."
"Oh? Who is now?" Miyoko asked.
"Another girl with blue hair and her name is Runo Misaki." The brunette stated plainly as he returned to the news for the commercial break was over.
'Runo Misaki? Runo, that name sounds so familiar….' Miyoko thought to herself with a little fear rising to her chest.
Her mind went back to when Dan was younger and she was trying to think through a list of old friends he had to see if the name popped up, but alas she would never figure it out. Her thoughts were interrupted by a special new bulletin.
"This is just in, but apparently in Vestroia City there was a laboratory explosion from the university of Vestroia City. So far all we know is that the explosion was caused by an experiment gone wrong. Sadly there were many casualties, but also a state of emergency has been declared as such due to strange spores leaking out. Person who come into contact with the spores are to immediately report to the nearest hospital for the side effects could be deadly. Not much more is known except we are asking all civilians in Vestroia City as well as the surrounding villages and towns it is highly recommended to wear some sort of face covering until a bio net can be properly placed." The anchorman announced.
"Well that's not good." Said a voice making Miyoko and Dan jump in their seats.
"DAD! You scared me!" Dan proclaimed as he clutched his chest to emphasize his point.
Shinjiro chuckled dryly and patted the brunette's head before giving Miyoko a quick peck on the forehead.
"Sorry." He said before going upstairs to change his clothes.
Now the anchorman was listing of all the side effects of coming into contact with the spores.
"So far these are the known side effects of accidently breathing in these spores. Difficulty breathing, severe dizziness, severe hyperventilation, most of which could be confused with normal respiratory illness symptoms, but do not think lightly and go to the nearest hospital, non-respiratory side effects include, skin damage or morphing of limbs. Some even reported the loss of limbs, but studies are being held now that the health department has obtained a sample." The news anchor went on, "For now I will list cities in potential danger of these spores…."
Dan got up and went to the kitchen for a drink of water wondering if he had anything to worry about since Vexos Village was so far from Vestroia city. He looked out the window noticing the setting sun and for some reason he got a sense of Déjà vu, but immediately ignored it.
For the next several weeks Dan and his friends had started out wearing scarves or bandanas to cover up their mouths and noses, but recently the government had started giving away surgical masks that seemed to work better, but it wasn't still stopping the epidemic. Dan had completely forgotten about the new girl and was focused on his spring midterms as well as figuring out which sport he would join since soon they would be having callouts. Runo Misaki didn't fade into the background of his life, but she wasn't most prominent. However one day she did manage to find him alone up on the roof.
He was gazing out at the horizon facing towards Vestroia City. He was watching the clouds circulating in the distance and felt the wind blowing through his hair as it did so.
"Um, excuse me." A small voice said from behind the brunette making him turn to face the owner of the voice.
"Oh, hi Runo." Dan greeted the blunette before him with a smile hidden behind his red scarf since he had forgotten his surgical mask at home.
"Hi, Dan," Runo began shyly, "I was wondering if I could ask you something?"
"Hm? What is it?" Dan asked puzzled slightly.
Runo looked downcast and then back to face his eyes with new courage, "I was wondering if you remember me at all?"
"Huh?" Dan murmured.
"You know I'm pretty sure you used to live in Wardington, but you moved away one day." Runo said even though it sounded like speculation he felt she was so sure it was true, "Don't you remember the blue haired girl you and your brother would play with at the park and you saved me from those bullies once."
Dan tried to remember, but it was all foggy plus he didn't have a brother, he was an only child.
"Runo I think you are mistaken, I'm an only child. I don't have any brothers or sisters." Dan stated.
She looked hurt and sadden, but kept going, "You seriously don't remember at all? What happened to you and what do you mean you don't have an older brother. Wait a minute, that night you and I were supposed to meet under the slide at the park, but you never came and I heard there was a car accident that night weeks later, but I found out that you had moved away and apparently someone died in the accident."
"I'm not from Wardington, I'm from Bay View." Dan said plainly as he was starting to get seriously aggravated.
"No it's you! It's gotta be you!" Runo was now shouting desperately at the brunette, "Don't you remember you promised we would be friends forever and together forever."
Dan was backing up slight frightened by her revelations for he felt it was true, but he couldn't remember and his head was starting to hurt from the thoughts and memories he was trying to dig through. He didn't see where he was backing up to for the roof was split level and he was on the higher ground and the lower part was at least five feet down and it took a ladder to get higher.
"Dan!" Runo cried as his foot slipped and he began to fall.
She tried to grab him, but missed his arm completely. He felt as if the world had slowed down and time was passing by slowly for a moment as he fell. He was falling and couldn't stop himself or catch himself too. He tried flipping around like a cat scrambling to land on its feet, but it was for naught and also as he was falling his scarf came undone and fluttered away and then his eyes caught something small floating towards his face and then he took a breath. Regretting the action immediate as he realized what it was he just swallowed.
Dun dun dun~
