IV
[1st]
I woke up to a screeching bleep coming from my phone. My body flopped over to where I heard the sound coming from, my hand soon reaching over to where I saw it.
"Hello?" I blinked rapidly to try and clear whatever junk was in my eye as well as just waking myself up.
"Eh?" I heard Hisashi's voice come from the phone, confused for some reason. By now I had been in the same dojo as Hisashi for about a month and a half and had become friends with him and his group of friends, we'd exchanged contact info and hung out a few times, that being said I still didn't know why he'd call now.
"Oh, Hisashi, what can I do you for?" My voice came out deeper and rougher than usual, sloppier too. Baby steps.
I heard Hisashi mutter something I didn't understand and start talking to me.
Shoot, I forgot.
I stood up and rubbed my eyes while stretching before suddenly stomping my foot, sending some pain through my system and waking myself up.
"Say again?" I said, feeling more alert. I looked down to the floor and noticed some cracks and a slight indentation where I'd brought my foot down. Bollocks. Underestimated my strength.
"What language was that?" He asked.
"English," I replied simply, I thought he'd known I could speak it, but I guess not.
"Cool, oh! I was calling to ask if you wanted to hang out today." What? I checked the date on my phone to be sure I hadn't slept through the whole of Christmas, the 25th, as I thought. I thought he would have someone to be with, like family or Takashi. Guess that was something we had in common, though I was gonna make sure. More than that I was surprised another person considered being with me at this time, were all non-douches just super nice in this world or what?
"Sure, what'd you have in mind?" By now I'd put my hoodie on and headed over to the kitchen to start getting something to ward off the cold.
"I was thinking about bringing some snacks, games, maybe a couple of movies and just doing whatever." He paused, possibly waiting for suggestions, when none came he continued on. "Other than that, I've called Hirano and Morita to see if they're up for it." Kohta and Morita too? I suppose Kohta's parents were out doing their thing and I didn't really know anything about Morita's.
"Well, what about you? Are your parents busy or something?" I'd gone over to his house once and hadn't seen or asked about his parents. Come to think about it, neither the manga nor the anime gave any details about what his parents did, or even if he had other family.
"Yeah, they're off working, and I remembered that you mentioned living here alone so I thought it'd be cool to ask you too."
I guess that wouldn't be too bad. The thing with the Kouno's yesterday had gone well and I actually knew these guys, even if only somewhat. "So when and where's the meetup?" Morita lived at the dorms and my place was most definitely too small, especially with the increase in stuff I was getting to survive, which would be weird to explain.
"It's between Hirano's and your place, my sister is doing her own thing at our place and I was kicked out, that's the main reason I'm calling really." Oh, that sucked, kind of a dick move too.
"My place is too small for that kind of thing, I've got a two-person apartment," And even that wasn't really true, considering all the stuff I had and was still planning on getting but he didn't really need to know that.
"Guess I'll ask Hirano then," I heard a deep breath come from the other end. Since his sister kicked him out he was probably out in the cold, wasn't he? Unless he'd found somewhere that wouldn't mind someone lounging about. "I'll send the details in a bit. Later" The phone cut off.
Now what?
A ding came about 20 minutes later as I was watching some game show. I held off on looking at my phone for a bit, butt clenched as I watched the current contestant try and keep a top from entering his butt as he laid on the floor, why did they do this to themselves? He failed and a second ding came from my phone as he shot up and hopped about.
Here you go
2009/12/25 11:27
Hirano said yes to his house, so now we're in business.
Meet up time is 12:30-ish, bring food and drink if you
can though it's not required. Just got confirmation
from Morita too, so expect him there. I'm gonna send
the location in a sec.
Hirano's Place
2009/12/25 11:29
261-8703
Chiba, Tokonosu, Mikagechou
It's the house with the big gate, Hirano said as long
as you were in the area you'd know it when you see it.
PS: About the English thing, could you help me with my
English then?
PPS: I'm bringing along some work in case you say yes.
I sent a maybe to Hisashi, looked up the location and saw it was about 20 kilometers away, shouldn't take me too long to get there then, I went farther than that on my runs, should only take around an hour, though I guess I could take a bus partway. Wow. Rolling that sentence around in my mind made me realize just how different I was now, physically at least. It would've taken me around 40 minutes to get there on bike before, and I would've felt like collapsing afterwards, the fact that I was probably running the journey - I didn't really wanna spend money on a bike and if a place was too far to walk to I could just take the bus- but that I was brushing off the time and effort was insane.
Disregarding this revelation, I already knew what route I needed to take to get to the bus that would get me closest. That would leave about 4 kilometers left. Shweet. I checked the time again, 11:32. Still had some time to just do whatever. The show I was watching was still going so I just shrugged and continued watching, considering the whole day a cheat day of sorts wouldn't be too bad.
Jaysus, Hisashi wasn't kidding when he said I'd know it when I saw it. When I got to the area I'd looked around for a gate and was confused when I spotted a house at least 3 times as big as the others, though not nearly as large as Takagi's had been.
Walking up to the plate that had the family name, which was engraved on a fancy plate, if I may add, proved this was indeed Kohta's house. Guess having family in a bunch of fancy jobs helped you financially, who knew.
I pushed the buzzer and waited.
"Hello?" A smooth, elderly voice said, was that a butler? That'd make sense with the size of the place.
"Uh, my name is Vega Thomas, I'm here for Kohta." I stood there in silence for a few seconds before the doors opened with another buzz. Well, okay then.
I walked forward for a bit before reaching the doors, reaching to knock only to be interrupted by the door swinging open.
"Vega-san!" Kohta looked both happy and nervous, I waved a hand and stepped inside, taking off my shoes, putting them and the goods I'd brought aside. Kohta turned around and went to a couch near a TV in what I assumed was the living room. "You're the first to get here." He fidgeted in his seat, which was very comfy, I might add, seemingly waiting for some kind of reaction about the house. I will be the first to say my face hasn't ever really been expressive unless I force it to be and the initial shock had already worn off so he was out of luck there.
"Really?" I was honestly surprised about that before I realized that unless they had cars they were either gonna bike here or walk from the bus like I had, which was gonna take a while either way.
"Mm," Kohta made a noise of confirmation and nodded his head, relaxing a bit when he realized I wasn't gonna make a big deal out of his house. I relaxed into the couch, this was comfier than anything I'd sat on since sometime before being thrown into another universe. I could just lay down and sleep right now, if only this thing was mine.
A few minutes passed in silence with me trying to fuse with the couch and Kohta just sitting there, presumably staring at the door. God this thing was soft.
The outer buzzer rang and Kohta opened the doors, waiting for a few seconds for whoever had just arrived to get to the door. He opened it at the first knock and almost got smacked in the face by Hisashi, who held himself back at the last second, Morita was behind Hisashi, bouncing in place. Kohta waved them in and Morita rushed over, taking a knee as he arrived at Kohta
"We have arrived my lord, permission to hold the royal hand?" Kohta looked shocked, understandably not expecting this. Hisashi raised a brow and walked in as well, taking his shoes off.
"I thought you said you were going with the shogun bit?" His face was flat, but you could practically hear the smirk as he said that.
"This place doesn't really look very Japanese though, so I thought this would be better," Morita said, rising and apparently not noticing Kohta's still surprised expression. He turned to Kohta and finally noticed, "what, too much?" Kohta relaxed upon being addressed and looked kind of sheepish.
"No, Morita-san, I just wasn't expecting that." He fidgeted in place a bit as he said that.
"Hey, what's with the -san, man? We're buds, just call me Morita!" He exclaimed with a wide grin, walking up and hitting Kohta on the back, he flinched a bit though Morita didn't see it, again. Hisashi apparently remembered how we'd met him though and necked him. "Ah!" Morita clutched at his neck and retreated.
Hisashi directed his attention to the table where I'd put my stuff and turned to me "so all the stuff goes here then?" Kohta nodded and Hisashi put his stuff on the table.
"Is that what took you guys so long to get here?" I asked, not really knowing what else it could be.
"No, this guy over here," he waved his head to Morita, "got the bus stop wrong and I had to get him, we're just lucky there was another one within 20 minutes." Morita, for his part, didn't really seem to care that he almost made them late and just shrugged as he put his hands in his pockets.
"So we doing this thing here or is there some super cool room for parties?" Morita grinned and rocked on his heels. Kohta just started walking while waving us over. We stopped in a spacious room with a dozen chairs, a table and a large TV. I reached the table and saw some gun magazines, Kohta froze for a second before remembering that it was us here and not some randos from school.
"Is that a Barrett 98B?" I'd spent some time looking at guns when I first got here, thinking about the success with which Kohta had used it and how they'd saved the group's skin often and I'd even had a bit of coaching before leaving home since my friend had been a gun nut and decided to teach me a few things. I'd decided against it in the end as I'd remembered what Kohta had said about even when silenced they made noise, not to mention the prices of some of them, instead deciding on using a bow and arrow, I'd even looked up ways to make my own arrows, though I wasn't all that good yet, with either shooting or making them. Nonetheless I still remembered some of the things I'd found.
Kohta's eyes lit up, a smile splitting his face as he started to get heated up, rushing over to me and getting in my face. Forgot who I was talking to. "Yes! You're into guns too?! What's your favorite ammo type? Is there a specific brand you're into? Have you had training? Doyoupreferhuntingortactical?" He got closer and spoke faster with each question and out of the corner of my eye I could see Hisashi and Morita's faces of surprise at just how quickly and to what degree his demeanor had changed. These rapid-fire questions reminded me of Sachiko, though the topic was definitely a lot more... manly, I guess? Brutal, perhaps.
"Whoa, Hirano-san, calm down," Hisashi stepped in and put a hand on Kohta, who suddenly stopped and stepped back, shuffling awkwardly.
"Ah, sorry Vega-san," He gulped, looking very tense and worried, "I just wasn't used to anyone else knowing anything."
"Hey, it's alright, I gotcha. I don't really know much but I think my favorite ammo type would be .50 BMG, there's just something satisfying about it, but I can't put my finger on it." I tried to draw on the memories of the things I'd looked up, "I haven't really had any formal training like you or a favorite brand, but I am kinda interested in them." I started to flip through the magazine, skimming through the pages. I didn't understand what some of it said but I was sure Kohta would explain if asked, though I might need him to explain the explanation if he started throwing jargon at me. "It'd be cool to talk to you about them later though." He looked even happier then when I'd first brought it up, probably because someone actually wanted to talk about it even after he'd started to rush them with information. He just nodded vigorously.
"So, what are we gonna watch?" I asked, turning the conversation to other matters.
Hisashi reached into his bag and brought out 3 movies. Dawn of the Dead, Wild Zero and Highschool of the Dead. I see you, ROB, not subtle at all. Also, suck dick.
Morita adopted a look of confusion, "Zombie movies? It's Christmas, dude, what gives?"
Hisashi shrugged, "I bought these last month, they were on clearance and I thought they might make for a good laugh or something, never got around to watching them."
"So you thought today would be a good time to watch them?" Morita looked even more confused, his face scrunching up.
"That sounds alright to me," Kohta said, looking Wild Zero over.
I shrugged, "yeah, that'd be fine," We looked to Morita who seemed to come to a decision.
"Let me see that one," he pointed to Highschool of the Dead and started to look it over. "Nice!" He pumped his fist and brought the box to my face, "see that? Aya Ueto, probably somewhere near the top of the Morita's Report for babes. Her in a uniform? That's reason enough to watch this, where do we put this in?" He started looking around for somewhere to put the DVD in. Kohta took the disc and looked at it for second.
"I recognize this, it was supposed to get a second part but never did due to flopping financially and an important staff member's death. Huh, fancy that. Kohta walked to the DVD player and pushed a button before putting it in.
Morita rubbed his hands and opened Hishashi's bag, "okay, let's see what we have here, some sours, chips, kitka- what the? Is this homework?" He dropped the paper he'd started to pull out and dropped the bag "heresy! Who dares soil a party with school work?" He turned his head, switching between the three of us.
Hisashi grabbed the bag and walked to me, "I forgot I was gonna ask you for help," I didn't know he was being serious. "I'm pretty good in most subjects, but English just doesn't click with me," at the sound of that Morita turned his sights directly on me.
"You speak English?" I nodded, and Morita dropped to his knees, clutching the air. "I could've- I- oh, the horror!" He cried to the heavens, before suddenly deflating.
"Weren't you the one that was just calling it heresy?" Kohta asked, remote in his hand and sitting on one of the chairs, waiting for things to get started. Hisashi snorted at that comment, while Morita just recoiled at being called out.
"Well-"
"Not when it benefits you right?" Hisashi interrupted, causing Morita to quickly draw back again.
"Look guys, the movie's starting!" He changed subjects and zoomed to a different chair. Evidently Kohta had started the movie, though whether it was to save Morita or not was unknown. Hisashi decided to let it go and chose a seat as well. I sat next to him.
"Can I see the paper?" I asked, holding my hand out. Hisashi handed it over and I started to observe it. None of the questions were multiple choice, most of them were free answer, with a few being fill in the blank. Thinking about it now, I'd had trouble teaching my sister before, and I'd known what I was talking about through and through then. Now, I didn't really know how to help him when I could only really understand one language in the first place.
"Sorry, dude, I don't think I can help, I'm not all that good at teaching," I meant it too, maybe I could try to learn or something? Regardless, I saw my words didn't really phase him.
"It's alright, maybe we could try later," he dropped it back into the bag and pulled out a drink, one of those sodas with the marbles. He popped the marble in and waited for a sec before taking a sip.
I turned to the movie and decided to watch. It was odd, the movie was kind of hammy and hearing all that from 'English' actors wasn't something I was used to. There were bad movies and the like that had that kind of thing back in America, but I hadn't really seen any of them except for the first Power Rangers movie, and besides that, it was a different kind of ham then what was here. Nonetheless, it was weird seeing what was basically this universe's Highschool of the Dead. The protagonist was a second year named Mamoru Igou who had a childhood girlfriend named Rin Sakamoto (played by Aya Ueto, as Morita had excitedly pointed out) that had gotten with him after dumping their other childhood friend Takashi Suwabe. Takashi is sulking about their break up and all that jazz when he sees some of the faculty being chomped and decides to tell his friends about it. On their way to the rooftop Takashi gets bitten because he decided hand to hand combat was the best way to deal with zombies that were physically superior to you in every way except speed.
Other than the switched places, so far the only difference in the stories was that the girls didn't look like they'd stuffed water balloons down their shirts, though there was still plenty of fanservice and all that, which Morita was just eating up.
"Hah! Deserved to be eaten, what kinda dumbass fights zombies with his hands?" Morita mocked, looking at the actor dying and begging his friend to kill him before he turned.
"That definitely wasn't a smart thing to do," Kohta said, though without the derision Morita had given.
Hisashi nodded and watched as Mamoru smashed his friend's head in, with Rin screaming and crying on the corpse. Hey, at least he wouldn't get up again. "What kind of weapon would you guys use?" I asked, the one thing I could thank ROB for was that watching this movie could at least help me throw around scenarios.
"I'd like something cool, like a shotgun, or maybe a chainsaw!" Morita mimicked revving up a chainsaw and hacking zombies to pieces.
"Maybe a Springfield M1-A1," Kohta said, going off into Wonderland at the thought of having his hands on it.
Hisashi made a humming sound, pondering what he would use. "Maybe a dagger? Or some blunt weapon? I'm not sure, what about you?"
I waited for a few seconds before saying anything, "A cestus or bow for me," I'd settled on those as they required little maintenance but would undoubtedly be effective, and quiet.
After the round of answers we looked back to the movie. Seeing that Mamoru and Rin were just starting to head back down. I wonder how much of the story this thing would cover.
They'd cut Shido out thankfully, though thinking about him made me wonder how I was going to stop him, he'd been the reason for a lot of deaths and I would rather gargle nails then let him mess things up for everyone. I'd have to make a note to think about that later, because right now was relaxation time, even if seeing a zombie movie was in poor taste.
Instead they'd just made it so the bus Ayaka (Shizuka, back breakers and everything) had been driving was old and broke down, forcing them all to get out and go on foot. Them going as a group cut out the part with the guy groping Rei/Rin and some other stuff, though they did have the part with the motorcycle and Ayaka and Mamoru going ahead to find her friend's house.
After arriving they found the guns, though the Kohta expy wasn't as gun crazy as him, followed by rescuing Alice and then the movie ended. Wow, that was before the anime ended, too bad, I wanted to see some of the stuff past that.
We all stretched as the credits rolled and started to crumple up some of the trash.
"That was pretty good," Morita said, smiling and nodding his head as if he'd said something profound.
"I'm sure that has nothing to do with all the shots of exposed girls," Hisashi said, throwing what he'd gathered into a trash can. Morita sputtered at the accusation.
"Pretty sure I stepped in some of his drool," I said, wiping my foot with some of the trash for show.
"I don't think the maids will really like that, you should probably see a doctor about producing that many fluids" Kohta joined in, saying his piece with a straight face. Morita's continuous attempts to defend himself were ignored as everyone laughed.
"Hey, I saw you eyeing them too Hirano so don't act innoce- did you say maids?" Morita suddenly brushed off our jabs as he focused on Kohta's statement.
He blinked at Morita's sudden spike in interest. "Yes." Morita perked up even more at that.
"Purely for curiosity's sake, do you have any hot ones?" His excitement could be felt.
"No," and then it came crashing down. Morita sagged and let out a sigh.
"Come on man, you have maids, but none of them look good? Do they at least call you master?" Kohta shook his head and Morita deflated even more. "What's the point of having them then?"
"Cleaning, possibly. Just a wild guess," Hisashi dryly said, smirking slightly at his friend's antics.
"Housework in general, maybe," I added, continuing the cycle, now all we needed was for Kohta to say something and the cycle would be complete.
"Maybe you should go to the doctor for more than just the fluids if you are asking what the point of a maid is," There it is! Nice one Kohta, a return to what he'd been trying to escape from!
Morita raised his hands in surrender and started to back away. "Take it easy there guys, my fragile ego can only take so much." We all laughed again, making to leave the room.
"No, but seriously, please get a hot maid."
The shindig had gone in much the same fashion for the next few hours, we'd even met his butler, the smooth voiced man from before, whose name was Akifumi, before Hisashi and I decided to head home. Hisashi because his parents were expecting him home by tomorrow and he didn't want to intrude, and me because I was planning on doing things tomorrow. Morita had stayed behind as he didn't have any obligations or preparations to take care of.
I got to my place around 11:56, turning my key in the door I stepped inside and saw just how much of a contrast it was to the houses I'd gone to the past few days. Dark and lonely, filled with reminders of the inevitable nightmare to come.
"Home sweet home."
[3rd] {Hisashi}
Hisashi stepped into his house and took off his shoes, hanging his coat up and walking inside, he didn't hear any voices so his sister's friends were either gone or asleep. Both were fine with him as long as they didn't bother him. He walked into the living room and the lights suddenly flicked on.
"Merry Christmas!" His parents shouted, both waving their arms with smiles on their faces.
"I thought you weren't coming home until Sunday," He walked to his parents and gave them both hugs.
"We thought so too, but we finished early and decided to surprise you," His father explained. His grip on Hisashi was firm and he looked proudly at his son. "You're in your first year of high school and as such, closer to becoming a man, so I got you a gift to represent that, now go on! Open it!" Hisashi turned to the gifts on the table and made for the one his dad had pointed to. He tore off the wrapping and his face went pale as he saw what was on top.
Condoms.
His mother looked taken aback and smacked her husband "Hisao!" Her face was getting red, though not with embarrassment.
He laughed and waved off their expressions "Don't worry, Minami, that was a joke, look," He reached for the condoms and opened up the package, inside were a bunch of chocolates. He guffawed when he saw the new looks on their faces and put the container aside, "Now! Here's the real gift!" He pulled it out, his face becoming serious as he did. It was a knife. "This was given to me by my father when I was your age, he said it's a sign of a man's responsibility, to protect that which he loves, I don't expect you to start swinging at anyone that gives your mom the stink eye or anything, it's just a sign of my trust." He handed the knife to Hisashi who took it with wide eyes, he hadn't known about that.
His mother huffed as she went to get her gift. "Here, don't worry, I haven't stuck anything in there that would give us a scare like that," she gave her husband a pointed look. Hisashi opened the gift and looked inside. It was a photo of him, Takashi, and Rei, with a plaque of his achievements in Karate. "Thank you." He smiled at both of his parents before giving them both a hug.
He'd had fun at the party but he'd expected to just get home and deal with his sister's friends hitting on him or something. Instead, they were here, that alone would've been enough, but then they gave him these gifts with such importance to him.
He couldn't have asked for anything more.
{Kohta}
Kohta was happy Morita had stayed over, with his parents gone and no one but the helpers around, the place felt especially empty. His presence and bright nature helped a lot in that regard. "Hey Hirano! I think um, Aki, Akifumi was calling you! Said he was in the living room" He popped up in the doorway, evidently just finishing his bath by the wet hair and towel he was carrying.
"Coming," he stepped outside and headed over to the living room. As he got there he saw Akifumi standing in front of a large box. "What's going on?"
"A gift from your parent's sir," Akifumi stepped aside and presented it.
"Really?" He looked at the box and went brushed his hand against it, noticing there was a letter addressed to him.
We're sorry we couldn't make it, Kohta, our shows have been going on for a while and we wanted to wrap this up a while ago but there is good news.
We'll definitely be home by the 29th! And your grandparents will be joining! I know it's been a while since we've all been together, so I hope you're
looking forward to it! More than that however we have a second gift for you, hopefully it gets there before we do so you know we're coming.
That's it, see you soon kiddo.
Kohta looked at the box again and started to reach for it. He opened the box.
Oh. Oh wow.
He really hoped they would get here sooner so he could thank them for this.
{Saeko}
Since her father had come home Saeko hadn't gone for a night run once. Instead opting to spend time with her father, catching up on her school life and his experiences on his trip. They'd already made plans to go to the nearby shrine on the first and her spirits were high.
"Tell me daughter, has anything interesting happened while I was gone, outside school of course," Her father waited as she poured him a drink before bowing in thanks and taking a sip.
"Yes, father, during my runs I have found someone interesting."
"Oh?" Her father quirked an eyebrow and turned to face her directly "do tell."
"He joined me sometime in October on my runs, though not intentionally. At first I assumed him to bear ill will as it seemed too conveniently timed, then as time passed he continued to be there. Just recently he has managed to keep up with me for the whole of my run, despite falling behind in less than a minute when he first started." She paused to wait for her father's reaction, wishing for him to say something so she could reveal the second part.
"That is most certainly intriguing, from what I recall, no one has been able to match you since elementary school." His face left its seemingly permanent scowl (it was not his intention to look as such) and lifted in what she could tell was an expression of approval. "And you say he has only been practicing for the past two months?"
"That is right father." She dipped her head as she confirmed this.
"Most impressive," His face lifted again, this time to smile. "I am glad you have found a worthy rival, it has been too long since I've seen you so happy to go against another." He continued drinking, sighing in contentment at the taste.
"That is not all father," She began, getting excited to present the second part, Hideki raised both brows now, wondering what was to come next. "As I congratulated him for a job well done, he returned my gesture, and it was revealed that his mental capabilities are just as impressive, though he did speak quite freely.
Hideki nodded, "Honorable and sharp as well," He looked to Saeko, approval radiating from him. "I am not sure you could have found a more worthy rival within this town."
"My thoughts exactly father!" They were both beaming now, happy for her discovery. Her father suddenly rose.
"Speaking of worthiness, I have a gift for you." He went to a cabinet behind him and pulled out a long box.
"Here daughter, I feel now is the appropriate time to give you this." He placed the box upon their kotatsu, taking his seat again as he slid it towards her.
Saeko stared at it for a second before Hideki nodded at her to open it. With baited breath and trembling hands she reached for the box. As she opened it her hand went to her mouth. Inside the box was a bokken, shaped like the family blade but composed of wood. Which wasn't to say it was any lesser in appearance. It had a curve to it, leading to what would be a sharp tip regardless of the material it was made off and the body glistened as if it was a blade of metal. As a final touch the name Busujima was carved along the bottom of the handle in elegant handwriting. She looked at her father, speechless.
"This was made when your mother and I saw you first take up the sword." He started to explain, "We thought to give it to you sometime during junior or senior high, as a replacement until you were ready to take the true responsibility of the Busujima name." As Saeko continued to stare at him, his face returned to its default position. "Do not prove me wrong with hesitation Saeko, take the sword and cherish it." She was snapped out of her reverie and nodded quickly before picking up the bokken with a sort of reverence. A gift that was 12 years in the making, from not only her father, but her late mother. She bowed deeply as she lifted it with both hands. "This daughter of yours will do her best to honor the gift her parents have bestowed upon her." As she rose, she couldn't help the smile that came to her face. Looking at her father revealed the same could be said for him as he nodded and grinned.
They softly smiled in silence. Able and willing to let their happiness permeate the room.
[1st]
Since I got home I'd found it harder and harder to avoid thinking about my family back home. Every year we would go from place to place, Nana's, Aunt Terry's etc. etc. chatting, eating and just generally being happy.
Not doing that made me feel surprisingly empty. Hanging out with the others yesterday and today had helped me ignore it, but now that I was home alone, I couldn't help but think about it.
I should've stayed over at Kohta's.
After tossing and turning for a bit I decided to look myself up, see if the other me was happily spending time with family at least.
I turned my laptop on and looked up my name. My eyes opened as wide as they could go when I saw an article about me.
Small in Body, But Not in Mind
This year's spelling bee went to a 4th grader from Texas, Timothy Vega, 10, managed to take it all home when the
runner up, Kavya Shivashankar, misspelled the word menhir, following up with the word Laodicean. For his efforts
he received over $40,000 in cash and prizes. As-
I stopped reading the article, I remembered the spelling bee. Back home, I'd lost at my elementary school. Clearly that hadn't been the case for this version's me, so good, for, him. My thoughts trailed off.
Looking at the date of the article I realized that I was only 10. 10.
I was going to die. A little, bright eyed, me was going to die. And he would be 11 when the zombies came.
I've always had a problem of being unattached to things that weren't of concern to me personally, and sometimes even if it did. When I'd thought about zombified children walking around, reaching out with little rotted hands, I hadn't given it much thought. They would be dead, so would billions of others, it wasn't much of a difference.
I was wrong.
Seeing this made me realize something, all those dead children meant something more than just that. They meant that these kids had died, unknowing and afraid of people they knew and didn't alike, grasping, pulling, tearing at them, and unlike teenagers and adults; they couldn't do anything to stop it.
With this realization came the memory of a fanfiction I'd read where someone else had been thrown into this world. When he looked himself up, he'd found that his ancestor had died in an accident before he had the chance for kids, so he didn't exist.
Thinking on the confused pain the younger me would go through as people tore at him, I knew that would've been preferable to this.
My mind went blank.