Mirage Mind - Chapter 4 - You Are Not Real
"What do you mean you can't find anything wrong with him?" Rex angrily slammed a file onto the desk. "He almost died!"
"I am as baffled as you are," Doctor Hikaru mentally telling herself not to be intimidated. "The test results showed nothing conclusive."
Rex glared at her. Then, a thought surfaced.
"Headaches. He often have headaches. Could it be a symptom of something we don't know yet?"
"Most unlikely."
"What about past injuries?"
"Well, it could be a minor head injury he had..."
"What head injury? When?"
"A year ago, Aya & Manx were assigned to retrieve a document from an underground source. The room they were in had a hidden bomb device. By the time of its discovery, both of them barely had time to escape. The bomb exploded. Manx was killed and Aya had a facture on his skull. Fortunately, it wasn't fatal. It is possible it could be causing the headaches but it's not enough to cause last night's incident."
Manx smiled as she soaked in the sun's rays. Ran was sitting beside her, licking an ice cream, little at a little, like a kitten lapping up milk. Manx wrapped her arm around his shoulder. It was good to bring him out for fresh air, away from the ward and Evan's therapy.
"Do you like the ice cream? It's rocky mountain with peanuts and marshmallows."
Ran nodded and continued licking.
"You know, there are many types of ice cream flavours and there is a whole lot of toppings to go along with it. Why don't we do that tomorrow? I'm sure Doctor Evan wouldn't mind letting you out for an afternoon."
"Coffee ice cream," Ran softly said. "With strawberry, malt balls and sticky chocolate topping."
Manx stared at him, almost startled by his quick reply. "Yes," she nodded encouragingly. "We have that tomorrow. I'm looking forward to its taste."
"Ken. It's Ken's favourite."
"Ken?" Manx repeated. "Is he the Ken from Weiß?"
"Yes. He likes to mix weird stuffs into his coffee ice-cream. I didn't like it."
"What about the rest? Omi? Yoji?"
"Omi likes peppermint ice cream with whipped cream and chocolate rice. Yoji's is rum and raisin with no toppings. We usually eat ice cream on rainy days."
"Sounds like a great thing to do on rainy days. I do that too."
"There was one day, Yoji mixed sukiyaki sauce into Ken's ice cream. You should see the look on his face when he ate the first spoonful. Ken got so mad that he flung a spoonful at him. Yoji ducked. The ice cream fell onto Omi's shirt. He gets mad and threw a spoonful at him. Eventually, we ended up having an ice-cream fight." Ran's smiled, bringing a shine to his face. "We had a hard time cleaning up too."
"They must be really fun people to be with."
"Yes, they are."
"And they are not real. They are characters that you have invented for Weiß."
"Characters?" Ran frowned. "I don't understand."
"Ken, Omi and Yoji. They are not real. You made them up."
"That's right, Ran," Doctor Evan spoke up from behind. "They are not real." Ignoring Manx' acidic glare. "Let me explain. How does your ice cream taste like?"
"Sweet."
"Good. How does Ken's ice cream taste?"
"I don't know. I didn't like it."
"Then, how do you know you didn't like it if you didn't know its taste?"
Ran kept silent.
"You know the taste of this ice-cream because you are actually eating it. You don't know the taste of Ken's ice cream because it's a image in your mind. You can't tell its taste because images don't have any taste in the beginning."
Ran licked the ice cream, slowly spreading it around the tongue.
"What the heck are you..."
"Hush, Manx! Let Ran register the ice-cream's taste in his mind." Watching him closing his eyes in thought. "Ran. Do you understand what I have said just now?"
"Ken's not real."
"Excellent, Ran. Excellent. Go and finish up your ice-cream," Doctor Evan turned to Manx. "He's making process. I believe we can move into the next stage."
"You have some nerve to disturb us."
"I apologize but the treatment has to continue without delay. In the next stage, Ran has to acknowledge and accept Ken, Omi and Yoji do not exist. For him to be fully cured, Ran has to sever his ties with Weiß."
"Sever? In what sense?"
"Ran is emotionally connected to Weiß. To him, Weiß is part of him. However, in reality, Weiß is a tumour. For him to be fully cured, the tumour has to be removed. It will be difficult and painful but I can assure you that the procedure is safe. Plus, the director has given his approval. All I need is yours."
Aya rolled onto his side and stared at the bouquet of flowers the others had placed on the cupboard. Due to the last night's incident, Rex confined him to bed for 'further observations'. Naturally, he protested.
With futile results.
Sighing, Aya laid on his back. All right, she did have a point. Something had happened to him, which neither he nor they have the slightest clue about it. Whatever it was, it was not making any sense. However, there was one thing that he was very certain about.
He shouldn't be here.
With that, Aya got up and pulled out a drawer. Gratefully, there was a set of clothes for him to change. When he was done, he headed for the door. He was about to turn the knob when it moved. The door clicked wide opened.
"Aya?" Ken and Omi spoke together. "What are you doing? You should be resting!"
"I'm fine. Stop treating me like a kid. It's annoying."
"But... Aya," Ken objected. "People don't walk out after what happened to them last night!"
"Too bad for them," Aya pushed him aside. "Go away and leave me alone."
"No," Omi grabbed his wrist. "You know something is bothering you and you are too stubborn to admit it."
"Fine," Aya shook off his arm. "You want to know what it is? It's this pathetic world I'm living in. The entire Weiß masquerade! White hunters of the night. Carriers of Justice. It's rubbish! It means nothing!"
Very good, Ran. Release all the anger and frustration...
"What am I doing here? What am I accomplishing? There are hundreds of bad guys out there and it's taking more than a lifetime to eliminate them all. So, why don't we set off a nuclear bomb and killed everybody? No more victims. No more suffering. No more assassinations."
Tell them, Ran. Tell them they are not real...
"You want to know something else?"
Aya towered over the two, his face twisted with rage. Ken and Omi felt a chill climbing up their spine. There was something bloodcurdling in Aya's voice and the way he looked at them. For a second, they didn't know who he was anymore. Omi took a step backwards. The violet eyes were hostile and burning with Hell's fury.
"You two should be dead."
"Aya," Ken tried to keep his voice steady. "Listen to me. You are sick and you need help."
Whatever they are saying to you, don't listen to them. Resist them, Ran!
"Shut up!"
They are not real. They are fragments of your imagination. They do not exist...
"You're not real. You are fragments of my imagination. You do not exist..."
You don't belong in Weiß because it does not exist in the first place...
"I don't belong in Weiß because it does not exist in the first place..."
End your ties in Weiß! Finish it! You created it and you can destroy it!
"I created Weiß and I can destroy it!"
"Aya, don't make me use force on you," Ken raised his fist. "Omi, go and get help. I'll deal with this."
"Ken, you can't..."
"Don't argue with me," He kept his eyes on Aya. "What Aya truly needs is someone to knock some sense into him. Now go!" He shoved him aside and charged forward. The next thing he knew, he was knocked flat onto the floor. One moment, he saw the ceiling lights, the walls and then, black and excruciating pain triggering all over him, hammering him like an uncontrollable monsoon.
All of a sudden, the world went silent and still.
To be continued
GeneWeiß's Mind:-
Rather short for this chapter. Oh well, stay tune for the last chapter!