Fujiko gasped and felt her heart racing against her palm. Her hands, still splotched with red, shook—terror coursing through them—her stomach churning with disgust. She slid against the trunk of a towering tree, unable to even muster the words.
She … she actually …
Her fists slammed against the trunk without so much as a scuff, but it never got rid of the taste of Aiko's blood out of her head. Neither could it dispel the feeling of her fangs sinking into something so tender. Fujiko spat out the taste, crimson-tinged saliva dripping from her lips, and slid against the back of the tree down to her back, curling her knees as she choked and grimaced.
Fujiko stuffed her wet eyes into her knees. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I-I didn't mean it, Miho, I-I didn't…"
The forest was quiet, police sirens wailing in the distance.
When her throat burned and her wet cheeks dried, Fujiko took a breath and sighed, then winced as her shoulder suddenly became tender. She can't go back home. There's nothing to go back home to. People recorded the altercation—though only the part where Miho stabbed her. But Fujiko had blood all over her uniform already and that was going to be suspicious to the police. By now, they must be searching for her—perhaps to bring her to justice. She can't go to jail, hell was this even her fault? Can she really be faulted for trying so hard to prevent what just happened?
Hell, it's not like anyone is gonna believe some orphaned teen's claims that she lost control and didn't mean to bite a teenager. Though then again, Miho did stab her without context…
The wind began rustling.
Fujiko felt sick again. This was not good for either of them. This whole situation is screwed up. It'd be just better for her to leave town and never come back. Maybe then she won't hurt anyone ever again and she could just live by lonesome. But where would she go, and how was she going to take care of herself? Could she even attend a different school altogether under a different name? Was that even possible?
Shaking her head, Fujiko stood up and touched her should wound. Strange, it already stopped bleeding? Her shoulder was bloody as hell, but there was already a clot forming. Don't people get stitches for wounds like this? Because, during science class one day, she sure as hell saw some poor girl accidentally dropping an empty beaker into the floor and caught a flying piece of glass straight across her leg: the wound cut deep and it was roughly the size of hers, and she had to get stitches that day.
Police sirens blared louder.
Fujiko felt herself becoming jumpy as she swallowed. She could turn herself in, but … no, they're never going to believe this was an accident, especially when the police hear Miho and Aiko and watch the phone footage. Just focus on getting out of here first, you can worry about the wound, which was clotting anyway, and your life when you're away from everyone and no longer a danger to anyone else. Turning, Fujiko crossed through the forest and stayed away from the rest of the town. There was a gas station not too far away from here that connects to the highway, so the plan was to head there and get washed up—hopefully avoiding the clerk and cameras, if possible—and figure out where to go from there.
Her high school rested on a hill surrounded by forest. Luckily, the forest composed much of the outskirts of the town enough that one could, starting from the school, pick a random direction and end up on its outskirts. It was not a terribly steep incline thankfully, but it was too close to the town for her own liking and it would be some time before she reaches the road leading to the gas station via the forest route.
Then a gust of wind whistled around her.
Fujiko froze, rubbing her eyes in disbelief. As best she could describe it, the wind was flying out of a gaping hole in reality. She had no idea what she was looking at otherwise, and she wasn't sure if there was anything in Japanese that could precisely describe what was in front of her. But that was not the only strange thing.
The trees and shrubbery, normally rustling from the gust of wind, were still—like time stopped for them. Everything was frozen: a bird returning to its nest of young laid still mid-air, wings locked; two squirrels spiraling up a trunk hung still without so much as a twitch; a butterfly was still above Fujiko just as a dragonfly was about to swoop down from above. It was like time itself had grounded to halt just for this one fateful moment.
Fujiko felt the tug of curiosity drawing her into the hole, the air becoming heavy and electrifying. Nothing told her to run—if anything, everything was telling her to look. Her steps were slow and cautious, knees bent and ready to propel her into a sprint. Her gaze was on the hole, but peering within the only discernible feature was the fact that the hole was distorting, refracting light but not quite showing the other side at all as if muddled.
"What is this…?"
This strange, geometric phenomenon stood inches away from Fujiko, face-to-face, a solid wall of distortion.
Her hand rose and touched it.
The wall rippled like a pool of water as it received Fujiko's hand.
Fujiko jumped and pulled out, but nothing looked or felt wrong with her hand; it seemed safe enough. She returned her hand, sinking it in and then following up with the rest of her arm.
There was chilly air on the other side.
Fujiko raised a brow. Just what was on the other side of this thing? She stepped forward and sunk herself in, curious to see where this strange thing will take her—if there was anything at all.
A dark clearing awaited Fujiko.
The air was cold and rustled amidst the towering, withered trees. Their branches hung naked and limp above her head, once full of life but now dormant. Stars twinkled amidst the night above, two moons orbiting across: a crimson one so great it was difficult to fully behold; the other a moon, though it glowed blue, much like the one she knew.
Fujiko stepped into the clearing, entranced by her surroundings. "W-Where am I?" she muttered, the words slipping out of her lips as if stolen. "Am I even…?"
The air began howling, chilling Fujiko.
She shivered and sighed, rubbing her arms. Wherever this place was, this was definitely different. Was she even on the same planet? Though this place seemed like Earth, how could anyone explain the two moons? This was starting to get weird, she should probably head back. Fujiko turned and began walking to–
The portal was gone.
Panic rose in Fujiko. She searched the clearing for the hole, but only the forest and wind greeted her. There was no way she had already missed that thing, it was practically impossible to miss a geometric phenomenon that she also had just crossed moments before.
"Come on, I couldn't have missed it already," Fujiko muttered. "Come on, where is it? Shit. Shit, shit shit shit."
The clearing was devoid of any spacetime phenomena.
Terror hit her, making her heart race and sweat. She broke out into a sprint as she whipped her head, seeing dark trunks and long shadows cast by the gaze of the two moons but no distortions and no ripples. Time wasn't frozen, her surroundings moved as expected. There had to be a way back, there must be. But if she was stuck here…
No, stay positive Fujiko. If that hole came outta nowhere and disappeared like that, then it must appear again at some point! But how long would that be? An hour? A year? Fifteen years? She couldn't wait for that long, that's as long as she's been alive! And how was she going to survive in these weird wilds? Oh god, was she going to die? Was she going to die alone in these woods? Was she actually going to–
Fujiko slapped herself as she took a deep breath and exhaled. Calm down. You're not going to die, don't jump to conclusions yet. There might be hope yet—she just wasn't sure what that was going to look like, but anything was better than just panicking in this clearing. Besides, her stab wound was still hurting, she needs to find help and get it treated. Only, where was she going to find help? Was there even civilization where she was? Hell, where in the world was she? There have to be people somewhere around here, it's not like she got herself into some inhospitable part of the world, she's clearly in a place where there's still life. Now she's gotta find human life.
Picking a direction, Fujiko began trekking, hoping against hope she had made the right choice in finding help first. She swore to god if that hole opens up again in the same exact spot an hour later and she wasn't there for it, wasting her time … No, positive thoughts, Fujiko, positive thoughts!
But it was not long before fuzzy shadows began dancing around the forest…
