Part I
Chapter 19
Minamo ruffled her hair as she sat upon the sofa, her head in her hands, a palm against her forehead.
…ah, finally kicking in.
She leaned back slowly into the furniture's soft padding, moving carefully as to not perturb the headache that ailed her, that was finally becoming subdued by the aspirin that she had taken just a short while ago.
I can't even make it back to her room...ugh…
Her eyes closed, Minamo succumbing to their weariness as she began to doze off in the Tanizaki living room, a pale mix of streetlight and moonlight flowing softly through the windows around her. As she rested, she began to talk to herself quietly, her words dissolving into the still air.
"...stupid dream...stupid, damn dream..."
With a heavy sigh she lay down, resting on her side as she tried to resume her night's rest, the refuge it usually provided having been invaded by an old, familiar foe of hers, a ghastly image that had become more prolific during her slumber as of late.
"Why...why...why...?"
She continued on with her broken murmuring, Minamo partaking in a rhetorical conversation with herself as she attempted to sleep.
Roughly a quarter of an hour had passed since she had woken up on the carpet of Yukari's room, a futon and blanket being her bed earlier this night, since she had decided to stay over for the Christmas Eve that they had spent together today. Through out every hour of it, Minamo had experienced nothing short of an absolutely fantastic time with her old friend, both women drinking and eating quite merrily all the while, having fun little fights here and there, Yukari making her laugh more than she could remember doing so in almost the entire past year combined. Everything between them had just clicked so perfectly on this occasion, the exhilarating high that Minamo had been carrying over from the day before making it all seem that much more amazing, even surreal.
And then, they had become worn out, partying well past both midnight and their own limits. Yukari had retired to her bed, Minamo made camp upon the floor, passing out quite quickly once under the sheets...
…and then, not even an hour later, had now found herself in her friend's living room, a throbbing pain in her head and a dread in her heart.
Why is this happening so often now? It's like...it's like I'm not allowed to be happy, or something...
That old nightmare of hers, that sick feeling of the wicked, warm taste of blood, had once again come to sour the end of yet another one of her great days. It just seemed to Minamo that whenever things were going very well for her emotionally, when her spirit felt so light and free, then that horrible dream would burst from out of nowhere and obliterate it, tossing aside her joy as if it were the carcass of some dead animal that it had destroyed.
She had woken up in fright then, the fatigue in her eyes developing into a painful headache, Minamo having left her friend's room afterward in order to seek some medicine from the kitchen. And while the strain in her forehead was indeed dying down now, there was, unfortunately, not much she could do in order to deal with how unsettled her nightmare had made her, like it always made her.
…I was running from something? No…chasing something, someone…going outside, then...argh...
It was the usual pattern of events, playing out in just the same way as her past visions did. They all started out so innocently of course, Minamo finding herself in an average day scene of her life, experiencing some brief spot of extreme pleasure, just before that mirth fell apart into some calamitous situation, the rest of the plot leading up to its scripted, disastrous ending.
That's all I ever remember…that warm…that warm…
She grimaced, the morbid taste of blood being recalled by her quite vividly. That part of her dreams was what she always remembered clearly after waking up, the horrible feeling of experiencing blood spill from her mouth, flowing everywhere, its disgusting warmth just...
Minamo's eyes opened, as if something had suddenly commanded them to.
Warm…
Warm…
Warm…
A shadow of a memory streaked by.
…can I...can I...
...because...I want to...
Her breathing intensified, a play that only she could see now occurring before her.
...ki-
...I just...
...to...I want to...
...kiss, y-
Shock consumed her, Minamo staring blankly at the darkened ceiling now as she tried to deal with an abrupt sensation that was beyond incomprehensible to her, that had just erased her entire train of thought completely.
A second ago, she had witnessed a glimmer of something, a sliver of some faded memory that had barely broken through the surface of her consciousnesses. But then, after it had enjoyed only the briefest breath of air, had been savagely devoured by the most gigantic, most terrifying fear that she had ever felt in her life, one that had now sunk back to its home at the deepest, darkest depths of her entire being.