"We should have three kids, and their names will be Yuki, Yuuki, and Yuu. I want the girl to look like me but the boy should look like you."
I sighed and leaned back on the car seat, while turning my head towards the window. My hands and feet were tied up with thick, scratchy ropes. In the driver's seat right next to me, Eriai's voice rose and fell in a series of rushed ramblings. His words tumbled out sounding like jittery nonsense. I shut out his annoying chatter, and only heard the pounding of my beating heart in my ears.
We were driving to who knows where, and there was nothing I could do. Honey and Mori senpai were probably locked in that truck Erai mentioned. Now is probably the time when they would regain consciousness, but...It's already been two hours. They're too far from us now. Even if they're the deadliest fighters in all Japan, they're still human. Metal chains isn't something anyone could break out of, and I have no idea if they'll be alright or not. As for the others, they're locked up in what I think is a basement of some sort.
"Hey Akari, you belong to me now. You're my permanent toy." I heard a voice say. I blinked, and turned my head towards the source of it. Erai was looking straight ahead at the road, his eyes narrowed. Boiling heat washed over me, and I clenched my fists while tearing my eyes off of him. I grit my teeth, keeping silent.
"You think this is some kind of joke, huh?" He said in a low voice. I peeked at him from the corner of my eye. The love-struck expression that had been lining his features for the past two hours now had disappeared. His sharp eyes flicked onto me, burning with an emotion I couldn't name. I shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. Still, I held my tongue and ignored his question.
Silence hovered in the car, building up with each passing second.
"If you don't want your friends to be sold off as human slaves, then I suggest that you cooperate." He said. I widened my eyes, and whipped my head around. I opened my mouth to say something, but I shut it again. Erai noticed, and sighed.
"I suppose you don't believe me. Well then..." He slammed his foot onto the pedal, and the car lurched forward from the sudden burst of speed. I gasped, and my body jerked. The seat belt strapped to me kept me from flying through the windshield, but it dug into my collarbone.
An image of my mother flashed across my mind. I gasped again, and my breath hitched.
"Mommy, let's pretend we're racing!" I said while squeezing Curry. A warm smile slipped up onto her face. She sat in the driver's seat, her eyes still trained on the road in front of her.
"Okay! Fasten your seat belts everyone, we're going to enter the world race!" Mother glanced into the mirror. The reflection of Arashi's monotone face stared back. We had just left the grocery store, and he was in charge of making sure the bags didn't topple over on our way home. He slightly frowned.
"Please don't exceed the speed limit." He said. Mother laughed.
"It's okay hun, we're on the highway. And besides, it'll be fun!" Her grin widened, and she stepped on the pedal.
"Stop..." I breathed out. My voice was drowned out from the sound of wind rushing outside.
"Oh, so now you decide to talk?" Erai said rather calmly. A pit formed in my stomach. It rose up to my chest, and something clenched my heart. Cold beads of sweat broke out on my forehead, and my breathing became sharp gasps.
"Stop." A slight quivering possessed my body, leaving me light headed.
"What was that dearest? I couldn't hear you." He said.
"Stop!" My voice cracked. I squeezed my eyes shut.
"Why should I listen to you? You haven't been listening to me this whole time." His foot slammed into the pedal, and the sound of the thundering engine multiplied.
A screech of tires scratched against the pavement, and a series of blaring honks raked my ear drums. Mother's shriek sliced through the air.
i screamed and I buried my head into my tied hands. Bloody images of shattered glass and mother's empty eyes flashed in my mind, searing them into my brain. The long buried nightmares that I believed that I had forgotten burned into my memory once again.
"Mom?" I croaked. I felt sleepy. A thick fog filled my head. Where am I? My eyes opened. Glass. Glass was everywhere. Darkness engulfed everything, leaving shadows that danced and flickered. I turned my heads towards the driver's seat. Mom's face was turned away from me.
"Mom!" All fogginess lifted at once. Frantically, my eyes flicked around. In the backseat, the grocery's were askew, and on the roof of the car. My eyes widened. I whipped my head towards the window, and saw that I was only inches from the cement ground of the road.
"No!" My lips and voice shook hysterically, and I couldn't control it. I scratched and pulled at my scalp and hair. My hand brushed against my face, and I felt something warm and wet. I opened my eyes. There was a drop of water resting on the back of my hand. My vision blurred, and I shut my eyes once again.
"Aw, little Akari's scared. How cute." Erai snickered. I rocked back and forth while trying to stifle my gasps and sobs.
"What's the matter? Are you scared of having a little fun?" I heard his foot stomp again.
I shook mother's still form, and her head lolled towards me. Her eyes were dark pits, and her skin was pure white. A small, trickle of black blood oozed down from a gash on her forehead. I screamed and ripped my hand away from her.
"Please."I whispered.
"Akari?" Arashi's said. His voice was a hoarse whisper. I didn't dare look up. I had curled up into a tight ball, rocking back and forth, back and forth.
"Mom?" A rustle of plastic bags.
"Mom!" He gasped. Another rustle of bags. Then silence.
"Do you understand that I'm not playing anymore?" Erai's voice said. My eyes fluttered opened. A blurry image of my knees came into view. I slowly sat up, and looked at him. Erai's gaze was fixed on the road ahead of him. My eyes flickered to the speed meter. The sound of the engine was subdued, barely audible. There weren't any sounds of screeching tires or honks anymore, and we drove behind a red car. I let out a shaky breath before leaning back. My head rolled over towards the window, and I squeezed my eyes shut again. Another spell of silence fell in the car. It was broken a while afterwards, when my heart didn't pound in my ears anymore.
"I've never seen you cry before." He said.
I didn't look at him. The tear streaks from earlier had dried up, leaving some parts of my face cold and tight.
"Aren't you even curious on where we're going?" He asked. I didn't move. A white car rushed by from my window. After about five seconds, I spoke up.
"You wouldn't tell me anyway." I murmured. A dry chuckle filled the air.
"True. You know Akari, I don't know why...but I've always been obsessed with you." Shivers crawled down my spine. A dark tone lurked behind his honeyed voice.
"I don't know why...but I always felt so...infuriated whenever I saw you talk to anyone else." He laughed. Widening my eyes, I slowly turned to look at him. His irises were smaller than usual, and a wide grin stretched from ear to ear. A murky shadow veiled his face, accentuating the whites of his eyes. He turned his head to face me, and laughed like a clown again. I gasped and leaned closer to the door, my heart starting to pound once again.
"W-what do you mean?" I said. His laughter died down, but his crazed eyes continued burning into my own.
"Ever wondered why all the boys avoided you in the orphanage?" He asked. I scrunched up my eyebrows.
"Wasn't it because I was a rowdy child?" I asked. He chuckled.
"Nope!" I said nothing, awaiting his answer. After a moment, he spoke up again.
"I threatened them!" He said in a sing song voice.
"I told them if they even looked at you in a way that I didn't like, I would break their fingers. One, by, one." He threw his head back, roaring with laughter. Cold sweat broke out again.
"I kept all the girls away from you by charming them. They were such dimwits." He cackled once again. I clenched my fist, and turned away from him.
"Your science friend though...I never noticed her until it was too late." His laughter vanished instantly, and a grim look contorted his features. A chilling calmness settled around him.
"It took forever tearing the two of you apart." My jaw tightened. I started trembling.
"But then...right before you were all mine...You left for Japan. That was your huge mistake." His words trailed off. I glimpsed at him from the corner of my eyes.
"Once we're married, no one will ever see or hear from you again. You'll just be my living doll. My perfect, living doll..." His words faded away into soft whispers, and he turned his head to look at me. A small, sweet smile graced his features, sending more chills down my arms. He brought his hand to my face, and my heart stopped. My eyes widened with each second as his hand inched closer and closer to my face. I was already pressed up as farthest as I could go against my door. The skin from the back of his hand brushed against me, and I shut my eyes and suppressed a gasp. I always thought of Erai as an annoying, clingy, wacko. But that wasn't the case at all. He's mentally unstable, and he needs help.
He moved his hand away, but I kept my eyes shut. I heard him shuffle around, then I felt a wet cloth press up against my mouth. My eyes flew open for a second, but they drooped shut as blackness consumed me.
I don't know for how long I slept, but when I woke up I was in a bedroom. Jerking upright, my eyes jumped around the dark room. I was no longer tied up, and Erai was nowhere in sight. I threw myself off of the bed I had been on, and ran towards the murky outline of a door. I rattled the doorknob.
"Hello? Is anyone out there?!" I said.
"Anyone?!" I hurled myself at the door, hoping to break it down. Soreness slapped onto my shoulder that I had used to slam against it.
"Ow..." I rubbed my arm while scanning the room once again. Suddenly, bright lights came on and blinded me.
"Gah!" I squeezed my eyes shut and brought my hand to them.
"Good morning dearest!" I heard a voice say. I glanced up, squinting to adjust to the light.
"Did you sleep well?" I heard slight noise in the voice, which came out from an intercom.
"Hey! Where am I?" My eyes landed on a black camera staring right at me, and I glared into its red lens.
"In a bedroom of course. To be precise, your bedroom." I scrunched up my eyebrows and crinkled up my nose.
"Huh?" I glanced around. I've never been here before in my entire life.
"You'll be spending the rest of your miserable life right in this room! Isn't that wonderful?" Erai's voice sang. My knees shook, and all energy drained from me.
"No..." I tottered backwards, and landed on my bum.
"Anyways, someone will be coming in tomorrow morning to take your measurements." He continued speaking. I scrunched up my eyebrows while wrapping my arms around my legs.
"Why?" I said.
"So your wedding dress would fit!" He said in a sing-song voice. My eyes widened, and my head shot up towards the camera again.
"If you don't marry me, then your friends become slaves. Simple eh?" He chuckled, and a pit formed in my stomach. Nauseous, I squeezed my eyes shut and brought a hand to my head.
"Well darling, I'll have to get going now. And welcome to your new home! You better like it, because you're never going to leave it." His voice cut off, and silence swept across the room. My eyes flew open, and my head jerked up. Blood pounding in my ears, I stood upright. My heart hurled itself against my chest. Scanning the room for windows, my stomach sank when I found none. There also weren't any air vents. I spotted another door that was open. I threw my body forward, pumping my legs up and down. I slammed my hands against the door frame to prevent myself from crashing to the ground, and my eyes flicked around the room. There was a sink, shower, and a toilet. No windows. A trembling possessed my body, and something warm emerged from my stomach. Gagging, I stumbled towards the toilet and leaned over. Bitter, acidic vomit spurted out from my mouth, leaving a burning sensation at the back of my throat. My eyes shut, and my body heaved out the breakfast I had eaten that morning.