Chapter 3: Getting Familiar and Adjustment
I woke up earlier then I had been in the past weeks. My body was still tired and I was tempted to go back to sleep. It was then that I remembered why I had woken up so early. The thought of what Oryou-sensei would do to me if I was late for my first session sent chills down my spine. Luckily I was able to get out of bed at around 4:30. It was easily enough time for me to get dressed and get prepared for what I was about to experience. I can't say that I am too excited. I know it will be tough, but I am prepared for it. I am going to be Mion's bodyguard.
After I finish preparing myself, I head to the living room where I was told to meet sensei. I arrive at 4:50. Ten minutes early, but they say that being on time is actually being late. I find the room empty, so I decide to take a seat. Five minutes later, Oryou-sensei comes in.
"Ah good, you're early."
I remain silent, as I don't think that trying to show off would be a very smart thing to do. I'm sure she wouldn't appreciate it.
She beckons me to follow her. Naturally, I rise from my seated position to follow.
We walk through the halls of the Sonozaki mansion. I can see lights on in some of the rooms. We pass one of the rooms that I recognize as Mion's. The lights are off, so I assume that she is still sleeping. I notice sensei turn her head a little. I can tell she is watching me. I'm not too sure what she is trying to pick up from me though. I act as normal as I can.
After a while, we leave the mansion and head outside.
We must be heading for the dojo.
Sure enough, we come to the dojo. As we enter, I find that the lights are already on and there is a man standing in the center of the dojo. He is dressed in a black karate uniform. He is about 6 feet tall and looks to be around the age of 30. I'm sure that sensei is going to ask him to be my opponent.
I really hope I'm wrong. This guy would kick my ass.
Sensei stops and turns to me.
"This is Shinji. He will be testing you on how skilled you are."
Didn't see that coming. I think sarcastically to myself.
"What do you want me to do sensei?" I ask, hoping she will tell me to fight an imaginary enemy. I know that it's futile though.
"I want you to fight him." She answers like it is nothing.
"Alright then."
I try not to appear reluctant.
She'd probably have him kick my ass even harder if I did
I take my position in front on Shinji. Neither of us moves. He then bows to me. I repeat the gesture. He then takes a fighting stance. I don't know any fighting stances so I stand how I would normally. For a time, we just stand there. When it became obvious to him that I wasn't going to make the first move, he comes rushing in. I dodge out of the way of the oncoming blow.
He's going easy on me.
The punch he threw wasn't a very fast one. It wouldn't have done much damage even if it had connected with me. When I stand up again I can see Shinji smiling at me.
Looks like things are going to get serious now.
He rushes me again. This time he attacks me with his other fist. Its speed is quite a bit faster than the previous punch. I am able to dodge this punch as well, but only just barely. I think that his left arm is his dominate, but it would be a mistake to assume that. I have to assume that both are equally powerful or I will surely be taken out with an unexpectedly strong blow.
"Are you only good at dodging? How are you going to protect Mion-sama if all you do is dodge?"
He's right. I can't be a bodyguard if I'm afraid for my own life.
"I'm sure I'd be fine if it's only someone like you that's attacking her." I provoke him.
Sensei chuckles.
Shinji's face no longer has a cool expression on it. He is obviously ready to go at me full force.
He charges me. He swings his fist.
It's his right fist. I knew it!
As the fist fly's towards my stomach, I make no attempt to dodge or block the oncoming blow. I simply stand there.
*THUD!*
I am knocked back a few feet, but I am able to stay standing. My stomach is aching badly, but I refrain from holding it or bending over. I stand tall. Shinji has a surprised expression on his face. Sensei also has an identical expression. Shinji's didn't last for very long though and he runs at me again.
*THUD!!*
Again, I am knocked back, but again I stand tall. Shinji is obviously becoming angry at my show of will. He comes at me one more time, determined to knock me over.
*THUD!!!*
This time I am unable to stand up completely. He was not able to knock me over, but I was unable to help but fall to my knee. Both Shinji and I are breathing heavily. I try to stand up, but I am unable.
I can do this.
Although my stomach feels like it's on fire, I stand tall once more. I face my opponent. His face grows red with rage. He charges full speed at me. He is not going to let be stand back up. He will not be shown up by this brat again. His fist comes. Not to my stomach like last time, but to my face. It does not connect though. His charge was reckless. Even an amateur, like me, could see that. I easily step to the side. Because he delivered his punch with full force he was thrown off balance since it didn't connect. As I dodge to the side I pull my own arm back and deliver my own blow with all the energy I can muster.
Even though I had the advantage, Shinji was able to counter my attack. He is truly a professional. I open my eyes to see the ceiling of the dojo. My mind is spinning. My entire back hurts and I have a slight headache. Not to mention my stomach. It appears that he grabbed my arm and somehow threw me over his shoulder when I attacked. I knew this would happen if I tried to attack him at the beginning so I avoided doing so. A second later I see Shinji standing over me.
"That was pretty clever. I have to give you that."
"Thanks." I reply.
He offers me his hand. After a second I grab it, hoping it wasn't a trap. He pulls me to his feet.
"All right that's enough for today." Announces sensei.
Thank God!
Shinji bows to sensei and I do the same after him.
"Same time tomorrow sensei?" Shinji asks.
Oryou nods to him.
When Shinji leaves, she turns to me.
"That was quite impressive Micheal-kun." She compliments me.
"Yes, Sensei."
She smiles at my answer.
"It's ok, this isn't boot camp. You can reply normally."
"Thank you, sensei." I reply.
"It seems that you like to think through your situation rather than rush into things. That is very good."
I don't know what to reply with so I remain silent.
"You can return to the mansion now. Be sure to be here tomorrow at 5."
"Yes, sensei. See you tomorrow."
I leave the dojo and head back to the mansion. As I walk past Mion's room, I see that the light is on.
Looks like she gets up pretty early in the morning.
When I get back to my room I look at the clock. It reads 6:07.
Looks like training took about an hour. Wonder if I should expect that every day.
My body is still sore from being beaten upon so I lie down. My body aches, but seems to accept that I want to rest. I close my eyes in hopes to get some rest before my tour with Mion today. Luckily my mind is able to ignore my aches and starts to settle down. My mind shuts off and I fall asleep.
I am awakened I few hours later by Mion. My body is still tired from this morning's training.
"Come on Mike-kun! You have to get up!"
I give off a moan tell her that I'm still tired.
She grabs me and starts shaking me.
"Come on! We were going to go on a tour of Hinamizawa, but if you don't get up, we can't go!"
Again I moan. I also add in some unintelligible gibberish.
"Fine! If you'd rather sleep then go on a tour with me, I'll just go into town without you."
Not wanting her to do so, I roll over onto my back and sit up. I rub the sleep from my eyes and mumble out a, "Good morning" to Mion.
"Bout time. You're soo lazy." She complains.
"No I'm not. I'm just tired from training."
"Oh stop making excuses. It's your fault that you have to be my bodyguard."
I thought it was sensei's fault. When did I turn into the bad guy?
I sigh. "Okay, Okay. It's my fault. Doesn't change the fact that I'm tired."
She starts to pout.
"I'm up now so it's ok. I'll get ready to go so would you please get out of my room so I can change?"
"Fine, fine. Just hurry up, okay? I don't want to wait all day for you."
Geez, she can be bossy.
Mion leaves the room. I begin to change as fast as I can. I begin to smile as I think of the day I have ahead of me.
Man, I'm excited. Can't wait to see the city. I'd also like to meet some of Mion's friends.
I soon finish getting ready and leave my room. Mion is waiting for me. She is leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.
Geez, is she seriously mad at me?
"You ready?" She asks me.
"Yep!" I reply quickly.
"Good." She smiles.
Thank God.
As we leave the mansion, Mion grabs a picnic basket. It's obvious she prepared lunch for us. Mion seems to be in a better mood now that we are out of the house. I am curious if there was any reason behind her hostility, but I decide not to ask.
It's probably just her personality. I don't feel like she was honestly mad at me. I hope at least.
We begin our tour of the village. Mion shows me to a couple of houses, scattered here and there, and explains who lives in each. I am amazed that she could memorize such a thing. Though then again, it isn't that large of a village. If I remember right, Irie-sensei said that the population was about two thousand.
Soon we come up to a shine.
"This is the Furude Shrine." Mion explains.
Furude…I think I remember that name.
"Didn't you have a friend named Furude?" I ask.
"Yeah. Rika. Her last name is Furude. She's the head of the Furude household actually." She replies.
"The head? Did the previous head die?" I ask.
Duh, Mike. I think to myself after asking a stupid question.
Mion suddenly becomes quiet. He face is downcast.
"Her father died of a strange illness, and her mother committed suicide." She explains.
"Ah man…"
I am at a loss for words.
"Is she okay?" I ask.
"Yeah. She lives with Satoko, who also lost her parents and her brother."
I want to ask what happened, but seeing how Mion is acting, I refrain. To my surprise she tells me anyway.
"Satoko's parents had an accident and fell off I waterfall, while site seeing. They found her father's body upstream, but they never found her mothers. Later her brother became stressed over how their aunt was treating Satoko and he…..ran away."
I look down.
Man I feel so bad for them. I wish there was something I could do.
We are both silent for a few seconds. Mion decides to break the silence.
"Anyways, I'm getting pretty hungry. You want to have lunch now?"
Happy to change the mood, I agree.
"Yeah, I'm starving."
We find a place in the grass to lie a blanket down. We both take a seat and Mion opens the picnic basket up. She takes out a couple boxes of sandwiches, and other assorted foods, which I can't identify. Everything looks soo good and I can't wait to dig in. Mion finishes removing to contents of the basket and sets it aside. Just as we are about to start, we hear the sound of footsteps.
"My, my. What do we have here?" A blonde girl teases.
"Mii, it looks like a couple having a picnic." The girl with the blue hair replies to her friend.
"Ah, Satoko, Rika. How are you two doing?"
I examine the two girls standing in front of us. There are two girls; both seem to be around 11 or 12 years old of age. One has short blonde hair, with a hair band. She is wearing a green dress-like outfit. The other has blue long blue hair. She is wearing a blue dress-like outfit. Both of them together look very cute. Though I begin to feel sorry for them after hearing what happened to them both.
The girls are all talking to each other.
I wonder what's being said.
I hadn't been paying attention to the conversation while I was examining the two girls.
The girl with the long blue hair turns to me.
"Mii, so is this the boy you've been talking about Mii-chan?" She asks.
"Yeah, this is Mike-kun."
I stand up and bow to the two girls.
"It's a pleasure to meet you." I say.
The girls do the same. After their bow, the girl with the blue hair speaks.
"My name is Rika, and this is Satoko."
Got it. I think to myself now that I have the two sorted out.
"Mike-kun and I were about to have lunch together. Why don't you guys join us?"
Satoko speaks up.
"Oh we don't want to get in the middle of your guy's date."
Both me and Mion blush instantly.
"It's not a date! I was just giving Mike-kun a tour of Hinamizawa!"
"Y-yeah! We just got hungry and stopped to have lunch. That's all."
Satoko and Rika giggle.
"Oh ok. If we aren't a bother to you then we don't mind eating with you." Rika says.
After her sentence, she adds a "Nipah". I think that it is very cute.
Satoko and Rika sit down and we all begin eating. As we eat the girls begin talking. I mostly listen to what they are saying. Every once in a while they would direct a question at me. Both the younger girls became very interested when Mion mentioned that I was possibly looking into transferring into their school and joining their club.
"Oh, is that so?" Satoko asks while putting on a sinister smile.
"I think it would be fun to have another person in our club. Nipah!" Rika states her opinion.
"Yeah, we've been looking for someone to make our slave every time they lose." Mion adds in.
"I thought I was already your slave." I rebut
"Haha, that's different." Mion laughs.
"What's he mean by that Mion-san?" Satoko asks.
"Oh well….." She hesitates.
"I'm Mion's Bodyguard." I state.
"Wha….?" Satoko and Rika say in unison.
I explain my situation to them.
"Ah I see." Satoko say.
"Mii, I'm sure you'll be a great body guard for Mii."
"I certainly hope so." I say.
Mion appears to be looking away as she is not pleased with the conversation.
"Don't think Mion is too happy about it though."
"I just don't like how Baa-chan took advantage of the situation like that. I understand that you wanted to repay us for letting you stay with us, but I think she took it too far." She complains.
"You're probably right Mion. Oryou-sensei probably did take it too far, but I really wanted a way to repay you guys. I wasn't look for a way because I felt obligated to; I did it because I really wanted to express my gratitude for your hospitality. If this is the way sensei wants for me to show it then I have no problem with it."
Mion's face shows that she still isn't happy. I try again.
"I'm sure I can make everything work out. You trust me don't you?"
I place my hand on her shoulder. She looks up and stares into my eyes.
"I trust you."
We both smile and I take my hand off her shoulder. Rika and Satoko both get up.
"Well we best be off. Rika and I still have shopping to do."
"Alright, see you guys later." Mion replies.
"Hope to see you at school Mike-kun. Nipah!" Rika says to me.
"Yeah. Hope to see you guys again soon." I call out as they leave.
As they are leaving, I think I catch a glimpse of a girl following behind Rika, but after I blink a couple times, there was nothing.
Odd. I could have sworn I saw someone there.
After that, I help Mion pack up. After we are all packed up, we head back out to continue our tour. As we walk, we talk about various things. I make a comment on how Satoko and Rika seem to be doing well.
"Yeah. They get by. Everyone in the village does their best to help them out." Mion explains.
"Yeah, they seem happy to me. It makes me glad for them."
We continue walking and end up coming to what appears to be the town dump. Mion explains that this used to be the site of the dam project set up by the government. She then goes into detail about how the villagers all gathered their strength to fight the project and won.
"That's really awesome! It's great to see people get close like that and fight for the greater good."
"Yeah it was quite amazing." Mion replies.
Something doesn't seem quite right though as Mion begins to frown.
"What is it? Did something happen?"
She freezes for a moment. Then like lightning, "Nothing!"
"Nothing? But Mion…."
She cuts me off.
"Anyways, we should head back to town now."
She starts to walk off, but I grab her arm and turn her around.
"Hey, Mion."
She is staring straight down.
"Come on. You said you trusted me back at the shrine remember? You can tell me whatever it is. I promise I won't freak out."
She again freezes. I give her a bit of time, but after a minute she still says nothing. I realize that she doesn't intend to tell me and I release her arm.
"Let's go." I say in a sad voice. I walk past her, headed towards town.
"Mike-kun…."
I stop and turn around to face her. Her face is pained, but I can tell she is going to tell me.
"A couple of years ago….during the dam wars……"
She pauses for a bit.
"….There was a murder."
"A murder?"
I try to contain my surprise.
"Yes. One of the dam workers was murdered and dismembered."
WHAT?!?
"They still haven't found one of the culprits."
After a pause…."I see."
Another pause. Mion has resumed staring at the ground.
"Well, we should probably get out of here. It's kind of creepy being near the site of a murder, you know? The ghost of the worker might come to get us."
Mion looks up and smiles.
"Yeah, you might be right. Let's go."
I add in, "If he does come attack us though, I will protect you. It's the least I can do as your bodyguard."
She begins to laugh and we head back to town together. As we are walking I notice that she is again staring at the ground. Looks like she's having doubts.
"Hey, Mion."
"Yeah Mike-kun?"
I tell her what I'm feeling.
"I don't think any less of this village because of what happened in the past. Nor do I feel any less for the villagers. I'm not planning on running away or anything if that's what you're worried about. In fact, I think coming here was the best thing to happen in my life."
Mion's eyes light up. Her mouth opens up into a big smile and she jumps at me, embracing me around my chest.
"Really? Thank goodness! I'm so glad Mike-kun."
I am blushing heavily.
"Ha, yeah. Umm…ah…Mion….."
I can't think with her holding on to me like this. Apparently she finally realized what she was doing and quickly let go. She turns away from me, obviously embarrassed. As my own embarrassment goes away, I can't help but smile.
"It's nice."
"Hmmm? What was that?" She asks.
"Ah, nothing."
She lets it slide as she sees my smile.
"Oh, you like hugs do you?" She teases me.
I begin to blush again and look down.
"I love them."
We reach the Sonozaki family mansion. It's about 7:30 in the afternoon. Mion says that she is going to prepare dinner so I should go wait in my room. I do as she wishes. When I get to my room though, I find myself at a lack of anything to do.
What am I supposed to do? Twiddle my thumbs for an hour?
Being completely bored after ten minutes, I lie down on the ground and stare at the ceiling. There wasn't anything particularly interesting about the ceiling I was staring at, but what else could I do.
I begin to think of the murder I heard about earlier. For some reason, I felt like I already knew what Mion was going to say. Not just in the way of, "She's going to say a murder happened." It was more of a, "I know exactly what she's going to say before she says it," kind of thing. I felt like I already knew what happened in Hinamizawa. This all seems strange to me. I seem to know things about Hinamizawa before they are told to me.
Have I lived here already? Why do I keep having these déjà vu-like experiences? This can't be a coincidence since it's been happening so much. I just can't figure out what it is. This is really starting to piss me off.
Then the thought comes to me.
What if I knew about this world in my old world?
The question lingers in my mind. I can't deny the possibility. Knowing my personality, I could probably be living out one of my fantasies.
Then it hits me, like the truck that was the cause of this all.
What if this really is just a fantasy? What if I am really back in my world, dreaming this all up. Being hit by a truck like that. It wouldn't be surprising that I'm actually in a coma.
My thoughts hits me like a train and I begin to feel a great amount of pain in my heart. I don't want to believe that all this could be just a fantasy. I am living a life that I could never have had before. To have it all taken away from me would be a worse fate then dying. The more I think about this, the more the pain in my heart grows. I am nearly on the verge of tears when suddenly Mion comes in.
The instant she sees me, her face becomes full of worry and sadness. I reassure her that it has nothing to do with the murder and explain what it is about.
"It's possible Mike-kun. It's possible, but I don't think it's true."
"Why is that?"
I am rocking back and forth in her arms as she came to hold me when she saw how much pain I was in.
"Because I don't feel like I'm made up. I have feelings like you do. I can talk, I can reason, and I can feel pain. I am just as human as you are. I even believe I have a soul. I don't think you can give someone those things unless you are a god. Are you a god Mike-kun?"
"Of course not!"
"Then the only other explanation is that I truly am alive."
Her words bring me a great amount of comfort. I begin to calm down. I stop rocking back and forth and Mion releases me.
"Thank you Mion. I really appreciate you always being there for me."
She blushes.
"I-it's nothing. I'm just glad that I can be there when you need me. I'm really glad that you came to this world….Mike."
When she hesitates before saying my name I realize that I didn't use an honorific when I said her's. It was just a mess up on my part but if she is fine with it then I would rather leave off the honorific in the future.
"Anyways, it's time for dinner."
"Alright." I say as I get up with Mion.
We head off to the dining room for dinner. After dinner, I head back to my room. I wait in my room till it's my turn to take a bath. While in the bath, I do my best not to take up too much time as the Sonozaki's were gracious enough to give me a rather good place in the bath order. I was 3rd after Saburou-san, Mion's father. Akane was after me, followed by Mion.
After my bath I head to Mion's room to say good night. I knock on the door. I hear a "come in" and I enter. Mion is sitting in the middle of the room look at me as I enter the room.
"Uhh, I just came to say good night."
She smile.
"I'll be getting up early again tomorrow so I need to go to bed early as well."
She frowns, but it only lasts a second.
"I probably won't see you till after school." She says.
"Yeah probably. You can try coming by my room in the morning, but I'll likely be wiped out from training."
"I hope you sleep well then."
"Yeah, me too. Oh yeah, I'll probably head over to the school tomorrow to talk with the principal. If you aren't busy, I'll drop by and say hi, okay?"
She smiles warmly.
"Okay. Good night Mike. Sleep well.
"Night Mion. You sleep well too."
After saying my good night, I head back to my room. I pull out my futon and crawl into it. I'm sure I won't have much trouble getting into the school. All I need to worry about is training.
I bet Shinji has spent his day thinking up a million ways to kick my ass tomorrow.
I frown at the thought.
"Ah well." I say to myself.
I close my eyes. My body is worn out from the day's activities so I find it easy to relax. My senses begin to shut off. I begin to fall asleep, but before I can, one thought pops into my head.
What if all this isn't real?
Then I smile.
Of course it's real. I am no god. To create something this amazing would require the powers of one. If anything, God blessed me by sending me here.
The last thought I have before my mind finally shuts off is thank you God.