There was a man hobbling down the road I traveled on. His face was gaunt and his eyes were turned upward to some invisible phantom that loomed in the sky, extending its hand in comradery. The man reached out his arm like he was taking its cold, cold hand and collapsed onto the pavement, dead. Another body for the ground to feast upon.
Thousands of men, women, and children witnessed similar apparitions that day, all around the city. Death took its greatest number. Yet, I was alive.
For the last time, I entered the Kagamine household in Toragay. For the first time, I entered through the front door. No guards were stationed, presumably dead or holed up in their homes, dying. Crossing the threshold was like making these past weeks real. Len was right. Barriers were being broken. The grand barrier between life and death. I went through the halls with no interruption.
In a desperate, drunken stupor, I searched for a staircase. I had no idea where Len could be at this hour of the afternoon, but if he wasn't dead already, I would find him. I would find him and grab Miku and grab Yuka and maybe even grab Gumi and we'll all leave this place together. Water infected or not, it didn't matter. We would all be living in a ghost town before long.
"LEEEN!" I called into the desolate corridors. No one answered, but I finally stumbled upon the grand staircase, the one I floated down with the deceased Rin at my side that night when life was worth living. Already out of breath, my knees burned as I climbed and climbed, shouting his name as loudly as I could.
The floor whose cornerstone was Rin's bedroom was the only floor I knew, and the seemed to be the only floor I could bring myself to. Now, where could his bedroom be? Wild-eyed, I kept switching directions in the hallway. Near his sister's? No, would the men's and women's rooms be separated? Was I even on the right floor? Was this entire building empty? Was he dead already?
Tears filled my eyes as I thought of life without him. Purposeless. Once again, I would be a stranger in a strange world which I never really belonged in. I sank to my knees on the cold marble floor. God, please let him live.
Footsteps to the left. Pacing. Within one of the rooms. I forced myself to stop my useless grovelling, get to my feet, and stumble to the door of the room I heard them from. Check the knob. Unlocked. Knock feebly on the wood. The pacing entity halted. Another knock. Before I could change my mind, I let myself in.
When I saw him against the fading light in the windows, I thought my knees would fail me again. There he was, just as I remembered him, untouched by the ailing world besides the bags under his eyes and the whiteness of his skin. He was standing, facing me, a look of bewilderment on his face like he was having a hallucination. Maybe he was. Maybe I was already dead and had turned into one of those phantoms dragging another person into the depths. Gakupo must be laughing, wherever he was, if he was listening to my thoughts. How dark and dreary could one become?
"Len," I said in a hoarse voice. Part of me was furious that he didn't respond to my calling, but the other part was so relieved, nothing else mattered. "I heard about Rin. I'm so sorry. Um, I was thinking-"
I could not tell him what I was thinking, because my mind went blank as he raced over and wrapped me in his arms. The cruel world melted away for just a moment.
"I-I thought you were probably dead. Rin told me she had seen you, but that was days ago," he said, still not pulling away from the embrace.
"I heard about Rin and thought you may have been dead, too...I really am sorry about your sister. She was a good person, genuinely. At the graveyard, she was so kind."
"She was. Not many people saw that. Gakupo was a good man, too."
And here came the crying again. "Yeah, he was one of the best people in this entire city, I think."
"What's happened to us? What's happened to Toragay?"
Finally, I had to pull away. I came here for an important reason. "I think I know what's happened. At least, some of it. The disease infected the water supply. I didn't die, because my water is from a well just outside the city."
"Then, how did Gakupo die? Or Rin, or my parents?" This was the first time I had heard about his parents. "We have our own personal well in the courtyard."
"That's what I'm trying to figure out. There must be something else, something stronger. Gah, I don't know yet, but no matter what it is, we have to leave Toragay."
Len looked so sad, hearing the truth. This place was our home, our families' home, but it was time to go far away, where not a single person has died from this epidemic. "You're right," he replied. "You and me."
"And Yuka and Miku. They are still alive, last I heard."
"Of course."
"Okay, pack some money and whatever you want to keep. I have a strange feeling we don't have much time. Meet me at Yuka's bakery. I'll probably be there with Miku by the time you arrive," I directed.
"Be careful out there. Desperate people do desperate things."
"Thank you."
We looked at each other for a long time, not wanting to depart. Just in case that other factor of the illness I couldn't identify snagged me before I could see him again, I got rid of the space between us and gently kissed Len on the lips. Before he could say another word, I was out of the room, down the stairs, and out into the streets again.
A newspaper, the last printed newspaper from Toragay printers, blew past my feet as the sky took on a shade of burgundy. The front headlines read:
"What Doctor's Name 'Sloth's Disease' Threatens All Life in Toragay! Leave While You Still Can!"