Chapter 23: Drifting
Hiro had finally gotten away from all of the horrible things chasing her...
Where was she...?
Who was she? Hiro had no clue, she just knew she was scared.
"Hiro..." She said.
"Is that my name?"
She shook her head. "No, that's his friend's name. He thought I was her, but I didn't know him..."
She looked up at the sky. "What is my name anyway?"
"It's Hiro." Said a man's voice.
She turned around, and saw a ghost.
"Okay! No no no! You're not real! Go away."
"Yes I am." He said. "And I won't go away."
She grabbed her head. "I must be crazy... Yeah, that's it! Damn... What the hell!? Being crazy won't help me with anything!"
He phased in front of her. "Hiro. Listen to me... Don't run from them."
She backed away. "What are you!? The devil on my shoulder!? Where's the fucking ANGEL THEN!?"
She ran, and he phased in front of her again.
"Okay, hold on." He said.
"I can see this isn't working, um... I can help you... Find your home?"
She scoffed. "Oh, you so full of shit!"
He shook his head. "Fine then, but I'm not going away."
She rolled her eyes. "Oh my GAAAAAWWWD! REALLY!?...Well, It's not like I can poof you away... Fine Mr. Hallucination, but I'm going to ignore you."
He slapped his ghostly palm to his face.
"Oh joy... This isn't going to be any picnic, is it?"
She continued to wander, ignoring the spirit as well as she could.
"So..." He tried. "Do you know where you're going?"
She was silent.
"Are you thirsty...? Hungry?"
"Stop talking." She said.
He sighed. "Okay then..."
What was he supposed to do? It's not like he could make good conversation with someone who had no memories. She had nothing to draw from...
Her stomach growled.
"You're hungry then?" He asked.
She turned to him, and rolled her eyes.
"Yes, Mr. Hallucination! I'm hungry... What of it?"
He hung his head, and pointed at some plants growing in a patch of grass.
"Those are edible." He said. "If you're hungry, those should do for now."
She made a disgusted face.
"You expect me to eat those? They look nasty, are you trying to kill me!?"
He found himself rolling his eyes.
"Oh my god... really!? They won't kill you. We're not exactly near some fine restaurants, so that's what's there. Your choice."
She sighed, and walked over to the plants. They were like green stems growing out of the ground.
"Pull them from the root." He said. "They're green onions."
She made a face. "Okay then..."
She pulled one from the root, and it was white at the bottom.
She looked confused.
"These!? These are onions!? It looks like weird grass to me..."
He groaned with annoyance.
"Are you going to eat it or not!? They're 'green' onions. There's a difference..."
She sighed. "Fine..." She put one in her mouth, chewed...
Then she gagged, and spit it out.
"Ackhck! Ughghh! No! That's awful! Isn't there anything else!?"
He threw his hands up.
"Fine! If you want to starve, that's your choice. I'm done trying to convince you!"
She folded her arms. "Great, Mr. Hallucination... Why do you have to be such an asshat about it!?"
"Hey!" He yelled. "You have quite the mouth for such a 'delicate lady'. At least that's the way you're acting. My name's Junichi, so stop calling me 'Mr. Hallucination'. It's rude."
She glared at him. "Fine, Junichi. What ist there to eateth? Rather than this rubbish? A.K.A, garbageth!? Is that better?"
She stifled a laugh.
"That sounded really stupid." He said. "And you didn't even say any of it right..."
A note pad and a pen floated out of her pack, landing in front of her.
He grinned. "You should say: Thou would'st not fie upon me. Forsooth, I shall chide thee. Prithee, let thy tongue not hold a privy."
She gaped as the notepad opened, and the pen wrote down what he'd said on the top of the paper. Black lines appeared on all of the pages.
"Now, I want you to write down that sentence on one line at a time, five hundred times."
She gaped in protest. "Wha!? No way! I will NOT write five HUNDRED SENTENCES! That's... That's RIDICULOUS!"
Her stomach growled.
"I'll get you some actual food when you finish." He smiled.
She sighed, and rolled her eyes.
"You're such an asshole, I hope you know..."
"Do you want to make it a thousand?" He asked with mock politeness.
"I can wait, it's not I'll drop dead on you!"
"Haha very funny..." She muttered.
"Don't forget to number them." He added.
"Yeah yeah..." She groaned.
She was 207 sentences in, and it was getting dark. She was still hungry, and her hands were hurting...
"Can I please stop now!?" She begged. "I've written, like, two hundred of these!"
He smiled. "Feel free to take your time, but it won't get you fed any faster..."
She looked down. "Okay... I'll finish."
She continued to write, her hands aching.
She started to mouth the words...
"Thou would'st not... Forsooth... chide thee. Prithee... Not hold a privy..."
She was writing, as if she were in a trance.
He noticed how fast she was writing now.
"That's... That's 1500." She said.
He gaped. "Oh... Why did you do that!? You only had to do five hundred."
She looked at him tiredly, and smiled. "I guess you are real..."
She flipped through the pages, and showed him the sentences. They were all written perfectly.
"I hope that's a good enough apology."
She said.
She fell asleep, and Junichi remembered...
She didn't remember Kaihn.
I'd better do SOMETHING this time. Mentally, she's completely defenseless, and he could really hurt her.