He got up the next morning, and stayed in bed, looking up at the ceiling. He's sure he looked awful from the lack of sleep he endured.
"J'suis dans l'premier Mario. À chaque fois, j'crois qu'j'ai fini l'jeu, ça repart à zéro." What was that, French? It sounded like a song.
He wasn't going to question it. He was just going to sit there and accept he was hearing things.
"J'suis déjà fou, autant rester dans l'délire." . . . And now he was saying these things out loud. Since when could he speak French? Well, he wasn't fully understanding it, so maybe he was just repeating something he had heard before. But then how did he know it was even a language, much less French? Ugh, he hated his own mind right now. This was hell.
He laid down, maybe if he just stayed here nothing would bother him. Then he remembered the weirdness last night and decided it was better if he avoided another confrontation like that. He didn't want to know what would happen if he deviated in any way from what they wanted. He sat up and went straight to the bathroom, knowing what he was already going to do. As he took off his clothes, he was prepared to face the same scars that had shaken him yesterday. If anything, he was more prepared for it now.
Wait . . .
They're clean? He thought as he looked at his wrapped bandages. They looked fresh like they were wrapped yesterday.
"Is that it?" He said out loud, making eye contact with the person in the mirror. He stared down into his own dead-fish eyes, seeing some form of determination in them. "Time is moving, but they're acting like it's not. Is it something with them?"
It's not much, but it's proof I'm not crazy. Maybe. I can do this.
"J'craquerai pas." I won't give up.
He leaned over and grasped the edge of the sink, staring at himself in determination. Maybe it was time to start listening to the voices.
"Hachiman?" He heard. He looked over to see his sister had opened the bathroom door, looking at him worriedly. "You . . . weren't in your room." His sister said, visibly trying to calm herself down. Heh, right on schedule.
"I was just . . . getting adjusted, you know?" I can beat you.
"That's . . . good." She smiled at him. He couldn't see how cold it was before now. "I'm glad you're starting to feel better."
"Me too." He said, looking back at his reflection. "Is there any food?"
"Why are you staring at me?" He asked his sister as he sat in the back of the car. Again.
"Aren't you gonna ask where we're going?" I have a good bet.
"Where are we going?"
"The mall!" Shocker. "I had Yui-san call a bunch of onii-chan's friends over!"
"That's cool."
"25 . . . 12 . . . 16 . . ." I'm listening, let me just figure out some stuff first, jeez.
"Eh?! You should be more excited, onii-chan! They-"
"Took time off from studying for finals." He said, without missing a beat. Let's see how far I can push it.
His sister blinked, smile unwavering.
". . . Uh, right. Yeah, so at least give it a try, please?"
"Sure, no problem." As long as he acted the way he was expected too, he would be fine. He had a plan in place, too. Something simple, but it was a plan. Just to see where it got him. It couldn't be any worse than this. Or maybe it could. Oh well, he wasn't gonna sit idly by and let himself relive this thing over and over. He needed to get away from these people as soon as possible, somewhere far away.
His master plan was running away. He couldn't think of anything else, honestly.
I couldn't do it before, they would definitely hear if I tried to go out a window or the front door. I couldn't even grab a pair of clothes because I wouldn't have a good excuse for having it. Hm, oh, she's still talking.
"Yeah. And, Hachiman? While it might be a little weird at first, they do care about you, even if . . . some of them have a strange way of showing it."
What script are you reading from? And why are you calling me by my first name, did you forget your manners? Not that that's the biggest problem I have right now.
"If they're friends with me, no wonder they're strange," he joked. His sister rolled her eyes. Strange, that almost seemed natural on her.
"My brother sure is strange." She said. Huh, for some reason that seemed kind of tame. Oh well, we're almost there, so let's get this show going so I can get away from here. The first chance I get, I'm out of here.
He walked down and saw the same group from before. Everyone was doing the same thing as yesterday, but he wasn't surprised. It was pretty obvious why he wasn't. They were all acting like they were yesterday like they hadn't already done this. He mentally prepared himself for the onslaught of voices that was sure to come and drive him crazy. He didn't bother waiting for them to notice him this time since he wanted to talk with the gift to humanity that was Totsuka.
"Yo." He said, waving a hand up in greeting. At once everyone turned to him, looking excited.
"Hachiman!" "Hikki!" "Hikigaya!" A chorus of variations of his name was shouted out by almost everyone one of them as they hoarded around me, all excitedly trying to get my attention. Looking into their eyes, he saw nothing there. Like empty glass. Emotion could reach every other part of their face, but not their eyes. It was unsettling, to say the least. How did he miss this the first time? It didn't matter, right now he needed to find some way to get away from these people.
"How have you guys been?" He said, trying to play normal.
"We should be asking you that?!" Yuighama almost yelled, hugging him in a somehow close yet awkward way.
"I'm fine, don't worry about it," he waved it off, trying to appear as nonchalant as possible.
"Hikki . . ." She trailed off, looking at him with tears in her eyes, yet there was no shine to them. Oh my god, this is so fucking scary.
"Hachiman," the forbidden being that graced Hachiman with his presence said. You can't trick me, I know you only exist to try and keep me trapped here. You wouldn't so cute otherwise. "I'm so happy you're okay."
"Thanks, Totsuka-san." He said, returning the shorter boy's smile.
"Thank you all for coming!" Komachi said cheerily. "We'll leave him in your care for now!"
He waved at his parents and sister as they walked away. He watched them until they left through the front doors and got in the car. He turned to his friends, looking at their expecting faces.
"So, what now?"
". . . Um, a-are you hungry?" Totsuka stuttered. Stop trying to be cuter, it won't work on me. Whatever, I need to play along until I find an opening.
"As long as it's free," he joked. The group visibly relaxed, save Kawa . . . whatever her name was, who showed nothing and Haruno who just kept an amused gaze on him.
"Of course," Yukinoshita spoke up, surprising him. "Let's go then."
"Right."
As they walked to the food court, he looked around at the random people who were around him, who he had ignored last time. The first couple seemed normal enough, but after looking at about ten of them, he noticed something.
They all have the same face. Well, facial features, but that was the gist. There might be some variation of eye color, but other than that it was like carbon copy with everyone else. Completely unremarkable, so you wouldn't notice it unless you were actively studying them like he was. He prided himself on being able to see through people (for some reason), but he guessed there were things even he missed. It seemed the only people to have unique features were the ones he was supposed to be close to. Geez, this was hell, wasn't it? Was there even running away from this? Not like he could do much else.
"Here we are!" Yuighama yelled much louder than was necessary. Seriously, do you have no indoor voice? It was Saize again, no surprise there. Eh, Italian wasn't that bad, so he would endure it. But he still had to look for an opening of course. Escape was his number one priority right now. And he knew he didn't have to try that hard to satiate this crowd, as long as he acted "normal," he would be fine.
As they sat down, they went around the table and ordered everything they had the last time. Hachiman followed this example, not wanting to deviate until he found his opportunity to escape. The excited chatter of his "friends" around the table was unsettling because it was so . . . normal. He knew how scary they could be, so to see them acting so tame was nerve-wracking, to say the least. Like sitting next to a ticking bomb when you couldn't see the timer. If he wasn't already insane, the anxiety alone would drive him to it. Ugh, he wanted out of this immediately.
"So, Hachiman," Haruno spoke up, as she did last time, "How's your food?"
"It's good. The pasta's still a little dry though," he said, not caring how the pasta tasted.
"If it's that bad, you can have some of mine." She offered, tilting her plate to show him the contents. "I don't mind sharing," She gave a seductive wink.
"25 . . . 12 . . . 16 . . ."
"No thanks, I'm good." He said tonelessly. She chuckled at him.
"You never change, do you?" Nope, that's the whole point. And do you point that out every time?
"Senpai's still Senpai, after all," Isshiki said. Hachiman rolled his eyes.
"I gotta go to the bathroom." He said, standing up.
"Ew, don't tell us that. You're so weird." Isshiki said with mock disgust on her face.
"It's rude to insult someone who just got out of the hospital." He said unamused. Isshiki stuck her tongue out at him and gave a fake smirk, rolling his eyes for effect.
"Don't take too long, Hikki!" Yuighama called after him. I'll take how long I please.
"Perhaps you should accompany him so he doesn't get lost, Totsuka-san." And that was his cue to get out of there. Don't say something like that so lightly! He thought as he hurried away from the group.
As soon as he was in the bathroom, he sighed out loud. He hadn't even interacted with them that much this time and they drained him. If he ignored everything else that was going on, he would fell that this was supposed to be "normal." But, alas, he needed an escape, and fast. But how? Wait, "yesterday," Yukinoshita called him outside of the clothing store and then left him for a second. If he took advantage of that small sliver of free time, he could probably get enough distance to lose them for good. Seemed like a solid enough plan.
"Hachiman?" An angelic voice asked. He almost jumped and turned around to face Totsuka. Hachiman studied the face of Totsuka. There was a small light in his eyes that was missing from everyone else, which almost made him seem like a real person. The worried look on his face almost seemed genuine.
"Oh, did they actually make you follow me in here? That-" He was cut off when Totsuka put a single finger on his lips, staring intently at his face.
What the hell?! Now I know you know what you're doing! Ah, this is forbidden! My heart isn't ready!
Totsuka seemed oblivious to Hachiman's internal struggle, as the white-haired boy studied his face. Totsuka let his finger fall, looking at Hachiman with a serious face.
". . . Do you need help?" He asked. Hachiman broke out of his stupor and looked at the boy confused.
"Huh?"
"Do you need help?" . . . Just what in the hell are you talking about?!
" . . . Uh, I can go to the bathroom fine on my own, th-"
"Do you feel in danger?" He asked. Hachiman blinked. Shit, shit, shit, shit. He got so caught up in the moment he forgot where he was for a second. Shit, if Totsuka finds out what he was thinking, he was as good as dead.
"I, uh . . ."
"I can't help if you don't answer." Great, what the hell does that mean? This is some kind of trap, isn't it? What the hell do I do? What am I supposed to do here?!
"Uh . . . Uh . . ." Great, I can't even articulate properly right now. I can't really be that scared. But he was shaking, sweating profusely. Even though the boy in front of him was so much shorter, didn't even have a threatening appearance, every bone in his body was screaming at him to run as far away from him as possible.
"Are you scared of me, Hachiman?" Totsuka said, with a slight tone of hurt in his voice. It was overshadowed by Hachiman's panicking thoughts.
Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit.
"Uh . . . Uh . . ."
"You are, aren't you?" No emotion. He stated it as a fact even though it was phrased as a question, blankly staring into Hachiman's eyes. The baby blue somehow seemed to grow colder. "You're terrified. I can feel it. Like pulses that come from inside you. It's pounding around in our heads."
The boy glanced behind Hachiman, then back to him.
"Do you want to be free? Or are you too scared to ask? This is the only time I'll ever offer you anything. If you refuse . . ."
Hachiman didn't have to hear the rest to know what the other boy was going to say. You'll stay here. Forever. Is this really the only way out?
". . . will . . ." the white-haired boy leaned closer so that their noses were almost touching. Staring deep into his eyes, with only the slightest hint of light behind them. If it was anyone else, Hachiman was sure that if it was anyone else that he would be too terrified to answer, but he saw . . . some semblance of life in this boy. ". . . can you help me?"
Totsuka backed up and smiled. It looked like the boy was genuinely happy, yet there was worry there, too.
"Yes. But first, can you promise me something?"
". . . Y-Yeah."
"When you leave . . . please don't let us die."
What the hell did he mean by that? Hachiman thought as he ran through the streets of "Chiba." Totsuka's help was lifting Hachiman up through the ceiling, where he had found his way to the security room just behind the bathroom in Saize (for some reason) and made his way outside. Totsuka had said; "Just get out of town. You'll know what to do from there." Which, he had to be honest, wasn't the most helpful advice. His pessimistic side popped up as he ran, and he started doubting himself.
What if this is a trap? What if I'm just being toyed with? Well, I suppose it doesn't matter. What other options do I have? The bridge is the only way out of town, I guess I can try heading that way.
As he ran, he noticed that no one was paying any attention to him. It seemed like they were completely oblivious to anything, really. He ran past, even yelled at one as he almost bumped into them. Yet they didn't react, didn't even so much as glance at the boy running for his life. That was fine, at least there wasn't an angry mob chasing him or a "good Samaritan." It did, however, convince him that something was wrong with this place.
I thought it was just them, but there's something off about everyone here. What kind of place is this?
He turned down an alleyway as a car that looked suspiciously like his parents drove by. It probably wasn't, but he wasn't taking the chance that it might be. He came out on the other side, past a building that had steps that would have led to a door, but there were no openings at all. Not even windows, just a structure of four brick walls.
That seems like a strange architecture choice, but okay.
He continued on his way, and he slowly noticed something was horribly wrong with everything around him. The people didn't change, but the scenery became more and more twisted. He stopped out of pure shock when he saw what looked like a floating building. It wasn't up much, maybe a foot off the ground, but underneath it was nothing. No kind of support or structure, just air.
"What the hell's going on?" He wondered out loud. He shook it off and kept running. He decided to block out all the things going on around him so that he could just keep moving forward.
Even after the one guy walked straight through a door without opening it.
Even after he saw a floating tree that grew upside down, roots reaching out to the sky while the leaves barely scraped the ground. It seemed the farther he ran, the more messed up reality became around him. So it's not just the people that are wrong, it's everything. That's really depressing.
Well, at least it was a little proof that he wasn't crazy. Kind of. Ugh, this sucked.
He saw the bridge that led out of town over the horizon, and he felt a little hopeful. He came to a roadblock, of sorts. A building was tilted at a 45-degree angle, a large chunk of it seemingly buried in the ground, just coming up halfway across the road. He turned to the left, looking to go down the alley. As he turned, he slammed into something that felt like a wall. He fell on his ass, clutching his nose as it throbbed.
"Shit! What-" He looked up and saw a girl. It was one of the "normal" ones, but it was like she was . . . glitching through reality. It started with her moving as if she had been pushed, and as soon as she was about to touch the ground, in an instant she was back in a standing position before falling again. The sound of a scream drowned in static was coming from her. Hachiman crawled back quickly in fear, but she did not change her movement nor her position.
He sat, staring at the freakish scene for a moment. As soon as he rested, the reality of his situation started to sink in.
The reality that he was absolutely clueless.
. . . what the fuck? What the fuck? What the fuck?
He stood up before his freaking out could get any worse, but as he turned to run in the opposite direction, he saw that all eyes were on him. He froze as a crowd of identical faces all were facing towards him. He felt his heart pound in his ears and his body shook as dozens of glassy orbs bore into him. There was no anger, no hate, no hostility. There was nothing. There was in-humanness. Something's not right.
The crowd of human figures took one synchronized silent step towards him.
He turned and ran.
The warped reality seemed to close in on him, as the citizens of this place all stared him down as he ran. He was panting as he ran, a mix of the physical labor and the amount of fear just billowing through his entire self. He had no idea that this existed out here. Where reality seemed to fall into itself, creating things that shouldn't be there, doing things it shouldn't do. Buildings moved back and forth, mailboxes spun in place like weather vanes, doors rapidly opened and closed on their own.
He turned a corner and could finally see the bridge across the street. He sprinted at full speed towards it, shoving past the people that felt like concrete. They did not move to stop him, they just stared.
Further down the bridge, he could see a green mist that covered the rest of it, blocking his vision. It rose up in an impenetrable wall, going on forever in either direction. He did not think about that, he just focused on getting past it. As he got closer to the mist, he slowed, studying the strange looking . . . thing.
There seemed to be floating numbers in there, as bizarre as that was. Ones and zeroes, floating up and down in columns, blinking in and out of existence rapidly. He stopped moving just a few inches short of it, staring at the numbers as they moved in front of him. He reached a hand out, touching the mist. Despite appearances, it was solid. It was cold like glass, and vibrated under his touch. He put a little pressure on his hand, but there was no change to the mist. He pushed a little harder. No change. He put his other hand out in front of him and pushed hard against it. No change. He leaned a little to gain leverage against it, pushing as hard as he could. No change. Out of sheer frustration, he slapped it with both hands. No change. He started shoving at it, pushing himself back a few inches each time as he tried to force his way into it.
Soon he had broken down completely, punching the "mist" with one fist as tears streamed down his face. His knuckles were bleeding, but he did not stop. Only when he felt that his hand could not take any more did he fall to his knees in defeat.
Fuck. What the fuck. What the fuck.
"25 . . . 12 . . . 16 . . ." Those . . . those fucking numbers again. He was sick of hearing them. He was sick of hearing things.
Just shut up already.
"25 . . . 12 . . . 16 . . ."
. . .
"25 . . . 12 . . . 16 . . ."
". . ."
"25 . . . 12 . . . 16 . . ."
". . . shut up."
"25 . . . 12 . . . 16 . . ."
"Shut up."
"25 . . . 12 . . . 16 . . ."
"Shut up!"
"25 . . . 12 . . . 16 . . ."
"SHUT UP!"
"25 . . . 12 . . . 16 . . ."
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" He grabbed both his ears, squeezing his head as if that would drown out that cold voice inside.
"25 . . . 12 . . . 16 . . ."
"JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP!" He folded in on himself, squeezing his eyes shut and grasping his head. "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"
"25 . . . 12 . . . 16 . . ."
I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy.
"25 . . . 12 . . . 16 . . ."
"I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy."
"Onii-chan?"
Everything stopped.
His thoughts stopped.
His heart stopped.
The voice stopped.
He hesitantly turned his head over and up, looking at the figure of his "little sister." She looked down at him with a face of worry, but there was nothing behind those eyes of hers. Just emptiness, a void, an abyss.
"Why are you crying?"
". . ."
"Are you scared, onii-chan?" She gave what was supposed to be a comforting smile, but to him it seemed so much more sinister. "You really worried all of us, you know? Come on, everyone's waiting for you."
". . ."
"Onii-chan? What's wrong? Are you sad? You don't have to be sad, not here. We can keep you happy. All you have to do is come back." There was no change to her face. After all, there was no emotion there.
". . ." She tilted her head, as if something had peaked her curiosity.
"Why are you so stubborn, onii-chan?" That same robotic voice that had haunted him last night.
". . . don't . . . don't call me that . . ." He got out weakly. She blinked at him, confused. ". . . you're not . . . we're not siblings . . ."
"Oh?" She smiled. It felt like death.
". . . get away from me . . ."
"I just want what's best for my onii-chan. Why are you torturing yourself like this? You already know you can't leave."
He stared at this thing that was looking down at him. It had all the cards. It had power over him, just like last night when he . . .
When he said the numbers.
"25." He blurted out.
". . . What?" She lost the robotic voice, blinking and stepping back.
"12." It was working, somehow. Something about those numbers scared her.
"Stop. Please, don't say anything else." She looks horrified.
"16."
". . ."
". . ."
". . . Why would you say that?"
". . ."
"WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT?!"
". . ."
"WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT?!"
Everything went black.
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Terminating Program
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Terminating Stasis
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Activating Protocol 33-B
Requesting a possible Manual Override from Level 2 security clearance or above.
Manual Overide? Yes/No
10
9
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1
No input detected
No personnel detected
Commencing default Protocol 100-C
Waking SCP-[REDACTED]
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"Welcome back, Mr. Hikigaya."
French parts used from the song "San" by Orelsan
Translations
"J'suis dans l'premier Mario. À chaque fois, j'crois qu'j'ai fini l'jeu, ça repart à zéro." - I'm in the first Mario. Every time, I think I've finished the game, it starts from scratch.
"J'suis déjà fou, autant rester dans l'délire." - I'm already crazy, staying in delirium.
"J'craquerai pas." - I will not crack.