Chapter 14 Ayano Aishi: An almost sleep-over and a bad nightmare.

Well… things had escalated quickly. First of all the ritual had succeeded. It felt so nice to succeed. I had felt real happiness for the first time in my life! I could feel the colours of the world like never ever before.

Then that teacher went into the room, saw Maigo chan, got startled and left. I did not know what to do and started thinking. Then Maigo chan said we should go to her parents quickly to get advice from them on what to do next. Good idea and we went through the school to get out.

Unfortunately once we got halfway through the school there was a mob of people blocking the way. That was really annoying, how would we be able to get out? We hadn't thought about what would happen once the ritual succeeded, because we were too focused on the ritual itself. So what excuses could we tell the people if they asked what had happened ? Maigo chan and Homu chan don't want other people to know that Maigo chan has a robot body after all. Maigo chan wants to live a normal life, without getting ridiculed or bullied. I can understand that very well, after all not drawing attention is what I have done my entire life and being in the spotlight of people other than my family or friends too much had made me uncomfortable, it made me feel like I was in danger.

We were sent into the counsellors office and as I had anticipated the counsellor recognized Maigo chan and was confused. How great. Now we would really need a good explanation for all of this.

The counsellor was angry and told us that the explosion had been noticed by the entire high school. That was much worse than I had thought.

I apologized to the counsellor, but it did not work out and he wanted to suspend us for a few weeks. Crap!

Then the Kurusu Parents came to our rescue. That was good. Maigo chan told them about what we had done and what had happened and I told them how I got the idea to do it. After all, Astro boy is a really fascinating story.

I noticed that the Kurusu sisters were really uneasy during the car ride. Oh right they were in a car accident. Guess that makes one uneasy. Hmm… why am I uneasy when I read about violence?

I did not think about it much further because we got to the Kurusu home. It was a nice high tech house with a pretty garden. They even have a robotic dog!

Then the Kurusu parents made dinner and we celebrated. Maigo chan´s body is really good and she can even eat food almost normally.

It was such a happy an carefree time we had, and I did not feel any heaviness or tightness in my body, and the emptiness and numbness were less noticeable.

Then the Kurusu sisters remembered that we needed an excuse for Maigo chan´s sudden reappearance.

I thought about it and suddenly remembered a book about paranormal phenomena. There was the Ichiko syndrome, that is when many people share the same false memory. We will just chalk it up to the Ichiko syndrome and hope that people buy this excuse and don´t press further on that matter.

Everything was in order, or so I thought.

Suddenly my phone rang. Fuck! With so much going on I had forgotten to tell my parents! Mother would be really angry with me!

I told my parents that I saved a student form an explosion and got invited to their family and just forgot to tell them. Mother was disappointed and scolded me. My parents would come and pick me up with their car. Why is this so painful…I wanted to stay with the Kurusu family…this is feeling is called disappointment. A tightening and painful feeling of having ones anticipations crushed…

Feeling more emotions might sound nice at first, but as you can see that is not always the case. I think that by being around people I will gradually unlock my emotions. The Aishi curse may be real, but I will probably circumvent it to a degree.

But before my parents came I still had some time, and after dinner I got to see the Kurusu hose. I really liked the rooms of the Kurusu sisters, they had many interesting books and robots and stuff.

Then my parents came. My mother berated me again for not telling her about what had happened and I felt the world go grey and dull again. I was feeling numb and just apologized again. Father consoled me, I did the right thing, but needed to remember to call them if something happened.

Then my parents were offered some food and took it, and then we departed home. When I sat in the car on the way back home I noticed how dull the wold felt again now. Was there some connection between the numbness and my family?

The I remembered a thought, which I really hated with all my might and which had bothered me, since the time I realized that I lacked most emotions.

"Something is wrong with me.

Something is wrong with my family

Something is wrong with Moth-"

Stop. Thinking about it will do no good. Think about something else. Chemical formulas, Robot hands, the purring Kitten, Rocket candy, Midori chan´s annoying questions, Kuu chans calm demeanour beneath which there were emotions and the smile of the Kurusu sisters as they hugged me.

Then mother tuned her head around and I almost jumped in my seat.

I lowered my head and ducked down. Why did I feel so afraid that moment?

Mother scolded me for making friends and that I should focus more on my studies. But making friends helped me study better, and mom would not believe me. So I can't say anything really…

Father objected and told mother to leave me alone and she glared at him again.

Anyways we go home and thankfully my parents did not bother me anymore, I could not have taken it anymore and would have tried to flee.

Mother took Father into that damn basement again, and I hate-

Forget it, I can´t do anything. Father, I hope you are alright….

That night sleep came quickly but my dreams were uneasy.

I saw a version of myself that looked so much like mother and smiled at me with the same intimidating smile she always had if she disliked something. Also the upper part of the face was darkened and her eyes were dull, they lacked any visible pupils and I was scared of her. She even had a bloody knife and bloodstained clothes! Also she twitched in such an eerie manner!

I wanted to go away so badly, but my feet wouldn´t move. The scary version of myself came closer and said with a cruel, cold, hard, stony and unfeeling voice " Don't disappoint your family and your mother! An Aishi doesn't care for other people! An Aishi doesn't make real friends, only befriends people to exploit an use them! Don´t see your father as a person, he is just a pet for mother to feel alive!

You should act like a true Aishi! Remember the lessons of mother so you can use them to get your senpai in the future! You will need your senpai. Don't shame our family!"

For some reason I felt a wave of a new emotion washing over me as she talked. It was an intense constricting and burning feeling that made me want to move and hurt that stupid, insultingly abominable dream version of me so much! It was more than frustration or disappointment…. Oh this is Anger. Anger. I read lots about anger and how it make you want to hurt people. Creepy. No …this is not just anger. It is rage, and fury. I wanted to hurt that bad person over there so much!

My voice was loud and harsh and carried all the hate, all the resentment, all the disgust and anger and fury which had been buried so deep in my subconscious before. I never tough my voice could carry so much emotion and so much venom.

"WHY ARE YOU HERE, SCUM? DOU YOU WANT TO TAUNT ME? DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHO I REALLY AM? I. AM. A. HUMAN! I CARE FOR MY FAMILY, I CARE FOR MY FRIENDS AND I CARE FOR MY FATHER. IF YOU EVER CALL HIM A PET OT UTENSIL AGAIN I. WILL. END. YOU! I Know WHAT you are! I know WHO you are!

SCUM. ABOMINATION. Psychopath. MONSTER. YOU MURDERER!

I LOATHE YOU! I LOATHE YOU SO UTTERLY!

You are a despicable Abomination that only exists for a purpose. I only tolerate your existence my mind for one reason. I need to appease Mother.

But if it was my personal decision alone, I would erase you totally and utterly and without hesitation from my mind.

DON'T. EVER. TRY. ANYTHING. STUDID.

IF YOU DO, YOU WILL PERISH!"

It seemed to have had an effect because the Monster looked scared and was backing of from me.

However I woke up roaring in fury. The fury died down immediately and I felt numb again, but my parents must have heard me roaring.

Father got to me first and looked to me in concern. "Ayano, what happened? Did you hurt yourself?" I rubbed my eyes and groaned. "It is n-nothing. J-just a Nightmare. I can´t remember much of it anymore now. A m-monster threatened me … with a knife and insulted my family. It called you … an utensil for mother... I got … angry … and told it to go to hell and I woke up. I don't exactly remember what I told it anymore, I think but I was angry."

Father looked surprised and worried. "Ayano, that is very concerning. If you have trouble you can always ask me for help. Please tell me if you experience something like this again.

"Thanks dad, will do."

By now the monst- no… just mother had come in. I startled and hugged dad.

"Ayano my dear, what happened?" she asked in her sickly sweet tone.

I looked down and clutched onto dad. "J-just a n-nightmare, mom"

"Ayano, you don´t need to be scared. We are safe. If you want, I can teach you self-defence"

"That sounds great, mom. I think I want it."

I had trouble falling asleep again, and when I woke up the next day I barely remembered the nightmare. I felt the weird urge to untie my ponytail, but I ignored it.

At school I saw that the ritual had almost destroyed all the energy stores we had used and we were very lucky that it hadn´t failed.

We carried the garbage from the destroyed materials away and Maigo chan asked me if I was okay, I said yes.

In the evening I saw that some student were selling newspapers.

A Headline caught my eyes: "Mysterious Explosion a an Highschool. Ichiko Syndrome involved?"

Hmph media attention is the last thing we need right now. I decided to buy the newspaper and showed it to the Kurusu sisters. Oh these two have really grown on me, they feel like family, and I will protect them with all my might.

We read the article.

"At 4:16 PM an explosion rocked [….] Highschool. Witnesses reported at bright flash of light that descended from the cloudless sky and struck the […]wing, and a loud explosion noise.

One report came from an elderly resident near the school. "I was tending to my garden when it happened. I saw a flash of light and heard an explosion coming from the school. I do not know what it exactly was but the sky was clear. I thought that maybe the science club of the school had gone too far in one of their experiments. Today's youth... Good that the school didn´t catch fire"

[…], one of the students who was outside at the sports area and was playing volleyball at the time describes the incident in an interview. "There were no clouds. The sky was blue, and when I was looking up I saw what looked like thick white lightning coming out of nowhere and striking one of the top rooms of the school with a loud boom. It came literally out of the blue. I was scared and wanted to run away. I thought she school would catch fire but it didn´t. My friends wanted me to go with them and investigate the matter. I was against it but did not want them to go alone so I went with them. When we were in the hallways, we saw a huge crowd of people. I could not see what was going on but three students were being sent to the counsellors office. We then went to the room where it happened and saw charred remains of something in an otherwise intact room. Then we went there the next day the remains were already cleaned up."

"Can you describe those remains to us?"

"Well… the rooms walls were almost pristine…clean…unburned, but there was ash and glass everywhere and what looked like burned bottles for chemicals. I can´t tell for sure what it really was but at least that´s what I think."

Allegedly only two students had entered the room where the explosion struck, but later three student left it.

They were sent to the schools guidance counsellor, and then left school.

The third student that suddenly appeared had allegedly died in a car accident several months prior, but was now walking the hallways alive and well. The school claims that the Ichiko syndrome was involved. The Ichiko syndrome is named after Ichiko Saikou […]

Whatever happened there still remains a mystery. Had these students conducted secret experiments? Was it all just an accident? Did they invoke supernatural powers to help them for secret plans?

All the clues indicate that it was an explosive experiment that went too far, but with the mysterious reappearance of a student, who was presumed dead, we don't know for sure.

Stay tuned for next week's update, we will present you the newest information regarding this mysterious case, for now the investigations are still ongoing."

We really weren't subtle enough with our ritual. I hope they don´t expose us.

We had luck. The next weeks newspaper talked about how it was probably a chemical experiment gone too far, and had an interesting article about the Ichiko syndrome, it talked about Ichiko a bit but then described some logos that were misremembered and how Pikachu's tail was once black and not just the tip of its ears. People tend to mix up such little details at times.

All in all we got off well, considering the attention the ritual had attracted. I doubt I will try something like this in my life ever again, to be honest. It is just too risky and difficult to pull off.

Also there were also a few unsolved murder cases somewhere in our and some neighbouring areas. Good thing I started self-defence training with mother, I don't want to be helpless if someone attacked me. Mother also taught me how to sneak. I told father about it and said that the training is useful to protect people and he agreed.

I did not have any more of those weird nightmares.

All in all things were calming down, but now I would have to improve my already good grades a bit in order to be able to study at Akademi. Mother wants me to study there and I think this is good.

It was easy, as I dedicated most of my time for studying. But I never forgot to spent some time with the Kurusu sisters, we built some more robot replacement body parts, and I also met Kuu Dere and Midori Gurin at times.

Ugh, when I get to Akademi, they will not be there with me, because I am a year senior to them.

I am their Senpai and they are my Kohais. I think I took good care of them and I will hopefully see them again when I'm at my second year at Akademi.

The graduation ceremony was something and now a new chapter in my life will begin. Only time will tell if it will be for the better or the worse. I have a feeling like there will be a lot for me in store…considering that mother met father at Akademi. Will getting a senpai fix me? Or will it have the opposite effect? Or will something else entirely happen?