-Sunday 26th May, 2015: MiddaySaya Ueno: Ueno ResidenceTick. Tock. Tick. Tock.Tick...The monotonous sound of the clock hand clicking past each number filled the barren silence that consumed the young teenage girl as she sat in front of her desk, eyes gazing vacantly out of her window. An ugly purple bruise had blossomed on her right cheek, and red bags appeared under her eyes from excessive rubbing and lack of rest.
It had been five days since Leiko had gone missing.
Saya did what she could. She really did. She was found unconscious in a back alley by a neighbour and taken straight to hospital where she had stayed for three days. The police had interviewed her, and she tried to recount the incident as best she could. She'd estimated at least ten people had surrounded them that night, and they were all wearing strange robes. She couldn't see their faces, couldn't hear their voices or understand their intentions. They attacked her, left her for dead and taken Leiko somewhere. That was all she knew.
She could tell the police were disappointed with the amount of information she had to give, but their dissatisfaction was nothing compared to how she felt. She kept reliving the moment over and over in her head, kept seeing the look of horror and fear in Leiko's eyes before everything went dark...
"Dammit!" Why couldn't she remember? Why did she have to be such a useless, worthless piece of-
"Saya? Honey?" Her mother's concerned voice sounded from behind her close door, trepidation clearly evident in her tone. Everyone had been treating Saya like she was some kind of broken vase since she was discharged from the hospital. One touch and she would shatter. Maybe they were right.
"I'm fine. Sorry." Saya's response in turn was hollowed and lifeless, so different to the usual boundless energy she carried about her. She felt utterly helpless. Her best friend, the one who had dragged her from that dark part of her life...was gone.
And more than anything...she had felt
relieved.Relieved that at least it wasn't her.
Her stomach started to churn again, reminding her that she needed to eat, but she ignored the sharp pains in her abdomen and glanced over her modest amount of 'Get Well Soon' cards with a look of guilt. Quite a few of her friends had visited her in the hospital, but she couldn't look any of them in the eye. After all...it was her fault that Leiko was gone.
She heard her mother sigh softly from the crack of her door before leaving, which prompted Saya to slink back to her bed in a half-hearted attempt to fall asleep. It wasn't like she was in the mood to go out and do anything for Golden Week anyway. What was the point, knowing that Hama-chan was still missing?
"Please...please be okay..." Her prayers were hoarse and laced with doubt, but the will in her heart was as hard as granite. Leiko was the strongest person she knew. She
had to come back. She needed her. They all did.
As Saya's head flopped back against the pillow, a streak of yellow caught her eye. Blinking a bit, the girl reached over and fished her phone from the crevice in between the bed and the wall, before looking down at the strap dangling from the device. The name 'Leiko' had been embroidered into the fabric, along with the phrase 'Best Friends' adorned on the other side.
It was the last thing Saya had given her. And it was so
childish. How could she even dare to call herself her best friend, when she failed to save her? What good was she, holed up in her den, watching the days pass as her friend's life hung so delicately in the balance?
Saya was never one to give up without a fight. Leiko had always made fun of that aspect of Saya's personality, calling her foolish or naive.
And she wasn't going to give up now. Not on her.
"Hang in there Hama-chan...", she whispered, thumbing the phone strap fondly before reaching for her coat and looking once more towards the window.
This time, she was going to be there for Leiko, no matter what.
Leiko Hamada: ???? It smelled...nice. That was the first sensation Leiko was aware of as her eyes started to flutter open, the smell of earth and pollen drifting through her nose. Her vision was still hazy from her slumber, but as her head started to lift up from the flowerbed, she became more acutely aware of the sprouting bulbs and sprawling roots at her feet. She was in...a forest? But it was too...
breathtaking to be the same woods near Warakuma. Too full of life and colour and vastless beauty...
Leiko shook her head to dispel the cobwebs in her own mind and reminded herself of her situation. She had been attacked by those strange hooded figures, she had seen them strike Saya down and then-
"Saya!" Leiko cried out as she suddenly remembered her friend suffer a painful blow from one of those figures, the memory prompting her to look around wildly for any sign of her closest friend, but all she was greeted with was an endlessly dense thicket of trees from all directions.
Wherever she was, it seemed that Leiko was a long way from Warakuma.
"Hello?" Leiko called out to the unsettling silence of the woods, her voice echoing aloft amongst the trees. No response. Perfect. So she had been dumped in some strange woodlands, with no sight of her friends or any other kind of life. Well, maybe there was a small blessing in that fact. At least the perpetrators weren't in sight, and she appeared to be in one piece.
"I need to get out of here...", Leiko whispered to herself, unease creeping in at her predicament as she took a step out of the flowerbed that had cradled her. She didn't know why, but there was something unsettling about this place, beneath the tranquility and delicate beauty. Was it because she was alone? Scared?
No, of
course not. She'd find her way back, and then she would report straight to the police. She would find Saya, and then she would make sure those guys
paid...First things first. Would she get reception here? Her hand slid down to her breast pocket to find her phone, but a quiet, strong voice stopped her immediately in her tracks.
"Swift as a shadow, short as any dream..."Leiko recognised the words instantly. How could she not, when she picked the very same Shakespearean verse for auditions that year? But what really caught her attention was the voice who spoke them. The delivery of the words were strange, almost...detached and lonesome, like a lament. And that voice...was
hers.Leiko could feel her eyes widen at the recognition, her body trembling from the shock of hearing her own inflections as the voice continued to perform. Who was that? Was someone pulling a trick on her?
There was only one way to find out. Sensible plans of escape long forgotten, Leiko gave chase into the thicket, leaves and branches snapping under her heels as she listened fervently for the voice that mirrored her own. She could feel the brambles snag at her sweater and cobwebs tangle in her hair, but she didn't stop. And the voice grew ever clearer until-
"
So quick bright things come to confusion..."The smell of rot reached Leiko's nose as she stepped into a clearing, decay and barren waste laying at her feet. This place was different to the rest of the woods, so disjointed and repulsive. Leiko wanted more than anything to turn heel and return to the flowing rivers and flowers and bountiful nature. Not...this.
What changed her mind however, was the sight of a regal figure, sitting crosslegged on a throne of gnarled branches and twigs. Her hair was long , cascading in caramel rivelets down past her shoulders, and a wreath of flowers crowned her head. Her fingers were long and elegant, every curve a mark of feminine perfection. Only her pointed, elven ears and golden eyes betrayed that the woman before her was far from human.
What truly caused Leiko to balk was the most noticeable feature of all.
"
Hello, Leiko. Or rather, me?" The woman laughed unsettlingly, Leiko's face frozen into a look of utter disbelief and horror.
" How foolish to greet oneself so openly. Did you enjoy my soliloquy?"Leiko's scream was loud enough to rumble through the earth, drowned only by the crackling laughter of the creature before her.
