Awakening

Aiko slowly woke up and opened her eyes, but found she was not lying in her bed. Instead, it was an old sofa.

Looking around, the place was actually spacious but filled up with old furniture. Across the hall, there’s a single energy-saving lamp that illuminated the place.

‘Where is this place? Why am I not at home?’ Aiko rubbed her eyes to make sure she was not dreaming.

After a while, Aiko completely woke up. When she discovered that she was alone in the entire hall, she began to feel afraid.

She thought to look at the window over the side. So, barefooted, she gingerly walked to the window.

Looking out at the already broken in half glass, the outside was dark, and she couldn’t see anything.

When she was confused about what to do, all of a sudden, the energy-saving lamp dimmed, shined, and then quickly went dark.

In the alternating between dark and light, she heard slow footsteps on the stairs.

—-

“Who are you?”

“Fool, I am Kazumi.” A dark figure replied.

“Why don’t you turn on the light? This almost made me scare to death. This late at night, why haven’t you sleep yet?” Rumi said, patting her chest.

“Then why don’t you go to bed?” Kazumi stood up and stretched out.

“I’m a bit thirsty and went to get a glass of water. Can’t you sleep?” Rumi sat down next to her.

“I’m like you, a little thirsty wanting to drink, and then conveniently sit here.” Kazumi thought that she definitely won’t let Rumi know about Masashi going out in the middle of the night, lest she worried.

“So it turns out to be like this.” Rumi, like a cat, put her head on Kazumi’s shoulder.

Kazumi smiled and fondly stroked her hair.

“Kazumi, recently I feel somewhat not normal.”

“Tell me about it.”

“You must promise me not to tell senpai ok.” Rumi raised her head and looked at Kazumi’s face carefully.

“Fine, I promise you.” Kazumi nodded her head.

Rumi leaned and whispered close to her ear. Without hearing the full story, Kazumi could not help but smile.

“Why are you like this, I’m being serious. What’s so funny?” Rumi resentfully pouted.

“You really told this to the school doctor?” Kazumi stopped her smile and asked in amazement.

“Of course, since my body is feeling ill, I naturally seek out a doctor.”

Seeing her matter-of-factness expression, Kazumi found it too funny and can’t help but smile again.

“Little fool, this really suit you. Don’t tell me before this you never like a boy?”

“There was. During my stay in Hokkaido, I liked to play with the boys in my neighborhood. I used to play baseball with them, and go fishing in the summer.” Remembering the amusing memories in the past, Rumi could not help but smile.

Kazumi then remembered, when Rumi was still a very small child, her mother died of illness. After growing up a little bit, she followed her grandfather to assiduously practice Kendo. Before coming to Tokyo, not to mention entertainment, even TV was rarely seen by her. Therefore, after living here, her favorite pastime is watching TV. Moreover, in her family’s Kendo hall, all the people there were either older uncle or an adult. These people would usually treat her as if she was a boy. Growing up in this environment, Rumi never had any experience in this area. Except for her growing body, in terms of psychological development, she was basically a child.

“Kazumi, I don’t have any problem do I? Otherwise, why would every time senpai look at me, my body would feel hot? Sometimes, when he touched my head like what you just did, I would feel that my heart starts to beat fast. I never had this kind of feelings before.”

Kazumi put an arm around her waist, “Fool, when you really care about someone, you will have these feelings. This is very normal.”

“But why I did not feel that way toward you? I only have these feelings when faced with senpai.”

“This is certainly different.” Kazumi did not know how to explain.

“Why is it different?” The girl looked at her wide-eyed and confused.

“Ai, come on just tell me?” Kazumi was helpless.

While these two girls were chatting with ease, another girl, Aiko, was facing the biggest fear of her life.

—-

After hearing the footsteps on the stairs, her first reaction was to immediately flee from this place. When she was about to put her intention into action, she was surprised to find out that her feet were totally unable to move.

Not only that, she discovered in fear that, besides her head, she is unable to move her whole body. Even such a simple movement like slightly moving her finger can not be achieved.

It was as if her body was not her own.

She wanted to scream, but the footsteps on the stairs were more and more clearly heard, leaving her instinctively shut her mouth.

One step, two steps, three steps, four steps...

Her nerves tightened as the footsteps kept on approaching. She tried desperately to lift her foot, but she can’t feel anything as if she had no feet. This kind of deep fear that rose from the bottom of her heart made her bit her lip, silently cried. But even after biting the lip, she still can’t feel anything.

“Are you scared?” Without any warning, a voice softly sounded in her ear.

“Aa!” Aiko finally broke down and screamed loudly. Suddenly the scream echoed throughout the dark empty hall, creating goosebumps all over the body.

When Aiko woke up again, she first saw the rotten chandelier hanging in the middle of the hall. She was in despair; She was still in that damn hall.

She desperately grabbed and pulled her hair, hoping to wake up from this nightmare.

Suddenly she vaguely heard someone’s voice from the outside.

Her heart was immediately piqued, but after an intense shock just a moment ago, she felt dizzy in her head instead of petrifying fear.

After repeated consideration, she decided to go watch the two people talking. Perhaps, these two individuals can help her leave this damn place.

So, she barefooted step by step toward the door.

Maybe it was just an illusion, but the closer she is, the more she felt like she was familiar with the voice. This feeling was getting more and more intense.

From a window closest to the door, illuminated by the moonlight, she saw some people were standing near the entrance.

At this time, one of them spoke again, “No matter what, I will not allow you to hurt her. I really like her.”

Hearing the man’s voice, Aiko jumped out of her skin. The man turned out to be Mito Toyokawa.

‘So, it’s this bastard who took me here.’ Aiko was furious and immediately forgot her fear. Under the impulse, she absolutely has no consideration, ready to rush out to get even with him.

Just as Aiko was about to run out of the door, she suddenly heard a man’s voice.

“So what, did you forget how she treated you today?” It was a very hoarse voice and strange to her.

Aiko immediately stopped, although she was acting on impulse, she is not stupid. She immediately realized that Mito Toyokawa and this man are her kidnappers.

“But...” Mito was very hesitant.

“This is not the first time for you. Weren’t you having fun with the last girl? Don’t worry. No one will know.” That voice was very convincing.

Hearing this, Aiko was startled and furious. She promised herself that after she escapes this place, she must report these two scum to the police.

‘The first thing to do now is to get out of here before they notice that I’m already awake.’ Aiko thought.

She was a bit lucky that they didn’t tie her hands. Aiko quietly returned to the hall and looked around for a way out.