ONE DAY, ON THE STREET

I plodded on in silence through the dimly lit street, making my way home.

I could feel no heat, nor any cold.

It was like all of my senses had gone haywire.

The image of the last time I saw my sister was burned into my mind in dull orange colors.

Where should I be heading toward? What should I do? I had no idea any longer.

At the very least, I had better do what that snake tells me to do.

If I don’t, the two I left behind are gonna be in serious trouble.

The snake said it’d “kill” them. If I don’t live up to my end of the bargain, that’s gonna be a reality—in as cold and barbaric a way as possible.

I’m not allowed to choose when I die any longer.

Despite that, I couldn’t talk to the rest of them.

The only force pushing my staggering legs forward was the words left in my mind by that snake.

“Huff…huff…Agh!”

As I kept walking, mind in a deep fog, I tripped and found myself hurtling to the ground, scraping a knee hard against the concrete. Pain ripped across my leg.

“…Ngh…!”

I grabbed on to a nearby light pole for support.

Oh, right: I needed to revert back to normal before returning home anyway. Maybe this was good timing, in a way.

If I stayed in the form of my sister for too long, that snake would…

…What am I even doing?

My beloved sister is dead. Why do I have to pose as her corpse and get all of those photos taken of me? It was just pure torture. Pure torture.

I wish it could just kill me already. Why won’t it?

“Ugh…Damn it…!”

I was so pained, so helpless, I didn’t know what to do.

What now? Somebody help me. Somebody…

“Ayano…? Ooh, I thought it was you, Ayano.”

I turned toward the voice. Under the dim streetlight, I saw the form of Shintaro Kisaragi.

“What’re you doing down there?”

Wait. I just felt all that pain. Why wasn’t I back to my normal form?

…Oh, crap. This is awful. And I just had to run into him…

“What? You feeling okay? …Oh, I bet the summer-school teacher yelled at you about something, didn’t he? Eesh. You know that happens to you because you never study, right? I just gave you that tutoring session and everything, too…”

“…Shut up.”

“Wh-what…? Geez, you don’t have to stare daggers at me like that…”

I pushed Shintaro Kisaragi aside and walked away.

“Hey! Hey, what’s up with you, man? You’re acting weird!”

I turned around one final time and addressed him directly:

“This is all your fault. You never noticed any of it.”