Yesterday jumped bato her mind with crity. She had followed Hitomi into the wealthy neighborhood where Takako lived. On the excuse of delivering the day’s work, Hitomi hoped to learn what happened.

  A reply came over the speaker. “Yes? We aren’t ied in anything you’re selling.” The voice was deep and old with a little cra the speebsp; It made the two girls step back expeg that they would see someoher than a voice.

  “U-Uh…I’m sorry.” Hitomi searched for the ce to speak while Saki kept a pcid face trying to look like she belonged. “We aren’t selling anything. We’re cssmates of Takako.”

  “I see. Well Miss Takako is not here currently.”

  Hitomi looked back at Saki as though she was expeg an ao expin what she was just told. It inly clear to her that the instant g Saki told her that she had no answers. She turned back to the speaker. “What? But we were told that she was sibsp; We have her assigs for her.”

  “You may leave her things in the box. I’ll inform her of your visit. Thank you.” The voided and a clig sound that seemed to tell them silently to leave.

  “What does this mean? The school says she’s sid her family says she’s out.” Hitomi looked back at Saki wanting something from her this time. She was at a loss as to what was going on, but there was something being hidden by someone.

  Saki had no more of a clue to what was going on than Hitomi, but it had been made clear to them that someone was lying. She did not know why they were doing it, but this was not going to be as simple as she thought anymore. ‘What’s going on?’ A dead end front of her, Saki started the long walk back to the train station.

  Hitomi rushed over to Saki’s side when she saw that she was no longer near. The worry was still heavily pstered on her fawilling or uo be pulled away. The tradi that they faced only made it more difficult for Hitomi to be brought to ease. “What should we do, Saki? None of this makes sense. Saki?”

  Saki had bee ered ihoughts. Her trackmate wanted an answer, which Saki couldn’t provide. The facts were too few to work with and they were cut off at every bsp; They were left with little to nothing. ‘If only there was some way or someohat would listen and be able to get the answers for us. Heh…if it was that easy I wouldn’t be out here. Wait…that might be it…’ It came to her that she did have a solution. “We talk to my dad. He’s a teacher, he probably knows someone. So he should be able to get some answers for us.”

  “Really? He’d help us?” A hopeful shine came across Hitomi. It seemed thtehing up in her features.

  Saki nodded back to her. “Yup! It’s probably too te to find him at school, but I’ll talk to him when I get home. Alright?” Worry dug deeper for Hitomi. Saki thought quickly and held her hands to sole her. “I’ll call you after I talk to him. It’ll be alright.”

  “Thank you, Saki. I’m sorry I’m causing you so much trouble.”

  “It’s fine. Now let’s get back to the station before it gets too dark.” Saki started taking Hitomi along with her. She walked together with her until Hitomi seemed to go on her own. They slowly made their way through the narrow streets keeping the train station in their view as a marker. Saki was gd that Hitomi had calmed down, but feared what sort of answers she would get from her father.

  Hitomi began to get ahead of Saki until she suddenly tripped. She had mao catch herself before it was too serious, but bruised her palms. Saki rushed over to Hitomi’s side to help her up. “What did I hit?”

  “Probably just a crack.”

  “I think… I think my leg’s caught...” fused and a little panik into Hitomi. She looked back at her leg. A thick vine had caught on her ankle. “My leg won’t…e free…” She pulled again on her leg to break free, but the vine was stubborn. Saki helped her, but still did not make any progress. Saki went to the sourd grabbed the virying to break it, but it grew spontaneously ing around her arm.

  “My arm! It’s to…”

  “Saki!” Hitomi screamed as more vines came up from the ground ed around Hitomi tyio the ground. Terror took over as she tried to reach for Saki, but vines immediately grabbed her free arm.

  “Hitomi! Agh!” The vines quickly began tying Saki up too. Her arm mao break free before it pletely trapped her. However, her victory ended quickly as several even thicker vines grabbed her and tied her down to the street tightly.

  As she struggled to get free a purple flrew from the vine around her nebsp; The flower bud grew to nearly half the size of her face before it stopped. It slowly opened fag towards her. Once fully open, it released pollen into her fabsp; Saki coughed a lightheaded. “Hitomi…”

  Before Saki lost sciousness she caught a shadowed figure staring down at her. Her eyes lost focus, uo see who it might be.

  Chapter 17 – Fotten Child

  “You saved me, Yuki! Thank you!” a young Saki said to a young Yuki in the middle of a park pyground. Three slightly older boys, a year older, id in the grass bruised and slightly bloodied from an altercation with Yuki. Saki had tears in her eyes and covered in dirt from behind thrown around by the boys.

  Yuki grinned partly with pride and partly embarrassed by the praise. He patted Saki trying to fort her and keep her fr. “I promise…”

  The fog around Saki’s head began to clear, makiart to sense her surroundings. She attempted to budge from wherever she id, but everythi stiff to her. All of her body barely respoo her, unwilling to move to her requests. Saki was forced to stay on the hard cold floor.

  Her seeadily warmed up. It left her with a deep solitude that she hadn’t felt for a long time. The old fotten feelings came over her. Slow crawling uainty and lurked in the unknown. She hated those emotions. She thought they remained behind with that little child.

  ‘I promise…’ said the little boy Yuki, ‘I promise that I will alrotect you. So you don’t have to cry anymore.’

  ‘Yuki…’ Saki wondered why memories of her past suddenly began to fsh in her mind.

  The room began to bee clear to Saki as her visiouro focus. She could see where she was finally, no longer in a void of fusion. The t floor that she id on stretched out for the entire room. Calling it a room undersold it.

  By her best guess, it appeared to be a warehouse. A single rge interior for her perspective. Around her, iron bars caged her off from the rest. Though hers wasn’t the only cage. It looked repurposed, but sturdy. She could see cracks where the frames were driven.

  Crate or stray mae cropped up as she searched. She saw other cells like hers lined along the wall and in another row across from her. At least twenty simir cages in her immediate view before she stopped ting.

  A few of the cells held other strangers. Some old, others young, they had no onality. “What is this pbsp; Who are all these people?”

  Saki took a ove again. She noticed her legs started feeling normal. Her legs were slow to move for her as if she had never used them before. Some persiste them w. As she began to stand up her head quickly lost bance feeling light. She fell back against the iron bars. Her hand tried to recover herself causing an uneasy rattling through the bars that echoed through the room alerting the others to the new resident.

  Back pressed against bars she groueeth ianbsp; Pressing her arms back, she forced herself back up. She ighe bruises and firmly pnted her. Determination rolled across Saki’s face as she cautiously walked, rather dragged, herself over to the edge of the cell.

  “Hello?” Saki called out to the person that was her neighbor. When she looked closely she reized that they were wearing a girl’s school uniform from Monou High School. Upon seeing this Saki pressed against the bars trying to see better. “Hello? you hear me?”

  There was a slight movement from the girl, but Saki kept trying to get her attention. Eventually, the girl turned over revealing to be bruised and battered as though she had been dragged behind a car through the dirt. “Who’s there?”

  “Excuse me… Huh… You go to Monou High Schht?”

  “Yeah?” The girl’s hair covered most of her face, preventing her from being reized.

  Saki gave a sigh of relief to know that there was someohat she might know. The sing of the room hadn’t revealed Hitomi yet. A hopefully familiar face came as a relief. “That’s good.”

  “N-n-no! No!” The girl suddenly backed aushing herself across the floor with her hands into the opposite er of the cell away from Saki. “P-p-please! N-no more! I’ll do…any-anything…please…” The girl tried to bury her fa her legs making herself as small as possible. She could not look at Saki for more than a sed before she ran away. Her entire body shook against the bars making the bolts rattle. “Please…no…”

  “But I…” Saki stretched out her arm through the bars knowing that it could not reach, but hoped that she could calm her down. When she saw that it was only making matters worse for her she drew back looking down pensive. ‘She is so scared of something… what happeo her? Was it that dark shadow I saw before?’ Saki walked away letting the girl have peace from her.

  The vast interior stared back at her with soulless eyes. Eyes drained of hope. They looked like they were just waiting to accept their end. ‘What’s going on? Why am I here?’ All the room felt like it was quietly screaming. A scream that slowly drained away the ce of escape. It built s around each person.

  A sound of something being unlocked far to the distance bouhrough the warehouse. It snapped everyoo attention. Immediately fear washed over each of them, whimpering. Saki watched the people crawl into the ers of their cells away from the door as much as possible. The door far at the end of the warehouse opened and pio be oiled. Out of the entrawo shadowy figures appeared to block the light that was being cast.

  ‘Everyoerrified… who is this person?’ Saki stared from the middle of her cell as the dark figure came closer into the pathway betweewo rows of cells. As they approached it became clear to Saki that one was being carried ed along when they were uo keep up with the leading figure. When the rge figure finally revealed their fader a pool of light, Saki tried to trap her gasp of surprise.

  From the shape of his body, she guessed it was a male beh the vines and flowers veiled over him. The moving pnts ed around his head leaving only small slits for eyes. Along his shoulders the vihinned out unduting along his body. Each draped with a life of their own slowly migrating over the surface of a white robe and pants. A thick vine ed around the man’s left arm extending behind him c up the other almost beynition.

  tinual movement over the person’s body ged his shape and revealed different parts. She stared away at the dragged figure. ‘That’s our school uniform!’ Saki saw enough to jump to her own clusions.

  Her eyes focused, waiting for the vio move enough. ‘Hitomi!’ Saki rushed to the edge of her cell. Several cells still divided the two. Pressed against the bars, she tried to see her dition. Oomi was within reach of Saki she stretched out her arm through the bars trying to get to the unscious Hitomi. “Hitomi! you hear me?”

  Her as drew the attention of the vine covered man. He turned his hand towards her. An outstretched hand guided viowards Saki. She drew back, but not in time to avoid all of the vihat grabbed at her. The pnts took her by the arms, tying them together and pig her up by the waist. A meaningless struggle ended with her body flung to the back of the cell. Released, she dropped to the floor, coughing and dazed. “Hitomi…”

  The man tinued ing Hitomi behind him with her uo keep up the pabsp; When he came to ay cell the vines opehe door for him. The veins that held her tossed her inside unceremoniously. She slid without resistance across the t ing to a stop after faint ripping of cloth. All that left her lips was a dull cough as though she was not awake. The cell door closed behind and the ma.

  Saki dragged herself across the floor closer to Hitomi. She struggled lifting her head up to see Hitomi, but she felt a little better seeing that Hitomi was still breathing. ‘She looks so drained. What did he do to her? Did he do this to all of them? What is with those vi's like he trol them…’ But that would be impossible.

  Yet her eyes didn’t lie.

  Hitomi’s health gave her some fort. Biting through the pain, Saki forced herself back to her feet. She gripped one of the bars to shake. It barely gave under her strength. ‘There’s got to be a way out…’ Nothing made sense, but she o escape and free everyone. ‘I feel like I’ve entered into one of Yuki’s books…’

  The stray thought reminded her that books weren’t his first hobby.

  Her mind dragged her bato memory. A time before junih when their roles were different. “You should really stop pig so many fights, Yuki.”

  “Whatever…”

  “Yuki!” Saki narrowed her eyes in frustration knowing that he was ready for a fight and just needed a reason. Several older boys from the neighb junih stood in the sidewalk blog their path. Saki stopped beiant from the looming gres that were etched across their faces. It was clear that they were looking for trouble. Yuki, however, tinued on past them as though they were not even in his way. She hurried along not wanting trouble.

  “Hey! You’re that tough kid from Nayoi aren’tcha?” The boys became frustrated at being ignored by Yuki. “Hey, I’m talking to you!” Yuki tinued down the sidewalk not even twitg. “You ’t ignore me!” The boy charged from the group with him going after Yuki with his fist held out. The fist had hit Yuki hard in the back of his head. It knocked him to the ground, f his school bag to fly into the air. “Huh? Not so tough?” The boy kicked Yuki in the ribs, getting a painful groan from him that seemed to draw out great pleasure for the junih student.

  Saki tried to run through to help Yuki, but she was stopped by the other boys. “Yuki!” The boys grabbed her arms holding back as she filed. Yuki just stayed on the ground looking almost disied. Pain wrinkled Saki’s face watg him getti up.

  Hesitation came from her. She knew what to say, but held her words. The dull thunk of his body hit echoed in her ears. Saki lowered her head, giving in. “Help me, Yuki!” Tears started to drip down her cheeks.

  The words made it to his ears as he y on the ground and his eyes snapped open wide. The boy’s leg that was going for another swing suddenly stopped. His hand tightly holding it in pce.

  A tormeearful smile came over Saki as she watched him stand up. In moments, he had all of the boys bruised and sore colpsed on the sidewalk. He walked over to che her. Her head looked away from him. “Why? It’s always like this…”

  “I promised you. I would protect you.”

  They returned home. Resolve burned in Saki’s eyes. She would ge.

  “What?! Are you sure, dear?” Saki’s mother said, shocked by Saki out of the blue annou.

  Saki stared up at her mother determined and not willing to back down from what she had decided. “Yes! I want to take self defense csses!”

  Pulled back to the present, Saki tugged on the bar again. Nothing. She looked around the floor for anything to get leverage.

  From the far side of the warehouse wall the door unlocked and opened. The man covered in pnts appeared once more walking down the aisle of cells. He came to stop in front of Saki’s cell staring at her with a hollow glow from the darkness behind the vihat covered his eyes.

  Saki stared back, holding on to her resolve. There was some uainty still in her, but she was ready. ‘I don’t need you to keep that promise anymore. I stand on my own. Yuki.’ She fortified herself for what would e.