The Aftermath of The Storm.

POV: Isozaki Izumi

Date: 22nd Nov – Saturday

What is this situation…

I just opened my eyes and I found myself in this strange room.

Why is it strange?

OF COURSE IT IS STRANGE I MEAN JUST LOOK AT IT!

Just when you think the wall have that nice uncommon light pink that dark creepy green ceiling come in your view! And you are highly mistaken if you think this is it!

Just take a look at the decorations! Ocean blue bed with a purple pillow on it! A red chair in the corner next to an orange desk!

JUST WHERE AM I!?!?

No no no, calm down Isozaki Izumi… think back to what happened.

I remember Nao going all psycho on me like that and killed me… so I'm dead?

Wait is this heaven? man, heaven sucks!

Wait a minute… is this hell!? Yeah… could totally understand how this can be hell especially for people with OCD.

I started moving toward the desk, sat on the red chair and stared at the pink wall like an idiot.

I'm bored.

If I knew hell would be this boring, I would have died with my phone.

But really… am I dead?

I started inspecting myself starting from my neck ending with my knee that got stabbed to realize that the wounds I had are not there anymore.

I also noticed that I was wearing clothes that are not losing out in taste to this room.

Green dark pants and yellow shirt with blue French word on it …. With red socks…

Is this like a hell uniform?

One of the doors opened, and then I realized that there was a door to this room.

This is so messed up; the weird creepy taste of this room took my whole attention that I failed to notice the door!

Going back to the opened door, it started creaking open and with me not doing anything but staring at the ugly wall, I shifted my eyes toward it.

Then to my surprise, it was Hoga.

This guy is in hell as well, huh? Well, he did seem like a cranky crazy bastard.

No wonder.

I bet he'll beg my forgiveness thinking it will help him get out of here.

Fufu can't wait to see that.

When he saw me, unlike the reaction I expected I was met with half open eyes and expressionless face and his lips moved and let out a small exclamation,

"Oh."

…

Oh?

OH?!?!

I snapped and started yelling at him,

"That is your reaction to seeing me here!?! And what is with that face, you jerk!? At least act surprised!"

Do you mean to say that it's very natural to see me in hell!?

His eyes opened wider and his expression changed very… VEEERRRYYY slightly to a point it is still expressionless, and he spout out his lame excuse,

"Sorry, I'm not very good at expressing stuff."

What?

WHAT!?

I snapped again and yelled sarcastically,

"Don't give me that bullshit! How can there be anything as 'good at expressing stuff'!? What's with that lame excuse!? How frigging hard can it be to move your freaking face slightly!?!?"

Unexpectedly, he didn't snap back at me and only stared at me for few minutes.

And then started moving his hand toward me, putting it on my shoulders.

Then he frigging tossed me aside from the chair I was sitting on, and then sat on it instead and opened a book that was in his hands.

This jerk… Did he just take my spot!?

He looked at me with his expressionless face and explained,

"I'm tired of standing."

At that moment all I needed is power.

The power to hold myself from committing a murder.

I sighed and with a grin mile wide on my face I tried to provoke him into a fight,

"Well, this is why you are in hell, huh? You just can't help being a jerk regardless of the location, huh?"

He started bursting into laughter.

Instead of focusing on how he was making fun of my provoking, all my attention was focused on the expression his face had on, which was the first expression of him that I ever saw.

What is this… He can express himself after all

After a moment he stopped his laugh and said,

"Both of us did die, but this is neither hell nor heaven. I told you before about it, how we can't die."

Ah, that's right.

Then wait… does that mean-

"This is your room?"

"Yup"

No way…

I exclaimed in a loud voice unable to comprehend the truth that came to me,

"But this is a frigging PINK wall!"

Act like your character!

He responded with a proud tone,

"Yeah, doesn't it fit well with the ceiling?"

I was far too speechless to respond to his statements, so I just let out a small sigh.

My clothes came in my view which made me get angrier at the situation I was in.

I just quietly took my shirt off and slammed it at the ground.

"I'm done with this. I'm done with you. I can't handle this anymore."

I started heading toward the door he came from.

"I brought you here to apologize for shooting you earlier."

When he said that, my mouth opened wide,

"You shot me?!"

And like my question triggered something in him, he started blabbing,

"You don't remember? Ah, is it because your neck broke right before that? Interesting, so the lack of oxygen made you unable of seeing clearly that's why to you, you didn't even feel the bullet going through you! You were in a way more pain to even feel it."

I do slightly remember someone entering after Nao hammered me, so that was Hoga.

Wait, did this jerk just call me dying 'interesting'?!

He showed a slight expression of sadness,

"So, I guess asking you about that demon is of no use as well, huh?"

I thought he said we're not in hell, why in the frigging hell are we talking about a demon then?

Damn, I'm too hungry to think of anything right now.

Nao used to cook every day, what am I supposed to do about meals from now on?

Hoga suggested after reading my thoughts,

"If you don't mind, I can cook something up if you want."

That's right! This is his house.

But eating together with him of all people would surely be awkward, I always started fights with him and I keep calling him names in my thoughts moreover, if his cooking was horrible no matter what I say, he'll know it from my thoughts.

I quickly said trying to reject his offer,

"I appreciate the idea but I have to go-"

But got interrupted by the growling of my stomach.

—-

"EH!? Nao turned himself in!?"

I asked while stuffing my face with the pork fried rice omelet with okonomiyaki sauce in front of me.

Damn, so yummy. I thought it just looked perfect but even the taste is incomparable to any omurice I had.

It just melts inside my mouth, the yellowish of the eggs is cooked carefully that it really is so fluffy like a pancake, the fried rice covered with just right degree of ketchup as to not ruin the taste made wonders and the aroma from the sauce just add more to the rich taste.

I can definitely eat this every single day and not get bored.

And to think that jerk made this beautiful meal just made me realize how fair this world is, he was robbed of his manners but instead got blessed with this talent.

"This is the first time someone insulted me while complimenting my food, you really are one of a kind, huh."

Hoga said while he was flipping the papers of the book he was reading on the table across me.

He really seems like the type to like reading, every time I saw him he was reading a book, and they were different each time.

But…

"It's ill manners, you know, to read while eating."

"And It's rude to talk while eating, plus you are the only one eating."

I slammed my spoon on the table, making a loud thud which made him shift his eyes from the book he was holding to me with confused eyes,

"I can't believe Nao turned himself in like that! I wanted to land a few punches in first."

He let out a small sigh before whispering to himself,

"Changing the subject when it's not convenient for you…"

Acting like I didn't hear his complains I continued to stuff my face.

"Well, he did turn himself in, but I doubt he'll go to jail."

When he said that, I paused eating and stared at him as he continued,

"Since there are no corpses or anything that can prove his murder."

T-That's right, since I am alive that would mean it would seem like he didn't kill me.

Wait, in the first place why am I here? I died at our house, so why in the world am I at this guy's house now?

I ended up staring at Hoga which made him click his tongue then he explained briefly,

"I ended up reviving before you and I bailed you out of there before the police arrived. We can't risk more people knowing of your ability after all."

Nao did try to kill me after learning about it, it seems he is right in trying to hide it from other people.

I noticed him inspecting me with his eyes, so I ended up asking,

"What is it?"

He moved his eyes away from me then he said with a curious tone,

"It's just that… you seem very calm about everything that happened. Do you still not realize you died because of your friend?"

It is reasonable for any normal person to panic and be scared when something like this happen to them, no wonder he's curious about my irregular reaction.

I forced my mouth to move sideways forming a small smile,

"because it wasn't the first time someone betrayed my trust like that."

I lifted my head up and looked him straight in the eyes then said,

"My brother tried to kill me in the past as well."

Suddenly, Hoga started screaming while holding his head with both of his hands.

I could faintly hear between his screams,

"S-stop… N-No … N-no."

I started panicking unable to understand the situation in front of me, I quickly ran toward him and helped him cover his ears.

Is it a thought? Is he hearing a thought? Is it this painful usually?

Is even blocking his ears helping to block the thoughts?

No good, he is in so much pain if this continue won't he faint?

Wait, thoughts? … Are they coming from me? I am the only one here.

I said with a loud voice directed toward him,

"I'll go back to the other room; will that block the thoughts completely?"

Hoga's screams got louder and he started crawling himself in,

"G-Go…"

I quickly got up and ran out of the kitchen.

I started counting numbers to make myself unable of thinking of anything else,

"one … two … three … four…"

I had to make sure my thoughts were not the kind that will make his suffering worse,

"thirty… thirty-one… thirty-two…"

Hoga's scream died out after few minutes of me leaving the kitchen.

I kept counting till the door was knocked on slightly.

I asked worryingly,

"I-Is it fine now?"

Only to get a respond with a hoarse weak voice from the other side of the door,

"Yeah."

I slowly opened the door, and Hoga's figure appeared in front of me.

He was in a horrible state and his face only showed how tired he was.

Seeing him in that state, I only felt guilty,

"I'm sorry."

He grinned and responded with a confident voice,

"It's fine, it was just a demon taking revenge. It's not your fault."

Here he goes again, spouting out nonsense I don't understand, but seeing him saying this I guess it means he really is fine now except for his brain.

I said curious about the details of his ability,

"I never actually knew your ability was this hard to handle."

Was it because he was tired from screaming before? He suddenly had a very sad expression of his and said with a faint voice,

"It's a thing I wish I never had but I grew adapted to it… just in your case… I just can't get used to it."

He paused for a moment and then said while showing a confused pained look,

"Every thought that goes through to me, it feels like someone is poking a sword into my brain, it's just so painful and if I hear it for long I would feel like my ears would start bleeding."

Were… Were my thoughts that dirty? I don't really remember thinking about anything but food though. Ah, maybe I was far too hungry and thought of it way more than I should have done. I should probably stop eating in front of him if it's this bad. He did say it sounded like a demon after all… just how bad can my food thoughts be?!

I let out a small sigh and said disappointedly,

"I wanted to stay here for a while till I find another place to live in, but I guess staying here is out of option now, I can't have you dying because of my thoughts… that would be creepy."

He looked deep in thoughts then he said with his usual face,

"The apartment next to this is empty, if you want to rent it out, I can talk to the landlord about it for you."

I said excitedly,

"That would actually help me a lot!"

I paused for a moment and a question popped inside my head,

"W-Why are you doing this much for me?"

He looked back to me and said,

"Because … you are the first person, that I ever had a grudge against. Plus, it was interesting to see you die. And I am curious about a few things as well. So just till I satisfy my curiosity I figured I'll help you out a bit."

I am thankful he is planning on helping me out, but this jerk his motives are all over the place and one of them is about me dying, does he plan on killing me? I wish I never asked.

He started heading toward the exit and I quickly ran after him and asked him,

"T-Then can you do me a favor?"