Chapter 11: Home

It was almost like a bad dream. Like nothing had happened in the real world. It was like everything happened in my head. I was back standing in front of Hana's house. Me and Mashu both were. Hana opened her door to see me and Mashu. It was still snowing and everything was like it was just before we were kidnapped. I was back to my 14 year old body and wearing my middle school clothes. Everyone else was too. Time didn't seem to have progressed since we left our world. Everything was the same, except two of our beloved friends were gone now. Hana ran over to me and hugged me. I put my head on her head. I knew how she felt. It was all too much to take in. Mashu clenched his fist and gritted his teeth. We had survived but at what cost i thought to myself. The next day we returned to school as if nothing happened. It really was true, time had stopped while we were gone. I came into class and sat down at my desk. Mashu came in and sat by me. We didn't say anything to each other though. Later, Hana came into class and sat next to me. "Good morning Joshu." "Good morning.." The teacher began taking the attendance and i noticed she skipped Kentoreru and Ran. I asked the teacher why she skipped their names. "What are you talking about Joshu? There isn't anyone by those names in this class." I was confused by what i had just heard. Had she forgotten them? Had everyone else did too? After school I went to Kentoreru's house and knocked on his door. The door opened and it was his mother. Mrs.Anba. She looked like she always had. Brown curly hair, brown eyes, dark skin and like Kentoreru. "Oh why hello Joshu! What brings you here?" "Is Kentoreru here?!" "Uh who?" I felt the life from my body slip away from hearing that from her. I knew that if his mother didn't remember him then it couldn't be just memory. His very existence had been wiped along with Ran's. The school year went on and ended. It was now summer break. I laid out on my bed as my fan blew gently across my body and hair. I had no plans or anything to do. I was honestly depressed and a little traumatized still, from the mansion of time incident. As i was rotting away on my bed i heard my door ring. I walked over to see who it was, it was Hana. "Good morning Joshu!" "Y-yeah good morning." It was strange to be just talking to her so normally after she confessed her feelings to me. I hadn't really tried anything since and i felt kinda awkward about it, maybe even felt bad. "So what brings you here Hana?" "I want to go out on a date." "Eh?" It felt like the world had stopped time for a moment once i heard that. "W-Wait seriously?" "Mhm." "Alright uh let me get my stuff together." I got ready and stepped out. We began walking down the street together and spotted a little ice cream stand. "Joshu lets get ice cream!" "Alright I'll pay." "Oh no its i can pay for myself." "Hana I'll pay okay. Just think of it as my way of starting to repay you for dragging me out of the darkness back then." I bought us two chocolate cones of ice cream with nuts on top of them. "So what do you wanna do next Hana?" "Let's go shopping!" We stopped by a few stores and bought some swimwear. I could see she planned to go to the beach so i told her lets just go. We arrived at the beach and the bright sun rays reflected off the sand like a mirror and right into my eyes almost blinding me. I had to squint a little while until my eyes adapted to the brightness. I layed out a red and black towel under my black umbrella so i could lay down. Hana on the other hand came to me complaining in her black bathing suit"Let's get in the water! Cmon!" I didn't really feel like it. Nearly ever liquid gave me the slight haunting reminder of blood. "Alright fine.." We splashed in the water back and forth at each other for a bit, then Hana swam back and forth. She was a good swimmer compared to most people. We got out of the water and began walking home. "Can i come over your place Joshu?" "Sure. What do you intend for us to do though?" "Hmm..i don't know. I just want to be with you." "You're so up-front." I unlocked my apartment door and we went in. I went to the kitchen and found nothing ready to eat. Everything had to be cooked. "Looks like im gonna have to order some damn food again." "I can cook for you." "Don't worry about it Hana, you've done enough for me lately." "This is miniscule compared to the burden you took for all of us. Let me do this." "Alright then.." I sat on the couch and watched the TV until Hana finished cooking. "Joshu! Dinner is ready!" She sat our plates on the short glass table in front of the couch. The meal was Unagi. It smelt delicious. I took a bite and expressed my love of the dish to her. "Thank you." We finished eating and she cleaned the dishes. I volunteered to do them but she insisted to do them. It was becoming rather late now and i was growing concerned about her parents. "Uh Hana..shouldn't you start heading home?" "My parents aren't going to be home anytime soon this summer." "So i was thinking I'd spend the night here." "Is that right.." "Something wrong Joshu?" "Yeah maybe but not for me." She laughed a bit. Later that night I couldn't sleep. I let Hana use my bed but she woke up in the middle of the night to see me standing outside on the balcony. "What's wrong Joshu?" "Oh did i wake you up?" "No. But is something the matter?" I didn't want to keep shoving my internal problems down her throat so i tried to lie. "No im fin-" She hugged me from behind gently, putting her head on my back. "You can talk to me anytime Joshu." I let out a single tear and told her my lingering problems from the mansion.

"Its just so hard for me to live this normal life after all the shit that happened in the mansion." "I still don't know what to do with myself." "Don't worry. You're doing the best you can Joshu. I'll help you get through this no matter how long it takes." "Honestly your to good for me Hana." "And the rest of the guys. I don't deserve any of you." "That's not true. We all care about you deeply. I for one love you with everything in my being." I let out some more tears and tried to resist making a sound...