Two

My eyes fluttered open.

I checked my watch.

March 7th. 6:40AM

A large ice cube seemed to be working its way down my throat.

Something was wrong.

The way how the rain poured, thwacking against my window with hulking thudding sounds. The way how the milky white clouds shrouded the sky...

But what?

Something was wrong, somethig I couldn't quite place.

I tried to conjure up something, anything that might be helpful, but eventually failed when a similar rainstorm started to gather in my brain, which, thanks to a night of dreamless sleep, is now already a foul of gooey substace. At least my memories yesterday seemed to be in one piece, which I was grateful for.

Stifling a yawn, I sat up and tried to gain my footing. black spots danced in my eyes as my whole body ached like someone had pulled all my bones out and installed them again.

"Gonna go absent on today's PE." I thought as I struggled into my school uniform.

Everything was back to normal. I brushed my teeth with my eyes half-closed, ingulfed my breakfast, removed Neko from the dining-table, and unlocked my bike like a robot following a daily sceduel.

"Peaceful. "Just as I was about to pedal off into the afflicting rain hell, Neko went bizzare. Meowing like her brain had gone haywire. Then came the sound of shattering glass.

"Okay I'll Take that back." I said as I reered back and hurried inside to snatch up the malfunctioning kitten.

She saw me and froze in her tracks, reered back to inspect the glossing pile of shreads she just created, sniffed, trudged off towards the leather sofa and did her scraching posture, her eyes a taunting shade of dark blue.

"Hey! Please, NOT the sofa..."

She scratched the sofa.

It made an ear-piercig "Rrrrip!" as it was paunched by the cat's claws, creating a gargantuan crevasse on the sofa's side.

Yup things like that will happen, they sure will. Cats are obsessed with leather.

"And that's it!" I spoke through gritted teeth as I hoisted it up in my grip and threw it into its cage.

"Stay!" I glowered at it as I locked the cage."This will do as a great reflection. Hopefully."

It glowered back. Brave cat.

I hopped onto my bike and started paddeling in the direction of school. Bean-sized raindrops slapped against my school uniform, beading my exposed face. I let my thoughts fly, trying to escape from this perturbing, pallid world.

Nothing happened.

I'd never appreciated that term until I actually had some.

The day passed as time inched merrily forwards, Tim was still absent, no grotesque rotten fruits popped up anywhere near my desk, no dubious detonations occured. The Chemistry class dazzeled me more than ever, but that wasn't the point.

Something seemed wrong. Everything happened today are normal. Abnormalbly normal. I'd appreciate it, if my 'everyday' looks like this.Notheless, The air still seemed to be vibrating with a sense of impatience like Something was supposed to happen today. It was like my sub-conciousness was screaming its throat off, telling me that 'No, bad things happen everyday.' But the truth remained stubborn. For now, at least.

The sun shone the colour of bright red, shadows casted on the grounds seemed like a pool of black, slowly extending, expanding. Streching out like hands. I shrugged off that thought.

I walked down the stairs, searched the bushes, and was surprised by me surprised to see the bike still attached, which again dazzeled my goo-like brain.

"Just let this day pass. It's getting creepy." I mumbled as I exited the school gates.

And here comes my troubles.

"Forgetting something?" Came a voice from under the shadows near an alley.

That indicates my sub-conciousness is working alright.

"Minimum forty-eight dollars, isn't it?" I walked(trudged) in the thug's direction.

"Yeah, finally gonna get your protection fee debt all paid, Johnson?"

You're joking, right? With a total 400 dollars? Never.

"No, not now."

"As I said, a few weeks' delay's still available."

Which is now only a few more days to the DDL.

I could tell from his behavior that he wasn't intentionally being street-thugging, he's the good type, the ones trying to make a living by depending on Boss's meals, whoever that 'Boss' is. But still nevertheless a street thug alright. There are still emotions deep inside them I couldn't relate to.

"I'll try handing it in tomorrow."

Poor thug.

He never smiled during this conversation, but his expressions finally seemed to unravel a bit.

"Great. Then I'll..."

"What are you guys doing?"

Why does all these scenes look so familiar? Me chatting the thugs up on topics of money, and someone stopped me from behind, annoyingly startling.

"Wait did I just interjected with you guys talking business? Don't mind me, continue."

Who?

"Your friend?" The thug turned in my direction with a look of surprise that apparently didn't match his flat eyebrows.

"You're not here to take him down, are you?" I made a bold guess.

"Why? He's a bad guy?"The girl gazed up t me with those innocent blue eyes.

"He's a street thug, real bad."

"Hey she's just a child. Is there any need for this?"

"No?" I turned to the thug

"Little one, You lost?" The thug squatted down to get eye-to-eye with the child with unstreetthugingly mildness, and spoke in a much gentler voice that he could've used earlier." We're talking about business. So can you..."

Then something wierd happened. wierd thing happen every single day, but something's apparently wierder tha wierd. As I watched, the thug flew backwards with a speed like sound, catapulting horizontally still with a smile glued into his face, imagine someone hit by an invisible truck, something like that, and slammed into a all somewhere deep inside the valley, making a crashinhg sound that sounds pretty much like broken bones. The wind wooshed forward, howling in the valley and making my hair wave like a worn-out mop.

Ouch.

"I don't like bad guys." She finally summoned her eloquence.

The girl was still stading there, staring straight at me with eyes fiercer than that previous thug

Let's NOT touch her, I'll have my protection fee paid real soon, so please don't send me flying.

And why's everything in this story suspending mid air?

I slowly inched backwards towards the exit as we stared at each other, my moves were softer than ever not to startle her in case she changed her mind about disliking bad guys, and edged around the corner out of her sight. Pretending that I'm not the witnesser of a dead thug.

And just like any anime I'd watched, I suspected her to follow, she followed.

I increased my pace, squashed betwee rows of pedestrians and tried not to fall over.

Yup she's still following, sprinting to keep up this time, and lunged forward and grabbed around my wrist.

Oh no.

Nothing happened, miraculously.

"You're the thug feeder, right?"

I'd never anticipated her to blurt that out, nor from any girl I know, at least. But again, there are some things I can't bear, even if the one taunting you up is a supergirl.

"Do you HAVE to infuriate me?" I turned to glare at that girl. I tried to be mild, I promise, but that's how it truely looked."And by the way, do I know you?"

"Infuriate? What's infuriate..." She faltered a bit and dipped her head to one side as question marks seemed to sprout above her head."Oh you mean infuriate!"

Okay this superchild is certainly not afraid of strangers.

"Why the feeder then?"

"everyone calls you that."

"Don't, it's rude."

School information is really unsecured.

She huffed.

"Then? What do you inquire?" My furnace-like anger subsided. It's really hard to stay mad at girls. "Or are you here just to pick my hole."

"You're the only one I know."

"I'm an orphan, I don't do families." I eyed the girl up. She was small, In a petite kind of way, wearing what might have been a black school outfit before, but all the tatters and pigment marks made it hard to recognize. One of the three buttons on the outfit came loose, revealing her tained white undershirt inside. A chekered skinny red tie dangled loose from her neck like a necklace. The skirt worn below was also ragged, but it still resembled something as a skirt matching the uniform. Her leather boots and her stockings were also torn and battered. She wore an oversized brown cloak on the outside, which seemed strange matching her outfit below. The hood partially shaded her face, her long ebony hair fell aroud her sholders and came out from the front, reaching her kees as it wafted in the wind. Her whole appearance reminded me of a scrawny cat which just went through a blazing infero. "I'd never see a school outfit like that near here... " I repeated the thug's words while trying my best to soud like one."You lost?"

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"I--"She stammered, gazing up at me with thoes sappire-like eyes, then her belly growled louder than a car engine. Her face turned the colour of the setting sun.

I was not about to bring criminals into cake shops, but again, things were complicated. She's also my day's savior, if you reflect on my whole day in another angle, that is. And I've got just the knowledge on Baffet shops to persuade a female murderer not to send me catapulting 45 degrees up into the sky.

"Follow me."I gestured for her to come. And she bounded after.

Then came the silence. Pedestrians eyed me suspiciously once and a while as we walked along the street, a old man reading a newspaper nearby lifted his head, saw us, and his half-smoked cigarette fell out of his mouth. And to my greatly dealyed astonishment, I realized that the girl's dressup may not be something legal to be visible on normal pedestrian streets.

I had a sudden image of what will appear on tomorrow's "Top Search" news section. A photo of me and the girl walking downtown embedded with a ginormous headline reading: Kidnapper found, the malicious son of a vicious father!

I did not relish that thought. Getting accosted wouldn't be my first choice, being the thug engager and all.

"So, what is it with you?" I couldn't stand the awkward atmosphere standing inbetween."first priority. Name?"

"I don't know."her voice was lower than a whimper. Which struck me kind of cute comparing to her previous actions. I quickly pushed aside that thought.

"Then what DO you know?"

Silence.

Typical.

"It can't be thing conventional like an amnesia or something." I tried for a laugh."can it?"

More silence. She pulled the hood lower, like she was defending my voice invasion.

"Okay okay," I tried for a smile."No more asking."

Then silence struck again. More severe this time. The girl tried her best to wrap herself up in her cloak like a silkworm, and apparently not due to the cold. That attracted us much less attention, which I appreciated.

"The school outfit was supposed to be a disguise." She spoke up after long moments of quietness."It was said that highschoolars are the least attractive to people."

"W... Wait, where did that huge knowledge misunderstanding come from?"

"Umm..."She looked puzzled, hesitated, and said" Lycoris Recoil?"

Her appearance didn't struck me as the anime watching type, all the better ones she could've seen. Solo leveling, Suzumia Haruhi. I could list on and on about those animes based on fictions, just not the original ones that appears to me as too random in quality.

"So it's not amnesia?"

"It is, but..."

"You're telling me you can conjure up the name of the anime, but not your own name."I said, "The logic isn't very coherent."

She stared at me with thoes innocent blue irises.

I tried my best to nail my look of annoyance onto my face, which was getting harder by the minute.

"Let's go hunt for some food first." I said as we arrived at a crossing."Food helps me think."

Waiting for traffic lights wasn't something I'd hate, only under normal curcumstances, that is.

Seconds went by. The traffic lights on the other side shimmered as the countdown number tapered withgetle clicks.

20... 19...

My eyes fell on a skyscraper on the other side of the road. Though it was still in construction, It was already near accomplishment. It was tall, about 50 floors according to visual inspection, with white stucco walls all the way up from the bottom. Only a few floors have windows available, which struck me kind of strange, just strange enough to intrigue investigators. Whatever it has on it's interior is certainly not something like cafeterias. Three big letter MML lined the side, sending out a bronze-like metallic glow. Mental Mechanism League, I noted. That name itself unerved me for no reason as its huge logo glinted shrouded in the pale afternoon light.

15... 14...

My scalp tingled. Unease coiled up at the back of my brain as the traffic light sent off ticking sounds. But my surroundings seemed alright, nothing menacing approached.

9... 8...

No. Something was wrong.

A wave of nausea swept over me. Similar to the one I experienced this morning. Whatever is going to happen happens now. My pulse started to race.

4... 3...

The girl grabbed my shirt." Detecting strong inflection in the proper function of timeline."She chanted rapidly."Possibilities harassed, jinx, rewritten fate..."

A sense of dread clambered up my vertebrae."Wait, what do you mean by timeline inflection?"

2... 1...

The ticking pace of the sound that came off the traffic light sped up as the red lights switched to green. Time began to flow. Pedestrians made their way across the crossing. Their every shuffling step seemed to be echoing imperiously in my brain, scattered but intimidatig, tolerating me. Streetlights flashed on, illuminating the dusk-covered streets with the colour of a palish blue.

"Johnson." I looked back and the girl's hollow gaze met mine, sending chills down my spine as it seared into my brain like it was tempted to extract every information out from me "You're not supposed to be here."

"I don't..." My words came out as a splutter. I tried to free myself from the girl's grasp, but her hads seemed to have turned into steel, her strength bigger than any child her age possible to manage. "I can't understand. what are you talking about？"

"You're the one interfering the correct order of working timelie, Johnson. The memory gap is closing. You're not welcomed."

Her words came faster than I could posibilly interpret. They slowly made their way into my cerebral, and for no particular sense, they started to make perfect sense to me like they should be long ago, jarring my frontal-lobe.

Timeline. Fate. I had the seensation these are The words I should've known earlier. I tried to dig out even the slightest hint of memory relevant to these words, but as usual, the geers in my head just wouldn't budge. I could almost hear the sound of the geers making incoherent scraches as unmatching pieces clicked into place.

Then my thought was disrupted by a sound coming from my right. The sound of turbine engines.

And for a milisecong, I knew what's going to happen next.

A red mazda came hurtling into sight, its engine roaring. And charged towards the croud of pedestrians. Then came the sound of screaming as people scrambled to safety, leaving only one boy in the middle of the road. A scrawny 15-year-old with his earphone plugged. The car swerved right to aviod impact, but it was already too late. With a blink, The boy became suspended, twirling in the air in a 90 degree somersault as his feet faced the direction of the Mazda. He soared backwards, spiralling in the air like a spineless ragdoll, his limbs bent in unnatural angles. He rolled to a stop 30 feet away as his blood strewned, forming undecipherable symbols along the cement. The Mazda toppeled over and started to slide, its side windows shattered, its roof sending off sparks as its velocity slowly reduced to zero.

For three incredibly long seconds, nothing happened. All cars on the road screeched to a halt as the drivers slammed on their breaks. Then all at once the dazed pedestrias began to freak out, their scream boomed in my ears.

There are more important things to be done right now than to freak out.

I shrugged off the girl and dashed towards the fallen boy, now limp and unmoving. The scene made my stomache did a perilous sumersault as it lurched viciously, giving me the sensation to vomit. But I somehow forced it down.

I had something to check on.

Kneeling down beside the boy, I reached into his pocket which was already soaked by blood oozing out from his body. My fingers curled around something soft and drew it out. I opened up the wallet and checked the amount of cash.

There were about 100 bucks.

The last missing piece of information clicked into place as gears in my head whirled to life, slowly froming a picture that revealed the last thing I wanted to see--endless oblivion.

My eyes moved to the teenager's head, and once again gazed into the uncomfortablly familiar void of darkness. His face was hollow like it was stitched with crayon drawings, his countenance impossible to distinguish.

I crumpled to the ground as the sound of police sirenses headed towards the overturned car. Then came a sound much horrid than anything you'd posibilly hear as the fourth dimension started to blend in, chasms snaked mid-air and slowly started to expand like frost.

Only one thing make sense now.

My head throbbed as I was again overtaken by the familiar repulsive sense, and sank into thorough darkness.

It's a trap.