Empty.

A strong sensation of emptiness...

It was like being in nothing and being nothing, but that didn't last long.

After slowly opening his eyes, what was in front of him was just grass.

Some trees in the distance, asphalt not too far away.

Yes, he was lyin' on the ground, and still with his glasses.

By tryin' to get up it was obvious he was dizzy, but even with some difficulty, he managed.

It was weaker than gettin' hit in the chin, so nothin' much.

That place, was the park. Cars drove by the street, there were people walkin' in the distance.

But there's somethin' weird.

There're many weird things.

"Makoto, Sheila...?"

They both vanished.

It was already day, and it wasn't early.

The cars on the street, all old models.

The people's clothes are different, and the only common link was students using uniforms.

"What the f- heck is this?"

How did he end up here, and why does everythin' look so different?

Maybe that was real, the supernatural stuff.. Or is he hallucinatin'?

"...I should've agreed with Makoto and made us get outta there on the spot, huh?" he thought.

Or maybe just refused to come with Sheila, but… She'd just come by herself. That occult obsessed person. So that was never an option.

Kyouichirou looks at his hand, and makes it into a fist.

"I'd better find those two."

There's no time to lose, who knows what the hell is happenin' to the others right now.

He starts to walk around, but in that moment all changes, like when a TV's channel is changed.

"What-?!"

At that moment, Kyouichurou's scenery transformed completely…

She was also there, before that happened.

Not too far from there, just a small walk away.

When Sheila opened her eyes, she was standing.

Her head was a bit dizzy, but she managed to stay standing after almost falling over.

The first thing she noticed was the sunlight bathing her skin.

Then, as she looked around, that that was the park they were in before, and that there were many things out of place.

Everything looked older, as if that was the past.

"Time slip!" she almost screams, but succeeds in holding it back, when she sees walking towards her direction none other than the boy from before.

"I shall nickname you bowl boy." she jots it down mentally.

That boy wasn't alone, he walked beside another boy.

The boy seemed to chat enthusiastically, even if the bowl boy stayed quiet, looking forward without avoiding his gaze for even a moment.

In a few steps, they were close enough gor it to be possible to hear what they were saying.

"And then Yuki, that new movie that's gonna come out, it's the same as the space warriors show and..."

Mere casual chatter between children, but that provided many clues.

The bowl boy had a name, thus a nickname wasn't needed anymore, and…

That movie, although Sheila didn't possess broad knowledge on the subject, she knew it.

It was a classic, and part of a renowned show which runs to this day, whose initial release dates back to the 80s.

"Time slip!! A real time slip!" she thought, with even more vigor.

The two boys passed where she was standing, heading towards the crosswalk.

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Sheila followed right behind, observing the inhabitants of the past with a wide smile.

Step by step, the boy kept talking, and answered even with Yuki staying silent.

"Hey, why don't we go to the arcade? We need to commemorate the good grades! My mom said you should always commemorate that sort of thing to incentivize getting even more good grades… and we can play the new game that came out the day before yesterday!"

During that moment, they had just gotten to the crosswalk, with Sheila right behind them.

The two boys were turned to the side of the street, waiting for the light to shine red so they could cross it.

As soon as the boy said that, Yuki's face changed.

Fear, his eyes showed pure dread.

His gaze, that stayed looking straight ahead all along, changed it's focus to the cars.

It was subtle, but Sheila noticed.

That he almost threw himself forward, in the middle of the cars, at that moment.

"Something wrong, Yuki?"

And was stopped by those words.

Yuki looked downcast, facing the ground.

He slowly shook his head in a "no".

Her smile slowly disappeared.

Like a drunk person who got sober after being slapped on the face, she finally noticed the heavy air hovering that place.

She finally listened to the sensation of "there's something very wrong here".

"Ah, look! We can go now!"

The next second, when he puts his foot on the crosswalk…

Yuki stayed downcast, but Sheila could see.

His hands, that held the straps of his bag tightly, were trembling.

Why? The answer seems to come even without a question being asked.

The minute Yuki hesitantly walked a step forward, the scenery changed.

Like turning the page of a book, she was in a completely different place…

But before that happened, not too far from there.

There was a person.

The third of the group.

Makoto came to, and could feel something on his back. Was he leaning on a tree, perhaps?

An uncommon smell immediately reaches his nose, and before he could even open his eyes…

"A paradise, a paradise~"

His ears hear something.

Chop, chop, chop.

The sound of some liquid gushing out.

"Haha! It's marvelous."

A man's voice. An euphoric voice.

Makoto slowly opens his eyes.

He was slightly dizzy, but the adrenaline made him recover almost instantly.

It seemed to be the forest beside that park they were in before.

The noises came from behind, he really was leaning on a tree.

He uses the tree as a hiding place and takes just his head out carefully, to look in the direction.

Red.

All over the floor.

There's a person in the middle of that red, holding a giant saw. He looked at the ground with a genuine smile.

And a person by his feet…

A person by his feet…

The… person by his feet…

That smell was…

Makoto rapidly goes back to hiding behind the tree.

He covers his mouth with both hands, it's like his eyes are going to pop out from their sockets.

All the strength in his body vanishes, and he slowly slides towards the ground, making no noise, while he holds his breath.

"If that man notices me, I'll die."

That single phrase echoed infinitely in his mind.

It felt as if his heart would stop at any moment.

Those images, vividly.

That person, that which used to be a person, even when covered in blood you could see.

That person had cried, that person died while desperate.

You could see that… even with his disfigured face, there were even burns…

All over the face...

The dismembered arm, it was broken, you could see the exposed bone fracture.

What was probably the hand, was like ground beef

The legs were bent, folded in many directions.

It was like a crumpled up paper doll.

Was a human even capable of such things? What kind of strength did that man have?

He used a green coat, now red, but even so he didn't look like someone muscular, and seemed to be just a bit taller.

How did he do that?

"Ah, dead."

Should he be happy? That he came to after the end, that he didn't have to witness that live?

Makoto saw that for only one second, but that image was burned into his memory.

The many smaller cuts all over the… body.

The liquids that weren't red, maybe the contents of the victim's stomach.

The way something that appeared to be the feet was cut up and left on the side. It was like minced meat… put in a glass compartment… did he show that to the victim before…?

Makoto felt what he had eaten earlier that day coming back to his mouth, but he stopped the nausea by pure willpower.

His body wanted to tremble, but he wouldn't let it.

He could hold his breath forever, but kept it limited to a minimum.

"I am not here. I don't exist. Ignore me."

All his actions screamed that.

"Well. Time to go to the next party!"

That voice, it was pure euphoria. It made every hair on his body stand on end.

"I already have everything ready, which to go first… Ah, I know!"

The sound of something heavy falling to the ground, was it the saw?

"Now it's always… the family pack! I get so happy I forget sometimes."

A laughter echoes through the forest.

Not long after, the scenery changes.

Makoto finds himself in a dark place, with a little bit of light coming in from the small crevices above.

He is surrounded by clothes and coats.

He gets up carefully and can see where he is, it seems to be inside an apartment.

There's a middle aged mister watching TV, a woman making food in the kitchen further inside, and a little girl who appears to have just gotten home from school.

Makoto was going to open the door and try to explain himself, when he heard another door opening.

"Good afternoon~"

A voice that made him become an statue, stopping immediately.

"Welcome back brother…? Huh, who are you?"

Alarmed by what the girl said, the middle aged mister, who's most likely her dad, gets up from the sofa and goes toward the door.

The lady in the kitchen stopped and went to see what was happening.

"Who are you?"

The middle aged man stared at the door.

"Hello, I just came to visit! Actually, I'm a friend of your son."

The voice that came from the door was unmistakably that man's.

"Yuki's friend? Next time knock before entering."

As she hears that the lady that was coming to check the situation did an u-turn and went back to cooking.

The little girl walked away, probably towards her room.

"Sorry, sorry! The door was open so I thought there'd be no problem."

That man stopped just in front of where the closet was.

"Come on, hiding is useless, I know you're there."

At that moment, his blood cooled.

"If you want to pull a prank, try harder! Yuki will notice you immediately."

Different from the green coat from before, he used stylish and colorful social clothes. He looked as young as someone in highschool.

He really seemed like a normal person.

"Who are you talking to?"

The middle aged mister found it strange, his son's friend suddenly started talking to a closet, who wouldn't?

That man was an assassin.

That man could make people turn into… that.

Staying in the closet won't help.

He needs to get out.

If he gets out, he can try to escape.

Maybe that from before was a nightmare?

No.

Certainly not.

The only exit is to come out from there.

You need to get out.

Staying still there is useless.

"Will you take long?"

He kept smiling.

"Don't worry, I won't play with you now."

It was a smile befitting a saint.

Makoto slowly opens the door of the closet.

"People like you are a true rarity, did you know that?"

He then turns to the middle aged man, who is surprised there was someone there.

"This is another of Yuki's friends, he wanted to play a prank, you know?"

Makoto doesn't know the man's intentions.

He only knows that…

Something horrible is going to happen, and he is completely powerless to stop it.