It had been three days since the search for Yuki had begun. Little in the city improved from the chaos that he had brought upon it, but people started to become a little more accustomed to their new reality. People were no longer denying or hoping that they would just wake up from an illusion. There were still many that refused to do something, but as it was with most people the idea of doing nothing became too much to handle and so they ventured out into the unknown.
Police, fire and other emergency facilities ran once again at full staffing. Most weren't even in their respective buildings due to the high volume of calls being made. The wild animal threat had been discovered leaving injuries and fear to spread through a few of the neighborhoods.
They were ill equipped to deal with the matter, but it seemed in the desperate times that some were learning the dark secret to what happened. People developed unnatural powers that seemed to be as impossible and fantastical as what had happened to the country. It spread a new panic through the city as there was no discrimination of who received powers. The wicked misused the new gifts while the innocent were left confused or in some cases tried to play local heroes.
Change came quickly.
The government didn't even know how to respond to such problems. There was no one spared from the new gifts leaving even politicians to deal with the strange and weird. Those that had powers were viewed as possible dangers. The entire system threatened to collapse as resignations were being thrown around with more outbreaks reported. The new reality became clear.
For Ayumi, it presented an even greater concern for her. Those that came into new gifts fell outside of Ayumi and Yuki’s powers. The illusion powers that they possessed only created a reality within a space, but it wasn't the same for everyone else. They were the reality and could possibly be far more difficult to defend against.
When it came down to it even with her abilities, she was still a normal human relying on her mental reflexes and physical training to survive. She could never surpass what was considered within human limitations, however everyone else was no longer confined by such limitations. She feared what that would mean for her.
Her search for Yuki remained fairly uneventful. She ran into the occasional wild beast that tried to attack, but was able to defend herself without coming to harm. Ayumi hoped it would remain that way until she found Yuki.
Ayumi tilted her head up towards the sun overhead. It was a bit after noon and there was a sense of urgency in her step today. While she had been searching with urgency for three days, it was different today. ‘I’ve got to find Yuki soon… I’m going to be late…’ She had made a promise to Saki that she would find him today.
The brief moment of her wandering thoughts snapped as she realized her drifting. A whole block awaited her search. Yuki’s entire neighborhood had been covered several times each day, thinking that he might wander back in by habit. Afterward, the search expanded into different directions each day. Today was a distant park on the outskirts of the downtown district of the city. Ayumi had already covered the park and much of the surrounding neighborhood. She had one last block neighboring the park before her search expanded further. ‘I can’t believe we haven’t found him yet… I know it’s a big city, but even still… Doesn’t he know how much he’s making the others…worry…’
A thorough yet feverish pass on the street block brought her back staring at the park. The park, or what used to be one, looked more like the wild plains of the country. Wild grass grew nearly as tall as Ayumi only to be out stretched by massive trees with seemingly impossible spans that should break under such length. In a few places green and brown were painted out by wild flowers normally seen in the mountains, also with some only possible in stories.
Ayumi began to turn back, planning to continue her search, when she noticed an elderly man sitting on a park bench at the edge of the wilds. He seemed to be unaffected or uninterested in what was surrounding him as though he had become used to its presence. If he had been any deeper in she never would have seen him. ‘Wasn’t he there in the morning when I first arrived?’ It took her a moment, but she nodded by herself in agreement. ‘Why hasn’t he moved since?’
Curiosity and a bit of suspiciousness drew her in making her walk towards the old man. Her eyes turned to the ground for a moment while she approached before watching the resting man. Even as she came closer there was no reaction from him. ‘…hmm…’ Ayumi stopped and sat down next to the old man taking up the other spot on the park bench. She looked forward towards one of the houses waiting out a moment. “I’ve been looking all over town for you…Yuki…”
Chapter 70 – That Which has been Forgotten
The old man didn’t react to Ayumi’s statement. He simply continued to hold the distant, nearly departed expression that he had before. It was as though nothing around him was of significance to him. While the man seemed gone her words had made it into his ears. “You seem to be mistaking me for someone else, child.”
A smile pulled up on Ayumi’s lips as she let out a momentary fit of laughter. “It seems you’ve truly managed to control that power of yours. It’s no wonder no one can find you, Yuki!” She tilted her head over her shoulder towards the old man. Her eyes held a deep piercing stare focused solely on the wrinkled tanned skin of the man seated next to her.
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“I’m afraid you’ve got the wrong person,” replied the elderly man slowly.
“You can drop the act already, Yuki. I know it’s you.” She continued to stare at him intently even though he remained looking out in the distance. The delay prompted her to lift up her hand towards him. “Either you drop it or I’ll make you drop it!”
He finally looked back at Ayumi. “Alright! Alright! I already have enough brain damage from you and Saki! I don’t need anymore!” A flash of light burst from the top of his head extending downward as a flat line that made a transition between the old man's visage and Yuki’s real body. Once it was completed Yuki turned off his power.
Yuki ran his hand through his hair checking to make sure everything was normal (had been holding the image for three days straight). He turned a little to face Ayumi. “So how’d you figure it out? I thought I had a perfect disguise.”
Ayumi pointed her index finger to the ground. “You still can’t control your Field. So I could tell you were nearby with how much my own Field was affected. Anyone other than me would have never been able to find you.”
Yuki let out an embarrassed laugh. “I guess I still have a long way to go still, huh?” When Ayumi leaned in suddenly glaring at him Yuki winced and then shut his eyes preparing for the assault. However, when nothing happened to him and it was uneasily silent Yuki cautiously opened his eyes.
She sat back normally looking at him as though there was something wrong with him. “What’s with the look?”
“Well I’ve been gone for three days without any word causing you and probably Saki to go looking for me because Momoko asked you and or she was really worried. And because of that you’re going to yell at me and other stuff for acting so childish to make you all worry.”
Ayumi was a little stunned by the accuracy of his guessing, but tried not to let it show. “Well if you understand all that then I don’t need to do anything then, right?” She turned away from him while finishing her sentence acting casually with her eyes wandering about. “Unless you want me to hurt you?”
“No!”
There was still a little something that she could see bothering him. It was confusion buried under the relief. “So what’s the problem then?”
Yuki looked away from Ayumi for a moment. When he looked back towards her he jumped a little taken off guard by how close she was to him. “W-Well…”
“Yes?” Seeing that her being so close to him wasn't helping him speak up anymore Ayumi backed off and sat back down.
He began to poke his index fingers together fidgeting. After waiting another minute a fierce glare from Ayumi snapped him out and jump started his words. “W-Well! Uh…well it’s not really like you to be so forgiving to me! I’m sorry!” Yuki quickly turned into a formal bow hoping to calm some of her wraith for what he was implying.
A very long minute passed for Yuki as Ayumi stared at him. She waited until he finally dared to lift his head (a small hint of enjoyment at seeing him scared). “I’m not a violent girl like Saki!” She turned away from him for a moment feeling insulted, but caught the disbelieving gaze from Yuki. “Alright! Maybe a little...some…fine! I do, but it’s only because I’m trying to toughen you up!” Ayumi leaned over to him looking a little threatening.
“Sorry! You’re right!”
Ayumi pulled herself away as though she was embarrassed by something that just came to her. She looked out forward so that she didn't have to show her face to Yuki. “I-I…I wanted to say…it’s okay…” She tightened her hands pressing them into her lap reflecting her internal struggle.
The awkwardness coming from Ayumi’s words tugged Yuki to look at her. He knew her to be sure about everything she had to say without hesitation. ‘Why’s Ayumi acting so weird? It’s not like her?’ She looked the most human, when she wasn’t acting. “…Ayumi? What do you mean?”
“I wanted to say…that it’s okay…” Ayumi realized that she was just repeating her rather than making progress. There was a moment of frustration with her before Yuki calmed her again. “I mean it’s okay…the way you must be feeling… I wanted to say that I’m not mad at you for running away. Uh…I was mad at first, but not anymore!”
She could see that she wasn’t making a lot of sense. “While I was looking for you it gave me a lot of time to think and I realized something. I realized that I couldn’t think how I might react in your situation. I could try to say, but I think I realized how scared it must have made you. So I may not understand how it feels, but it’s okay. No one’s going to blame you for what happened and they’ll understand how heavy a weight it must be for you. So you don’t have to hide away from us. Alright?”
There was a moment while watching an embarrassed and shy looking Ayumi that he wanted to laugh loudly, but restrained himself. ‘Is Ayumi trying to make me feel better? Is she feeling ill?’ Yuki was caught a little off guard by her words. “Thank you…Ayumi…”
Ayumi nodded to him, still a little off balance from spilling her thoughts to him. It took her a moment, but a warm smile managed to rise on her face that was neither from the Ayumi façade nor from the cold Ayumi.
“I just didn’t know what to do when I saw that news report” He couldn’t explain it, but it was the first time that being near her made him feel at ease and safe. “I couldn’t believe it at first. I didn’t think that it was possible for a single person to cause so much damage, for me to be able to do that.”
Yuki began to slowly recall the past days. He jumped up from the bench and stared off into the distance with his voice becoming a little empty. “None of it seemed real. I mean ever since you told me I had this power none of it ever seemed real. I just expected that I’d wake up sometime in class with the teacher yelling at me for sleeping. And that would be it. You know…”
A moment of pause came to him as his memories passed through the last couple of weeks. “Being attacked repeatedly and coming close to death. You’d think it would have set in, but it still didn’t seem to be real to me. I mean I live so much in a fantasy world already.” He turned around to look back at Ayumi. “I may dream of a fantasy world away from my own life, but even still…even still I knew it was false. I understand that fact and could accept it. But this power…this power how could it be real? I could never make it work for me and because I…”
“It’s okay…Yuki…” She reached out her arms cautiously at first, but seeing that he was accepting her, wrapping them around him letting her warmth comfort him.
Yuki had initially been a little caught off guard by Ayumi hugging him, but he quickly leaned his head against her shoulder holding her tightly. “He’s dead…he’s dead…I…” Tears had fallen before for Kazuhiro, but they had been in anger and rage. These deep sorrowful cold of the tears were different. He wanted to stay feeling Ayumi’s embrace that seemed to be the only thing that melted away the pain. It was only something that two that had experienced loss so strongly could understand and share the weight.