The shopkeeper had no expression. His eyes were dreadful, dark, lifeless... This seems awfully similar to that time.

I froze, feeling a familiar pain in my head. However, it didn't last long this time. I shook my hand free, pushed the shop keeper away, and ran after Yury.

Now I'm sure this has to do with Yury.

Spotting him in the distance, he had his hands on his knees, catching his breath.

I approached, “Hello, you are Yury, aren't you?“

Yury looked up, startled, “Ah! It's you. You know my name?“

“Detective Felix told me your name. My name is Ash Valen, nice to meet you. Furthermore I want to ask you something,” I extended my left hand for a handshake, and he shook my hand. I was taken aback by how haggard he seemed.

“… Sure, let's go sit there, I want to ask something too,” he pointed at a bench.

We sat and he immediately asked me something, “Are you doing things in order?“

Flinching, I answered, “No… that brings up my question; why do people act like this around you? At first I was like this too, but after I felt pain in my head I became normal,”.

He scrutinized me, perhaps after he was convinced by me he said, “I didn't know about it either until January 5th… after that day, sometimes people act normal around me, other times they start telling me about following the order and being in sync. In order to achieve my purpose in the story…”

He took off his coat, and lifted up his sleeves, showing me horrible blue bruises, all shaped like human hands, “it's completely random too. I can't tell when they'll be sane or not… and they've been getting more violent lately, so much so that they force me to do certain things to satisfy the 'order'. And I can't even fight back; they become stronger than when they were sane. Even little kids… I- I'm scared. Even on my birthday today, I was planning to celebrate it by buying something for myself, but I can't even enter the shops,”.

He talks a lot… Maybe it's because he hasn't found a person to vent to yet who could understand him?

“I'm not sure what to do. This is so frustrating. I feel like I am living amidst things that are not even people…”

The further he talked, the weaker his voice got. He even started to shake by the end of it. I handed him a tissue, just incase… “Thanks,” he thanked me.

I fiddled with my bag, looking for the bruising cream I had on me. My bruises were mostly gone, and I didn't use the cream. I had forgotten to take it out though. “Give me your hands,” I demanded.

Who would have thought that I would be able to find a use for it?

“Huh?“

“Just do it.”

He stretched his hand and I lifted up his sleeve until there was no further bruising. I applied the cream carefully and bandaged both of his arms, “You're surprisingly good at this, despite using only one hand… But why are you helping me?” Yury commented, his voice still shaking.

“I went to course to learn basic nursing skills. And do I need a reason to help?“ I looked him sharply. He shivered. I guess inheriting my mother's eyes is helpful after all.

Looking at the carton box beside me, I made an 'Oh' sound and gave it to Yury, “Take this, happy birthday. Although it may be lacking, it's full of love; I think that makes up for it.”

“Full of love?!” Yury said, stunned.

I looked at him weirdly, not understanding his outburst, “Yeah? I bought it for my sister, so I put a lot of thought and love into it,”.

“……Then, I can't take it, it was meant for your sister,” he tried to hand it back.

“Hey, when someone gives you a gift; it's rude to return it,” I drove it back into his hands, “consider it a gift from a friend,”.

“Friend… Alright, thank you Ash. I am really grateful,” he beamed at me.

I hadn't mentioned it before since I had never gotten a good look at him, but he's quite handsome. I would believe it if someone said he's a famous actor, or the protagonist of a story.

With his blonde hair and blue eyes, he almost looks like the prince of a fairytale. I think my sister would like him, he's dangerous.

“By the way, do you remember that man? I'm now sure he's looking for you. He did say that he's looking for the person that turns people around him stupid,” I suddenly remembered to mention.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

“Did he say that?“ Yury furrowed his brows.

“… Yes, if my memory doesn't fail me, he said that if he were to meddle with that person's affairs even a little, it will lead to—” I paused, “their death…”

Yury wrinkled his eyebrows. It was a more tame reaction than what I had anticipated, “Thanks for telling me, Ash. It's helpful,” I saw a determined look etched on on face.

He's up to no good.

“What are you planning to do? Don't even think about searching for that person; the police are already doing that part,”

“But I want to get rid of this right n—”

Pointing at his thin arms, “No buts, you're way too frail to deal with him too. You also look like you'll drop unconscious any second now. Think carefully,”.

“What am I supposed to do then?! Put yourself in my shoes! What would you do if all people suddenly turn into emotionless robots trying to control you?! I have a chance I want to seize! Otherwise I wouldn't mind d—” he cut himself off, his eyes widening.

“No no no, I'm so sorry Ash. Please forgive me. I didn't mean to yell at you. I know you only said that looking out for me…” regret was evident in his words, he bowed his head down and caught it with his hands, ruffling his hair. As if that motion would calm him down, “I'm just so on edge because of, well, everything that's been happening lately...”

“Don't apologize to me, it's alright. I know you must have suffered through a lot and I said that without considering how you'd feel. I won't fault you for a few words. It's normal to be on edge if something that unnatural keeps occuring,” I said, “Stop doing that too, you're hair's a mess,”.

Yury stopped, lifted his head, and started tidying his hair by running his hands through it a couple of time. After sitting in silence for a few minutes, “Has anyone ever told you that you act different to how you look?“ He turned to me.

“No?“ I tilted my head to the side, pondering this sudden question; this is the first time I've heard such a thing.

Well, it's not like I talk to many people other than my family… I don't know how people perceive me.

“You look cold and talk in a slow and flat tone, but you're surprisingly nice,”

“Seeing as how you're now well enough to talk nonsense, I think I was worried for nothing,” I glared at him

“Hahahaha! It's a compliment I swear!” He hit my chest playfully and I winced.

As if remembering something, Yury stopped laughing, “Crap! I'm sorry, how are your injuries? I should have been more careful.”

“It doesn't hurt much. I need more time to heal, specifically, my arm. My ribs weren't as severely injured since I protected them… Somehow,” memories of that day flooded into my head.

Having finished with the topics of concern, Yury started talking to me more casually. I learned quite a lot about him.

Apparently, he was an orphan. He did have parents but they died early on so he doesn't remember much about them. He grew up in an orphanage along with some other kids that were like brothers and sisters to him.

He decided along with a few kids of his age whom he was especially close to that they would go to The Capital University in order to achieve their dream of being independent and giving back to the orphanage that housed them when no else would. And that is the reason as to why he's here.

After arriving to the capital city center to conduct an interview on January 5th. The incident happened and his interview was put on hold in consideration of the incident.

Yury did most of the talking, I was just by his side nodding and making sounds of acknowledgement. One thing I noticed is how he's able to talk on and on without stopping or feeling awkward. Even when the topic that he brings up in utter nonsense.

I could never do that. He's like a radio station… when's he going to stop talking? It's been an hour already. it looks like it's going to snow soon too.

I lifted my head up to look at the clouds gathering. The previous sunshine that peeked through the clouds every now and then was completely gone. And the overall bright and refreshingly cold feeling the weather gave beforehand vanished, in place of it a harsh wind with big snowflakes started coming down.

“Yury, we should probably start heading back, you're going to that train station is that correct? I'll go there with you,” I offered.

“Hm! There's no need! I can go there on my own, hopefully people will have started to act normally,” He smiled, munching on a piece of cake, “This is delicious, your sister has good taste! Thanks for giving it to me, how much does it cost?”

“I already told you it's a gift. I won't accept payment,” I answered, standing up and patting the snow off my coat.

Yury, also standing up, said, “No way! I already feel indebted to you for many things! At least let me do this for you. It's been a while since I ta-- -o s-m---e -nd I ——”

I felt shivers down my spine. I'm not that cold yet though… My heart started racing, I felt a headache creeping up on me. Yury's words became unclear.

While I was trying my best to pay attention to what Yury was saying, I noticed something at the other side of the park. The one facing the more crowded part of the city, right behind Yury. Far away figures, obscured by the falling snow, seemed to be running our way. Not two or three, not even ten or twenty. It was far more than that.

What in the actual—... there's no time for this.

I was flustered, pushing down my urgency, I held Yury with my left hand, “We should run. Right now,” I motioned with my head behind Yury and without giving him the time to look back, I darted to the opposite side of those figures.

Confused, Yury turned his head back while we we were running, “Fuck!” he exclaimed. Then went ahead and started running in earnest.

“Do you usually get chased like this?” I managed to question through my hasty breathing.

“NO! This is the first time this has happened! If I get out of their sight or walk a certain distance away they usually stop bothering me!” Yury turned his head once more, “Ahh what the fuck?! How are they so fast?!”

“Let's turn towards the woods. I think getting closer to the city center would likely only net more people to follow us,” I turned to the trees surrounding the park. The park was built near the outskirts of the central city, where there's a relatively large forest. The forest was preserved to be used in a future project of a wildlife zoo. There are barely any people here so it's perfect.

“Ah? Yes!” Yury was dragged, clueless.

We ran into the forest, breathing roughly. We didn't stop running though. We kept going deeper into the woods, because we could hear the tremendous noise brought by who knows how many people were running after us.

Shouting and screaming about how today was an important event that can't be missed, that the story should not be interrupted, that 1 hour, 3 minutes, -- seconds was the limit until it can't be salvaged anymore.

The only difference we kept hearing as we were running is the time they were shouting dropping down.

We could tell that the number of people wasn't a small number at all. It was dangerous. We didn't even talk unless necessary. All of our energy was spent on running.

My ribs were aching, but I couldn't complain. I didn't even know if I should run or not, considering how their target is Yury. But I am not taking the risk.

Yury, plainly speaking, was not fit at all. I am not that fit either, I do workout in order to do the house chores without getting tired, but that's all. And taking into account my injuries, we were both miserable at running.

The one thing that kept us going was perhaps the urgency of the situation and our willpower.

The people running after us were not tiring, they just ran. Everytime their voices drew closer, a rush of adrenaline kicked in and we put some distance between us and them. This cycle repeated itself, time after time.

50 minutes.

40 minutes.

30 minutes.

20 minutes.

10 minutes.

5 minutes. Yury's legs gave out, I cursed under my breath. As if I had any breaths left. And put his arm around my shoulder and commenced running.

2 minutes. It was my turn now, I couldn't stand anymore. Falling onto the snow head first with Yury. We flipped so that we faced upwards, “hah, I, hah, wish I didn't, hah, meet you,” I put what strength was left in my left arm, and smacked him.

Yury didn't say anything, just laughed, “I'puh sorruh,”

Hearing the voices drawing closer, counting the seconds, we both froze. We didn't even know if these people will stop after the countdown finishes.

The first person we saw was a guy who looked quite athletic. It made sense that he would be the first person to catch up to us.

He looked at Yury, “Target. Yury Avalon. Spotted,” then turned to me, “Unnecessary target. Role finished. Deemed the cause of desynchronization. Eliminate the unnecessary target,” he took out what looked like a camping dagger and started 'running' towards me. It was more like walking, though, I guess even someone like him would get tired running for this long.

“Hah, it seems, I am in more danger, hah, than you, Yury,” I commented between my struggling breaths, looking into my bag.

Yury glanced at me, then stood up to shield me… Tried to, though he just fell infront of me, “don't hurt him! If you need me! I'll go!”

But as though his words were not heard, the man kept approaching me. Stepped on Yury, and stood at my front, with me still laying on the ground. The surroundings were more noisy. People started to show up from beyond the trees, counting 30! 29! 28!

As time got slower, his dagger slashed down on me.

Now how am I meant to handle this? I fought the urge to close my exhausted eyes and accept my fate.

I looked at the descending weapon, that could be the end of me, and tried to dodge. But the dagger ultimately met it's target.

"ASH!"