When I opened my eyes, the vision I had in which I was stabbed to death disappeared.

Was it my imagination? Why am I able to imagine something like that in a moment like this? I have to go help her, otherwise…!

A second before starting my rush towards them… the situation changed completely.

She released her arm from the subject’s grasp with a quick movement.

—Huuuh? Have a Little more respect for elder peo-!

Out of nowhere, the three guys disappeared without a trace.

—W...what? —I let out a muffled sound of amazement without realizing.

The girl in the alley now seemed to be looking at something in the palm of her right hand.

—You… are fortunate that I’m incapable of harming someone… no matter how gross or miserable you are.

Her voice froze me.

In that voice there was nothing left of the happy intonation that characterizes her, instead, it was totally cold and emotionless… my blood ran cold to see how not only her tone of voice, but her aura became one of bloodlust, suddenly, I felt an incredible pressure coming from her.

But more important now… is she talking alone? Although it seems that from what she said, she was talking to the men from a moment ago.

A second later, she wiped the hand to which she had been talking to, patting her skirt lightly, immediately, I could feel that heavy atmosphere die and practically disappear. Did she return to her usual self?

Before being able to do something or thinking clearly, she turned to me… she realized that I was here and when she saw me she smiled without saying a word… how? Was it because of the noise I made earlier? How can she be so calm after what just happened? Did she make them disappear?

I could only think about running from there when she smiled at me.

What just happened?

***

When I arrived at the entrance of my house I stopped for a moment to recover the breath, I performed an intense rush from the commercial area to my house, breathing waved, I wanted to avoid worrying my parents, but… I still was unable to organize correctly my thoughts about what I saw a minutes ago and… the reason of that strange diurnal dream.

It’s normal for me to be distracted thinking about all kind of things, even having vivid imaginations and locating myself in other moments in my mind, but… this was the worst sensation I ever had in my life, I really felt death touching my door, despair, I can remember every feeling too accurately to have been a simple imagination, not to mention that getting lost in my thoughts in a moment like that would be impossible, I can still feel all the experience in my body, being stabbed, the cold and the constant weakening of each muscle of my body, my sight getting cloudy and the pain, the feeling of being soaked and lying in a puddle of my own blood, the terror of a shadow with a scythe in hand knocking the door of your life… thinking about all your loved ones and the suffering you would cause to them, is a sensation I hope to no experience never again, do all the people about to die feel like this?

—I’m home! —Opening the door, I took off my shoes and walked straight to the stairs.

—Welcome home darling, how…? —My mother grew silent when she saw me before I could go up—. Did something happened?!

—Mmm? —I tried to disguise the taste of death in my mouth that still didn’t dissipate with a false tranquility, perhaps to false.

—You’re pale! —She came closer and took my shoulders, examining my face.

—Oh, that… yeah, it must be —enduring an excuse, I tried to stop thinking about the insane experience—. I was in the karaoke with some friends and I fell asleep, but I had a terrible nightmare, I still feel… nervous, in fact… I feel something weak yet, it was… very unpleasant and realistic.

—What kind of nightmare?

—From the worst I’ve had… Three guys… they cornered me into an alley, after stabbing me I could feel death too close… it was the most real dream I ever had… —Without realizing, I started to shake while describing the situation.

—Danny… —My mother gave me a protective hug, noticing how this affected me.

Sorry for lying but… you wouldn’t believe me if I told you what happened and… you would scold me for thinking about charging into three criminals, since if it hadn’t been for what Riedel did a moment later, surely I couldn’t have done anything to stop myself.

—Anyway, I think… I calmed down already.

My mother released me after that.

—Do you want me to help you with dinner?

Probably if I try to do something I’ll forget it after a while, this was the perfect opportunity.

—I’d love to, come on, go leave your things in your room —she started to walk towards the kitchen.

—Thanks, mom…

She smiled, she’s incredible. Since I know her she is a wonderful person, not only because she’s my mother but also in many other areas, she’s one of the most beloved person in her work, she always strives for me and my dad, although he also does it for both of us, but even so he cannot hide that my mother is the dominant part of the relationship, he’s a calm and affectionate guy both with her and with me, very understanding when it comes to getting used to the advance of time, he’s not the father who would tell you things like “Those meaningless videogames” or “Playing so much will fry your brain”, in fact we enjoyed many games together and in more than one occasion he came home with a videogame that came out that same day and we were eagerly waiting for a long time while my mother enjoys watching us play and watching anime with us. I cannot ask for a better family.

So for now, I will focus on cooking…

***

To the next day I had already forgotten practically everything that had happened yesterday, after much thinking the night before, I decided to agree with myself that this diurnal dream was due to fatigue or the adrenaline of the moment, perhaps it’s a characteristic with which I was born with that I didn’t know I had to anticipate the events and plan everything in my head, the same to see them disappear, perhaps they left before through some door of the alley and I didn’t see them for concentrating on what happened to me, and Riedel talking to herself… She probably only did it to scare me when she realized I was there after she heard me make that sound. It doesn’t matter if this is just an excuse to ignore what I saw, or stupidity that could cost me a lot later, I think my mental health is first, and if I kept thinking about it so intensely, I wasn’t going to be able to be relaxed for a long time.

While on my way to school as I always did, I found myself with the first irregularity of my day, one that would bring down that little confidence I managed to forge in one night.

No.

What happened yesterday?

My head hurts… when I try to remember something specific, I hear noise… too much noise.

The space around me gets distorted when I try to remember anything, it’s something truly important… hurts…

Everyone talks on the road, they laugh and they talk to each other casually, why I…

I forgot it many times, it hurts, my chest hurts… but I feel that someone is feeling much more pain…

It hurts.

It hurts.

STOP.

…

—Danny, no matter how bloodstained you are, the time I have to wait for you to be born again is only a fraction of a second if it is to wait you…

…

—Hello, Wakkun —out of nowhere, the energetic voice of Riedel brought me out of a little migraine.

Huh?

—Oh, g-good morning.

Apparently my nervousness was funny to her, it was the first time she had spoken to me out of nowhere like this.

Two years have passed since then…

***

This is my last year of high school, a week has passed since the classes began.

Since that day I suffered a rare and brief migraine on the way to class, there have been many changes in my life, for example; I became a close friend to Monica.

—Wakkun, what do you think?

Those words pushed me out from my train of thought, when I went back to reality, my friend for two years was showing me a drawing pad. Concentrating on the drawing, I noticed how well done it was, it was a wet apple since it had drops of water on top. But it was amazing… she cared for many details, shadows, dimensions and… the visual distortion caused by drops.

—Uhmm… —I babbled a little while I woke up from my daytime dream and was appreciating the drawing—. It is… it’s amazing, it has many details, the colors are very well employed and the shadow is also greatly made and… Well, I don’t know what else to say… I don’t usually draw, I only know that it’s amazing.

—Thank you, Wakkun —she said with a smile from ear to ear.

When I say that I became his close friend, I think I’m really his only close friend, since despite her open personality to everybody, she never had, at least apparently, a friend with whom she shared many of her things, she was only being good and considered with all of us, even so in most of the situations where we all hanged together and went to various places, she preferred to not being included. But since that day, she opened to me without any apparent reason, every day she talks with me about whatever, what she did, what she wants to do, about what she thinks, of what she saw yesterday on TV, about the homework, especially when I ask her for help with some class I’m unable to understand; I think that without realizing we became pretty close to each other.

After showing me her drawing, she sat down in her desk, in this year she was sitting again to my left.

The boy of the position that was in front of mine in this occasion, turned towards me.

—Danny… tell me you understood this math class, really, I couldn’t grasp anything from the latest things… —Shirogane had the pain of a hard math class in his eyes.

—Oh, I didn’t understood it either, but Riedel helped me to understand, with a pair of questions I made her she answered in a way that made me understand everything, she truly looks like some kind of genius.

—Danny, Riedel this, Riedel that, always it’s she, you already forgot about me and Tomoe, did you? —Judging by his face, he looked something annoyed.

It’s true that lately I haven’t stopped mentioning her in almost any conversation, but I usually only realize it when someone let me know, being that someone Shirogane in 100% of the cases.

—Oh… you’re right… sorry Shirogane, I’ll try to do it less —I showed myself something distressed.

—Hahahaha, you’re so innocent, don’t worry about that, it was a joke, of course I know that you wouldn’t replace us —he saw me with his usual and reliable smile—. Either way that is a good thing since at last, Tomoe managed to make a friend —he signaled the two girls that were talking in a low tone any amount of… girly things.

Indeed, Tomoe Kahiko never had the ease of making friends, but I think that for some strange chain of “if she’s your friend, she’s my friend too!” she managed to sympathize with Riedel and eventually they got along very well, I would even say that after me, with Tomoe is with whom more closeness she has. Excepting the two of us, she hadn’t opened to nobody else in these five years. Shirogane on the other hand, never made friends with the pink haired girl, I don’t know if there was a reason, but he always showed distant with her, although he must have his own reasons and that doesn’t concern me.

The classes passed until the school day ended, each one took their things and the room began to empty progressively.

—Wakkun, do you want to come for a while to the district? —Tomoe came closer to me along with Shirogane and Riedel.

—Are we all? Great, I need to buy something to eat, I have nothing at home now, so it would be cool to kill two birds of a shot.

—Hey, don’t say it as if you didn’t come if it were because you need to buy something.

—Shirogane, you know I didn’t said it that way.

—Hoho, what do I see? Didn’t you fell on my trap this time?

—Looks like that he’s already getting used to your mockery pattern, Ozuma —Tomoe mocked.

—Yeah yeah, anyway.

—Let’s go then, Wakkun —added Riedel.

I took my things and the group of two girls and two boys left the classroom once more, heading to the commercial district.

***

—Who was the one wanting to come first?

—I swear it was Monica!

—K-Kahiko!? Who was the one who wanted the last edition of that BL man...

Tomoe covered Riedel’s mouth before she could finish that lethal phrase.

—M-manga? Y-yeah, it’s true… THAT one manga that is constantly in hiatus… damn, hahahaha! I had been waiting for the new edition for a long time…

When Tomoe took off her hand from Riedel’s mouth, that last girl smiled maliciously.

—Then don’t dare you to complain about how long is the line… if you knew that not only a ticket sales event for a local idols act was happening, but also came out the volume of that manga that many people were waiting for, was it not expected that the line was extra-long?

—Y-yes… I think so, hahaha —Tomoe scratched her head laughing in a guilty way.

Although… I also wanted to buy the new volume of that manga… so I can’t complain or throw the guilt totally into Tomoe, somehow I would have arranged to escape from them and come here.

—I’ll go for something to drink, do you want a drink?

—Shirogane… you’re an angel… —For a moment, my friend looked like as a true savior in my eyes.

—Yeah, sure.

—I just want a cola —the dark-haired girl asked.

—I’m ok with the cola —I agreed.

—An oolong tea —ordered Riedel.

—SOMETHING IN THE SAME STORE WHERE I’M GOING TO BUY THE COLA!

—A joke a joke! How sensitive you are, Ozuma, hmm… with an orange soda I’m fine.

—Great, I’ll see you in a moment —with our orders, he got lost between the crowd while he saw his cell phone.

So I think we’ll be a good time here…

…

A couple hours later, we left that endless line of people with our gold in cloth, the last volume of Hu**e X ***t**, I was waiting this for a long time!

Then, the time to finish our walk through the commercial area came, it was beginning to get late quickly so the group separated with Tomoe and Shirogane taking their way.

—See you tomorrow Shirogane, Tomoe.

—See you guys.

—Tomorrow I’ll bring you that novel from which I spoke to you, Monica.

—Okay! Thank you very much, Kahiko —she smiled.

The pink-haired girl and I stayed alone in the middle of the busy place, with people from side to side with all kinds of things in mind, in fact, I have a funny story with this kind of place. About 8 years ago when I was still a child, I decided to take a deviation from my usual route to home from elementary school, that route involved going through here at a peak hour, in which many people was crowding the place, that resulted in a 9-year-old alone and lost child in the otaku area from the city… a pretty dangerous thing. The truth is that I can’t remember pretty much about that event, I think that I subconsciously tried to erase that memory from my mind due to the scared I was, but there are things that I can remember clearly; the fear from being alone in a place with people a lot taller than I walking from one side to another without stopping and not a chance to scape, one that another schoolgirl greater than me from time to time looking me from up and saying things like “Look at that poor thing, how cute it is!” “Is he lost? I want to take him home with me!”. But the most important thing is the person who saved me. Although it’s what I least remember from the entire experience, I remember that a hand took my arm tightly and before I realized I was out of the main area, so I could resume my way, I tried to examine around me to see if I could be able to found the person who took me out of there but I weren’t able to found anybody, or at least I wasn’t able to recognize he or she because I haven’t saw my savior’s face in any moment… It would be great to be able to found that person and thank him/her properly someday.

As I remembered a somewhat shameful event of my childhood, I felt something touching my arm and getting closer to me, I didn’t know the nature of that until I turned my head to the right and then I saw it, Riedel approached me enough to say that we were stuck.

—What happ…?

—I need to tell you something, come home with me, sure?

What? What? What does this mean?

***

After a journey in complete silence from both of us, we arrived to her tome. I’m currently living alone since my parents are taking a vacation traveling through different places in the world, it may sound irresponsible at first sight, but it was something they wanted to do for many years and I didn’t want to remain an impediment to them, so I had to even convince them that I was ok without their company, even so they call me every night to know if I’m crying in a corner of my room missing them or if I took a girl to the house, after all I’m a 17-year-old boy who never had a girlfriend, when I tried to convince them that they could be calm for me, they asked…

“Wouldn’t it be the case that Danny has a girlfriend and want us out of the way to bring her home?”

I think several of my neurons melted in that moment.

About what I know, she’s also living alone, she told me that when she entered high school her parents traveled to Germany to work, so she has three years living on her own, but in a few words… she’s alone at home and wants me, a 17yo boy to accompany her home because she has something to tell me, is that ok?

—Here it is… —She said opening the grating at the courtyard.

Modern architecture, a lot of glass with dark curtains, my favorite type, compact and minimalist.

Upon opening the grate, she moved to the main door and opened it, then, we entered the house, she went ahead and replaced her shoes with a pair of pink slippers, so… attached to her style.

—Come in.

I realized that I was standing at the door without moving, seeing her. Now the girl with pink hair was standing with her uniform, her long stockings and her slippers, this is not something that… no, I need to stop looking at her.

—Okay… —I took my shoes off just like her.

—There is another pair of slippers, you can use it.

—Oh, thank you.

A little relevant detail, but I hate walking barefoot even if the floor is clean and I have stockings, perhaps it’s due to a childhood trauma which consists of me walking on broken glass.

There was a corridor, two doors to the left, one at the bottom and stairs on the right wall.

—Well —after apparently encouraging herself, she started walking upstairs—. Follow me, my room is up.

Her room?

This is not good, no, it can definitely not be good. I have known her for a long time, but for some reason I feel as if I knew only a small fraction of her, it is… it’s a diffuse memory, one in which I could feel cold and I say her name.

Without retort, I went up behind her.

There was a small hallway at the end of the staircase with several rooms, she turned to the second door that was on the left and after taking the door handle, opened it, when she entered, she went aside to let me enter. Behind me, she closed the door.

What’s happening? No, the question is… what will happen next? I have to say that I’m terrified, although I think it’s not unnatural and that every man should have the necessary courage in moments like this one, I think that we exist some guys who simply cannot feel prepared to a certain extent. But I can’t deny that I feel some excitement, although I don’t want this to get out of control, so…

GAAAAAAAHH, WHAT SHOULD I DO?!

Ignoring my worries, the girl who brought me to the room went in front of me and sat on her bed, leaving her slippers on the floor and crossing her legs.

If you take a moment to see around, it’s a pretty cute and feminine room, it’s decorated on pink base, there are many stuffed animals and books on a desk in front of the window, a plasma TV on the wall opposite to her bed, a small but welcoming room.

—You don’t have to see so much, I’ll get ashamed —she mocked briefly trying not to sound serious—. Anyway, sit down there —she pointed out a chair that was under the desk.

I took the chair with one hand and pulled it enough to sit. So without more to do, I just sat waiting for her to talk. Some eternal (probably just for me) minutes passed, neither of us said a word, she saw her cell phone while I was practically sweating cold.

Riedel suddenly smiled widely in a malevolent way, I couldn’t help but be interested in what caused her so much fun.

—What happen?

—No… it’s just that… —After sighing, she spoke as if a huge weight disappeared from her back—. You fell directly in my trap, stupid human…

Huh?

Stupid human?