Shadows and Lights

Chapter 38

This can't be happening to me. It's getting too difficult to remember things. I've been quizzed who knows how many times. I don't even know when I started getting questioned like this, or why. Everyone keeps saying I hit my head today, but how can that be? It would explain my headache and the strange stiffness of my neck, but I can remember bits and pieces of today, and I don't recall a fall of any kind.

"Hai-chan!" Satsuki scares me out of my skin as I walk down the street. How did I get here? Why am I here? Everything is confusing. "Hai-chan, where are you going?" I blink in surprise. What's she doing here, anyway?

"I... don't know." I say, frowning as harshly as my face will allow. "How did I get here?" My eyes are burning. Why am I ending up places when I don't recall going there. The pinkette grabs my hand as soon as I start to sniffle. "I'm scared, Satsuki!"

All I get is a carefully constructed look of confidence. "It'll be okay, Hai-chan." Why am I scared again? I guess I'll just have to trust the pinkette. I'm not even sure why she's holding my hand, but I won't complain. I just want to go home.

It takes time to get home. I'm not sure how much, but it takes some amount of time. All I am sure of is that I'm cold and I'm hungry and I want to sleep and I have a headache. Also, I'm crying for some reason. Not sure why, but I can't really control it. At least I'm quiet enough that Satsuki hasn't noticed. Maybe she has, and I've forgotten it.

"Alex! Where did you go?" Seeing Sei here, standing next to Daiki, is both a shock and not a shock. My eyes burn.

"I don't know." I say as I try to hold back the urge to wail. My hands rub my eyes with unnecessary roughness. I just want to sleep. I just want to eat and shower and sleep and remember.

It's dark outside. I wish I knew when it got dark. I wish I knew more than the weird pieces flying through my blank memory. I wish I knew why I keep forgetting things.

What is more than a shock, more than any surprise could equate to, is that as Sei walks closer and closer, he isn't at all terrifying. He looks sad and concerned and above all, worn out. Frankly, it's worrying to see such a proud character in this state. I go rigid as his arms wrap around me.

"Seijuurou?" Am I supposed to hug him back? My arms respond hesitantly to the situation, hugging him gently as I try to understand why everything is weird. This is not like Sei. "When did you get here, Sei?" What I really want to ask is when did I get here.

"I've been here for a few hours, Alex." My face pales, my eyes burn, my nose runs. I think I'm actually going to cry.

I wonder if there's any merit to fighting off the inevitable. I barely manage to do so, hiding my face is Sei's shoulder until he relaxes his grip and steps away from me. "She needs to sleep. Tomorrow it should be a little better." Sei says to Daiki and Satsuki. I wonder why he won't address me.

As soon as the thought is completed, Sei looks to me. "I'll be staying nearby for a few days." With that, he exits without another word. I blink in surprise.

"I'm going home, Hai-chan. Be safe, okay?" The pinkette says after another unidentifiable amount of time.