● Illusory ●

Chapter 6

Alex

I sighed once I entered my room, sinking to the floor and feeling embarrassed over the fact that I slipped on a feeble spoon in front of Seiko. Perhaps loss of sleep is to blame, knowing that I often act a little weird when sleep deprived. I call it tired-drunk, which is a fitting name in my opinion, except being tired doesn't damage your liver and ruin the relationship you have with others....unless you want it to.

Somehow I could still feel Seiko gripping my wrist like she had when I slipped, even though she wasn't here. It's a lingering feeling I guess, but is that normal? Or am I just weird? I never hear anyone talking about someone leaving a lingering touch on their skin, so maybe I am odd. I hope it's a good kind of odd. The people who are a good kind of odd are always fun to be around to me.

I quite honestly just felt like laying on the cold floor and sleeping there, but I knew intrusive and unwanted thoughts would keep me up for the rest of the night, so I rose to my feet and started digging through my desk drawers to look for something to take my mind off of it all. I was mostly just looking for a pan to knock myself out with just so I wouldn't have to worry about insomnia anymore, but Seiko would probably tell me it's unhealthy to hit yourself on the head with hard objects like that. I don't really want to make her worry. She looks worried enough throughout the day, I don't want to make it worse. I don't want to be the reason why she freaks out.

Just as I reached past a box cutter with its blade extended within one drawer, a shrill ringing noise sounded out in the hallway as a dim red light came on in my room. I sighed and got up, deciding to not make a fuss and bolt out of my room like a maniac. It's probably just a fire drill, but even if it isn't I won't hurry. I'm too tired to care, honestly. Or I think I'm too tired.

I entered the hallway and started moving with the flow of others, ignoring the fact that I could possibly get trampled by some of the bigger people if there really is danger. I even thought about how someone could smash my feet, knowing that I forgot to slip shoes on before leaving. My feet are gonna hurt from all the pebbles I'm going to step on outside. I won't care though. I think I'm too tired to even feel pain. Maybe I can put that to the test.

I scanned the crowd once I was outside for Seiko and Ashaki before even thinking about seeing if any smoke was billowing from the building. I saw Ashaki almost immediately, as I could recognize her blue braids anywhere, but I quickly became anxious once I noticed that Seiko was nowhere in the crowd. Now the question of this being a drill or actual emergency mattered to me. I suddenly lost my ability to not give a damn about anything right now.

I immediately started pushing my way back to the front of the crowd, not caring if I'd make a total fool out of myself for panicking during a possible drill. Though, just as I reached the front, I saw Yuuko leading what seemed to be a dazed Seiko as Nadine followed behind, looking extremely concerned. I rushed up to them immediately, stopping in front of Yuuko. "Is everything alright?" I asked.

She paused a moment before sighing. "Not exactly. The building isn't on fire though, so I guess that's an upside," she told me.

"What about Seiko? She looks a little...out of it," I asked, glancing at my friend for a moment. Yuuko looked over at her, then sighed again. It was then that I noticed that there were dark stains on Seiko's shirt and pajama pants. I instantly felt concerned as to what they were, and if they had anything to do with her looking dazed. "What...happened to you, Seiko?"

"She...stumbled upon Cyan evidently. Nadine found her while we were checking that everyone was out, and it looks like Seiko carried a bleeding Cyan all the way to the main room," Yuuko told me, before looking upset, "Cyan was extremely pale, and her lips were becoming blue. We were too late, but it looks like Seiko tried her best to get her to help."