Distorted Wonderland

Mikado

Halo Five: Mikado:

Russia Sushi around six o'clock in the evening. The Raira trio, Noriko, and Chiharu sat at the back table with their dinner. They weren't the only ones tonight. Kadota and his group sat at the bar. Plus, two middle school boys sat at a table across from the Raira students. Despite the quiet and "normal" vibe in the room, everyone couldn't help but to get the feeling that something was going to unfold. They didn't speak because the doll in a red dress near the kitchen had her glass eyes on them.

"She looks creepy," Erika whispered in Walker's ear. Her fellow otaku nodded. The two middle school boys eyed the same doll. The one in the grey t-shirt leaned over to his friend.

"I dare you to break it," he whispered. His friend gave him a strange look.

"No, man," he whispered back

"I'll buy you Ramune," his friend pushed.

"No," the other boy said.

"I'll pay for your dinner," the boy added. His friend turned around with big eyes.

"Seriously?" he asked.

"If you want," his friend said. From the kitchen, Simon watched them with a sharp glare. Out in the kitchen, the boy smirked and reached into his pocket. He aimed a yen coin at the doll's face.

"No, don't!" his friend yelled quickly. Once his friend let go of that coin, it was too late when it connected with the doll in the face. Everyone in the restaurant looked up when they heard a crashing noise. The overbearing doll fell to the hard floor and broke her head. A dead silence filled the room. The van gang didn't move an inch. A sudden invisible wave struck everyone in the restaurant. Mikado felt it the worst.

He remembered cradling Anri's beaten and bloodied body in his arms as he screamed for help. She mumbled something as her life was slipping away. Mikado leaned in to listen to such faint works.

No. That's not right. When did this happen?

Mikado saw another vision of a man drowning a woman in a pond. The couple was waist-deep in the icy water. The man had his hands tightly clasped around the woman's neck as he held her under the water. Mikado walked through the water to try and stop him.

"Stop! What are you doing?!" he shouted.

That can't be it either! I've never seen this before!

Another memory of him surfaced in his mind. This time, Mikado was looking out from behind steel bars at two young doctors talking. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but something told him it wasn't any good. One of them with glasses glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. Mikado felt himself backing up in this memory.

This isn't right either!

Suddenly, Mikado saw another vision. This time, he wandered into a room upstairs in an old house. He found Chiharu standing over a dead body clutching a bloodied shovel in her hands. Horrified, Mikado raced over to her.

"What did you do?!" he cried. Chiharu clutched onto her shovel.

"I had to do it," she muttered under her breath.

"But... But..." Mikado yelped.

This didn't happen either! Where is this coming from?

Another memory came into Mikado's head. "Yuki is so controlling. She doesn't care about me; she just wants to drug me up into a vegetable," Noriko complained. Mikado placed his hand on her wrist.

Oh, that's right...

The sensation in the restaurant settled down to normal. Everyone else tried to return to normal in their lingering confusion. Mikado's chopsticks shook in his hand. What was all of that? Somebody put a hand on his wrist. The boy looked up to see Chiharu staring him down in the eye. The very look told him that he wasn't imagining.

"You're not imagining it," she said with her eyes, "But you have to ignore it for the sake of everyone." Mikado nodded with unease at her warning.