When The Time Comes

Two

When I forced my eyes open against the light, I felt like the world was swaying. My neck hurt and so did my head. Even before I could gather my senses and focus my vision though, I heard a shriek.

"She's awake! She's awake!" A high-pitched voice rang out from right beside me, making me wince and turn away with a groan. "Kou-chan! Kou-chan!"

Kou-chan?

"You're awake." I heard the deep voice again. Now clearly recalling what had happened, I panicked. I was in a room I did not recognise and I awoke on a bed that clearly was not mine. I sat bolt upright and surveyed my surroundings. Beside the bed stood the owner of the shrill voice from earlier- a girl of probably four with clear grey eyes and light brown hair that fell till her shoulders. A little away, on a brown sofa sat the man who had abducted me. He was now wearing a black shirt and steel-grey pants. His grey eyes were trained on me. Once again, I felt held in place by just his gaze. In the light that came in through the open window, I could clearly see his face. He looked like he was in his twenties and had a face that women might fawn over. For me though, in my situation, his features were far from pleasant. "Where have you brought me?"

"This is where you'll be living from now on." He replied. "I guess you could say it's home?"

Home? "You can't just decide that on your own. I already have a home and people who care for me." I got off the bed and looked for the door. "And they're going to be worried about me so I have to go home."

"No, Akane-chan!" The little girl ran over and threw her arms around my knees. "You can't go!"

"What the-"

"Chiyo." The man called and stood up from his seat. As he walked over to me, the little girl called Chiyo let go and stepped away from me.

"Kou-chan." She looked at him desperately.

"Don't worry. She won't leave."

"What?" I glared at him. "I will! I-I'll call the police! You've kidnapped me!"

"Akane." He reached over but I slapped his hand away.

"Don't touch me!"

He withdrew his hand, seemingly a little annoyed. "Do you not remember me?"

"Huh?"

"The day of the bombing. I was the one who saved you. Do you not remember me?"

I fell silent. There was no mistaking that the man who had saved me was just like him but the time gap just did not add up to his current appearance. I couldn't throw away my logic just yet, despite everything else that had happened.

"You do, don't you?" He narrowed his eyes at me. I turned away from him.

"I was... saved by a kind young man. That is what my parents told me. I could not see his face."

"You do remember me." He reiterated. I couldn't quite deny that so I chose to remain silent. "I shared my spirit with you to keep you alive. You would have perished that day had I not done that. I could not let you die. You were not supposed to die. That incident itself was my fault. I was careless enough to let it happen." He paused. "I'll tell you this. The bomb blast that day was not a bomb blast. It was a planned attack but it was no bomb. More than fifty people died that day. You were not just caught up in the explosion, Akane. The explosion was meant to kill you. You were their target."

I gaped at him. You've got to be kidding me! All those people... died because of me? That was preposterous! "I d-don't understand."

"You have a very powerful spiritual presence. Your existence has put an entire master plan in action. Your existence is a threat to a lot of entities. They tried to get rid of you through that attack on the restaurant. When they realised that they had failed to do so, the tried many times again. I have been keeping an eye on you."