all i could see was dark. cold, and cramped. there was only one person in this small space. me. i'm all alone with myself. but really, this is the same to being alone with a stranger. i don't know anything about this person, about me. myself. am i real? am i really me if i don't know who me is?
who am i?
who...am i?
i couldn't even see my hand in front of my own face. carefully, i reached forward. to find out who i am. to grab a hold of my existence-
SLAM!
am i a cold, grey, concrete floor-? because that's the first sight i see, as i fall out of a tall locker. my arms are sprawled out. i stay in that position and look up. my view..is obscured by something.
oh, it's a hat. the hat feels comfortable on my head. my arms and legs feel tingly, so i don't want to bother taking off the hat anyway.
all i can see from this limited glance are two shoes. i don't know anything about myself- yet- but i do know, those shoes aren't mine.
a hand- not my hand- reaches down.
a voice- someone else's voice- calls out.
"are you...alright?"
another voice- my voice. me. i answer the voice.
"y-yeah.."
speaking feels natural. i am supposed to be like this. i take the hand offered and pull myself and this body i'm in, up.
my limbs. my arms untangle themselves. me, myself, and i. i feel the pain of pins and needles, presumably from the locker. how long was i stuck in there?
oh, right. back to the now. there is still a not-me here.
"what are you doing here? who are you?"
those are questions i don't know either. i open my mouth. almost like a prerecorded script, words come out.
"i..i don't know. i j-just woke up in the locker, and-"
"oh, i'm shuichi. shuichi saihara."
good to know. i'm learning as much as the other person is.
speaking of the other person. i glance at them, an action hidden by the visor of my hat. he's a few inches taller than me, and dons a large sleeved striped t-shirt. there's a strange compass design decorating one bottom corner of the top. his arms sport multiple bracelets. attached to these arms are hands. hands with silver rings, some on every finger. nails painted green.
my eyes travel upward. around the neck a singular chain with a glass charm.
his face. pink lips, slightly chapped, curved into a frown. long eyelashes frame huge green eyes, green eyes which i can't make eye contact with for too long-
ears with multiple piercings. and a messy, unruly head of soft green hair.
this is what the not-me is.
"wh-what about you?"
"me? well, seeing as we just met, and i don't know where i am, i don't think i should tell you just yet. maybe once you've proven to me-"
so he's suspicious of me. that's smart. but i need to gain his trust, somehow.
"n-no! i'm as confused as you are. i don't remember coming here... just the m-memories before that."
pieces of a perfect story piece together in my mind. now i know who i am, and what made me so. but what brought me here, to this place?
"well, we'll see. maybe we should check this place out a bit, hm? if we got kidnapped or something..."
the boy trails off. his hands slide into his pockets, and he glances towards the door.
"well, it looks eerily like a classroom."
while the other boy isn't watching, i punch all the furniture. desks and chairs go flying everywhere before seemingly vanishing. unfortunately, i don't get any clues as to why we're here, but i do get some strange brown bear tokens. maybe they'll be useful for something.
"i'll check the door-"
surprisingly, it opens with a click. the green haired boy opens the door, looking back at me.
"well, let's get going. there obviously isn't anything left here."
the boy and i enter into a strange hallway. although it seems like we're indoors, plants and shrubbery grow everywhere you look. i pause beside the boy. there are so many hallways, it would be easy to get lost.
as we look around aimlessly, the silence steadily growing more uncomfortable, i faintly sense something underneath my feet. it's like a heartbeat, except it's getting louder and i can feel the floor quake.
i spin around on my heel, a squeak leaving my mouth at the sight i see. a strange metal machine clomps toward us- gaining in speed...
as i stand there paralyzed, the boy grabs my arm.
"run! we need to get away from that thing!"
my legs seem to have a mind of their own as we dash away. there isn't even enough time to sit and wonder why a sci-fi robot is chasing us. or wonder about any of the dozens of peculiarities around this place. if everything weren't so utterly real, i would've thought i'm just dreaming.
i pant as we run away from the machine, no specific route in mind. eventually we reach a dead end, a closed off hallway.
"there's a d-door there!" i point toward the huge red doors in front of us. the other male nods and we enter.
we aren't alone. faces of all shapes and sizes turn to look at our entrance, and there's so many eyes- looking, judging- that i slip behind the slightly taller boy. he glances back at me, expression unreadable.
they start pestering us with questions, all 14 of them. the rooms overall echo doesn't help the already high volume. I slowly slink back and try not to be seen.
suddenly, a creepy laugh that sends shivers down my spine pierces through the noise.
"puhuhuhu~ so you all arrived!"
more strange voices.
"rise and shine ursine!"
as we all turn towards the front and see the colourful bears grinning at us...i know this isn't going to end well.
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
A/N
hiii!! this story is just a rewrite of v3, but with more canon amasai action. don't get me wrong, the current plotline is great, but canonically the whole first chapter was a bit focused on one relationship, preventing kaede from making other connections and stopping shuichi from speaking with rantaro all that much :(
you'll see more of my reasoning for this later!!! thanks for reading, it really means a lot :))
- fae
