The next morning, Y/N opened her laptop and checked the e-mails. She opened William's mail. It read, "Greetings, Y/N. Heard about your bad health. Please take good care of yourself and join back soon. Moreover, I tried calling you several times but your phone is off." It reminded her that she needed a new phone. She opened the online shopping site and ordered one. In response to her boss's e-mail, she wrote, "I apologize for worrying you. Can you please send me your number, I broke my phone and all the data is lost. Thank you."
To distract her mind from the mysterious man, she turned on the T.V. Switching through different channels, she stopped on the music one. The advertisement ended and the music played. She immediately recognized the song and sang along.
When the white flag sails, covered in streaks of blood
There'll be an endless sea, of us rising up
And the preacher man, and the preacher's son
Stand arm in arm, just like everyone
Me longing to be free, I won't let you fade away
We shed so many dreams, I'll let them fade away...
She went to the kitchen to fetch something to eat and found nothing. "Shit! I need to go out," she said irately. "Or should I just sleep?" The decision was not that hard, she turned off the T.V. and went to sleep. As soon as she closed her eyes, she saw the red eyed man and immediately opened her eyes. "I think I should go out, I need food." She put on a hoodie and joggers, and grabbed her card. She was wearing her shoes when the doorbell rang. "Not you again," she rolled her eyes. To her surprise it was not Satoru, rather it was Inumaki.
"Going somewhere?" he asked. Since his cursed speech had no effect on her, he could talk normally with her.
"Grocery shopping. My kitchen is empty."
"Mind if I go with you?"
She shook her head.
"Let's go then."
Y/N nodded. She stepped outside and locked the door.
"How are you now?" Inumaki asked.
"Good. You?"
"Good."
They silently walked to the grocery store and Y/N halted before the glass door.
"What happened?" Inumaki asked in confusion.
"Why are we here?" Y/N's question confused him more.
'Is she joking?' he thought. "You needed to come here."
"Why?"
"Did you... really forget?"
"Forget what?"
"You said that your kitchen is empty."
Y/N said nothing and looked clueless which made it clear that she had forgotten everything for real. Inumaki felt bad, he held her wrist and took her into the store. "Don't worry, we just need something to eat," he whispered. He grabbed a cart and went from shelf to shelf stuffing it with two packets of rice, some packs of instant noodles, bread and some sauces. They went to the counter and Y/N made the payment.
Inumaki messaged Satoru about the incident of Y/N forgetting something so simple. 'Is it because of the overdose?' he couldn't figure out. 'Or did grandpa do something to her?'
After they finished lunch, Y/N took her medicines. "I forgot to ask," she said. "Why did you come here?"
"Gojo sensei was a bit busy so he told me to spend the afternoon with you."
"Why does he care so much?"
"I don't know," the boy shrugged. "Anyway, what are you going to do now?"
"I wanna take a nap, but-"
"But?"
"But the nap doesn't wanna take me."
Inumaki burst out laughing. Seeing him laugh like that, Y/N smiled.
"Let's watch T.V." he suggested. Y/N didn't reply. He turned to see what was wrong. She was staring at the floor. "Y/N?" he called out and received no response in return. He lightly patted her shoulder and she shifted her gaze to him.
"Am I losing my mind?" Y/N asked.
"No," he shook his head.
Shifting into a comfortable position on the couch, she blurted out, "I want to sleep."
"Okay," Inumaki said and said beside her. "I'm going to do a trick. Look at me."
Y/N did as he said.
"Now say, 'make me fall asleep'."
"Huh?" she raised an eyebrow.
"Trust me."
"Alright, make me fall asleep."
"SLEEP!" As soon as the word escaped his lips, Y/N's eyes went shut and her head fell in his lap. Pushing a cushion under her head, he carefully stood up. He brought a top sheet from her room and covered her. He crouched before her face. The innocence he saw filled him with regret. Stroking her hair, he said, "I'm sorry for hating you. I won't let you lose your mind, I promise. Sensei and I will take care of you. You will be on our side this time." He stood up and left.
Y/N woke up at dinner time. When she went into the kitchen for drinking water, she saw a handwritten note stuck on the refrigerator. 'Take your medicines after dinner' was written on it. "Thanks Toge," Y/N said. She obeyed the note and took all the medicines after dinner. The sky was beginning to get dark. She turned on the T.V. to see the headlines. "After a long time, the murders have finally stopped," the male reporter screamed with forced breaths. "Where is the murderer? Has he been caught? Are the police hiding his identity from the world? Stay tuned for more updates."
"What nonsense!" Y/N felt irritated. She switched to another news channel.
"It has been over a week since any murder was reported. Everyone wants to find out about what happened to the killer. Has he fled? Has he been caught? Why did he disappear suddenly? For further news and updates, keep watching-" Y/N turned off the T.V.
"Why don't I remember about it? Why don't I remember what I had been doing for a whole fucking week? Am I really losing my mind?"
At eleven p.m., Y/N stood leaning on a tree, where she saw the mysterious man the previous day, waiting for him to appear again. She had already been standing there for more than half an hour but there was no sign of him. It was midnight when she was about to give up and return, however, she was stopped by the rustling of bushes. 'Should I check?' she thought to herself and turned to right only to find out nothing but complete darkness. She turned around to leave but this time she heard someone whispering. Again looking in the direction of bushes, she started walking slowly. 'Is it him?'
A hand grabbed her wrist, pulled her backwards and pinned her to a thick oak tree. She felt something sharp against her throat. It was a masked man with a knife. Y/N thought that she was going to get robbed. "What do you want?" she asked in a low voice.
"Revenge."
"Sorry?"
"Don't act innocent, lady. You killed my brother."
"I think you are mistaking me for someone else."
"You can fool the cops but not me."
"I don't even know you. Neither do I know your brother."
"You can lie as much as you want. We both know you have murdered my brother."
"I'm sorry for your loss. Trust me, I haven't killed anyone."
He chuckled, "People have lost the count of the number of people you have killed."
"What are you talking about?"
He pulled down his mask and revealed his face. "Remember this face?" he asked. "My brother looked very similar to me."
Y/N had never seen his face in her whole life. "I'm sorry I've never seen this face before."
"Alright, then you must remember his name. Henry Baker."
She closed her eyes, the knife on her throat felt like tearing her skin. "No, heard this name for the first time today."
The stranger was very pissed off, he threw Y/N on the ground. She let out a small wail. He raised the knife and attacked. Y/N rolled to her left to dodge it. The man lost his balance and fell, which gave her a chance to flee. She stood up and began running deeper into the thick forest. The man followed her. She was surprised with her speed. She wondered when did she become that fast, although it didn't matter at the moment. After a good run of fifteen minutes, her stamina begun to drain. She looked behind her and fortunately, no one was there. She leaned on a tree to catch her breath. The forest felt like a maze, all the directions were lost and Y/N was worried about how she would find her way back.
"Come on, Miss Y/N," the stranger said scaring her. "Don't make it so hard. I know you can hear me, come out already."
She crouched to hide in the bushes. "Y/N," he sang her name as if he was calling a kid.
Her heart raced. 'I don't want to die like this.' She tried moving forward when a weird looking creature appeared and purred like a platypus. Y/N nearly jumped out of her skin. She covered her mouth to suppress the scream. The man was visible in the moonlight and the little monster was going in his direction. It went past him and he couldn't see it. 'Why am I hallucinating at this time?' she felt mad. She tried to move without being noticed. A knife landed just above her head on the tree, she froze.
"That's enough running. No more games."
"Why do you want to kill me? I told you I'm not the right person."
He laughed. "You are the right person lady," he said and advanced in her direction. She stood up to run but he caught her and threw her on the ground. She felt some thorns pricking the skin on her back which made her howl. The stranger sat on top of her and clasped her throat with both his hands. She held his wrists and began to protest.
"Please... don't kill... me," she managed to blurt out.
"Henry must have begged you for the same. So beg me the same way."
Y/N didn't say anything and tried harder to free herself.
"To stubborn to beg, guess you wanna die sooner," he chuckled.
Something grabbed his shirt from behind and threw him away from Y/N. She sat gently massaging her throat and coughing. As she returned to her senses, she saw the man getting beaten up by another taller and muscular man in a white kimono.
"Stop, you'll kill him," Y/N yelled.
The man in the white kimono turned around and said in a husky voice, "That's what he deserves for messing with you."
Y/N went speechless when she saw that he was the same red eyed mysterious man she saw the other night. She was happy to find out that he wasn't her imagination. But what did he mean by 'That's what he deserves for messing with you'? "Does he know me?"
Scream of the dying man snapped her back to reality. He was covered in blood. "You don't have to kill him. Please stop." The mysterious man stopped throwing punches and the other man stopped moving. Y/N went closer to check his breathing. "He's dead," she announced.
"Sorry," the man said in a grave voice.
"Why did you do that?"
"I saw him hurting you and I couldn't... control myself."
"Do you even know me?"
'Yes, I know you. I know everything about you. You are the one who forgot everything.' He looked at her and thought.
"I'm talking to you," Y/N said interrupting his thoughts.
"No," he shook his head.
"Then why?"
"I don't know," he said and opened another pair of eyes.
Y/N stared at him in awe. She noticed the symmetric black markings on his face.
"Why are you looking at me like this?" he asked.
"You are... beautiful?"
"Asking or telling?"
"Telling... but you are a murderer."
'Yeah, so are you.' "Planning to spend the night in this jungle?"
"No, I-I forgot the way back home."
"I'll send you back, let's go."
"Are you a human?"
"No, I'm not. Now, let's go."
"But what about him?" she pointed in the direction of the corpse.
"Forget about him."
Y/N looked at him with her eyes wide open.
"Come on, don't look at me like that. He's dead. What can we do about it? Let the animals have their feast."
She nodded and turned around.
"Y/N, your back-"
"How do you know my name?"
"That doesn't matter. There's blood on your back. Are you hurt?" He extended an arm in her direction. 'Your one simple touch can bring her memories back but if that happens she will have to die,' old sorcerer's words stopped him. He clenched his fist irritably. "Tch, why does it have to be like this?"
"Like what?" His behavior confused Y/N.
"Nothing, we should head back," he said and started walking.
She nodded and walked behind him.
"I killed someone right before you," he began. "Aren't you scared? What if I do the same with you? I said once that I'll send you back home and you didn't question that. Do you trust strangers like that? I told you I'm not a human, you didn't question that. Aren't you curious-"
"Hold up, I can't answer so many questions at once. It is weird but no, I'm not scared of you. You could have killed me already if you wanted to. Yesterday, I saw you near my apartment, so I guessed you remember the way. And no, I don't trust strangers. I don't know why you look familiar."
He stopped walking and looked at her.
"Have we met before?" she asked.
"I think I'm unique enough that you wouldn't forget if we had met before."
"Something strange is happening these days. I don't remember so many things I did in past one year. I came here a year ago. One day, I followed a villager into the forest, but I don't remember where did I go afterwards and how did I come back to my place. I feel like I'm-"
"I'm sorry."
"Why are you apologizing?"
"We have never met before."
"I see." Y/N looked down at her feet.
"It's there," he gestured to his right with his hand.
"What?"
"Home."
"Oh!" She looked in the direction of her apartment. "Thanks," she said and looked back at him but he was gone.