Part 5

“Genki!? Kohta-kun? Are you still okay?!” once getting inside of my room, the brunette quickly made his way toward me then kneeled beside my bed, looking down at me with his large eyes in deep concern.
In different situation, I’d be grateful for having his kindness, but today Aiji’s loud voice only severed to make my headache worse…
” Kiri-chan told me on the phone you have been sick for days…so I came over to see whether you’re alive or not, you don’t mind me being here, right?” he continued to say with a small smile on his face.
Upon hearing *this* I could only stared at him, unable to think of anything to reply. It was just too god damn amazing. Aiji was probably the only one who could say thing like this to a sick man.
Luckily, Kirito was coming for my rescue quickly. “Stop fooling around and making noise Aichu! Kohta’s still a patient and right now he needs some *peace and quite*.”He explained *calmly* to his friend, despite of his twisted face.
“Oh, don’t be mad at me! I’m just showing my concern--”
“Okay if you care about him so much, come with me because I could use some help taking care of my sick brother!” With that Kirito dragged the brunette, by his collar, out of my room.
“See you later, Kohta-kun!”Aiji managed to gasp out before the door closed behind them.
I couldn’t help smiling a little despite my headache, I know no matter what he’d said, he meant no harm. Moreover, Aiji was a welcome surprise after all. The way he talks, the way he smiles at people and his almost childish manner hardly ever failed to create a warm friendly presence around himself, making everyone around him feeling cheerful and refresh. It seemed deep down inside there was still something innocent in his being that had never changed since the time we met long time ago.
Therefore, back then it didn’t surprise me much to know that my brother was attracted to him.
Like many of my friends I’d made during school period, Aiji was Kirito’s friend before he became mine(for the love of video game we both shared). The brunette had started hanging around with him since high school period (yes they were in the same high school), at first they were just a pair of close friends but later my brother told me out of the blue that they had started dating and getting together. Still the new hardly came as a surprise because I had long noticed the way my brother looking at the boys around us weren’t the same anymore and Aiji was such a nice attractive guy to begin with, he and my brother were always together (I had to admit that I noticed this fact with jealousy and grief) and all…
Once I thought that their relationship would last because they seemed to like each other so deeply. But I was wrong, before they graduated the two had eventually broken up, for some reasons which either of them were willing to explain clearly to me. I still remembered that the end of their relationship was ratter peaceful, no fight, no argument nor bitter words such and such. As if they just up and decided to part one day. Again surprisingly, after the breaking up, the friendship between the two had survived and they remained closely together, as friends.

****

I thought I must have fell asleep shortly afterward, when I woke again, it was dusk already, I felt better than before and strength had returned to my limps after the long rest. I tried to sit up and walked myself out of the bedroom. Then I found Aiji sitting alone in the living room watching TV in low volume. He was happy to see me feeling good enough to leave the bed, and when I asked him where was Kirito, the answered was he had to leave about an hour ago because there was a phone call from work, but before he left he’d cooked me some porridge. With that he hurried into the kitchen and brought a bowl of porridge out for me. Dinner Time. He told me and then sat beside me to watch me finished every drop in the bowl.

Aiji left after I finished my dinner, claimed that I should be ready to rest early and told me to have some nice sleep, but I couldn’t. For the whole day, I didn’t talk anything about my nightmare, in fact I didn’t dare mentioning them as if they’d become too real for me to handle once they were being told. But there were so many hideous things were in my mind and they didn’t want to leave me alone to sleep. I sat alone in the living room, buried my face in my cold palms and the memory began flooding back to me slowly…more vivid than I wanted them to be. My thought always went back to Takeo…but did I really meet him that night? This part of thing seemed to real for me to deny…still…I wasn’t sure how could I cope with the memory of Takeo and the deadly inhuman creature, together in the dark ally smelled of rotten garbage…and then…
Blood.
Blood was everywhere in my mind’s eyes, and Takeo slowly sinking lifelessly to the ground, and those eyes, those eyes with the cold blood flash within them, staring out at me…
Were they true or just a dream, created by my feverish brain when I was having the fever?
What was the truth?
Takeo and the inhuman creature in the boyish form…Could these all be just a fever dream?
It didn’t make any sense. Such things could only happen in those stupid horror movies, or in some Stephen King’s universe, but not to me, not in my humble ordinary life! So Takeo must be still alive somewhere out there. I'm sure!
Funny that my overheated brain managed to create that kind of dream when I was down with fever…I felt the urge to laugh at myself as I turned on the light before entering the bathroom, readied to watch my face.
But then I saw it. I saw it in the mirror.
Three claw scars below the base of my left ear.
Then the feeling of something shape and thin cutting through the flesh of my neck, and the pain it brought returned to my dizzy mind, and then the wetness of hot blood seeping down my neck, and then the loud laugher behind my back…they were there, haunting in my mind.
Everything felt so damn real.
I stared at my own reflection blankly, refusing to believe my own eyes.
It could only mean one thing.
It could only mean that everything I had witnessed that night was true.
And I shivered.
To be continued.

[next chapter]