Black Swan Wonderland

Masaomi

Halo Twenty-Five: Masaomi:

Kitano looked at the figures on his many desk. He ran his finger over the tops.

"Makoto-san, Hiroi Michiko-chan, Ishikawa Noriko-chan," the therapist said to himself. He stopped on the top of the third piece, pressing his finger into the top.

"We still need one more player," Kitano said to himself. His eyes trailed over to pictures of Masaomi and Anri on his desk.

"Now which one of you is going to render your services to us?" he asked. Kitano ran his fingers along the two pictures.

-Masaomi-

"What would you do if I were to die tomorrow?" Saki asked.

"No more!" I shouted. I turned to see Saki looking at me worried. I took a breath.

"Just please, stop," I said. "I can't take it anymore. No more talking about death. Just stop it!" Saki stared at him. I sighed.

"I'm sorry," I said. Saki crawled over and pulled me into her arms.

"No, I'm sorry," she said. Has this what it has come down to? I'm being worn thin. I am staying by Mikado's side. I have been by Saki's side. But I feel that it wasn't enough. I don't know what to do.

"Alright," Saki said. "I won't talk about death anymore." I breathed out.

"Thank you," I said. I put my arm around her. I vowed to myself that I would never let her go.

"Masaomi?" Saki asked.

"Hm?" I asked. She looked me deep into the eyes.

"Are you feeling okay?" Saki asked.

"Of course," I lied. "Why wouldn't I be?" She frowned at me.

"What?" I asked.

"You have to take better care of yourself," she told me. "Sleep if you need to. Get yourself something to eat. Just don't wear yourself down. I can't have you too weak if you are going to keep me from dying." I nodded after some thought.

"Oh, yeah, yeah," I said. "Of course." Saki rested her head against my chest.

"I love you, Masaomi-kun," she said. I held her tightly to my body.

"I love you too," I said. Why did I sound so sad saying that? I feared that was going to be the last time I would ever say that to her.

-Taishi and Honoka-

October 29th, 1989.

"There's the ghost of a child that haunts this place. They say that this kid was murdered in the Candyland section. The staff hid the body in the furnace. Now she haunts Candyland looking for her killer."

Taishi didn't know how he ended up in Candyland. His mind was in and out of haze during his days at Chou Mori. The staff involved in the Tadpole Project weren't too observant at times. They might not even give a shit.

The boy wandered through the empty halls at night. There were no lights on either. He couldn't see his hand in front of his face. His ears were ringing from the electric shock therapy hours earlier. But something inside of him compelled him to keep walking. Not like anyone was going to notice if he was gone or not. Taishi closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head. He couldn't remember why he was doing this. Was it to see the ghost? That didn't seem right though. So why was here?

Still, he didn't turn around.

Taishi reached out his hand. There was a door there. He could feel paper and wood at his fingertips. He started to push on it. Was this it? He didn't have much strength in his arms but was able to get the door open. The smell of bleach hit his nose. Taishi straggled backwards as his head started to spin. But he still couldn't turn and leave. He took one step inside.