lycoris ➥ [ tbhk ]

chapter 2 : deja vu

「 only time will tell  」

[ recap of chapter 1 :  albiflora ]

My head spins. Ghosts. Shibou. 1970. Dead students. Something about these...

Where have I heard about it before?

I have to remember...

I have to remember!

All this time, I've just been a being of skin and flesh, wandering in this world, with no memory. No purpose, home, people... Nothing.

It's all so stupid!

It's all because I can't remember!

I've lived a life I never knew I had lived. Maybe I may never know at all. Knowing something like that eats me up with fear.

A person, an actual human with feelings and talents... Used to live in this body instead of the useless me.

REMEMBER!

Slam! My fist hits the ground, making pain spread through my tear-wet fingers, shining in the moonlight.

I need to remember...

...

...

Unless...

Unless I can get someone else to give those memories for me.

It was no doubt - I was thinking of confronting the one and only Hanako-san of the Bathroom. 

-

I huff as if I've just ran a marathon, zooming past the dark, empty hallways of the school.

Step, step, step

My shoes clatter across the ground as I run with eagerness.

This is the closest I have been to getting a lead. Of the three months I have been aimlessly running around, I finally may find out who I really am.

Is this finally it?

Step, step, step

All her questions could be answered with three knocks.

I can finally discover...

I can finally discover who I am!

And there I stand, facing the old, broken down door of the female bathroom. There's nothing to lose. I walk straight into the bathroom, slamming the door open.

Knock, knock, knock.

I inhale.

I whisper under my breath, "Show yourself, Hanako-san. I beg of you..."

Silence.

"...Please...?"

...

Maybe...

Maybe the rumours of these mysteries were fake after all. I let out a small laugh at myself. How gullible was I, believing stories about ghosts and wishes?

So stupid...

Just as I leave the bathroom, I notice a petite girl shaking out of fear.

"...If-" I start.