𝗙𝗮𝘁𝗲~ Toge Inumaki

Chapter 10

It was the photograph with me, my mom and Toge but everything was crossed out except for Toge and I. There were x's on everyone around us but we were untouched. I stared at it in complete shock, not knowing how it even reached on my desk. The piece of inked paper fell out of my hand because Panda accidentally fell and pushed me, causing my hands to release the photo. I fell to the floor along with Panda. I got up quickly to look for the photo but stood frozen when I saw it in Toge's hand. 

His hand gripped the paper tightly but he didn't looked astonished at all. I chased Nobara and Maki back to their seats and apologized to Panda even though he was the one that pushed me. I just didn't want anyone else to know what was going on.

"What's this?" Toge asked in a serious tone. I didn't know what to say. I didn't even know how it reached here. I hadn't touched that photo in days and remembered leaving it in my drawer at home. How was I going to explain that it just randomly showed up?
I sat down in my seat, blankly staring into space. It's just a photo right? There's nothing special about that, right?

I sighed, then tried taking it out of his hand but he wouldn't let me. I gave up in annoyance.

"I'm not in the mood to play right now. If you didn't notice, I almost stabbed myself so just hand over the damn picture." I said coldly. Even I wanted to know myself, why there was a picture of us. Why was it crossed off? Why is it randomly popping up out of nowhere? Why him? Why is he in the picture??

"Where did you get it from?" He kept on asking questions that I had no answer to.

He placed the photo on my desk in front of me then pointed at us but then his hands traced behind us. It was the playground. The old playground where the demon attacked me. But how??

"Where did you get this from?" He asked again but in a more impatient manner.

"I don't know! Okay! It just showed up out of nowhere." I began to slightly yell out of frustration. Not knowing why any of this was happening was confusing.

"That's what I thought," he said with a dull look on his face. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of folded paper. Once he opened it up my eyes widened at the sight that beheld me. It was the same picture as mine. Everything was exactly the same right down to the x's on the people's faces.

Why does he have one too? It's exactly the same! What the heck is going on here?!

"Y-you have one too...." I questioned in shock. He nodded his head and let out a sigh. He fell back into his seat in a slouch. Both pictures were now resting on my desk. I examined both of them and down to the finest details were similar. I noticed that the people who were once there before gone. Empty spaces were left to fill their absence. Where did they go? Was this like last time when Toge disappeared from the picture? So much unanswered questions rampaged through my thoughts.

"Where did you get yours?" I asked as I turned to his direction to hand him his picture.

"Same as you, I don't know. I don't know what's going on with me either." He said in a distant tone.

What's happening to us?
Why us?
It's funny how one time I'll be yelling at Toge then the next he's listening to me as I pour out my soul into the problems I'm facing.

I was brought back to reality when I heard the laughter of our classmates. They all seemed so happy and carefree.... maybe I shouldn't worry myself this much. It'll all blow over soon.

§

It was the end of class and I had finally calmed down enough. My mom called and said she'd be coming home later than expected so I wasn't in a hurry to head back. I went up to the rooftop to get some fresh air but saw Yuji there already. I walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder.