Fractal Plane: Heartful Cry

Chapter 10 - A Longing Visit

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Her heart still throbbing and her fingers still trembling, Sana took several deep breaths before releasing it all in a cough.

"She's awake!"

She can make out Hikari's voice amid the blurry surroundings before hearing her classmate's footsteps.

"Where am I?" she said softly, blinking her vision back to clarity. Her fingers softly weaved through the soft mattress that cradled her back before she figured out where she was.

This must be the first aid station that they mentioned. That much can be said due to the mostly brown surroundings and the few people seated on the faraway sofa, talking to uniformed people.

Talk about a sense of déjà vu. It was not so long ago that she had found herself having passed out and needing Hikari's help. That time, she felt a sense of unease, as if something from the wisps was crushing her.

It was the same feeling of dread that came over her when she saw the mother and child fighting.

The sight had filled her with dread, and the wisps, black ones filled with hate, had burst out from them in full bloom. Deep inside, she also knew why that scene made her feel extra uncomfortable.

It was a fact that she had been trying to push aside, to avoid something ever since that night she ran away from home.

"Sana!"

However, this time, her Big Bro and Yuki-tan were also here.

She'll be safe with him as long as she kept up the façade. For as long as they don't know about the truth. He had given her a scare that night, but she was glad that he did not ask anything.

It was a mistake to talk about the calming blue lights that came out of him.

Still, the feelings of security and trust were enough to cause her to flash the slightest smile when he walked over to her and put his hand over her forehead.

It was the first time he touched her in a delicate manner, and it was only now that she realized how warm his touch felt.

"What happened out there?"

The distraught Yuki-tan was the first one to ask a question. Sana, however, did not know how to answer the idol, and responded in the way her instincts told her to: by turning away.

How could she tell of the things she saw, anyway? The idol will just find her weird. Worse, she could haul her off, abandon her and throw her back to her mother, where she'll be lucky if she would only get a scolding.

She hated that idea. She would never allow such thing to happen. She won't allow herself to be abandoned anymore.

She wanted to spend her life with Big Bro and Hikari, not Yura and her mother. And definitely not the other people who would not accept her, such as those people who claimed to be her friends before who did nothing to stop her mother.

A tear dripped from the corner of her eye upon realizing that such a dream life looked less and less plausible with the way things were. Eventually, more people will find out, and...

She gulped. With the pressure getting stuck in her throat, she coughed ever so slightly.

"Sana, what's wrong?" asked Kazuki.

"I-I don't know. M-maybe it's the people. I felt heavy and..."

"Oh, I remember this! That's just like how she passed out at school."

Sana's eyes sprang wide, and she gasped at Hikari's statement. She wanted to protest, but it was already too late. Her body was too weak to react, and not a single sound came out of her mouth.