Another chance at living- tbhk x reader- little fish book 2

Chapter 3

-They've been to hell and back-
Tw: vomiting

Subtle changes seemed to have been made in this reality. I've noticed them and taken mental notes. It's only small things, like how all of the school work is blank, or there is no background chatter. It was like this reality was only based on things I remembered. I didn't remember the tests, I didn't remember anyone who didn't interact with me. This reality, this world, seemed to be solely based on me. It was like I was the sun in a giant solar system and one wrong move meant the end of the world.

Normally I would call myself a narcissist for comparing myself to the sun, but in this circumstance it seemed valid.

"Y/n!" Kotona's voice perked in my ears. "Guess what!" she rushed to the front off my desk, picking up my hands and holding them excitedly in hers.

"Yeah?" I ask in feign surprise. It was strange knowing exactly what she was going to say next, like watching a movie for the second time. The only good thing about that would be there are no surprises, no heartbreaking betrayals that I don't see coming. It's all just right in front of me in black and white, no real color to this rewatched film.

"I brought...." she began to drum on my desk for anticipation, "the best lunch for us to share!" her voice giggled and I couldn't help but crinkle my eyes in a smile.

"That's great," I stared at her with that same smile.

Her face slowly faded, "why are you looking at me like that?" she asked, but her tone was almost sad. "You're supposed to jump up and ask me to race you to the roof."

Her voice made my gaze harden. I stared at her in confusion.

"You can't mess this up," she said, "not for me... and certainly not for you." Slowly her face morphed back into a sickeningly sweet smile. Her hand pulled me up from my chair. "I'll race you to the roof!" She giggled and took off out of the classroom.

I stood in shock, my hands shook as I looked at my hands in the eerily quiet room. Then I jolted out the door and ran up the stairs. I hated how even in the crowds of people the only sound I could hear was my own steps. I soon caught up with Kotona, although it was obvious she had done this on purpose, originally I had won and we weren't aloud to do any different.

My brain felt like fire, but Kotona laughed as she swung her lunch box in the air and saying how I had cheated. This whole time, Kotona had been aware. This whole time I spent imagining my death, Kotona had been fully aware of what she had to do.

Was this better?

Or was this immensely worse?

She had to live like nothing was wrong, knowing she soon has to kill me, knowing soon she'd have to betray me. So why- why did she seem so happy.

I stared at her, pain clearly seeping its way onto my face.

She stared back for a moment as if waiting for me to say my line in some play— her eyes wide and brows raised with impatience.

"It's a beautiful day outside," I finally said, my voice quaking.

"It really is," she inhaled deeply, taking it all in before sitting down and patting the ground for me to join her.

I stared intensely at the ground and slowly moved to sit beside her. I had never felt so nervous in my life, and the oddest part about it was that my best friend was the cause of it.

Kotona didn't seem to notice, or if she did she didn't care. Instead she opened her lunch box and pushed her wavy brown hair away from her face and smiled at the food in her container.

"What made you want to eat on the roof today?" she asked, pretending like it had been me who asked to race to the roof and not her to continue on with this charade.

I took in a deep breath, "the air seemed nice today." Originally I had said the line with a smile, but now there were no smiles and instead I kept my eyes trained to Kotona like a hawk. She handed me a portion of her food and I thanked her like I would have always.

We ate our food, only speaking when we had to replay an important part of our story.

We were just two friends reliving our worst nightmare together while having to act like everything was okay.

The wind blew against my skin, blowing up my shirt slightly at my stomach and sleeves. Kotona laughs as she normally would have, "Strong wind, huh?" she says with a smile as she smooths out her shirt.

"Yeah..." I pause and look at the sky, "looks like it might storm."

Kotona looks at me with an intense gaze. "Are you sick?" She asks abruptly.

"What?" I questioned.

Kotona let out a heavy breath and stood up from the ground. "I asked," she began to tower over me, "are- you- sick?" Each pause in her words made me feel like I had died. Slowly she bent over and pressed a hand to my forehead and smiled. The chill of her skin sent a shiver down my spine as I stared at her in confusion. "Because any sane person would know not to break the chain of events," she grumbled threatening under her breath for only me to hear. She leaned back and away and smiled brightly, "No, you feel fine to me." She picked up her now empty lunch box before giving me a hand to stand up.

I hesitantly took her hand and felt her pull me up, her lips close to my ear she whispered, "Get your head screwed back together, I'm not wasting this chance because you can't do what needs to be done." Slowly she backed away with another one of her signature smiles. I had used to love those smiles, and now all I felt when seeing them was a sick churning in my stomach that made all of the acids in my stomach flip and somersault until it rose to my throat only for me to violently force it back down.

The bell rang as we made it to the bottom of the stairway. Kotona waved and smiled before waking away towards her class. I waved back and as I saw her body turn around the corner my hand clamped over my mouth as I held in the vomit. My body heated and my mouth coated itself in a thick layer of saliva before acid tunneled up my throat. I rushed to the closest bathroom and threw my head over the toilet seat before letting it all go. I couldn't say I felt better, but there was no way I felt worse.

Not only did Kotona know what she had to do, she didn't care. She didn't seem to care that she knew what she would have to do to me. She would have to kill me, watch my body go limp in her hands and she expects me to just go along with it now that I know that. My body shook, or maybe it was the Earth around me, I was breaking the chain of events.

And then suddenly the realization hit me. Kotona isn't only depending on me to keep the timeline the same, I'm also depending on her. One wrong move on her part, and I'm done for.

I cleaned myself up and headed back to class.

Suddenly I became aware of just how difficult this situation really was. If I thought it was hard for me to keep everything the same, then how hard would it be with two people fighting to keep the timeline?

Hireath
(n.) a homesickness for a home to which you cannot return, a home which maybe never was; the nostalgia, the yearning, the grief for the lost places of your past.

A/n
Hope you realize this book is going to be much darker than the previous one... what can I say except I've grown angsty since you've last seen me🤷

Also double update WOOO! (As an apology for being very inactive on this book)

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