Demonic Red

3: Pancakes

I woke up in a room engulfed in flames, just like from eight years before. However, I saw a man in the middle of the flames. His back was towards me, but I could tell he was enraged. The flames seemed to dance around him. I wanted to get closer, but I couldn't. Something was keeping me from doing so. 

 "If I had known things would turn out this way... I never would have helped those guys!" His back slouched as he yelled that. 

"Daddy?" A girl opened the door. She looked like... me?

 The man looked back with surprise. His hair was blood red with black streaks, and his eyes were a burning orange. He ran towards the girl and hugged her, leaving behind a female corpse on the ground. She had been covered in blood, but her white hair was left untouched. Did he kill her? No, he was standing over her, mourning her loss.

The man picked up the girl who looked like me and knelt near the corpse.

"Koasa... I swear on my own life I will come back for Akahi... Until then, I will..." The man came over to the girl and put his hand on her forehead.

Before I could see what happened next, I woke up in my bed. The sun was starting to come up. Somehow, I fell asleep without knowing it. 

"What... was that dream?" I asked myself. It was too real to just be a dream. Was it a memory I had lost? 

Sweat covered my entire body as I got out of bed. My mind kept going back to that dream, and by the time I snapped out of it, I was already dressed in my usual outfit: a striped tunic, shorts, socks and loafers. I put my hair in a ponytail and attached my secret bow to it.

I walked towards the door and got a whiff of something cooking. 

Probably the neighbors.... I shrugged and went down the stairs.

The lights were off downstairs, as expected. My adoptive parents said they wouldn't be home until next month. I made my way to the front door. I passed by the kitchen and noticed something weird.

"Huh? Pancakes?" I asked.

Yes, there were pancakes on the table. I looked at the pancakes, and they were freshly made, steam coming out from them. 

I checked the front room. There was no sign of people coming home. There was still dust on the couch and surrounding areas, since nobody had used them in years. 

I checked the kitchen next. There were signs that someone was just cooking, but only near the stove. Which is strange, since my adoptive parents would usually zonk out on the sofa before cooking. And, what's more, there were no footsteps when I came downstairs. So, what? Did someone just vanish into thin air after cooking? Then how did the pancakes get on the table? 

"I'll get something else..." I mumbled. The pancakes were too weird and mysterious to eat. They could be poisoned or something. I was hungry, but who would eat weird and mysterious pancakes?

I opened the fridge. There was nothing in there. Then I checked the cupboard, and then the pantry.... yup, everything was missing. How? I just bought some soda the night before, and I put it in the fridge to keep it cold until morning. Yet it was gone, too.

"Someone must REALLY want me to eat these pancakes..." I mumbled. 

The pancakes were creeping me out. I left the house before I would inevitably succumb to my hunger and eat these creepy pancakes.

My stomach grumbled as I waited for the subway train. I tried to go elsewhere, but I had no luck. After all, it was very early in the morning. But what was weird was that the convenience store and other fast-food places were closed, as well. Was I cursed to be hungry throughout this exam?

"Ugh, I knew I would mess up somehow... but not this early..." I held my stomach and looked around. Everyone else seemed to have food somehow. Why only me?

I sighed as the train came. I got on and sat down. Luckily it was still early in the morning, so I could get a seat by the window. I sighed and looked outside.

That was when the dream came back to me. It flashed by in my mind, and I realized how it strange it was. How could I dream of something like that the night after reading a diary about a man whose life was ruined by a dream of me? More than that, why was I so sure the diary had more to it? My mind raced with questions, but then the man and the woman's corpse from my dream made me wonder. 

"Since red and white make pink, were they my parents...?"

Then the girl who sat next to me while I wasn't paying attention burst out laughing.

 "Colors are you parents? How? Are you stupid or something?"

"I don't actually know, but I had a dream last night with a man who was blood red and a woman who was pure white."

"So, your parents are crayons in a dream?! That's stupid!"

"I don't know if they are my parents. I only saw them in my dream last night..."

"You don't know your parents? How? Were you adopted or something?"

"Yes, I was, but I don't even know if that's a memory or not."

"You don't have memories?"

"Yeah.. I'm just an amnesiac, after all. Have been for eight years..."

"Eight... years? Name! What's your name?!"

"Um, not sure if that has anything to do with this conversation, but I'm Ookami Akahi."

"Ookami...!" She finally quieted down.

 "Next stop, Demon Slayer HQ. Next Stop, Demon Slayer HQ."

"This is my stop," I stated, "may you please let me go?"

"No need. This is my stop, too." The girl who was previously mocking me was suddenly very docile.

We got off, and I remembered I hadn't asked her something.

"I forgot to ask, but what's your name?"

"Morimura Asako."

"Nice to meet you, Morimura-san!" I stuck out my hand.

 "Nice to meet you, Akahi-san..." She ran off, ignoring my hand.

What the hell is up with these people? Are all wannabe Demon Slayers so.... weird? 

Well, I guess I'm not one to talk.