Winter Mansion

Chapter 5

The day went on normally. The three boys went to the Burger Joint and Echizen and Momo basically ate Ryoga out of house and home. When they were done, Echizen and Momo left with big smiles on their faces while Ryoga left a trail of tears.

They walked down the street and when they got to the end, they parted ways and headed in separate directions. Echizen and Ryoga walked down the street with all the shops on it and Ryoga pointed out the raffle shop where he won the trip. The lady was still there and when they walked by, she gave him a big smile and congratulated him again.

Not long after that, they arrived home to the smell of Nanako cooking and the whines of their father. They couldn't make out exactly what he was whining about but seeing that he was complaining to Nanako and asking where 'it' and 'she' were, they could take an educated guess.

While Ryoga went into the front room to watch TV, Echizen went to his room. He threw his things on the floor and collapsed on the bed. Not only had he lost some sleep that he wasn't able to get back when he slept in class, Tezuka was having them do a more difficult practice and anyone refusing had to deal with Inui.

He laid on his bed for a few minutes and slowly drifted to sleep. Once asleep, he found himself in the same position as before, in Kainite Manor, facing the lady in the yellow dress.

"Echizen-kun!" the girl ran towards him.

"You can't leave." The lady thrust the knife towards Echizen.

Just as she was going to thrust the knife in his stomach, he felt a sudden jolt of energy and jumped back. He caught a look of entertainment and a smirk on the lady's face.

"Echizen-kun!" the girl ran up to him. "Are you alright?"

"A-Ah." He looked at her then his stomach. He didn't know what just happened.

"You're involved in this, aren't you?" the lady pointed the knife at the girl.

"You have no right to do this! He has nothing to do with any of this!" she shouted back as she stood in front of Echizen. "Please, he's not who you think!"

"Don't lie to me. I know exactly who he is." the girl and Echizen blinked and the lady was gone.

"Where'd she go?" Echizen asked as he looked around the room.

"He's someone who needs to die." Echizen turned his head just as he felt the knife go into his back.

Echizen opened his eyes and his back felt extremely heavy. He turned his head to see Karupin sitting on him.

"Chibisuke, Nanako says it's time to eat." Ryoga's arms where extended. It seemed that he dropped Karupin on him.

"Couldn't you used an easier way to wake me up?" he complained shoving his head back into his pillow.

"I've been trying to wake you up for five minutes." He went to the door. "Hurry and come down. I'm hungry." As he left the room, he heard a muffled 'fine' from under the pillow.

Echizen turned to his stomach. What was happening? That was like a continuation of the dream the previous night. It seemed that every time he shut his eyes, he saw the lady. He didn't know what to think but hoped that they would stop.

___________________________________________

Saturday had finally came and seeing that they weren't going to have practice for a whole week, Tezuka figured that they needed to practice. After two hours of playing with weights, running, Inui juice and playing as lefties, it was finally time to leave.