Gone And Back Again

XV. Life Is Hard When Mirrors Can Speak

His dad wasn’t home. He was never home, and although it normally bothered Hiwatari, today he was glad.

He rushed to his room, and searched through his school bag for something, anything to do. He fully realized that as long as he was home, especially alone, he was more prone to Krad’s interruptions. He had only been spared because it was the public restroom. Here? Krad would be harder to avoid.

Satoshi plucked out homework, and forced himself to work on it. Agonizingly long seconds passed, and these turned into minutes. He wouldn’t be able to make it to hours. His mind was too far away from schoolwork, and was more focused on Krad.

With some slight hesitation, but determination in his eyes, he stepped in front of the closest mirror, ready to confront the dead teenager. However, when he looked in the mirror, there was no one but himself. He should’ve known. There was no way Krad would just be waiting in the mirror. By the way he talked, Krad had other things to do in other places. It wasn’t like Satoshi could just dial a number and summon him. No, it was because Krad chose to come to him that Hiwatari had seen him at all, and if he were to ever see him again, Krad had to make that choice too.

But when? He couldn’t imagine when he might get answers. Krad, in life, was known for biding his time and being rather manipulative. He was sneaky and clever, making him unpredictable at times.

Also, Satoshi wasn’t quite sure where Krad was lurking. He didn’t know exactly what Krad was. All he knew was that, one, he had an offer, and two, he wasn’t as dead as everyone thought. For all he knew, Krad’s visits in the mirror were limited. Satoshi could be visited in five seconds or five years. It was all so unpredictable.

He hated it.

Ever since he’d been adopted, his father liked to tell him things about his work. Because of this, Hiwatari had to admit, he had become accustomed to figuring out riddles, and even helping detectives, and aiding in the capture of criminals. All of the law work he did alongside his father caused him to try to predict things and he became extremely observant.

Now he had a wild card on his hands, and what was worse was he didn’t really know how to handle any of it. He wasn’t exactly prepared to deal with the undead or spirits. Krad came out of nowhere, made no sense, and then left no hints as to when he’d reappear. It bother Hiwatari, and made him wonder if he was crazy.

But if he was crazy, wouldn't he have seen Krad again?

He tore himself out of his thoughts when he heard his phone ringing. Without bothering to look at the number, he picked up his phone. He half expected Krad, whereas the other half of him expected his dad. If Krad called, it’d be a little too much like a movie, but of course, there was that saying. ‘Speak of the devil, and he shall appear’. How true that could be.

“Hello?” He answered calmly, keeping himself in check.

“Hello, Hiwatari?”

He was completely wrong. The voice on the other line was Daisuke.

“Niwa?”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

“Why are you calling?”

“Oh, well… I know I asked you this a few times today, but you seemed worse after school, and I didn’t want to bother you then but… Are you sure you’re okay? Everytime I saw you, you looked a little more… Distracted. I just wanted to know if anything happened this morning.”

Hiwatari got silent. Was he that obvious? Did Daisuke really notice? He heard a slightly muffled voice in the back, although it also had a slight static to it.

“Niwa? Is someone else there?”