Waking Up in Wonderland

Masaomi

Halo Four: Masaomi:

He does not go her younger girls. That's just not in his taste. He preferred girls his age or older. His new child "friend" is different.

He met her when he was waiting for Mikado and Anri to show up for the afternoon. They were running late that day. The joker already had a couple cheeky jokes in mind for them. He could already see his best friend's face turning bright pink already. However, his mind shifted when he became aware of someone standing behind him. The boy slowly turned for a look. He glanced downwards to see a little girl about thirteen with a straw hat on her head, smiling at him. Her pale little face looked better suited on one of those old-timed porcelain dolls in a museum. Her long midnight blue hair swept around her in the gentle city breeze. Her water-colored sundress completed her life-sized doll look for the boy. Masaomi blinked at her. He had never eyes so red and empty before in his life. The child almost didn't seem human. He gave her a quick smile.

"Oh, and who's little girl are you?" he asked. The girl smiled at him pretty white teeth.

"Ne!" she cheered. Her voice floated to the city sky above them. The sound almost made him think of angels, if there were such things in the first, laughing in the rain.

"Are you lost?" he asked. The girl still grinned at him.

"Ne!" she said again.

"You waiting for something?" Masaomi asked.

"Ne!" she shouted once more. This was clearly not going anywhere. Maybe she didn't understand Japanese at all. Nah, that can't be it. She looked like a native to the country anyway. He knew that she heard him clearly. Maybe this was a little game to her? Fine then, he'll have to try a different approach to talk this little... whatever she was exactly. (He doubted by this point that she was even human to begin with.)

Masaomi tried to dig for something else that would get this child to give him a straight answer. Best to go simple with her. Not the best option here, but at least it would get him somewhere with her. He knelt down to her some.

"Say, I'm Kida Masaomi" he said, pointing to his chest. "Do you mind telling me your name?" The young girl smiled and touched him on the cheek with one finger. The normal sanity that he had been faking for years broke in one snap. Too much invaded his mind for him to keep up. Red, black, and grey flashed before his eyes like atomic bombs. A noise similar to Kayako's death rattle filled his ears.

What is this?, he thought as he battled to keep himself together. The colors and sound blend together in rapid spinning circle before it died there cold in his head. Only one thing remained.

"Akuma ga watashi o shutoku sa sete wa ikenai."

Moments later, Mikado and Anri found Masaomi standing at the curb like he texted that he would. Mikado waved to him.

"Hey Kida-kun!" he called. Masaomi didn't respond. When they made it over to him, he didn't even look up. Mikado's face slowly dropped into worry as he shook his best friend on the shoulder.

"Kida-kun?" he asked. "Hey! Hey!" His friend still didn't answer. He just walked straight forward across the street as if in a trance.

"Kida-kun! Wait up!" Mikado yelled as he and Anri raced after him. They had no idea what just happened to him.