Colours [MASHIKYU]

3 - Red

He takes me by surprise when he jumps up off the bed and walks over to the door.

"You coming?"

"Where?"

Junkyu stares at me like I've just asked the dumbest question anyone could possibly ask. "I'm going to show you the colours, remember?"

"Oh... now? I can't just leave my room..." I trail off uneasily.

"Why not?"

I try to come up with an answer, but can't. Junkyu walks back over to me and takes both my hands in his, and doesn't instantly drop them when he feels how clammy they are.

"I still don't really know who you are," I say, looking into his grey hoodie.

"Don't worry so much, Mashiho. You can trust me, I promise."

When he says it, I truly believe it. He drops one of my hands but keeps hold of the other one, and I let him lead me out of the room and off to the left. The doctor, Yoshinori and Haruto's rooms are forward, the cafeteria and Asahi's room are right. What's left?

The door he stops outside is different from the others. It isn't white. It's grey. I'm suddenly frustrated at myself that I've never left my room and found this door before. Or at least asked Diana what's to the left.

He pushes the door open with one hand and tugs me inside where it's so dark I can't see a thing, but I'm not scared. I can feel his hand in mine and hear his breath, and he told me I can trust him.

"Sorry, I know this looks really dodgy, but bear with me," he whispers, then I hear him flick a switch and light floods the room.

It's completely empty. And tiny. With seven other doors on the walls. Not one of them is white. They're all different non-whites.

"What is this place? Why is it here?" I ask.

"It's here just for us, Mashiho," Junkyu says, then puts his hand on one of the non-white doors. "Are you ready?"

"Yes," I reply, even though I have no idea what I'm supposed to be ready for.

Without saying anything else, Junkyu opens the door and pulls me through. I realise how stuffy that little room was when a rush of air hits me. At first there's blinding light and I have to shut my eyes for a few seconds before opening them again.

When I do, I lose feeling in my legs and fall to the ground. This is the least white I have ever seen.

We're in a field of roses, one of the many flowers I've seen in Haruto's room before, which stretches out in all directions as far as I can see. Maybe forever. Everywhere I look, it's roses. The only place without roses is the sky— not the ceiling, the sky. The word pops into my head as soon as I see it.

"Oh, the sky isn't normally red, by the way," Junkyu's voice next to me makes me jump.

"Red? Is that another colour?" I ask.

"Yep. The roses are red, and so is the sky. Except the sky is a lighter red than the roses. These roses are actually quite a deep red, more crimson." The nonchalant manner in which he describes our surroundings baffles me.

"It's beautiful," I breathe.

Junkyu puts an arm around me and I lean into him, naturally, like we've been doing it for years and didn't just meet a matter of minutes ago. "Better than white, hey? Oh look, there's Doyoung!"

I turn around and see a boy bouncing towards us, waving. It's only when he gets close that I realise his entire body is tinged red. Like he was dipped in the sky.