Ape Kodomo Escape REDUX

Chapter 11 - Accident

In the garden behind the professor's house, the young boy with mainly brown hair apart from a streak of blonde was sitting alone. With his legs pulled close to him and his arms wrapped around them like a ball, he looked out onto the view of the town.

His mind, however, was focused on a memory much closer to his location. It came to him out of nowhere, and he may have never remembered it if he wasn't there at that one time. It was quite a but ago, and had to be one of his earliest memories.

That had been some sort of virus or disease going around the entire world, and the only thing that most people could do was to stay inside. His parents had been staying at the professor's house at the time with Daichi – as the memory was there.

Though the borders of his eyesight were white and blurry, he could still make out the scene. There were in the very same place, and sat in a triangle. They were sitting on a red and white checkered blanket and a picnic basket was in the very middle, surrounded by paper plates.

He didn't know the day or the month, all he had for any sort of timeframe was the fact of the epidemic and that he had knowledge that he would be getting a younger sibling. He had no clue what his parents were speaking about then, being more focused on his little sandwiches that had been cut into stars and moons.

This memory lead to him thinking about his parents, and more importantly, what they must be thinking. Did they know about the entire monkey situation? He hadn't been told if anyone had told them or not, or if the saw the message from Specter.

But what scared him more was the idea that they knew that Yuki was lost. It was only realistic that they would've known if their young child had gone missing, but a bit of the boy was still hoping they didn't. Not because he liked the fact she was gone, not in the slightest.

The boy was scared of how they felt about him. It was his only job, to take care of his little sister – and he couldn't even do that. Were they disappointed, were they angry? Somehow, not knowing the answer only made it worse. He'd rather know he had upset people than to be left in the unknown.

While that worried him, he found comfort in the memory. It was a reminder of when times were simpler, easier and a whole lot less frustrating. Being able to look out onto the city, feel the slight breeze on his skin during a somewhat sunny day.

"Why can't this last?"

His phone had been left in his room, and he was a bit away from the sliding glass doors. He just wanted to be alone. The reason? To decompress, and to not accidentally lash out.

Every time he had heard a certain someone talk about the ape situation – and how he was really happy about the entire thing – he couldn't helped but find himself annoyed. Especially since he hated the situation. But he had been finding it harder and harder to hold himself back.

At that moment, however, he was calm and was enjoying scenery. His heart rate was in the normal range and his breathing was automatic. He could've fallen asleep there if he wasn't so freaked out by bugs in the grass.

"Hey Daichi!"

He turned around. It was Dawn. She had half of her body out through the open sliding door, and overall seemed as relaxed as she always was.

"Oh, hi!" He responded. "Have you come to look at the sights too?"

"Nah," Dawn said. "You know I've never been one to just look at things. Too boring."

The boy chuckled in response. Before the conversation had stayed quiet for an awkward amount of time, he spoke up again.

"So, why did you come out here then?"