one final letter • kazuscara (ON HOLD)

Awake #1

My cat literally almost made me fall

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"Where am I?"

The nurse gave him a doubtful glance before stepping towards him, removing the electrodes from his chest, and offering him a blue shirt, which he eagerly accepted and pulled over his head. At first glance, this area seemed strange, and Kazuha wasn't looking forward to staying here any longer.

"Where am I?" He inquired once more, this time with a sour tone.

The blonde nurse raised her head and straightened her uniform before placing her notes on the table that sat next to them. "Now I'll ask you some questions, and you'll have to respond with whatever you can-"

"WHERE AM I?!" He shouted, having had enough.

"Calm down." The nurse implored. "You have been brought here after something tragic had occurred, but you're safe now-"

"That doesn't answer my question." He read the nametag on her white uniform. "Barbara."

Barbara gasped. "How did you know my name?"

He pointed down with his eyes to signal what gave it away. "I read the nametag. Now, please tell me where the hell I am."

"You're in a hospital." She cleared her throat. "You were in a coma for a whole year."

Kazuha swallowed. He couldn't have been in a coma — especially a year. Last thing he remembers was him strolling to the supermarket to buy popcorn and head to his friend's dorm at the university for a movie night and—

"What happened?"

"What do you remember?" She asked.

Kazuha thought for a second. "I'm a student at Inazuma's State University, I was specializing in Forensic Science. Last thing I remember." He glanced out of the window. "—I fainted and fell to the floor and then everything went black."

"Is that so?" She huffed and walked towards the door. "I'll inform my superiors that you have awakened, I'll bring you some breakfast in the meantime."

'Breakfast?' Kazuha thought. 'But it's evening.'

"But it's evening-" He tried to reach out but the nurse had already walked out of the room. He shrugged off the weird vibes this place was giving and looked around to find a TV remote sitting on the drawer. 'Weird, it wasn't here before.' He grabbed it and turned on the TV, he surfed some channels until he ended up on the news. He wasn't very interested until his name was pronounced on the news.

'Kaedehara Kazuha has awakened from the coma after one year, or at least that's what the experts say.' Kazuha furrowed his eyebrows and turned the TV volume up, causing him to shiver. 'Do not worry citizens, the police are on their way to get him and bring him to a mental hospital.'

"A mental hospital?!" He yelled, quickly dragging his hand over his mouth to not be heard. "The police? What is this sick joke?!"

He twisted on his bed as he heard sirens out of the window, causing him to lean forward and look down. There were a dozen police cars waiting for him, he was now hyperventilating.

'I need to get out of here. Now.' He thought.

He quickly removed the covers and jumped on the floor, shrieking when he felt the cold floor freeze his feet. Kazuha had one goal in mind and it was to get the hell out of this place. Without any idea in mind, his legs started moving on their own. First walking and then running, his legs were shaking and so was his whole body. He had just woken up from a coma and he didn't have the exact balance and forces he'd wish to have.

He hid behind a wall and crouched, breathing heavily and making sure no one could see him. He looked at the fire escape plan that was in front of him and decided to get out by the staircase outside the building, Kazuha knew that was the only way out.

"Hey!" Yelled out a man. "What are you doing here?! Get back into your room-"

Shit.

Kazuha sprinted towards the corridors, praying to the archons that this was the right way to escape. His breathing got heavier every step he took and his diabetes didn't really help.

"Come back here!" The same man yelled, running after him. "Someone stop that murderer!"


Murderer?

Kazuha slid through the floor and almost lost balance, causing him to crash sideways. He quickly regained speed and headed towards the emergency exits. He unlocked the door and ran down the stairs, making sure not to fall. There were several people after him and he cursed the weather for being this cold.

Kazuha came to a halt as he looked down and saw cops approaching him up the steps; he then looked above and saw more people approaching him rapidly. There were only two options for descent, one more hazardous than the other, and Kazuha needed to make a decision soon. The first was to surrender, and the second was to, well, jump.

He took a quick glance down at the ground, where he was roughly six meters in the air. "Curse my damn life." He snorted. "This is going to hurt."

Kazuha grasped the railing and leaped over it without thinking. He was no longer in the air in an instant, but was now attempting to get up from the ground and made a run for it. He rushed wherever he could, holding his right arm for pain support.

After what felt like ages, he had finally lost them and could take a break. He walked towards this dark hallway and slumped down with his back to the wall.

"Fuck." He tried to move his right arm but failed to. "I think I broke my elbow."

He relaxed his head against the wall and looked up to the sky, he was still in Inazuma — he could feel it — but where was he, actually? This all felt like a fever dream to him.

He felt something wet touch his nose and opened his eyes only to find out it had started to snow.

"Oh great." He laughed. "This is unbelievable-"

Kazuha shifted his gaze when he felt something resting underneath his palm, it was another letter. This time, Kazuha didn't bother reading the name on the back and flung it open only to reveal two words.

Start walking.

And so he did.

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Any theories? Who's the villain of this story? Let me know!