Tears (A Corpse Party Fanfiction)

Chapter 5 - Severance

How many days has it been? Ten? Twelve? I could not care less. I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock beeping, and I tiredly turned it off.

I looked at what is supposed to be my bedroom, once filled with memorabilia and crowded with gifts that he got for me every birthday. Now all of them no longer existed, like the person himself. Oh what am I thinking? I already made this thought before, why should I care less now?

I put a hand to my forehead, trying to recall some memories. At least one memory. But they're all void. His voice, his appearance, everything. The only thing I remembered is his name, the very identity of who he is. But most of what we did together, and what he did for me, are all nonexistant.

Some remained. But I don't remember what is he saying, or how his expression looked.

I felt warm, and full of life. Now I am devoid of those feelings, since he no longer exists.

A soft meowing is heard, and I turned to look at the cat mom brought home. It rubs it's head against my lap, and I patted it's head. No matter what I do, even if I rub the ahoge, it returns in place, like it is perpetually part of the cat's head fur.

I looked at today's date on my phone. The impromptu funeral is held today... But should I visit? Yuka hated my guts after she realized what happened between us. Would she even give me the right to even appear in front of her eyes?

Sighing, I got up from bed earning a curious meowing from the cat. I haven't yet decided a name for it.

"Hey, I want to take a little walk, OK? I'll pour some food for you downstairs."

It meowed in agreement. After a morning shower, I walked out of my room and down the stairs, to see mom is nowhere to be seen. She must be at work rather early today, and had time to serve breakfast for us both.

I sat down on the dining chair, and took a piece of toast that is served on the plate. After taking a bite out of it, I motioned my hand over to grab the glass of water next to the plate. I grabbed it, and brought it close to my lips, but not before I dropped it in shock.

My reflection in the water is not me. It looked like me, but with a devilish grin and wide eyes, which brought me back to that night in Heavenly Host where I killed Seiko.

Why am I seeing this now?

A loud, impatient meowing distracted me. I looked down to see the cat, dragging it's bowl close to my feet.

"Oh, right. I almost forgot."

I cleaned up the spilled water that formed a puddle on the table, and I went over to get some cat food from the counter, before pouring it into the cat's food bowl. Wasting no time, I walked out of home afterwards, and towards his home.... His former home? I don't remember the route.

As I was contemplating on how can I find where the funeral is held, I see Suzumoto's figure walking down a road, clad in a black blouse and skirt, holding a bouquet of flowers. I decided to tail her, as carefully as I can in order to find out where the funeral is held.

After a while of tailing, I see her meeting Morishige who is turning around a corner, and he followed her to the funeral. I was able to remain unnoticed by hiding behind a pole.

I followed them again, and they led me to Kisaragi. Why are they meeting at the school grounds of all places? I see the others as well as a group of students from another school. I recognized one of the students as the man who tried to assault Yuka at the science lab in Heavenly Host. He looked guilty, yet with an empty expression I could tell.

The two groups begin to put down flowers in front of a small makeshift grave, marked by a cross out of two bamboo sticks. A piece of paper, put inside a plastic wrap is stuck to the ground in front of it.

I saw them praying, and after a moment, they walked towards my direction to which I hid behind another pole, and after they are gone I walked over to the grave they put.

I read the writings on the piece of paper...

"Here Lies..."

The name of the mourned is blacked out, like Seiko's face in the photographs before she was brought back. My knees lose their strength, and I knelt down in front of the grave, staring at it emptily.

I closed my eyes, trying to recall those memories that are not yet removed. The first time we met during our childhood... The moment he saved me from being hung, taken over by ghosts, crushed by ceiling debris, and saved me from being left behind.

But all of them are done by a silhouette with no visible features. Slowly, one memory begins to fade away as I take heavy breaths.

"No...!"

It fades at an alarming rate from the very recent memory to the most distant one.

"Please stop..."

Pain strikes my head, causing me to hold it's sides as I screamed out.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!"

The pain becomes even more severe, as tears struggled to leave my eyes, and the memory of him saving me from getting hung fades away.

"I HATE YOU!"

Then, the memory of us meeting for the first time in our childhood, starts to burn away.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!"

And after it is burnt away, it reforms. I sat alone on that swing, enduring the insults from my bullies for indirectly causing dad's death. I was alone.

I opened my eyes, as tears fell down from my eyes.

"Who... Whose grave is this...?"

Who puts a grave in the middle of school grounds? Deciding to not get the people who marked it in trouble, I removed the grave marker, and the piece of paper that tells me who was it that was mourned.

"Mochida... Satoshi?"

Who is that, I wonder? Whoever they may be, they are probably loved by the others in this school, so much so that they even made a memorial here. I brought the items over to the trash incinerator, and watched as they burned to ashes.

I stood up, and walked my way back home. I felt mysteriously sad the moment I burned that grave marker and the paper, but I decided to shrug it off, and went home.