Hikiko

The Bitter End ~憎い終わり~

One to go.

Only one to go.

After having witnessed Ami's death, we both knew that Yuna was next. One did not have to be a genius to figure this one out. Satoru was convinced, for some odd reason, that there had to be a way to stop Hikiko.

''What way?'' I asked in the middle of a half-heated discussion.

I knew it was my fault and honestly, I did not need a reminder of this painful truth.

''I don't know!'' He yelled at me, going through each and every book he had stashed in his room but what from all the novels and comics he had could help us? We either needed an exorcist or...

''Did they ever find her body?'' Suddenly, a crazy idea occurred to me.

''What?''

''Did they ever find her body? Hikiko's?''

''I don't know. Why? You think if we...''

''It may be a wild goose chase but...If all those movies are right, finding her body and perhaps burning it would give her spirit rest.''

''Well, she definitely was buried.'' He scrunched his nose ''But where the hell do we find it? It's been years since she died. Decades even.''

''I don't know.'' I sighed and looked down, at my fingers laced together, hands neatly laid upon my lap. ''There has to be a way.''

''Sure there has to be.'' He sighed and sat down next to me, laying his hand over mine, squeezing them.

Shyly, I looked up at Satoru and when I saw his fixated glare on my face, I flashed a sheepish smile. ''What?''

''I know this will sound weird and it's probably not the best moment...''

My heart skipped a beat. Was he going to...?''

''But...''

Another skipped beat.

''You remind me of her.''

The heart race went back to normal with disappointment rising in my chest. ''Of whom?''

''Hikiko.''

I blinked, confused. What on earth was he telling me? ''What?''

''Hikiko...I saw her face that day...'' He squeezed my hands again and looked away, clearly getting lost in thoughts. ''At that moment I realized something very strange...You look like an older version...''

I kept staring at him wondering whether I should be offended that he just compared me to a ghost or not. ''I mean, don't get this the wrong way!'' Satoru hurried to explain himself. ''You are pretty. Really pretty.'' He smiled and this time he was the one to flash a sheepish one ''But there's just something eerily similar between you two.''

''Except the fact we were both bullied?'' I snorted.

Satoru frowned a little and pulled his hand away, looking out the window. Well, crap. She was his girlfriend; although her bullying had no end and probably wouldn't have had it until the end of high school, Satoru still had feelings for her. Once. Or still. I did not know. And somehow, I did not even care about this.

''We need to find her.'' I broke the silence after muttering a quiet apology. I got up, straightened my skirt and took a deep calming breath ''We'll surf the web and see what we can find. There has to be some kind of a memorial, Hikiko must have had parents.'' 

‘’Well, that’s true….’’ Satoru nodded and hopped up, sitting down by his computer. ‘’I know a rather good site, about the paranormal. We could finally dig something up there.’’