Chapter 2 - Encountering the Unknown

After lunch, the day continued on once more, and soon the students were dismissed from school. Takuto went to grab his bag from the side of the desk, but to his surprise, it was missing.

"Huh? I thought I left it right here..." he sighed, looking around hastily. While he was searching, he briefly looked out the window. 

He saw his bag peeking out from under one of the metal trash bins. "Wha-? How did it get out there??" he asked suspiciously. 

Quickly running out of the classroom, he darted outside and to the metal trash bin. He tugged on the strap, but it wouldn't come loose. "Tch..." he attempted to lift the lid, but it wouldn't budge. "That's strange..." he tried lifting it again, but this time it flew right up. The next thing he knew he was on the ground lying in a pile of trash bags.

"Ugh...What the heck..!" he groaned. Standing up, he peered at the trash bin. It was still wide open, so he decided to approach it. When he got close enough to look inside, something sprung out of the bin and knocked him against the ground. He cried in pain as he landed on his right shoulder, feeling something clawing at him. At first he thought it was a some sort of feline, but then he saw its appearance: a snarling beast with rows of razor sharp fangs and long tentacles coming out of its skinny figure.

Takuto tried to scream out, but his voice wouldn't work. Looking around, he saw a glass bottle lying on the ground. He grabbed the creature around its scrawny neck and pried it off of his body, slamming it into the wall. Quickly scrambling over to the glass bottle, he smashed it, planning to use the sharp edges as a shanking tool.

Looking over his shoulder, he saw the monster recovering, so he dashed over to it and jabbed the sharp broken bottle deep into the monster's body. He took the bottle out, and black blood was dripping all over his hand. The monster writhed and shrieked in pain. Takuto stabbed the monster again, this time forcing the sharp edges through its neck. The monster's shrieked louder, and then it became still. He dropped the body, sending it crashing to the pavement. The monster's body began bubbling, and then it turned into a sizzling black liquid, which sank into the ground. Breathing heavily, Takuto wiped the monster blood off of his hands with a dirty cloth, and grabbed his bag. 

Checking his cell phone, he saw that it was way past the time he was supposed to meet Okasan and the others, so he sprinted to the intersection across the street from the school. He was still a bit shaken when he saw everyone waiting for him, but Hanako had an annoyed look on her face. 

"Hey! Where were you! You kept us waiting!" she yelled. 

"I...I had to...find my bag" Takuto replied, out of breath.

Hanako walked closer to him, but backed up just as quickly. "You smell like you've been swimming in the dumpster. Yuck!"

'I was being attacked by some weird animal!' Takuto thought, wanting to scream out what had just happened to him, but he knew that they would not believe him.

"Hanako...Calm down," Okasan said, turning her attention to Takuto. "Takuto-kun is here now...so we can go to Kashu's."

"Fine..," Hanako complained, "But he smells like dead fish."

"We might have to show him the bathhouse after all..." Nami giggled.

The walk to Kashu's was a short one, but it was worth it. What Takuto saw was amazing. He saw a gaming area that was larger than his house, and the section of indoor rides was electrifying. Hanako took Takuto by the arm and led him to a door in the back, hidden behind an old video game console that was put out of service years ago.

"This is our secret bathhouse," she said, her nose cringing. "Go in and take one." 

Takuto stumbled through the door and Hanako closed it behind him. Takuto sighed, taking off his clothes and letting them soak in the water. Climbing in, he began to wash himself. He managed to scrub the smell of trash off of him and the dirt that the trash bags left on his skin. Noticing that his clothes wouldn't be dry for a while, he spotted a pile of clothes by the entrance door. He padded over to them and scooped them up in his arms.

"I still have no idea why this exists... it's so out of place... but I guess I shouldn't question it. This is nothing compared to that... thing... that tried to kill me." he sighed. 

Quickly putting the outfit on, Takuto put his wet clothes over his arm and exited the bathhouse. Looking around for his friends, he spotted them over at the eating area having a chat. He walked over to them and sat down.

"Hey, do you want to die?” Hanako laughed, pointing a toy rifle that she won at him.

“That’s not real… right?” Takuto asked nervously.

“Of course not! But that doesn’t mean I don’t have any at home!” Hanako said playfully.

“That’s even scarier… and illegal.” Takuto mumbled. A few seconds later, Okasan walked over to him and handed him a crepe.

"Here...I thought you would be hungry," she smiled. 

"Thanks!" Takuto grinned.

"Hey, where did Shuya go?" Okasan asked, noticing that the brown haired male was nowhere to be seen. 

"Ummm....He said he had to leave" Hanako said, recalling back to a few minutes ago.. 

"Oh, ok," Okasan said grimly, "He's going to miss out."

"Yeah," Takuto nodded, enjoying his crepe. "This is good."

Okasan giggled and laid her head down on the table. "Gee...What should we play now that Takuto-kun is here?" she asked, her eyes concentrated on the LED lights above their heads.

"Ummm...I don't know. Maybe the giant claw machine?" Hanako said cheerfully. There was a slurping sound, and the group turned to see Nami holding a giant plushy while slurping on a soft drink.

"It was fun..." she stated quietly, smiling slightly.

Takuto laughed and nodded. "Looks like it was."

"Then let's do it!" Hanako exclaimed. She led Takuto over to the giant glass box labeled "Giga-Crane."

"Wow...That's a big crane game…" he said in awe.

"Yeah," she opened the door on the side and pushed him in. "About this game...YOU have to be the crane!" she laughed.

"WH-what!? That's crazy!" he said hoarsely.

"C'mon, it'll be fun!" she said, hooking the straps up to him.

"Okay...If you say so..." Takuto nervously stated.

Hanako skipped over to the controls of the machine and put in five coins.

"Okay! Here I go! Oka, get over here!" she chirped. Okasan came walking over to her and spotted Takuto hooked up to the machine.

"Oh boy..." she giggled.

Hanako smiled and she started moving the joystick forward, which moved the crane forward as well.

"I'm aiming for the biggest one so get a tight grip!" she called out. She moved the crane over a teddy bear that was almost as tall as Takuto. "Now! Grab it now, Takuto-kun!" she laughed, pressing the drop button. Takuto felt the crane drop, and he abruptly grabbed onto one of the bear's arms.

"I... I got it!" he yelled.

"Hold on! Help me, Oka!" she called out, pulling on the joystick. Okasan grabbed onto it and started pulling along with her. Takuto held tight onto the bear's arm, and pulled it loose from the other stuffed animals in the box.

"I'm going to try this!" he uttered, beginning to swing the bear under him. He flung it into the drop box and made a wild grab for another plushy. This one was a smaller white bear with a star on the stomach. He seized it by the head and grasped onto it tight.

"Get ready to be released, Takuto-kun!" Okasan called out.

"Okay!" he acknowledged. The crane hung over the drop box, the buckles then releasing him. He was sent tumbling onto a soft, pillow-like surface, and landed on the ground outside the machine.

"Two in one, nice!" Hanako sang.

 

"I thought I would win two, since Nami already had one and because I just won one for Hanako. It would be fair if I got one for Okasan-chan too," he grinned.

"Awww...That's so nice Takuto-kun..." Okasan blushed. Takuto smiled at her as he distributed the bear into her arms.

"Here" he beamed as he delivered the bear to her.

"Thanks..." she hugged the bear happily. Takuto smiled, but then he was tackled from behind by Hanako.

 

"Ooh, it's so cool! Thank you Takuto-kun!" she said, squeezing him tightly.

"No... problem" Takuto breathed, feeling crushed. Hanako was stronger than she looked.

Nami crouched down and tugged on Takuto's shirt sleeve. "What's the time?"

"Oh yeah, hold on..." Takuto stated as he whipped out his phone. After checking the time, he went wide-eyed. "It's twenty minutes until tomorrow!" Takuto gasped.

"We'd better get home then..." Hanako smiled, "Let's go, guys."

The group left Kashu's, heading for their separate homes.  They managed to keep up a long conversation about their first day and Takuto made a few jokes about some of the teachers.

"That was fun" Hanako yawned. "See you tomorrow, Nami-tan, Oka-tan, Takuto-kun" she nodded at the three of them and walked up the path to her house.

"I'll be going too..." Nami quietly stated. She walked up the dark street until she was out of sight.

"I hope she'll be okay..." Takuto whispered. Nami seemed like a very brave girl to him.

"She will. She's tough," Okasan smiled.

"How far do you live?" Takuto asked, looking towards the sky.

"Ummm...I live at that house with the white roof," she said, pointing off in the distance to a house with a white gable that seemed to reflect the azure light of the moon off of its slick surface.

"I can see it from here..." Takuto breathed. The house appeared to be the finest of the entire neighborhood.

"Yeah...It's the light reflecting off the roof like a mirror," Okasan blushed.

"It's beautiful..." Takuto smiled. Everything about Okasan and her life was amazing in Takuto's eyes.  Even in the dimming moonlight, she seemed like an angel.

"Yeah..." Okasan quietly said, "Well...Let's go." The two walked up the street until they reached Okasan's house. Neither one of them spoke a word to the other along the way, adding to the silence of the night.

"We're here...Thank you for the nice evening, Takuto-kun..." she said, bowing.

Takuto nodded and bowed back.

"Good night." she said, a gentle look of joy lingering in her eyes.

"Night." Takuto replied. He watched her until she closed the front door, then he headed back towards his house. Walking slowly, his hands slipped into his pockets. Takuto had a lot on his mind. Outside the front gate, a flash of red was seen from Takuto's backyard. Blinking a few times, Takuto rubbed his eyes, but nothing was there. "I'm just tired..." he told himself. Takuto walked up the rocky path, and opened the door. "I'm home, mom" he called out.

"Welcome home. Did you have a good day at school?" she asked, standing at the top of the stairs.

"Yeah. I met some nice people." he replied.

"That's good. I knew moving here would be best." she smiled. "Your sister is already asleep. Oh! And Yushiro called…" Yushiro was one of Takuto's friends from his hometown.

'Sakairi is asleep...good.' Takuto thought.

"Really? Why did he call?"

"He said he wanted to know how you were doing." she replied.

"I'll call him tomorrow. Night." Takuto yawned, striding past her up to his room.

"Good night." she called after him.

Takuto closed the door to his room and changed into comfortable pants and took off his uniform shirt. Crawling into bed, Takuto fell asleep instantly as soon as his head hit his pillow.

Author's Note

For some reason when I made this chapter so long ago, I forgot punctuation existed or something... so please tell me if I forgot a period or comma somewhere.