['What are you' lies unfinished on the screen. Michi's fingers stop, hovering over the letters, as something else strikes him.
Firmly holding a seared magazine in one hand, he rolls a soccer ball under his foot experimentally. He's never tried this before. There's no one here to teach him; even if his magazine had instructions, he can't read most of the kanji yet. But there's a warmth filling a hole in his heart at the soft feel of the ball beneath his shoe, and when he kicks it with his foot to chase after, he can almost see his father running just ahead of him. He could almost imagine the yard he's running in was in front of his own house, and not the small park meant for so many more kids than just him. He could almost pretend that things were still okay.
Almost. Just enough that as he kicks the ball around the yard, despite the lingering ache in his chest, his smile is genuine.
Michi lets the phone slide more and more out of his hand, only realizing belatedly when he has to quickly grip it to keep it from slipping free. His teeth grit, staring down at those words, and while he's got so many questions he can't find the words to ask them. That wasn't like the other hallucinations, when he could instantly feel something was off by his vision being narrowed. That time, his vision was completely normal. It felt so real, like a memory he'd half forgotten, but that's patently impossible.
It's going to be a long while before he says anything again, trying to shove down that weird feeling of inexplicable deep pain and certainty that something happened. His dad is alive. He lives in a house. This is all a bunch of lies.
Five or six minutes pass. Michi erases a few words.]
Yuuto Kidou ☸ Eligor
Firmly holding a seared magazine in one hand, he rolls a soccer ball under his foot experimentally. He's never tried this before. There's no one here to teach him; even if his magazine had instructions, he can't read most of the kanji yet. But there's a warmth filling a hole in his heart at the soft feel of the ball beneath his shoe, and when he kicks it with his foot to chase after, he can almost see his father running just ahead of him. He could almost imagine the yard he's running in was in front of his own house, and not the small park meant for so many more kids than just him. He could almost pretend that things were still okay.
Almost. Just enough that as he kicks the ball around the yard, despite the lingering ache in his chest, his smile is genuine.
Michi lets the phone slide more and more out of his hand, only realizing belatedly when he has to quickly grip it to keep it from slipping free. His teeth grit, staring down at those words, and while he's got so many questions he can't find the words to ask them. That wasn't like the other hallucinations, when he could instantly feel something was off by his vision being narrowed. That time, his vision was completely normal. It felt so real, like a memory he'd half forgotten, but that's patently impossible.
It's going to be a long while before he says anything again, trying to shove down that weird feeling of inexplicable deep pain and certainty that something happened. His dad is alive. He lives in a house. This is all a bunch of lies.
Five or six minutes pass. Michi erases a few words.]
What did you do