The streets lay quiet as Aoi trudged home, the cool evening air refreshing her face. Thoughts less bright than her dreams from days of yore wandered around suspended in her mind. Each step seemed to fade away more and more as her being slipped farther out of the known world and into a shrouded universe deepening behind her back. Except the feeling she was being watched; there was no sight of anybody.
Unbeknownst to her, just a few paces behind her was Masure in the shadows, as few steps behind her. He had trailed her from the school gates, his figure fading away into the night. He traversed on the path, calculated and almost inaudible, never allowing her even a glimpse of his existence. He had developed a taste for this—like a silent observer walking through the city behind her. An exhilarating delight welled up within him with every step she took. He could almost reach their touches.
Unattended was the following figure. Aoi was too far gone in the thoughts-clouding maelstrom of her dreams, which, in recent times, had been strange. The dreams were distinct, sharp—descriptive, like fragments of a life lost upon the backdrop of her unable remembrance, but she felt as though they were her own. Something inside nudged her, refusing to be quiet—maybe they were about to tell her something: something really crucial.
As she neared home, she spotted Emi, her younger sister. Seeing Emi smile spread vibrant life through Aoi, scattering the dark and dreary thoughts that had permeated her mind until now.
"Hey, Aoi!" Emi greeted cheerfully and waved her hands in the air, gaining speed toward her.
Aoi quietly smiled, thanking her sister from her heart. "Hey, Emi. You're just getting home too?"
Emi nodded. "Yeah, I had some things to take care of for the student council. Glad I caught you before you went inside."
The two sisters exchanged a few more words, and Emi turned to head inside. As Aoi unlocked the door, she experienced a slight chill, feeling as if someone was watching her from behind. She turned around to look, but she didn't see anything. The streets were deserted. The feeling, however, was still there.
Across the street and hidden in the darkness, Masure could see Aoi entering the house. After she had been safely inside for a few moments, he retreated further into the shadows, keeping his gaze on her house. A crooked smile creased his lips as he turned to disappear into the night.
Inside the house, Aoi still felt that swirl of thoughts. Something was definitely wrong, and it was getting worse. It wasn't just the dreams. There was something even deeper gnawing at her. As she went through her preparations for bed, she decided to try and push it to the back of her mind and hope for a good night's sleep.
But the dreams came again that night, even more vividly than before.
Aoi stood in a green garden full of sunlight, surrounded by flowers in bloom. The air was fragrant with roses and jasmine. Looking around, everything felt vaguely out of place. Then, before her stood the woman-high, elegant, and unearthly beautiful. Her dark, silky hair framed perfectly; Aoi would never forget the woman's radiant, warm eyes-a gaze that penetrated right to her soul.
For a moment Aoi did not recognize the woman, until suddenly it all clicked-whom she stood before was her mother. The lady who had vanished into thin air while Aoi was still a child. Once, a famous model, a beauty, and grace the whole world adored. She was a woman that had always seemed untouchable, like a living goddess.
But something was wrong. Aoi felt it- an intense and heavy kind of sadness-lurking in the air. Aoi wanted to reach out and touch her mother's hand, but at the moment her fingers touched, the whole image shattered.
Her mother's face twisted, and Aoi plunged into darkness. A whirlwind of spinning motion enveloped her as she was yanked this way and that into an impossible descent; she screamed into her fading consciousness but was unable to stop. The next moment, silence.
And with all these flashes in her mind, Aoi woke up drenched in sweat and cold. She propped herself up on her bed with a raging heart in her chest, gasping for air. The dream seemed so real, so vivid. Her mother had almost been there, right in front of her. But what would it have meant? Why now, after all these years, was she dreaming of her mother?
Questions and more questions invaded her thoughts as she lay staring into the dark of her room. Never had she known what happened to turn her mother from a living person to a memory. One day, she had just vanished into thin air, leaving behind nothing but echoes of a perfect life.
Aoi pulled her knees to her chest as she sat in the dark, pondering. What did it all mean? Why did her mother come to her now, and why did it feel like she was trying to tell her something?
Meanwhile, across the city, Masure sat in his room looking at the pictures of Aoi, taken in secret and collected over the past few months. -day by day, his obsession was growing stronger. He knew he couldn't yet approach her too closely, but he would-the day when she would see him and know he was meant to be with her would come.
But now, he remained inside her shadow, watching, waiting. Always watching.