In these kind of situations, you would think waking up to confusion or pain is the way things normally go.
But no.
I woke up with a clarity as if being bathed in cold water. There was nary a disorientation nor discomfort. If anything, I felt full. Complete. As if the 'me' from before was less and the 'me' now is more.
The first thing I noticed when I opened my eyes was not the blue sky directly above me but the spectrum of colors that filled my view, some familiar, some not, colors to which I lack the necessary words to describe.
But if I could be pardoned for my lack of proper vocabulary, then I would say 'beautiful'.
Yes, they were beautiful. They are beautiful.
That beauty was a stark contrast to where I currently lay, which was in the middle of a wide and deep crater, debris and ruins all around me, and as expected, that was enough for confusion to set in.
I stood up with an ease as if the world was beckoning me on my feet. From around me I could see sky rise buildings, the crater not deep enough to hide them from me, or perhaps I got taller?
Looking at my hands, foreign ones greet me, my skin was never this white nor pale, slender fingers and perfectly trimmed nails.
I am brought out of my self examination by the sounds of footsteps from above the crater, peering up, I meet brown eyes as if I was standing right in front of them.
Those brown eyes widen looking upon me from above.
I try to speak but something holds me back. I am all of a sudden made aware that my words could be dangerous. As if even the most harmless word could have the most dire consequences. I do not question it. I understand it.
I make do with a head tilt as the stranger walks forward and carefully slide down the edged slope of the crater.
Her long blue hair sways with every hesitant footstep she takes towards me.
Finally in front of me and obvious surprise on her face, she speaks. "H-hey, are you okay?"
I open my mouth to speak again but think better of it, I look around in every direction then look back at her shaking my head in denial.
She tilts her head at that. "You can't speak?"
I shake my head in denial again.
She looks confused now. "You can?"
I nod.
"But you can't… right now?"
I nod with more enthusiasm.
She subtly presses a hand to her ear and turn away from me, even though I can hear what is being transmitted on her ear piece easily.
"Shiori! You need to get her out of there! AST is enroute." A young feminine voice commands.
"Mou, I can't even communicate with her!" The girl now named Shiori, whispers-shouts.
She looks back towards me and walks closer then holds my hand. "For now, come with me."
I nod as she starts dragging me away.
◇◇◇
It had been a somewhat normal school day for Shiori, after getting caught up with the spirit incidents, she had already given up on a normal life, but she at least hoped that she would have respite in between, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
Origami and Tohka had been bickering back and forth as usual, trying to force feed her what they had made in home ed class, she ate both in order to placate them.
That is when the alarm had started, Origami had immediately ran out from the class with a stern look after warning Shiori to go to safety, but of course Shiori is not one to do nothing especially when a spirit was about to appear, what if they were feeling lonely and attacked the AST that were trying to kill them.
So she put on her ear piece and ran out with Tohka on her tail. "Tohka, you should find Reine and head to the ship." She says.
"What about you, Shiori?!" Tohka says with obvious worry and Shiori stops to an halt.
She put a hand to Tohka's head, patting it. "It's alright, I'll be okay. And if I'm in danger, you'll come save me right?" Tohka's bright smile from hearing that is enough to rival the sun.
"Umu! Don't worry Shiori! I will definitely protect you if anything happens, so do your best okay?" She says happily.
"Unn! Thank you Tohka! I'm counting on you." Shiori says as she resumes her run.
…
…
"Alright, Kotori, what's the situation?" She asks her ear piece.
"Shiori, hold onto something, there is something weird about the readings, this is definitely not a normal spirit." Her sister says with a commanding tone but Shiori has lived with her enough that she can sense the worry in her voice.
As Shiori grabs onto the pole before her, the earth shook, as if an earthquake was going on, for a spirit's arrival, it might as well be.
As the shaking stops, her sister speaks again. "Shiori keep walking forward, the location is something you can't miss, not even
"I hear you, I'll be careful."
It doesn't take long and Shiori arrives at the destination, she understands why her sister said it's something she can't miss now, the crater before her is indeed very destructive, Shiori has only met two spirits so far and none of their arrivals created damages such as this.
As she walks towards the crater, she hears the voice of Tohka and Yoshino telling her to be careful, that puts her at ease.
As she reaches the edge of the crater, she spots the spirit in the middle, looking right at her and her breath catches as her eyes widen a bit.
The spirit tilts her head at her and she gulps then walks forward and carefully slide down the slope of the crater, now that she can see the spirit clearly, the sight mesmerizes her.
A white overall with black edges that covers her white pale body and stops a bit after her elbows and below her knees, it has little black cross marks beautifying the otherwise plain design, long purplish white hair and barefooted but what has Shiori's attention is her eyes. Green eyes with golden cross in the pupils, they look mystifying.
"H-hey, are you okay?" Apparently enough to make her stutter.
The spirit opens her mouth to talk then stops as she looks around in every direction, Shiori wonders if something is wrong but then the spirit shakes her head in denial.
Realizing something, Shiori asks. "You can't speak?"
She shakes her head.
"You can?
She nods.
"But you can't… right now?"
She nods with more force.
Shiori wonders if there is a reason she can't speak, after all when she met Yoshino for the first time, she didn't say a word to Shiori due to her extreme shyness. Although the spirit in front of her doesn't seem shy.
Hearing voices from her earpiece, she subtly presses it and turns around.
"Shiori! You need to get her out of there! AST is enroute." Her sister says.
"Mou, I can't even communicate with her!" And it's not like the spirit has a 'Yoshinon' to communicate with either.
Looking back, Shiori walks and takes the hand of the spirit, smiling to reassure her. "For now, come with me." She nods.
…
…
Now in an empty mall, Shiori walks with the spirit even as she hears the sounds of jets whirring outside.
Stopping in front of the school supply section, she takes a note and pen, hoping her sister would pay for it, she passes it to the spirit who takes it from her.
Smiling, she asks the question with the most votes. "For now, what is your name?"
She scribbles. 'Miyuto.'
Eh, Miyuto? But doesn't that sound like a.
"Boy's name?" Shiori says the last part out loud and the spirit in front of her tilts her? head.
She puts a hand on his shoulders. "Wait! You are a boy?!" She yells as the spirit nods.
She steps back in shock. A boy? A spirit? Is that possible, Shiori doesn't know much about spirits to know if that is possible or not.
"Shiori! Stop yelling! And keep the conversation going. She is, I mean he is surprisingly calm. You can freak out about the gender part later." Her sister chastises.
Shiori breaths out, her sister is right, now is not the time to panic.
So she asks the next response with most votes.
"Well, you look fem—" She doesn't finish her sentence as the glass leading to the mall shatters.
"Shiori, get out of there now!" She hears her sister's yell over the "Over here!" From the AST squad.
She grabs the hand of Miyuto as she runs further into the mall, the AST on her tail.
The sounds of glass shattering again in front of her makes her cut to a right and she comes to a stop before more of the AST.
Crap, she is basically surrounded, still holding onto the hands of Miyuto, she looks everywhere, trying to find a safe place to run to.
That was when it happened.
She and everyone else heard the voice when the AST set their weapons on them.
It simply said:
"Sleep."
And 'sleep' did everyone do.