“G-good morning.” Ena saw Shiro and Kurono walk out of the bedroom as she was cooking pancakes.
“Morning Ena.” They both replied to her in the same low tone at the same time.
“You a-actually slept in the same bed…”
“Nothing happened.” They both replied in the same tone as before, slightly blushing.
“That was probably the best sleep I’ve had though…” Shiro’s voice was even quieter than usual.
“U-uh, It’s Friday today, right?” Kurono Changed the topic and started talking to Shiro.
“Yeah, we should check if anyone went to school today…”
“If not then something’s even more wrong than we initially thought.”
After they eat their breakfast the three left Ena’s place and headed towards the school.
“Ummm… g-guys… Isn’t that Ren’s house.”
“Wasn’t he the guy who was close friends with that girl in the basement…?” Shiro’s face was even more serious than usual as she turned and asked this to Ena.
“Y-yes.”
“This could be bad… Ena, Kurono continue on to the school, I’ll check things here and report to you when I get to the school.”
Shiro ran to the house, which was now nothing more than a pile of debris. Ren’s was left on the front lawn.
“Someone tried to move the body…” She looked around the side of where the house had been. A small, now completely black covered in ash skeleton was around the side.
“Is this, his little sister…?” The body had also been moved from its initial resting spot.
Shiro dug through some more debris, some of the boards near where Ren’s bedroom had been were covered in bloodstains, at first Shiro was suspicious that Ren could’ve been the murderer but after closer inspection she saw a stain on the bottom side of a sheet that had barely survived, not a bloodstain but tear stains. Shiro had had brief interactions with Ren before and he didn’t strike her as the kind of person who would kill someone close to him, especially Emilia. She decided to go to Emilia’s house again, the book was left open on the desk, black hair, Ren’s hair was on the book, he must have visited before the house fire. Shiro opened the closet, a pool of blood was underneath where Emilia’s clothes were hung up. But there were no clothes on the side with the pool of blood, everything had been pushed over to one side of the closet, none were bloodstained. Shiro thought about it for a minute, then it clicked, Ren must have gone into Emilia’s house to investigate what really happened and found a uniform that was covered in blood and then taken it home, but how did the house fire happen? She went back to Ren’s place, after pushing away some debris she found a lighter on the ground where the kitchen floor had been, there was no doubt in her mind one of them burnt it down, presumably Ren.
“I have to get to the others…” Shiro sprinted through the miraged streets down to the school.
“Wha-...?” She froze. Outside on the school gates was a student impaled in the sharp fence
“SHIRO! Over here!” Kurono yelled out to Shiro, she walked slowly down the hallway to the classroom, it was filled with bodies of students, impaled by glass on the side windows. She entered the class.
“I-I-I… What happened…” Shiro was in shock, the classroom was filled with her classmates' lifeless bodies, Robert was hanging in between a corner on the roofs rafters, but something was even stranger.
“Ren’s…” On the front desk a sharp plank of wood had been stabbed through Ren’s body.
“Shiro…?”
“Kurono, I went to Ren’s house… His body was there…”
{Tick, tick. tick, tick, tick.}
Shiro's heartbeat began getting louder, the world around her seemed to start spinning, her head started to hurt, her eyes began to water, her vision was blurry, the ticking of the clock became louder and louder.
“Sh-shiro..?” Ena grabbed Shiro’s shoulder and started to shake her.
{Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick}.
Her body was moving side to side from Ena’s pushes, the world was still spinning.
{Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.}
“Shiro! Stay awake! What’s gotten into you?” Kurono’s voice echoed throughout the room.
{TICK, TICK, TICK, TICK.}
The world around them started to flash, blue, then black, then grey. It continued on for a couple of minutes.
{TICK, TICK, TI-}
The world stopped for a second, Shiro let out a massive sigh.
“What the fuck…” Shiro looked around the room, the bodies were now being swarmed by flies, some had completely rotted away.
“We need to leave.” Kurono grabbed Ena and Shiro’s wrists and ran with them to the school yard.
“What just happened?” Kurono was still trying to catch his breath.
“What’s the date..?” Shiro went to the nearest mailbox. Inside was a newspaper the heading read.
“Girl found in lake, confirmed to be 17 years of age.”
Shiro looked down to the date, it was published the day before New Years.
“I-isn’t New Years a-a month away?” Ena looked down at the paper.
“Yes… We need to figure this out before we figure out the suicides… Kurono, any ideas?”
“I live nearby, let’s go on the news channel and confirm what’s happening.”
The cicadas were at their loudest today although heat was more bearable than it had been previously. After turning the television on it was confirmed, today was New Years Eve.
The three sat in the living room waiting until the New Year, lost in thought and trapped in terror at all that had just happened. Ena was shaking, panicking but there was no calming her down.
“We didn’t even get to graduate…” Shiro broke the silence.
“Yeah…” Kurono turned his head back to the TV.
“Before the countdown starts we have a guest star: Kokoro Utau!”
Kokoro had been a popular artist since Shiro started high school, it appeared tonight she was playing her biggest hit, ‘Blood Love’ before the fireworks were launched near the mountains on the outskirts of the City where the event was being held. Her eyes were always covered by a red face mask that was slightly to big for her and a black cap that was always tilted downwards so you could only just make out her shirt brown hair, her costume was a bit out there tonight with bird wings on her back.
“A bit of a tasteless song to play if they knew what was happening here, but I like the song so I’m not going to get too upset about it.”
“Yeah, you’re right about both…” Shiro turned her head to the TV as the song started. No instruments were present in the opening lines.
[I just want your
Blood! Blood! Blood love!
I was feeling my
Love! Love! Love less!
I need your
Touch! Touch! Touch now!
I just want your blood]
The song was known for starting off as a punk song that led into a slower acoustic section after the second chorus that eventually became a big room house track for the final section.
[Give me some of you
Give me enough to satisfy until the end of the night
Show me a world that I want
I know you want my
(Love! Love!) Don’t fight the darkened dove
Crash into me, my world collides with yours
(Touch! Touch!) Is this your first love?
I just want a taste of that sweetness inside you
Just give me your (Blood! Blood!)
I need your]
The crowd had started to sing along as Kokoro jumped around the stage, playing her guitar and singing, the only backing tracks being that of the backing vocals.
[I just want your
Blood! Blood! Blood love!
I was feeling my
Love! Love! Love less!
I need your
Touch! Touch! Touch now!
I just want your blood]
The stage lights faded to black, a brief pause before they once again lit up the stage, Kokoro appeared to have switched the electric guitar out for an acoustic and sat down on an amp.
[I started to fall
Felt like I was losing it all
A dark summer night
Cicadas crying
I saw a light
A taste, a call of the night
A dark desire in the heart
(Blood, Blood, Blood love)
I want your touch
I was feeling my love-
I just want your-]
The song built up, the music stopped and it was just Kokoro singing.
[I just want your
Blood, Blood, Blood love!
I was feeling my
Love, Love, Love less!
I need your
Touch, Touch, Touch now!
I just want your blood]
The song started to build again, the next verse would lead into the final chorus.
[I want your love
I want you blood
Spread it along the halls
Taste it in my walls
I was feeling my love less
Now I feel a craving
A feeling
I wished for…]
The world around Shiro had started to go into a shade of white, the song reached its final chorus as it dropped.
[I just want your
Blood, Blood, Blood love!
I was feeling my
Love, Love, Love less!
I need your
Touch, Touch, Touch now!
I just want your blood…]
After finishing Kokoro suddenly felt ill.
The timer began the countdown to New Years.
{TICK, TICK, TICK.}
5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
The counter reached the end, the cameras circled the city fireworks.
Shiro’s world was now completely covered in white.
“Aren’t we missing people…?”
“SHIRO!” She heard Kurono scream as her consciousness faded.
