April 6, 2009: Waxing Moon

The dream always begins the same: a blue butterfly.

It's ethereal glow shining through the darkness of the void; fluttering calmly and slowly. It never seemed to go anywhere. It really looked like it was just fluttering in one place within this void. But it was moving, going somewhere no one could see, just feel.

But neither Minako nor her older twin brother, Makoto, knew where it was going. They just knew it was going somewhere unknown and unseen.

It was kind like them.

They were always moving; always going somewhere that they didn't know or could see. It had been that way for the majority of their lives since their parents died in 1999, 10 years ago now.

The twins moved place to place, from relative to relative, some years together and some years not. Minako hated the years whenever she had to separate from her brother, but she knew Makoto hated it more. Makoto didn't like to talk at all. He preferred keeping quiet and allowing his sister do all the talking for the both of them. And she did it gladly so because it made her brother happy, even though it never showed on his face.

But twins knew how to read the one another in ways outsiders never could.

Unfortunately, some of their relatives just couldn't afford two growing children in their household, even more so as they got older; so one twin would go to one relative in one city while the other would go with one relative in another city, miles away. If they were lucky enough, the cities were close enough where they could take a train to meet one another on a Sunday or a school holiday.

But Minako had noticed that her brother was becoming more and more fatigued as the years went by. It was to the point, she was the one initiating the visits, and ensuring he was eating enough to keep his high-functioning metabolism from sucking his body dry of nutrients, either by making food to give to him herself, or texting him reminders to eat.

She suspected her brother was allowing the trauma of their parents' death to affect him in ways it never affected her. But she never rebuked her brother for it.

How could she? When she could feel it affecting her just as strongly too even if it wasn't in the same way?

This year, however, was going to be different.

While they still were under guardianship of different relatives, (Makoto with their father's relatives, the Yukis, and Minako with their mother's relatives, the Arisatos) they were enrolled in the same private high school now, and would be living in the same city in a dormitory together. Apparently, their current guardians had a talk and decided it would be best if the twins stayed in Tatsumi Port Island, where there was a private school with dormitories, until they graduated in two years.

It would be the first time they would stay in the same place for more than one year. It was ironic to Minako (and privately Makoto) that Tatsumi Port Island happened to be connected to Iwatodai City, their childhood home with their parents before they died on the Moonlight Bridge ten years ago.

Minako was glad they were taking the train into the city instead of a bus or car. Neither she nor her brother liked riding in cars since the accident, and they could avoid crossing the same bridge where their parents died.

Unfortunately, they were taking a late train since their original train was delayed then canceled due to an accident involving a young man falling onto the tracks in the path of an incoming express train at Iwatodai Station, the station they were heading to, earlier in the day. Minako had called ahead to the school to let them know what happened, and she was assured that someone would stay up and meet them at their assigned dorm.

Once they finally got a new train, the sun was already setting and Minako got the feeling that they wouldn't make it to their destination until just before midnight. She silently cursed their bad luck since she hoped they would be safely in their dorm before then.

Because Midnight was never a good time to be outside.

Still, though, she couldn't do anything about it, but accept their bad luck and hope nothing happened to them until they were safely inside the dorm. Resigned, she clipped on her headphones and switched on her mp3 player, which hung around her neck. As she selected one of her favorite songs, "Burn My Dread," out of the corner of her eye, she saw Makoto do the same with his own neck-strung mp3. As she lay down on the empty train seats, the song starting up in her ears, the last thing she saw was her brother opting to stand next to the train doors.

And now she was dreaming that same dream she shared with her brother with the blue butterfly fluttering in the void.

But just as it appeared, the dream faded away.

Minako could hear a new song "Wiping All Out," blaring in her ears, and someone was shaking her shoulder gently.

"Hm?" she hummed sleepily.

She opened her eyes and saw her brother's blue hair before her brain registered that it was Makoto leaning over her and shaking her shoulder. "Are we there?" she asked, through a yawn as she sat up.

She didn't see it as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, but she knew that her brother was giving her a short nod of confirmation.

As she reached for her duffle bag, Minako glanced up at the LED message sign the train had to check the time.

11:57.

Three minutes to Midnight.

"Boy, are we late," Minako sighed, mainly to herself rather than her brother, who wouldn't have answered her even if he did hear her through his blaring headphones.

If she had any little remaining hopes of getting to their dorm before midnight, they were all gone now. There was no way they would be able to get to their dorm in three minutes, especially since they didn't know the way yet. They still had to check the map, supplied by their dorm move-in guide, before they left the station.

Silently, Minako followed Makoto out of the train and through the turnstile, where her brother stopped and fished out the guide from his pocket. Minako pointedly refused to look at the overhanging station clock near them, and opted to look over her brother's shoulder to study the map and the photo of their dorm on the guide.

But even through the music roaring in their ears, they both could still hear the seconds ticking down on the clock.

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick…

…

…

…

April 7, 2009: Waxing Moon

Only silence.

It dropped over the twins like a blanket. They couldn't hear anything.

The music that blared in their ears was cut off in mid lyric as their m3p suddenly died. The ticking clock went quiet as the three hands, seconds, minute, and hour froze at the number 12. The sounds of the station and the city cut short.

All around them, the light and color seemed to fade away and be replaced by a sickening unearthly green shades from the glow of the yellowish green moon and the deep blacks of shadows.

Only Makoto and Minako still retained their colors as the glow of the yellow-green moon laid its eerie light upon them.

Like the blue butterfly in their shared dream, now they were in a void of their own.

The twins barely reacted to the sudden change of atmosphere and color to their physical world for they were long used to it. It had been coming since their parents died ten years ago, and seemed to follow them wherever they were in the country.

But still, Minako knew that whatever the phenomenon was, it was dangerous, even though nothing ever happened to them before. Makoto didn't care what it was, she knew. He treated it like it was normal. Minako kind of envied him for not being even the slightest unnerved by this sudden, and most likely unnatural, change to their environment, which lasted (as she guessed) for about an hour.

For a whole hour, time would seem to be frozen, no natural lights or electricity. Silence always surrounding you except by whatever noise you made yourself. And anywhere where you once saw people, you instead see standing coffins, and water (or any kind of moisture) turns crimson, like blood. (Or perhaps it was blood).

It was not natural.

But her brother couldn't care less.

Still though, he knew his sister greatly dislike it. And that was enough for him to fold the guide back up, put it back in his pocket and take ahold of his sister's hand. Silently, he lead her out of the station and into the streets, the echoes of their footsteps the only sound filling their ears as they walked passed two coffins that were two people that walked passed them only a minute before.

The moon was almost full so they had plenty of light to keep them from getting lost. And with the cars stopped dead where they were, they didn't have to worry about getting run over as they cut across any streets or anything.

Minako chewed on her bottom lip a little when she started hearing noises: noises that sounded too much like screams from somewhere far away. It was those noises in this unnaturally noiseless atmosphere that always let her know that this unnatural phenomenon was dangerous. She could only imagine that there were others like her and her brother out there, walking around in this strange phenomenon, and something that only existed during this phenomenon was killing them.

She walked closer to her brother and grimaced a little when they started walking through a red puddle. It may or not be blood, but Minako still feel uneasy walking through it, even if Makoto didn't care.

But she stayed silent.

Eventually, Makoto stopped and took out the guide again. He held it closer to her and they both looked at the picture of their dorm building.

It seemed they arrived at their destination.

Still holding each other by the hand, they entered what would be their home.

Once the door closed behind her, Minako let out a deep sigh. The tension she had in her body was finally loosening, now that they were safely indoors. But then she noticed something strange.

The room—a lounge from the looks of it—looked perfectly normal compared to what was going on outside. In fact, it looked like the strange phenomenon hadn't even entered this room. The two electric lights from the lamps frame the door and one simple electric candle chandelier on the ceiling were working just fine, but they dim. They illumined only a small part of the room

As they removed their silent headphones from their ears, a voice—a young sounding one at that—suddenly spoke from their left. "You're late."

Looking over towards the desk, they saw the owner of the voice was indeed young. In fact, he was too young to be in a high school dormitory.

He looked more like he couldn't be more then middle school age. Actually, if she thought about it, the boy kind of looked like Makoto and herself in terms of facial structure. In fact, the resemblance was uncanny, despite the boy having some minor differences. His hair was shorter then Makoto's and it was a faded black color compared to Makoto's blue hair. And he had a mole under his left eye whereas she and Makoto had none.

Heck, if Minako didn't know better, she could have sworn the kid was their little brother or something.

Minako opted to say something, a greeting came to mind, but something about the boy's two-toned blue eyes, so different yet so alike Makoto's, made her keep silent.

"I've been waiting a long time for the both of you," the kid said.

Makoto and Minako both kept looking at him, both of them thinking the same thing. Was he the person who was asked to stay up and meet with them when their train was delayed earlier?

Couldn't be, was their shared thought.

The boy snapped his fingers, and suddenly he wasn't sitting behind the desk counter, but standing in front of the twins. Makoto kept his stoically blank look, but Minako couldn't help but widen her eyes in surprise, though like her twin, she kept silent.

Now that the boy was standing in front of them, they could better see what it was he was wearing. They looked like pajamas, but the black and white stripes reminded them vividly of those old prison uniforms they've seen in cartoons as little kids.

"If you want to proceed please sign your names there," the boy continued on, pointing back towards the desk counter.

Where he had been sitting earlier sat two red pockets for holding important papers open on the counter. The paper inside both pockets said, "Contract."

Minako gave the boy a raised eyebrow, but the boy continued speaking calmly, "They're contracts. Don't worry. All it says is that you'll accept full responsibility for your actions. You know the usual stuff."

Minako watched Makoto go over to the papers. She watched him read them, and then saw him reach for the pen on the counter. Deciding that maybe she didn't have to worry about anything if her brother was calmly agreeing to the contracts; then perhaps there was nothing to worry about.

Still though, Minako read her contract just in case.

It really didn't make much sense though:

Time never waits.

It delivers all equally to the same end.

I hereby agree to the statement above,

and I chooseth this fate of mine own free will.

Even still though, it seemed that the boy wasn't lying. It really was just an overview of accepting your own actions and the consequences.

Though what actions and consequences would require you to sign a contract like this?

Although, she didn't fully understand, Minako took the pen from her brother when he offered it to her and signed her name on the contract. Folding the pocket back up, she handed it Makoto, who proceeded to give both pockets to the boy.

"No one can escape time," the boy said when he took both pockets, "It delivers us all to the same end. You can't plug your ears and cover your eyes."

And just like that the pockets disappeared from the boy hands.

A gasp slipped passed Minako's lips when the shadows behind the boy seemed to come alive on their own and reach for him. The boy calmly didn't seem to notice or care, just calmly held his hand out towards the twins.

"And so it begins," was the last thing the boy said as the shadows engulfed him and he disappeared.

When he disappeared, the dim lights suddenly went out and the twins were left in complete and inky darkness.

"Who's there?!"

Makoto and Minako snapped their eyes open in surprise. They didn't recall ever closing them, but apparently they were closed, which was the reason for the early darkness.

They were still in the dormitory lounge, but now it looked like the strange phenomenon really had infiltrated it.

Did what just happened with the boy…

Was it all just a dream?

"Who are you?!"

Both twins looked toward the voice—a female one—that had "woken" them.

Standing there in a dark hallway leading lounge, looking almost out of place within the creepy atmosphere that the strange phenomenon radiated was a girl their age in pink. She looked normal compared to the mysterious boy: light-brown hair and brown eyes, and despite the strange pink sweater-like jacket she was wearing, she was dressed fairly normally for a high-school girl: loose red ribbon, a black mini skirt, black stockings with white lines, normally looking brown shoes and a white heart-shaped choker.

She would look very unthreatening if it weren't for the gun holder strapped on her right thigh and the gun that was within it. The fact that her fingers were hovering just above it wasn't helping Minako stay calm either.

When the girl grasped the gun's handle, Minako was only a second away from raising her arms in surrender and yelling "Don't shoot," when another female voice—this one sounding older or at least mature—called out from behind the pink-wearing girl with the gun.

"Takeba! Wait!"

The girl paused, so did Minako in mid-action. Next to Minako, Makoto hadn't moved or reacted at all.

Typical of her big brother; not responding to even the remotest hint of danger while she was busy keeping whatever said danger was from harming the both of them.

Leaning a little to her left, Minako peered around the pink-wearing girl, trying to see if she could see who the second person who spoke and stopped the girl from shooting them.

Although she could barely make her out in the darkness, Minako could see another girl standing further down the hallway, apparently on some stairs Minako could not see very well in the darkness since she appeared to be floating.

Or perhaps she should say woman?

No, Minako realized, she was wearing a high-school uniform, meaning she couldn't be much older than any of them. But the new girl defiantly carried herself as if she were older then she actually was if her regal posture and mature face had anything to say about it, especially when Minako compared her to the pink-wearing girl. This one had long red hair that fell almost like a waterfall down her back and had a tall and vary voluptuous figure, whereas the pink-wearing girl was a bit shorter than both Minako and Makoto, yet held a slim athletic figure.

Compared to the both of them, Minako felt a little odd and out of place with her skinny figure that was hidden under her light orange sweater, red plaid skirt, red scarf, black leggings, and reddish brown boots.

Having a high-functioning metabolism wasn't always a blessing.

"But Kirijo-senpai, aren't they—" the pink-wearing girl—Takeba?—seemed to protest

"Don't worry," the redhead—Kirijo?—assured, "They're ordinary transfer students."

"Um, transfers?" was Takeba's confused reply as Minako silently wondered what Kirijo meant by "ordinary."

No soul

There is no more darkness

Robust

no more tears in the rain

All dust

no one hurt…

We bust justice

Write me an endless song

To the man with no life

When you let go

As the songs "The Last Battle" and "Soul Phrase," cut through the air from the twins' headphones, the green light faded away, replaced by bright electric lights and color returned everywhere. From somewhere in the room, Minako heard a clock resume its ticking.

It appeared that the strange phenomenon was over and the word was resuming its natural pace.

Strange, Minako thought, either both she and her brother didn't realize how long it actually took to get to the dorm…or they actually were sleeping on their feet before Takeba showed up.

With the lights back on, Minako could see she was right in her guess that Kirijo had been standing on some stairs, which she was now walking down to join them on the ground floor, all the while saying, "We were expecting you two to arrive earlier."

Ah, Minako realized, these two girls were the real ones the school assured her would be waiting up for them to arrive.

Which she realized would make the meeting with the Mysterious Boy all the more like it seemed to have happened in a dream.

"I'm Mitsuru Kirijo," Kirijo introduced, "I live here in the dorms."

"They couldn't have arrived at a better time?" Takeba seemed to sneer while looking suspicious at them, making Minako wonder what it was they did wrong in her eyes.

It wasn't their fault that the trains were significantly delayed due to an accident after all.

"It was a last minute decision to put them here," Mitsuru explained to Takeba, all the while still looking at the twins. "They'll most likely be formally assigned to other dorms eventually."

"Is this alright?" Takeba asked, now looking like she calmed down.

"We'll see," was Mitsuru's response.

For a few heartbeats there was silence between the four of them.

"Um," Mitsuru and Takeba looked at Minako as she pointed to the gun on Takeba's thigh, "Excuse me, but why do you have a gun?"

"Huh?" Takaba blinked in surprise to her question, as if she had forgotten that she even had a gun on her person, "Um, well, it's sorta like a hobby…"

Minako tilted her head in confusion. "A hobby?"

"Well, not a hobby, but…" Takeba tried to amend, but she was blushing pink. Clearly she was embarrassed to be seen with a gun, which Minako was pretty sure wasn't allowed either on campus or the dorms.

"You know how it is these days…" Misuru chimed in for Takeba, "It's for self-defense. It's not a real gun, of course."

Ah, that would make more sense, Minako thought, nodding in understanding.

Two people walking into an unlocked dorm in the middle of the night? It's no wonder why Takeba acted like she did then. She didn't know them, and probably didn't know that they were coming, which meant only Mitsuru knew of their coming in late.

As she thought this, Makoto gently grabbed Minako's hand and begun leading her towards the stairs. It was a sure sign to Minako that Makoto was getting tired of just listening to their talking and wanted to get Minako to her room.

"Oh! Excuse us, but my brother and I have had a very long journey and it's getting very late. We should very much like to go to bed," Minako quickly explained as Makoto pulled her passed the girls towards the stairs.

Mitsuru nodded in understanding. "Your brother's room is on the second floor at the end of the hall. You'll find your room on the third floor also at the end. Both your things should already be there." She turned to Takeba. "Takeba, would you mind showing them to their rooms?"

"What?" was Takeba's answer

"This is Yukari Takeba," Mitsuru introduced, "She'll be a second-year this spring; the same as you two."

So, Mitsuru was a Third Year? That's probably why she was the one assigned to wait up for them then. She was the senior to all their juniors.

"I'm Yukari…" was Takeba's greeting toward them.

Minako smiled her best friendly smile to Yukari to show no hard feelings for the introduction with a fake gun. "I'm Minako Arisato. Pleased to me you."

There was another few heartbeats long pause between the four of them as the girls waited for Makoto to give his introduction. However, the friendly smile on Minako's face melted into a frown as she realized her brother was waiting for her to give his introduction for him.

They had this talk several times before. Minako may gladly do the majority of the talking for him, but when it came to some things, like introductions, she would absolutely refuse do it for him. It was just plain rude of him if he did not show a formal or respectful attitude to other people, regardless of his personal feelings.

She gave her brother two quick nudges with her elbow into his arm, not bothering to be stealthy about it. He was 16 years old. He should know better by now.

If she hadn't been standing right next to him, Minako was sure she would have missed hearing the long breath of air blowing through her brother's nose, which was his version of sighing without making it seem like he was.

Finally, her brother spoke in his typical monotone manner, "Makoto Yuki. It's nice to meet you."

Minako could see Yukari's confusion on her face at the two different last names as she returned Makoto's greeting. It was actually understandable when the fact was that Makoto and Minako were painfully obvious to be twins when they stood right next to one other, despite their different hair and eye coloring and different as night and day personalities. Neither Minako nor Makoto knew what the story was to making Minako's last name their mother's maiden name, because both twins knew their mother was happily married to their father even before they had been born.

As Mitsuru handed over the keys to their rooms to Yukari, out of the corner of her eye, Minako saw Makoto finally take notice of the fake gun on Yukari's thigh and held herself back from sighing.

After dropping Makoto off at his room on the second floor, which was the designated boy's floor, although Minako couldn't see any sign yet that her brother wasn't the only male occupant in the building, Minako followed Yukari up to the third floor, the girl's floor.

Her room was located right above her brother's room she noticed as Yukari pointed out the pointed out the door to her room. Mitsuru's room was on the left of the hallway, right next to the girls' lounge (which was devoid of a vending machine, unlike the boys' lounge just below), and Yukari's room was right across from hers on the right on the other side, just by the stairs, while her room was all the way in the back on the right.

"Here, this is the key to your room," Yukari said, handing Minako her key.

"Thanks," was Minako's response with her friendly smile.

Minako stood still, waiting for Yukari to move out of the way of the door, but her smile faded into a confused look when Yukari didn't move at all.

"Um…" was Yukari's response when she saw Minako's look. Actually now that Minako thought about it, Yukari actually seemed nervous for some reason, "Can I ask you something?"

Minako nodded. "Yes? What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong!" Yukari insisted; her nervousness seemingly to wipe itself away with each word, "Did you run into anything strange, walking from the station?"

Minako blinked at the question. "Strange? What do you mean?"

"What I mean is…" Yukari trailed off as if it seemed she was allowing something in her thoughts to take over whatever it was that she was about to explain when she meant by "running into anything strange."

The only strange thing was that happened was the earie Midnight phenomenon, but even then it wasn't like anything had ever jumped out the woodworks during the ten years the twins experienced it. Although they hadn't known anyone else, besides themselves, that could also experience the phenomenon until they saw Yukari and Mitsuru.

…and that strange boy?

What was that about anyway?

"Sorry, it nothing," Yukari apologized finally stepping out of the way of the door to Minako's room and staring to head down the hall toward her own room, "Well, have a good night."

Minako watched the other girl walk away for a few more heartbeats before speaking up, "Yukari-san?"

Yukari stopped and turned to look at her. "Yes?"

Minako sighed, might as well say this now before her brother starts upsetting people, as he had the unfortunate tendency to do. He never goes looking for trouble, but his flat indifference for other people's feelings about his antisocial behavior was the trigger point for a lot of friction between himself and the people around him.

"I feel I should apologize now for my brother."

"Huh?"

"He's not really mean and doesn't mean to be rude or anything, but he's…not the most expressive or talkative type," Minako explained, finding herself talking at the door to her room rather than at Yukari.

Her brother wasn't always like that though. Minako remembers that when they were younger, Makoto could actually give her a run for her money on how much he could talk and express himself though his smiles and glittering eyes.

But then the accident happened on the Moonlight Bridge, and the site of their parents' bodies, particularly their mother's arm, burning in the car that the twins somehow escaped from before the fire overtook it, changed everything.

Both twins had lost their innocence that day.

"It hasn't been easy for us," Minako found herself saying, as the memory of the car fire edged away her vision, "Transferring and moving around as we have been for the past ten years. It's…had an effect on us both."

Taking a deep breath in to re-ordinate herself back to the present, Minako finally looked at Yukari. "I guess what I'm trying to say is: try not to take anything he says or does personally."

A few moments, the two girls just looked at one another as Yukari tried to comprehend what it was Minako was trying to tell her, while Minako could only hope that Yukari would, at least, try to look beyond Makoto's shell and see the good person Minako knew her twin actually was.

Morphing her face into a perky expression, Minako said good night to Yukari and quickly entered her room, deliberately not looking at the stunned, and no doubt confused, reaction caused by her sudden change of mood.

Sighing as she leaned against the closed and locked door, Minako took a moment to scan her new dorm room, which she would now be living in for an unknown, but probably short, amount of time if what Mitsuru said earlier was true that she and her brother would be assigned elsewhere.

It was rather standard a dorm room, a plain sheet and pillow-less bed with a bedside table with a lamp, a desk with a chair, a few wall selves, a TV, a sink with a mirror, ugly blue drapes over three windows and a mini fridge to store small refreshments, where her suitcases had been placed in front of.

Too drained to unpack now, Minako simply opened the suitcase which she packed her bedding and a pillow, and threw the pillow and her pink-orange plaid quilt onto the mattress. Fishing through a smaller pocket on the case, Minako pulled out her alarm clock and quickly set it to the right time and set up the alarm before placing it on the beside table.

Stripping down to simply her white shirt and panties, Minako pulled out the hair ties holding her hair up, feeling it fall softly to her shoulders and decided to keep her six hair pins on the side of her head where they were.

Crawling into her sheet-less bed, Minako curled her quilt around her and snuggled into her pillow; hoping sleep would claim her quickly and would provide her with a dreamless slumber.