Chapter 28: Unknown Visitor

Chapter 28: Chapter 28: Unknown Visitor

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The door was locked from the inside.

The biometric lock required my thumbprint or an admin key.

Someone....or something.....had walked into my room.

A woman’s soft voice. The smell of broth and lavender. The warm, solid hand resting against my burning forehead. If it wasn’t Maria...then....

who was it?

A cold sweat broke out along the back of my neck. My heart began to drum a frantic, familiar panic against my ribs. The fear from last night hadn’t died, it still lingers and I hate it.

Did someone break in? How? The house security cameras are active twenty-four seven. The biometric locks are military-grade.

Or... was I hallucinating that, too? Did my brain manufacture a fake Maria to comfort me while I lay dying of terror in the dark?

No....where is safe

"Kageyama-kun? Are you alright?" Maria’s voice cut through the rising storm in my head.

I swallowed hard, forcing my facial muscles to relax. I blinked rapidly, rubbing my eyes, pretending to laugh it off.

"Ah... wow. Man, that must have been one intense dream," I said, putting a hand to my forehead and shaking my head in self-deprecation.

"Seriously? I could have sworn you were right there. Guess my brain was completely fried from the fever. I must have imagined the whole thing."

"You poor thing, you were really out of it," Maria sighed, completely buying the excuse. She pulled out a chair and poured me a glass of juice.

"Eat some breakfast. You need to get your strength back if you’re going to school."

"Yeah... yeah, maybe you’re right. Imagining things. That’s all it was," I mumbled, grabbing my chopsticks.

I picked up a piece of fish and forced myself to chew, though it tasted like cardboard. My thoughts were spinning wildly out of control.

It wasn’t a hallucination.

The touch was too warm. The feeling was too real. But the door was locked.

I kept my eyes glued to my plate, desperately trying to swallow the food, trying to act like a normal high school kid eating a normal breakfast before a normal day of school.

Across the table, a shadow fell over my plate. I didn’t have to look up to know who it was, but I did anyway.

Erza was watching me.

She hadn’t touched her food. She was sitting perfectly still, her small hands folded tightly in her lap. Her dull, void-red eyes were locked onto my face, tracking every micro-expression, every nervous twitch of my eye, every shaky breath I took.

It was intense and bro, frightening to look right back at. she’s just 6 years old.

She didn’t say a single word, she just watched me with that eerie, ancient stillness that felt far too heavy for a six-year-old child.

She seriously took after her mother.

It felt like she knew. Like she could read the silent, screaming panic written on the inside of my skull.

I forced a faint, reassuring smile at her. "What’s up, Erza? Something on my face?"

Erza didn’t answer. She simply unclasped her hands, picked up her glass of milk, and took a slow, silent sip, her eyes never leaving mine over the rim of the glass.

A chill ran down my arms. I quickly looked away, concentrating on finishing my rice.

Ten minutes later, the ordeal of breakfast was over.

I stood by the front entryway, slipping my feet into my polished black uniform shoes. The automatic shoe-rack slid shut behind me with a quiet click.

I adjusted the strap of my school bag over my shoulder, double-checking if I had forgotten anything.

The heavy front door of the house hummed, its central locking mechanism disengaging as the sensors detected my fingerprint.

From the hallway, footsteps approached. Erza walked up, carrying her small pastel-colored elementary school backpack. She had her shoes on already, her dark hair neatly tucked under a small black school hat.

She was ready for school, too.

Maria stepped up behind us, holding two neatly wrapped bento boxes. She handed one to me with a bright smile, then crouched down to tuck the smaller one into Erza’s bag.

"Alright, you two," Maria said cheerfully, clapping her hands together.

"Have a wonderful day at school! Kageyama-kun, please don’t push yourself today. If your head starts hurting again, go straight to the nurse’s office, okay?"

I let out a light chuckle.

"I will. Thanks for breakfast, Maria," I said, taking the bento box and slipping it into my bag.

"Be safe, Erza-chan!" Maria added softly, patting my cousin’s shoulder.

Erza gave a faint, almost imperceptible nod. "Good morning, Maria," she murmured softly, her first words of the day before turning her quiet red gaze back up at me.

"Ready to go, Brother?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah," I replied, opening the front door.

The crisp morning air rushed into the entryway, cool and dry, carrying the distant hum of city traffic and the faint, electrical ozone smell of the city’s overhead transit rails. The sun was fully up now, painting the neighborhood in bright, cheerful yellow light.

It looked like a perfectly normal morning.

I stepped out onto the porch and turned around to wait for Erza as she stepped through the door, the door locked softly behind us.

I took a deep breath of the morning air, adjusting my bag strap. My heart was still pounding a faint, paranoid rhythm against my ribs, but I straightened my back, pulled my schoolboy mask tightly over my face, and prepared to face the world outside.

It was the only method nurtured into me from birth.

"..."

"....."

For a while now it was quiet between us, as both me and Erza walked on the walkway down the road. We weren’t heading in same way since our schools were located in the different area from here, it was almost about time we will split.

"Big brother.." Erza finally uttered a word while a truck roam past us making it barely audible.

"Hmm, yes?" I asked.

"What was it that made you all worked up yesterday?" She asked, he tone maintaining her calm and composed feel.

I see, she’s getting the same treatment at the Elementary school. Early start as always, I thought to myself, my eye shiftig to her posture. She remained me of my days there too, tho I didn’t cope while at first, the system of things and training was brute and was like suicidal but it grew into us.

She must still be on the ’Psychology reading stage’..

"Sorry I was like that yesterday, but trust me...I’m getting better now" I replied.

"....." she remained silent.

"Look, I’m sure-"

"Stop it" Erza stopped me before I could continue, she seemed a bit tired for some reason.

Yesterday I was a open book. Trying to redirect the question, is a complete waste of time, not when she had noticed those changes yesterday.

"Your breathing..." She added.

"....."

"Your movements, and behavior patterns were telling something different even when your expression while still calm"

"Fear" She muttered.

She knows about my condition yesterday, funny how of a downgrade it is for a Elemetary kid to know my behavior pattern, it different come as a surprise.

Cause as you guys may already know, I was trained that same way.

Not to brag but she’s my cousin after all.

"What where you so terrified of big brother? Please tell me." She came to an halt, wanting an explanation.

I could tell she was worried about me, I might have been a bother yesterday. I don’t want to put any mental stress on her in anyway.

"Is someone bullying you in school?" She added.

Bullying yeah, but wouldn’t use that word. I can’t explain it to her or she would think I’m going insane.

I didn’t know what to say cause right now, I couldn’t lie or diverted the questions. I rushed down to hug her. I know it must have come off as a surprise to her but I just did it on impulse.

"I’ll be fine, please....."

"Don’t worry about me..."

"I promise I’ll win, I’ll fight this alone.....so please trust your big brother this one time okay" those where my honest words, and the only cue ro her that I couldn’t share any info concerning my situation.

"Right..." she muttered in suprise. I released her from my hands and stood up.

"I won’t pry but promise me this.." She added walking forward.

"What?.." I asked.

"If things gets hard for you, you don’t have to tell me but you can come to me for advices or comfort..."

"I can’t let your ’imaginary Maria’ get all the praises for caring for you"

I smiled brightly, I’ll be honest this was the real me finally opened and free from those chains. Around those I trust and care about I find comfort in, but my upbringing had place a mark on my core not to fully trust or place my hopes on others.

I don’t know that real me anymore

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"The boundary between sanity and insanity is a thin line man can’t observe"

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