After eating breakfast, Shiki did his chores and schoolwork. Then, he picked up the bag leaning against his bed and took out an English book covered with blue spider lily patterns from inside, placing it on the table. Shiki was looking up and reading unfamiliar words in the book.
"Singularity... 「fact of being different from others」... 「point at which a function takes an infinite value」 「point of space where the density of matter or the curvature of space-time becomes infinite」...." Shiki recited in English in his mind, just as it was written in the book.
After reading the book, Shiki closed it and put it back in its place on the third shelf of the bookshelf, along with the other books.
Then, Shiki went into the kitchen and took out a packet of instant milk tea he had bought last week from the food cabinet. He then took out a teacup. After opening the tea packet, he poured the powder into the cup. Then, he added hot water, stirred it with a spoon, and mixed it. After that, Shiki held the cup and went into the living room, exiting through the door on the left side of the room where Shiki was standing onto the veranda. He sat down on the wooden bench there and took a sip of the tea. A gentle breeze was blowing.
It's good not having to go to school... If I just relax peacefully at home, I hope I won't encounter anything like yesterday again... Shiki thought, sipping his delicious tea.
As Shiki was drinking tea and enjoying the breeze, large clouds covered the sun, the sky turned gray, and the wind picked up slightly. The tree branches and leaves swayed and danced with the wind. Shiki liked this kind of weather; it calmed him down. At that moment, a feather with mixed gray and black stripes floated towards Shiki in the wind. Shiki quickly caught the feather using his index finger, middle finger, and thumb.
"Beautiful..." Shiki said, then blinked. Suddenly, as if it were instantaneous, the feather vanished from Shiki's hand right after he blinked.
"Huh? Where did it go?"
Then, Shiki put down the teacup and stood up. Suddenly, it was as if Shiki lost his vision, and everything he saw turned to darkness. Shiki was startled and moved his foot backward. Shiki was even more surprised because in the first incident, he couldn't control anything in his body except his thoughts.
Is it giving me a break this time...? What does it want from me? Shiki thought.
"Why are you doing this to me?! Ever since I saw you, I've only encountered strange things! I'm just an ordinary student; I don't have anything you want!!" Shiki shouted with a bit of fear but also daringly asked.
"🖾🖾🖾🖾🖾🖾🖾🖾🖾🖾" An incomprehensible sound came from the darkness towards Shiki.
"Huh!?"
"🖾🖾🖾 I 🖾🖾🖾🖾🖾" Another sound was heard again. Shiki tried to understand the sound, but it was as if something was blocking him.
"I?" The only thing Shiki understood was the sound of "I."
Then, Shiki saw the humanoid figure he had seen in the first incident once again in the darkness.
"........"
Shiki was so surprised that he couldn't say anything. This was because not only was it still just black and white like the first time, but her flowing hair had a slight fading of black, mixed with a bright sky blue and white. Then, the black quickly covered it again.
In the blink of an eye, she was suddenly in front of Shiki, gently holding both sides of Shiki's cheeks with her hands. Then, she gently pushed Shiki's chest with her hand.
Shiki slowly fell backward, and suddenly, both the darkness and the figure disappeared, and he was back in his original spot.
"Huh...!" Shiki was back on his veranda, but he was about to fall off. The speed of his slow fall vanished, and in the blink of an eye, Shiki was falling from the building.
"AAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!" Shiki screamed in terror, but there was no one to save him.
Shiki fell from the building at a tremendous speed, and when he reached the ground, Shiki's body was already in pieces. Blood spread and flowed profusely. Blood and body parts splattered onto the objects nearby.
Then, Shiki woke up again in his bed, terrified.
Shiki was extremely frightened, sweating profusely, his eyes wide, panting heavily, and clutching his left chest, near his heart, with his right hand.
At that moment, he heard a woman's voice calling his name from beside him. Shiki suddenly turned towards the voice in shock. The woman was Teacher Aoi, looking worried about Shiki. At that moment, Shiki's terrified gaze startled even Teacher Aoi.
"Shiki! What's wrong? Are you alright?!" Teacher Aoi asked with great concern.