Upon returning to school on Monday Akechi approaches Miss Teruhashi at her desk.
"I'm terribly sorry to bother you Miss Teruhashi but I have something to ask you about."
"Good morning Akechi," Teruhashi beams at him. "What is it you want to ask?"
Touma's hands trace complex patterns through the air as he explains, "You see, this weekend I visited your neighbors to ask them a few questions and I discovered that none of them saw your brother leaving your house on the day of his disappearance which I found somewhat peculiar."
Miss Teruhashi thoughtfully places a finger on her chin and responds, "He did leave pretty early, I suppose. It's probably just that none of them were up in time to see him go."
"I also find it notable that the most recent time that any of them saw him, in fact, was when he was leaving with you the day before. Those who saw you return that day say that you came back alone. Would you perhaps be able to explain why that is?"
Miss Teruhashi's pleasant smile dies on her face, but she swiftly pulls off a rather convincing taxidermy job to make it look alive again. "We went on a shrine visit to pray for his safe travels and after that he went to visit some friends of his. It was pretty late when he got back."
"Would it be possible for you to provide the names of these friends?" Touma asks,"It could be vitally helpful for finding him."
"I'm afraid not," Teruhashi says smiling apologetically, "They're very particular about their privacy."
Touma groans faintly in frustration and plants his hands on Teruhashi's desk. "Miss Teruhashi I don't want to think badly of you but I have to ask, if you really want to find your brother then why are you lying to me?"
"How can you say something so awful?" Teruhashi asks, as large, sparkling tears start to roll picturesquely down her cheeks, "My brother's missing and I'm worried sick about him. The last thing I need is for you barge in and badger me with questions then accuse me of lying when you don't like my answers."
"I'm very sorry." Touma says, backing away from Teruhashi's desk, waving his hands,"I assure you that I did not mean to offend you. In fact I only questioned you on this matter because-"
The ringing of the bell cuts off Touma's desperate attempt at explaining his motivations.
"Class will start soon. You should probably head to your seat." Teruhashi says, her voice so distant and icy as to be practically antartic.
Touma walks to his seat, keenly aware of the withering glares half the students in the room are giving him for his crime of making Miss Teruhashi cry.
*
Kokomi stands in front of a shooting gallery, cork gun in hand. She eyes the prizes on display and picks a cute stuffed bunny in a frilly dress to aim for.
However, before she can shoot, a voice calls out from behind her,"Kokomi!"
She whips around to see her brother rushing towards her and without thinking her finger tightens around the trigger.
Makoto's head bursts like an overripe watermelon.
No, this can't be happening. It's just a cork gun. It shouldn't be able to do that.
Kokomi runs towards her brother's body as it falls backwards.
The man in the kitsune mask glides in from between the festival stalls.
No wait, the man in the kitsune mask was taller wasn't he?
Akechi takes the mask from his face, "There's no need to be so upset, this scenario is nothing more than a mere phantasmagoria arising from my unconscious mind attempting to work through my frustrations with the real Miss Teruhashi's refusal to provide truthful answers to my inquiries regarding her brother's disappearance. Before long I will wake up, and you and your worries will vanish with the morning mist."
This is a dream? That would make a lot of sense, actually.
It would explain why she was trying to win her own prize at a shooting gallery rather than asking a passerby to win it for her or seeing if stall owner would be willing to just give it to her free of charge.
Still, there's something off about Akechi's explanation.
"This is my dream. So you would be the one to disappear, wouldn't you?" Kokomi says.
"I am quite certain that this is my dream." Akechi says, "My apologies if the revelation of the transitory nature of your oneiric existence upsets you. I thought it would be comforting for you to know that your current predicament is not your fault but rather mine for being unable to put my suspicions regarding the real you to rest."
It would be nice if Akechi really didn't want to suspect her but she can't in all honesty say that he's wrong to.
"And what if I really did do something like this?"
"While I would greatly prefer it to prove untrue that Miss Teruhashi has anything to do with whatever unfortunate fate befell her own flesh and blood, my response to the revelation that she had could vary greatly depending on why she did whatever it was she did." Akechi says and reaches down to help Kokomi, "I would like to think that Miss Teruhashi isn't the sort of person who would do something so cold without good reason."
Kokomi reaches up to take Akechi's hand and lets him help her to her feet. If this really is a dream then maybe she can get this off her chest. As she readies herself to walk away with him she takes a deep breath and says, "The truth is my brother-"
Before she can finish she is cut of by a high-pitched squeal from Akechi and turns to see her brother's body grasping at his ankles.
"Don't go... Kokomi," Makoto rasps. The way that his mouth moves on his caved-in head is quite uncanny.
At this point Kokomi is throughly fed up. What does she have to do for Makoto to just leave her alone already?
She stomps on Makoto's wrist to make him let go of Akechi's ankle. It's the last thing she remembers before waking up.
*
Makoto wakes up and wincing at the fading dream-pain that lingers in his head and wrist as he drags himself up from the pillow-and-blanket-lined bathtub where he's been sleeping in since his captor decided that he'd earned the privilege of having his arms and legs unbound.
He paces the pitiful length of his tiny prison a few times, lost in thought.
He's taken to sleeping a lot lately so he can see Kokomi. If everyone in this town dreams the same dream he'd thought that maybe he could find Kokomi through it and send messages to her.
As far as Makoto can tell this seems to have worked great. However there is one rather important catch.
Kokomi never seems happy to see him. She usually responds to the sight of him with fear or, worse, revulsion.
Why could this be? Makoto would freely admit that he didn't look too good the first few times he went to see her, when he was still trying to forget what it felt like to dissolve alive but even now when he's mostly regained the ability to maintain a coherent physical form in his dreams, Kokomi's reactions to him remain the same.
Maybe seeing him just reminds her of how terrified she is of that she's lost him forever and she's just revolted by the thought of what's been done to him. Yeah, that's got to be it.
The other possibility is too awful to consider, or even to name.
Satisfied by this conclusion Makoto climbs back into the pillow-and-blanket-lined bathtub and goes back to sleep.
Like usual he dreams that he is at a festival. Unlike usual this time there's a child with a shock of pink hair and small, circular scars on his hands, feet and neck standing in front of him.
With a start, Makoto recognizes him as the dead kid that his captor showed him.
"I'm not harassing Kokomi." Makoto says, "A snot-nosed brat like you simply isn't capable of comprehending a mature relationship like ours."
"Why are you asking me, then?" Makoto asks.
"Buzz off. I'm going to go see Kokomi." Makoto says and tries to push past the dead kid only to find himself frozen in place.
"And if I don't?" Makoto asks, reminding himself that he has no reason to be afraid of the dead child in front of him, no matter what ominous nonsense his captor had spewed about him.
"Those are both terrible options." Makoto says. He has no intention of staying away from Kokomi and even less of forgetting her. "No way am I going to agree to either of those."
