MIRAI

Chapter1. Arrival (Part2)

"Woooo~" Cier shouted as they arrived the village entrance, then she faced everyone. "Be sure to come back here quarter before midnight, okay? As per Beruchan, we also have to abide their rules that there should be no souls wandering after midnight, including us."

"Got it, got it!" Tsuki answered as she entered the village.

Cier shrugged and continued, "You may also directly go home if you had enough fun." She watched everyone as they entered the village, then she looked at her watch. "6:30pm."

The festival would start at 7pm, and so they arrived to find the villagers busy setting up their stalls and booths. They were welcomed by the smell of cinnamon from some desserts the villagers were baking. Ladies with their child are helping with the decorations and young lads were setting up the fireworks. The whole atmosphere looked so fun and lively, except for a guy who's obviously distressed. Lui looked at him as Mei approached him.

"Are you not feeling well?" Mei said as she stared at Kirk's pale face, leaving Ain for a while.

Kirk looked at Mei, seemingly afraid. "I... I need to go somewhere" He answered and immediately walked away in big hurry strides.

After watching them from afar, Lui also left --- unknown if he would follow Kirk to observe or if he would just scout the area or go sightseeing.

"Is Kirk really avoiding me?" Mei uttered to herself.

"What's the matter?" Ain arrived, looking at Mei's troubled face.

"I must be overthinking it, but do you think Kirk is..." Mei paused. "Is he mad at me?"

"Probably not. Why do you think he is?" Ain asked back.

"Remember that time when we were at the sleeping quarters?" She walked a few steps and Ain followed her. "I remember he was having a nightmare, and so I tried waking him up." She continued as she faced Ain.

"Uh... what about that?" Ain answered, looking for a connection between the words Mei was saying.

"After that, he tends to avoid me or go as far away from me as possible." Mei paused. "Did I do something wrong?"

"You know what, it must be just a misunderstanding..." Ain shrugged. "Don't exhaust too much energy on things you're not sure of."

Meanwhile, Chione, Cier, Tafu, Nowa and Beru were carrying the boxes of giveaways while planning to give them to people once the festival officially started. Cier stretched her hands and complaint, "Why are we the only one helping here when we plan this altogether?"

"Guess, they're busy having fun around already..." Tafu agreed.

"You can go have fun as well, I can manage this!" Chione exclaimed.

"Forget it! We're here to help! Don't drive us away!" Cier responded. "Also, Chione, don't be too guilty for triggering the Ouija Board game." She teased as she patted Chione's shoulder.

"I know, I'm sorry!" Chione, being guilt tripped, answered.

"It's not anyone's fault, it's just a misunderstanding." Beru butted in. "Right!" Tafu agreed.

"Where did you even get that board, Chione?" Nowa asked.

"Kirk gave it to me when I was about to call Cier and Tafu" Chione faced Nowa and explained. "He said he found it in his room, and guessed that maybe we want to play, so he handed me the board."

"Then it's Kirk's fault!" Cier concluded with her point finger touching the side of her forehead.

"Did you even listen to what we said?" Tafu blurted.

Chione continued speaking, "I remember, he was also holding a black knife that time. But he immediately hid it though."

"You psycho thought that the knife was with the Ouija Board?!" Cier exclaimed.

They were talking and teasing when Ain and Mei walked in to help.

The festival eventually started and was fronted by the marching native band. The whistle from their bamboo panpipe, accompanied by the sounds of two short wooden stick, and a flat gong produced a melody as it filled the air with energetic and harmonious atmosphere.

The lanterns were all lit up, and the nightlights were glowing dramatically as the night went deeper. Some village elderlies were storytelling about the the tragic story of the Mademoiselle, and some were explaining how the mini festival is for thanking the total lunar eclipse or the blood moon for the abundance of their harvests.

As everyone was having fun on the festival, there was someone running on the shadows along the alley. His silver earrings that he thought were lost were glittering in the dark.

When he finally reached the corner where some light can hit him, someone grabbed him by his collar and pinned him on the wall.

"H-How do you know about this place?" He asked as he pointed his black knife to Lui.

It was the black knife he was looking for at the wooden cupboard earlier.

"Kirk?" Lui calmly responded as he breathe heavily from the run he made. His face was having an expression that he was glad he found Kirk.

"How do you know places on this village that even I don't know?" Kirk was so terrified he started shaking.

"You're following me?" Lui furrowed his forehead.

"Yes... and no." Kirk startled. "I followed you to some creepy old well. I saw you entered a forest, but I did not follow you there. I saw you entered this alley, but I did not follow you along." Kirk let go of Lui.

"s**t man, I'm so scared that I just have to wait for you to come back."

Lui sighed, "Kirk, calm down..."

"I answered you. Now, answer me!" Kirk blurted. "You also came from the future, right?"

Kirk Acero. He was one of the first people who turned in his dream.

"Did you remember Mei biting me to death when I tried to help her when she was hysterically rolling on the floor?" Kirk said while sweating a lot. "Everything happened so fast that my mind couldn't keep up that Mei just turned to a zombie and bit me..." He said then brushed his face with his two palms.

"Then the last thing I know, I was back in the sleeping quarters." He laughed crazily. "I shrugged at first, thinking it was just a nightmare. But everything that happened next felt like déjà vu, and everything was aligning to that messed up dream."

Kirk looked at Lui and said. "It's way too realistic for a dream and way too accurate for a coincidence."

Lui affirmed that it was not a dream after all. He regressed. All this time, he thought Mei was a normal zombie, but she was indeed an evolved one. A zombie that could bring someone she bit back to the past.

Kirk sighed. "I tried changing some things. I even forced myself not to join this activity, but for some incidents, here I am!"

He was fidgeting nonstop.

"I'm screwed, I might die soon!" Kirk looked at Lui who was not reacting to everything he said, "Guess, you're not from the future, then. Maybe you're just a natural adventurer. Maybe the dream you had earlier was just ordinary. And here I thought, someone from the future, aside from me, is awaken. Now maybe, you think I'm crazy..."

Kirk sounded so helpless that Lui cut his words.

"Kirk, I am the same as you..." Lui answered. "I know you are scared that you might turn again this time, but there is a way. We can save everyone. We can save you!"

"How?" Kirk responded with his undisguised frustration. "Tell me what you know."