MIRAI

Chapter 2. Blood Moon.

"Happy Blood Moon Festival!!!" The villagers were chanting these phrase as the parade of youngsters in festive costume passed them.

Their laughter's and lively conversations filled the air, along with the smell of cinnamon and wine.

"Big sis, you're so pretty!" A small girl shyly said as she received a giveaway package from Mei.

"You as well!" Mei answered, then waved goodbye to the little girl.

That was the last bag of giveaways their team has prepared.

Cier stretched her arms and said, "My, my, pretty girl~" then looked at Mei and smiled cheekily.

"You know what they say, kids don't lie..." Being praised by several villagers that day, Mei accepted the fate of being that pretty girl.

"The villagers loved you way too much~" Chione butted in.

"Yeah, yeah, even though we are all here distributing giveaways, their thank you greetings always lands on you, Mei..." Cier refuted, and Tafu laughed at Cier as she craved for some thank-you-cheers as well.

"Well, let me give you all my thanks, then..." Then Mei smiled at everyone, seemingly in a good mood.

Meanwhile, Kirk calmed down a bit as he walked with Lui back to the festival. His mind was trying to reprocess the details that Lui revealed to him earlier.

"Yo~ you two are close?" Cier blurted upon seeing them walking together.

"What do you mean? We are never not close!" Kirk grinned and put his arms around Lui. "Right, pal?"

Lui looked at Kirk and noticed his nervousness hiding underneath his smiling eyes and box-shaped grin. That's right. Kirk must stay close to him if he wanted to live; or at least listen to his words so that he could save him.

Just then, a brief burst of light flashed before them, followed by a shutter. Everyone looked at the direction from where it came from. It was Beru holding her phone camera up, saying, "Hana will enjoy this."

"It's more like you're the one enjoying it." Mei said with her eyes also sparkling with bliss.

"And so are you." Beru answered.

"Ugh~ these idiots." Lui murmured. "Why are all my friends fetishing over some two boys light skinship?" He sighed.

He said that but at the back of his mind, he, somehow, felt relieved. He had forgotten how he lived his life before the apocalypse as if he never live through it at all. It's only now that he experienced receiving his friends' teases once more. But why are his friends making some God-knows-what scenes on their heads? "Ugh~ these idiots." Lui murmured once again.

They were having a conversation when a group of villagers led by a 26-year old guy with a charismatic demeanor excused themselves to talk to Mei.

They couldn't hear the conversation but they could see him smiling brightly as he handed Mei a box with a red textured lace. He scratched the back of his head shyly before waving goodbye to her.

Curious about the box and what's inside it, the group surrounded Mei and peeked in. "I think our pretty girl here just found herself a suitor..." Nowa said teasing Mei.

"Hey, it's not like that!" Mei answered as she put the box on the wooden table and untied the red lace. She uncovered the lid, and there, they saw a pie with a red filling and a curvy pattern on the edge of the crust. "Wow!" They almost said in unison, except Lui and Kirk.

"It smells delicious!" Tafu said, as if wanting to have a taste already.

"They called this a blood moon food. Maybe some trademark or festive food they are sharing during blood moon festival." Mei explained.

Upon hearing the name of the food, Kirk started panicking as he also remembered what Lui said earlier.

Lui: There is a food that we must avoid eating. If you eat it, it can kill you or turn you.

Kirk: What food?

Lui: The blood moon food.

He suddenly had a flashback to the timeline before he regressed wherein he saw Mei eating a pie with some red stuffs on their way home, and even bragging to him that it came from the villagers. The flashback then quickly jumped to when Mei had turned and was trying to attack Kirk.

"No!" Kirk shouted in panic. Everybody looked at him, startled.

Lui noticed Kirk's trembling so he immediately barged in, saying "I think Kirk has something to give to Mei, too."

Upon hearing Lui's voice, Kirk returned to his senses and reached out to his pocket to get a candy as he walked towards Mei.

Due to that sudden flashback, he tried his best to avoid eye contact as he handed the candy to Mei. "I only have this for now, but I'll buy you anything... just promise me to not eat that blood moon food."

Everyone saw the whole scene, leaving their mouths agape.

"What the what?" Beru whispered to herself as if she had discovered some secrets.

"Ooh, I smell jealousy..." Chione said as she moved her body side to side.

"I-it's not what you think it is!" Kirk explained.

"The more you deny it, the more I think it is what it is..." Nowa answered, then they started teasing Kirk.

Lui sighed in relief. He expected as much that they will encounter the blood moon food sooner or later. He also knew that everything was a lot of thoughts to process for Kirk but he very well knew that the most important thing right now is to prevent Mei from eating the blood moon food. And he did a great job at that.

"Enough with this, I'm so tired right now. Let's just go home." Cier blurted, feeling so done with all these lovey dovey acts around her.

They decided to go back to Villa B after a tiresome but productive village activity. They have no time to meet their team from Villa A, but they decided to meet them tomorrow --- not knowing that tomorrow would mark the start of an apocalyptic world.

As they grabbed and packed their things to go home, Tafu noticed the blood moon food and figured to take it with her to the villa.

When they arrived, almost everyone was there already, making themselves at home. Some were eating dinner, some were watching television series, some were playing cards, some were drinking wines, and some were just sleeping.

Ren approached Lui and asked, "Did you bought your earrings at the festival?"

"What?" Lui asked back.

Ren was showing no sign of repeating her question so Lui answered. "I always have them on."

Ren grinned. "Come on. I'm a fashion people. I know it's not there yesterday."

"So?" Lui answered, annoyed. "What do you want?"

"I find it fashionable. So I'd like to buy one, too." Ren said.

"I didn't buy it in the festival, I made it." Lui answered, preparing to head upstairs.

"Cool! If you don't mind. I can buy it, name the price." Ren offered.

"I do mind. So no, thanks." Lui responded, then he walked away.

Before the curfew arrived, everyone was already in the villa, and not long after, one by one went straight to their rooms to take their rest. Lui did not have the chance to check each and everyone if they got back to the villa safely, his priority is to make Mei safe.

When everyone was already resting, Tafu pulled Cier to the dining area as she showed her the blood moon food from earlier.

"You brought it home?" Cier shouted in a whisper.

Tafu smiled cheekily.

"You little sly fox." She said as she poked Tafu's forehead.

"It smells good. Let's eat this!" Tafu said, with her doe eyes.

"It is not ours." Cier answered.

"Mei already left this, so it's not hers anymore." Tafu persuaded.

"Even if she left this already, it still doesn't make it ours!" Cier responded, trying to teach some human thoughts to her friend. "We can't eat it. Unless, Mei allows us, okay?"

"You know what? Even if you complain a lot, you're surprisingly honest and virtuous." Tafu mumbled.

"I am. And we all must, too" Cier paused for a minute, then continued. "We'll have our time to eat that, but we must ask for permission first. For now, let's go back up!"

Cier pulled Tafu back to their room, leaving the blood moon food at the top of the dining table.

* * * *

Tiana woke up, feeling a bit better than yesterday. She looked at the clock, 5:47 AM. She sat up on the side of her bed, and stretched some muscles as she looked around. She saw her roommates, Tafu and Cier, still sleeping soundly on the bed beside hers.

She heard her own stomach growling, and realized that she was not able to get some dinner yesterday. So she shook her wrinkled night gown, put her night robe on, fixed her hair down, then headed downstairs to check some food.

As she opened the door out to her room, she felt a heavy aura lurking around. Or was it that she's not yet fully well? She, then, said to herself that she would drink another medicine after eating.

It was nearly six in the morning but the sky is still dark, with no trace of the sun rising. Tiana could see it from the tiny gaps of the curtain and window as she walked downstairs.

On second thought, dark was not the correct term. It's more like a mix of ruddy brown and burgundy color. To her curiosity, she went near the window and peeked outside. A slipping fog clouded the backyard. The atmosphere was enshrouded by falu. She could hardly see anything, except for the normally white moon was now slowly turning red.

"A lunar eclipse, huh?" Tiana said nonchalantly.

Tiana is not oblivious when it comes to Science. She knew that the moon is turning red when a total lunar eclipse is happening. It might be a bit peculiar but it's a normal astronomical thing.

Tiana's stomach growled once again, so she stopped watching the moon, and headed to the kitchen. The only way to the kitchen is the dining area, and there, she paused as she saw a pie with a weird red color sitting on the dining table.

"This could do the job." Tiana took a slice and went back to the living area to watch the moon's performance.

"It's not all the time I can see a lunar eclipse. Might as well enjoy it to the fullest." She said to herself.

She took a bite as she opened the curtains and windows to watch the moon's transformation. She sat on the sofa, leaning her chin on her other hand, gazing at the creeping fog which felt like gazing back at her.

The moon took time to transform that before she knew it, she had already finished eating the slice of pie she took from the dining area. She grabbed a glass of water from the kitchen and immediately return to her spot as if not wanting to miss the opportunity to watch a total lunar eclipse.

The moon was reflected in Tiana's eyes as it was being engulfed with a reddish color showering the Earth with a falu and crimson red moonlight. The whole place suddenly looked bloody and the surroundings felt eerie. Tiana immediately closed the curtains and stepped away from the windows.

Suddenly, her chest tightened, suffocating her.

"I... should take... my meds." Tiana murmured.

She stooped down as she held on the sofa for support that she accidentally dropped the glass of water she's holding, making it shattered into pieces. She reached for her pockets to get her medicine, and her phone slipped down in the process, showing the time, 6:26AM, and a notification that she passed the audition.

* * * * *

Tafu was awakened by the noise outside.

"Ugh, if they are going to wake up early, they should keep it down." annoyed, Tafu mumbled.

She opened her eyes and noticed that their room's door was wide open. She looked around and saw Cier sleeping soundly and saw that Tiana's bed was empty. "It must be Tiana." She murmured.

She tilted her body to ignore it and go back to sleep when she noticed a weird atmosphere outside the un-curtained window. Amazed, she positioned herself to have a good look, then she saw the red blood moon.

"Wow!" She exclaimed at her first glance. "This is the first time I saw a red moon, I should take a picture!" She said to herself.

She run towards her phone on the other side of the room, preparing to take a picture of a once in a lifetime experience, when she realized that the noise outside was becoming a little bit concerning.

Their room was two strides away from the stairs that when Tafu stepped out to peek, she noticed Tiana on the living room, facing down, lying on the floor with some broken pieces of glass beside her.

She hurriedly went down to Tiana and reached out for her pulse. It's getting weak. She decided to flip her body over to check on her chest, but she was smaller than her that she struggled to do it.

After some time, she finally managed to make her lie down flatly. She put her ears near her chest but she couldn't hear a thing. "Am I doing it right?" Tafu murmured in panic. Tafu tried to check on her pulse again, but even the weak pulse she had earlier was already gone.

Feeling helpless, she quickly went back to their room to wake Cier up. Cier was still in daze when she saw Tafu agitated. "What now, b***h? Calm down first! I just woke up!"

"This is an emergency! I think Tiana is dead!" Tafu whispered in a shout.

Hearing the words, Cier jumped out the bed directly, blurting the words, "If this is some kind of a prank, I promise, I'll pull all your hair out."

They went out the room, and Cier stopped walking down the stairs when she saw Tiana's pale face and body lying on the floor. "She really dead?"

"I sure hope not." Tafu trembled, then overtook Cier's speed. "We need to bring her to the hospital." Tafu answered as she run downstairs. "Get someone who can lift her and someone who can drive..."

"Ugh, what a chore..." Cier blurted then she run back up and knocked on the doors on the same level as their room, asking for help.

"What happened?" Mei rushed as she first heard the news.

One by one, the doors opened. Some peeked out, some rushed down, but no one was actually helping. They were just there to satisfy their curiosity. Not until the roommates, Arth Marzan and Saishuu Lara, walked out their room and saw the situation.

Saishuu immediately run back to their room to grab their keys, and Arth came down running to carry Tiana on his back.

Saishuu's car has a Beatle design that made it not suitable for emergency, so Mei also run to the 3rd floor to ask help from Ain.

Tafu assisted Arth as he positioned Tiana in a way that she'll be comfortable, but when he lifted her up, she suddenly started struggling. She twisted and thwarted her body violently that Arth accidentally dropped her.

Everyone on the scene watched Tiana as she kept on contorting her body on the floor while she was slowly standing up. The broken shards of glass were scratching her skin, wounding her legs, wounding her arms, wounding her face --- and it seemed like she didn't care.

Cier sneaked closer to Tafu and asked. "I thought you said she's dead? Why is she breakdancing?"

"No, something's wrong with her." Tafu answered with her horrified voice.

The normally neat and proper Tiana was now standing in front of them with disheveled hair covering half of her face, untucked night robe showing her night gown, and body filled with wounds and bruises from her violent twisting and twirling.

Everyone fell silent after witnessing what happened. Although curious, no one dared to talk, no one dared to question, no one dared to move.

"Aaaaaaah!!" A shout from a distant outside broke the silence.

Everyone, with their shocked gaze, looked at each other, processing, wondering what's going on outside.

Tiana also slowly turned her head to where the voice was coming from as she slowly stepped forward to its direction. It was from the window that she opened not long ago.

The sudden wind gust flapped the curtain aggressively, bringing shouts and cries from the outside. Peeking out the window endearingly, Tiana started humming.

* * * *

Lui was in his room watching the chaos outside with an unknown expression, "It has started." he mumbled to himself.

Seeing the world go down for the second time, he couldn't decide whether or not he should be happy that he was given a second chance or should he be annoyed that he would go through all of it again.

His gaze fell on the people running away from the infected ones. There are several of them. Some were alone, some were in groups, some were with a child or elderlies; and they were shouting for help, they were running for their lives.

He decided to not watch their sufferings anymore and that he should regroup with his friends to see their situations.

He was about to move away from the window when he noticed that one person suddenly fainted when passing through their villa. His companions, also fainted one by one trying to help him, making them all vulnerable to the zombies around them.

"Why are they fainting suddenly? And in the middle of the run? And in front of our villa?" He mumbled to himself. Clearly, nothing like this happened in the past. What could have been changed?

He saw the zombies as they surrounded the fainted group, and he didn't even want to described what he saw afterwards.

Despite that, he still deemed emotionless. Having been in the apocalypse for a long time, he grew accustomed to it. But he felt something amiss. He moved closer to the window and looked around to check why they fainted in that specific location.

He halted his movements as he heard a very familiar hum. A hum that would make anyone fall into slumber if they hear it.

He quickly covered his ears as he realized what's going on. There was only one evolved zombie who hums like this.

He stared intently on their bedroom door. "Did something happened in this villa already?" He mumbled to himself. "Why is... Tiana... humming?"