"You were "right", Rei. The beach is "pretty" at night too.~"
Shoes in hand, Kanata and Rei walked together along the moonlit shore. The waves continuously crashed ashore, washing over their feet each time the water rolled in. The night sky was the clearest it had been in a very long time.
With a tilt of his head, Rei shot Kanata a confused look, his eyes wide with uncertainty. "When exactly did I say that?" Surely, Kanata was mistaken. He must be confusing me with someone else, Rei thought.
Kanata giggled at Rei's confused expression, reaching over to poke him in the forehead. "You wrote about "it" in the "letter" you sent me.~" He replied. "Don't you "remember"?"
Huh? His memory had been worse than usual as of late, but still… "I sent you a letter?" Rei asked, his confusion only deepening.
Kanata's closed-lip smile widened. The sight of his smile, along with the odd little glint in his eyes, flooded Rei's mind with images of trees snapped in half, unable to withstand the winds and rains that had pelted them—of monsoons and hurricanes and storms. "Mhm.~" Kanata finally answered, after a prolonged moment of silence, slowly bobbing his head in confirmation. He resembled a buoy rocking on the surface of the ocean.
Rei didn't feel concerned enough to inquire further into the letter he had supposedly sent. It doesn't really matter, anyway; he supposed.
Laughing in glee, Kanata lazily kicked up a pile of seaweed as they continued to walk the endless shoreline. It scattered everywhere, and he looked pleased.
With no destination in mind, they continued walking, or at least, they didn't seem to have a destination to reach. A fog hung over Rei's memory; he couldn't remember if there had been a point to their excursion, couldn't remember how they had gotten there in the first place. The stillness of the night persisted, and although it felt like hours had passed, the full moon hung motionless above their heads.
Suddenly, Rei realized he was no longer holding his shoes, not holding anything.
Where had his shoes gone?
Why were they at the beach again?
He blinked and looked around, realizing they were no longer walking along the shoreline. They were surrounded by nothing but ankle-high water, a shallow ocean that went on indefinitely in every direction. The oddity of the situation struck Rei immediately. When had they gotten so far from the shore? One minute they had been on the beach, but the next, they stood in an endless ocean. He couldn't recall leaving the warm sand behind and, for a moment, he wondered if they were lost. Kanata didn't seem worried at all, but he wouldn't be. Kanata loved water after all… Or was it another person who loved water? And wind, and rain, and childish destruction. The memory of a name existed at the edges of Rei's mind, but he couldn't quite grasp it. He could see the vague shapes and colors, the building blocks of an idea, but he struggled to make sense of it. Unbridled power and mischief, along with the semblance of a closed-lip smile; their name was—
Kanata abruptly stopped in his tracks, moving to sit in the ocean. He scooped up handfuls of wet sand, letting it fall through his fingers and back into the salty water. "I really like this "world"~" Kanata said before he motioned for Rei to sit with him, trying to pat the water as if it was solid ground. "Sit "down" with me. I want to "tell" you "something."
Rei hesitantly looked between Kanata and the water. He didn't particularly want to sit in the water, but still moved to sit down. Lowering himself, he tried not to cringe as his pants got soaked. He briefly wondered why he hadn't brought swim trunks to the beach, but also couldn't remember if he even owned any.
"So, what do you have to tell me?" Rei asked, tilting his head to the side in curiosity. His voice sounded odd, almost as if it wasn't his own. He didn't (couldn't) give it much thought.
Kanata had a mischievous look on his face, like he was about to share a secret he wasn't supposed to share. A vision of destroyed farmland and rice-fields flickered through Rei's mind.
Kanata leaned in close as he whispered, "I'm glad you killed her."
Confused by Kanata's words, Rei didn't know how to respond. What was he talking about?
Rei's mind started to drift, but he tried to keep it tethered in the current moment. He furrowed his brows in concentration. "What are you talking about? I could never kill another human being." He replied, speaking slowly, but still stumbling over each word. He felt so sick.
"H–mmmmmm, you're still in denial, huh?" Kanata said as he skimmed his hand over the top of the water.
Kanata paused, his gaze fixed on Rei as he waited for him to speak. He opened and closed his mouth, but no words would come out. Kanata laughed out, staring right through Rei as if he could see so much more than what was physically in front of him.
"Did "I" ever thank "you" for making "him" forget about what "I" did? Now "he's" mad at "you" instead of "me"! "You're" really the best, "Rei".~"
What was Kanata saying? Rei couldn't quite grasp the words, unable to focus. Closing his eyes, he could see a broken weaving loom, reduced to a pile of wood and string. What had happened to the owner of the broken loom? He felt like he might already know the answer, but he couldn't quite remember what it was.
Rei opened his eyes. The moon had finally set. In the distance, the sun was rising, touching the water on the horizon.
Kanata frowned as Rei intently watched the sunrise.
"Time is up," Kanata said as he half-heartedly splashed water at Rei. He seemed more subdued now. "I'm sorry "I" couldn't give "you" a longer break." A strong wind blew, kicking up waves. Kanata looked dejected. "It's time for "you" to go back."
Rei tried to respond, but could only manage an unintelligible string of words. Kanata shot him a look of pity, gently taking his hand in his own. "I'm sorry," he said again, his voice carrying a hint of sorrow.
What reason does he have to be sorry, Rei thought. He wondered what the other teen's name was, wondered if they knew each other.
He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again. His stomach sunk as he realized the ocean had risen. He looked back at the other teen, whose hand was still clasped tightly in his own, as the water continued to rise around them. A heavy silence filled the air between them.
The unfamiliar boy grabbed Rei's shoulders, looking into his eyes with a blank expression before shoving him completely beneath the waves. Somehow, the water had still become even deeper, and they sank.
Rei could barely comprehend what was happening. He tried to fight back as hard as he could, but it was useless. The other teenager was stronger, and they sank.
Time seemed to pass painfully slow underneath the surface of the water.
Rei became dizzy, unable to see anything.
He was terrified, couldn't tell which way was up.
He didn't want to die, and they only sank deeper.
Unable to hold his breath any longer, Rei gasped in desperation, salty water filling his lungs. His chest burned, his heart hammered in his chest. He couldn't think, couldn't free himself. A cold dread settled over him, soaking deeper than even the ocean, a fear almost unlike any he had known before.
So he gave up, squeezing his eyes shut. He stopped his struggle, sinking deeper into the endless depths of the ocean with Susanoo.
He sank.
And sank.
And sank.
Until his back finally hit the ocean floor, an unknown weight settling over him.
With a gasp, Rei opened his eyes.
As he took in his surroundings—the empty desks, the blank dry-erase board at the front of the classroom—he realized he'd fallen asleep during class and had been left behind by his classmates. He wondered where they could've run off to this time. The rhythmic drumming of rain on the school's rooftop told Rei they couldn't be too far.
He stood up, stretching, and wondered what he had dreamed about, or if he had even dreamed at all. When he tried to remember, all that came to mind was a familiar closed-lip smile.