To Take Along Unwillingly
drip, drip…… dripdrip………..
It sounds like drops of water oozing down. There are no footsteps, but that sound is getting closer to her.
But this time, Chika wasn’t trembling alone.
Strangely enough, John was also trembling.
She has never seen the playful John this still before.
“I…… have to be brave.”
I will protect John. The actions of Chika who thought so were quick.
She approaches the door and closes it quickly. Of course, she also locked it.
With this, the door won’t be opened easily.
The sound is slowly getting closer.
Chika resolved herself.
drip, drip…… dripdrip…………
The sound was finally on the other side of the door.
Just like that time with John, the sound stops there. Wait, is it covered in water?
The sound of water continuously dripping down could be heard from there.
“Chika-chan…… Open the door…… I’m here to see you……”
A hoarse, expressionless voice comes from the other side of the door.
Chika is startled, but she remembers that the voice sounds familiar.
“Obaa……-chan?” (TN: Grandma)
“Yes…… Please…… open this…… I’ve come to get you……”
Her grandmother passed away exactly one year ago today.
They even picked up her cremated remains. She can’t be here.
However.
(This voice is unmistakably Obaa-chan’s……)
It was her grandmother’s voice. Her grandmother also loved Chika greatly.
She even called Chika first when she was on the verge of death.
“……Obaa-chan.”
Chika mutters quietly. The moment that she did, the sense of grief wells up.
She misses her grandmother.
“Obaa-chan, right now……”
I’m going to open the door, she was about to unlock it.
However, the completely huddled John entered her eyes, and a bad feeling overcame her.
(If I open this now…… I feel like it’s going to be dangerous.)
Chika swallows the words that she was about to say and stays quiet.
“What’s wrong, Chika-chan…… Please hurry and open up……”
The voice is as emotionless as before.
Her grandmother used to speak with a voice that’s overflowing with affection.
“……No. Obaa-chan, I can’t open it……”
“…………Why?”
Faint anger can be heard mixed in with the previously emotionless voice.
Her grandmother will never speak in this way.
“No! You’re not her! You’re not my Obaa-chan! After all, she’s already dead!”
“Really………… What a hopeless child you are……”
The voice on the other side of the door suddenly fell silent.
“……Sorry, Obaa-chan, I’m sorry…………”
Chika expressed her apology as if she was squeezing it out.
“It’s okay, Chika-chan……”
Perhaps she heard Chika’s sincere apology, and the voice on the other side of the door became gentle.
Chika is relieved to hear that voice.
But Chika froze on her next words.
“I will just take you away in a different way.”
The voice quietly announces with an eerie voice that even includes laughter.
“O, Obaa-chan?”
At that voice, Chika flinches backwards and stays away from the door.
Right after that, the surface of the door rippled like the surface of a lake, and something appeared.
