*
Junichi found Izumi after searching room after room in the Reapers’ living quarters. The rooms had the bare minimum: a sturdy bed, a set of drawers and even a desk but the rooms themselves were mostly unused save a few, indicating that some stayed in the building full-time whereas other like Yamamoto Akira’s wife lived at home.
‘I’m a monster...’ Izumi murmured, staring out of the window. ‘A monster...’
‘You’re not a monster, Izumi.’
‘I AM A MONSTER!’ Izumi wheeled round. ‘Look at me, Junichi! LOOK AT ME! Look at my body! My body is red and sore! My hair keeps breaking and falling out! Why do you think I cut it so short!? And my breasts! My breasts keep growing! No matter what happens they continue to grow, filled with the blood of monsters! Of Demons!’
‘What are you talking about Izumi?’ Never had he seen such fear in Izumi’s eyes.
‘I have these dreams, Junichi. They haunt me... They make me not want to sleep at all. I see monsters – towering monsters made of bones and they hunt down girls like me, they hunt us down and they feast on us.’ She gazed into Junichi’s eyes. ‘They feast on the blood that’s ripe in our bodies.’
‘Hey...’ Junchi advanced then hugged Izumi gently. She placed her head on his chest, listening to his heart beat gently. ‘They’re only dreams, Izumi. No monsters are coming to get you.’
‘Your wrong, Junichi! My body is talking to me; telling me that these dreams aren’t dreams but memories – not mine but of people like me – people from a long, long time ago.’ She pushed herself away from Junichi, heading back to the window. Dreamily her hands rested on the window-ledge.
‘People like you?’ Junichi asked with a raised brow, moving forward.
‘People with blood in their breasts.’
Junichi froze.
‘Day by day my body my body is preparing itself to be the mother for the Demons.’
‘Enough Izumi! You’re being silly!’
Izumi straightened.
‘Stop being silly Izumi... You’re... You’re scaring me a little.
Izumi’s muscles became prominent under her skin again and then without warning she punched through the window. ‘I am not crazy!’ She held her hands to her face, staring at her reflection on the shards of broken glass protruding out of her flesh. Her entire eyes were glowing purple and her irises were nothing more than black rings. ‘I see them...’ Her breathing spontaneously became erratic. ‘I can see them now!’
Not knowing what to do, all Junichi did was stand on the spot, his body too shaken up to move. ‘W-What do you see?’
As if in a trance, Izumi slowly turned to face him, unfazed by the pain in her hand. ‘Nightmares... Demons... They will kill us all.’
DECEPTION