2:15 AM.
I check the clock on the wall, and that's when Meiko slowly began to wake up
Even though I'm not looking at her directly, through the emotional frequency leaking off her I can sense the shift.
Shizuka, who's been sitting beside her for a while now, notices right away. She'd stayed awake all these hours, tired as she was patiently watching over Meiko.
"Arata-chan. She's waking up."
"Mm."
Meiko's eyes blink twice, her pupils a little cloudy with moisture. She stares at the ceiling maybe realizing it's not the same one from her house, then turns her head slightly and fixes on a lamp, before noticing the blanket draped over her body.
"...mmgh..."
A small hand creeps out from under the blanket and reaches up toward her forehead, and as it does, her fingers brush against the stitches.
"Careful. Don't touch that, okay?"
Shizuka's soft voice makes Meiko turn her head.
And her eyes open wide.
"...Huh...?"
"Hi."
"W-who are you...?"
Meiko tries to sit up, but the pain in her forehead hits her, and she lets out a small whimper. Shizuka, catching that, places her hand on Meiko's shoulder and applies a little downward pressure to ease her back down.
"Easy, easy. No sudden movements, okay? You hit your head really hard, sweetie."
"Who are you...? W-where am I...?"
"I'm Marikawa Shizuka. You're in my home, so everything's fine, don't worry."
"..."
Meiko's eyelids flutter several times as she tries to make sense of things. At the same time her eyes move around the room, taking in the bed she's lying in, the lamp lighting the room, then the small table with the two empty cups, and finally they find me.
The moment her eyes land on me, her pupils dilate and her lips tremble before she says.
"Arata... san..."
"Hi, Meiko."
"..."
She stays completely silent for a second or two. Then her eyes fill with tears and she starts to shake, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Arata-san... Arata-san... Arata-san..."
She says my name three times, each one quieter than the last. She's checking that I'm real, that I won't disappear the moment she lets her guard down.
Hah...
I let out a sigh and rub the back of my head. Honestly, I'm not good at this emotional stuff. I wonder how many times I've seen almost the exact same thing now, with Saya, with Touka, and now Meiko.
Well. Nothing to do but figure it out as I go.
I get up from the cushion and walk to the bed where she's lying, kneeling down on the floor beside her.
"Hey."
"Ar... Arata-san..."
"I'm here."
I put my hand on her head, on the silver hair where there are no wounds, and stroke it.
She lets out a sob louder than the ones before, and turns toward me, toward the side of the bed where I'm kneeling. Both little hands grab the fabric of my shirt and hold on tight.
"It's okay. It's over now."
"N-no, no, no..."
"Meiko."
"W-what about... my mom...?"
The question that was always going to come.
Shizuka looks at me over Meiko's shoulder. Her eyes ask the question 'what do I say, what do I say,' without opening her mouth. I give her a small nod to let her know I've got this part.
As I think about how to say it, I try to arrange the words as carefully as I can. If I drop the raw truth on her, considering this girl's personality, she'd shatter. But I can't lie to her completely either, because sooner or later she'll figure it out and that would only make it worse. So I need to find something in between that would hold her up for now.
"...Your mom isn't here anymore, Meiko."
She goes very still.
"She's... not here?"
"No."
"But... I saw her..."
"The woman who lived with you wasn't your mom. Your real mom probably died a long time ago, and that thing took her body. That's what they do. Parasytes. They get inside a person, take what's in their head, absorb their memories, and keep on existing with that person's face."
But even knowing that the woman was a Parasyte and not her mother, that doesn't make it better. Because that Parasyte played the part of a real mother perfectly, and kept Meiko's love for her completely intact.
"..."
"It wasn't your mom who wanted to hurt you. It was something else that wore her name. Your real mom was already gone."
She squeezes her eyes shut as the tears keep falling.
"Is... is that true...?"
"Mm. It's true."
"My real mom... didn't hate me...?"
"She didn't hate you. Parasytes have only existed for about two years. And that Parasyte must have copied your mother's feelings and behavior toward you."
Her fingers on my shirt are shaking.
"I... I heard things... really horrible things, Arata-san. She said... she said I was her lamb... and she... and that she had been feeding me well so that... so..."
She hiccups on a sob and the rest of the sentence disappears in her throat.
I press my hand a little more firmly against her head.
"That wasn't her. That was the monster. Meiko, look at me."
She raises her face. Red eyes, runny nose and hair sticking to her cheek from the tears.
"That. Was. Not. Her. Do you believe me?"
"..."
She's nods twice. She doesn't look sure, but she nods anyway.
"Good. Good girl."
Shizuka, who's been quiet this whole time, comes around to the other side of the bed. She has a damp towel in her hands and wipes Meiko's cheeks, cleaning away the tears and snot.
"Meiko-chan, do you want a glass of water?"
"...yes, please."
"Wait just a little bit, okay?"
Shizuka gets up and trots off to the kitchen in small quick steps. While she's gone, Meiko keeps holding onto my shirt. She doesn't let go, and I don't move away.
"Arata-san..."
"Mm?"
"Why did you come?"
"Huh?"
"H-how... how did you know I was in trouble?"
If I tell her I had special eyes I assigned to people I care about, I'd have to explain a whole lot more on top of that, including that I'm not human.
She just found out the woman she lived with was a monster. It wouldn't surprise me if right now she'd reject anything that could be called a monster, whether that's a vampire, a ghoul, or a Parasyte. In short, she's not in any condition to hear all of that right now.
"I was passing by."
"Passing by?"
"I was walking through the area. It's on my way home anyway. I go out running at night sometimes because I train. And I heard something strange, so I looked in. And I saw you."
"..."
She seems a little suspicious, narrowing her eyes. And still...
"I'm glad... I'm so glad you were nearby, Arata-san..."
"I'm glad too."
Her small hands tightened around my shirt, and this time it's out of gratitude.
Shizuka comes back with the glass of water. She hands it to Meiko, and Meiko drinks in small sips. Then she stays sitting up, back against the headboard, staring down at the blanket over her legs in silence.
"Meiko-chan, are you hungry?"
"Not really..."
"But a little. How about soup? Your onee-chan makes soup really fast, and it's really good."
"...Okay."
"Okay, okay. Wait for me, Meiko-chan."
While Shizuka heads back to the kitchen again, I sit down on the floor with my back against the side of the bed, right beside Meiko's legs. I don't move far, since she still has her fingers wrapped around my arm.
"Arata-san..."
She says my name.
"Can I stay here?"
"Tonight?"
"Tonight... and..."
She closes her eyes, her body trembling.
"...and... I never want to go back to that house..."
"You don't have to go back, Meiko."
"Really?"
"I already talked to Shizuka. You can stay here as long as you need, she has the whole place to herself so it's no problem."
From the kitchen, Shizuka's voice rings out.
"You can stay as long as you want, Meiko-chan! I have everything here and you won't be missing a thing!"
Meiko blinks a couple of times in the direction of the kitchen, then turns her face toward me, looking a little embarrassed.
"I really can?"
"You heard her."
At my words, her eyes fixed on my face without blinking, like she's trying to print it in her memory.
Through the emotional frequency leaking off her, I feel waves of strong feeling wanting to reach out and hold on.
And the layer of affection surrounding her, up until today it had been yellow, the ordinary fondness of a shy girl toward the boy who had helped her once at school when some idiots were giving her a hard time.
But right now, in this moment, after everything tonight, that yellow layer shifts and turns pink, the kind that could be called ordinary love. A little while after that it moves to a deeper pink, and faint threads of red start appearing.
It'll reach red soon. Normally it doesn't happen this fast, but when a person goes through a night like this one and you're the one who pulled them out from the bottom, affection doesn't grow the way it usually does.
About that, there's not much for me to think over. Whether I wanted it or not, I was responsible for what I did, and what I did tonight was save her. That means it's on me to look after her now, and not drop her halfway.
"Arata-san. Thank you."
"Heh, you don't have to thank me every time."
"Thank you."
"...Mm."
Looks like she won't stop until I accept it. I let out a small laugh and ruffle her silver hair, careful not to hurt her.
At my touch, she closes her eyes and rests her head against my hand.
From the kitchen comes the sound of soup starting to bubble, and the humming voice of Shizuka talking to the water in the pot like the water might talk back.