Yuki didn't sleep.
She just lay there, eyes wide open, waiting for the sun to come up.
The ceiling was the same as always, but it felt different. The kind of different you didn't have a name for. It just was.
Everything was quiet now. Too quiet.
She blinked once, twice, then sat up. The bed felt cold. The floor was colder.
Miss Nishimura had called the police last night. The paramedics came with their stretcher. They didn't say much. Just nodded at Yuki and went to take her parents out of the house.
Her parents didn't speak. But they were breathing.
That was supposed to mean they were alive.
Yuki still wasn't sure if they truly were alive. At this point, she was still disoriented about all that had happened to her.
However, the paramedics did their job and took Yuki's parents to the hospital.
Now Yuki was alone.
The house smelled awful.
It was still there. That same thick, sour smell she'd been pretending wasn't real. It clung to the walls, the floor, the back of her throat. It made her want to gag. But she didn't.
The trash bags near the hallway were ripped open. One had leaked. Something dark had dripped out and dried up by now.
She walked past it. No reaction. Nothing left to react with.
She stood outside her parents' bedroom for about 30 seconds.
Her hand was on the doorknob, but she didn't move.
"I shouldn't go in." Yuki's voice was barely a whisper.
She ended up going in anyways.
The bed was bare now. Just a plain mattress with a dip in the middle where someone used to lie. The windows were closed, but the light came in anyway.
Two dolls were sitting on the nightstand. One in a black suit and one in a blue dress.
Her fingers hovered before she picked them up.
"What do I do with you two?" Yuki whispered.
She didn't know who she was talking to.
The kitchen hadn't changed.
Two teacups were still on the table from last night.
The chair her father always sat in was pulled out slightly. She stared at it for a while, then pushed it back slowly.
A doll was sitting in that chair. Its legs were too short to reach the floor.
Another one was near the sink, next to a dead plant. The leaves were dry and curled up.
She picked both of the dolls up.
Then went to the living room.
Yuki walked straight to the window.
Two dolls were there, sitting together near the window. They looked like they were watching the outside world. Like they were waiting for someone.
She remembered one of them falling last night.
She didn't want to think about why it had moved on its own.
Her hand shook as she reached out.
Yuki gathered the last two dolls and walked back to the couch.
She placed all six dolls in a row. Neatly. Carefully.
Then she sat on the floor in front of them, legs crossed.
She didn't say anything.
She just looked at them.
She wasn't sure what she was waiting for.
Maybe nothing. Maybe everything.
She sat there for a long time.
Legs crossed, back hunched a little, arms resting in her lap. Eyes stuck on the dolls.
They didn't move.
But something felt wrong.
Yuki stared at the dolls.
And then—one of them moved.
Just a little. A soft tilt of the head, like it had nodded at her.
She froze.
Did the doll just move? Yuki thought.
Her heart jumped.
She rubbed her eyes with both hands and looked again.
Same spot. Same pose. Like it had never moved at all.
Am I imagining it? she thought.
She blinked. Once. Twice.
Still.
Too still.
Too quiet.
The kind of quiet that pressed in from all sides.
She didn't move. Didn't breathe. Just stared at the dolls.
It was the one in the blue dress.
Her mom.
Her chest felt heavy, like something was sitting on it. A quiet kind of weight that wouldn't go away.
Her stomach felt tight.
She reached out to grab the doll she thought moved, not even knowing why—maybe just to see if she was hallucinating again.
However, before she could grab it, she heard her phone buzz.
She flinched.
Buzz.
Buzz.
Buzz.
She got up and picked up the phone.
It was Miss Nishimura.
Yuki stared at the screen for a second, thumb hovering over the green button.
Then she pressed it and put the phone to her ear.
"…Hello?"
Her voice didn't sound like it belonged to her.
"Oh, thank God," Miss Nishimura breathed on the other end. "I was really worried."
Yuki didn't know what to say, so she didn't say anything.
"I just wanted to check in. I know last night was… I mean, it was a lot," Miss Nishimura said.
Yuki stayed quiet.
"I called someone for you. A therapist. Someone I saw when I was younger," Miss Nishimura said.
Yuki blinked slow.
A therapist. Of course. That makes sense. If anything could help me, it's therapy, right? Yuki thought, with a depressed look on her face.
Still, her mouth didn't work. She couldn't even think of anything to say back.
"He really did help. However, he's not... normal."
Yuki raised an eyebrow.
"Not normal how…?"
There was a little pause on the other end, like Miss Nishimura was choosing her words.
"He opens his therapy clinic at five in the morning," she said. "And closes at seven-thirty. That's it. No afternoons. No weekends. Nothing."
"…That's weird," Yuki muttered.
"Yeah. And he wears all black, every single time I've seen him. Looks like he belongs in a horror movie."
Yuki looked back at the dolls. They still hadn't moved.
"He has this receptionist too. Doesn't talk at all. I don't know if she can't, or just doesn't want to."
Yuki almost smiled, but it didn't quite reach her mouth.
Miss Nishimura's voice got a little softer.
"But if you can get past all that… he helped me through something when I was a mess. He told me things no one else did. Saw through me like glass. It was scary at first, but… it worked."
Yuki leaned against the wall and looked at the clock.
It was 4:50 a.m.
Uhm… I guess I can see him and still make it to school on time, she thought.
However, she didn't feel like talking or moving.
But something about the way Miss Nishimura said it—
like she really meant it—
like she really believed it could help—
got stuck in Yuki's head.
"You don't have to go if you're not ready… but I'll send you his contact for whenever you are. He's the kind of person who knows how to listen," Miss Nishimura said.
"…What's his name?" Yuki asked.
"Sasaki," Miss Nishimura said. "Sasaki Shin."