1 Living Yet Dead

8:37 pm June 21st, 2018

Heiwas' Beach was well known across Japan as the best beach the country had to offer. Despite that on this late day, it was very much empty. On that beach, there stood a single young girl, who still wore, a Japanese senior high school girls' uniform. She had long brown hair, and her face was beautiful and delicate, however, her black eyes, seemed devoid of life, while they still leaked tears from hours of crying.

As she walked across the sandy beach, she stared into the now-setting sun, reminiscing about her younger days when she would run across this beach with her sister. As she cried she muttered under her breath,

"If only we had listened to them on that day, then this wouldn't have happened. Maybe God will forgive me if I walk in there with you?"

Then without any fear in her eyes, she slowly walked towards sea waiting for it to devour her.

Before she could get any further in though, she felt her left leg get caught on something, causing her to trip and fall onto the sand, dirtying her face. As she quickly wiped herself, she tried to observe what she fell on.

She was slightly shocked, and a little stunned before quickly composing herself. She then said in confusion,

"A doll?"

From the sand that she tripped on poked out, a single foot. It was awfully life-like for a doll, and awfully large too. She then blushed heavily while thinking,

"No way that's a person. Did someone dump a life-sized sex doll on the beach??"

Out of curiosity, she immediately felt the strength of the Earth's grip on the doll as she tried to pull on it. Just before she gave up, she decided to continue, seeing that she was going to die afterwards anyway.

As she spent the next 5 minutes or so digging she was eventually able to uncover its left leg, and then its right. As she grabbed onto both, she then pulled with all her might revealing its area below the waist only to discover a sausage shaped object dangling between its legs. She then screamed loudly in embarrassment, while quickly burying it back up. Thankfully no one heard her but it seemed like her initial thoughts were correct.

At least she thought so until she realised how life-like its legs were. Then suddenly she felt a strange chill crawl down her back. In that moment she thought, "It wouldn't hurt to take a look right?"

She continued to dig and dig until eventually she dug up its torso, both limbs and finally its face. The doll had beautiful white hair and a face that seemed harder but just a little older than her own. Its body was obviously that of a man, which was blatantly obvious.

As she got more and more curious about the doll, she decided to poke its head with a random stick she found on the beach shore. As she poked the doll's face, it suddenly began to move and shiver, scaring the girl.

She then thought, "No way it's real right?? It was buried under there for how long?? If that was a person then they would have suffocated to death by now. Maybe it's electrical and I just happened to turn it on by accident??"

Thinking this, she put her right ear against the doll's chest. That was when she heard the familiar sound of a heart beating. As she heard this she immediately pulled out her phone which had a small rabbit keychain attached to it and dialled 119.1

As she did so just before she could press the call button, the life-like doll, suddenly rose out of the sand, while still sitting down with its legs stretched onto the sand. He then yawned while covering his mouth.

As the girl and boy made eye contact the two then shouted both in fear of the other. The girl said, "YOU'RE ALIVE???"

The naked boy responded, "WHY ARE WE SHOUTING??"

As she slowly calmed she quickly gave the boy a random towel that she had in her possession to cover himself with. The boy then asked, "What's your name?"

The girl quickly responded, "My name is Eiko Tanaka. And you?"

The boy responded, "My name is...?"

He struggled to think up a response. As he continued to make out words he then asked, "What is my name??"

The now confused Eiko then asked him, "Do you remember where you live? Or anyone that you know in general? Did you get robbed???"

As she barraged him with the waves of questions, he suddenly felt a strong sense of exhaustion. The boy then passed out onto the floor, without any warning.

Panicking, Eiko finished making that call for an ambulance that she was about to make.

3:00 am June 22nd, 2018

The boy finally woke up again in the hospital. This time wearing a plain white shirt and pants, as he was hooked up to IV fluids that travelled into his arms. As he sat on the hospital bed he saw on his left, a window which revealed the outside world. It was a typical city, filled with busy cars and people who rushed to their own destinations, while he remained idle in bed.

On his right was an empty cabinet that had a note, as well as packaging, that contained mysterious green spheres inside.

The note read:

"The Doctors said that you were incredibly weak and that you wouldn't wake up for a couple of hours. I left some treats behind that you can eat as a get-well-soon present. I'll come to visit you tomorrow, and if you still don't remember anything, we can look for your missing memories together? Anyway see ya soon -Eiko."

As he finished reading he took a look at the treats that she had left behind. The packaging read: "Mochi."

Seeing this he quickly disassembled the packaging, to access the goodness that remained inside. As he picked up the mochi, he quickly took a bite out of one of the green dough. As he did so a brown but sweet liquid spilled into his mouth, staining his white shirt a little. As munched down on it he said,

"It's sticky and really sweet, but it tastes so good..."

As he continued to eat he saw a nearby remote. It was a strange feeling, he didn't know the word 'remote' but he instinctually knew how to use it. It was the same feeling that he got as he easily opened the packaging. He didn't know how to open but he did it instinctually. Even with a lack of memories, he knew how to read, and how to speak. It was an odd feeling but one that he would quickly grow accustomed to.

As he pressed the on button, the TV that hung in the top right corner of the room began to play. He then thought, "I wonder if I could find anybody who knows me on there?"

As it turned on it immediately played the default channel, the News. The anchormen said the following:

"Today marks the 500th consecutive case of strange disappearances occurring in this city. The only remnants of the victim once again were a pair of empty clothes that were left behind at the scene. This suggests that there were two people who went missing that day, however, evidence shows that the target was after the woman once again. We please ask that any women aged under 25 to stay at home or with relatives after 8 pm or when it turns into dusk. Today also marks the 30th murder of the berserker killer. This time police have been able to get a recording of the murderer during the crime, and so they ask if you see a picture of this man, quickly call the police and run as far as you can."

An image of a tall man with wrinkles then appeared on the screen. He had long dreadlocks and a huge scar which travelled down his left eye. He also wore a large dirty trench coat while holding a bloodstained butcher knife in one hand.

As he continued to stare into the TV he eventually fell for its hypnotic effects. He would watch it for the next 30 minutes until a doctor came into the room to check up on him.

He looked like a man in his early thirties, he had pitch-black hair and baggy eyes that suffered from long hours awake. He wore the typical, white lab coat but wore it over an untucked buttoned black shirt and white tie. Despite his age, he was incredibly lean.

He asked the boy, "The girl who found you said that you're amnestic. Is that true??"

The boy simply nodded. The Doctor then smacked his hand against his head while sighing. "This is gonna be a pain in the ass."

The two then conversed for a long while. He asked many questions while showing him different pictures of random people. The boy, of course, had no answers for any of them but was able to prove that he still retained his capabilities to learn and identify objects and words. As they continued the Doctor eventually revealed his name to be, Kyobi.

Kyobi eventually asked, "Do you believe in gravity?"

The boy quickly responded, "Of course I do, what kind of a question is that?"

"Not that kind of Gravity, but something called fate.", Kyobi asked.

Still confused the boy asked Kyobi to give some more detail on what he was trying to say.

Kyobi then said, "Fate is the idea that something is forever destined to happen, you could describe it as a kind of gravity that attracts events together, however, it is merely an excuse that some people use to explain supernatural things that happen to them. For example, let's say that I would break my leg by tripping down the stairs, but somehow I knew that would happen. So in that situation what would you do?"

The boy responded, "I would just not take those stairs."

Kyobi quickly said, "But even if you didn't take those stairs, but instead stayed at home you would inevitably break your leg due to some random event occurring. That's the kind of power gravity is. It is the constant in this universe that keeps everything together. That girl who found you, Eiko. That was the first time that she had walked on that beach since the day her sister died 2 years ago. Normally she refuses to go near that place but coincidentally on the day she goes there, she finds an amnestic boy buried in the sand. Tell me is that just a coincidence?"

"Are you trying to say that her finding me was a predetermined choice?", The boy asked.

Doctor Kyobi responded, "Whose to say really, im just a man that doesn't believe in coincidences. Everyone has a role to play in this world, even if it may be minor and insignificant in each other's lives. But you, who has no memories of your prior life, will be greatly impacted by things that you encounter from now on. Maybe you being found by that girl wasn't just a coincidence?"

As the boy pondered this thought, Doctor Kyobi then said, "I have other stuff to tend to now. If you need something then press that button next to you."

As he said this, the Doctor exited the room. Still thinking about the power of Gravity the boy eventually drifted back to sleep.