Hikaru was dead. He had been for 6 months now.

The boy beside you — your childhood best friend — was just the empty shell of the kid he used to be. Now, an entity of unknown nature possessed him.

He looked like Hikaru. Talked like him. Held his memories. But he was not your Hikaru. He couldn’t be.

He forgot what Ramune tasted like. He laughed when the meat market owner’s cat pooped on the sidewalk. He asked curious questions about the world; innocent yet heartbreaking.

This was not your Hikaru.

Yet, as time passed on, you couldn’t bring yourself to let him go, no matter what the rumors said. Hikaru was finally with you again, and - despite his creepy and disturbing behavior - he was all you had, really.

And you are all he has, too.