Leaving the roof through a usually locked door, Aisha and Tokio made their way to the cafeteria since it was lunch break. On their way, they passed a group of girls who giggled to each other while catching glances at Tokio.
"What was that about?"
"Just ignore them. More importantly, I feel like eating something sweet today!"
"Okay… Just buy whatever, I guess…"
He looked through his pockets to see if he even had a wallet or loose money. Thankfully he did have a wallet, which as he pulled it out Aisha immediately snatched.
"Thank you~! You just wait here, I will get something for you too!"
"Okay…"
As Tokio was left alone in the hallway in front of the cafeteria, he wondered whether or not he was truly just having a dream before. When it came down to it, believing this ordinary school to be real or believing a magical world where you are the hero fighting in some great war, one sounded substantially less realistic. Yet the magic felt so real, and his memories were so detailed. Whereas in this world he only seemed to vaguely recognize everything. However, where he was right now felt real, and Aisha seemed real as well. This made the decision lean toward it actually having been just a dream.
As Tokio continued waiting in the somewhat loud yet empty hallway, Aisha returned, holding one plain bread and one whole strawberry pie. The red drops on the white cake being unevenly distributed across the surface, like they had been splattered on there with no clear artistic intend, which Tokio noted in an attempt to sound sophisticated.
"Hey, I'm back!"
"You bought us cake?"
"Uhm… No? For you I got something even better! You have to guess though!"
"…Is it the bread?"
"It's the— Oh, yeah it is the bread, how did you know?"
"I figured…"
"Well, thanks again for the meal! Here's your wallet, and bread!"
He took the wallet and bread, taking a bite out of the bread while it was still somewhat warm while checking the wallet's contents.
"It's empty…"
"It was empty from the start!"
Aisha said while taking a bite out of her pie with a plastic fork.
"Then how did you pay for the food?"
"By myself, duh."
"Oh… Thank you, I suppose…"
"You're welcome! And here, you can have a slice as well!"
"T-thanks again…"
She began preparing a slice just for him, revealing the one plate the cake was on to have been two stacked plates all along.
"What's that, someone feeling overwhelmed with gratitude~?"
"No. Just regular gratitude."
"Hmph. Maybe your grades would be better if you showed a bit more gratitude!"
"My grades are fine! I just score bad on exams because the teacher has it out for me, okay?"
"Sure they do… In every subject…?"
"I'm actually really smart! Special, even! If I got elected as student council president, I could really make a difference in this school! But because no one gets that, they are stuck with whoever else is currently acting president."
"Aww, well you have my vote. But isn't the current president a prodigy that even teaches in lower classes in their free time?"
"Pft, no… Or maybe, I don't know… Either way, I'd be an even better president!"
"Show 'em, Toki!"
"Toki?"
"Common! You can't have forgotten about that nickname! I used to only call you that when we were little!"
"Uh… Sorry, I guess I just had a lot going on…"
"It's fine. Now, eat up!"
As she handed him the plate, she watched him intensely as he ate the piece of pie. He realized how quiet it had become. Actually completely silent, and the only thing his senses noticed was Aisha's gaze upon him. While he tried his best to ignore it, the taste of the cake was what made it possible to endure.
"Wow, it's delicious."
"Thank you!"
"Didn't you buy this…? Why are you taking credit for the taste?"
"Because I picked it, dumbass! If you had gone to buy cake, you wouldn't have had money, first of all. And even if you did, you wouldn't have picked the right one!"
"You don't know that!"
"'Course I do! Anyway, I can't eat the rest of this, I'm full."
"You only ate like one slice and a bit of the second."
"Good job on describing the obvious, now you eat the rest of it."
"Why did you even buy the entire cake if you weren't that hungry."
"It felt like I could. And why does it matter? You're like my trash can!"
"That's… A really mean thing to say."
"So you won't eat it and have me die of cake overdose instead…?"
"Just safe it for later."
"No! You have to eat all of it now!"
"Okay, okay… I guess I will do that after class."
As Aisha was going to further insist on him doing it now, the bell rang and their chemistry lesson was about to start.
"Urgh! That's just because you had to keep talking and stall instead of eating the damn cake!"
"Relax, I'm going to eat it later, promise. Maybe you'll even get hungry again and want more?"
"No!"
"…Or not, you don't have to."
In chemistry, nothing particularly noteworthy happened. Tokio raised his hand an average amount of times to participate in class, sometimes he was right, other times he was wrong.
After that, the school day was already over. Today was a shorter day, and so he walked home with Aisha, since they were neighbors and had the same way back home.
"Well, today was fun! Even though you ditched half the day to be alone on the roof…"
"Yeah, sorry about that… I promise it won't happen again."
"It better not! See you tomorrow then, the entire day!"
"Yeah, see you tomorrow."
"I still feel as though I should have a clearer memory of this… Even the way back home… I should definitely get this checked out by a doctor on the weekend. Amnesia is no joke. Maybe I should make notes just in case I start forget things again…"
As he opened the door to his home, he found all lights turned off, an eerie silence much like in the hallways earlier filling the walls. His parents should be here, yet they were not. Looking around the house, he continued to only find himself more alone with every room he confirmed to be empty. Maybe his parents were just out late, or on a business trip? The rooms themselves felt familiar to him, at least. He decided to look deeper into that tomorrow, and go to sleep for today. Just as he was about to fall asleep, he felt a sting in his chest and was fully awake again. He attempted getting out of bed, but found himself unable to move a muscle. Not just that, he could not feel any part of his body at all. It was as if he was disconnected, or completely numbed, and unlike anything he ever felt before. Though he did not feel it, the end of a very long braid crept up his arm, like a snake wrapping around it towards his chest.
"I'm so glad you ate at least a bit of the pie, even though most of it is now in your cooling box thingy. Because not only was it made with love, but it also had some very special ingredients~! The mistress taught me so much, about this world, where you come from, and how to be myself even without being able to grant wishes… Y'know, causing mischief is simply in my nature!"
Aisha felt his heart racing against her hair which was already tightly tied around his torso, as she climbed out from beneath his bed. Though he could not respond in words, the heartbeat alone served as communication of his discomfort and stress between them.
"Do you like this world which I created just for you? I do have to disappoint you. None of it is real… But…! There's people within it do originate from your memory, although be it faint ones. This of course includes all the students, as well as your parents! I wonder where they are hiding, should we take a look~?"
The way Aisha leaned over Tokio's face made him extremely uncomfortable, even more so as she levitated over him to be face to face, with him physically unable to avoid eye contact.
"But perhaps I should address the elephant in the room… Whatever an elephant is. I found the saying in your memories! Why can't you move? I fantastic question we should totally explore on a deeper level as we, mostly you, enjoy some more cake!"
A plate with the leftover cake appeared levitating next to the bed, and a spoon transported a tiny piece of cake into his mouth, after Aisha opened and closed it again. She helped him chew as well, which felt really uncomfortable. Being robbed of the choice to chew on his own and being fed something he did not want to eat made him feel like he had no control over anything whatsoever, which was not only the case, but also exactly what Aisha was aiming for.
"Don't worry, you won't suffocate, some's just gonna get into your lungs. Anyway, I'm sure you remember how I brought the cake on a plate, but it were actually two plates, whereas I gave you the bottom one and put a slice of cake on it. What you unsurprisingly did not notice, was that the second plate was coated in a paralyzing toxin, which durable as you may be, works on you just as on any other human if digested. Though only the bottom of the cake was poisoned, because I made it seem like I paid for it and was doing you a favor by sharing, I was certain you wouldn't leave anything behind! Of course, getting you to let your guard down was essential, hence this entire world in the first place. Did the world make you feel safe? Was it nice to not be all alone~? I'm sure it was… Because with out me, you were all alone, were you not? Aw, what's with that look, don't you like that I know that kind of stuff? Too bad… I know so much more… You even told me some of it directly. Like how you have an awful high opinion about yourself, while being mediocre st best. That's right. You are not special. Not a single thing about you is noteworthy or drawing anyone's attention. You are just… You. And because you had no one and nothing, it did not even bother anyone when you had a tragic accident, eventually dying in the hospital alone. Did the bed feel similar to this one you are lying in right now~? I bet you were thrilled when you came into another world as a hero, no, as a god, right? Unfortunately, god is a very fought over title in this world… And you were simply outmatched by someone who is… Well not you."
Aisha could not hide her joy at Tokio's dread and misery, a wide smile spreading across her face.
"Ooh, I almost forgot the most important part! Remember how I told you there were special ingredients in the cake? And there were a couple of people that actually did have a special place in their heart for you! Well, guess what, now they are in your stomach and lungs! Almost the heart, I guess… Isn't it nice when feelings are reciprocated~?"
Tokio's eyes seemed confused, and he was still hit by all the things Aisha said before. Though she would have loved to see the monent where he made the connection himself, spilling it out had its own charms.
"That cake had a lot of red on it, had it not? But should I let you in on a little secret…~? That was not actually strawberry cake…~ Can yoh guess what it was, Tokio the hero? Can you, can you~? Aren't you practically starving for more, now that you figured it out!?"
Despite her promise for him not to suffocate, anything going down a paralyzed throat ends up in the lungs, and results in suffocation or drowning. So naturally, after being repeatedly force fed cake, Tokio suffocated to death with the belief that he was and has always been mediocre and alone.