Note: I have nothing to do with Here is Greenwood and its characters except to be a fan who enjoys the OVAs a lot. This story is my extrapolation of the storylines as seen in the OVAs. I apologize if this story doesn't quite fit in with the manga.
Kazuya sighed happily as they walked to the train station.
Winter vacation had finally arrived, and Kazuya couldn't leave Greenwood soon enough. It wasn't that he disliked the building itself, simply that he was tired of trekking up and down stairs several times a day. At least at home he'd have the choice of remaining more or less stationary either up in his room or downstairs.
Still, he and Mitsuru were the last to leave. As usual. This time, though it took him out of the way, the older boy had decided to go to the station Kazuya usually left from. Mitsuru had said that it gave them time to talk, but Kazuya had a feeling that his friend was staying with him to make sure he didn't hurt himself along the way. Any other time he might have resented being treated like a helpless child, but with Mitsuru by his side the trek was going faster than he'd expected.
"I still don't believe it," Mitsuru said. "How in the world did you get Shinobu to promise to have Christmas dinner with you?"
"I'd rather not say," Kazuya said nervously. The real reason he didn't want to say anything was because it would just be too embarrassing. If Mitsuru ever found out the truth, he'd never let him forget it.
Ever since the day he'd gone with Mitsuru to visit his family, he couldn't help feeling concerned about Shinobu-sempai. Finally, the night before Shinobu left for vacation, Kazuya had confronted his friend. Fortunately, Mitsuru and Shun had been down in the baths at the time. Otherwise, Kazuya didn't think he'd have had the nerve to do what he'd done.
He'd invited his sempai over for Christmas dinner, but that had been politely but firmly refused. Kazuya, however, could have a stubborn streak at times, and he'd continued badgering his friend about why he should come over and why he couldn't stay away. Each argument he'd produced had met with a steadfast counterattack.
Finally, Kazuya had changed his approach entirely. Shinobu-sempai had been sitting at his desk. Kazuya had been arguing with him from his seat on Shinobu's bunk. He'd gotten to his feet and tottered over to his friend. Then, before the older boy could object, he'd seated himself on his lap--collapsed into it was more accurate, but the end result was the same. Then he'd looped his arms around the other boy's neck, tucked his own head against Shinobu's shoulder, then gazed as endearingly as he could up through his eyelashes into Shinobu's face. Then he'd said in as cute and as hopeful and as pleading a voice as he could manage, "Please, Aniki?"
Shinobu's customary mask of calm control had slipped, and he'd actually laughed out loud. He'd leaned down and kissed his forehead before nodding his agreement. Kazuya had jumped up--or staggered up anyway--and exited as quickly as he could, knowing that he was blushing furiously over his audacity.
Still, it had worked. But he wasn't about to explain to Mitsuru how he'd pulled it off.
"Fine, don't tell me then," Mitsuru said, pouting slightly. "I'll just ask Shinobu when we all go back to Greenwood."
Kazuya suddenly felt sick. Between the two of them, Mitsuru and Shinobu usually knew everything that went on in Greenwood, and he had no doubt that the two would eventually wind up talking about Shinobu's Christmas.
He sighed. Well, let come what may come as it would. He felt good about his success, and not even continual teasing about it would make him regret doing what he had.
"So, are you going to see Igarashi before New Year's Day?" Mitsuru asked. "You can always stay over at the temple."
Kazuya blinked. "Miya?" Then he sighed and shook his head. "I don't know. I'd like to--I bought presents for her and her mother--but...it's just that..." Kazuya sighed again and looked down.
Mitsuru squeezed his shoulder gently. "Mrs. Igarashi still isn't happy, is she?"
"No. I think she still wants Tenma for her son-in-law."
"Igarashi chose you, though," Mitsuru told him. "I don't know what she sees in you, but if she chose you, then you must have something worth loving in you."
"Hey!" Kazuya protested. He tried to swing one of his crutches at his friend, but stumbled off balance instead.
Mitsuru caught him before he completely lost his balance. "Take it easy," he said, propping Kazuya up. "I didn't mean to tease you."
"Yes, you did," Kazuya said.
"Well, okay, I did."
The two stared at each other for a moment, then burst out laughing.
* * *
The train was noisy, crowded as it was with young people on board for the same reason that he was. They filled the cars with laughter and good cheer. They shared their vacation plans with each other, some murmuring envious complaints, others voicing their approval of this or that.
Kazuya sighed. He wished he had someone to talk to, but he didn't know anyone in his car.
Kazuya often regretted that he hadn't formed any closer friendships with others beside Mitsuru, Shinobu-sempai, and Shun. He was friendly with many of the residents of Greenwood and other students, but he wasn't really friends with them. They'd greet each other in passing or help each other with schoolwork, but nothing much beyond that.
Mitsuru had left him at the station, going with him as far as he could before breaking away to catch his own train. Kazuya, buoyed as he'd been by his friend's company, had managed to get on board the train without too much hassle, but the influx of other students from other schools had made him feel lonely and apart. He shifted his weight and looked out the window.
As he gazed at the buildings retreating behind them, he let his mind wander to something that had been bothering him: a recurring dream.
Over the past week, he'd been having the same dream. He'd awaken each night--or dreamed he'd awakened--and see someone standing in the room gazing down at him. It wasn't Shun or Shinobu-sempai or Mitsuru-sempai, yet he felt no fear or alarm. Instead, he always felt happy and pleased that the person was there, as though he'd missed him and was glad that he'd returned.
The person would come closer, and he'd see that it was an American-looking boy with red-brown hair. The boy would sit on the bunk and lean over him, lowering his head towards Kazuya's but passing it and moving down to his neck. Then, every night, he'd hear two words, the same two words that he always did.
I'm sorry.
And then...Kazuya could never recall what happened next. For some reason, that was as much as he could remember of the dream.
The fact the he kept having the same dream made him wonder. It wasn't something that he hadn't experienced before. Usually, though, there was a reason for it. He'd had the same set of nightmares for weeks after his mother had died. It had taken him a while to get over his memories of Misako's ghostly girlfriends' visit to Greenwood. And the worst nightmares he'd had in a long time had involved what he'd suffered at Shinobu's sadistic sister's hands.
This time, though, he was having dreams, not nightmares. And as far as he could remember, nothing important or traumatizing had happened to him before the dreams started. There was Shun's snafu with the strange book, but he didn't think he'd have started having such odd dreams because of that.
Kazuya hadn't told any of his friends about the dream. Shun would become upset about it, blaming himself for the problems the book was causing. Mitsuru might laugh about it, or he might not. But he could count on Shinobu to remain calm and analytical.
Still, he hadn't told any of them about the dream. He wasn't sure why, exactly. Maybe it was because secrets were hard to keep in Greenwood--especially with Mitsuru and Shinobu around--and this was one that he seemed able to hide from them. Each time he thought about it, something felt wrong about it. Not about the dreams, necessarily, but about telling about something in them. He felt sick to his stomach, as though he were violating someone's confidence by even considering talking about the dreams.
He blinked as the train began to slow. Looking around, he suddenly realized that the train had reached his station. He quickly gathered his things and hobbled off before the conductors could start packing more people on board.
Once on the platform, he settled his pack on his shoulders and started for the station exit.
"Kazuya!" a voice called.
He looked around. To his surprise, he saw his older brother, Kazuhiro, pushing through the crowd towards him.
"Oniisan," Kazuya said, dumbfounded. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to help you," his brother said. "You still have quite a walk, and you're going to need help carrying your bags." Before Kazuya could object, his brother had somehow slipped the backpack off of his shoulders and had looped it over his own arm. "Well, shall we go?"
Kazuya thought about protesting, then sighed and nodded.
The trip home, like the trip to the station, passed quickly. Although there were still some barriers between them, Kazuya could appreciate his brother a bit more now than when he'd first married Sumire. And he could appreciate his brother even more because Kazuya was rather tired from all the walking he'd been doing. The train ride hadn't been the most comfortable in the world.
"Oh, Hiro-nii," Kazuya said suddenly. "I forgot. I invited Shinobu-sempai over for Christmas dinner."
His brother turned and stared at him. "What?"
"I invited Shinobu-sempai over for Christmas dinner," Kazuya repeated. "I heard from Mitsuru-sempai that Shinobu-sempai spends the winter vacation alone, that he doesn't go home. I thought it would be nice for him to be with friends for Christmas even if he couldn't be with family."
"I see."
"You don't think Sumire will mind, do you?" Kazuya asked anxiously.
"No, she won't," his brother said. "I'm just surprised you managed to pull it off."
"Mitsuru-sempai said the same thing."
They made other small talk the rest of the way home.
At the front door, Kazuya reached into his pocket for his key, but his brother was already opening the door. Then he stepped back and gestured for Kazuya to enter first.
Kazuya swallowed, then hobbled inside. "Tadaima!" he shouted.
"Okaerinasai!" A young woman hurried out into the foyer, wiping her hands on her apron. Kazuya suddenly found himself wrapped up in her embrace. He awkwardly wrapped one of his arms around his sister-in-law.
It was good to be home.
* * *
Haru staggered down the hall of the dormitory, desperately searching for any break in the barrier that trapped him in the building. He tried to pass through the front doors, the fire exits, and all the windows he could reach. Each time, though, he fell back, unable to achieve even a centimeter beyond the outer frames of the doors and windows.
He even entered room 210, the only one he could enter, hoping that through his connections to the room's inhabitants he might find some way out. The window, however, repulsed his every effort to escape.
Finally, he sank down on the lower bunk, exhausted.
His situation was not good. It was bad enough that he couldn't escape from the building, but then he'd found that, although the dormitory was full of boys full of blood, he could only reach one of them. Then, winter vacation had come along and sent all the boys home, including the only boy who could keep him alive...or sane, at least.
It was the worst of ironies that he now sat on the edge of the same bunk he'd come to over the past several nights to survive, as though coming there now would sustain him now even though its inhabitant was gone.
Things wouldn't have been half so bad if he'd been able to find something to eat. He needed blood, of course, but at least the food would give him something. Instead, he was trapped with nothing to eat or drink except water.
He frowned. He remembered his own days in a dormitory and how he'd survived. Surely these boys were the same...
He quickly scanned the room, searching for any sign of food storage. Finally, he turned to one of the desk drawers. He opened it, nearly yanking the drawer out completely. He sighed with relief.
Nestled in the drawer among a collection of balled-up plastic bags sat several unopened packages of snack foods. They wouldn't do much to stave of his thirst, but at least he wasn't completely without sustenance.
He was about to reach for a package when pain racked his entire body. He staggered to the bunk and collapsed onto it, struggling to master the tremors that battered him.
Finally, the pain stopped. His body, contorted from his efforts to neutralize the pain, relaxed. He stretched out on the bunk, panting.
The thirst was becoming too strong. If Haru didn't escape soon, he'd be in no shape to exert self-control over his needs. The night the boys returned to school he'd cut through them like wildfire, unable to control his thirst, draining all the boys he could get his hands on like water on dry soil on a hot summer day.
"I waited too long!" he sighed, "If only I'd tried sooner!"
Haru lay on the bunk, remembering how he'd sat on the edge before leaning forward to take the boy's blood.
"If only I'd tried sooner," he whispered. Then, picking up one of the snack packages, he headed back up to the attic to try and sleep until the next sunset.
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