Episode 1: Prologue
Mom approached me with a white cloth in hand. I didn't know what Mom was trying to do, but I could tell from her expression that something terrible had happened.
Mom unfolded the white cloth and spoke.
“They say Father just passed away. Now that Father is dead, people will swarm in to kill and humiliate us next. So let's go together, with Mom, before that happens.”
Suddenly, Mom became terrifying, but I couldn't run away from her. Mom wrapped the white cloth around my neck and tightened it.
Mom, I can't breathe. Please don't.
My neck was choked by the white cloth in Mom's hand, and I thrashed about, but I couldn't break free from Mom's grip, and I slowly lost consciousness.
How much time had passed since I lost consciousness? Far in the distance, I saw a light, and that light rushed toward me in an instant. At the same time, knowledge I couldn't identify flooded into my mind.
The memories of the six-year-old boy that had existed in my head merged with information from the future, and I became aware of the current situation. I began to clearly understand why I had ended up in this situation.
And after some time had passed, I suddenly came to my senses and opened my eyes. And I hurriedly looked around to see where Mom was.
Mom was hanging limply by the neck from the white cloth that had strangled mine.
Mom!
I wanted to cry out for Mom at the top of my lungs, but my voice wouldn't come out. When I heard from Mom that Father had died, I hadn't known what death was, but now I know. And now I also know why Father died, and why Mom strangled my neck and hanged herself.
I heard people shouting from afar. I had to run away. I hurriedly got up to dash out of the house. Father's last will, written to us, was there before my eyes. I grabbed the will and ran outside.