The Interview By: Dara-chan "Nemuro Memorial Hall…" I whispered under my breath. Why did I wish to go there? I had been invited of course. I had heard that a project on campus, the Mikage Seminar, was a place where students could go to get help when they had problems they couldn’t deal with. When I went to see the one in charge of this seminar to inquire about a consultation, I met Professor Mikage, the esteemed eccentric lead researcher of the project, and he had outstretched his warm helping hand. Likewise, I was eager to receive any assistance that he might have to offer. As I walked towards the building where I was to go for my preliminary interview to join the seminar, I thought about all things that had lead up to this moment. The long nights of crying in my pillow, the days in class that I was unable to concentrate because of my lingering thoughts on the past. There had been a boy of course; there’s always someone that causes a person to have hope in the future. Even I had had faith in him and he had made me believe in that faith. I had met him when I first transferred to Ohtori Academy. He had been my designated guide and showed me around the vast expanse of campus that lay before me. I was so overwhelmed at first, but with his gentle voice guiding me through every inch of the school, I began to calm and look forward to my new life here. Weeks passed and we had kept in touch, eventually we became close friends and he would talk to me about everything and anything. I told him everything too, for I knew in my heart that I could always depend on him for support. As time went on I found myself falling for him completely and often I wished to express this to him in words. For all I knew he felt the same way too, for I would always catch him gazing at me thoughtfully and smiling at me gently. Whenever I came to visit, he would drop everything and follow me on whatever adventure I had found for the day. Lost in my own self-confidence, I believed that we could and would have a happy ending. A semester went by without me even realizing, for time passes so quickly when the heart is in a state of blissful content. I bid him goodbye for the winter break and returned home to spend Christmas with my family. A few weeks ago when I returned from vacation, I expected all to be as it was before. Over break I had had time to contemplate my emotions and put things into perspective. I realized that my feelings for him went far beyond friendship, I realized that I loved him. Then and there I made up my mind to reveal to him how I felt, and I promised myself I would finally tell him on the day I returned. I went to see him in his dorm room that day but was surprised to find him not there. I searched all over campus for him, but still he was nowhere to be found. I longed to see my friend whom I had missed so much. I broke down in disappointment and fell from exhaustion onto a stone bench in front of the tiny rose garden in the middle of campus. I panted heavily attempting to regain my strength and gazed up for a moment through the foggy windows of the greenhouse. Something moving inside caught my attention and I strained my eyes so I could see clearly enough to identify the figures. As I realized what it was I was looking at, my breath caught in my throat and a pain shot through my heart with knife-like intensity. Before me, in full view of the window at which I stood, I could see him, standing there in the arms of a girl with curled-up violet hair and wire-rimmed glasses, a girl I didn’t recognize. They were locked in a passionate embrace and shared an intimate kiss between them. Only two thoughts entered my mind after that… How? Why… In the days that followed the incident, I tried to talk to him, I tried to make contact with him, but he refused saying that he was involved with someone now and couldn’t be bothered with me. He ignored my phone calls and avoided me after class. He acted as if he never knew me at all, never knew I even existed. I was thrown into a whirlpool of despair, and every night I could only think of him as I cried myself to sleep. I could no longer function without the aid of the friend whom I had held so dear only a few short weeks before. It had been a nightmare and I needed help. That was why I had come here… I brought myself back to the present and realized that I had finally reached Nemuro Memorial Hall. From the outside it looked like any other building on campus, complete with its many ornate white pillars. Cautiously I stepped inside. At the reception desk I filled out an information sheet and took a seat on a small cushioned chair that sat within the entryway. Soon I was summoned forth by a low melodic voice that seemed to seep from the very walls themselves. As I was told to proceed along the corridor beyond the reception area, I saw pictures of hands with one finger outstretched pointing onward from the many signs which now sat atop velvet red chairs that lined the walls. Strange as they seemed, I knew, I felt that these signs would guide me along the road leading between here and eternity, and would bring me back to myself. The long darkened hallway in front of me grew brighter with the meager light of a tiny room that glowed in the distance. I reached it, and proceeded inside as the door to the room closed behind me. There I sat waiting patiently for my session to begin. The room began to shift slightly, seeming to move downward like that of an elevator. Still I sat patiently, for I knew that the elevator itself was a transition before another progression of my life, the progression that would take me away from the misery that now enveloped my heart. As the elevator continued its dissension, I looked into a mirror that was placed along the opposite wall from where I sat in the elevator. Even though I knew that behind the mirror another pair of eyes looked back at me, I began the outpouring of my emotions, the release that would trigger a revolution of my soul… "For years now, for years I have dreamt of that one heart, that one heart that would be a reflection of all the hopes and wishes of my own. I have long awaited the coming of that one singular person that would finally set me free, free from the shell that has held me back and kept me hidden as only a shadow in the background of reality…" I pressed my clenched fist up against the mirror and began to cry out louder; willing my wish to be heard by all those above, the people who were ignorant of my pain and my suffering. I saw the light in the chamber dim as I bled my feelings onto the musty floor. My eyes too seemed to grow dimmer and I sensed a metamorphosis from deep within me. A shallow raspy voice slowly hissed out from behind the mirror. "Deeper…go deeper…" Silence. I began again. "I thought I had found him, I thought I had finally attained my dream, but I was mislead, and all at once my heart was crushed, I was crushed beneath his cold indifference." I arose from my chair and pounded on the mirror in anger. "I trusted him! I gave him my life and he shrugged me off as he would a speck of dust! And now, all I have is my memories, but each day they grow more and more intense; I just can’t stand it! How could he do this to me? How could he lead me into believing that he actually cared? Why did it have to end this way? Why?!?" The floor beneath me roared as the elevator plummeted down faster and faster until it left me clinging to the floor in a puddle of my own tears. My mind filled with thoughts of hatred and disbelief and I held my hands up to my ears in the attempts to drown out the flood of grinding metal as the elevator screeched to an abrupt halt. The door beside me slowly opened and revealed an enormous room lit only by the glow from the elevator. A man stood there. He bent down and slowly whispered to me, "I understand. I suppose you have no choice but to revolutionize the world." He walked away from me towards the opposite side of the room and stopped in front of the wall placing one hand up on what seemed to be a coffin built into it. The coffin slid out, and he reached in, retrieving a small black ring with a rose seal. He proceeded to hand me the ring and said, "The way before you has been prepared…" I took it and willingly placed it on my finger, my eyes enflamed by the red anger that had taken over my soul. "To revolutionize the world…" I whispered.