MML Chapter Two: Frog
Summary: With the right context, frogs can be terrifying.
Notes: A short chapter to bridge the gap into the first arc. Also, I am looking to re-name this chapter and chapter one after songs, so if you have a suggestion, shoot me an ask.
Wordcount: 2,076
Beta’d By: @sentochoryu
The Kawajiri household was one of peculiar contrasts. None were so apparent as that between mother and daughter. When she finished cooking at sat down at the breakfast table, Shinobu immediately started chatting about her plans for the day. A quick look at her daughter would reveal that she wasn’t listening too closely.
It wasn’t that Yoriko was trying to ignore her mother - she just wasn’t a morning person. That trait was only intensified when she hadn’t slept well. Don’t Fear the Reaper insisting on manifesting behind her mother to show her random nonsense wasn’t very helpful either. Despite knowing better, she couldn’t help letting her gaze slide over her mother’s shoulder every few seconds. Reaper’s mist had enveloped her mother, putting her right in the center of the visions.
First, there was a dog digging through a dumpster. Useless. Second, a man having an argument with his wife. Also useless. A giant leopard frog hopping through the road - that one had her resisting the urge to scowl. Since when did her stand reflect her dreams back at her? It was swiftly replaced by some football game in America. After that came one of her classmates, Sekiguchi Eiichi, laughing with someone on the phone. An awkward shame at that unintentional invasion of privacy began to fall over her. Thankfully, before it could get too bad... the mist shifted… back to the giant frog. For the love of-
“Yoriko?”
She quickly switched her attention back to her mother. “Yeah?”
“What’s wrong? Is there something on my shoulder?” Shinobu twisted around to look at her shoulder and, when her attempt to brush the invisible something up, began to inspect the other one.
Yoriko took a hasty bite of her breakfast before shaking her head. “No, there’s nothing. I just didn’t sleep well.” That elicited a concerned look from her mother. She attempted to put on a reassuring tone when she added, “I’m fine.”
She knew that she wasn’t the best at expressing her feelings. Judging by the look that her mother gave her, she hadn’t exactly nailed ‘reassuring’. However, it was enough to make her drop the subject. Yoriko held in a sigh of relief when her mother went back to chatting about what she had to go shopping for today. She nodded faintly before looking down to work on her breakfast.
Either realizing that it was being ignored or having finished its rambling, Reaper vanished. That left only the radio to distract her from her mother. It was only white noise. A report on a missing child a few towns over wrapped up before switching to a cheerful pop song. Normally it would be nothing, but when paired with her grogginess, focusing became a much more difficult task.
It took her a few moment to realize that her name was being called again. Yoriko rapidly blinked a few times before looking up, fervently hoping that she hadn’t done something to make her start worrying again. “Hm?”
Shinobu sighed. “You know, it’s a Saturday. You could sleep in.”
She shook her head. Something about the way it made her mother’s eyes light up told her that she had walked right into something. Thankfully, she didn’t need to wait for long to find out what it was. “Oh? Do you have plans then?” An eager grin bloomed across her face.
Seeing her mother excited should have made her happy. Instead, she found herself struggling to ignore the guilt seeping into her chest. She would by lying if she said that she was alright with her social isolation. It was more like she had gotten used to it. Her mother, on the other hand, was visibly bothered whenever the subject came up. It was no surprise that she found the idea of her daughter not spending another weekend holed up reading was so exciting to her. Knowing that she could give her a positive answer for once was a small relief compared to the amount of stress she must have caused her. “Actually, yes. Shizuka’s in town and invited me to come over.”
Shinobu gleefully clasped her hands. “Oh, that’s wonderful! I hope you have fun!”
Yoriko was not having fun.
On the bright side, she was wide awake now. The bad news was that she felt like she was about to find out if it was possible to have a heart attack at age sixteen.
“Okay, so turn right- NOT THAT FAST!”
It was a good thing she had preemptively grabbed the roof handle when Josuke started giving his instructions, because with how quickly Shizuka made that turn, she may have been tossed into the other seat otherwise, seatbelt be damned.
“I’m trying!”
In reality, it only took a few seconds for the car to turn, but for Yoriko, it felt like an eternity. This is it. This is how I die. That despondent thought resonated through her very soul until the car straightened out. At that point, she leaned back into her seat with a sigh.
“Alright. Just… keep going down this road for a while. See if you can keep the speed from changing.” Yoriko listened to Josuke’s instructions with a frown while she prayed for life in his car.
Scheduling errors happened. It was a little irresponsible, but she could understand Shizuka forgetting that she had a driving lesson with her brother. What she didn’t understand was why she had insisted that she come with her instead of hanging out some other time. It was almost befuddling as her agreeing to it. As it turned out, Shizuka was not a good driver. At all. The fact that she was still in training did little to relieve the absolute terror that she could generate behind a wheel.
She should have seen this coming. Better yet, Reaper should have seen this coming.
A few silent moments passed. They were punctured by Shizuka twisting around to look at Yoriko. “Sorry about this, if you want, you can dr-”
“SHIZUKA!” Josuke’s cry was followed by a poorly stifled scream. Yoriko’s face paled and, when Shizuka turned back around, she added her own scream to the chorus. Despite the car barreling down on her, the woman standing in the crosswalk was frozen in place.
Yoriko didn’t recognize the english word that Shizuka cried when she slammed her foot against the breaks, but she was pretty sure that it was a swear. A shared sentiment. The sudden stop sent them all flying forward several inches. The seatbelts prevented anyone from going through any windows, but resulted in a sharp pain as it bit into her chest. She leaned backward as soon as the initial shock wore off. It eased the pressure off, but the ache remained. She rubbed at it with a wince.
“Shit.” That one, she recognized. Shizuka muttered it with her head in her hands. Yoriko found herself looking between her and the woman they had nearly hit. The car had only stopped inches away from her. Her brown eyes had narrowed into an accusatory glower.
Technically, since she was in the crosswalk, the woman had the right of way. The look she was giving her put a sour taste in her mouth anyway. Moron. Why didn’t you move? She knew that she shouldn’t blame her. Some people froze up when they were afraid. However, that didn’t give her the right to try to glare Shizuka into a puddle, especially when it was so clearly working.
Josuke started moving to unbuckle his seatbelt and open the door. The woman began briskly walking away before he could. That only made him move faster. The door closed with an audible stand in his haste. Unfortunately, the woman had a head start and clearly didn’t want to talk to them. The way her brunette braid swayed as she vanished around the corner, Josuke in hot pursuit, was almost mesmerizing.
The pair were silent for a moment. Finally, Yoriko said, “that’s probably enough driving for today.” She only succeeded in making Shizuka give an embarrassed squeak and begin to turn translucent.
Yet another sigh escaped her lips. Unbuckling her seatbelt was a relief given recent events, but climbing into the passenger seat was something of an awkward affair. It wasn’t until she had sat down that it occurred to her that she could have just used the door. That awkward realization was shoved aside for the time being. “It’s alright,” she began. “It could have happened to… it happened and no one got hurt.”
Shizuka turned completely invisible, marking the second time that Yoriko had failed to reassure someone in one day. She looked around, knowing that an answer wouldn’t magically manifest, but hoping that, somehow, one would anyway. All she saw was another highschooler walking down the sidewalk. Gima; one of Azami’s friends and the opposite of something helpful.
She turned back to the seemingly empty car seat and reached out to where she hoped her friend’s shoulder was. Instead, she got the top of her head; it seemed that Shizuka had started to slide down the seat. Close enough. She proceeded to awkwardly pat the springy black (when visible) locks. “Sorry. I’m not great with… words.” Strike me down now. “I mean, driving is difficult. Probably. I haven’t tried yet, but hit and runs are a common cause of death, from which one can infer that vehicles are hard to control.”
One can infer that vehicles are hard to control. Yoriko’s face began to twist into a grimace. It froze when she heard a small snort, followed by a chuckle. Slowly, her friend began to reappear. The grimace inched upward until it was a small smile.
That was when the frog appeared.
For a moment, she thought she had lost her mind. Why would there be a leopard frog the size of a grizzly hopping across the road? It occurred to her that it could be a stand, but she quickly wrote that off. That was just too much of a coincidence.
Then Shizuka turned invisible and opened the door.
Oh, she thought. It’s real.
Suddenly, she wanted to scream, or at least stay in the car, where she was safe. That was unacceptable. With shaking hands, she stepped out of the door. Her knees felt like they were about to lock up at any moment. Yet all she could think about was the row of cars slowly building up behind the parked car. That problem was fixed when the frog looked at her with horrible golden eyes.
Yoriko tensed up and forced herself not to step back. Instead, she reached her mind out to Reaper and pulled. Don’t Fear the Reaper was a difficult stand by nature. Worse yet, she had only attempted to summon it a handful of times. Her first tug proved useless. The frog hopped a step closer to her. The second tug - useless.
A too-loud footstep echoed from a few feet away. You couldn’t see anyone there, but it got the frog’s attention anyway. With a surge of alarm, Yoriko yanked again. This time, mist began to swirl in the space beside her, followed by Reaper manifesting.
The frog took one look at it and disappeared.
Shizuka turned visible again, a few feet away from where the frog had been. She crossed her arms and frowned. “If that was supposed to be a stand attack, I don’t think I’ve heard of a dumber one.”
It was a good thing that Josuke returned at the moment, because she wasn’t sure what to say to that. Yoriko didn’t look away from where the frog had been, but he heard him jog over to them. “Couldn’t catch her.” A beat, then, “what happened?”
A few hours later, Yoriko laid on a couch, a book held in front of her. She didn’t move when she heard keys jingling in the door. The door opening and someone entering then stopping a few feet away from her provoked the same non-reaction. She didn’t even stop reading at, “This is breaking and entering.”
“Don’t care. Had a key.”
“It doesn’t excuse your crimes.”
Yoriko finally sat up and closed the book. She neatly placed it in her lap before looking up at Hayato. He looked a little curious and slightly concerned, but not particularly irritated. Good. “I need to talk to you. Something weirder than normal happened.”
The next several minutes were spent explaining the events of that morning. Toward the end, she started to hesitate. It was her brother’s prompting look that got her to continue. “I saw that frog last night. In a nightmare.”
Hayato’s frown pressed his lips into a thin line. “It was probably a stand.”
“I know. That’s why I’m worried.”