what about this world? cracked?

I called her Haruhi, didn't I?

"Yo, Kyon, are you listening? You look pretty pale." Yusue threw me a crumpled paper napkin, which barely reached the middle of the table.

I gave a half-hassed answer, hiding my discomfort.

"You gulped down like, ten litres of coffee in one go, are you sure everything's ok?" He insisted, once again.

"Yeah, just continue your story." The answer didn't seem to satisfy anyone at the table, but Yusue continued anyway.

I bit the inside of my cheeks as I glanced over to the counter. I couldn't recognise whatever ingredients they used to create the pungent drink Yusue ordered, its secrets hidden behind the steel door of the kitchen. The waitresses that left that room were all cute, yet they moved sluggish and lacked any charisma. Besides Tsuruya, most of them seemed drained from working.

The negligible scenery distraction didn't do much to relieve my queasy and exhausted state. Less than a minute later, I excused myself and headed to the bathrooms. The waitress' eyes followed me until I reached the bathroom doors beside the counter, hidden in the back of the shop.

The men's toilets were clean and without a speck of dust, the faint aroma of disinfectant giving away its recent clean-up. While it was of small size, my current condition didn't leave me much time to enjoy the wonders and neatness of the shining floor and toilets. Without further ado, I freshened up a few times, splashing water into my face and rinsing out whatever traces of the liquid that still lingered in my mouth. The sink's plumbing was old and clogged as it struggled to drain the water, creating a backlog of water.

As I stared at the struggling sink, my stomach won the battle against me. The liquids I struggled to keep down forcefully escaped from my gullet. The lack of notice made me throw up all over the pool of water, splashing a mixture of water and gastric juices all around the clean washbasin. The whole ordeal was over later rather sooner.

My body felt weak but at ease, the same couldn't be said about my mind. The repugnancy and shame that clouded my head were quickly replaced by something else as I stared at the liquid pooled in the sink. While I cleaned up my slobbering mouth, my eyes couldn't stop staring at the fluctuating deep black mucus that floated above the water. Were my eyes playing a trick on me or was it squirming like a slug, trying to escape the current?

I rubbed my eyes and lightly slapped my face, but the nameless mass was still there, being slowly sucked in by the drain. As if it had a mind of its own, the quavering mucous moulded around the drain and blocked it. A pseudopod-like tentacle spurted out of the body, trying to reach somewhere outside the water.

There was nothing I could do. I was completely rooted in place.

Something floated around inside the being, long and folded. Whatever that was, it would be lost in the drain if I didn't act. I grabbed as much paper as I could and, reinforcing my resolve, tried to grab the repulsive tentacle. It screeched. The viscous liquid escaped my grasp between howls, but the object inside it didn't. Not long after, the mass lost movement and was drained along with the water.

My paper towel-covered hand was holding a small orange ribbon, surprisingly dry and well-kept. The rough cut on the edges led me to believe that it was cut from a larger ribbon.

My ears were still ringing from the malevolent screech. I stared at the empty basin, my mind finally comprehending what had just transpired. Any thought of using the cold logic that Sasaki had drilled into me had faded after this experience. This was no illusion, I had definitely seen and touched whatever had come out of my mouth. The emulsion that is being served in this eccentric shop contains something I cannot describe. Whatever it was, I clearly had not eaten any ribbons or black mussels, and the malaise I suffered from definitely was real. And that scream…

The drink had barely wet my lips, yet the black slug that I puked was the size of my palm. I didn't know what the prolonged effects of having that thing inside me were, but I didn't want to know yet. Either I was the only one affected or the only one whose body rejected that mass.

But I knew the answer. The paranoia and the constant state of being on edge these past few days was trying to warn me. There was something out of place in this world. And while I couldn't point out what it was, I definitely knew that it was very wrong. This cafe played a role in this puzzle.

Hundreds of people were drinking this horrible concoction. How many people were stuck with that being inside their bodies, and what effects could it possibly have on their being? My heart sank to my stomach in realisation. Yusue had drunk it as well.

I was unsure if determination or simple fear fueled my resolve, but I hastily left the toilets and headed towards my group.

"We have to go." My unexpected firm words had an instant effect on my three friends.

"What? It's a deluge out there!" Yusue was the first to complain, and with reason. The rain wasn't going to stop anytime soon.

Kanekawa's answer showed more concern than anger, confused at my sudden request. Meanwhile, Sasaki just looked oddly interested in the sudden change of affairs. Random idle chatting didn't seem to interest her that much, even though she tolerated it.

"Listen, there's something wrong going on here. We have to leave."

Yusue didn't want to budge, and it would be a tough nut to crack. However, luck was finally on my side as my favourite maid came by to rescue me.

"Sorry to be a downer, but there are a lot of clients out there. I'm kinda being forced to make you leave." Tsuruya came by, skillfully putting all the cups and glasses on her trail in one go and leaving the bill as she spun around. "My shift is almost over, so do you mind waiting for me? No? Okay, thanks!"

I don't think any of us actually agreed to let her join our small brigade, but our forceful table expropriation was the bigger priority. I pulled out enough money to cover most of our order while egging them on to go as fast as possible.

I could feel the gaze of the waitresses drilled into my back, though they glanced away whenever I turned to face them. Could they know something I didn't? They had been staring at me ever since I tasted that liquid. Questions for another time.

With no umbrella and barely any cover, we sought refuge in the small overhang of the building besides the cursed cafe. The queue to enter the shop was still as long as before, perhaps even longer, the rain doing little to stop them from drinking the dangerous drink.

"What's gotten into you?" Yusue suddenly demanded, still annoyed over my sudden commands.

Although I started to speak, I stopped myself shortly after. I had no idea how to explain what I had experienced. Did I try to explain how I felt or was it perhaps better to use metaphors and odd allegories to not sound as crazy? Sasaki, as if reading my mind, answered that question for me.

"Whatever is troubling you, don't overthink it. We'll start from there and then continue little by little, alright?" Her soothing voice did little to help me relax, but having her support gave me enough confidence.

"Alright, here it goes then." I took a gulp of air and started. "That Maiden's Love drink… It contains a deep black muck that is somehow alive. A parasite. I puked my guts out, and that thing tried to swim away from the current. When I tried to touch it, it screamed like nails on a chalkboard. It also had a tentacle with a ribbon inside it, I'm not sure how it got into it. Or me for that matter."

Yusue's incredulous laughter wasn't unexpected. It was madness, after all. Kanekawa seemed even more concerned, even though a worried chuckle still escaped him. Even Sasaki was surprised, perhaps realising that I wasn't the type to make those jokes.

"That's hard to digest." Kanekawa muttered while trying to stop Yusue's laughter.

"I'm serious! That thing has to be inside you as well, we have to get you to a hospital" My words quickly devolved into pleading.

"Geez, it was funny before but now it's just weird. Slime parasites, really? That's new, I guess." Yusue brushed off my comments again.

"How many times do I have to say it? I'm serious! If you don't then…"

"Then what? Nobody has died from having a drink there. Nobody has complained either! You're just allergic or something." Yusue grew annoyed, frow burrowed.

I gritted my teeth. There was no way I could convince him. I didn't have any evidence besides some random ribbon that I could have gotten from anywhere. I couldn't just say that I had an awful feeling about it. But I knew what I saw, heard and touched. There's only one way.

"If you throw up we'll all see." I didn't have anything else to say.

"...Are you dumb or just crazy?" He simply answered.

"Hey, hey, hey!" A beaming voice suddenly shattered the tense atmosphere. "What's this about puking? Did you know that it dissolves your teeth?"

Tsuruya had quickly appeared from some back alley to our right, probably the shop's back. Unlike the rest of us, she had an umbrella and some restrained light green dress, best fitted for winter rather than spring.

"Kyon is just being pretty freaking weird."

"Tsuruya, you must know something, right?" I immediately asked, trying my best to hide my hectic feeling.

"Wha?"

"Kyon says that the drinks have… some gunk that looks alive?" Kanekawa sheepishly tried to explain my situation.

Tsuruya didn't laugh as I expected. In fact, I could have sworn I caught a glimpse of an eerie smile escaping her lips.

"Ah, gee. I hoped nothing bad would happen. I'm not too sure if we're talking about the same thing, but after a while, the drinks do get a weird colour. Whenever we clean the cups, we're told to do it as fast as possible. Nowadays with so many clients, we don't get that much time. But I haven't seen anything move, it just turns to the deepest black." She carefully explained, oddly reluctant.

"So it's not alive." Yusue quickly chimed in.

"Hold on. It may not awake without human contact." Sasaki broke her silence, gazing deep into my eyes. "Some parasites remain in profound hibernation until the right conditions are set in. For example, being at the right temperature."

"That's what I'm saying, we have to get you to the hospital." I once again demanded the only sensible action. At least for me, it was.

"Stop trying to get me to a hospital! I'm fine!" Yusue shot back, visibly angry.

"Ah yeah, you drank that stuff, didn't ya? Honestly, at this point, I'd listen to Kyon. I don't know why, but he seems pretty reliable. No reason to see why he would make it up." Tsuruya interrupted me, speaking inexplicably familiar.

"Seriously? I mean… you haven't even heard his story." Kanekawa intervened.

"I was already suspicious. Besides, it's not the craziest thing I've heard! But don't worry, I know a solution. Follow me!"