The Fourth Hour: Melt

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"Tsu . . ."

There she was, a stray in a crowd, an explorer in a group of businessmen, a leaf in a forest.

"Tsu?"

There she was, her hair bouncing in the classroom, pens and rulers strewn around, orbiting the core of the classroom.

"Tsu!"

She woke up and her eyes met mine but she didn't see me. I had travelled into her past. Yet she did not look like herself at all.

She had scribbles on her face, arms and legs. Words like "Loser", "Kill Myself", "Punch Me, Kick Me" and worst of all, "Rape me and have fun bedding together tonight" made her the joke in class.

Everyone was laughing at her, flashes and clicks around her signalling she was about to be famous online.

The crowd dispersed soon after but the words stayed. The actions stayed. The humiliation stayed. The bullying intensified. It's the typical life of a victim.

Or maybe that's what everyone else thinks. Maybe that's what society thinks of the minorities.

She fished out her phone and went straight through the feed of her social media accounts.

JustJokingJensen: What a loser, sleep is for the weak!
550 likes • 550 shares

Her heart broke into a thousand smithereens, swept away by the wind.

KudosKiddosKatrina: If she's useless, she should just die right?

1000 likes • 1000 shares

"I should have died much earlier. The world is a happier place without me," Tsu slapped herself and pushed her table away.

DamnDanielNailedDaVan: Heard she's a mere weakling so everyone targeted her. Can everyone stop this?

0 likes • 0 shares

Her head throbbed for a while, soul melting into swirls of cotton candy.

HitchhikeMike: I think she's cool with physical pain. Is she a masochist?

5099 likes • 5099 shares

Cotton candy that's past the expiration date. Cotton candy turned sour.

PumpkaboomboxMaxim: I bet a billion dollars, a billion yen and a billion pounds she's a definite whore. Too ugly I doubt she's gonna become Swanna.

100000 likes • 100000 shares

"I . . . I would never want to! Why me of all people? Why am I born weak? Why am I born so weak?" Fists against chest, legs against floor, puddles of fire erupted in her lungs.

I could only sit aside and watch.

I could only be a helpless, equally weak bystander.

We're all the same. We're all the same.

Phone battery is low.

Hope is low.

But why did she choose to die? Hope may be low but all's not gone yet.

Why, Tsu, why?

She was on the verge of tears. Her tears, soft and deep, drowned her in a cold Artic though covering a small area. She was sweating profusely.

A white flash blinded me and when I could see once again, I was back in the mansion.

"What's wrong?" was all that I could spit out. I knew the answer. "Everything. Everything's wrong."

I followed the light, miniature steps moving me closer and closer to the room. It was near yet it felt like eternity.

"No, I didn't sign up for a guilt trip. This is not a guilt trip. See the light, feel the light, be the light. I'm in no guilt trip." I had to pacify myself. I had to convince myself. It was not enough. How am I supposed to believe in my lies?

When the door opened, all I could do was to gasp silently. The Pokémon in front of me never appeared in the mansion.

Or perhaps no one realised they existed here.

Instead of a bed, the room was full of cages. In every cage was a Yamask, each carrying a mask that used to be its face when it was human. Some of them were staring at their past selves and crying.

There was one who was special, a black mask amongst all gold. The face was easily recognisable though I spent just a couple of hours seeing her alive—inclusive of being dragged into her past.

Tsu.

Wasn't she dead? Where do they come from?

Why a black mask and not gold?

'Tsu' The flames began to fly once more.

"You don't have to use your flame. You're melting, you know." Tsu acknowledged my presence.

"Th-Thanks. I-I know what happened."

Silence. All the other Yamask vanished into blurred pixels around us.

"You don't know anything."

I do. I just do. You were bullied. You lived the life of a victim. I didn't know what kind of a victim you were till I entered your past.

You- Tsu, you were a victim of cyber bullying.

"I know. I know." I held back little assurance. Could I fully reassure her? "I know you were bullied. I know you were lonely and helpless. I know you were tired of living. I know why you chose to give up."

The black mask had a few cracks. What could it possibly mean? As an isolated Litwick, I never got to knew other Pokémon well enough.

"Then why did I give up? Tell me."

The flame on my head was a non-luminous inferno, like a volcano staying alive.

"Because . . . Because almost no one supported you. Only one."

"You're wrong." I could hear her ragged breaths very clearly. "How was I bullied? You don't know. You don't know how hurt I was- am."

I was about to retort but the mask caught my eye. Beneath the black mask was another cracked layer of black. Beneath that cracked layer of black was a thicker yet cracked layer of black. An endless repetition. The mask crumbled and a seemingly much solid one took its place. Layers shifted and gears clicked. Why did the first mask crumble?

"Why did this room change?" I wondered aloud out of curiosity.

"You don't realise they are most likely victims like I am."

"Why a Yamask? Why not a Pikachu? Why not-"

"Why not a Mimikyu? That sounds like a joke. Answer, it's because I'm already a Mimiktsu."

Her voice was reduced to a whisper.

"Why do you have to do this to yourself?" I saw tears shining in her eyes. I had to press on.

"I was a victim of bullying. All sorts of bullying. Verbal, physical, cy- you name it, I have it."

"You don't have to act all cool about it. You don't have to put up a brave front."

She was tensing up but I was breaking her. I continued breaking her after her death.

"Pokémon like you don't understand. The world we live in is cruel. The society is judgemental. Mind you, friends can betray too. The closer you are to someone, the greater the impact is."

"Stop. Give me a break."

Another layer of mask broke. I could feel myself fade.

"Give you a break? Give YOU a break? How could you say that when you saw me die? Arceus, did you try to save me? Make me live? I don't want this funny 'I know what happened' or some ridiculous 'Oh, it's you! You're dead!' kind of vibe!"

She was bursting. An explosion of black, of nullified images, of void. Empty, lonely, tragic.

"You need a voice! You got to rise up to the occasion! You got to stand up for yourself! Why didn't you?" I retorted. This was going nowhere.

"Then why didn't you save any of us Yamask who committed suicide?" A clear gulp echoed. "Why didn't you try?"

"It's always like this, Tsu, the same tactic over and over again. It's not as easy as you think. Death is not a solution but a problem! Bully, victim, bystander? Humans lack empathy; they are full of apathy.

"Arceus, how did I not try? You think it's nice watching people die with sleeping pills, scissors, knives, pens! Or ropes! Or starvation! Or binge eating! Or making themselves suffer with blindness! You think suicide is the life's panacea you're looking for!"

Silence lingered between us. We had gotten the attention of all the other Yamask.

"Well, how did you know?" Tsu asked. "How would a fragment of my past tell you whatever you know?"

I felt myself floating. Have I accomplished my purpose? Am I dead from the broken supply of souls?

"Tsu, you see, it's fate that brought you here as our guest. Fate made me your host for your dinner or last meal since you did what you did.

"Tsu, I-I . . . It's a reversal. Not me but you. You're the fragment of my past."