Being alone.

That was only something Osomatsu could dream of, something that could only happen when he's asleep or in rare occasions in reality. In fact, it's what he was currently dreaming of. He was dreaming about how different it would be if he was born normal, grew up normal. If he grew up how he was born, alone.

He was in his bedroom alone. Everything oddly seemed to be in black and white except five colors in the room. Blue for his favorite book on a bookshelf, the one his mom would sing lullabies from. Green for a plushie of a frog right outside his closet, he didn't particularly like it, but it was a gift from his father on his way home from work. He did have to admit though, it was pretty cute. Purple for the blanket that was neatly set next to the bookshelf, it was for when he took naps or felt like wrapping himself in it. Yellow for a toy baseball bat, it was meant for younger kids but he couldn't bring himself to throw it away. And pink for a beanie, despite it being a 'girly' color, it was good at keeping him warm during the autumn and winter days.

That's probably at the time this is taking place. Everything around him felt familiar, not like it's something he sees everyday, but that this exact moment and in this time, something is going to happen.

That's when the door slide open. There was no sound, but even without it he knew. He looked towards the door to be met with a new color, orange. Bright, piercing orange eyes they almost seemed yellow, and big sharp teeth, looking straight out of a villain from a fairy tale. Ever since he came, Osomatsu hasn't ever been alone.

When he entered the room, Osomatsu backed up as his heart started to slight raise. Then he got closer, and closer, and closer. His back met the wall as they were face to face. Osomatsu tightly shut his eyes and shouted something that fell into his own deaf ears. When his eyes opened, he was gone. It was all gone.

No man, no color.

The sound of an alarm clock was what woke him up. Osomatsu didn't want to wake up, to go back into reality and deal with what he had to deal with. He slowly opened his eyes, expecting something, someone, only to find nothing. He turned to the other side, only to find the same emptiness beside him. There was a reliving sigh as he sat up. It seems like the day is having a hopeful start. Although, it could only be hopeful.

Since the start of the new school year, he's already missed the first week. It's not like it mattered too much to him, this was his last year anyway. That's probably why it was actually important and it should matter to him. It was the year to decide how the rest of his life will go. Or, that at least will officially set it. Well, he might as well tell his mom to prepare his lunch. She'd probably be excited to know he planned to go to school. The thought of her reaction brought a small smile onto Osomatsu as he went downstairs.

As expected, she was already in the kitchen making breakfast. When he entered, she turned towards him with a smile, "Good morning, Osomatsu."

"Mornin'. Say, mom?"

"Hm? What is it dear?"

"Can you make me lunch? I'm going to school today." As he expected, there was a warm smile coming from her, one that was contagious and brought some pride in him. Who knew deciding to go to school felt rewarding in a way. "Of course. I'm glad you seem to be doing well this morning. I'll have it ready by the time you finish getting dressed up."

"Thanks." With that, he left the kitchen to the living room. What happened next could be said was jinxed, by his mom or him, but really, this was bound to happen. There was no way it wouldn't, the only times it doesn't is what seems like once in a hundred years. Ignore it, keep walking, don't listen.

"Finally going back to school today, Osomatsu-niisan?!" A slightly high-pitched excited voice spoke. Choromatsu.

One.

"Ehhhh...why? It's better to stay at home where we don't have to talk to other people in the comfort of our home like its been. It's too much if a drag to socialize." A slow deep voice mumbled. Ichimatsu.

Two.

"Stay home?! I think it's better to go to school with new people other than having to see the same faces and talking to the same people everyday! Maybe we can even make new friends and actually gain a social life." A girlish hopeful voice toned. Todomatsu.

Three.

"Heh, it shouldn't matter where we journey to, as long as we venture together at what this wondrous day has in store for us!" A deep smooth voice exclaimed. Karamatsu.

Four.

"School?! Baseball?! Yay! Then we can play baseball! Let's go let's go!" A loud hyperactive voice screamed. Jyushimatsu.

Five.

Of course they're all here. When aren't they. Don't pay attention to them, just get ready. To the best of his ability, he walked right passed them without giving them the slightest attention and headed towards the bathroom.

"Wooww, did you see that? Totally ignored!" They all started to follow right behind him.

"Well..? What are you going to do...Osomatsu-niisan?" Osomatsu got into the bathroom and immedieatly closed the door behind him. Despite that, he knew it wouldn't do anything to keep them out, they were all inside of the room with him. He opened the cabinet and pulled out his toothbrush, put toothpaste on it, and started brushing his teeth.

"It's one against five Ichimatsu," Choromatsu shook his head, "I'm pretty sure he's going to school."

"Tch...I could always change his mind."

"Sure Ichimatsu-niisan, take all the credit."

There was arguing as he finished up brushing his teeth and went to brush his hair next. At least when they bicker with each other, it was easier to ignore them. They sounded a little more distant.

Once he finished up, he exited and went back to his room. There, he finally changed out of his pyjamas and pulled out a red sweater and his school uniform. A school uniform. Hopefully by the end of this school year, he'll never have to wear one again. Maybe if he got a job, but that seemed very unlikely. There was no way someone like him could get a job. He changed into his sweater then put the uniform over. He grabbed his school bag and went back into the kitchen. There, he found breakfast and his school lunch. He could have plenty of time to eat breakfast, walk to school, and still have some extra time there since it was pretty early.

But today. Today he decided he'll going to the library, which meant he'll skip breakfast. He'll have to apologize to his mom later, he just wanted to see if he could find something he missed, if he could find something, anything new. Maybe a new book, or find something he missed-

"Hey."

Osomatsu flinched as he put the lunch into his bag. He didn't want to turn around, but he knew he had to, so he did and was faced with Jyushimatsu with a dark expression, "Don't ignore us." They were all in the way of the door. There was no way he could ignore them, no matter how hard he'll try, he knows he'll slip up. Whether it was to ask them to move, walk around them, or walked through the other way, it shows he acknowledged them. He'll just take the simplest way and give them what they want. He looked down, "Can you move."

"See~? It wasn't that difficult to grace us with your words and acknowledgment! Of course we will move," Karamatsu cooed. Osomatsu felt like rolling his eyes but opted not to and went towards the front door and put on his shoes. "I'm off," he hollered loud enough for Matsuyo to hear. "Have a nice day," she responded.

Osomatsu started walking towards school and passed by his neighbor's house, Totoko's house. He slightly stopped to look towards the house and give a small sigh. "Do you think Totoko-chan already left? I was looking forward to walking with her as Osomatsu-niisan carried her bag!" Todomatsu whined.

"Nonono...Just walking with her or carying her bag is already such an honor for trash like us," Ichimatsu nodded.

"Of course Totoko-chan has other important things to do than walk with us to school this early in the morning!"

Good. They were bickering again. Osomatsu continued to walk towards the school. The walk is surprisingly short, the high school was never that far away, but the constant drag of those five always made it seem longer than it was. Today was just a little different, they didn't seem so persistent in making Osomatsu talk to them like they usually do. If anything, they seemed more interested to talk with each other. Not that he's complaining, on the contrary, he was relieved. It might be because they know what type of day this might be, one where his thoughts were the most busy, where his frustration and anxiety grew higher.

Before he knew it, he was already in front of the school gates. "Whoa! Amazing! School!" Jyushimatsu shouted excitedly. Without thinking about it, Osomatsu responded, "Please. You've seen this same rusty old building for two years already Jyushimatsu, there isn't anything amazing about it." There was silence and it took the realization of this silence before he realized that he spoke. Crap. "I think it's a more amazing sight to see you here Osomatsu-niisan," Choromatsu snidely remarked.

Osomatsu looked at the ground and started walking, trying to not give into talking or accepting them. They were quiet on the way to the library. Well, at least as quiet was they'd ever get due to looking around the school as if it was the first time being there. All of them looked around except Choromatsu, who was standing right next to Osomatsu. "So the library huh? Can't say I'm surprised. Well no, anytime you do go I'm surprised by how determined you are at reading, it's the most determined I see you do anything other than sleep. Which, by the way, you need to do less because it definitely won't make us go away and only harms your health." Great. Now he was getting a lecture from him. It's not like it's anything new, but it always somehow seemed hyprocritical, "I don't think taking naps and sleeping is what's harming my health but the reason why." There was a small grimace on Choromatsu when those words left his mouth. It was always something that confused Osomatsu. That he...that they somehow get offended by things he'd say towards them. It's not like they're-

"WE'RE HERE!"

"So it seems." Choromatsu was quick to respond.

And it seemed so. Looks like it was muscle memory that got him here this quick. He entered the library and knew exactly where to go. Last column, second book case, row 4, down 1. After skimming a few book titles, like magic, there it was. The book he was looking for. He pulled it out and walked back to the front of the library where there were tables and sat down in an empty one. Around him were a few taken ones, probably study groups, some napping, and others 'reading'. Seeing them made him want to 'read', that's what he would do if he had to freedom to do so. But no. The only book he can read out of his own will is this book. Osomatsu hasn't bothered really reading the title, he just recognizes it when he sees it and after reading it once or twice when he first found it. It felt like what a school textbook looked like, in fact, it looked exactly like one. Well no, it tecnically would be a 'school' textbook, but that didn't really matter. All he knew was not even studious smart kids would want to read more textbooks than they need to, so this book was practically his with all the small notes he's made and put in their that have been left untouched.

All of the Matsu's previous scattered around the library gathered to where Osomatsu sat down. Ichimatsu and Jyushimatsu sat on top of the table on both of Osomatu's sides and looked down at book. The remaining three were standing right behind him but heavily leaned in to look at the book. Osomatsu took a deep breath and opened to the first bookmark. In his search, it was easy to rule out a lot of things. Really, anyone in his situation with a right mind probably wouldn't even be doing a stupid search in a book that he could easily find online. At least due to his previous searches, he's managed to boil these down into two catagories, which in total ended up in 7 possibilites. Well, he won't get anywhere thinking about it, so now it was time to read.

"You know I really like Schizophrenia, it really suits him dontcha think? He seems pretty apathetic to me when he talks to us."

"No no, but then it wouldn't the same voices, I mean sure we all have different voices but they never change. Besides he'd probably also hear a girl's, but there sure as hell isn't any here."

"What if we're just ghosts from another life that came to haunt this dude who looks an awful lot like us and his name happened to be 'Osomatsu' because he was our murderer..." A grin was heard.

"Oh Oh! What if we're demons sent to torture his life!?"

"Nonsense, brother! We do not wish to torment Osomatsu and if we were demons or ghosts we would know and not tell him for that would ruin the purpose of gaining to the climax and the utmost ultimate plot twist! If we were anything, Osomatsu would have Dissociative Identiy Disorder. We all differ and are always with Osomatsu, no~?"

"That's stupid Karamatsu-niisan, it can't be that because then we would all techinically be Osomatsu-niisan."

"Well...we do look a lot like him. Sadly. But he's right, that wrong."

Osomatsu groaned as his head was laid face down on the table, a face of defeated plastered on. Yup. They were all wrong. Because Osomatsu doesn't know what's wrong with him because ever since he could remember, these five have always been there. But they aren't real. No one else can see them, feel them, hear them, their names have never existed or been heard of before. They first showed up when he was little, maybe ten years old. He never thought it was strange back then, that five faces that looked exactly like him suddenly showed up and started calling him their brother. Really, at first Osomatsu didn't mind. He'd play with them and hang out with them, but it was when everyone else around him couldn't see or hear them that he realized something was wrong.

When it first started, his parents were a little concerned but shrugged it off as his imagination. When it continued and they saw his strange behavior of talking to himself or randomly doing something that was off, that's when they decided it was time to get professional help and see what was wrong. It started as 'Imaginary friend' to a whole bunch of other things. Name anything that could cause a type of illusion or visual hallucinations like this, it was probably considered. Soon, he started to see them less of friends or 'brothers' as they called themselves, and saw them more of something wrong and that he wanted to get rid of. His parents didn't like all the testings, the doctors constantly taking him out and giving their evaluations, and all the pills or medication shoved at him, so they made it stop. Instead, they chose to only have him see a therapist.

He had therapy for a couple years, but in the middle of Junior High was when money was on a tight budget in the house due to his father being the only one working, that stopped too. They were very hesitant with stopping therapy, but Osomatsu tried his best to reassure them and that he'd be fine. Its not like therapt helped him much either. That's when he decided to try and do his own research of all the things they considered him to be, shorten that list, and come up with the most likely possibility. Why?

He isn't quite sure.

It's not like he'd be able to do much once he figures it out, but maybe it could give him the slight peace of mind that there is a way to get rid of them, or to at least make this situation 'better'.

Because of these...hallucinations, he wasn't able to make much friends. His classmates would either be freaked out, weirded out, or bully him. It's a reason why he's always hated them, because of them, he couldn't be normal enough for the rest of the world. Even teachers thought all of this was out of attention. This was why Osomatsu usually missed a lot of days of school, to prevent a lot of these things, but it doesn't really help. It seemed because of his multiple absences, there was even rumors about him that sounded a whole lot more ridiculous than the real situation that it was actually amusing to him. Now, he wasn't exactly bullied, but people always stayed clear of him or tried their best not to talk to him. In a way, he didn't mind. The less voices the better. But that's just what he tells himself. Really, even if he wanted to talk to others and they were willing to hear him or just not be afraid, he wouldn't even know how to start talking or know what to do.

This doesn't mean he has no friends though. He has two, Totoko and Chibita. And a homeless old con man named Iyami if he counts. Both Totoko and Chibita know about what Osomatsu sees. They'd be lying if they didn't think it was a little freaky, but they decided to stay his friend anyway and look passed that. They talk and act normal around Osomatsu, except sometimes they might ask about one of the five, which he found weird, but didn't mind telling them.

As for the five. They look exactly like him with only slight differences as he got older. They all already had names, or at least named themselves. In their weird order, it would be Karamatsu, Choromatsu, Ichimatsu, Jyushimatsu, and Todomatsu. They all wear the parka Osomatsu would normally wear, except in different colors and their own way. Karamatsu's is blue with his sleeves rolled up, Choromatsu's is green and has a collar under, Ichimatu's is purple, Jyushimatu's is yellow with really long sleeves, and Todomatsu's is pink. Before these sweaters, they only wore one other outfit which was one he would normally wear as a kid, a navy button up shirt and pants.

They all act different, but this only happened as Osomatsu grew up. When Osomatsu went to a field trip to a play, Karamatsu seemed to take a huge interest into it, along with the english classes that Osomatsu takes, which oddly helped him get a decent grade in that class. When Osomatsu saw some idols on T.V. or if one took place around his home and he checked it out, Choromatsu was instantly sucked into it, not only that, but was somehow the voice of reason. He acted as an inner concious of decisions. Whenever Osomatsu walked passed allies and saw the cats, Ichimatsu was instantly intruged and loved them. One baseball game at school made Jyushimatsu over obssess over it. Any group project or social interaction got Todomatsu talking and interested.

If Osomatsu had to guess, they were like parts of him that overly obssessed over something he was slightly interested in at the moment. Sometimes one of them wouldn't shut up about something that it'll drive Osomatsu into doing what they want. An example of one that Osomatsu easily falls to is Choromatsu. His constant whining of wanting to watch the new idol concert and begging him to go always dragged him into going. Or if Ichimatsu wanted to watch the cats, he had this eerie unexplained way of making him go and just sit down with cats surrounding him despite Ichimatsu not even being able to touch them. Maybe it was this guilt he felt of not giving them what they wanted that gave them joy when they did get it was what made him do these things so easily. It's not like he should, they weren't real. But something inside of him wants him to do these things, and so he does.

Despite this, most of the time he tries to ignore to, pretend they aren't there or even refused to call them by their names, which he slipped up in earlier when he said Jyushimatsu's name and even responded to him without them expecting an answer. But no matter how hard he tries, he ends up giving in. It's tiresome, which most often leads into a lot of unhealthy naps and weird schedules.

....

The school bell rings. So the day has officially started. His first day technically. Now he just had to hope he'll be able to get to class without getting distracted by them. He closed the book and went back to put it exactly where he found it. Osomatsu walked back to the front of the library and stood for a moment before opening the door with a sigh,

"Let's go."