That voice... was not Reiko-chan’s. It couldn’t have been... It was so inhuman.

I doubted any human throat could utter notes so hideous. If the speaker was human, they must have used a voice changer. Why would a hacker torment me? I was filled with intense anger and hatred. The idea that someone wanted to torment me lit a fire inside me.

I angrily called the number back. I was somewhat afraid that she would answer instead of the creepy voice. If I started yelling incoherently the moment it connected to a person, I might accidentally offend her.

It rang repeatedly before cutting to a mechanized voice, announcing that the number was not in service. I tried it over and over again. After a few attempts, the flame within me guttered and extinguished. There was no way to reach her. It was a feeble hope which pushed me to repeatedly slam my head against this metaphorical wall. I nearly threw my phone in anguish against the nearest wall.

“I’ll be a yokai. I have no place to turn to, no plan, no future.” I sniffled. There were no further avenues of salvation left to me. Where can I turn now, Reiko-chan?

I looked at my phone again. Hot tears, which seemed abnormally large, fell onto its screen. Beneath the water droplets covering the face of my phone, the clock glowed.

Eleven and forty am.

I’d wasted much of the morning, paralyzed again. I screamed, casting my no-sight towards my bathroom ceiling. My voice resonated off the walls, rising to a crescendo I couldn’t bear to hear any longer. The noises issuing from my own throat chilled my blood. I ceased to scream. It faded away to soft sobbing. I searched desperately for a suitable solution.

Yet, no answer came. Ten minutes later after intense sobbing, an odd sensation seized my body. Everyone knows that moment when you need to blow your nose. Not having nostrils anymore, I was amazed I could feel one in the center of my face. Reaching up to touch that area resulted in rubbing my fingers across a smooth fleshy surface. I snorted. It felt just the same as any other time I’d finished crying uncontrollably before. My mucus passages overreacted in moments of intense stress. I wondered if the pressure would mount so high my head might explode. Visions of it happening filled my mind. Dying like this would be extremely humiliating.

I looked for tissue, but noted that there was no more toilet paper. Looking to my towel meaningfully, I couldn’t bring myself to blow my no-nose into something that should only be used to dry your body. So much cringing. Gross... what else can I do?... Just keep moving...

I jogged in place as my noh-nose started to run. Finally an idea did occur to me. The little bag of tissues! I’d already used some on my way to work this morning to clean sweat from my face. I crouched rapidly to fish out the plastic bag from my suit pants and then unfolded it to remove a single tissue. I gratefully sniffled, thankful the girl who gave it to me.

I blew my noh-nose, not knowing what would happen. I recoiled in horror.