𝟶𝟺𝟻: 𝙽𝚘 𝙴𝚜𝚌𝚊𝚙𝚎. 🧸

"I'm so glad you were able to show up." Kutabare grins, placing his hands on the table and acting as if he doesn't know why I'm here today.

"I'm not here for you to talk to me like I'm your friend. What--"

"What the hell did you do to Toya?!" An slams her hands on the table, getting all up in his face. For fuck's sake...

".. Go inside." I mumble, pointing to the door. She was just supposed to be here as a witness, but I think I should've brought Kohane instead... Even people passing by are staring at us. Why  is she so loud..?

She frowns, squinting her eyes at Kutabare while going inside. He looks a little uncomfortable.

"How aggressive."

"... Sorry about that. Anyway, as I was saying, what is your problem?" I ask, getting straight to the point.

"You're as blunt as ever.. it's nice to know you haven't changed." His stare becomes dark. Fuck.. I'm getting nervous.

Either I run out like a little bitch or I beat him like one.

"Let's pick up where we left off, shall we? You know what I was talking about, and you remember it very vividly, since that's when you ruined everything for yourself."

How can I forget?

°•°•°

"I'll see you later! There's this really cute girl that came by the café last week, and she said she'd come back! Wish me luck!" An squeals, running off before I even get the chance to say bye. Whatever.

Ever since I started talking to her, I've become a little more.. social. A lot more people talk to me now. It's odd, but.. I don't hate it.

Now I have to go give Ena her sketchbook.. she'd kill me if I didn't give it to her right now, since her art school thing is important to her. I think. Am I even allowed in..?

After finally getting entry, I look around. Her classroom should be around here...

It still bugs me how she comes home really late all depressed and stuff. Is her teacher that bad? And the old man doesn't make it any better. I was told he's doubtful of her going here. Why does he have to put her down like that..?

Ah. This one. I open the door, and before I even speak, I see what was going on inside. I'm basically frozen at the entry.

"Look at me when I talk to you, weirdo!" A guy grabs Ena by her hair, having her face him and ruining her painting. What am I looking at?

A girl grabs her from behind, grabbing her arms and holding her still.

"Come on Ena-chan, get up!" She laughs, giving her a kiss against her own will, obviously humiliating her. Her nose is bleeding. Who the fuck is this?

"Barf."

"Ew, did you really just kiss Shinjimae? Fuck, aren't you a girl? Lesbian freak..." Another guy asks, cackling as Ena. She looks like she's going to cry. Why is she acting strong? She's fully capable of stopping them. Why won't she fight back?

"Isn't your brother a homo..? One member in your family isn't enough?" One snickers.

"Did you talk to him..?! I-I told you to leave him alone!" Her voice cracks. I've never seen that expression before. Pure fear. After she says that, she gets slapped as they continue laughing.

"Yeah, yeah, we haven't laid our hands on him. Isn't that what you're for?"

"Huh? Oh, Shinonome-kun!" Another fucking girl turns around, smiling at me. They all look at me, some surprised or afraid. They don't speak, though.

"We were just playing around, weren't we, Ena?" The first guy cups her face, having her stare at me.

I was watching with the widest eyes ever. My nails are digging into my palm. I drop everything I'm holding. I'm not letting this go on.

"A-Akito--" Ena gasps.

I pull the fucker away by his shirt, putting all of my strength into my fist and punching the shit out of him. Some of the girls shriek, stepping back. A whole fight started between a high schooler and a middle schooler.

"This brat..!" Some of his friends try to attack me, but I grab the nearest objects around me and launch them at the others.

But it didn't stop there. The next minute, we were on the ground, blood coming from our faces, but I managed to get on top of him and completely overpower him. I didn't care how much my fists got bruised or bloody, or how badly I got hurt. The only thing that mattered was making sure he doesn't get out of this alive.

"What the fuck were you doing to her?!" I shout, continuously beating him until the hands that attempted to get me off fall to the floor.

I couldn't hear anything except my pounding heart. It was probably beating a mile a minute. Except I did hear one thing around me.

"Akito! Stop it! Don't you.. remember what you promised?!" Ena cries, begging me to stop while trying to get out of the girl's grasp.

"He's insane! Go get a teacher!" She screams in disgust, letting her go. Ena tries to get back on her feet to get to me, but fails, giving up and lowering her head to sob on the floor.

An adult gets behind me, lifting me and restraining my hands. I try to get away, and finish that fucker off. There's a lot of blood on my uniform and a puddle underneath him.

"Let go of me!! He's fucking dead! All of you assholes who put your hands on my sister are dead!" I yell. Is that why you've been coming home with those bruises, Ena? And how you said they were just from paint cans?

Why didn't you tell me? I glare at her, my eyes meeting her tear filled ones.

"Why the hell did you stay silent?!"

°•°•°

"And then you got suspended from your school, scolded, but not charged since you were a child and they saw the security footage," He continues. I don't want to think about it.. that was really stupid of me. Something snapped in me that day, I couldn't really hold back...

"Okay, okay, I get it. Shit. But this isn't about me! What the fuck did you do to Toya?"

He seems genuinely surprised by that.

"Oh. You found out." He looks to the side, giving up.

What? He's just going to admit it like that? It was him..?

"Yes, I was the one who suggested for Toya to leave. It was too much of a bother to have him around, so I did you a favor. Good job for finding out, Shinonome-kun! Even though you're too late." He smiles. I clench my fists, trying not to jump across this damn table. This fucker...

"You made him so depressed, he was like an abandoned puppy.. he always came to me whenever he caught the slightest glimpse of you, so scared..!" He rants, seriously creeping me the fuck out.

I'm gonna lose my fucking shit.

No, I can't. I have to stay calm.. no matter what comes out of this, I'm not giving up on Toya!

"It was so fun toying with him.. so gullible, how could you not take advantage of him?" He continues, purposefully provoking me.

"I hate you, Shinonome-kun. I've always hated you. That's why it pissed me off seeing you happy and hiding your past." He chuckles.

"That was my fucking choice. Everything I did were my choices." I argue.

"I am not who I was before. What I did before doesn't define me, and it's not going to stop me from getting better! I don't need people like you to accept me!" I feel myself trembling with fury, which pleases him.

"Well, it's too you thought your precious little Toya did."

"Asshole--!!" I get up from my seat.

"Stop!!" Before I can get close to him, An throws herself at me, knocking us both out of the chair and onto the ground.

"Fuck, An! Let me at him!" I shout at her, but she shakes her head, holding my arms together tightly.

"You two are causing such a scene.."

"You had nothing to do with what happened that day! What the hell did I ever do to you?!" Not caring about the volume in my voice, I speak up.

"Is there a fight..?"

"Kids these days..."

"Well, you're right about that.. but I just really don't like you or your sister. You're miserable." He gets up, brushing himself off and looking back at us. Ena?

What.. did Ena do to him?

"It's nice to see there are people with just as hopeless lives as mine."

And just like that, he walks off. Fuck, I knew he looked familiar! He went to her school before! And that girl from before... I saw her!

"I'll fucking find you! And when I do, I swear, I'll kill you!"

My throat starts to hurt because of how much I'm yelling. He should consider himself lucky that I can't get up. Damn you, An.

How can they live their lives normally after doing that shit?! How can people be in this society when they're straight from hell..?!

"Crap! Don't cry!" An panics, grabbing a napkin and patting my eyes.

"You're stabbing my eyes." I bite my lip so hard it begins bleeding.

And we're supposed to put up with their crap? Just because we're out of the ordinary? He can't get out of the past, if he's still pissed at Ena.

I put my face in my knees, just sitting there. I don't care about the judgement looks or the workers asking us about what happened.

"Are you okay?" An asks, but I ignore her.

Why am I like this? I almost let my anger get the best of me again... Nothing has changed since then.

I want to die.

°•°•°

"You've been missing too many school days lately.. today is the last day, you got it? I know you're not sick anymore. You should go get some fresh air." My mother scolds me, at least closing the door behind her.

Both her and Ena have been on my case lately. They won't stop bugging me. It's pissing me off.

I'm exhausted.

What would have happened if An didn't stop me? I'm glad she did, anyway. Who the fuck does he think he is..?

"Give me a call when you're able to. I'm not happy with what you did, but I'm glad you got out of it okay."

Kamishiro texted me. Why do I need their permission to do something about it if they won't? Unlike them, I'm trying my fucking hardest to get some kind of closure.

How did Tenma even put up with that guy? That two faced piece of shit..! I throw my phone, putting my hands to my face. It still hurts as much as it did before.

In school, all people do is stare at me and whisper when I turn my back. I didn't give a shit about the rumors at first, but knowing that it's what that fucker told them...

How the hell did he know about my past though?

As I said before, I went out with girls who confessed to me thinking I was some badass, but once they figured out who I actually was they lost interest. Or was it because I frankly didn't care about them? Most of them were assholes who just stood next to me to look good.

I was never interested in the first place, so that's probably why An would tell me to stop agreeing to go out with them to avoid a problem.

And then my last girlfriend ended up being the problem. It's my fault for not listening. I thought she was someone I could trust, and at least be on a friendship level with. But...

"I think I like guys."

".. What?"

Yikes.

After that, going to school became hell. They would just look at me in either disdain or curiosity. It doesn't matter though, since I moved, and I was fourteen. Damn, it wasn't even that long ago. I had a whole new start, but I blew it again.

"Shinonome-kun?" I hear a whisper at my door, and lift my head to see who it is. Obviously Ena invited someone over again.

Emu?

"What's up? Oh, sorry about the mess.. I'll clean it." I sigh, staring at the ground. My room has had better days.

"Oh, you've been away for a while, right? How did that go?" I put up a friendly smile, creeping her out. Dude.

"I have something important to talk to you about!" She shouts at the top of her lungs, taking out her phone. If she shows me her gallery full of cat pictures, I'm gonna-

"Look!"

.. Text messages?

"I'm sorry I took a while. I probably won't be able to message you as frequently as I'd like, since my father usually goes through my phone... I'm glad we are able to get back in touch, Otori."

"What am I looking at?" I ask, looking back up at her. It's great she's talking to someone again, but what does this have to do with me..?

"Oh, sorry." She removes her thumb from the contact name. Shocked, my jaw practically drops as I see who it is. Is that actually..?!

"'Super duper best friend Aoyagi-kun ☆'..?" I read it out loud, sighing. That makes me concerned on what my contact name is...

"It's Aoyagi-kun! I visited his house when I was over there, can you believe it?!!" She nods rapidly, grabbing my shoulders and shaking me roughly. I'm gonna vomit.

"He's alive! Isn't that so great?!" She squeals, spinning around with her phone. He was never dead in the first place!

"Is he doing okay?" I ask immediately, feeling my face heat up. Is that seriously my first reaction to someone I said I let go of..? Well, I'm a liar.

"Yup! He's still a little shy, though. It's funny 'cause he asked the same thing about you~!" Emu hums.

He did?! Blushing, I stare at the ground, not knowing what to say after that.

"I didn't get to answer, though."

I look back up at her for a moment, then get up to strangle her.

"Wait!! I have information!! If I die, he'll be there forever!" She chokes, trying to escape. I roll my eyes, dropping her.

"I have to tell you something, too. Should we meet up this weekend to talk? There are some people who are still worried about him." I suggest, and she nods.

".. Why aren't you in school?"

"This was important! And I got too lazy. Wanna go get crepes?"

"Yeah."

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟺𝟻, '𝙽𝚘 𝙴𝚜𝚌𝚊𝚙𝚎. 🧸': 𝚎𝚗𝚍.

°•°•°

Creator's note: CORNBALL