Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Akito was a nearly normal teenager. He loved music and singing with his friends in his free time. But lately, he'd been increasingly absent, not physically, but mentally. His friends wondered what was going on, especially since Toya had completely disappeared.

More and more posters announcing Toya's disappearance decorated the walls of the city and Kamiyama School... Akito seemed to lower his eyes in front of each one, as if he wanted to forget his best friend, as if the fact that he would probably never see him again was too much for him but no one knew the truth, no one could know what was going on in Akito's head.

One night, I decided to gently knock on his bedroom door, and he answered in a hoarse voice that I could come in. When I reached down to open the door, I felt something was wrong... But I gently pressed my hand against the handle and pushed the door into his room. I looked to my right and saw him—he was sitting cross-legged on the bed, his eyes red and puffy—he had been crying. My gaze softened as I approached my little brother and sat on the edge of his bed to silently comfort him for a few moments.
After a few minutes, I finally decided to break the silence that didn't seem to be changing anything... In the softest voice I could muster, I began to speak, gently stroking his hand to comfort him.

"Hey, Akito... You've been looking... absent for a few days now. Is it because of Aibou-kun disappearance?"

He didn't have the courage to answer with words so he just nodded his head downwards. It hurt me to see my little brother like that... We bicker a lot and we don't vent to each other much. Most of the time I reject him when things aren't going well without meaning to, but he hadn't rejected me in return so he probably needed help.

When I opened my mouth to speak, the words wouldn't come out. I didn't know what to say to console him; it was so strange. The words felt like they were stuck in my throat... Usually, I always knew how to console my friends, but this seemed so different and almost like new...
The thought of going to the empty sekai for advice crossed my mind, but I quickly dismissed it. I was his big sister; I was supposed to know how to help him on my own, but I didn't know, I didn't know anymore.
I took a deep breath and then spoke, my voice slightly more sad than before.

"I'm going back to my room... Don't hesitate to call me if you need any help."

He nodded his head down again and I nodded back, then stood up and tiptoed to the door as if afraid that if I made too much noise my little brother would break right in front of me.

I walked to my room, opened the door just as gently as I had my brother's, and stepped inside. I then walked softly to my bed and sat down on the edge. Shame and regret at not being able to comfort Akito tugged at my heartstrings. I was afraid, afraid that my brother would feel alone the way I had felt alone so many times.

Today I was a little sick, my nose was stuffy and my head was spinning. I hadn't been to my usual evening classes. Maybe tomorrow I'll feel better and know what to do with my brother, maybe tomorrow I'll be able to comfort him.

The next day, I woke up late. My nose was completely blocked on both sides; it was horrible. I sat up in bed and blew my nose thoroughly, then threw the tissue somewhere in my room. It was Saturday, so Akito was either at home or at the weekend's garage.

I walked into the living room, Akito was on the couch, asleep in front of a doctor show... Well, weird, I'd never seen him watch such things, but I didn't ask any more questions. I tiptoed towards him and noticed blood on the ends of his sleeves. My eyes widened, and I suddenly remembered the scars on my own arms. I knelt down in front of the couch and shouted his name. He instantly woke up, frowning. I sighed in relief, thinking he was dead.

"What're you doing?" He replied in an angry voice, rubbing his eyes roughly.

I slapped him across the face and forcibly pulled up his sleeves. I frowned when I saw nothing... No marks, not even a barely visible one. What was the blood for?

"Akito... Why is there blood on your sleeves?" I asked in a worried voice.

He didn't answer, as if he were ashamed. What was going on? I didn't understand a thing... And then, that doctor show on TV...? I looked at him even more intensely, burning with the desire to know what was going on in his head. Then, before I could say anything else he took me in his arms and wrapped them around me tightly. He then, spoke in a crying voice.

"Don't tell anyone... I beg."

He begged me not to say anything... But what? What shouldn't I say... I absolutely had to know, so I slowly released the pressure I had on my arms because of the surprise of when he took me in his arms and I began to speak with a trembling voice.

"W-what shouldn't I say to anyone?"

He then started to cry even more, what could he have possibly do? Did this have anything to do with Toya's disappearance...? I was already imagining the worst but then, he answered me.

"I... I did something to Toya."

I was completely blown away. Maybe he knew where the blue-haired teenager was. I decided to speak once again in a hushed voice.

"What do you mean...? Where is Toya?"

After that, he hugged me even tighter as if he didn't want me to run away and spoke in a hoarse voice.

"Under my bed."

I totally freezed when he said that. How was Toya under his bed. How was he under his bed for one whole week now. What was going on. I was getting more and more scared of the whole situation but I didn't knew the one I should be scared of was the man who was desperately holding me. After some time he released me and I gently got up and backed away very slowly, as if my own brother had became a stray dog. He didn't seemed to move at all so I went to his bedroom as fast and softly as possible. I quickly pushed the door opened. My nose was still stuffed, but in the daylight, I could see the enormous amount of flies and garbage bags scattered around his room. I took a deep breath and smelled the musty, metaly odor. The atmosphere was dark, the room was cold, and I had a bad feeling. The window, however, was wide open. I immediately squatted down next to a garbage bag and opened it. Inside, I saw a knife. A simple knife among several other pieces of garbage. As I plunged my hand into the garbage bag to search, I slightly cut my finger and grabbed a professional scalpel like the ones doctors used for operations. I emptied the bag completely and saw at least four different knives. I crawled over to another trash bag and touched it just through the plastic, the smell was even more nauseating around this one and I could feel something liquid and slimy inside. I opened the bag and was completely disgusted by what I saw inside, it looked like a lot of blood but above all, a liver. I couldn't put my hands inside of the bag, so I closed it and immediately covered my nose in disgust. There were several other bags, but I didn't even want to open them... Though there was still one last thing I had to check: under my little brother's bed. I walked over to his bed, took a deep breath, covered my nose and mouth with my pajama sleeve, and gently bent down to check...
I was met directly by Toya's blank stare. His eyes were wide open and the rest of his body was completely mutilated. He had lost a lot of blood. But I checked too late, he was dead. The liver I saw was his and I felt completely disgusted by my own brother in this very moment... But I couldn't bring myself to call the police... It was probably an accident, I hoped it was. Before I could turn around to go get my brother, I was stabbed in the back, right in the lung. I quickly turned around and saw my brother with a stare just as blank as Toya's... He was holding the knife. How could he have betrayed me like that? With a tear, I collapsed to the ground. Each breath filled my lung with more and more blood. It was like drowning in my own misery. I was scared, I was in pain, and my vision began to darken. As for Akito, he crouched down and took me in his arms, whispering words in my ear that I couldn't hear, that I didn't want to hear. A few seconds later, the flame inside me went out. I was so close to the truth, and yet, I hadn't. I should have been careful, but it was too late.

Chapter Text

(This happened before Ena's pov!)

It was a normal Monday at kamiyama school. I was on my way to school, the trees were beautifully decorated with oranges and yellows leaves. I walked towards the school, the sound of the dead leaves I was walking on was very satisfying. We were in the middle of the month of September. It was the beginning of the second term at school but I wasn't really worried about my grades as I was quite intelligent academically.

Then, finally I arrived in front of the school. I don't know who i was waiting for, probably a habit for when I used to hang out with Akito. We had a big argument not so long ago and since then, I didn't really wanted to talk to him... Well, I just couldn't talk to him anymore since he confessed his feelings to me. I wasn't sure how to answer at the time and to be honest I never thought of dating a man before, especially my best friend. I was also worried about what my father would think of us if it happened so I refused and ran away. Maybe I shouldn't have done that... I'm for sure the dumb one in this situation.

After some times, school started and I went to class as usual. Everything went fine, I managed to listen to the classes whitout thinking too much about Akito. Fortunately we weren't in the same class so I couldn't see him all day because it would have been real torture to me.
As lunch break started, I went in the hallways with some of my classmates but eventually, one of my classmate went to the bathroom and every single one of his other friends went in togheter for some reasons. I frowned. I found it strange for them all to follow him and said I would wait for them outside. They took quite a long moment in there and after some times, someone approached me. I looked up and saw him; Akito, walking towards me with a blank expression. I thought he was sick or something like that, he really looked pale. I took a deep breath and decided to speak with a gentle voice.

"Hello, Akito. Are you feeling well...?"

But he didn't answer at all. He was for sure still mad at me but I didn't knew it was that bad. I felt so guilty but before it could totally consume me, Akito approached me and whispered right in my ear.

"Come at my home after school, we need to talk."

I didn't knew what to say, or what I should do. I stood there, motionless, and completely perplexed, but eventually I plucked up my courage and nodded very slightly. He nodded back and left. I was still staring at him, he looked like a zombie now. I was worried about his mental state... But I sighed and went back to my class whitout even waiting for my classmates that were still occupying the bathroom.
I couldn't focus at all once classes started, I couldn't listen and I couldn't write down what the teacher was seeing, my mind kept thinking of him and our interaction just before. I could still feel his heavy breath against my ear. My heart was pounding just rethinking of this moment. Once it was the end of the annoying classes, I runned towards the exit of the school and saw him, waiting for me in front of the school gates. I approached him and he started walking, whitout a word. I, of course, followed him until we arrived to his house.

We entered and it was dead silent inside, Ena probably wasn't there as her shoes weren't at the entrance, neither their parents. We both took of our shoes and went in. Then, he lead me towards his room and I sat down on the little armchair he kept in his bedroom. As for him, he sat down on the other side of the table, on his knees, on the little cushion which was rather comfortable, by the way coming from someone who had to sit down on it many times before.
We stared at each other whitout saying anything, I felt kind of uneasy and unfomrtable so I decided to spoke first in the calmest voice I could do.

"Why did you bringed me here?"

Akito's eyes widened as he slowly got up, still staring at me. This scene was actually terrifying. I couldn't recognize my friend, he was that angry with me? But just as my thoughts began to wonder, Akito approached the door of his room and locked it with the key. Why did he do that? Why would he want more privacy while we had the whole house for us. Then, finally, Akito started to spoke.

"You know... I really need something more to happen to us..."

I frowned as I looked at his nervous form. I couldn't help but look away from time to time, I wasn't able to hold his stare too long. With a shaking voice I couldn't help, I answered.

"Like what...?"

- "Toya, I love you. Can't you see that? I love you with my whole heart. Please, let's do something togheter we both will never forget." His voice didn't tell me anything good. It was colder than usual and I was scared.

- "No... I don't love you back Akito. I'm sorry." I said, my voice shaking more and more.

I felt like a prey in his eyes at the moment. He looked hungry. I couldn't keep up with my usual calm behavior around the man who used to be my best friend, my partner. Suddenly, I blinked and when I opened my eyes again, he was lunging at me. Instinctively, I protected my head with my forearms, but of course it was no use. He easily separated them on either side of my body and took me in his arms, throwing me violently into his bed. My head hit the headboard hard and the room began to spin. I couldn't move, not until I recovered from the shock because I knew I would fall. He then got on the bed too and straddled my hips so I was completely stuck. Then he took the collar of my shirt and kissed me harshly. It didn't felt like love at all. I violently pushed him away but he got angry and slapped me hard on the cheek, then he punched me in the stomach.

Though, the punch was cold... It was a very weird feeling. I felt a warm spread though my stomach and then I looked at my belly and saw blood spread across my shirt. That wasn't a punch. It was a stab. I screamed in agony as I realized but he put his other hand over my mouth to keep me shut. I was absolutely terrified.
All I wanted was to talk it out.
As I was suffering in silence, I looked at his face which was now stained with tears. I felt a pang in my chest. Maybe he didn't wanted this either. I understood that fate just made my life end like this. I smiled slightly to comfort him and spoke in a low and weak voice.

"It's okay Akito. Don't blame yourself. You can kill me."

He looked back at me and wiped the tears on his face with the sleeves of his hoodie then he pulled out the knife and stabbed me again, and again, and again, everywhere on my body until I couldn't breath, couldn't see and couldn't hear anymore. I was dead but at least I died on good hands.