The bell rang to signal that the third period was over. The class of 3-7 began to move, gathering up their things needed for their next class at the Biology room.
While most of the students headed out for their biology practical lesson, a few still lingered in the class to wait at the last minute before they themselves go out for the next class.
"Mitsui! We'll be late for fourth period!" a male student called out to his friend who was still chatting with their two classmates.
"Ah, hai!" Mitsui returned, picking up his biology books from under his desk, "Hold on!"
The boy waited beside the scarred-face teenager and he couldn't help but look at his friend's smiling face, noting with relief that it was not forced but genuine in its cheerfulness.
"You're taking this well," the boy murmured, suddenly embarassed at saying this to one of the hard-cases of Shohoku highschool, "That's good."
Mitsui held his books in one hand and looked at his friend in puzzlement. "What do you mean?"
The boy looked uneasy. "Ano... well.... You..."
Mitsui turned his eyes to where his classmate was looking at and stared. There on his right side were two tables, one beside the window and the other at the next row at the far end of the class, both empty except for the vases of flowers decorating them. The flowers, although bright and beautiful, were a sad reminder of their friends' passing.
Ayako and Miyagi.
Mitsui's features turned sad for a moment before it changed again into an unusual cheerfulness.
"Me, what?"
The other boy began to fluster. "No-nothing..."
Mitsui shrugged and walked away, not waiting for his friend to follow him.
The two students who was chatting with Mitsui earlier on walked up to the boy who was still standing still beside Mitsui's desk.
"Weird, huh?" one of them commented.
"Yeah," the boy replied, "I don't know if he's forcing himself but...."
"Yeah?" the other one prompted.
"... doesn't he look like that Kuwata kid when he smiled like that?"
"Like who? What are you talking about?"
The boy suddenly jerked away from his odd thoughts and gave them but mostly himself a rueful laugh. "Ah, nothing," he said, chuckling, "I'm just being weird myself."
~~~~
When the bell for the last period was over, Mitsui walked out of the school alone, heading for the street he usually took to go home.
Instead of heading for his own house, he took a turn and soon he was walking through the gates of the Kuwata residence.
As soon as Mitsui stepped into the unlocked house, the sound of running footsteps was heard and before long, a cheerful voice greeted him ecstatically, "Mitsui-sempai! Okaeri!"
Mitsui did not move or speak as he continued to stand at the door with his bag still slung over his shoulder. Undeterred, Kuwata smiled at his senior fondly.
"It's hot today, ne? Would you like a cold drink? Come to the living room and sit down. I'll bring it to you. I've also prepared your favourite food for lunch..." Kuwata's voice was muffled by the walls separating them as the young boy went to the kitchen to fetch Mitsui the drink and was further drowned out by the barking of the puppy who has made a habit of following the brown-haired boy everywhere.
Less than a minute later, Kuwata came back with a tray of glass juice in two tall glasses, placing one of them on the table in front of Mitsui who has already sat down in the living room couch.
Kuwata took a seat beside Mitsui and sighed. "I actually wanted to be with you all the time but you insisted on going to school." The boy shrugged. "Well, I don't want to stop you..."
Mitsui stared unseeingly at the table in front of him without a word. Kuwata's brown eyes looked at the older boy, waiting for the senior to say something. When Mitsui stayed silent, Kuwata's face changed into sorrow, accepting the fact that Mitsui could not say anything without his say. Slowly, the brown-haired boy leaned towards Mitsui and rested his head on the older boy's shoulder.
"That time when you tried to kill me..." he said quietly, "...I could feel that you were dying inside. I hate it that I could push you that far... hurt you that much. But I..."
Kuwata shifted his head to look into Mitsui's blue eyes which were vacant of life.
"...I don't want to lose myself. And I don't want to lose you, too. So.."
~flashback~
Mitsui was straddled over Kuwata, knife poised over the younger boy's heart. When the brown eyes opened to stare in shock at Mitsui's blue ones, Mitsui could feel the hurt from Kuwata mixed with his own regret and sorrow. And that was before he felt something push into his mind. Something strong, restraining him, and although he could feel a flicker of familiarity in that force, he could not help but fear its unwelcome hold on him. He did not even have the chance to fight before he felt his mind slipping away from him and together with it, his own self.
The knife fell onto the wooden floorboods of the villa with a dull thud.
~end flashback~
"I just want to be with you. That's all I want," Kuwata said, sitting up to turn fully towards Mitsui with bright eyes, hoping that Mitsui would give an indication that he understood. Mitsui remained unresponsive.
Kuwata sighed again, wearily this time as his hand lifted to let his fingers touch Mitsui's cool cheek.
"Mitsui-sempai, sleep now. There are no more worries for you anymore. Forget all the hate and the sadness. Be at peace..."
Then Kuwata felt something warm and wet touch his fingers. He suddenly pulled back to stare at the trail of tears falling from Mitsui's dark blue eyes. With what Mitsui's voice could not say, his eyes told Kuwata of his sorrow.
The younger boy let his hand drop and as he watched the tears falling down Mitsui's cheeks, Kuwata was instantly reminded of his mother's voice as it talked to him in the abyss of his mind not long ago.
"Sleep, Toki-kun... Forget all your troubles. Calm yourself. Sleep. Forget everything...
...on't....don't...! Stop it! I don't want to forget anything! I don't want to lose myself! Don't make me disappear!
Kuwata shut his eyes, anguished at the sight of the tears flowing from Mitsui's dull blue orbs.
----
Kuwata felt the hard surface of a basketball bounce on the back of his head and when he turned around, the 3-P star shooter was grinning at him, holding the ball in one hand, "Kuwata is it? Want a partner?"
----
Kuwata was oblivious to everything except for the PE teacher's displeasure and of his own harsh breathing coming from his mouth. Suddenly, a warm hand clasped his shoulder and he looked up to see Mitsui who was looking at him with a worried but soft expression on his face. "Are you alright?"
----
Kuwata sat huddled on the ground, his shoulder's shaking as his body was racked by his sobs. Slowly, the boy lifted his face up and Mitsui could see tears flowing freely down the boy's pale cheeks.
"Why are you crying?" Mitsui asked, coming closer to the boy.
"Because I'm sad, sempai," Kuwata answered truthfully.
"Why?" the senior asked.
"Because no one acknowledges my existence. They don't know who I really am. They don't understand me. That makes me sad."
Slowly, Mitsui reached out and touched the boy's wet face, rubbing gently at the cooling tears. With sad eyes that reflected Kuwata's despair, he caressed the boy's cheeks with loving fingers.
"Stop. Don't cry anymore. I'm here."
----
The one who is sitting with me... He's not the Mitsui-sempai that I know...
Suddenly, Kuwata flung his arms around Mitsui and buried his face against the senior's neck. "I'm sorry, sempai..." he whispered, his body hitching with every sob that rose from his chest. I lost him... "Don't cry..." he pleaded, although his own eyes rebelled and began to release tears of their own, "Please don't cry..."
~~~~
The hospital room was quiet except for the beeping of the monitor and the light coming from the machine's screen gave miniscule illumination to the dark room. The woman lying prone on the bed was alone when suddenly the air shifted and a young boy with wavy brown hair appeared beside her bed, like a vision in a dream before the form solidified into a living being.
The young boy looked down at his mother and began the process of releasing her from her psychic prison. A few seconds later, the woman shifted and her eyes slowly opened. When she turned her head to the side, she saw her son looking at her with a sad smile on his sweet, youthful face.
The woman's voice was rough and weak in the quietness of the small room. "Toki-kun..."
Previous I Next I Back to the Velvet Room