Chapter Text
“Todomatsu!”
He heard someone calling his name, but he wasn’t sure if it was real or if he was simply imagining it. Every noise blended together at that moment — the sirens, the voices, everything else — and he no longer was able to distinguish one from the others. Everything happened so quickly during the past minute, and he laid there with his face against the ground, paralyzed and unable to move. He felt a sticky substance against his scalp, not quite sure what it was, and he raised his arm, wanting to feel it, only for his hand to limply fall back onto the cement of the sidewalk. He just didn’t have enough energy to move.
Suddenly, he felt himself being turned over onto his back, and he was barely able to make out the silhouette of someone standing over him. His vision was just as unclear as his hearing, foggy and unable to register distinct sensations. Who was that figure, exactly…? They kneeled down close to him, and he felt something — a hand? — brush his bangs away from his face. He could just about make out something yellow… Or was that… green…
Something was hitting the side of his face now, but he didn’t have the energy to react to the sharp contact. The figure was now closer; he swore that their mouth was moving, probably saying something to him, but considering he couldn’t even make out who they were, it was a no-brainer that he couldn’t read their lips either.
Ah, but then the figure was gone — where did they go? — and he felt himself lifted up off the ground and onto another surface, though he wasn’t sure what exactly. What remained of his consciousness was now rapidly leaving him, and the last thing he noted before his world went completely black was the sound of beeping.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
Beep. Beep.
Beep.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
A groggy Matsuno Todomatsu felt himself jarred awake from his nightmare by the incessant beeping sounding somewhere to his right, and subconsciously, reached out in the unknown source’s general direction, only to grasp at nothing but thin air. Instead of persisting in his fruitless attempt to find the origin of that wretched noise, he just groaned and rolled over to his side, putting his pillow over his own face and ears in an effort to shut it out. It didn’t work.
“Osomatsu-niisan, whatever that is, shut it up,” he grumbled to the individual that was normally to his immediate left in the futon, eyes still squeezed shut. He was too tired for this. Whatever time it was, it was definitely too early.
Still, the beeping continued. Todomatsu groaned, his mood further souring by the second. “Osomatsu-niisan…” When nothing happened, he attempted to kick his brother from underneath the sheets. “Do something, you shitty eldest!”
Instead of making contact with flesh and getting the indignant yelp he was hoping for, however, his foot ended up hitting something far more rigid and far, far more painful. His eyes popped open and he immediately sat up, gripping his toes in agony. “Ow ow ow…” He turned his head to find out what exactly he kicked, still expecting to see Osomatsu and three certain other brothers on the other side of him…
…but all he saw was an off-white wall that was undoubtedly what his foot had made contact with. Todomatsu blinked, pain and ire both forgotten and replaced by surprise at the unexpected sight. The last he remembered, he didn’t sleep so close to the edges of their room—heck, he was pretty sure their room’s walls didn’t look anything like this in the first place. Also, where were his brothers? He frowned in confusion, still unable to register anything properly after having just woken up… Was he just seeing things?
Yeah, that was probably it. That was definitely it. He balled his hands into his fists and rubbed the remaining sleep out of his eyes, thinking that once he looked up, he was going to see his brothers and the strange image he now saw would have disappeared. But when he did… Nope. That wall was still there.
It wasn’t just the wall either. Todomatsu began to realize that the material beneath him felt not only odd, but unfamiliar as well. Maybe with a bit more hesitance than was necessary, he looked down to see why this was so, and he immediately froze.
This was a bed, a twin-sized bed with dull grey mattress sheets and a matching blanket to go along with it. But Todomatsu didn’t own a bed. Todomatsu owned something else entirely: a futon, a futon that he shared with five people identical to him. So why was he…?
He was beginning to… not exactly panic, but a countless number of red flags were raising quickly in his mind, one after the other. Where… Where was he? He didn’t remember this place at all, and he was pretty sure he never visited anywhere before going to sleep last night.
In fact, he didn’t really remember last night’s events well at all. He and his brothers had all gone out to the bar, and he may have gotten drunk… But that wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. The six of them went out for drinks all the time, courtesy of the eldest, and the more lucid of the brothers would at least make sure to lug the others back home. So if he followed that train of thought, one of them, probably Karamatsu, should’ve carried him back to the house…
…So what was he doing here, wherever this was?! Okay, never mind, the panic was definitely creeping up on him. This wasn’t good. This wasn’t good at all. He took several deep breaths in an attempt to soothe himself, hoping to keep himself calm enough to figure out what the hell was going on.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Oh, right, that noise had never stopped. Todomatsu had been so preoccupied with his thoughts that he didn’t even notice until now. He turned to the sound’s origin, at last finding out that it was a digital clock, reading 8:16 AM, sitting on the table stand right next to the bed. The complete opposite of the more traditional alarm clock he and his brothers had been using for what seemed like forever, it was just another thing enshrouded in unfamiliarity that further cemented the fact that he wasn’t anywhere in the house he had called home for over 20 years.
He reached over and finally hit the snooze button on top so the incessant beeping would no longer have the potential to disrupt his thoughts. An unsettling silence immediately took over as a result, and Todomatsu couldn’t help but shudder. This wasn’t the kind of quietness he was accustomed to.
Now that the initial shock of waking up in some place so unknown had subsided, Todomatsu struggled to wrap his mind around this strange predicament. He swore he was with the other five just last night, and there was no way that he would ever come to a place like this, not even if it was by accident because he just so happened to be that drunk off of his feet. Sure, there were times when he couldn’t exactly remember what happened after he drank too much, but he wasn’t as bad as to wander off somewhere and wake up in the morning as confused and unsettled as he was now. Besides, even if he were the type to do that, it would never happen anyway. His brothers would be there, and they would make sure that he—
His brothers. Where the hell were his brothers? Within seconds, his unease was replaced by irritation and accusatory thoughts. Of course, how could he have been such a fool to not come to this realization earlier? This was a prank that those little shitbags were playing on him, obviously! He had to give them credit; they definitely made sure to make this whole thing quite elaborate. Not everyone could pull off abandoning their drunk little brother in a place like this overnight just to mess with him, but nothing less could be expected from those with the Matsuno surname. Todomatsu couldn’t help but be a little impressed underneath the indignation bubbling within him.
Granted, being impressed wasn’t necessarily a good thing despite its usual connotation, and it definitely wasn’t right now. The fact that they went too far with him this time remained unchanged, and Todomatsu really wasn’t going to let this go any time soon. Of course, there were those previous incidents that had occurred, such as when they trashed his reputation at his workplace (which he really kind of was still mad about), but fine, whatever. He could accept that things like that had happened, but this? Screw this! How dare they leave him alone in a place as run-down as this overnight?! They all knew perfectly well that he had a crippling fear of being alone at night! Sure, it was morning now, and it wasn’t like he was awake to fear the possible monsters lurking in the dark that were out to get him while he was sleeping, but the thought was what mattered! Die, you shitty older brothers! Once he found them later, they were going to get it.
(But despite it all, there was a good chunk of him, his more reasonable side, whispering to him that something wasn’t right; that deep down, he knew that no matter how many awful things they may have done to each other over the years, something like this wasn’t on par with their definition of a standard practical joke; that it was too out-of-the-blue, too malicious; that even though he would never admit it to himself, Todomatsu knew that they wouldn’t pull something this needlessly cruel, especially when he didn’t even do anything to warrant their ire.)
He needed to get out of here. Grumbling to himself, he went to the bathroom to inspect himself in the mirror; he needed to look at least half-decent if he really did go as wild as he thought he last night. But once he saw his reflection, he paused, because his clothes clearly weren’t his usual pink hoodie and brown beanie that he swore he had been wearing when he and his brothers had gone out. Instead, he was wearing a simple white T-shirt and dark blue sweatpants, which seemed like a normal enough outfit… except Todomatsu didn’t remember ever owning such items of clothing.
The realization was enough to make him momentarily freeze in his spot, but he shook his head and brushed it off only mere seconds later. It’s just one massive prank, he reminded himself. Don’t freak out over nothing. They just took and replaced your clothes.
He noticed that there was one lone cup and toothbrush, both looking like they had been used recently, sitting on the counter, and he couldn’t help but wonder where the actual owner of this apartment was. Were they out of town? Or were they just out running errands? Hopefully, they wouldn’t come back until after Todomatsu was gone. It would kind of suck if he had to explain his situation to a random stranger. Assuming that the stranger would even bother letting him explain; it wouldn’t be surprising if they just jumped to the conclusion that Todomatsu was a burglar and went right to calling the cops on him.
He didn’t really look as presentable as he would have liked, but he eventually decided that he didn’t look entirely awful once he ran his fingers through his hair a few times and splashed some water onto his face. He could clean himself up further once he was actually back at home. After finishing up his business, he went down the tiny hallway to where the door was, opening it and stepping outside. As he looked left and right, noticing other doors identical to the one he had just stepped through, he quickly realized that he was standing on the second-story veranda of a cheap apartment complex.
Looking around, he absorbed his surroundings: the general vicinity appeared very suburban, almost deserted, so he definitely was a good distance away from the city. Inwardly, he cursed; he couldn’t really say that he was familiar with the area. He was sure he wasn’t that far from Akatsuka Ward, but still, it would have been nice if he actually had his phone with him so he could look up his location. But nope, his shitty brothers took that away from him, too.
Ah well, at least they couldn’t rob him of his social skills. He could always see if he could go find someone and ask them for directions so he could get out of here as soon as possible. And he really wanted to get out of here as soon as possible; this place was already giving him the creeps. The entire apartment was old and worn down, and he couldn’t help but wonder if this was actually a jiko bukken. The thought sent a shiver down his spine. He never really fared well with these types of eerie subjects.
He shivered and wrapped his arms around his torso, feeling the chill in the air. It was a crisp, early winter morning, when the yearly cold was really beginning to set in, when a thin T-shirt was definitely not the suitable choice of clothing. This just gave him another reason on why he needed to hurry and get back — he was already missing his hoodie.
Taking what he thought would be his final glance at the lonely, somewhat ominous apartment he had just exited, Todomatsu walked down the veranda and down the stairs at the end, determined to find his way back to his warm household.