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I never told him about my nightmare.
To be fair, Ibuki never talked about his nightmare in that yacht either. As always, he keeps his sad secrets to himself and only pretends to be this happy-go-lucky partner of mine. Trying his best to make me happy, to help me and others and being an idiot like always…but something has changed in him ever since the Kuzumi incident.
It's been two years and we’ve since transferred to another unit.
They’ve decided to separate us for some weird reason but after Ibuki, literally ran after their captain while he was riding his bike in the park, yelling and screaming that he needs his Shima and Melond Bread Truck, they decided to leave this idiot partner of mine alone and we both transferred to Unit 212.
Before Kuzumi, Ibuki was my happy-go-lucky partner.
His eyes had always shone with excitement and happiness, and nothing can ever make him angry or sad. He was always happy Even after Gama-san, he somehow managed to recover very fast but in these two years, I saw him change a lot. He became someone else, someone new, someone stronger and a bit depressed for unknown reasons!
I’ve tried many times to ask him if something is wrong, but he always stares at me with those most beautiful sad eyes, smiles a sad little smile and changes the topic by saying silly things like ‘Shima-chan is worried about me?’ or ‘Do you love me now, Shima-chan?’ or ‘Is this your ufufu feeling about me because my heart goes Kuynkyun when Shima-chan is worry about me!’ and such… Ibuki’s standard defense Guard Style!
I know something is bothering him. I know he’s having nightmares since we’re both now living together in Gama-san’s place. Gama-san passed away last year and his place was inherited by Ibuki, as promised.
After his death, Ibuki was so down and depressed that we decided to take a long week holiday somewhere else so he might recover. So We decided to go somewhere near the ocean, having fun and not thinking about anything but as soon as we arrived and he saw the ocean, something died in those bright eyes again. He never said anything about what he saw or remembered but I somehow knew that it’s related to Kuzumi and the nightmare he had, before we escaped from that damn yacht.
I had a nightmare as well after I inhaled that weird drug. The nightmare that still makes me shiver whenever I think about it, that makes me angry and hate myself because all of this, all of that happened had been my fault, because I couldn’t trust my Partner, because I lost my faith on Ibuki and he decided to act alone!
That time I arrogantly pushed Ibuki away. Even though I thought I was protecting him, but in the end I was the one who hurt him as much as Kuzumi did.
In my nightmare, I was too late to save him…
In my nightmare when I arrived, the whole boat was soaked in blood. Kuzumi and his friend were dead, someone has brutally killed them and There’d been no trace of Ibuki. After the investigation team arrived and we checked the CCTV, we found out the identity of the killer.
Ibuki Ai!
I had no idea what happened or what Kuzumi told him but one minute, they were talking and then the next, Ibuki shot them many times and left the boat.
We searched everywhere; his place, Gama-san’s and everywhere we thought he might’ve been hiding, but found nothing. We only knew that he went to see Gama-san for the last time and left a message:
“I’ll fix everything, I’ll fix everyone!”
In my nightmare, Ibuki goes missing for two years.
We searched everywhere to find him, Ex-police officer and now a dangerous criminal known as the Hunter! aptly named since he’s taken to hunting down criminals. Some of his victims were even minors and after each kill, he would stare into nearby cameras with a silly smile on his face as he waved ‘Bye Bye’ to us!
In my nightmare, a part of me died each time someone was killed by him and it hurts so much that I decided to kill him myself, and maybe after that…
After a two- and half-year investigation we finally found him hiding in the middle of a forest with a kid whom he planned to kill or as he believed, Punishing. We ambushed him and tried to save the kid but we were too late. By the time we arrived, the kid was dead, his face frozen in a way to show that he had a slow and painful death.
In my nightmare, me and my new partner; Ikou were running after him in the dark forest.
Ikou was a young and fresh-faced man; kind, funny, an idiot just like my old Ibuki and brave…so brave that he saved me many times, just like Ibuki did before becoming the Hunter.
We finally found him!
We were in a clearing in the middle of the forest as a giggling Ibuki stood in front of us.
“Shima-chan runs fast, I’m amazed!”
“Ibuki…”
“Ibuki Ai, Drop your weapon and surrender!”
he laughed. “Is he your new partner? He’s cute!”
“Ibuki, stop it!”
“did he know that You betrayed me?”
His eyes were dark, so dark and deep that it scared me. His eyes was full of sadness, Anger, Hatred, emptiness and some cold was dwelling in depth of those beautiful always happy eyes… something Devil, something not very Ibuki like!
His hairs were Grey now, even his face changed and his smile was cold and something animal, this new Ibuki Ai… no, This Heartless Hunter was something so nightmarish that I had no choice but to kill!
He looked just like a monster, something even worse than Kuzumi had been!
“Gama-san betrayed me. You betrayed me. You all left because I was not something that you’ve expected me to be. because I was a coward and as you always say, an idiot. It was hard Shima-chan, so hard to deal with all these emotions and when Kuzumi asked me to help him escape, I thought, why not? So, I killed him and his good-for-nothing friend and ran! I killed them all, they deserved to die painfully and slowly since they ruined everyone’s life! Now tell me Shima-chan, am I still an idiot to you?”
“YOU WERE MY PARTNER, I TRUSTED YOU!”
Ibuki smirked
“I was nothing but an idiot to you, you never trusted me, you only used me… if I were your Partner, then why did you betray me?”
“Please stop, let me help you!”
“Ibuki Ai, Drop your weapon and…”
“Ikou-kun talking so much!”
Abruptly, Ibuki changed into the Hunter; his eyes became so cold that I shivered, feeling so empty and lost.
“Why won’t you shoot me, Ikou-kun?”
“I’m not someone like you!”
Ibuki smirked
“Ikou-kun, that hurts… what do you mean someone like me?”
“Shima trusts me! I’ll never betray him as you did!”
Ibuki laughed!
it was cold, empty and wild.
“Shima, huh? Not Kazumi-san or Shima-chan but just Shima? Ikou-kun, I’m so glad that Shima-chan finally found someone worthy of his love and friendship!”
“Drop your…!”
“but really you talk so much…”
Without a warning Ibuki shot Ikou three times; one in his forehead and two bullets to his heart.
“IKOU!”
“IKOU-CHAN~!”
I ran to his side but it was too late, he was dead!
Ibuki was having fun, laughing hysterically and dancing his silly dance even as Ikou lay bleeding!
“What have you done!? Why did you kill him!?”
“Oh, is Shima-chan sad?”
“IBUKI!”
“because I wanted to, now, is Shima-chan sad? Good…because now Shima-chan could feel a bit how I felt when I’ve found you betrayed me, when I’ve heard that you decided to leave me alone…”
Then he pointed his gun at me
“Goodbye Aibou!”
Then He fired!
“… Shima?”
We were in our usual Ramen-shop having dinner.
After 18 hours of working, we were both too exhausted to go home and make something.
Ibuki was staring at me worryingly.
“Did something happen?”
“What? No, nothing…why?”
“… you’re crying!”
I touched my face and it was wet, weird!
“I’ve been around you too much, I think I’m turning into an idiot just like you!”
“Shima-chan!”
“Don’t pout like a spoiled kid… let’s go home!”
“Ah, I’m so tired, Shima, carry me!”
“My Partner is just a silly spoiled kid.”
That night Ibuki had another nightmare.
Around 3am I heard him crying in his sleep, mumbling something under his breath and shivering.
“Ibuki, wake up!”
“Stop…”
“Ibuki it’s a nightmare, it’s ok, wake up!”
“Don’t…please, I’ll do anything! Just don’t!”
“Ibuki, wake up!”
“Don’t kill him, please! He’s my partner!”
Is he still having nightmare about Kuzumi?
I touched his face softy and whispered comforting words and it somehow worked, his breathing slowed a bit and he stopped shaking and by 4am, he was all calm and snoring.
Next morning, he looked so tired, sad and depressed and it hurts me so much to see him like that.
Hunter was still vivid and alive in my head and Ibuki’s eyes in that morning was somehow, very much like the hunter before he killed Ikou; sad, empty, depressed.
it was really the time we seriously talk about that day and our nightmares!
“I don’t want to talk about it…”
Of course, he refused to talk but sulk like a 4 years old kid!
“Ibuki…”
“I really don’t want to remember!”
“You remember it every night and scream in your sleep, I can’t have a proper sleep because my Partner screaming in his sleep every night!”
“I…I didn’t know, I’m sorry!”
“then Let’s talk!”
“If it bothers you that much then, I’ll find somewhere else to stay. I’m sorry, I didn’t know I’m screaming…”
“Have you reached a new level in being an idiot? I’m not bothered because of the screams and the cries! I’m bothered because you’ve changed! You’re always sad, always down…like something crashed in you and you couldn’t fix it or I’ve failed to fix it. You haven’t been yourself since Kuzumi. Even Gama-san’s death didn’t bother you that much as Kuzumi does. What happened in that boat? What happened before I found you? What are your nightmares about? Who’s dying in your nightmares that make you begged like that?”
Ibuki stared at me with wide and scared eyes.
“Shima…”
I touched his hand to comfort him and smiled by best smile to make him feel better.
“Tell me Ibuki, I’ll help!”
“You can’t!”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because you died! Because you’ll die one day and I can do nothing but mourn! Because you’ll leave me alone like Gama-san, like my other friends, like any other human being! Because you didn’t trust me enough that time to help you!”
Because Shima-chan betrayed me!
For just a second, there were no Ibuki in front of me but The Hunter… Is this another nightmare?
“Ibuki…”
“See? Told you, Shima-chan, that you couldn’t…”
I can’t let him turn into the Hunter, to become my nightmare… To go after people and kill them just because he feels that it’s the right thing to do…I couldn’t let my innocent beautiful Ibuki fall into the darkness and become something worst than Kuzumi, to become the Hunter!
“It was my fault…. I’m so sorry for hurting you, Ibuki!”
“Eh? Shima?!”
I hugged him so tight that my chest hurts and he was too shocked that at first, did nothing but then he hugged me back – not that tight – and giggled.
“Shima-chan is so cute!”
I love this idiot…
“Don’t ruin the moment!”
This beautiful soft warm idiot…
“Shima-chan is so cute, my heart goes Kyunkyun for you!”
I’ll protect him no matter how…
“I take back my apology!”
I’ll do whatever it needs to keep him sane and safe…
“I won’t let you down Shima! I’ll never become something you’d be scared or ashamed of!”
“Huh?”
“Nothing…”
That night, Ibuki told me about his nightmare.
about how Kuzumi killed me, how Ibuki found me and how he killed Kuzumi as a revenge.
How he cried so much until he passed out and woke up in a hospital.
He told me how they interrogated him, how he resigned and about my funeral.
He told me about everything he saw in his nightmares and how much it all hurts him that one night, he decided to end everything and he jumped from that building that my last partner lived because he though that way, we’ll meet each other again.
We talked and cried and hugged till he fell asleep in my lap.
This idiot partner of mine…
“I’m not disappointed on you nor am I ashamed of you, Ibuki. I’m so proud of you for being so strong!”
That night, I dreamed about everything and nothing. However after that night Hunter never hunts me down, he never appeared in my dreams again Instead, it was always my silly happy idiot partner Ibuki Ai, the one and only idiot in this world that keeps me sane and afloat.