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Iruma could not fall asleep. From the time the sun rose, he went out of the room to eat the morning meal. Then be greeted by familiar voices that fleeted away and never to return before the next morning came. Before he could even form a connection to them. Yet something kept stopping him. So for the rest of the day was a haze and all he could remember was he felt just tired.
Up to now his head continued to throb and his body felt sore- all over the place even out of place of his own. He did not speak about it, should he? It was not like anyone really approached him or cared. Maybe he just did not remember at all. He tried to. But everytime he would, his eyes began to feel moist and his already growing pain would escalate so quickly into what felt to be beyond bearable agony.
And so for the rest of the night until when the sun was to greet him once more, he would stay in the shadows of the room and be filled with his own empty thoughts.
The wait was shorter than expected. Iruma went out of the room and sat down at the table. Whatever was in front of him filled his stomach and so he dug in. Although not enough to soothe the soft grumbling of his stomach as he gripped it with his other arm. All the while those voices came back to fill the silence. With incomprehensible words that while he did not understand felt like could do nothing but listen to them.
They were becoming softer like every time the voices were going to leave him alone again. His mouth opened even when there was no longer a meal to eat. It hanged like that unable to do much more as they fade away and he was left all by himself.
Iruma closed his mouth, having forgotten why he had opened it in the first place. Setting aside all the lingering pain within his body, he pushed through the day and opened the front door where it all ends.
Something was strange. He could tell right away… he never remembered this way to exit the fence surrounding the house. He never knows what happens after leaving the front door in the first place.
Iruma went closer to the oddly curved gate in front of him, examining it closely. An out of place design that did not seem to match the rest of the area as he looked around. His hands moved along the surprising smoothness of it despite what looked to be the hard and rough shape. He stopped, holding onto one of the bars and gripped it.
Tight. His heart was tightening with his grip as sweat begins to brim on his forehead. His head was burning, absolutely felt like he was a demon in hell. His eyes were getting wet again. Not again. Not even in all this pain could he let a sound of suffering slip through his mouth.
"Iruma-sama!" "Irumachi!"
The boy in question never questioned the name 'Iruma' being his. It was only natural to him for some reason. The voices back at the house never called him that. Only those two voices right in front of him ever said that. Without even noticing, it cleared the raging torment within him. Replacing it with something he felt like he needed.
So warm and friendly. So close.
Iruma placed both hands on the bars and looked through the wide open holes of it with clear eyes he could see… them! Their faces. They stood right there.
Right here.
"A- azz kun… C-clara…"
His two best friends with the entire world. And somehow the sun in the sky seemed to shine brighter this time. Alice looked at him with closed eyes and his signature smile he could never forget while Clara at his side dancing and having fun, making his day all the time. They had so much fun together.
With no hesitation, he pushed the gate in full force to embrace them. His effort left a loud metal hangings sound and he was still behind those bars. He tried again to push though. Push and Pull. It wouldn't budge. His best friends were still laughing, oblivious to his obvious distress.
"Clara! Azz-kun!"
He cried out louder than he had intended, his voice hurting having not been used for a while. Then Alice and Clara turned their back and proceeded to walk away. Without him. Why were they going away? They were going to pick him up right? That was what he remembered… starting to…
"I'M HERE! I'M RIGHT HERE!"
Iruma finally screamed his heart out, all the tears that had been held back sobbing right through his eyes and plastering his red faced desperate expression.
The three of them were supposed to walk to school together. They would attend all their classes together with the rest of the misfit class. Have meals together that he could never get enough of. Play time with one another. Somehow end up getting in trouble and all the attention whether it he negative or positive- as long as he was not alone in the midst of all the chaos…
The love trio until the end.
Oh.
Iruma.
Iruma remembered it all so clearly now.
And he wished that he never did.
He gave up his useless incessant sobbing and screaming, letting go of the gate bar with bleeding palms. As he finally got a clear look of what was truly in front of him.
Nothing. No one was ever there.
Alice Asmodeus. Clara Valac.
They were never here.
The odd gate he felt was nothing but a part of the metal fence that was broken and twisted. That was not where the real pain he felt was coming from. It was the truth.
He was back in the human world.
The young boy never wanted to accept it. To be back somewhere where he was never truly loved and abused by his own parents. A place where he had no real friends or real family. And then he truly broke down like never before. What else could he do but be pathetic and feel entirely hopeless in a world like this?
Iruma was only human after all.