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“Ren.”
It’s a one word sentence, and Ren is instantly on alert. He isn’t exaggerating when he says he knows Gakushuu better than anyone, and he knows that quiver in his voice. He hasn’t heard it in years, and even then, it wasn’t this bad.
“I’m here” He says, and then, because Gakushuu hasn’t said anything else and he’s worried, “Gakushuu?”
“I’m here. I’m. Also here.” Gakushuu stutters over his words, and Ren’s heart stutters in his chest. “I’m here.”
“You are,” Ren agrees firmly. “Can you tell me where “here” is?”
“My house.”
That’s… well, it’s better than the place Ren’s mind went to. He thinks of their second year of middle school, of a bridge far above a river, and Gakushuu absentmindedly telling him a story of a boy who loved basketball and a man who loved that boy more than his own son. At least Gakushuu isn’t there again.
But home, for Gakushuu, isn’t a safe place to be. Ren’s known his friend since they were seven, and no matter how hard Asano Gakuhou seems to be trying these days, Ren still doesn’t trust him with Gakushuu’s safety in the slightest.
“Do you need me to head over?” He asks, already grabbing his keys.
“Please.” And then, as if Gakushuu is belatedly realizing how desperate he sounds: “You don’t have to. This is my problem. You don’t have to get involved.”
“Gakushuu, I would literally help you bury a body if you asked me to,” Ren tells him, heading for his car. “Whatever happened, I’m onboard.”
Gakushuu sucks in a harsh breath. It sounds like a sob. Ren stops cold. “Gakushuu. Do… Do you need me to help you bury a body?”
The silence on the other end of the phone is deafening. Ren’s stomach sinks. Gakushuu’s at home - there’s only one body he could need buried there.
It’s been two years since their ex-principal slapped Gakushuu across the room and tried to blow up E Class. Gakushuu had insisted that he was trying to be better. Clearly that wasn’t the case.
“I’m on my way. Just hang on.” He ends the call and deletes it. He’ll remind Gakushuu to delete it from his own phone later. Then he gets in his car and definitely doesn’t break every speed limit from his house to his friends.
Ren pulls up to the house and picks the lock on the door. “Gakushuu?”
“In here.” The voice is barely loud enough to hear. Ren makes his way towards it.
Gakushuu is in the kitchen. So is Gakuhou. Only one of them is alive.
Ren’s friend is shaking, hands covered in blood, holding his unmoving father. There’s blood on both the floor and the corner of the countertop, but most of it is on Gakuhou’s face.
Gakushuu looks up at him, eyes wide with panic and grief. “I didn’t mean to. I swear I didn’t mean to-”
“Of course not,” Ren assures him quickly. “Hang on, let's get you cleaned up, and you can tell me what happened.”
Gakushuu is hesitant to let go of his father, but slowly sets him down and lets Ren lead him over to the kitchen sink. Gakushuu’s wearing a t-shirt, and doesn’t seem to have gotten any blood on it, so that’s good, but they should probably get rid of it just to be safe.
“You told me he was trying to be better,” Ren tells him softly, once Gakushuu’s hands and arms are clean. He starts running some cold water, and pulls out the vinegar to clean the sink.
“He was,” Gakushuu says, voice quiet. “It was weird, how much of an effort he seemed to be making. But…” he trails off, eyes distant. “His best was never exactly… great. Mostly he made awkward attempts at conversation over meals. Asked - asked me about how school was going like a normal parent. Didn’t… didn’t insist on sparing with me.”
“So, better for him, but still bad by any normal standards,” Ren clarifies, and Gakushuu winces but doesn’t deny it.
“We got into an argument.” He doesn’t say what it was about. His tone of voice convinces Ren that asking right now would be useless. “It started out small but then just kept getting worse and worse and then suddenly he… I dunno. He just snapped. He tried to hit me again.” He shudders, eyes still unfocused. “I didn’t mean to.”
“I know,” Ren tells him firmly. “Of course you didn’t. You wouldn’t do this on purpose.” He finishes up with the sink and leaves it to dry. “Where do you keep the baking soda?”
“Two cabinets to the left of the microwave.” Ren retrieves it and sets it on the counter, before grabbing some towels and moving the body onto them.
He sprinkles the baking soda on the blood and starts applying vinegar. “Go wipe the blood off the counter with hydrogen peroxide, that’ll work best on that surface.”
“How do you even know all of this?” Gakushuu asks, already moving to do so.
“Funny story, actually. You know how my aunt has gone through four husbands?”
It takes a moment for it to sink in. “Oh god, that explains so much about her,” Gakushuu says blankly. Ren lets out a laugh, despite himself.
They work in silence, until all the blood has been wiped clean, Ren finishes getting out the last of the stains with steel wool before standing up. “Okay. You don’t have any cameras in here, right?” Gakushuu shakes his head.
“We do have them outside though.” The panic is still there, but he seems to be thinking now. “I’ll delete all the footage for tonight and shut them down.”
“I can pull my car into the garage so there’s less of a chance the neighbors will see anything. Then we’ll get some more disposable towels and move him.” Ren squeezes his friend’s hand. “After we’re done, we’ll get rid of the car and catch a bus to my place. As far as anyone is concerned, you stayed the whole night with me.” They both know all their friends will back them up on any alibi, even if they don’t know the actual story. They also both know that Gakushuu can easily alter their phone’s data to confirm that they were at Ren’s house the entire night.
Ren’s always been aware that his friend has the same weirdly superhuman strength as his father, so it’s no surprise that moving Gakuhou is easier than it probably should’ve been, considering they were two sixteen year old boys moving an adult man. Gakuhou is dumped in the trunk, and they pull out of the driveway.
“Isn’t this the car you use when you don’t want people to know you’re rich?” Gakushuu asks. He’s still in shock, but there’s some faint amusement breaking through. “Shame to burn it.”
Ren shrugs. “I can always buy a new one. Perks of being rich.” Even if he’ll have to wait a while for it to be less suspicious. Gakushuu lets out a barely noticeable huff of amusement, and Ren counts it as a win. The rest of the drive is spent in silence.
They’re a long ways away from home, when Ren turns off the backroads and into the woods. He drives for another mile before stopping in front of a small clearing, and the two of them get out. Ren gets the shovels from the back seat, and they start digging by flashlight. Once the hole is deep enough, they dump the body in, and Ren gets out the lighter.
He looks at Gakushuu. “Do you want…?”
Gakushuu stares at the lighter for a moment, then shakes his head. “Sorry.” It comes out as a hoarse whisper.
“Don’t be.” Ren takes a deep breath.
He’s never liked Gakuhou. For nine years, he’s had a front row seat to the man’s abuse, seen it damage and twist his best friend, seen it damage and twist their entire year, and all the years before them. He looks down at the man’s body, and can’t find it in himself to feel bad.
He sets the body on fire.
The two move away from the smell, so it won’t stick to them. Gakushuu sinks to his knees, and Ren holds him as he sobs, while his father burns in the background.
Four hours later, they shovel the dirt back into a grave filled only with ashes, and drive further away, before getting out again. Ren puts the shovels and lighter in the car, and Gakushuu messes with the engine. They’re already a mile away when it explodes. There’s a nearby creek they wash off the dirt in, and the bus stop is a mile further than that. By the time they get on, they look like high schoolers who stayed out way later than they should, rather than two people who just burned a body.
They change buses three times. Gakushuu leans on his shoulder the whole way, and Ren holds his hand tightly to hide the shaking.
Three months later, the night the case of Asano Gakuhou’s murder is officially declared cold, Gakushuu wakes up from a nightmare.
This time, it’s not the blood, the blank stare, or the burning. Instead, he dreams that his father succeeds in hitting him, and keeps doing it again and again until Gakushuu is the one who is dead and being buried in the woods. He wakes with a muffled sob, and seconds later the guilt comes in waves.
He really is the worst son his father could’ve possibly had. No wonder the man loved Ikeda more.
Next to him, on the couch where they’d fallen asleep, Ren makes a soft noise and leans closer, head falling on his chest. Gakushuu stares at him for a long moment, then adjusts himself so Ren will be more comfortable, and starts to drift off again.