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Kohaku clutched at his pillow as he was wrecked by sobs, the sound filling the dark room. The room felt too big, too empty. There should be something else here but it wasn't.
The boy's pillow was soaked in tears as he cried and cried. He refused to look, squeezing his eyes shut as if that would block it out. Block everything out.
Niki wasn't dead. Niki wasn't dead.
Rinne wasn't dead. Rinne wasn't dead.
Himeru wasn't dead. Himeru wasn't dead.
They wouldn't leave him like this.
...Would they?
He pushed the thought away. It wasn't true. It couldn't be true. More tears pushed out of his eyes as he struggled to breathe.
Niki's scream echoed in his head.
It felt like the room was looming over him; it felt too big, yet too small. Every little thing was pricking against Kohaku's skin, trying to drag him into reality. No— that wasn't reality. He won't accept it.
Scenes flashed through the boy's head, playing the scenes of his friend's deaths on loop like a broken record. They drilled into his brain, seeping deeper and deeper and hurting more and more as he tried to block it out.
Kohaku couldn't do this anymore.
Exhaustion hit him as the last of his tears streamed out of his eyes. His head hurt. Everything hurt. He couldn't cry more if he wanted to.
This was all a dream, he thinks. I'll wake up... and they'll all be okay...
...Maybe...