Chapter Text
The snow crunches loudly beneath the fast feet of the recently orphaned boy as he escapes whatever that was that invited itself into his home, and is currently chasing him down the mountain. His lungs burned with each swift, icy breath that entered his lungs, his legs burned from over exertion, and feet numb with frostbite from the absence of shoes protecting his bare feet.
“Help! Someone-” Yelled the boy in desperation, cut off by a cough. His hoarse and pleading voice clawed at the inside of his throat. “Please..” The call for help was croaky, pathetic.
No one was coming to help him.
Nobody.
This was it; the end of poor, recluse, Atsushi.
The boy’s legs gave out on him, leaving him to face-plant face first into the snow. Using whatever strength he has left, he turned around to look up at the stars one last time. The moon high in the sky, a waxing crescent, shining down on Atsushi’s soon to be lifeless body.
The beast’s steeps only grew in sound, getting closer. He shut his eyes in acceptance, preparing himself for his untimely demise.
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Nothing happened.
Atsushi opened his eyes to see a man peering down at him, smiling. If he had an ounce of feeling left in his body, maybe he would’ve tried to run off, so all he could do was lie there in the snow; wide eyed.
“Wow, I thought you were dead!” The brown-haired man laughed weirdly. All Atsushi did was blink, that was all he could do. Well, one of the few things he could do. The other two options he had were to pass out and leave his life in the hands of the mysterious man, or stay awake and observe his surroundings. The latter felt like the better option.
Looking at the man, he didn’t look as grotesque as the creature hunting him down just now; he was a striking guy.
“Hello?” The man spoke, dragging out the O. “Can you talk?” He tilted his head. Atsushi’s only response was a blink. The man sighed, looking much too nonchalant for being in the presence of a monster.
Wait, the monster. How could he forget it? …Where is it?
The sixteen year old looked frantically around in search of the demon, but it was nowhere to be seen. Was he just imagining it?
“Are you looking for something?” Atsushi tried to nod, but his bones and muscles felt like sludge, so he tried the next best thing; talking. He was still able to open his mouth after all. “Where-” He started, cut off by his own cough. The cough punched through his lungs and left a burning trail of acid down his throat.
“Where…?” The other mimicked a playful smile, “Oh! You must be talking about the demon, no?” He spoke as if he were playing some guessing game with a million dollars as the winning prize. Atsushi could only look at him as if he were insane. What did he mean ‘demon’? Those weren’t real, they were fake. Just another myth -a lie the older kids told him when he was younger because he was such a feeble kid.
Atsushi opened his mouth only for nothing to come out. Maybe the exhaustion was getting to him, lying in the snow wasn’t helping his body recover much either.
“Ah,” The weird man said in realization, “I should be getting you to the butterfly mansion right now.” Hands snuck underneath the white haired limp body and lifted him up. The brunette spoke again, but all the words that came out of the man’s mouth were gibberish to his ears.
His consciousness was slipping, but he felt the man carrying him was trustworthy. He did chase off that ‘demon’ that was hunting him down so it’s not wrong to assume that the man was safe; he could let his guard down. It wasn’t like he could do much in this state anyway.
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The sun shone through the cracks of the windows, the soft, warm light was more than enough to wake the boy. It was quiet; a silence Atsushi was sure he’d never experience, and the mattress he rested on felt so soft compared to the tattered futon he slept on back at the orphanage. This felt like heaven!
“Am I dead? ”, he thought; eyes shooting open to grasp his surroundings. His previous thoughts were quickly dismissed when he was greeted with a hospital-esque room. Is this where that man brought him?
While Atsushi goggled at the room, specifically the tatami mats. The orphanage he lived in was going to the dogs, it was honestly a shock it hadn’t collapsed and killed all of them. He frowned, looking down at his lap. All those kids were dead and it was his fault. The director constantly repeated the same thing to the kids, “Never go outside after seven, it’s not safe”. Atsushi’s curiosity just got the best of him, he knew it was wrong, he knew he’d be punished for it, but he did it anyway. He did it just to see some stupid stars.
“Ah,” Someone exclaimed, their voice was soft and quiet, if it wasn’t for Atsushi’s hearing he honestly wouldn’t have heard it. His eyes snapped up to see who it was, but they had already gone. Atsushi sighed. Maybe he was hearing things.
Suddenly, the slightly ajar shoji was slammed open by a woman, giving the poor boy a heart attack. She b-lined towards Atsushi’s bed while another, much younger, girl stood by the door with her hand resting on her sheath. Atsushi, clearly afraid, backed up all the way until he hit the head of the bed frame, which wasn’t that far.
The purple-haired woman approached him and yanked his leg from under the covers, cutting open the bandages around it, and furrowing her eyebrows.
“Uhm…” Atsushi weakly uttered, feeling quite uncomfortable with her rubbing all on her leg like this. It was rather embarrassing. The lady clicked her tongue, “How is that possible?” She muttered under her breath.
He gently pulled his leg closer to himself which worked to no avail, the grip she had on him was tight and it was honestly starting to hurt. “Excuse me, what are you doing..?” The lady looked up at him as dropped his leg and turned to the quiet young girl behind her.
“Kyouka,” The black haired girl, apparently named Kyouka, nodded. “Watch him, I need to get something from my equipment room.” Kyouka nodded at the woman. Before the lady left, she bent down to whisper something in the younger’s ear. Atsushi wasn’t able to hear her properly, but whatever she said didn’t seem to be any good for him.
Kyouka silently approached Atsushi, left hand on the hilt of her katana, pulling it out just enough so the blade can be seen from the sheath. The boy stiffened, he was nothing short of terrified. What was going on? Who were these people? Are they going to kill him? Did that mean everything he did to survive was a waste? He didn’t know what was going on and he hated it; but it’s not like people told him what was happening anyway.
The girl looked at him with such intensity that he thought she was trying to kill him with only her stare. It was creepy. Atsushi wanted to ask questions, but he was much too scared to open his mouth in the slightest.
Although it was only a few minutes, it felt like an eternity before the woman came back. The purple haired lady, who he’s assuming is the doctor of this weird place, closed the door behind herself and calmly approached Atsushi, scalpel in hand. Yanking Atsushi’s arm, she dragged the scalpel across his arm.
Atsushi hissed and yanked his arm from her. This sudden movement ended up with his back flat up against the headboard and a katana to his neck. He looked over to Kyouka who had an even meaner stare than before.
“What..!” The katana was pushed closer to his throat, almost digging into his skin. The doctor cursed underneath her breath, “Move your hand.” She swatted his hand away so she could see the cut.
There was no cut; even the blood was gone.
The woman’s features morphed from a scowl, to surprise, then confusion. “What are you?” Atsushi looked anxious, “I don’t understand, what do you mean ‘What am I?’” He instinctively grabbed and scratched on his arms, a bad habit he was never able to break out of.
She let out a frustrated sigh, “You don’t burn in the sun, nor do you give off the same aura, but your regeneration is inhumane- even your pupils are that of a demon’s.” The doctor stood up and pinched her nose bridge, “There must be some reason Dazai didn’t kill you.” She let out a loud and annoyed groan then turned to face Kyouka, “You can relax, I have something else for you to do. Come on.” Then she went. Following after her was the girl who couldn’t have been no more than 12.
Before the black haired girl left, she looked back at Atsushi; keeping eye contact for a while before leaving, shutting the shoji behind her.
The boy released the air trapped in his mouth, his heartbeats could rival the one of a rabbit’s in the middle of a chase. What was that about? He couldn’t help but wonder. Though it’s not best to sit there and think about what just happened since those people could come back any minute now, and he did not want to die. At least not yet.
He slowly got out of bed and tip-toed towards the shoji, barely cracking it open. He carefully examined the hallway; he didn’t see anyone, nor could he hear someone walking by. Taking that as a green light, Atsushi left the room, closing the shoji behind him, and began looking for the exit.
The sixteen year old silently crept through the halls. This place looked nothing like what a hospital usually does, or what he’s heard they’re like from the other orphans who’ve gone. No cold marble floors, no more than one story, and a huge lack of patients and staff. This building was closer to a mansion than anything.
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He was wrong; this place was a maze! How does anyone even get out of this thing? Atsushi had been traversing these halls for what felt like an eternity! He almost gave up until he found what he assumed to be the entrance.
He shyly walked toward the blinding light and out of that cursed building. Atsushi never really liked the sun; it made his skin itch.
He squinted his eyes, shielding them from the sun. Once they adjusted he took a nice look at his surroundings. It looked much like a courtyard with how spacious it was along with the decently sized pond near the corner. Sat by the pond was a girl with beautiful, braided, red locks feeding the fish that swam ‘round in the water.
She smiled at the koi swimming towards the food she held in her hands, letting out a soft laugh as they nibbled at them. The scene was so mesmerizing in Atsushi’s eyes he almost forgot where he was. Almost. It wasn’t until the girl screamed that he snapped out of his trance.
She threw herself back, landing on her rear and scooting back frantically, scaring off the fishes. Instinctively, Atsushi walked down from the patio to make sure she was alright, stopping in his tracks only when she yelled, “What are you doing back here!?” While pointing at him.
The boy blinked, looked around, then pointed to himself. A silent question. “Yes, you!” She shouted, “You’re not allowed back here.”
Atsushi only tilted his head, “Why not?” He asked, genuinely confused on why. The girl’s face flushed, “I- Because!” She exclaimed, poorly defending the statement she just made. “Why are you back here anyway? The exits on the other side of the building.” The girl questioned, clearly suspicious of Atsushi.
Atsushi scratched his arm, “Oh, I didn’t know that..” He awkwardly laughed. “Uh- What’s your name? Mine is Atsushi, Nakajima Atsushi!” The girl, now sitting crisscrossed, gave Atsushi a skeptical look, but regaled him anyway. “Lucy, Lucy Montgomery.” She smiled at the latter. The girl opened her mouth to say something only to be cut off by another voice.
“Why are you out here?” The voice was almost so quiet that Atsushi didn’t even notice. The boy almost snapped his neck with how fast he turned around, and stood behind him on the patio was Kyouka. God, that girl gave him the creeps.
“Ah! I was just- Uhm, you know?” Atsushi poorly explained, continuing to yammer on, silently hoping that somewhere in there would be a good excuse.
Unfortunately for him, his plan was for naught as Kyouka took her weapon from her sheath, a silent threat. “You need to go back inside.” He immediately stopped talking. How can such a small girl be so threatening?
Atsushi obeyed her, warily walking past and back into the building, and she followed closely behind him. With Kyouka in the back telling him where to go, they made it back to the room in only a few minutes. It was impressive how easily she could navigate her way around this place, at least in Atsushi’s eyes.
Kyouka walked forward to the shoji, “We’re here Ms. Yosano.” She paused, a muffled “Come in!” was heard from the other side. With that, Kyouka slid the door open; inside the room Yosano leaned back on the dresser and on the bed sat a man with brunette hair.