Chapter Text
Everything is finally over.
It is supposed to be over.
However, there is still a big mystery left and questions left unanswered about someone very dear to me …
My little sister, Kurosaki Ruri.
“What will happen to her?!” I asked, pressing further the bastard—the one who is responsible for all this mess and suffering for everyone involved. My palm is already grabbing his shoulder, squeezing the limb with a lot of strength as I actually want to crush him.
This bastard—Akaba Leo ... Just having his name mentioned makes my blood boil. It’s a name which reminds me of all the misdeeds he has done that causes me to lose so much … And even after everything, how can he still stand there with an air of placidity—as if he has done nothing gravely wrong?!
“I am truly sorry for what I’ve done..” He finally replies; his expression doesn’t change much. I can’t even tell whether he actually means his words or if this is just superficial. It’s just not convincing. “—I am selfish. All I think is bringing Ray back. Your sister.. She may already be gone now. I didn’t stop to consider that Ray’s soul fragments also had their own lives—”
“Ray’s soul fragments, huh?” Snapping, I truly feel that any excuse coming out of this bastard’s mouth will only make me feel worse.
“So.. that’s all they are to you..? A part of your daughter …”
Shut up—just shut the hell up, you bastard.
What do you know about Ruri? Do you know what she is like as a person? Do you know how the war severely affects her? Do you know that she has a lot of dreams and that all of them are forced to be stripped off because of YOU?
—Do you even care?
“You.. You didn’t even care enough that they were their own person too..”
In the first place, doesn't this mere apology even cross your mind because you have lost and failed to achieve your goal? Fucking asshole.
“—until now.. Until everything is too late.”
I spare no more seconds as I launch my fist into the bastard’s gut. It sends him flying backward, his back slamming against the wall, resulting in one damn loud, satisfying bang.
“GKH––!!”
“I DON’T CARE ABOUT YOUR DAUGHTER!!!
HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT OF RURI’S LIFE??!!”
If he can do anything he can while shoving everything aside, why should I care about his daughter too who is practically a stranger to me? —I know by now that Ray is ‘Ruri’s origin’ and that Ruri wouldn’t have existed if it weren’t for her. I know, but it doesn’t matter now. In fact—it will never matter. It does NOT justify the atrocities Akaba Leo has done to take back what no longer solely belongs to him!!
My thoughts are running amok in my head—they are a complete, entangled mess swirling in a violent whirlpool. Beneath my chest, it feels so hot. My heart is blazing with fury as my fists keep pummeling this piece of shit. The emotions rushing in are so strong to the point that it feels like suffocating explosions. At this point, I don’t care about anything else. I don’t care. I DON’T CARE. I just want this scum to taste the very same pain he has caused to me—to Ruri—to everyone. I JUST WANT HIM TO SUFFER ENDLESSLY!!
“SHE WAS EVERYTHING I HAD LEFT!!! AND YET––YOU!!!
––YOU DON’T DESERVE MERCY!!! ALL YOU DESERVE IS HELL!!!!”
“Stop it!! Don’t kill him!!”
“Kurosaki!! No!!”
I can feel that my movements are being restrained, creating some distance between me and that beaten and bloodied pulp. That woman—another Fusion Pawn and Yuuya are the cause. I tried to break free with all my might because it’s not enough. That scum is still breathing, but it seems that they are just as stubborn in preventing me from actually getting the deed done. Worse, the commotion seems to have summoned those remaining annoying guards—locking my movements at its best.
Between the chaos, it doesn’t take long before another familiar figure makes an appearance. I was too occupied trying to get free so I didn’t pay much attention to my surroundings—but Sora was definitely the one who made the call that got the mediator here; Akaba Reiji steps in front of me, pushing his glasses. His expression is serious as always, but this time, there is an air of stiffness around him. He didn't even glance back at that bastard; his firm gaze went straight to my glare.
“Kurosaki Shun, you have done enough.
We will handle Akaba Leo from here on, and we will ensure that he will get punishment equal to his crimes.”
“RELEASE ME!!! I’M NOT DONE YET!!!”
Just let me be the one passing the final judgment—don’t get in my way. I voice that out clearer by breaking my arm free in ephemeral to aim my packed punch at him, but annoyingly, he has good enough reflexes to block my impulse with his palm.
“Don’t kill him. As much as I understand your resentment, we still need his knowledge about the En Cards, which might be the key to solving all these problems.”
“Kh—”
—He successfully beats me in that. I grit my teeth in frustration, but over some passing seconds, my thoughts are beginning to settle and accept that there is truth lying behind those. It’s just a rational course.
“...”
“...I also want to inform you that few of the houses in Heartland have been successfully restored, including yours. They are not completely as they were, but decent enough to settle in.”
“..!”
His following sentence lights up my dark eyes. It somehow feels like a glimmer of light, which is strange. There is nobody left in my house; there shouldn’t be much to look forward to, but that place holds so many memories for me—even the idea of having the foundations being restored actually means a lot.
Reiji, seemingly knowing that his words have left good impacts on me, turns his back away to shift his focus, now facing that unconscious bastard. He starts ordering the guards to tie him down before discussing things with the two Fusionists––which I can’t hear because of our furthering distance. And the last thing I see as I’m getting dragged out by the guards before the door closes is Yuuya, whose face is painted with genuine concern.
And in a glimpse,
I feel like I just saw Yuuto.
With my mind rather zoning out, my eyes stare blankly as I subconsciously walk towards what was Kurosaki’s residence. My hands are still weakly throbbing from the impacts of my intense punches, but I could care less about them. It feels much more unpleasant under my chest, sort of an emptiness and pain—all mixed into one.
I stopped at the familiar building. The sight kind of amazes me, simply thinking how they possess technologies that make the restoration possible in a relatively quick time. Our house was one of the very few that didn’t get completely destroyed, so there’s that to add to the factor too. Still, it’s an acknowledgeable feat no matter how I look at it.
I step into the house with no lock, greeted by a space I’m well acquainted with in my whole life. Albeit now, it has missed a lot of its former interiors; the surviving remains.
‘..So, once again.. I’m back here.’
This nostalgia is striking my mind with flashes of past memories, where I, Ruri, Mom, and Dad were taking our first family trip to the garden in front of our house. Ruri was very excited because there were a lot of birds along with the colorful flowers there. She would call me over to take a look at every bird she could find, and both Mom and Dad would have wide smiles on their faces as Ruri’s sheer joy was contagious.
‘..Guess, those were the times when I knew true happiness.’
—where everything was still going alright, and when the three of you were still by my side.
I walk slowly towards Ruri’s room, a place I don’t even need to think to get to. A wooden door with a wooden yellow plate she wrote her name and doodled a bird on as entrance. Back then, she would complain if I had gone in her room without knocking, but she was mostly there . Things changed after she got kidnapped, and I’ve been hoping … hoping for countless days that she will be here once again …
‘Yet now..
..Your soul is trapped inside Hiiragi Yuzu.’
She is ‘alive,' sure. But now her existence is reduced to nothing but a ‘mere fragment’ inside someone else—and of course, this someone, the host, is going to be the one living her life the most since she is the dominant one. As time goes by, everyone will only know [Hiiragi Yuzu] because she is always the representative, but Ruri—? It’s not impossible that people will slowly forget her and the other two—it’s just cruel , especially to her, my little sister, who has been really liking freedom since she was a child.
Thinking about what she could have possibly experienced from this nightmare pains me greatly. I can only swallow all the aches while I gaze upon the surviving photo frames of our family, one of them being her 8 years ago, smiling so happily when she was enrolled in Spade.
‘Dad..
I made a promise to you..
I will protect Mom and little sister…’
I failed.
I failed in both of them.
… I am truly sorry, Dad.
I thought.. Now I’m stronger.
I thought this time.. I have enough strength to protect the last family I have left.
‘ I thought.. I would be able to handle the weight of the world.’
How wrong can I be?
‘It turns out..
I’m nothing but a weakling.’
I’m still holding Ruri’s photo in this treasured frame, and the emotions are just surging in at the sight.
It’s a deep frustration towards oneself and sadness at how I am unable to win against fate. Hatred—at how things are going, and that no matter how hard I fight, things still end the same, again. It feels like the world always has its way to take away everything I hold dear in my life. Just what have I done to deserve all these—?
And when Heartland citizens needed my strength the most.. I was too fixated on rescuing Ruri.
In the end, I didn’t save anyone. And it hurts me. My heart feels as if it is being sliced open over and over again; I’m unable to control my overflowing tears. I just fell onto my knees and bowed deeply in front of my parents’ portraits.
I’m sorry..
I’m sorry …
I’m so sorry … …