Chapter Text
March 14, 1988
I’m an idiot…
Everything clicked into place. If Satoru hadn’t trusted so quickly, hadn’t ignored the possibility entirely, it would have been so obvious.
The killer… is the one right next to me… Yashiro.
A chill ran down his spine. For a moment, he thought it was his mind betraying him again, until a cold wind hit his cheek. The car window had been rolled down.
“It’s starting to snow, huh?” Yashiro commented, a statement so mundane it shocked Satoru out of his stunned state. His hands flew to his seat belt buckle, frustration mounting the longer and longer it remained stuck. He barely registered the clatter of something falling out of his pocket.
“Satoru, it’s game over,” Yashiro stated, “for you… and me.”
The man unbuckled his own seat belt.
“I still can’t believe it. That you, an elementary school student, so thoroughly anticipated my plans and crushed them.” Yashiro turned to Satoru then, what looked like thinly veiled contempt in his flat expression. “To be honest, I’m stunned you cornered me like this.”
Then, his expression began to morph. “But, it’s also been thrilling. It’s as if…” A smile Satoru could only describe as twisted warped his face, maddened eyes catching the pale moonlight just right and shining a crimson red. “...You’ve seen the future.”
Satoru snarled as Yashiro stepped out and slammed the car door shut. “I don’t want any hard feelings, so let me just say this.” Heavy footfall crunched on fresh snow. “You’ve interfered with my plans, but what I’m about to do is by no means revenge.”
The trunk groaned as Yashiro wrenched it open. “I truly do respect you.” He held up a basketball, grin deceivingly friendly. “I want you to think of this as… my compensation for not being able to fulfill my desires.”
Warning bells were sounding in Satoru’s head. He had to do something, had to somehow tell somebody… His phone! He frantically dug into his pockets, but turned up empty. His eyes scoured the car floor before landing on a faint shine tucked into the crevice between the seat and the door. Satoru twisted as far as he could from his position, but his fingers didn’t even graze the edges of his device. Dammit!
“I thought you said it was ‘game over’ for you too, didn’t you?!” Satoru shouted as he righted himself, trying to claw back some kind of advantage.
“I never said anything about dying with you.” Satoru’s stomach dropped at the same time the ball hit the belt molding. “You’re the only one here who’s going to dive into freezing water.”
“But don’t worry, your actions are worthy of praise, and so are my plans and preparations.” Satoru could hear the smirk in Yashiro’s tone. “We both have the right to a reward for our individual tenacity.”
Indignation burned on Satoru’s tongue. “Give me a break! A criminal like you doesn’t deserve anything!”
“Why not? Just because what I do is outside of the law? It still fulfills the same function of filling up the empty space in my heart,” Yashiro reasoned.
“Satoru, you’ve won peace for this town. Isn’t that what you wanted?”
Suddenly, dread pooled in Satoru’s gut.
“And my recompense is this chance to, for my own sake and by my own hand…”
He was already drowning, suffocating as his throat was constricted.
“...kill you.”
He was going to die.
“Go… to hell,” Satoru wheezed out through the tightness in his neck. He couldn’t feel his fingers anymore, couldn’t tell if he was still struggling with the jammed buckle.
Yashiro watched on, this flat expression wholly unimpressed. Silently, his hand shifted, moving the ball closer and closer to the gas pedal.
“I know what lies in your future!” The scream was all rasp and desperation. Yashiro paused to meet Satoru’s blown open eyes. His heart pounded in his ribcage, his breath began to come in weary pants.
Yashiro beamed. It was the most joyful Satoru had ever seen the man. His chest only collapsed further into itself.
“I knew it,” the man whispered, almost in awe. “You were special.”
Satoru’s eyes cautiously tracked Yashiro as he inched the ball away. “I almost started to suspect you really had just gotten lucky, you know, with how you so blindly followed me into this car. After all, outside of the past couple of days, you’ve been nothing but a normal kid for the entire year.”
“But… you can perceive it, right? What I can see?” There was something like pride in Yashiro’s voice. Satoru had no idea what that meant, but his stomach twisted regardless. He covered his discomfort with a defiant scowl. The man’s grin in response was all teeth. “Albeit, you seem pretty resistant to understanding me. But we can work on that, I’m sure. After all, I am your teacher.”
Before Satoru could muster a response, an insult or anything to wipe that smirk off the man’s face, he cringed at the abrupt sweet odor that invaded his nostrils. Suddenly, a handkerchief was shoved against Satoru’s mouth and nose. It’s like the lollipop from that other day, he noted as his mind began to fog up.
As his vision started to blur, Satoru felt it again. Suffocation. As if phantom hands were pressing into his throat.
A fresh wave of panic crashed over Satoru and he thrashed with what little strength he had, trying to escape the sickeningly chemical scent being forced upon him.
“I’ll let you humor me a little longer.”
In a moment of frightening weakness, Satoru wondered why Revival wasn’t activating before he remembered.
Revival was the ability to save others.
If it hadn’t activated yet, that meant everyone was still safe.
Maybe… this is fine then.
He let his arms drop and body slacken as his thoughts slowly sputtered to a halt.