Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Everyone has secrets, the quiet, the loud, the popular, the loners, doesn't matter, everyone has something they don't want anyone to know.
As the saying goes “you can run, but can't hide anything forever” or something like that. Unfortunately, something(or someone)is gonna expose everything about everyone, it's gonna destroy friendships, relationships, and even some lives.

Chapter Text

Isagi woke up to see that he had quite a few notifications on his phone. He groaned as he forced himself out of bed, got dressed and went down stairs. “Good morning, Yoichi. How did you sleep, honey?” she asked sweetly.

“Pretty good. How about you?” He replied.

“As well as I can, Sweetie.” She smiled and gave him a kissed him on the cheek. Isagi sat at the table as his mom laid his breakfast in front of him.

“Thanks, mom.” He said as he grabbed his fork and knife and started cutting into the pancakes.

“You're welcome.” She replied as she packed up two containers full of food. Isagi was eating on the pancakes as he looked through the multiple notifications he had. He saw some messages from the team group chat. Chigiri said ‘I won't be able to go to our hangout this weekend, I've got some plans with my sister’.

“You always say that.” Isagi rolled his eyes playfully while reading. He continued going through his notifications until he came across a message from an unknown number. “What's this?” He thought as he opened it. ‘You say you were confused, but at the end of the day, she's dead and you're alive. So who's the real victim here, Isagi Yoichi?’ Isagi's eyes widened at the message, and he started choking on his food. He didn't know who this was or how they found out. Even though it didn't say specifically what, Isagi's mind did an auto fill so he knew exactly what it was talking about. He was coughing hard as he mom rushed to him and patted his back.

“Oh my god! Yoichi, are you okay, honey?” She asked in a small panic. He coughed a bit more before answering.

“Y-yeah, mom. I'm fine, I promise, I just inhaled instead of swallowing.” He held his chest while smiling uneasy at his mom. “Okay, if you say so, baby.” She said nervously still rubbing his back.

Isagi couldn't get the ominous messenge off his mind as he was making his way to school, “Who would send that? No. Who the fuck could know about that?” Isagi panicked in his mind but on the outside he just looks lost in thought. His thoughts were cut off by Bachira hopping on his back and wrapping his legs around his waist. “Woah! Bachira?” Isagi asked, he already knew the answer, he just wanted to hear it.

“Yup, yup. I've missed you, Isagi.” Bachira pressed their cheeks together with a big smile. Isagi chuckled a little, as he leaned into it. “I saw you last night.” He teased. “I know, but I can still miss you.” Bachira hugged tighter. He hopped off and Isagi turned to face him, smiling like an idiot. Isagi and Bachira were standing there for a few minutes silent because Isagi's mind is blank as he looked Bachira in the eyes. “You okay, Isagi?” Bachira asked as he took a step closer. That snapped Isagi out of it, and nodded with a smile. Bachira softly snickered and gave Isagi a quick kiss on the cheek, grabbed his wrist and led him the rest of the way to school. Isagi's face was burning red as he looked at the ground smiling love sick. Isagi still couldn't believe that he asked Bachira out and he had said yes, just yesterday. Isagi didn't want to push anything, so he doesn't exactly know what they are, but he's just happy that Bachira likes him back.

“And so I told him to back the fuck up, or I'll stab him in the neck with a pen and pencil at the same time.” Bachira ranted, still holding Isagi's wrist. “That definitely sounds like something you might do.” He said nervously smiling. “Yeah, I would. Because no random guy will ever try to touch my mom again after that threat since I was like 7 or 9 when I said that.” Bachira said casually. “You're very dangerous.” Isagi joked. Bachira smiled at him and got closer to his face, Isagi wasn't expecting it so he got red as they made eye contact. Isagi didn't know what to do or what Bachira wanted. Bachira got so close to his face that he thought they were gonna kiss, but Bachira broke the silence and stepped back. “We have to go, practice is starting soon.” He said cheerfully as he walked through the doors. Isagi was shocked that nothing happened, and was slightly disappointed. His shoulders slumped, his face fell, and he groaned with a pout. Bachira suddenly came out through the doors, gave a quick kiss on the nose and pulled Isagi inside of the school. Isagi was starting to feel little played with, with how much Bachira keeps faking him out. The funniest part is that Isagi kinda liked it.

Right after morning practice was done. Isagi had completely forgotten about the message and the day went on as usual. “See? She's growing so much.” Naruhaya was boasts about his younger sister as he showed a photo from his phone. “She's adorable. The last time I saw her she was smaller than a boar now she's taller than one.” Gagamaru said leaning in. “You always have such weird comparisons, Gagamaru.” Naruhaya smiled at Gagamaru playfully. “I also noticed, isn't that a new dress?” Chigiri asked as he pointed. “Naruhaya got a new job that pays good so he managed to buy the dress for her birthday.” Gagamaru responded with Naruhaya not looking at any one, Isagi knew something was up but didn't say anything.

It was break time and Isagi was hanging around his locker with Bachira as black and yellow haired boy was yapping about something that Isagi lost what it was about a while ago, but he liked hearing him talk so he pretended to know. “Isagi.” A voice said behind him. “Woah! Jesus, Kurona you scared me.” Isagi jumped. “Sorry sorry. I just wanted to ask if you and Bachira wanted to go to the new diner at just opened that's near Kiyora's house house?” Kurona asked. Bachira hopped infront of Isagi smiling, “We’d love to, Kurona. When do you plan to go?” He continued, “AND who will also be there?.” Isagi added. Isagi has gotten used to Bachira making decisions for the both of them, so he's learned to not fight it or question it just play along and get the information that Bachira will probably not ask about. “It'll be me, Kiyora, Naruhaya, Gagamaru, Raichi, Chigiri, Hiori, and Nagi.” Kurona said the names as he counted on his fingers. “So eight people as of now now.” Kurona put his hands up. “We'll make that eleven. Oh wait no, it's ten. Sorry, that came out wrong. It's ten, the new number is ten because we're going.” Bachira laughed a little. “It probably will be eleven, Reo almost never leaves Nagi's side.” Isagi joked as he crossed his arms with a chuckle. “Ain't that right right.” Kurona said, also smiling with a nod. “You’ve been hanging around Hiori too much, you're starting to pick up his accent.” Isagi teased. “Am I? Well I guess it makes sense, he's my second favorite person person.” Kurona said casually. “Who's your first? And how many are there?” Isagi asked, he hangs around Kurona a lot so he hopes he's at least one of them, if there's more. “There's three, and my first favorite is Chigiri.” Isagi was a little disappointed that he wasn't the first but he still had some hope that he was a part of it. “And who's the last?” Bachira said intrigued by the fact that Kurona had favorite people. “It's Kiyora.” Bachira and Isagi, could physically hear Isagi's heartbreaking, he didn't show it because they both knew how close he is with Kurona. “W-why do you like them so much?” Isagi asked, wondering why he wasn't a favorite. “Chigiri let's me do his hair very often, Hiori is very comforting to be around, but he usually doesn't like going out and Kiyora hangs out with me a lot, he let's me play and mess with that one part of his hair that's out and long, and he makes time for me even if he's doing something or is busy. He's a really great friend friend.” Kurona explained with a smile. “Ooo.” Bachira said and made a face. “That's gotta sting.” He thought, as he saw Kiyora right behind Kurona, looking slightly annoyed with his shoulders slumped, frowning. It was clear that Kiyora was crushing on Kurona, to everyone but Kurona. Kurona tilted his head wondering what Bachira and Isagi were looking at and turned around. He smiled, walked up to Kiyora and hugged him. “Hi hi, Kiyora.” He let go. “Hello, Kurona.” Kiyora was clearly trying to hide his annoyance with a twitching eye. “Are you okay? You seem mad.” Kurona was confused but wanted to help. “I'm fine, I promise.” Kiyora couldn't stay annoyed and groaned in defeat. “I forgot, when are we going to the diner diner?” Kurona asked, smiling. “It's today, at 7.” Kiyora said. “Alright, I can't remember, Kiyora are you the group chat?” Bachira asked.



“Yeah, I'm there, you guys talk about weird shit.” He replied. “Alright, could you put the plan in the group chat, so I don't forget?” Bachira asked with a smile. “Sure.” Kiyora took out his phone. “Is this weekend still happening happening?” Kurona asked. “Yeah, sure, of course.” Isagi replied. “What's going on?” Bachira asked while looking between Isagi and Kurona. “Well me and Kurona have this thing were we go to a skating ring together just to spend time together.” Isagi explained. “Oh that's cute, can I come?” Bachira asked excitedly. “Actually, it's just for me and Kurona. We started this a long time ago.” Isagi was a bit nervous while explaining this since it does sound kinda like an excuse to cheat. “Isagi.” Bachira put his hand on his shoulder. “I know that look, you're over thinking again. I know you two are close, and have known each other for a long time, so it's natural that you guys have private rituals that you guys share because of how long you've know each other. Now stop over thinking it before I flick your forehead.” Bachira seemed so calm as he said all this, it made Isagi's breath get stuck in his throat, his heart skip a beat and slightly flushed cheeks. “Now why don't we go for a walk and you can explain the whole thing to me, and how you two came up with it.” Bachira gently took Isagi's hand and walked with him. Isagi likes that Bachira is like this, wild and childish one minute, very calm and mature the next, not to mention he didn't get jealous or even ask questions about being alone with someone else. Isagi has had to explain this to his ex's but they all either started arguments or got super jealous. But Bachira didn't, it's very attractive not having to explain yourself for having a long time friend.

The rest of the school day was pretty much a blur since Isagi couldn't get over how much he's in love. He's been replaying everything Bachira did earlier and can't get it off of his mind, everything just so happened to pass by quickly.

At the end of his last class Isagi got a text from Bachira. ‘Do you wanna hangout before the diner meet up >v<' Isagi's cheeks got pink and he couldn't help but smile. He was about to respond when he got another notification from the unknown number. He's face was drained from color because he completely forgot about the message from this morning, he checked what they sent. ‘It seems things are going well in life huh? Smart, good grades, good friends, cute boyfriend, great parents, seems like life has been lovely to you, right, Isagi?’ Isagi was starting to get more creeped out than scared. “How would this random person know about my life, and how would they know about that incident?” Isagi hesitates but finally responds ‘Who are you? And what do you want?’

‘I'm not looking for any bribes or negotiations, I simply want more honesty in this world. As for who I am, that's not important, but you may call me A.Z., if you have any questions, just call me out loud and I'll communicate with you in any way that I want. Keep in mind, I'm always watching. You are next after Naruhaya, I just wanted to let you know. That your count down is soon.’ Before Isagi could respond the person deleted its number off his phone, he let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding, his phone screen redirected itself to the text Bachira and replied by itself with ‘Of course, Bee😘❤️💚’ Isagi's face got bright red, he's never used emoji's nor has he ever used pet names. Why did this person contact him with very ominous messenges, they're so vague, and a bit creepy. “They might be a hacker or good with programming, but it must be someone who isn't lying about watching because how would they know all that stuff about me and do that with my phone.” Isagi's thoughts got interrupted from a notification coming in. ‘I'll be waiting in the front for you❤️’ Bachira sent back. Isagi was conflicted on if he should choose Bachira or this random person who's threatening and blackmailing him. He stood for a moment but he chose to spend time with Bachira because realistically speaking how would the person even prove anything even if they did tell people. “What's the worst that could happen?” he thought with a shrug.

Isagi didn't really pay much attention to where they were going but he all knew was that he just liked hearing Bachira ramble about basically nothing, and letting him lead the way. Before he knew it Bachira had let go of his hand and went to unlock a door, Isagi snapped out of it and noticed that they were at Bachira's house. “Come on in.” He opened the door and Isagi went in and Bachira followed him behind. “You wanna go in the living room?” Bachira asked. “Yeah, sure.” Bachira's mom usually yells a greeting when he gets home, Isagi has been over a few times and she's done it every time, but this time nothing. “Is your mom asleep?” Isagi was clearly confused. “Nah, she's out, she won't be back until next week.” Isagi wasn't expecting that. That would mean that they're alone, together, and they're dating. Isagi started blushing hard. Isagi suddenly started hearing thuds from upstairs. “What's that?” He looked at Bachira. “The kids, wait right here.” Bachira said as he went upstairs. Isagi slouched with a disappointed and annoyed expression. “Oh come on, now of times. I can't believe we're babysitting.” He grumbled to himself. Bachira came back down. “Alright, you wanna watch a movie?” Bachira asked with a smile. “We have like one hour left, you sure you wanna waste it on a movie?” Isagi didn't feel like watching a movie but he's willing to go with whatever Bachira wants. “Hm…You're right, let's talk.” Bachira said smiling as he took Isagi's hands, brought him to the couch, plopped the both of them down. “So what would you like to talk about?” Bachira looked him in the eyes. Isagi was zoned out as they didn't break contact, his cheeks getting red. “I don't know, what do you wanna talk about?” Isagi just wanted to hear Bachira to talk more. “Well I'm glad you asked.” Bachira leaned on Isagi, then continued talking, “When I was 8 my mom had-” Isagi closed his eyes, as he only paid attention to Bachira's voice but not exactly what he's saying.

Three hours later, Isagi was shocked awake and quickly lifted his head when he remembered the diner. He completely dozed off and didn't even realize until it was too late. He saw that Bachira was sleeping on him. Isagi sighed, he couldn't bring himself to wake him up just for a diner visit. Isagi checked his phone to see multiple notifications from different people. Kurona, Chigiri and Hiori had called and texted. Isagi skimmed through it, he answered to the group chat with a simple ‘Plans changed, not coming.’ He put his phone on silent and put his head on top of Bachira's and closed his eyes.

The next day Isagi and Bachira were holding hands while walking together. They were hanging out from break, while a bitter, taller, younger guy was glaring at them. “You two disgust me.” Rin looked at him with bitter disgusted face. “Come one, Rin Rin, you're just a little bitter that we're together and you still aren't even close to being good friends with Nana-” Bachira was shoved from behind as someone quickly ran off with quiet sniffles. “HEY!” Bachira pouted. Isagi chuckled a bit, then Hiori was running after the person. “HEY! NARUHAYA COME BACK!” Bachira, Isagi and Rin all looked at each other confused when they heard their teammates name and that their other teammate was running after him. Kurona ran up to Isagi and tugged on his arm. “Can you please talk to Gagamaru, he won't even look at Naruhaya. He won't hear him out, I know what's going on but I'm afraid it'll sound like an excuse. You're good at getting people to listen, Isagi, please you gonna help help!” Isagi was still confused but Kurona seemed upset so he wanted to know even more of what's going on. “Kurona, what's going on? Why did Naruhaya run off? And why is Gagamaru mad at him?” Isagi was mostly confused on the whole ‘Gagamaru mad’ thing. “Yeah, Gagamaru is never mad.” Bachira added. Kurona looked away and clenched a piece of paper in his fist. “You need to promise that you won't judge, have an open mind, and listen to why things happened that way way.” Kurona looked serious, so Isagi was gonna take everything coming out of his mouth to heart. Isagi and Bachira nodded, but Rin just watched and didn't want to promise anything. Kurona handed Isagi the crumpled piece of paper. He grabbed it, uncrumpled it, Bachira looked over Isagi's shoulder and they both didn't expect to see what was on the paper in between the wrinkles they saw it clear as day. ‘Wow, a serial cheater, and you almost abandoned your family? Geez, how selfish can one person be, Naruhaya Asahi?’

Chapter Text

Everyone was quiet for a while and the Isagi broke the silence. “What the fuck is this?” Isagi looked at Kurona. “Well a week ago Naruhaya showed me that he got a text message that he was next after a random classmate, and then once everyone found out what that classmate did, a day later Naruhaya got this message in his locker. He was nervous all week about it, the rules were he had to tell everyone he knew about it or everyone in the school and his family would be shown whatever secret was on the paper.” Kurona sounded a bit upset. “Okay, let's slow down here. What does it mean by ‘serial cheater’?” Kurona went silent. “Kurona, I can't help, if you don't tell me.” He put his hand on his shoulder. Kurona took a deep breath. “Don't tell him I told you this, but….but Naruhaya has technically been cheating on Gagamaru with multiple random people because he got fired from his job.” Isagi wasn't expecting that, nor was Bachira, Rin was completely taken aback but didn't show it. “That's how he could afford that new dress he got for his little sister. He gets paid a lot better than at his other jobs.” Kurona was disappointed in himself that he spilled someone else's life without them knowing.

“As for the other part, he tried to kill himself in junior high because he couldn't handle the stress of being broke, all of his younger siblings looking up to him, his sister having to care for him when he had breakdowns, and losing his parents. Even till this day he still feels guilty, for even trying, he truly believes he tried to abandon them. I'm honestly surprised that the note knew he felt like that.” Kurona clearly was trying to explain it the best he can, while clearly not truly understanding what's going on. “I'm always watching…” Isagi whispered to himself. “What did you say?” Kurona asked. “Nothing, so how did it get exposed?” Isagi wanted to know more because that doesn't seem like that's it. “What happened was that Naruhaya had a presentation for our class, he started with his introduction and that's when things started to go wrong. The projection on the board started glitching, Naruhaya and the teacher were trying to see what was wrong, then it shut off, or the screen went black. Then after that it turned on again and it showed the words that were on the letter, then it showed Naruhaya when I'm guessing was in junior high with a gun and in his room. He cocked it, put it in his mouth, and it showed black instantly after the gunshot went off. After that, it showed Naruhaya with multiple people and it seemed that some of them were adults. I saw his face after it finished, he felt that everything was crashing down, I could tell, the first thing he did once it was done was look at Gagamaru. He ran off because of all of it.” Kurona was clearly uncomfortable while describing it.

“That's horrible, do you know how it happened?” Bachira asked. “No idea how they did it, but they managed to ruin his school social life for the most part.” Kurona didn't know how to really approach things like this. “They're good with technology and probably are good at hacking, but I'm not quite sure how they got those videos.” Isagi was said as he thought back to his encounter with A.Z. and what they did to his phone and the messages. This person definitely wasn't lying when they said they're always watching. Isagi couldn't help but think to himself to take a risk, he didn't want to but he had a few questions. “A.Z.?” Isagi said while looking around since he didn't know how they would respond. His phone got a notification and he saw that it was that person again but instead of it being an unknown number it was labeled ‘A.Z.’ this time. ‘You called?’

‘I guess you really weren't lying.’ Isagi texted back. Bachira looked at Isagi confused, “Who's A.Z.?” He looked at Isagi's phone. “I'm 96% sure that it's the person who posted those videos of Naruhaya.” Isagi responded while looking at his phone waiting for A.Z. to answer.

‘Like I've said before, I want more honesty in the world. It would be very hypocritical if I, myself wasn't honest. Just so you know, I can hear you so you can just talk you don't have to text to communicate with me.’ Isagi thought about it, then started talking. “You said that the rules were that you would show it to everyone if he didn't tell everyone he knows himself, then you'd show it, how come we haven't been shown it? We know him the only people who know about it are his classmates, so what's going on?” Isagi needed to know how this is system is supposed to work.

‘I'm glad you asked, you're definitely clever. So how this works is that I will show the person the video I have of their secret, it comes with a 5 hour countdown until it's fully exposed. I like to show them that I do have their secret and give them the countdown to show how long they have left to tell everyone they know about their secret.’ A.Z. seems to be very fast when replying even though it's through text.

“But you showed a lot of people Naruhaya's, so I'm having some trouble understanding what's going on there.” Bachira said confused. ‘What happened is that he was away from his phone and was on dnd, and I have a tight schedule so I did what I had to do for him to see it.’ They all looked at each other as they all pieced it together. ‘Isagi Yoichi, after Naruhaya's secret has officially been revealed you get one day until your week starts.’ Isagi's breathing stopped for a moment when he read the text. “So Isagi's next.” Rin said casually and Isagi gave him a side eye. “Just the truth.” Rin shrugged.

“I'll go and check on Naruhaya, while you guys check on Gagamaru. We'll meet back up later.” Bachira said as he ran off. “I won't get involved.” Rin said instantly. Kurona gave him a look, “You might want to because Naruhaya was like the 9th person to have their secret revealed in the school school.” Rin's eyes narrowed at Kurona. “What are you implying, shark teeth?” Kurona sighed. “What I'm saying is you or Nanase could be next after Isagi or the person after Isagi.” Rin gritted his teeth. “Fine, I'll get involved. But don't think it's because I like you guys.” Kurona grabbed both Rin and Isagi's wrists. “Yeah, we get it, you're a tsundere just come on.” He dragged both of them.

They went to the courtyard, where Niko, Charles, Sendou, Kiyora, Chigiri, and Gagamaru. “Gagamaru, come back just hear us out.” Chigiri was following him as he was storming off. “No, and I don't think I should even be friends with any of you guys if you wanna try and justify what he did.” Gagamaru was clearly angry, but someone else was getting more pissed off. A blur of red went across the courtyard, and the next thing everyone knew, Kurona was infront of Gagamaru, and he had a red mark on his cheek. “What the-” before Gagamaru could finish, Kurona snapped at him. “SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LISTEN! I AM TIRED OF THIS, WE'VE BEEN AT THIS FOR AN HOUR, I JUST SEARCHED THE ENTIRE SCHOOL TO FIND ISAGI, AND YOU'RE TRYING TO LEAVE!? YOU NEED TO FUCKING USE YOUR DAMN BRAIN, REMEMBER THE FUCKING VIDEO, AND IF YOU DON'T, I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD YOU WILL HAVE MORE THAN A DAMN SLAP TO FACE AND FEW WORDS YELLED IN YOUR EAR!” Kurona was still huffing as Isagi was dragging him away by the arms.

“Naruhaya? Where are you?” Hiori had lost sight of him. “Naruhaya!” Hiori heard a louder voice from behind him. “NARUHAYA!” Hiori turned around to see Bachira calling out for their friend. “Hey, Hiori.” Bachira casually waved. Hiori waved back, “Hey, Bachira.” Bachira was looking around, “You hear that?” Hiori was caught off guard, then he suddenly heard it. The sound of quiet crying coming from the janitors closet, “You’ve got good ears.” Hiori said as he went to the closet and slowly opened it. “Naruhaya? Can I come in?” He was crying with his face in his knees, while hugging his legs close. Hiori and Bachira joined him on the floor. Hiori put his hand on Naruhaya's back and started rubbing.

“You wanna talk about it?” Hiori continued to rub. “I heard about the video, not sure about Hiori, but I know why you did it since Kurona told us to help you. So how about we cheer you up.” Bachira said with a smile. “OR we could help him practice what to say once we all meet up again.” Hiori sassed at Bachira. “Well you don't have to say it like that.” Bachira slightly pouted. “Whatever, Kurona also told me about it. Maybe you should've told him about it, and also I just got another thing to say.” Naruhaya looked at Hiori with tears still falling. “Why the hell have you been fucking adults?”

“Okay so how are we gonna do this? We have like 3 hours left, before the they share the video.” Kiyora asked the group, Isagi has already explained everything he knows about A.Z. “Well, I say we should just give them time by themselves and put them in a room and let them talk it out.” Niko recommended. “Are you sure Gagamaru will even go?” Sendou asked. “I'm pretty sure he will, especially considering-” Isagi trailed off and looked past some of the group to peak at Kurona gripping at Gagamaru's ear while shaking and yelling at him as Gagamaru was visibly very scared. They all looked, and then back at each other. “Yeah you're right, he's definitely going.” Sendou admitted, then the all heard a very loud ‘DUMBASS!’ coming from that direction. “Whether he wants to or not.” Sendou added, slightly scared. Hiori, Bachira and Naruhaya came out to the courtyard. “HEY!” Bachira said loudly, once he saw Isagi. He ran up and hopped on Isagi's back and rubbed their cheeks together. Isagi instantly forgot everything as his face heated up. “God you're such a virgin.” Hiori got to the group with his hand around Naruhaya. “Shut up” Isagi replied annoyed. “Guys, focus, we're trying to help here.” Niko snapped his fingers to get their attention. “We've over, he won't even look at me.” Naruhaya said softly with a shaky voice and dried tears streaks on his face. “I think we've got that covered.” Charles pointed at Gagamaru and Kurona.

“Never seen him that angry before.” Charles added. “He just gets easily pissed off when he doesn't get enough sleep.” Isagi shrugged as Bachira got off. “Okay so Naruhaya we're gonna be playing cupid, so you and Gagamaru will be shoved in the janitor's closet together and you guys will talk it out.” Niko explained. “But before all that, which do you wanna deal with first? The video or your relationship? I have a feeling we can only do one in the time we have left.” Rin said to Naruhaya. Naruhaya was clearly thinking for a moment. “I…I want things to work out between us.” He sounds very hurt but honest. “Alright, Isagi, go get Kurona and Gagamaru.” Rin ordered. Isagi didn't like the way that Rin talks to him, he didn't feel like fighting it right now after all that just happened. Isagi came back with Kurona dragging Gagamaru by the shirt. Kurona didn't stop walking and took Naruhaya's wrists and went back into the school. “Where's he going?” Chigiri was a bit confused. “If I were to guess, the janitor's closet since I told him the plan.” Isagi shrugs. “Should we leave them be or?” Chigiri was a but confused on what they should do. “I would say so.” Isagi responded. “When Kurona gets like this most people don't go against him.” Bachira sighed. “I think we should all have our phones on our person and not on do not disturb.” Rin looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “What? Why?” Bachira took out his phone and waved it a bit playfully with a calm smile. “Because as you've heard, the whole reason that video was shown to so many people already was because Naruhaya didn't have his phone on him and was on ‘do not disturb’. So I think it's better for Naruhaya that we stay in contact to minimize the screen that it can be exposed on.” Niko took out his phone, “That's true. That does seem like it would be better for his mental state if it wasn't projected on a big screen in the middle of the day.” Everyone nodded. “By the way, A.Z. said I was next after one day.” Isagi said casually and everyone stared at him.

They went to Bachira's house because his mom won't be home. “Okay, so you know that you're next, right?” Chigiri asked, rubbing his temple. “Yeah.” Isagi nodded as he gently put his fingers through Bachira's hair since he was laying his head on his lap, lightly snoring. “So do you know who is after you?” Chigiri was getting exhausted from all of this madness. “Nope, I don't think it's revealed until the curtain person is almost exposed. I say this because I've been told once Naruhaya's exposed, I'm next after one day.” Isagi answered as he lightly rubbed on a few single strains of hair in between his fingers. “1 more hour, and we all will be forced to watch cheese pizza.” Charles said with a small chuckle. Everyone looked at him strangely.

“What?” Kiyora's face scrunched up in confusion. Charles’ started looking down with a nervous expression. “Get it? Because censoring for YouTube is… cheese pizza for child porn since…. Naruhaya is under….aged…” Charles starts sounding unsure while scratching the back of his head. “I'm sorry, that was in poor taste. I'll shut up now.” Charles looked down at his lap with his hands together. Niko sighed hard and loudly while pinching the bridge of his nose. A notification sound went off and Isagi took out his phone to look. “Kurona just texted me they're done, and they made up, but they're going slow in fixing their relationship.” Isagi took a sigh of relief. “Well that's good, so what do we do now?” Charles looked around at everyone to see if anyone would say anything. “Isagi could tell us what his secret is.” Chigiri crossed his arms and legs as he looked at Isagi. “I don't think it'll count until it's my turn.” Isagi was surprised by how calm he appeared while panicking internationally. “Even so, why don't you tell us it? So when your turn does come, we already know so all you have to do is just say it again with less stress.” Chigiri said. “And along with us having an entire week to process it, if it is THAT bad.” He added. Isagi couldn't look at him. He couldn't argue with Chigiri's logic because it makes sense. “I'm not ready, okay? I'm….” Isagi paused, as he looked away with a deep sigh. “Not ready….It's something I'm really not proud of and the fact that I didn't really know…WHAT I was doing, makes it worse.” A long silence followed. “Then we should wait until we get all the rules, and then try to get it out of you.” Chigiri said.

They all tried distracting each other, waiting for the enviable time the video being shown. During the 60 second count down, Isagi got a text from A.Z. “What do they want now?” Isagi groaned as he checked the message. ‘You wouldn't have been able to help spread the word even if you wanted to. Only the person who has the secret can tell and it’ll count.’ Isagi got nervous after reading it, because now he can't tell one person and it’ll spread so he doesn't have to face them. He clenched his phone a bit tighter than he would like to show. “Are you okay?” He heard a voice from under him. He put his phone down to see Bachira looking up at him from his lap with a sleepy expression.

“Oh, you're awake.” Isagi tried to sound normal. “You seem upset, you wanna talk about it?” He slowly tilted his head with the sleep still visible on his face. “No, I'm fine.” Isagi gently moved some hair from Bachira's face. “No, you're not. But when you can't handle it anymore, I want you to tell me all about it. Or you can just tell me when you realize you need to vent before breaking.” Bachira said calmly as he closed his eyes again. “I'll be there for you, doesn't matter when you feel like talking, just talk anytime you want.” He turned his body and held Isagi's hand. The minute went by, and Bachira's TV suddenly turned on, the words ‘Wow, a serial cheater, and you almost abandoned your family? Geez, how selfish can one person be, Naruhaya Asahi?’ were displayed on a plain white screen. Then it shows a video of Naruhaya in junior high, in his house with the gun in his mouth. It cut instantly to black after he pulled the trigger, the sound loud, but didn't show the gore. Charles gasped loudly and covered his mouth with widened eyes. They all knew what was coming, but it was still disturbing to see and watch it for themselves. It changed to some sort of a marathon of him with random people, some of them were adults. It was very brutal, explicit, and very dirty. It was horrible to watch but they didn't want to risk the screen changing to somewhere more public. Niko gagged a few times, with his hand over his mouth. “I'm gonna be sick.” He said wavering, he suddenly got up and rushed to the bathroom, there was gagging and throwing up violently. “I'm gonna go check on him.” Charles said unsure and nervous, as he got up and went to the bathroom on shaky legs.

Everyone was disgusted and very disturbed, as they watched it, Kiyora kept looking away, Hiori was gripping at his wrist, Chigiri looked like he was dissociating, Sendou face was shaking from some kind of strong emotion that wasn't clear, Isagi was bit upset as he looked at his underaged friend doing prostitution with grown men and women. The saddest part of it all was that Naruhaya didn't even fake enjoying it, he looked empty, tired, done with everything. It was a strong contrast with his usual self. Isagi's mind was racing from all the different things that he's found out in the past two days.

How long has Naruhaya had to do this for money? How will his friends react to his own secret? Will Bachira leave him? Will he be ostracized at school? By his parents? He felt bad for Naruhaya, but he couldn't help but be at least a bit selfish in this moment. After all his count down has started now, maybe not officially for A.Z. but he had 24 hours left for the official one to start. He looked at Bachira who was still in his lap, he was watching the video, with a somewhat neutral expression. He wanted to know what's going on in his mind, but he couldn't give too much attention to it when his own future was on the line for the next 168 hours.

Chapter Text

“You're fired.” Naruhaya froze once those words left his manager's mouth. “What?” He said quietly, with him hearing his heart beating in his ears. “Yeah, you have been coming in late a lot, and that is just bad for business. So bye-bye.” She waved with a fake smile. “But, I've already asked you multiple times to change my hours so I can-” before he could finish, she cut him off. “I really don't wanna hear excuses right now, so just say bye to your coworkers and make sure to return the uniform in 24 hours.” She said as she started writing papers. Naruhaya was in shock, he could barely think of anything but how he failed his family again. He walked out of the junk food joint in a daze as he got on his bike while holding back tears. He gritted his teeth and started paddling as fast as he could, he didn't know where he was going, he didn't know what he was doing, but all he knew was that he had to get away.

Once he finally stopped he found himself at an empty park and it was nearly midnight. He got off his bike, dropped it as he walked to the swings. He sat down and started swinging slowly. He was still in a daze as he swung more, he started going through his memories. The good ones he had, back to the time when his parents were alive. He reminisced about how this was his favorite swing, that he always begged his mom to push him in. When his mom would come in to cuddle him whenever he had a bad day, how he and his siblings would always playfully attack each other for the attention of their mom. As he went through his life in his head, his swinging suddenly came to a stop. “...” he was silent, he was staring at the ground for who knows how long since he was alone.

“I miss my mom.” He whispered to himself before breaking down crying in the swing, tears flowing like a broken dam. He had his face in his hands, his body was shaking as he continued to cry and it got harder. “You okay, Naruhaya?” he heard a familiar voice say. “Huh?” Naruhaya’s breath hitched as he looked up to see who was talking. “Oh, it’s just you.” It was Arata, his senior at McDonalds, who was 3 years older than Naruhaya. “I heard that you got fired.” he said gently as he sat on the swing next to him. Naruhaya sniffed as he wiped his face quickly. “Yeah, I came in late too many times.” He was trying to sound calm but his voice was still shaky. “That’s rough. So now you need a new way of getting money, especially since rent is due tomorrow.” Arata and Naruhaya are close. With him being 19 and has been working at the place longer than Naruhaya has, he's been spending a lot of time with him. They’re closer in age than anyone else there, but there is indeed another reason why Arata spends so much time with Naruhaya. While Naruhaya sees Arata as an older brother.

“Don’t remind me…. What am I gonna do? I don’t want us to be separated.” Naruhaya was trying his hardest to be calm so he wouldn't embarrass himself in front of Arata as his lip slightly quivered. “Well~” Arata said in a playful tone as he moved himself in the swing sideways to get closer to Naruhaya as he put his arm around him. “I have an idea to help get quick money.” He smirked. “Really?” Naruhaya wiped his face again as he looked Arata in the eyes. “You and I know we've been working together for about half a year now.” Arata continued as his hand held the side of Naruhaya's shoulder as he pulled him closer with a firmer grip.

“So I have something I want to tell you…” He paused with a smile as he faced Naruhaya as he gently used his other hand to be put on Naruhaya's wet cheek. “I really like you and I really want you.” He kissed Naruhaya comfortably. The younger one didn't like it one bit as he shoved Arata away. Naruhaya aggressively got up, then stared in shock and disbelief at his senior. “What the fuck, Arata?! You know I'm with someone!” Naruhaya yelled as tears fell down his face at the betrayal. Naruhaya was sad, mad, upset, and any other adjective that could possibly describe this moment of multiple emotions and thoughts at the amount of things that have happened in the past few hours. Naruhaya looked at Arata in disappointment and disgust as he turned to leave, but Arata grabbed his wrist. “Let me go. I can't fucking believe you.” Naruhaya didn't look back but stayed put as Arata's grip got firmer.

“Please, just once, maybe you could try it. Just to make sure. I really want you and I want you now.” Arata said with his usual warm feeling voice got replaced with a cold, lustful tone. “No, fuck off. And don't call or talk to me anymore.” Naruhaya quickly snatched himself from Arata's grip. As he tried to walk off, he got yanked back by his jacket and got held close from behind, with a head resting on top of his own. “40000 yen, just this once, for one time?” Arata said low in Naruhaya's ear. “No, I already told you to fuck off now let go of me.” Naruhaya tried squirming out of Arata's arms. “Fine, 70000, for one time.” Arata's tone of voice stayed the same but he seemed to be getting more desperate. Naruhaya knew that any money would be extremely helpful right now, especially that much since he just got fired. Naruhaya froze as his body slightly relaxed as his mind was racing though his options. After a few minutes of silence, Naruhaya's body completely relaxed, with a heavy sigh. “Okay fine, just this once. But you better make due with that money.” Naruhaya reluctantly said. “You should know me better than that. I have never gone back on my word.” He said in his usual warm voice as he gently used his hand to have Naruhaya face him, with a calm smile. It used to be comforting, charming, brotherly, warm, soft, but now it's just disgusting, disturbing, cold, rough, and predatory. It made Naruhaya feel icky from the inside.

Naruhaya was on his way back home after going to Arata's apartment. He was in a daze, walking with his bike. His bag slumped off one shoulder, he had no expression, his mind was empty. It was blank, his body was on autopilot to go home. All he knew was 5 words, “Never doing that, ever again.” Those 5 single words replayed in his mind all the way home, even when he was laying in bed, all he could think about was “Never doing that, ever again." He laid there staring at the ceiling, repeating the phrase over and over again in his mind and out loud in a soft whisper. “Never doing that, ever again. “

The next morning as Naruhaya was trying to go job hunting to find places that were hiring, he suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder. He jumped and was scared that it might've been Arata. He turned his head and thankfully it was just a random woman. “Hey, are you Naruhaya?” She asked sweetly with a smile. He shyly nodded, as he turned around. “Yes, ma'am how do you know me?” Naruhaya was trying to force a smile, as his heart was racing from the scare and possibly that Arata could be somewhere near. He was trying to steady his breathing as he listened to the women. “I don't know you, but my friend does, and he says you're great.” She said with a trusting smile. “Who is your friend?” Naruhaya was smiling back weakly, because he didn't think that any of his friends would want to hang out with people in their 20's. “Arata, and he said that you're-” Naruhaya's heart dropped as he heard Arata's name, he started unintentionally muting whatever she was saying and he thought back to what happened last night. He started thinking “Never doing that, ever again” over and over, with shaky breathing and eyes as he stared at the ground.

He felt that he couldn't see anything but Arata in his face, he felt touches as if they were happening in real time, he felt so scared and upset that he couldn't even start tearing up, he just froze with widened eyes. His vision was showing the brick sidewalk, darkness, and Arata all at once; his brain couldn't stop going through every memory he had with Arata. All of the great ones that lead up to the single very bad one. The next thing he knew he blinked to see a hand in his face, waving and snapping. He looked up to see the lady looking at him with a raised eyebrow. “You okay?” She asked as she put her hand on his shoulder he flinched away from it. It was the same shoulder as Arata had touched on the swings, the night before. “Sorry, I just..” He paused. “Have some things with that shoulder.” He said nervously not looking at her.

She looked confused for a second then she smiled and nodded. “So, it's 70000 yen, right?” She said casually as she reached into her purse. “What?” Naruhaya was completely confused about what she was talking about. Arata had already paid the other night, so this could've been a friend paying for him, so what's going on? “What does she want from me?” Naruhaya thought as he stared at her rummaging through her purse. “Here you go. And I know a pretty motel close by.” She held the money towards him. “Uh, no. I, um..” Before Naruhaya could properly respond, she started talking. “Fine, 75000, for a quicky. I just need something, it's been a while. Not to mention how good you are, according to Arata.” She sounded miserable, lonely and hopeful. She offered up a lot of money….

“….Just this once. Then, never again."

Chapter Text

It might've been the weekend, but Isagi couldn't relax. He knew he had a total of 192 hours to either ruin his own life or have someone else ruin his life by somehow finding something damning to prove its true. Isagi wasn't sure if A.Z. showed a video every time or if they found something that could prove it without a doubt. The group meet up was canceled, for the best. Isgai has been pretty depressed all day, then he heard a knock on his bedroom door. He sat up from lying down, walked over to his door, and opened his door to see his mom with a plate of kintsuba and some tea. “Hey, baby. You've been locked up in your room all day, did something happen?” She asked sweetly.

Isagi loved his mom, he won't say it to her or his dad's face, but he's pretty sure that she's his favorite parent. He can't even look her in the eyes for more than a few seconds, knowing that he's the reason she's an only child and soon she'll know about it. He knows she'll probably hate him for her sister being gone, his favorite aunt. He knows he was only 5 years old, but he knows it's completely his fault for what happened to his aunt. His cousin's life was out of his hands, but he ruined everything for his aunt and now she's dead.

“Thanks mom, I'm sorry for being cooped up in here. I don't really feel like talking about…at least not right now.” He said nervously with a forced smile as he took the kintsuba and tea.

She gently put her hands on his face with a soft smile. “Listen, baby, I know something’s up and you're not feeling well, but I need you to not fake emotions. It's not good for you, I will know. If you do it again in front of me or if I hear about you doing it, you know what will happen.” She said gently while having them gently press their foreheads together. Isagi chuckled because he knew exactly what she was talking about. “Okay, mom, thanks. I love you so much.” Isagi said a bit sad as he hugged his mom tightly. “I love you too, very much, baby.” She hugged back not as tight so he can get it out of his system.

“You're such a mama's boy.” They heard a voice from behind them, they let go and saw Isagi's dad. “You baby him so much, Iyo. He might not move out if you keep this up.” He teased. “I just love my son, and he loves me. It's not my fault he bonds more easily with me than you, Issei.”

She replied with a smug smile and slight laugh. “By the way, Yoichi, why don't you go see your boyfriend? He might be able to make you feel better. Might as well have some practice for when you're married.” She chuckled. Isagi's face got red. “MOM!” He was clearly embarrassed. “What? He seems nice from the way you talk about him.” She smiled. “He's not my boyfriend, we're just dating because we like each other.” He got more red.

“If you say so, Yoichi. But I promise spending time with a lover, or friends when you're going through something helps. It helped me when I was your age and I didn't feel like my parents would understand.” She said as she gave him a kiss on his cheek and forehead. He thought that she had a point, especially since most of his friends know what's going on for the most part.

Isagi only felt like he could properly talk about this with the one person who knew about it.

“I'm glad you agreed to meet up.” Isagi was looking at his cup of tea. “Of course, you know I'm always ready to help you.” Kurona said as he stirred his tea with a small smile. “I heard that you're next, is it true?” Isagi swallowed and waited a minute before answering “Yeah, it's the incident.” Kurona nodded. “Thought so. But you know I'm glad we could meet at the diner, it seems like you could make it anyways.” He chuckled, Isagi smiled for a second then it dropped.

“So I have a day before A.Z. starts counting down.” Isagi was looking away. “Since it'll be shown to the whole school maybe Mr.Ego can do something about it?” Kurona suggested as he leaned back in his seat. “Yeah right, he'd totally help us.” Isagi's voice was clear in sarcasm. “Yeah, you're right. ‘I don't need to get involved with your teen drama’.” Kurona said in a dramatic impression of Ego.

“He probably would say something like that.” Isagi laughed a bit at Kurona's impression. “Then maybe we can ask the vice principal?” Kurona was clearly running out of ideas. “You mean Ms. Teieri? She’s nice the few times I’ve seen her. Do you really think she’ll help us? Isn’t she like, engaged to Mr. Ego?” Isagi raised an eyebrow. “I think so, but trust me. She’s awesome.” Kurona smiled while taking a sip. “We can go and find her after class on Monday, so we can ask her about the whole A.Z. thing.

Hopefully she’s willing to help.” Kurona took another sip. “Nothing better than an adult that can help.” Isagi chuckled as he took a sip. Isagi’s phone went off and he checked. He stopped drinking with it touching his lips, with his mouth slightly opened. “Isagi, are you okay?” Isagi looked up at Kurona. He was clearly concerned because he can almost always tell when something is wrong, one of the perks of growing up with someone.

“A.Z. came back and gave me a ‘good luck’ text.” Isagi put his cup down with a sigh. “I see, they’re poking fun at us because they know that we can’t do anything about it right now.” Kurona sighed heavily as he crossed his arms. “This is so fucking stupid.” Isagi with a groan rubbed his temple while leaning on the table with his elbow. “Yeah, it sucks.” Kurona looked at the ceiling for a few moments with an empty headed expression. Isagi looked up to try and see what Kurona was distracted by. “That pattern looks like a face right there.” Kurona said as he pointed.

“Eh, I don’t see it.” Isagi shrugged. “Okay.” Kurona put his head back down to look back at Isagi. “But yeah, I believe that she can help us. She seems to be better at dealing with the actual students, basically mostly the exact opposite of Mr. Ego.” Kurona continued. Isagi looked down to make eye contact. “Also, are we still on for our hangout tomorrow?” Kurona looked at him with a questioning look. “I don’t know, can we try and find out tomorrow?” Isagi asked a bit nervously because one of the things he hates most is disappointing people, especially when it’s Kurona.

“That’s fine…” Kurona didn’t make eye contact. Isagi of course noticed. “You already cleared the day didn’t you?” Isagi asked even though he already knew. “No…maybe, but that doesn’t mean you have to go if you’re not feeling it. We can do something small today or even just now do anything at all until we can get this figured out. I just care about how you’re feeling, so don’t force yourself. And if you do I’ll tell your mom about you forcing smiles and pretending to be okay.” Kurona said constantly. “Snitch.” Isagi said playfully with a small smile. “I’m a self proclaimed parental snitch, thank you very much.” Kurona playfully said dramatically. They both laughed, and tried to enjoy the rest of their time in the diner. It was harder for Isagi to completely enjoy himself, since his life will be ruined soon when he makes a decision.

The weekend ended too soon for Isagi's liking, now he has until Friday to tell everyone what happened. He ended up staying home during their hangout day and Kurona spent it with Kiyora instead.

Isagi was dreading facing anyone, as he was on his way to school. Then suddenly someone ran up to him and jumped on him from the front, in a koala hug. Isagi was caught off guard, but his reflexes reacted faster than his brain, and he held them. It was of course, Bachira, who was smiling and laid his head on Isagi's shoulder. “What's this for?” Isagi laughed slightly, but he knew he liked it. “Because yes.” Bachira said back instantly. “Aye aye, captain.” Isagi continued walking with Bachira stuck on him.

Chigiri, Hiori, Kurona, Kiyora, Charles, and Niko were at the entrance talking. “Hey, Isagi.” Kurona waved. “Ya feelin’ better?” Hiori asked. “Yeah, I guess, but not really.” Isagi didn't really know how to approach this, or how to deal with people approaching him about it. “What's with the kola?” Chigiri pointed at Bachira. “I think he dozed off, he hasn't moved much since he jumped on me.” Isagi adjusted his arms a bit for safety. Charles went behind Isagi to see Bachira's face. “Yup, he's gone.”

Charles said. “Thought so.” Isagi said casually while a smile, because he liked being right, especially when it comes to Bachira's behaviors. “Sorry again, Kurona for ditching you.” Isagi felt bad for leaving Kurona on their hangout day. “It's fine, I know you have a lot of things going on right now.” Kurona gave a smile. “So, are ya gonna tell us, yet?” Hiori asked. Isagi could hear his heart loud in his ears, with his lungs feeling like they dropped. Isagi stayed silent, and avoided eye contact with anyone.

“Sorry, have ya not decided yet?” Hiori broke the silence. Isagi shook his head, still not looking at anyone. “Has anyone talked to Naruhaya since Friday?” Kiyora asked everyone. As soon as he said that, Niko covered his mouth, gagged, and rushed to a nearby bush then threw up violently. Everyone was caught off guard, as Charles went to Niko and patted his back, with an unsure and nervous expression. “Sorry, sorry, I-” He gagged again and thew up more. “Ghg, fuck.” Niko threw up more. “You okay?” Hiori went to them and stood next to Charles. “It's fine, I promise, it's just a thing with me.” He threw up more. “I don't think it is, you haven't even had any breakfast yet.” Charles was concerned but didn't want to push it. When Niko finally stopped, wiped his mouth and went into the building without a word, and Charles followed quickly from behind.

“What's with him?” Chigiri was clearly confused. “Well, I mean remember when we all saw the video and Niko threw up then. I think it's just his reaction to seeing and remembering it.” Kiyora said. “That makes sense.” Hiori responded.

It was during 3rd period as Kurona and Isagi met up outside of the vice principal’s office. Kurona knocked. “Come in.” they heard a female voice say. They opened the door to see a gorgeous brunette, wearing a nice white suit dress, with white heels, and dark leggings. “What can I do for you, boys?” She smiled. “Well, Ms. Teieri, we have something that's going on in the school. It's been going on for a few months now and we were wondering if we could-” Before Isagi could finish Ms. Teieri held up a finger. “Stop. I already know what's going on.” She said calmly with a gentle smile as she stood up, walked past them and to the door. “Come with me.” She opened the door. The two looked at each other and shrugged with a confused look.

They were following Ms. Teieri down the hall as she walked calmly with the gentle smile still on her face. She didn’t explain anything and just kept quiet as she led the boys to a club room that was at the back of the school. She opened it up and used a hand gesture for them to go in. “Come in.” She said with a soft smile as the boys went inside the room. It was a messy club room that had pictures, papers and newspapers on the walls, desks and tables. “What is this place?” Isagi asked as Ms. Teieri went in behind them and closed the door.

“This is the investigation club.” She answered as she walked past them and went to a small locker and opened it to see a black haired dark skinned guy with a bright orange middle part in his hair, literal white stars in his eyes. He was writing things down in a notebook fast with a serious and very focused face. “Hello, Akira. Working hard, I see.” She chuckled with a smile. He nodded while saying something as he stood up and went to the table to put the notebook down. He turned to Isagi and Kurona, once he made eye contact with Kurona his face instantly brightened up.

“Hi, I’m Akira Endoji. What’re are you here for? Do you want to join the club? If you are, I’m the president of the club and organize everything. From missing items to bigger things, I keep track of everything. As you can see, I’m currently on the case.” He spoke so fast the two boys could barely keep up. Akira pointed to the wall that had lots of papers that were held up from pins with a rope connecting some papers to photos, others were connecting papers to written notes and news articles, and there were some that were connected with papers, photos, written notes, and news articles.

“Not to mention Miss Anri is the club sponsor and she’s friends with my mom, so that’s why it’s so empty and it’s not closed. Barely anyone even remembers this club exists, aside from a few people here and there. I have a strong case I’m on right now, I've been at it for a year now and it’s still not solved. It’s such a rush, especially since I know who’s doing it but at the same time I don’t know and the person also knows that I’m investigating them. Oh! And-” before he could continue at a fast pace talking to them, Ms. Teieri put her hand on his shoulder. “These two are here because they have some evidence that might be able to help.” She said softly with a smile.

His face looked shocked as he looked at her and the two boys in front of him. He quickly grabbed his notebook and pen and readied them in his hands. “Tell me everything you got and I’ll get you up to speed with everything I've got.” He said while looking at them. Isagi nodded as he told Akira everything as he wrote everything down. “I see, well long story short for my investigation.” Akira said as he lightly tossed the notebook and pencil as he walked to the wall. “A.Z. is definitely dedicated to their cause. So basically they started this whole thing last year, I just so happened to notice the rate of people killing themselves or attempting or moving was higher than it ever has before.” He said as he pointed at photos of multiple random schoolmates and news articles.

“So I started asking around and collected enough info to conclude what A.Z. was doing but didn't know the motive until they messaged me themselves. They told me why they're doing it and what to call them as you know is ‘A.Z.’. After half a year of investigating, I could confidently say that there is no pattern in the revealing process. Not to mention the fact that phase 2 just started.” Akira was constantly talking until Kurona interrupted. “What do you mean by ‘phase 2’?” He asked with a wondering face and tone. “Last year, A.Z. only revealed these secrets to everyone in the same year as the person and put photos with a note in their lockers. But phase 2 started just a few months ago and you're already aware of how it works.” Akira said as he ripped out his note and pinned it on the wall and put it right next to the ‘PHASE 2’ paper, that was right above the ‘PHASE 1’ paper.

“But even if A.Z.’s an asshole, they're not a monster and you'll probably see it when Naruhaya comes back.” Akira smiled as he said that as he looked at them both. Kurona and Isagi gave each other a look clearly confused and then looked back at Akira.

Chapter Text

A small Isagi opened his eyes, there was nothing around him. He looked around and only saw darkness, and suddenly he spotted a familiar silhouette. He ran to her with a smile as he yelled her name and hugged her tightly as he finally reached her. “Auntie Mina!” he was smiling as he held on to the back of her leg. “I missed you so much.” He muzzled her leg, he felt calm with her touch “Oh sweet little Yoichi.” She said with a low and ominous tone. “You say you miss me, that’s a laugh.” She chuckled coldly. “Huh?” Isagi was confused, until she turned around. There was blood dripping from her head and dripped on Isagi's forehead and ran down his face. It disappeared once it hit the floor, he watched it with a shocked face. He looked back up at his aunt. “You say that like you aren’t the reason why I’m gone.” She said with a cold voice with a creepy wide smile across her face. Isagi took a step back with a frozen face as he was shaking and turned back to his 17 year old self. “Please, Auntie, I didn’t know what I was saying. I promise I didn’t mean to. I was confused, I was only 5, I didn’t know what I was saying.” Isagi started crying as he pleaded, with his voice getting louder. “Doesn’t change the fact that everything ended the way it did because of you.” She said with a mean tone as she flicked his forehead with a cruel smile. “Anyway, everyone will know the truth soon enough. So I guess your life is done for, while mine will be saved a bit too late.” She teased as she got closer with crossed arms. They made eye contact, hers cold and lifeless while his were shaky, watery and twitchy. She suddenly got close to his face and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Isagi’s eyes shot open to him seeing his mom over him. “Oh sorry, Yoichi, was I too rough?” She sat up straight as he sat up from laying down. “No, don’t worry about it mom.” Iasgi said as he rubbed his head. “It was just a dream, it usually goes on a lot longer. I guess mom’s kiss interrupted this one. She hasn't done this for a while though.” Isagi thought. “Sorry for interrupting your sleep, it's just that you seem to be not doing well, so I thought I could give you late night kisses again, just like how when you were younger.” She said sweetly with an unsure smile. “I have the best mom in the world, I wish she had a better son.” Isagi thought looking a bit disappointed and happy at the same time. “Thanks mom.” He said as he gave her a kiss on the cheek, she smiled. “Remember, I'm always here for you.” She said as she gave him another kiss on the forehead then went to the door. “Goodnight, Yoichi.” She said sweetly with her hand on the door getting ready to close. “Good night, mom.” He said with a sad smile. She closed the door as she walked out.

Isagi groaned with his face in his hands. “What am I gonna do?” He was starting to think that he would be completely alone after A.Z. shows everyone. He laid back staring at the ceiling, he thought back to yesterday in the investigation club.

“So you mean no one has been able to escape it?” Isagi asked Akira with a hopeless tone. “Yup, no one has been able to avoid the inevitable. You have to play along. Like it or not, you’re stuck in a trap. Either fess up or have it visualized.” Akira said casually as he leaned on the table with crossed arms. “I wish I could help, but I’ve got my hands tied here. A.Z. is good, doesn’t leave any trace which is why the police aren't on the case, it took too long. I’ve been collecting things for a year now and still no lead. All I can do is collect some dots here and there but rarely anyone has come to me since last year so I have a lot of blank spaces in my evidence timeline. The only thing I can do is have you tell me how things are going and I’ll do my best figuring things out.” He shrugged. “In other words just try to keep him updated on the situation and we’ll see how it goes from there.” Ms. Teieri said, trying to summarize.

Isagi turned on his side in his bed as he covered his head with the covers, as his mind kept thinking about the same stuff. “Will I be dumped? Will my mom hate me? Will I be alone? Will Kira hate me?” Isagi groaned loudly, getting tired of his own negative thoughts. He tried shaking them off and forced himself to go to sleep.

Isgai woke up to hear talking downstairs. It wasn’t loud, just normal talk that just so happened to make a sound through the walls. He dragged himself out of bed and headed downstairs but stopped halfway down to be shocked to see someone he hasn’t seen in a while. The guy spotted Isagi and stopped talking as he waved. “Hey Cuz, I was wondering if you were gonna stay down for the entire time I was here.” He chuckled with a smile. “What the actual fuck. What kind of unlucky god is haunting me for this shit to happen.” Isagi thought to himself. “H-Hey, Kria..” Isagi said, trying not to show his freak out. “I heard that you haven’t been feeling well lately. Is everything alright?” He asked with a worried smile. “Yeah everything’s fine, I just… I need to get ready for school.” He said accidentally coming off coldly as he went back up stairs to get dressed.

“So yeah, I’m fucked. Completely fucked. If it gets revealed he’s gonna be near me and once he sees that I’m the reason his mom is gone, I can’t imagine him having any other reaction other than to choke me out at least.” Isagi was venting to Kurona as they were walking. “I’m sure he won’t be that mad, maybe upset at first first. But I’m sure he’ll come around. You're his favorite cousin.”

Kurona was trying to help Isagi not feel like he can’t tell his cousin. “I’m his only cousin, and I’m pretty sure the only reason he spoils me so much is because I’m the replacement for his sister and brother.” Isagi said and couldn’t stop himself from thinking pessimistically about the situation he’s in. “I’m sure that’s not true.” Kurona tried to rescue him but he rebutted. “Just last year he accidentally called me Aoi.” Kurona was trying to find a way to turn this into not as bad as it seems, but before he could a voice was yelling out to them. “Hey, Isagi!” They both heard fast footsteps but as soon as they turned around Bachira jumped on Isagi, hugging him happily and tightly. “Hey Bachira.” Isagi instantly forgot what they were just talking about as he hugged him back smiling with a slightly red face and a stupid smile. “Hey Kurona. What are you doing here?” Bachira had noticed Kurona, while Isagi completely forgot he was there for a second. “Me and Isagi are just chatting about a few things things.” Kurona said nervously.

Bachira noticed that Kurona wasn’t being specific, so he smiled as he let go of Isagi. “I just remembered that I had volunteered to help my teacher with her bags. I’ll see you two later.” He said cheerfully with his usual smile being shined on them, as he ran off waving. Isgai was still smiling in a trace while waving and a flushed face. Kurona waved too, but he noticed that even once they couldn’t see Bachira anymore, Isgai was still smiling and waving. Kurona lightly groaned as he elbowed Isgai. “Ow hey!” Isagi was rubbing his side as he jumped a bit. “Snap out of it loverboy, we have things to do.” Kurona scolded with crossed arms with an annoyed pout. “I know that. I just get distracted easily.” Kurona raised an eyebrow at the excuse, mostly because he know for damn sure that Isgai is the most focused fucker he’s ever meant so he knew it was bull. “By him, yeah. But you can have time to love on him when your secret isn’t on the line.” Isgai knew he was right, he was getting distracted when he definitely didn’t have time for that.

Kurona, Isagi, Bachira, Chigiri, and Kiyora were sitting together outside for lunch break. Bachira was laying his head on Isagi’s shoulder. “We should have him hangout with us more, so he can see what love actually looks like.” Kiyora said as he leaned back a bit. “I don’t think he’ll even entertain the thought of hanging out with one of MY friends.” Isagi said, rubbing the back of his head nervously with a small chuckle. “Yeah, he loves Kaiser too much.” Chigiri said with a sigh as he picked at his food slightly.

They all heard quick footsteps getting closer. Isagi looked over Bachira’s head. “BLUE GUY, REDDISH PINK GUY!” Akira was running to their table as he was waving some papers around. Once he got to them he stopped to catch his breath while leaning over, huffing. “Who are you?” Chigiri asked with a raised eyebrow. “This is Akira Endoji, he's the head of the investigation club. Y'know the guy we told you about?” Isagi answered.

“Oh.” Chigiri looked Akira up and down, as Akira waved with a smile. “Cute, so what're you doing here?” He leaned on his hand. “Well I forgot you two's names, and we don't have each other's numbers so I had to find you guys when I found something.” He said as he put the papers down and spread them out.

“So blue guy, I've used the process of elimination to find out what your secret is. And from what I think, it's not that bad considering you were so young. So I have someone who owns me a favor so he'll talk to you and will help you see that it's not your fault. I honestly would prefer if you didn't see the video because knowing A.Z. they'll show everything, including the ki-” Akira's was quickly covered by a panicked Isagi. “We have to go.” Isagi said as he dragged Akira away and snatched up the papers and brought them to an empty space in the courtyard.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Isagi yelled quietly. “Sorry, but in all realness. It's not your fault. If professional detectives and judges can get verdicts wrong, how in the world would a small child that just barely gained consciousness make the right call?” Akira said sweetly and softly as he put his hand on Isagi's shoulder. Isagi shoved him off and looked away with gridded teeth. “You DON'T know what happened.” Akira’s eyebrows frowned as he took the papers from Isagi's hands and gripped at them. “I know enough.” He answered as Isagi turned his head to look at him with a surprised face. Akira shuffled through the papers and took one out of the pile and put it towards Isagi. “A child of your age at the time is not responsible for the adults’ inability to investigate properly and ask the right questions.” Akira said as he put the paper in Isagi's face, it was an old news article with a small Isagi with his face covered, the headline being ‘Young child testifies against Aunt for killing two of his cousin's’. “Was she innocent? Yes, and it's sad that she had no hope. But it's not your fault she killed herself. If the adults on the case did everything right, then all you had to do was say what you remember happening, instead of what you saw. I watched the trial, the adults were the ones who made the mistake, so stop blaming yourself. I know it’s not as easy as ‘oh, you're so right, let me just get over it’ so just know that's not what I'm saying, blue guy.” Akira said gently with a reassuring look as he put his hand on Isagi's shoulder again.

“I'm saying for you to talk to someone, my mom is a therapist, she'll be able to help you to stop blaming yourself. Also since you only have a few days left, just tell everyone you know everything, before people who don't give a shit about you see it and use it against you. Not only that but you'll have to see the brutality of everything being visualized and you'll have a harder time forgiving yourself for something that was never your fault.” Akira handed Isagi the papers with a solemn smile.

“You’re pretty great so far, and I'd hate for your metal state to get worse.” Isagi silently got the papers and looked at them then back at Akira's eyes. “Sorry if I'm talking too much, it's okay if you tell me when I am.” Akira said as he nervously rubbed the back of his neck with a slight chuckle. “You know…” Isagi said as he put his arms down next to his sides. “You're pretty cool, I'm surprised you're always alone.” Isagi said with a slight smile. “I don't really think about it, I'm usually too focused on my cases to think of anything else. Sometimes I forget that I'm feeling lonely, I don't think it counts. Does it?” Akira asked. “I think it depends on the person.” Isagi said unsure, because how did they get from talking about his dead aunt to forgetting to be lonely. “I'm Isagi by the way and the other guy that was with me the other day is Kurona.” He put out his hand. “Sorry, you were just on the bench that was thrown up on yesterday, and I don't trust that the wood didn't soak some of it up. Plus it's hard to completely clean wood like that.” Akira said with a smile as he took a slight step back with both of his hands up. “... Man, this guy is weird.” Isagi thought to himself as he put his hand down, with a slight smile.

Chapter Text

Isagi went home early and skipped practice. On his walk he stared at the tiny piece of paper that Akira gave him at the courtyard. The paper had a number on it, the number to Akria’s mom’s office. He couldn’t stop thinking about what Akria had told him. At first Isgai had thought Akria was just a bit of a weirdo that was kind of an air head, but boy did he prove him wrong. Akira is the furthest thing from an air head. He seems to be actually smart. I guess that might be part of the reason the investigation club is still open, he’s actually good at the activity. “ISAGI!” someone behind him yelled and he heard quick footsteps, which means they were probably running at full speed. Isagi turned around and his legs were attacked by little people. “ISAGI, I MISS YOU!” A little girl yelled with a huge smile on her face. Isagi looked down at her and a smile formed on his face as he picked her up. “Hey, Ai. Where's your brother?” He said in a gentle and soft tone as he held her tiny hand. “He's with grand-” she had a quick pause and said “Mommy back at the park.” She said as she started playing with his hair. He saw a woman running to him with a little boy in her arms. When she finally got to him she put the boy down and was resting her weight on her knees as she was bent over, while she was catching her breath.

“Hey..Isagi..oh boy.” she was talking in between each breath. “Aiya, you can't be running off like that. You scared me, baby.” She got closer to him and moved Aiya's hair out of her face and kissed her on the cheek. Isagi waved with a smile at the little boy named Kenji. “When can you come over again?” Aiya said with a smile as she hugged him tightly. “I'm not sure. Do you guys miss me?” Isagi teased as he poked Ai's cheek, which made her giggle.

Kenji nodded, with his small fist over his mouth as he held his magenta colored teddy bear tightly with one tiny arm. Isagi leaned over with Ai still in his arms and lightly ruffled his hair, as the little one stared at him with barely an expression. “Well I miss you guys two.” the woman smiled at Isagi. “How about you stay over this weekend?” She asked him. “I'll have to ask my mom, but I'd love to go.” He said with a smile as he picked up Kenji with his other arm, he kissed them both on the forehead.

She sighs with exhaustion and joy with a smile. “They love you just as much as they love Meguru.” She gave the twins kisses on their cheeks. “Since Meguru is still at practice, would you like to come over until he gets home?” Isagi thought for a minute. Then agreed as Bachira's mom took Kenji from his arms and they all headed to Bachira's house.

Once they got there Isagi and Aiya started rough housing in the twins’ room. Kenji watched from his bed on the other side of the room, while holding his bear and not having any expression as he watched them. Isagi yanked Aiya and held her up close to the ceiling, and she screamed with joy as she tried to get out of his grip. He noticed so he instead put her lower and clung onto her while under him as he tickled her. “Ahaha no! Aaha let go!” She screamed while laughing super hard. “What's wrong? Can't fight back, little one?” He said with a smile and a few laughs of his own. He tossed her on the bed and started attacking her lightly with a pillow. She was still laughing while trying to cover her head and face. She managed to grab a pillow and started to counter.

While they were fighting each other while laughing and having fun. A random pillow suddenly hit the both of them. They looked where it came from and saw Meguru with a cheeky smile as he had Kenji half asleep in his lap. He laughed a bit before speaking. “You two seem to be having a lot of fun without me. Does this mean I'm not needed anymore.” He said teasingly as he stood up with Kenji still I'm his arms. I guess I'm gonna have to leave forever.” He said in a totally not serious tone as he dramatically walked to the door and flung it opened. Aiya started whining as she quickly got up and held onto his leg. “NO, I WANT YOU!” She cried clearly not knowing he was playing. Meguru and Isagi chuckled. Meguru kneeled down and kissed her on the forehead. “I know, bab-” He stopped before he finished that word and continued quickly again “Ai, I'm not gonna leave you.” He said with a smile as he ruffled her hair.

“So are you staying for dinner?” Meguru asked with a smile as he picked up Aiya, and then sat on Kenji's bed with the two in his arms. “Yeah, I plan too.” Isagi answered as he went to Kenji's bed and sat next to the three of them. He looked at Meguru with a smile and Meguru did the same. Isagi started leaning in, then Meguru gave him a quick kiss on the nose then snickered. Isagi rubbed his nose as he gave Meguru a look but he also couldn't help but smile.

After dinner, everyone was in the living room watching a movie. It was boring at times and a bit slow, but it was pretty good. By the end of it everyone except Isagi was asleep, because it was Isagi's favorite movie. Meguru was lightly snoring with his head on Isagi's shoulder, the twins were snuggling up to Meguru with Aiya snoring with drool, and Kenji sleeping soundly with his teddy bear in his face, and Meguru's mom was snoring loudly with her head back, mouth wide open, and drool leaking from the side.

Isagi looked around at them, and smiled. This was a good icebreaker compared to everything that's been the wild ride of the past few days. This was much more enjoyable than the last time he was watching something on this TV. Isagi smiled as he put his arm around Meguru and the twins and pulled them close as he kissed Meguru's cheek and the twins’ foreheads. He laid his head back and closed his eyes. Things just might be finally looking up for him. I mean, as good as it can be as of now.

"Things are good, so I'll tell them tomorrow when we wake up." Was the last thing Isagi thought before he completely dozed off.

Chapter Text

A small Isagi opened his eyes. He looked around confused, everything was dark, it felt like he was falling but he could stand perfectly still and up with no problem. He looked around and started running, he didn’t know where but he was going as fast as he could. He couldn’t tell if he was actually moving or not because it was too dark in every direction. He eventually smacked face first into something which made him fall down. “Ow.” He whined as he rubbed it, he looked up and fear and shock covered his entire face. It was a large, brown casket.

It slowly started standing up to show his used to be oldest cousin, Aoi. Her head was hung as she looked like a zombie with good posture. Her skin was pale, her clothes soaked in blood, her hair splashed with it. Her neck, constantly leaking blood like syrup, slow with every huge drip. Isagi was shaking, her body looked exactly the same as it did when he first saw it laying on the floor. She slowly raised her head, her left eye completely rolled back and the other missing as the socket was running blood down her cheek.

She reached out to him, with a shaky hand, and a hopeless expression. She tried to talk but probably because of the deep neck wound she could only make loud groggy, gurgling sounds. Isagi stood up as he just stared at her with the same fear he was completely frozen with all those years ago. But this time instead of running from her 10 year old body and tried to rush and hug her. “Aoi, please, I’m sorry. I-” When he touched her she disappeared. Isagi is left there with his arms in a hugging position but with no one in them. He started breathing heavily, and crying. He fell to his knees and cried as he put the arm potion to use and hugged himself.

After what felt like hours, but seconds at the same time past he got kicked in the back of the head. Knocking him down. He turned his head as he held the back, where it got hit and his eyes widened when he saw who it was. “Loser.” The little boy chuckled, playfully. Isagi quickly got up and stared at his youngest cousin, Hitomi, who’s staying the youngest.

“You should see your face, Blue.” He laughed. “I..” Isagi hesitantly said as he slowly stood up and went back to his 17 year old self. “I miss you. I miss you, Aoi, and Aunt Mina. I miss you all. Why couldn’t I have just been braver? I could’ve helped. I could’ve done something.” His voice started breaking as he clenched his fists and started crying.

“Like what? You weren't too much older than me, and Aoi is older than the both of us. Just be honest with them…I love you.” he turned away and started walking off but Isagi wanted, no, he NEEDED more time with him. “WAIT!” He reached out and the next thing he knew he was in a reaching position while breathing hard.

He looked at the little girl on his chest, his partner on his shoulder. He saw that Meguru's mom wasn't there anymore and they all had a blanket.

“Hey cuz, where were you last night?” Kira asked as soon as Isagi came in. “I was at a ‘friend's’ house.” Isagi said as he tried to scurry to his room. “H-hey, Isagi.” He stopped in his tracks as soon as his cousin stood up from the table. “Yeah?”

“You've been avoiding me a lot lately, well not even lately, for the past few years you just don’t seem to like me anymore. Was it something I did or is there something else going on?” Kira got close. “Because just know that if that is the case you can talk to me about anything. Okay?” Isagi nodded. “Yeah, okay. Nothing to worry about.” Kira nodded. “Okay..” He was about to walk off as Kira sat back down. Isagi paused half way up the stairs. “Actually…” He started, Kira looked at him as Isagi turned around. He took a breath. “I haven't been honest with you, but…I want you to know something.” He said as he went back down the stairs. “What's going on?”

“You're gonna wanna sit down for this.” Kira looked concerned as he took a seat and Isagi joined him.

Isagi walked with a patch on his cheek. Kurona wanted to ask about it but decided against it. “So I told him about what happened. He did punch me but it was for a much different reason than I thought it would be for.” Kurona was a bit confused since that was completely unprovoked.

“So…what was the reason reason?”

“He was just pissed off that I kept it from him for so long. He was yelling something about how much he was hurt that I thought so low of him that he’d blame me and something about how I was an asshole for keeping it from him because he spent a long time hating his mom for what she did to his siblings. Then after that he just started crying his eyes out while screaming at me for being an asshole then he went down his memories with his family before they died and just broke down about how much he misses them all and how he was so stupid for hating his mom for all this time.” Isgai said while still walking but Kurona stopped for a hot second and then started up again. “Okay, so not the reaction I was expecting expecting.”

“Me neither, but not only that I had to tell my parents because they heard the noise. So now my family is down.”

“Wait, but what was their reaction reaction?”

“My dad was pretty indifferent but my mom just froze up. I think she just needs time to process everything.”

“I think it’s for the best best. She did just find out that her sister killed herself because of a false testimony.” Kurona’s bluntness felt like a stab to Isagi’s heart. “Right. Hopefully she still loves me once she’s done processing.”

“I’m sure she will will.”

“Sure who will do what?” a voice popped up. The both of them jumped and turned around. Bachira was behind them. “No one important.” Isagi initiated a hug with his partner. Bachria was caught off guard because he’s usually the one to start their hugs.

When Isagi released he gently held both of Bachria’s hands and brought one to his lips and gave a soft kiss to one. Bachria’s heart went fast as he just looked at his partner as his face started to flush.

A quiet a few blinks from Bachria later and of no one speaking. “What did you do?” The question made Kurona snicker and offended Isagi. “WHAT? Why does something have to be wrong for me to just show my appreciation and love for you?” Bachira just stared for a few more seconds before he said, “You’re gonna tell me your secret aren’t you?” Isagi paused them showed an awkward look. “I knew something was up. You should probably wait until we all meet up though.” He gave Isagi a quick kiss on the forehead, held his hand and walked with the two of them to school. Isagi was slightly pink not just from embarrassment but from the fact that Bachria could read him so easily. “I still wasn’t doing it to get you in a good mood though.” He mumbled under his breath while pouting.

Kurona had tasked Akira in collecting everyone since he has a apparently has a talent for finding things out about people, including phone numbers and other stuff.

So here they are, just waiting for the guest of honor to arrive in the investigation club.

Isagi is trying to talk himself out of backing out. He's feeling more nervous than before after his family's reaction. It probably won't be as bad since they didn't know his Aunt but what if they started thinking of him differently? What if-? Isagi's thoughts were interrupted as the door opened in his face and he was looking round blue eyes looking at him. “Well looks like I won't havta go lookin’ for ya.”

Isagi swallowed. “Come on, ya wus. Some of us are missing important stuff for this meeting.” Hiori pulled Isagi in by the wrist.

Isgai stood in front of everyone. Well not exactly everyone, Bachira was holding his hand, and Hiori was standing next to them.

“Well…my secret…my secret is that when I was around 7 or 5, I testified against my aunt for killing two of my cousins. Then just a few years later they found the real killer and found that she was actually innocent.” Isagi said fast while looking at the ground. There was silence, then someone dropped their cup and it shattered.

Isagi looked up with an annoyed expression. “Okay now, that was unnecessary.”

“Sorry.” Nanase said as he got up to get a broom.

Isagi was leaning against the wall outside of the club room. He took a breath as the door opened and everyone started walking out. “I already knew you were an asshole, but this really takes the cake.” Kaiser let a small chuckle out clearly not meaning it but just to mess with Isagi, as he walked out with Ness following from behind. “Fuck off you, you humanoid float.” Isagi flipped him off.

Hiori was next. “It wasn't yer fault, ya know.”

“I know that now.” Isagi chuckled. Hiori gave him a slight head shove. “Dork.” He walked off.

Naruhaya came out. “Oh! Naruhaya, I'm glad you're here. Where have you been this past week?” Isagi stopped him from walking off.

“I was moving. Someone sent me the deed to a house that was completely paid off along with 4 billion yen in the mail.” His phone interrupted them. “Sorry, my sister needs help with carrying the little ones. I'll be back to school next week.” He quickly left.

Once they were done talking, Isagi noticed that everyone was already gone. Well..almost everyone.

Bachira gave Isagi a kiss on the lips. It was slow and soft. Isagi couldn't think straight. His mind started going everywhere, from Bachira's lips, to just different things he loves about him.

This was their first kiss together. Isagi has been waiting for this for so long, Bachira had probably known since he always faked him out before this. Isagi kissed back and held his hair as he deepened the kiss. They kept kissing for a while but were brought back to the real world when Isagi’s phone rang. “God damnit.” Isagi mumbled as he pulled away as he let go and pulled out his phone. “It’s A.Z.” Isagi said as he looked at Bachria and then back at his phone. Bachria leaned over his phone to see what was sent.

‘Congratulations on the kiss, Isgai. I know you’ve been desperate for it for a while. You’ve completed it before the 24 hour count down, I’m happy you came to your senses and were honest with everyone. I’m proud of you.’

“You were desperate?" Bachria teased with a slight chuckle. “No…shut up.” Isagi said not looking at him with an embarrassed expression. His phone rang again. “Huh?” they both looked at the new text.

‘I wonder if your boyfriend can be just as honest.’ after they both read it and Bachira’s face drained of all of its color. Isagi looked at Bachira who looked like he was gonna vomit or pass out, or both.

Bachira and Isagi are holding hands as they walked. Isagi’s eyes going from Bachira to in front of him to across the street, and back to Bachira. Bachira had been quiet ever since A.Z. sent that message. He was just staring at the ground with no expression.

They got to Bachira’s house, Bachira walked to his door still looking at the ground. He froze when he put his hand on the door knob. He too a slight breath, then he turned around and fast walked up on Isagi to give him a quick kiss on the lips. Then went back to the door. “Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

He stood at the door for a moment. “Yeah, I’ll be fine…maybe.” He went in.

That night, Bachira wasn’t doing too well.

“FUCKING HELL!” Bachria threw his pencil mug at the wall and it shattered. “FUCK!” he gripped at his hair and was breathing hard as he fell to his knees while clearly frustrated as tears started. “God fucking damnit.” he sobbed. His breakdown was quickly interrupted by Aiya coming in without knocking. “Daddy?” she said in a small sleepy voice. “Oh sorry, did I wake you?” he got up and walked over to her then kneeled to her height. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I’m just having a self moment right now.” he said with a gentle voice and smile. He picked her up. “I’ll take you back to bed.”

He took her to her room with Kenji still soundly sleeping with his teddy bear.

He tucked her in, gave her a kiss on the cheek and left the twins’ room.

He leaned against the wall, slid down and groaned. “Fuck. I didn't want anyone to know…I just wanted a fresh start.” He started silently sobbing as he hugged his knees in despair.

Chapter Text

“Are you excited to see Auntie Mina and your cousins?" His mom asked as she looked in the rear mirror as they were at a stop light. Isagi nodded fast. “Yes, mommy! I wanna show Aoi the new trick I learned!” He yelled excitedly as his mom chuckled. “I’m sure your cousins will be very impressed.” He smiled at the statement.

“Bye, mommy!” Isagi waved as his mother pulled off as he stood with his aunt and two of his cousins on the porch.

“Aoi, would you like to see a new trick I learned?” He asked her excitedly. She enthusiastically nodded as they rushed inside with her younger brother rushing after them.

Isagi was toe bouncing the ball at an even pace as his older cousin watched with an interested expression as the three of them were in the back yard. “That’s so cool, bluey! How are you doing that?” She was impressed. “I just practiced a lot because I saw some older kids doing it and they taught me. I can show you if you want.” He said as he bounced the ball into his hands.

“No, I’m good.” Isagi looked a bit sad. “Okay.” Aoi noticed his change in diameter. “But I might feel like playing a game with you later.” Isagi instantly brightened up. “Really?” He asked with a smile. She nodded.

“Can we watch transformers?” Hitomi asked Aoi while clinging to her arm. “Sure, I’ll go and ask mom.” She got up from the ground and went back inside.

The three of them were on the floor getting ready to start to movie when Mina walked past them with her purse. “Alright, kids, I’ll be at the corner store for some drinks. I’ll be right back. Try not to alert the neighbors.” She gave all three of them a kiss on the forehead before leaving.

20 minutes into the movie, Isagi stood up. “Do you guys still have the cookies?” Aoi nodded. “Yeah we just made some yesterday.” Isagi went towards the kitchen.

He was looking around for the cookie jar. He didn’t see it, on the counter or the table, which means he needs to look for it to get some. He climbed the counter to get to the cabinets on the higher part of the kitchen. He went through all of them, during his search he heard Aoi scream. “Aw man, they’re playing without me.” This was a hard decision for Isagi, to either miss out on the rare occasion of Aoi feeling like playing around or continue with the search for cookies. “I just need to hurry then get back to them.” Once he was done searching the cabinets.

He climbed down, then started thinking of where the cookies could be hiding. “Hm.” He suddenly remembered, “The food closet?” He went to the pantry, opened the door. His face brightened up as he finally found them, now all he had to do was find a way to get to the third shelf. Isagi started searching for something that could help, he remembers Aoi using something to help her get to high stuff from the food closet, but he can’t remember what it was, he just remembers that it was somewhere in the kitchen or laundry room.

After he searched all over the kitchen, he moved on to the laundry room, which is where he found it. He suddenly remembered as soon as he saw it. “Here it is!” he said excitedly as he struggled to pick it up. After a few failed attempts he just pushed and pulled it to the pantry. He opened it up, pushed it closer. He climbed on the indoor ladder and reached for the cookie jar but it was just out of his reach, even on his tippy toes, he could even touch it. He was starting to get annoyed, he climbed down, climbed on the counter to get his Aunt’s cook book and threw it down as he climbed down.

He put it on the final step and stood on it. He finally acquired the cookie jar after all that time.

He took a seat at the table as he started eating straight from the jar from all that trouble. He heard his aunt scream super loudly, which made him jump. He swallowed the cookie he had in his mouth, hopped up and then went to the living room to see something that’ll stick with him for his entire life.

His aunt was crying as her eyes and head shifted from her two kids’ bodies to her blood covered hands. Isagi was scared and was stuck in place, from where he’s standing. She had blood on her hands and clothes, as his cousins were laid out on the ground bleeding. Aoi’s face stuck in shock as one of her eyes was rolled back and the other was completely gone, her neck was sliced. Hitomi on the other hand had multiple stab wounds all over his small body except for his face. His eyes were completely closed as he had red marks that wrapped around his entire neck. His Aunt finally looked up and saw him in the doorway. She was still crying as her breath was still hard. Isagi took a step back, then his eyes went to the stairs. He looked back at his Aunt. He ran to the stairs, as his heart was beating so fast he could hear it, he went to his Aunt's room, slammed it and locked it. He was breathing hard and couldn't think, he gripped at his hair while he was breathing hard not from his running but from the sheer fear and panic he was going through as he slid down the door. He looked at his lap as he stared at his lap and he saw tears fall on his legs and got into the fabric. He didn't even realize he was crying, as he touched his face and fell them going through his fingers and on his hand. He spotted the house phone. He ran to it and dialed the only number he could remember.

The next thing he knows, he had a blanket on him as he was sitting in the back of an ambulance as he was being checked out by the paramedics, his cousins were being carried away in bags, and Aunt Mina was put in the back of the police car. She looked dead inside, as soon as Isagi’s big eyes left his Aunt he saw his mom running to him. “Baby, what happened?” She gently held his face as she kneeled down.

Isagi started crying. “Auntie hurt them, mommy..”

Chapter Text

During the next few days Isagi’s mom had been cooped up in her room. Isagi believes she’s been avoiding him and he doesn’t want her to feel bad at her own house, so he’s been staying over at Kurona’s house.

“Isagi, this was in the mail for you you.” Kurona handed Isagi a decently sized package. “Thanks?” He wondered who could’ve sent it. He opened it and saw a card and a cd in a case marked ‘For Kira and Isagi’. “What?” He took out the card and saw it was a therapy card to a free therapist with a location on it. Then he took out the cd case and took a closer look at it. “Who-?” Before he could finish that thought his eyes caught a small heraldic rose sticker in the corner of the box. It was so small he almost missed it. He immediately recognized that flower, it’s the exact profile picture that A.Z. uses when they send texts.

Isagi decided to wait for things to calm down a bit before he watches the cd with Kira.

On the way to school Isagi wanted to change his usual route to take a detour to check on Bachira. “He seemed a bit distraught the other day, are you sure about this this?” Kurona asked concerned. “I can’t just leave him like this, what kind of partner would I be if I did?” Isagi said as he turned to Kurona. “Besides, he was there for me when I was gonna get exposed. It’s the least I could do.” Isagi went to the door and knocked. They heard small footsteps, and Aiya's voice came from behind the door. “Who’s there?”

“It’s me, Isagi. Aiya, is your brother home?” He asked through the door. “Yeah, he’s still asleep.” she said as she unlocked the door and opened it. Her face instantly lit up when she saw Isagi. She gave him a tight leg hug. He chuckled a bit a he picked her up. “Isagi, we’re gonna be late, you know know.” Kurona said from behind him. “I know but I promise it’ll be quick and if we’re not out in 7 minutes you can go on without me.” Isagi said as he picked up Aiya and went inside. Kurona groaned and went in after them.

Isagi went upstairs to Bachaira’s room and opened the door to see it didn’t have anyone in there. “Aiya, I thought you said he was sleeping?” He looked at the little one in his arms. “Kenji is here and he’s sleeping in the room.” She said with a confused expression as she looked at Isagi. He realized the misunderstanding and slightly chuckled. “That was my mistake, I meant Bachira, not Kenji.”

“OH! He left before I woke up.”

“Alright, thanks Ai.” He gave her a good squeeze before putting her down. “I’ll see you after school. Bye” He said as he made his way to the door with Kurona right behind. “Bye Bye” Kurona waved to her. “Bye-Bye!” she waved with her whole arm as she followed them to the door so she could close it behind them.

Bachira is walking down the sidewalk while looking at the ground with his hands in his pockets. He knew where he was going but he didn’t really focus on it much. He just kept walking until he stopped to look up at the rising sun and the reflection in the water. He was on the concrete bridge, he walked to the railing and held onto it as he just stared at the sunrise with no expression. He sighed as he leaned over and laid his head on his arms that were laid out on the rails. “I wish it wasn’t as pretty as the first time.” He lightly shook his head. He closed his eyes and thought back to his first time coming here. “‘Just call me Yoko’...” he whispered to himself. He stayed silent for a moment then slowly opened his eyes as he looked at the sun’s reflection in the water. “I hate her so much.” He didn’t whisper this time. This isn’t the first time he’s been here, the only difference between then and now is the very first time he was taken here, the second time he was on the other side of the rails and now here he is, in one of the most important places in his life of his own will and not trying to escape. But he doesn’t really know what he’s doing here, he’s moved on, he’s sure of it. It was 5 years ago, he’s 17 now. He’s almost an adult, there’s no reason for him to still be hung up on this place, the park, the school, or her. He was a child then, but he’s not anymore. It shouldn’t still be affecting him like this.

Sure, the twins came to be then but he wasn’t the one who had them, hell he didn’t even witness their birth so why is he still stuck? Why can’t he just move on? Why must emotions attached to memories be so hard to let go of? “I am free, so why can’t I feel like it?” he mumbled.

Chapter Text

Charles walked up to Isagi, Kurona, Kiyora and Nanase during break. “Hey, do you guys think I stink?” He asked in a genuine tone. “Well that one way to start a conversation.” Kiyora said. “I need you guys to be honest.”

Kurona sniffed. “You smell fine fine”

“Do I really?” Charles asked with suspicion. “Why are you so hung up about this? You asked me the other day if you smelled. What’s going on?” Nanase asked. “Nothing exactly but at the same time that’s the problem.” Charles sulked a bit while looking a bit defeated. “What’s wrong?” Isagi asked.

“It’s Niko. He just..doesn’t seem to like me.” Everyone looked at each other then Charles like he’s crazy. “Aren’t you two together?” Kiyora asked with a raised eyebrow. “I mean, yeah..but he just..” Charles paused then looked around. He leaned in and everyone did the same. “Don’t tell him I told you guys this but anytime we’re approaching second base he just gets sick and runs off to vomit.” He whispered.

“Everything always seems to be going well until we get there and I’m starting to think he’s not actually into me. And if it’s not that he doesn’t like me then I have to try and find out what it is about me that disgusts him so much about me that he can’t even go slightly past kissing without throwing up.”

“I mean, who said it was about you?” Kiyora asked. “Huh?” Charles looked at him. “What do you mean?” Kiyora took a breath. “Who said it was about you? It could just be a personal thing that’s about him. I mean don’t know if he just does that or if it’s a quirk of his.”

“I wouldn’t go that far as to call it a quirk cause it isn’t exactly good for him.” Isagi interrupted. “Not to mention it isn’t exactly his first time vomiting when anything sexual is involved involved." Kurona added. “It’s not?” Charles asked as he tilted his head in confusion. “Have you really not noticed?” Kurona asked. Charles shook his head. “When Naruhaya’s secret was shown shown?”

“I’m sure at least of of everyone also felt a bit sick while watching.”

“When someone only mentioned Naruhuaya's secret?”

“He probably just couldn’t handle thinking about it in detail.”

“How many times has he vomited when he’s with you when you two are starting to touch in the sensual way way?”

“Everytime.”

“Well, there you go go. All of those times something sexual was involved he threw up up.” Charles went silent. “You actually might be onto something. I’ll have to figure something out to make him feel better.” Charles had run off. “Dorks in relationships are hopeless, am I right?” Kiyora joked as he looked at Kurona. “I wouldn’t go that far far.” Kiyora saw that the joke didn’t land. “Right. My bad.”

After school, Isagi wanted to see if Bachira was back home. “Why don’t you give him at least a day day? He might need some time to himself since not only did he not go to school but he left before the sun rose rose.” Kurona said as he was walking with Isagi. “I just want him to know that I’ll be there for him. And maybe he might even tell me what’s going on.” Kurona gave Isagi a non enthusiastic look. “I don’t think that’ll be all it takes since it’s gonna be bad if it’s gotten Bachira of all people to avoid everyone.

“You don’t know that. Maybe I might make him comfortable enough for him to give me the whole story. You never know.” Isagi said in a way that he was mostly trying to convince himself rather than Kurona. When they finally got to his house, Isagi knocked on the door. Bachira's mom opened the door. “Hey, Isagi, Kurona. Are you boys here for Meguru?” She asked with a smile. “Yes ma’am, is he back?” Isagi asked as he saw Aiya playing with her smaller twin’s face as he just silently stared at her while holding his teddy from behind her. “Yes, he got home 10 minutes ago. He should be in his room.” She moved out of the way to invite the two inside.

They entered, gave short greetings to the kids and went upstairs. When they got to Bachira’s room they heard a few concerning noises of breaking and shattering from beyond the closed door. Isagi knocked. Nothing. He gave a few more louder knocks. Still nothing. He slowly opened the door to peek inside, he couldn’t help but feel a bit scared at what he was seeing.

Bachira was repeatedly banging on a framed photo with a hammer, smashing the already broken glass into even smaller pieces. He was gripping at both the frame and hammer so hard the veins in both of his hands were perfectly visible. He was clearly upset, his expression was furious but he was also silently crying as he was breathing super hard. He was muttering the same words over and over again in a very low angry, hurt tone. All he was saying was “fuck her, fuck her, fuck her, fuck her fuck her.”

Isagi was instantly scared to even say anything but then he noticed that not only did he have some shards in his hands but in his rage he was accidentally missing the frame and hit his hand a few times, making it look a bit bruised and bloody but it was probably the adrenaline that made him not notice he was hitting his hand nor the glass protruding.

Isagi rushed in once he noticed Bachira’s hand. “Bachira, what are you doing?” Bachria instantly stopped to look up at his partner. “Isagi!?” Bachira quickly put the frame and hammer behind his back. “What are you doing here? It’s a practice day.”

“Well I just might not go for a while if this is what you’re doing while you’re away.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Bachira responded. Isagi’s face fell. “Don’t start with that I just-” Kurona tapped on Isagi’s shoulder. “I’m gonna go home, my mom just texted. I’ll see you there there.” he walked out. “But yeah, Bachira, I just saw you. Show me what you’re hiding.” Isagi held out his hand. “I’m not hiding anything, see?” Bachira showed both his hands revealing the beaten and bleeding one. “Oh shit.” Once Bachria saw his hand the pain immediately shot through him. “OW! fuck, fuck, fuck, god dammit.” he held his hand as he looked and felt the damage. Bachira’s sudden yelling startled Isagi which just made him start panicking.

Isagi rushed to the bathroom and panicked as he got the first aid kit. He went back to Bachira. “The hell is wrong with you? Jesus you did a number on your hand.” Isagi scolded as he picked out the glass with tweezers. They sat on Bachira's bed in silence with every now and then Isagi glancing up as he was working on the shattered glass. Bachira was looking away, not looking at Isagi even once.