Chapter 18
Everyone would do the same in An’s place.
Every single person would do anything in their power to defend their home.
And An was no different.
“Shiraishi?”
She looked to where the voice had come from, only to find out it was Rui.
An stood up and walked up to him.
“Kamishiro-senpai, what brings to my humble abode?”
He chuckled, An crossed her arms.
“I’m simply wandering, out of boredom, that is.”
He explained as he leaned on the wall.
“You’re next on the interrogation,are you nervous about that?”
An nodded.
“I am, not gonna lie… But I'm certain I'm gonna be okay."
She said.
"You're sure you're going to be innocent, Shiraishi?"
He asked, and An quickly nodded.
"I'm fairly certain."
That response made Rui wonder just what An had done, but of course, he wasn't gonna tell her or anyone about he and Tsukasa's doings, he didn't expect An to tell him hers.
"Well, I'm gonna see if Akito is awake… He probably is but…"
She ran off as Rui waved at her.
Rui walked to Tsukasa's cell, finding him sitting there, the light in his eyes gone.
"Tsukasa…?"
Tsukasa looked at him.
"Rui… We're… never getting out of here."
Rui dropped to the floor beside Tsukasa.
"What do you mean? Of course we're getting out of here."
"The Warden knows what we did. And if she knows then we're going to get judged as guilty and most likely rot in here."
Rui sighed.
"Tsukasa… You're getting out of here. You regret it. What you did was a complete accident."
"But… What about you?"
Rui avoided eye contact with the former troupe leader.
"I… I don't think we'll have the same judgment. But it's alright, Tsukasa. You have a sister to take care of, you need to be the greatest. Whether we're together when that happens or not is--"
Tsukasa gritted his teeth, his hand balling into a fist as a feeling of anger washed over him.
Before he knew it, he had punched Rui right in the face, the latter putting a hand on his cheek, unable to process what happened.
"Don't even dare continue that sentence, Rui. I killed someone and dragged you down with me."
There was a noise outside the cell, some kind of silent, heavy breathing, Rui choosing to ignore it.
"Tsukasa, I made something that was deadly enough to split a human being in two. It happened and even after that I went back to finish the job. You're not at fault for any of it."
Akito couldn't say the pancakes didn't at least lift up his mood.
He had opened his cell up a bit, although still spending all day in there with nothing to do.
"Akito!"
An poked her head out and Akito turned around to look at her.
They hadn't talked in days.
"An."
She sat down beside him, Akito slowly sitting up as well.
"How have you been?"
She asked, giving him a much needed friendly smile that he was already starting to forget.
"Tired. I want to go home already. I want to sing with Toya and Kohane, I want us to be a team again."
Her smile faded slowly as she sighed.
She wondered endlessly if Kohane had already found out what she'd done. If she'd understand.
She wanted to be a team again too.
"Would… You like to sing..? Right now?"
Akito looked at her as she said that.
"I mean… I'm really out of practice. And sleep."
An shrugged.
"It's not like we're gonna perform anytime soon. It's just for fun, y'know?"
Akito was silent for a couple of seconds.
"...Sure. Which song?"
An thought for a second before Akito could swear he saw a lightbulb pop up above her head.
"What about Traffic Jam?"
Akito nodded.
"I guess."
While they sang, completely in sync, Akito reminisced about the first time he and An had sung that song together.
It was a chilly afternoon, both Kohane and Toya being busy that day.
An was there when he arrived at the park, holding her phone and waving at him to get over there.
They'd listened to the song one or two times, he couldn't remember exactly, and just like right there in his cold cell, they were doing it for fun.
That was a week before he committed the worst act of his life.
An's voice was as powerful as always, he wondered how exactly she kept it like that in a place like this.
Akito struggled. His voice was seemingly at a lower level than before. He was completely out of practice after all, he couldn't have practiced even if he wanted to though, he was too exhausted to do anything.
But still, he felt that little warmth he felt when they were performing together, his feet steadily hitting the ground at the nonexistent beat of the song they both had memorized in their head.
Akito failed to explain it, but at that very moment, even if there was no music blasting through speakers, even with no audience or microphones, with no adrenaline running through his veins and no stage to be found,
He felt… alive.
"Woohoo!! That was awesome! We did great, Akito!"
An raised her hand up for a high five, Akito reciprocated.
"Do you feel better now?"
She asked softly, Akito immediately dodging the question.
"Aren't you next?"
An blinked for a few seconds before getting up.
"Oh no… Did I get called already?"
Akito shrugged.
"Man, I don't know."
"Well, I'm gonna get going then!"
An waved at him, Akito waving back as he laid back down and sighed.
Mizuki never thought they'd hear those words come out of Rui's mouth.
Their heavy breathing was probably noticeable, although they tried to cover it with their mouth.
That wasn't Rui admitting to doing that… right?
Mizuki hoped their ears were deceiving them.
Rui couldn't actually kill someone on purpose…
Right…?