Chapter 38
“Akito?”
“Are… are you there?”
“Akito?”
Honami gently waved her hands in front of Akito's face.
Akito looked at her, nodding.
“Yeah. Zoned out for a bit.”
Honami and Akito stood in the prison's kitchen, Akito couldn't exactly do much because of his guilty verdict, so Honami decided to just bake an apple pie.
“Hm… how long do you think this’ll go on for? It's been a couple of months now.”
Honami asked, looking at Akito to see his reply.
“I don't know. Maybe until somebody dies. Maybe then they'll let us go.”
Akito didn't look really hopeful with his own answer.
“I really hope it doesn't come to that… not again.”
Honami quickly changed the subject.
“Ah, but moving on… how's your throat now?”
Akito looked at the notebook’s page he was writing in for a second.
“Pretty bad. Asahina claims it's healing but I don't know.”
Honami muttered a small “...yeah.”
“Well, hopefully your voice comes back soon! That way you and your team can sing together again!”
She said, putting the apple pie in the oven. Akito hesitantly nodded.
He really missed VBS.
“Hello, prisoners. Another trial has come up, so please, Prisoner 003, Shinonome Akito, let your interrogation begin.”
Honami watched as a slight, very well-hidden panic filled Akito's face. Almost unnoticeable trembling legs. Widened eyes’ daze straight to the floor.
“Uhm… it'll be okay, right? I know you're scared but I know Shiho. She's a good person…”
Honami put a hand on his shoulder, both of them walking towards the kitchen door.
The apple pie would probably burn but that's besides the point.
“Hello, 003.”
Es greeted him quite awkwardly. Both of them stood as far as Akito could without leaving the room. That is also known as: leaning and staying as close to the door as possible.
“How are you?”
A very uncomfortable silence set in between the two.
“Okay, I guess.”
“That's good… 010 is checking on you, isn't she?”
Akito nodded, going to quickly scribble something on his notebook.
“She keeps calling me ‘Ena’s brother’. It's annoying.”
Es sighed.
“You and me both. Everyone keeps saying I'm this Shiho Hinomori person.”
Akito looked a bit confused
“I thought you were?”
Es deadpanned.
“What”
“I don't know who that is but didn't Hinomori call you that?”
Akito and Es were now equally very confused.
“What?! Ok listen- listen. 005 is a very, very complicated case. I am not Shiho. I am Es. Understood?”
Akito nodded.
“Ok, moving on…”
Es quickly changed the subject.
“I do not trust you, warden.”
Akito wrote, frowning.
“Hm… sounds about right. I haven't been doing a good job as a warden, after all.”
Akito nodded with no hesitation, giving Es a thumbs up.
“Okay, alright. How are things with 009?”
Akito jumped a bit at the mention of his teammate.
“Bad, got it… Everything is bad here it seems… You were one of the first to try and stop what was going on, right?”
She asked, recalling what Tsukasa had told her about the 0209 attack.
["Do something, you idiot…"]
“It was the second worst moment in my entire life.”
Second?
“I see. What's the first?”
Akito chuckled quite dryly.
“Well, the very moment that got me here.”
“Hm..” Es thought.
“Kohane doesn't know, An doesn't know. Hell, not even Toya knows. Actually, I don't even know if anyone told him already.”
Akito was gripping his pen.
“What would he think if he saw me like this? When I can't even sing…”
It happened so quick he didn't even process it himself.
For him, it was like a second and it was over, as he looked at his hand. No blood whatsoever, but it felt as if it was there.
Akito ran out of the alleyway, Toya meeting him there.
“Do you hear them?”
Es cut him off. (well, not actually, that's impossible.)
Akito looked at her, not knowing what she meant.
“Those voices. 001 and 002 hear them, I figured you probably do too.”
Akito shrugged.
“No idea what you mean. I do sometimes have nightmares though.”
Es thought for a second, brushing it off a moment later.
Akito didn't seem like he was lying.
“You know, what? Forget about it.”
“Es.”
He tapped on his notebook a couple of times.
“Yeah?”
“You have like… record of other people that have been here, right?”
Es genuinely had no idea where Akito was going with this.
Unless…
“Why are you asking, 003?”
Akito took a bit to write.
“Kajiyama Fuuta. Now 23 years old. Ever heard of him?”
Es had to read it again, not believing her eyes.
Akito immediately noticed.
“It seems you have.”
“Even if I did, that is highly classified. Plus, who is this Kajiyama guy to you anyway?”
Es already knew who he was. Well, she had an idea of who the guy was to him.
“He changed his last name years ago but, Fuuta is my brother.”
Bingo.
Akito was no longer close to the door at all, standing closer to the middle of the room with a vaguely determined look on his face.
“I see. Let’s pretend he really was a prisoner. How did you even discover it?”
Es asked, looking intrigued.
“Mainly just a gut feeling. I once had a dream about it too.”
“Guess dreams do have meaning after all.” Es thought, recalling her own weird dreams.
“What exactly happened in this dream?”
Akito flipped the page he was using.
“I basically saw something like what happened with Hanasato… except way worse.”
Huh.
“This all happened, right?”
Akito couldn't exactly be fooled.
“Two brothers in the same prison, three whole years apart… Same number too, crazy, right?”
Es certainly didn't see that every day.
“And he's somehow alive. Even after this. Makes you wonder when this'll all stop.”
Es nodded.
“You want this to end, don't you? You want to go home as much as the rest of us.”
Akito claimed, his hand sore from writing so much.
“Bold claim, 003. I-”
Machine whirring sounds surrounded them. Akito sighing in relief.
But that wouldn't last long.
“Hm. I actually have no idea how this'll work.”
Akito gave her a confused look.
“Prisoner 003, Akito--”
Akito caught up with what was about to happen.
“Wait- no wait just a second-”
He whispered, running towards Es in a hurry.
“There's no other way, 003.
Come now, sing your sins.”