Chapter 39 (ooeeoo)
“Both, it was both. Write it down!”
Ena quickly looked out the window.
She saw Saki running towards the door.
“So Asahina killed her mom-?”
Saki kicked the door open.
“Sorry I'm late! I was… somewhere!”
Toya waved at her.
“Hello, Saki.”
Saki had a huge, determined smile on her face.
“I have… a letter from the one and only Tsukasa Tenma!!”
Airi gasped.
“Really?”
Saki handed her the letter.
Airi skimmed through it. Well, at least she started to do so.
“34?! Your brother wrote 34 letters?!”
Saki worriedly nodded.
“According to Shiho, there's more… but this… I haven't read it yet. I couldn't bring myself to.”
Airi gave the letter back.
“You don't have to read it if you don't want to, Saki.”
Saki nodded.
“I know, don't worry, Toya!”
Saki slowly started reading Tsukasa's letter.
“My ever so dear, Saki,
I wonder how everyone's doing out there. Ichika, Honami and Shiho are all here, so you must miss them, right? And Toya… Shinonome and Shiraishi don’t seem to be doing well. It's understandable, as they were affected by the incident plus Shinonome being guilty.”
Toya had been calm looking the entire time they were there, but in that moment both him and the Shinonomes paled a bit.
“Kajiyama, that. The guilty thing. What did it mean again?”
Toya turned to look at a very concerned Fuuta.
“Akito's basically royally fucked.”
Ena sighed in frustration.
“Very well explained, Fuuta. Thank you so much. Could you continue, Saki?”
“WAIT! What even is ‘the incident’?”
Airi asked, frowning slightly as Saki shrugged.
“It’s been quiet here and I hate it… but that doesn't mean I don't deserve every second of it for what I did at the Wonder Stage. It's quite obvious that we won't ever leave, although Akiyama and Shizuku seem somewhat hopeful.”
Ena and Airi looked at each other as soon as Shizuku and Mizuki's names were said.
“Okay, that just confirms Akiyama and Shizuku are prisoners too.”
Airi scribbled something in her notes.
“Even then, I’m going to continue practicing, when my arm heals, that is. If Akiyama and Shizuku are correct, I want to make the best show with Rui, Emu and Nene. If they'll allow it, although I don't think they will. I really, truly screwed up.”
Tsukasa… what even happened…?”
Well, anyway. Adding to what I said, I hope you all are having a magnificent time! Stay safe, both you and everyone!
Your brother, Prisoner 001, … Tsukasa Tenma.”
Saki put the letter down, another slipping from below it. Fuuta stared at it.
“Tenma. Wait.”
He grabbed the second note.
“Another note?”
Toya checked to see if there was another one.
There wasn't.
“Who's it addressed to?”
Ena asked, Fuuta looking at her and then back at the paper.
“Ena.”
Fuuta stopped for a bit.
“Dad taught Akito how to draw, right? You remember that, don't you?”
Ena looked confused.
“I mean, yeah. He quit not too long after though, you know that. Why?”
Ena looked at the paper.
“Hm. Yeah, he definitely drew this. Come here, guys.”
Saki, Toya and Airi hurried beside the Shinonomes.
Akito had drawn a lot over the page, some stick figures in the margins as well as more detailed things, like portraits.
“Okay, I think I can recognize some of these people. I've only seen Akito draw once, but this,”
Toya pointed at one of the drawings.
“That's definitely An. That's how he drew her last time.”
“That's Tsukasa and Kamishiro… I think so, at least! That's the type of chaos he's up to, right?”
Saki chuckled and looked at another drawing, one of two people running from a burning kitchen.
“Why is that how you know- don't answer that.”
Fuuta sighed, Airi chimed in.
“I could be wrong, it's been a while since I've seen anyone in the Shinonome family other than Ena draw, but that looks like Shizuku. And that other one kinda looks like Hanasato from 1-A.”
Ena bumped Toya's shoulder.
“That's you, Toya.”
Toya stared at the sheet of paper.
He and Akito sat in the ginger's room.
It'd been a couple of days since the night he found Akito so startled and terrified of something back in Vivid Street, after separating for a bit.
They hadn't talked about it, and Akito brushed it off, saying he'd seen a dog.
Toya questioned it mentally, was Akito really that scared of dogs?
He chose to believe Akito. Had it been something serious, he would've told them.
His hands were slightly trembling.
“Akito, is everything okay?”
Toya asked, placing a hand on his partner's shoulder.
“Yeah. Why wouldn't it be?”
Akito replied, avoiding eye contact with him, a slightly panicked tone in his voice.
“Your hands. Are you cold? Do you want my jacket, Akito?”
He took Akito's hands into his own before taking his jacket off and putting it on the other's shoulders.
Akito breathed heavily, Toya wrapped his arm aound him.
“Do you like drawing?”
“...I haven't done it in years.”
Toya stood up, grabbing some sheets of paper from his bag.
“Well, I don't know if it'll help, but we could draw together.. for fun, couldn't we?”
He hesitantly nodded.
Toya handed him a pencil.
“Is that us?”
Toya had been drawing VBS, Tsukasa, Saki, Kusanagi and some other people from Vivid Street.
Looking at Akito's drawings, it was kind of the same as him.
Only probably ten times better in his opinion.
“Yeah. How could you tell?”
Toya took his phone out of his pocket, scrolling through his gallery to find a picture of the four of them, which wasn't hard, since Kohane took a lot of them.
He showed him one of an after event party with other teams and duos at Weekend Garage. Hours before what left him like this.
“That looks exactly like us, I remember you saying you liked that picture a lot.”
Akito scoffed.
“I never said that.”
“More like “It's alright”, but we got the point. It's a nice picture.”
Akito didn't respond to that. Instead, he faced him for the first time that night, handing him the drawing.
“I don't like drawing. Only drawing you guys is fun. You can keep this, Toya.”
Toya had a realization.
One he really did not want to have.
“Aoyagi?”
Airi called out to him.
“I don't know what happened with Akito but… I think I might know when it happened.”
“Mhm…”
Muu wandered through the weird land she'd found.
“Oh, you again.”
Muu turned around to be met by Miku.
“Hello, Miku~”
Miku scoffed.
“Y'know, I really don't know how you got here before Fuuta himself. Plus, how do even keep getting in here?”
Muu shrugged.
“A magician never reveals her secrets. Though, if you must know, I hacked
into his computer years ago.”
“YOU WHAT?”
Fuuta yelled out, having just entered the Sekai.
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HACKED MY COMPUTER?!”
Muu brushed it off.
“Could you stop yelling at me? I didn't do anything significant to it.”