People thought that he was looking at himself when he looked into the mirror.
That would make sense, right? Afterall, why else would you look into a mirror?
But they would be wrong.
Karamatsu did not see himself when he looked into his hand mirror. Instead, he saw his brothers. His brothers who all shared his face.
They were the reason, afterall.
The reason he was still here.
The reason for his act, his 'cool guy' facade.
His reason for living.
It was midway through High School when he realized just how hard living could be. Just what was the point? Study hard, get a job, marry and have kids… and then what? In the end, what would any of it all mean? Studying was such troublesome work, working as an adult would be so fucking boring. Marriage? That sounded like a drag, and kids could be so annoying.
Living is hard, it is troublesome. It is… painful.
Dying would be so easy, a quick easy death and he would not have to face the drudgery of this miserable life. Afterall, everyone had to die sometime, right?
However…
He still loved his brothers and he knew that they would miss him if he died now.
Suicide now would be selfish and would hurt his loved ones so much.
If only he could leave this world and not be missed…
If they hated him… They would not miss him, right? In fact, they might be happy to see him go, relieved even. He could leave this life without regrets then.
His time in the drama club had paid off. The insufferable, narcissistic, 'cool guy' was born. A persona that was so painful that even his brothers could grow to hate it. It was perfect. He only had to wait for the right time now.
His body was broken but on the mend, he was in pain as he leaned into his crutch and watched his brothers' retreating backs.
The pain wasn't from his body though, it was a sharp pain in his heart.
Tears streamed down his face, but they were not entirely tears of sorrow. There were some tears of relief.
Finally.
Finally, he could leave.
They had forgotten him. They didn't need him. They hated him. They chose pears over him.
They would be glad that he was gone.
He pushed aside the pain that their hatred caused, it was what he had worked so hard for, after all.
But that didn't make it hurt any less.
He ambled over to the park bench that Ichimatsu had recently vacated and flopped down. He winced in pain as the sudden jolt aggravated his injuries.
But that was alright, soon he wouldn't be feeling any pain ever again.
He pulled out the bottle of prescribed pain meds that he had just filled. They were strong drugs, so very easy to overdose on, and he had an entire week's worth. Popping off the lid, he dried swallowed the pills, two at a time until the entire bottle was empty.
Karamatsu leaned back and closed his eyes, hoping to fall into an eternal slumber.
On a whim, he pulled that damn mirror out for what he hoped to be the last time.
Peering into the mirror, he smiled. He imagined his smile would look just like his brothers' when they found out the news.
Feeling the strength start to fade from his body and his limbs growing heavy, he dropped the hated mirror. A satisfying crashing sound indicated that the mirror had shattered upon impact.
Karamatsu looked to the sky one last time.
He admired the beautiful sunset, thinking it was quite appropriate, the end of the day along with the end of his life.