Right, another little continuation/alternate ending oneshot of mine. This is based on the Manga and Light Novel 'Lollipop or a Bullet'/'Sugar Candy Bullets can't Pierce Anything' This story won't make sense if you haven't read either of these so I suggest you go do that. You would not believe how long it took for me to write this.
Nagisa and Mokuzu stood outside of the Umino household; they had decided to run away from this boring town. Nagisa also wanted to help Mokuzu escape her abusive father, Masachika who had been the cause of all of Mokuzu's suffering during her life.
"Just wait here" said Mokuzu as she prepared to head inside and collect her stuff "I'll be out in a second" Nagisa wanted to believe Mokuzu but deep inside there was something telling her that if she didn't intervene then she would never see Mokuzu again.
"Mokuza!" she said before she could even think about trying to stop herself. Mokuzu turned around briefly and looked back at Nagisa.
"What is it?" she asked. Nagisa could only stare on in horror, did she not realize the danger she was in? Surely Mokuzu realised that if she went in that house then she would die. Yet how did Nagisa herself know that? It was just a bad feeling that was all. Right?
"Please, let me come with you!" Nagisa found herself saying. "Please Mokuzu, I want to make sure you don't become sea foam"
Mokuzu smiled before holding out her hand "Sure, let's go"
Nagisa hastily grabbed the outstretched hand and let Mokuzu drag her beyond the threshold and into her home. It was strange being in there again, nothing much had changed. The house still felt eerily empty despite the presence of the two of them.
Nagisa noticed that the house seemed a little drearier than before, picture frames were tilted at angles and mud had been tracked throughout the house. Nagisa also noticed the stench of alcohol in the air. She was honestly surprised that this was the same house Masachika lived in, considering his earlier comment about how his industry was all about appearance it was a bit shocking that he lived like this.
Mokuzu's room seemed relatively clean, though many of the possessions she had were damaged in some way or another. It saddened Nagisa that most of the things that Mokuzu held dear had been broken. In a way it was similar to the two of them.
Mokuzu was busy packing her things into a small duffel bag; every so often she would sneak glances at Nagisa and the door. Nagisa knew they had to hurry, otherwise Masachika would arrive home and then anything could happen to them.
Nagisa wondered how people didn't have a clue what was going on. They heard the shouts and screams coming from the Umino household, Mokuzu would walk into school everyday battered and bruised and yet her teacher wasn't concerned with that but would rather pester Nagisa herself about her brother.
That was when she heard the door go. Masachika had arrived home and they hadn't finished packing yet. Nagisa went through all the possible scenarios she could come up with at the moment and anyway she looked at it, she couldn't see a way in which they could escape without someone ending up hurt by the end of it.
She looked over to Mokuzu who had a similar look of worry on her face. Everything had gone wrong, the girls didn't want to admit it but if they didn't handle it carefully then one of them could end up dyeing.
"Mokuzu! Come down here! I know you're home!" Nagisa heard Masachika yell, she looked over to Mokuzu, who seemed conflicted. Part of her mind was telling her to go see her father, to ask him about his day and receive whatever punishment she deserved. Another part of her mind was fighting against this idea though; with self preservation battling Stockholm syndrome.
Mokuzu was about to get up and go see her father, her Stockholm syndrome winning out when she felt a hand clamp down on her wrist. She turned to see Nagisa staring at her.
"Please Mokuzu" she said "Please don't go to him, I don't know what I would do if I lost you" as she was saying this she stepped closer to Mokuzu and enveloped her in a hug. Slowly she released the girl and looked up into her face.
Nagisa was a little shocked to see tears forming in the corners of Mokuzu's eyes. The other girl seemed to notice quickly and dabbed away at her eyes "S-sorry, I just think that was the first time someone's hugged me in a long while"
"It's ok, it's ok" said Nagisa as she gingerly stroked Mokuzu's back "We'll run away from here and that man won't ever be able to hurt you again" Nagisa spoke soothingly, calming Mokuzu who looked back up at Nagisa, her eyes full of life for the first time.
"Yeah!" she responded. Nagisa smiled, happy that she had been able to cheer Mokuzu up.
"We should get going then, shouldn't we?" Nagisa said. The two of them finished packing up Mokuzu's belongings and opened the door leading into the hallway. Only to be greeted by Masachika.
"Found you" he said; his voice low and threatening. In one hand he carried a brick while in the other was equipped a machete. Masachika raised the brick into the air and begun to bring his hand back down, aiming for the top of Mokuzu's head, Mokuzu herself was frozen in fear and could only watch the descending item approach.
Nagisa wasted no time and moved to intercept the brick, pushing Mokuzu out of the way at the same time. However she found the she herself could not escape the path of the brick and it collided heavily with her head. She fell to the ground and only heard an ear piercing shriek as she lost consciousness.
When Nagisa awoke the first thing she saw was an unfamiliar white ceiling, she immediately assumed she had been taken to the local hospital. She remembered what had happened earlier and frantically looked around the room for Mokuzu, however she wasn't able to see her anywhere.
Nagisa leaned back on her bed and cried for the first time in ages, she hadn't been able to protect Mokuzu, she had lied to Mokuzu's face; said everything would be fine and then been absolutely powerless to protect her when it became necessary.
"Nagisa Yamada?" came a voice. Nagisa looked towards the door and saw an unmistakable young girl in the entrance.
"Mokuzu!" Nagisa practically yelled. The young girl in the doorway hobbled over to Nagisa's bed and wrapped her arms around the other girl, Nagisa did the same.
"I thought you were dead!" sobbed Nagisa as she tightened her grip on Mokuzu's back. "Promise not to scare me like that again!"
"I promise Nagisa Yamada, I promise" Mokuzu's voice was very calming and soon Nagisa found herself relaxing once more. Eventually a doctor came in to check up on Nagisa and she was cleared to leave later that day.
"So what happened with your father?" asked Nagisa as the two of them walked back into the town, she was still embarrassed about her minor breakdown in the hospital.
"People heard me screaming when he hit you" Mokuzu said "Apparently they hadn't heard before. I was going to defend him again, stop him going to prison but this time something stopped me and I just watched as they dragged him away.
"What stopped you?" Nagisa was a bit afraid to ask the question, worried that she would cross some invisible line and ruin the relationship the two of them had built up.
Mokuzu looked away for a second before turning back to look at Nagisa "I saw your body, lying on the ground. I thought that if I defended him again then he would hurt you even more. I don't want that to happen Nagisa Yamada, so I stayed quite"
"You gave up your own father to protect me?" Nagisa asked, she knew that Mokuzu loved her father very much and making such a decision would have been very difficult for her "why?"
"Because I wanted to spend more time with Nagisa Yamada" responded Mokuzu quickly "Isn't that the same as what the woman in the poem wanted?" Nagisa stood there dumbfounded, she was happy that Mokuzu had thought her more important than her own father but there was one question that bugged her.
"How do you know about that riddle?" asked Nagisa, genuinely concerned. Her brother had said that if you knew the answer to the riddle then you were a psychopath and she had no reason to disbelieve him.
Mokuzu just smiled at Nagisa before tapping the side of her nose and turning back to the road. "But I really do want to spend more time with you Nagisa Yamada" said Mokuzu out of the blue.
"Well if you want to spend more time with me, then I suppose you could live with my family, I mean you must need a new place to stay after what happened" Nagisa responded. Mokuzu just smiled.
"I would like that Nagisa Yamada" she responded.
It didn't take long for Nagisa and Mokuzu to arrive back at Nagisa's house. Upon entering they could smell something coming from the kitchen. "Welcome home dear" came a voice, slowly Nagisa's mother appeared in the kitchen door.
"You must be Mokuzu" said Nagisa's mother "Nagisa doesn't stop talking about you!" Nagisa was getting embarrassed just listening to her mother.
"Yeah" she said quickly "This is Mokuzu, I was hoping she could stay with us because of what happened with her father and all.
"Oh yes I heard about that, I can't believe it though. Masachika always seemed like such a nice calm man in all those interviews and things he did. "Don't worry dear" she said turning to Mokuzu "You can stay with us as long as you like. Though I may need to take up a few more jobs to pay for it" she said the last part quietly to herself.
"It's okay mum, I'll go out and get a job, you don't need to worry about overworking yourself" came a voice from the hallway. Nagisa turned around to see her brother, Tomohiko standing there.
"A-are you sure?" asked mother. Tomohiko just shrugged his shoulders before answering her question.
"Sure, I can't stay a hikikomori forever and if we need to look after more people then I may as well chip in and do my part" Tomohiko responded, he looked towards Nagisa and smiled. "Now then, how about dinner?"
After dinner the family had sat around doing mundane things and introducing Mokuzu to their way of life. Nagisa had never really cared for the activities but now that Mokuzu had joined their family she found herself invested more than she thought possible.
Now though everyone was turning in for the night, because of the new addition to the family, Nagisa's mother decided to have the family sleep in two different rooms. She and Tomohiko would have one room while Nagisa and Mokuzu would have another.
Nagisa stretched out as she lay in her futon, Mokuzu was beside her. The two of them having moved their futons next to each other. "Man, what a tiring journey" sighed Nagisa as she rested her head on the pillow.
"Yeah, but thanks to you I can enjoy myself again. So thank you Nagisa" responded Mokuzu. Nagisa couldn't suppress a chuckle. "What's so funny?" asked Mokuzu.
"I was just thinking that in the end. Love really is depressing, isn't it?" responded Nagisa. Mokuzu chuckled as well and for a while they just sat there like that, calming down after their bout of laughter. Then Mokuzu leaned in and planted her lips on Nagisa's. It would be the first of many kisses shared between them.