CHAPTER 34
Kagami could feel their eyes burning through the improvised shield constructed by her hands hiding in vain to hide from the world. She huffed and sniffed every now and then knowing that the eyes of Inori and Tadao Hiiragi were tattooing her just as badly as Tsukasa's arm. There she sat in their kitchen, the axe marks still making it a museum to her deadly paths chosen since the death of Matsuri. Her father and oldest sister were silent. They didn't say a word, but they didn't have to. Kagami said it all for them when she brought herself and her crying sister to their doorstep no less than an hour ago. Miki Hiiragi sat upstairs, tending her youngest.
"Kagami,"
Simply hearing her name uttered in her father's cold and hollow voice made the namesake jump.
"There's no coming back from this one, Kagami." Tadao's voice remained icy and dry. "We tried. God help us, but we tried. We gave you every opportunity to fix yourself. And this is what you do. You got yourself involved with something like this. And you exposed your sister to all of it."
Kagami's already dehydrated body was able to produce more tears as the spotlight burned from above. She now knew what it felt to be an ant under a magnifying glass. She couldn't speak as her vocal cords were as frozen as her father's disowning voice. All she could do was nod once. She agreed. She allowed herself to destroy Tsukasa Hiiragi forever.
"Who is this girl Tsukasa was wailing about? She kept saying the name Miyakawa over and over." Inori finally inserted herself. "Is she the one who has also been selling you those drugs and prostitute yourself."
Again, all Kagami could do was nod.
"Who is she? We're going to call the police and have that horrible club in the Aku District shut down." Tadao said firmly.
Kagami trembled as the female devil's face appeared in her mind and her callous giggle echoed in her ears. She slowly shook her head and heaved on her own sobs. She dug deep and was finally able to utter, "I…I cuh-can't…ta-tell you…"
"Why?" Tadao asked. Kagami could tell her father was ready to lose his temper.
Kagami kept crying until she lowered her shield and showed the extent of the broken despair that was her face. She shook her head again. "She…she's…the devil."
The fractured family heard a door close upstairs and a pair of footsteps follow. Miki slowly shuffled down the stairs, several used medical supplies in her hands along with a few wet dishcloths. She dropped the medical supplies in the trashcan and tossed the dishcloths in the sink. Kagami slowly moved her hands back up her face, though kept her eyes open. Miki palmed the sink and leaned forward, using it as a crutch and stared out the kitchen window into the night.
She sighed loudly, sending another shiver down Kagami's spine. The Hiiragi housewife slowly pulled herself back up and rejoined her family. Pulling a chair out from under the table, she sat next to her husband and Kagami suddenly felt like she was about to try and win her jury over with her desperate pleas.
"That is a real tattoo in your sister's arm, Kagami. I tried scrubbing, everything I could think of." Miki said in an unfamiliar icy voice rivaling her husband's. "It's also horribly infected. Your sister is in grave pain from it and we're going to have to take her to the hospital for it. Kagami…"
"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry, mom." Kagami wheezed. "I never wanted any of this to happen."
"We know, Kagami. We know." Tadao said. "But it did. Your sister was abducted, tortured, and inked…because of you."
His words cut through her like a knife through warm butter. Kagami hid her eyes and drained more tears.
"I'm done." Kagami whispered. "I'm done with it all. The drugs, the stealing, the lying, the sex. Everything. I'm done."
"Good for you." Miki said with a frown and unforgiving voice. "A lot of good that does your sister and all of us now. The damage has been done, Kagami, and I can safely say I speak for all of us when I say we don't want you here anymore."
The shards of Kagami's already broken heart fractured into dust. She trembled and shook her head. "Mom…please…I would give anything to take it all back. I just want to change so badly now…but I can't do it alone."
Miki stared down her gunsight vision of her estranged daughter. Images flooded her mind, though in a horrible mixing bowl of confusion, repugnance, and love. She remembered holding Kagami for the first time that hot July night after her birth. She remembered walking in on her daughter shooting heroin when she thought she was going to deliver laundry to an empty room. She remembered watching Kagami jump for joy when she wielded one hundred yen that she discovered under her pillow in lieu of her missing tooth that was there the night before. She remembered returning home to find Kagami had gone insane with the new drug that caused her to hack up their family home and nearly chop Tsukasa to death with that axe. She remembered taking that picture of Kagami and Tsukasa in front of Ryoo High School at their graduation only a few months ago. She remembered very vividly how Kagami showed up with the crying Tsukasa after being released from Yuka Miyakawa's clutches.
Miki turned her head to hide the tears brewing in the corners of her eyes. "I'm sorry, Kagami, but we cannot help you anymore. You're no long addicted to drugs. You're involved with violent criminals…and I will not let you put my family in danger anymore. From now on…you're on your own."
"Mom, please!"
"We gave you every opportunity to change your ways but every time we tried to help, it only hurt us. I cannot let you hurt us anymore."
Kagami was about to plead again.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go check on your sister before we take her to the hospital."
Miki stood from her chair and walked up the stairs as Kagami continued to cry and turned to her father and sister, hoping to find an objection to this verdict. She would never receive one. Tadao simply ordered his middle daughter to take what she needed and leave their house. Inori didn't say a word. She just simply retired to Tsukasa's room to check on her with her mother.
Now alone and disowned, Kagami had nothing left. She had completely destroyed her life and was left with only ashes. The memories of hallucinating Matsuri and Misao struck home and their echoing words pierced her soul. Kagami couldn't be here anymore. She stood, turned, and quickly ran out the door, leaving a snail trail of tears behind her leading back to the Aku District. The only place she could call home anymore. She ran past the hallucinations of her late friend and sister, both seemed to be dressed in black cloaks.
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Unlike the night before, Tsukasa was awoken by the warming and inviting rays of the sun as they shined through her curtain. She stirred and groaned under the comforting hold of her mattress and covers, not wanting to get up. To her, it was just more time wasted when she could be sleeping instead. She preferred sleep to everyday happenings anyway. However, the arousing smell of her mother's homemade cooking told her that a sleep-in day was not in her future today.
Tsukasa threw off the covers and slippered her feet. Shuffling down the hallway, she could hear the conversations of her family and the smells of breakfast became thicker, curling a smile across Tsukasa's face. She arrived at the bottom of the stairs and looked around. She could see Miki finishing the meals while Inori sipped a mug of coffee and Tadao read a newspaper.
"Good morning, everyone." Tsukasa proclaimed with her feminine, innocent voice.
"Good morning," they all said in unison, though flatly while barely acknowledging her.
Tsukasa found this behavior odd, but the smell of Miki's cinnamon oatmeal washed away the hatchling suspicion and she quickly took a seat. The Hiiragi housewife placed a bowl of the steaming food before her youngest daughter and Tsukasa didn't wait for the rest of her family before digging in. The others slowly, but more civilly, began to slurp the oatmeal.
As the family ate in silence, Tsukasa suddenly realized when the sight of an empty chair to her left caught the corner of her eye that there was no Kagami. She looked at it before glancing around the house, finding no evidence of her older fraternal twin sister. The family also didn't seem to be concerned about the absence of one of their own.
"Where's Kagami?" Tsukasa asked.
The family remained silent and continued to eat.
Tsukasa suddenly felt a distinct cold run through the house and could've sworn she saw a jet of gray air escape her lips. She began to feel unsettled and couldn't help but gulp at the silent response. Looking through the kitchen window above the sink, she saw another picturesque summer morning, but failed to notice the layers of frost beginning to creak across the glass.
"Um…where is Kagami?" Tsukasa asked again, a sense of rising fear in her voice.
She suddenly saw the gray air leave the others' mouths as they ate. No doubt about it. It was definitely getting colder.
"Kagami isn't here anymore, Tsukasa." Miki said coldly. "Now finish your breakfast."
Tsukasa looked closer at her mother's eyes and felt her heart skip a beat when she saw them. They were dark and lifeless, like two coals. It made Tsukasa think of that old term that Konata used every now and then for a character in a dark manga. Yandere, if she wasn't mistaken.
"Wha-where…where is Kagami?" Tsukasa asked, the fear rising.
"Didn't you hear your mother? She said Kagami isn't here anymore." Tadao snapped, making Tsukasa flinch.
"Uh…ohh…kay…" she whimpered, only now beginning to notice that the frost on the window had all but encased it. "May…may I at least save some breakfast for Kagami?"
Inori giggled. It wasn't one of her normal ones either, no. This was higher and faster, more like a cackle even. It triggered Tsukasa to tremble. Inori's voice was even more gelid when it said: "Silly sissy…Kagami already had her breakfast."
This is too weird…and creepy, Tsukasa thought to herself. Something was going on and now she could see her breath clear as day. Wanting to know what was going on, she decided to finish breakfast first and took another bite. As soon as she sipped it, a foreign object found her tongue and tangled around it. Tsukasa opened her mouth and pulled out a very, very long strand of hair. It was a light shade of purple.
"Um…is this…Kagami's hair?" Tsukasa wheezed and felt her heart beat faster.
Inori cackled again. "I already told you, Tsukasa. Kagami already had her breakfast."
Tsukasa glanced down at her oatmeal again and saw a solid piece, pallid in complexion. At first, Tsukasa thought it was a banana as she scooped it up in her spoon. When she held it up and when the oatmeal fell away, her stomach dropped and she felt her throat lurch with a powerful gag.
An ear. A human ear sat in her spoon. Tsukasa screamed and threw the utensil across the kitchen and scooted back. Her back collided with the wall, making a few pictures fall and break. She looked at her family again and plugged her lips with her fingers when she witnessed her mother, father, and sister slurping bowls of oatmeal seasoned with human body parts. Inori dabbed her mouth with a cloth that Tsukasa quickly recognized as one of the ribbons Kagami used to tie her pigtails.
"What is going on here?!" Tsukasa wailed.
"Don't worry, honey. She'll never hurt you again." Miki whispered in a voice so deep, it was more monstrous than human.
Tsukasa's left arm suddenly began to burn and she looked to see a bandage wrapped around it. The center was moving as it seemed something was trying to struggle through the bandage. Tsukasa screamed and ran out the back door as her family continued to eat the remains of her sister. She tore through the door and stepped into a howling and freezing blizzard in the middle of summer. The snow was blowing and wind was violent, taking her by surprise. She turned back to see her family home was gone and she was stranded in the middle of a barren wasteland caked in white snow and ice.
The wind and snow continued to burn her flesh and she couldn't take the pain under her bandage anymore. With a vigorous tear, she ripped the adhesive gauze off her arm and shrieked again to see the flesh covered by the horrid tattoo shifting until it eventually parted and countless little black spiders came pouring out. In a fit of panic, Tsukasa scratched and clawed at her arm, desperate to get them all off. Eventually, they stopped coming and burrowed in the snow.
The ground beneath Tsukasa's feet began to shake until large ice spikes shot through the ground, nearly impaling her. They missed her and towered above her but when they reached their peak, Tsukasa cried again when she saw the familiar faces of all her friends (including Dr. Kishimoto) who attended the intervention. She looked and saw Miyuki Takara dangling from an ice spike and the impaled corpse turned its head to her to meet her frightened stare.
Miyuki opened her eyes, revealing her good right eye, and a dark cavity in her left socket. The empty hole remained black until a glowing green dot awoke deep within the dark abyss and Miyuki curled her lips to a repulsive smile that made Tsukasa's stomach flip again. The corpse of her pink-haired friend began to laugh, but the laugh was not her own. It was familiar, however, and the sound of it caused Tsukasa to lose control of her bladder.
"You're a part of us now, Tsukasa Hiiragi!" The voice of Yuka Miyakawa screeched and the green dot in the eye cavity disappeared, only for Miyuki's mouth to unhinge.
A giant green and black snake shot out from Miyuki's mouth and curled high. The snake had the distinguished face of Yuka Miyakawa herself and Tsukasa screamed. She screamed and screamed as the snake of her captor lunged downward and unhinged its mouth, rearing the rows of razor teeth. Tsukasa was suddenly consumed by black.
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Tsukasa Hiiragi awoke with a violent scream and continued to cry loudly in the darkness of her room. She looked around, only to find that she wasn't in her room, or even her own bed. This sudden reality made her scream even longer and harder, not even recognizing when a nurse rushed in and turned on the lights.
"Tsukasa-chan! Tsukasa-chan! It's okay! Everything is okay! You're in the hospital!" The nurse exclaimed and held her tight. "You just had a bad dream! Everything is fine!"
Despite the initial shock, Tsukasa was able to take a few deep breaths and reality eventually found its way to her brain. Drenched in cold sweat, she trembled within the loving embrace of the nurse. When the memories of being taken to the hospital by her family resurfaced, Tsukasa relaxed and began to cry again, thankful that her nightmare was over.
As the nurse continued to soothe her, Tsukasa was able to recall a few things before her nightmare once again took over. She remembered that horrid girl that posed as a sweet and innocent person, only to take her prisoner and force her to witness vile things. The animal that tattooed her as she cried and begged for it to stop. She also remembered telling her parents everything on the ride over to the hospital. About Teasers, about Yuka Miyakawa, everything she had witnessed. As they checked her in to the hospital, Tadao phoned the police and relayed everything to them. For once, Tsukasa didn't think about her older sister.
The soothing voice of the nurse suddenly faded as Tsukasa's vision began to blur. She snapped her eyelids open and felt her heart speed up again. She was still very much awake, but now she felt like she was back in a dream. What was real? What was fake? The world around her slowly began to melt away as black veins began to creep across the whites of her eyes and her eyes began to glow red as blood. Satan's blood, if one was any judge of color.
Tsukasa could feel it. She could feel the rage and hatred boil within her body as her rapidly beating heart flushed more of the deadly drug throughout her body. Yuka Miyakawa remembered injecting Tsukasa with the drug. She took great joy in it, but would secretly lament that she would not be able to see what her latest victim would do next. Tsukasa's temperature spiked and without a word of intent, she slowly pulled the nurse tighter. At first, the nurse allowed the gesture from the silent girl, but soon couldn't help but acknowledge the discomfort of the embrace. She tried to discontinue the hug, but Tsukasa pulled her tighter.
"Um…Tsukasa-chan, you're…you're hurting me a bit." She said softly.
Tsukasa remained silent.
"Tsu-Tsukasa-chan…are you okay?"
Tsukasa slowly lifted her face and the nurse didn't have time to scream when she saw the rancorous glow of the patient's eyes. Tsukasa leapt forward and by morning, Yuka Miyakawa would claim another victim.
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Alone she rested under the dusty covers of the moldy mattress in the dingy motel room deep within the Aku District. Alone she rested her tired, sweaty body as she pulled fresh air into her lungs as her womanhood still ached and pulsated from the latest round on the clock. Alone she was, now and forever, and trying to make ends meet. She had no other skills. All of that studying and academic integrity was now wasted because of her decisions. Because she herself made herself alone when she needed help the most, now she was alone.
Kagami Hiiragi felt her eyes sink in tears again knowing this reality and she slowly turned away from the closed bathroom door, where her client was cleaning up. She was already paid for the rent of her body but couldn't bear to look at the paycheck that would feed and house her for a while. The money was good, but it wasn't worth it. No, not at all. Now that Kagami had to fend for herself and was now longer giving all her money to Yuka Miyakawa, she was very wealthy, but she would give it all away to have her old life back. Nobody could save her now. Not even herself. The tears fell down her cheeks as she realized this would be her life until she died. With any luck, she thought to herself, the next customer would be the one to drive a knife through her head and rob her and finally liberate her from this Hell of a hollowed existence.
The bathroom door opened and a sharply dressed middle-aged man stepped out, fixing the collar of his shirt. He adjusted his tie and glanced at the human lumps trying to make itself smaller under the sheets.
"I…I guess you're wondering why someone like me is with…someone like you." He said with hollow pride.
Kagami winced at his comment. Someone. As if she was less than Kagami Hiiragi. She sighed to herself. She wasn't Kagami Hiiragi anymore.
"Well, it is an election season after all and well, well I hope we can keep all of this between us. If the media finds out…well my campaign…it'll, well, it'll—"
"Just go," Kagami whispered with a sniffle and pulled the sheet over her head.
"Yes, well," he said and headed for the door. He opened it and peeked outside for cameras, but then left. "Don't forget to vote."
When he closed the door, Kagami slowly sat up. She slipped her underwear on and buttoned her wrinkly shirt and shuffled to the bathroom. Looking in the mirror, she didn't see what she wanted. She didn't see herself. She saw a stranger. An animal. Her face was smudged in dirty makeup and she looked like a circus clown from Hell. The running tears only made it worse. Her own anger was boiling now at this situation she had crafted for herself and she wanted to punch the glass.
Before she did, a thought came to her mind. Something wasn't coming to her. A certain monthly visited her that always hit her right on time but was now late. It confused the distressed young woman. She looked down and slowly pulled her underwear forward. She could still see that ugly rash and it was getting worse. To her, it was just another part of her now like a freckle so she didn't care about that anymore. Instead, she wondered why she was three days late getting her period.
Almost on cue, her stomach dropped and her throat tightened. She felt sick. With a green complexion, Kagami rushed over to the toilet and heaved the contents of her convenience store breakfast into the dirty water. She heaved a few more times until her stomach stopped convulsing and she looked back at the mirror.
It suddenly hit her. The night before she made her appointment with Dr. Kishimoto. The asshole customer that tricked her and had unprotected sex with her. Why Yuka Miyakawa smelled her stomach and why she ordered Ryuji to beat her.
Kagami felt her stomach, almost certain she felt another thing twitch within her. Her face paled and she gulped as she looked at herself, able to whisper one thing.
"No way…"