Never After, a saya no uta fanfic

Never After

The Saya no Uta fandom is basically non-existent but I don't even give a fuck. Figured I'd contribute to the fan fic community (the amount of stories it has can be counted on one hand). So here you all go: a three-shot that will take place after each of the game's endings.

Part the First
A Farewell to Arms

"All your friends sleep in boxes while you sleep in chains."
- Alice Cooper, "Jackknife Johnny" (1978)

Something is wrong.

It is not something that Koji Tonoh can pinpoint but he understands on some instinctual level that the atmosphere today is off, different somehow. The sun shines brightly through the large windows creating a dazzling stream that lights up every corner of the cafeteria just as the sky has done for him and his friends every day since they started visiting in their freshman year. The coffee in his cup is just as lukewarm and mediocre as it has ever been to say nothing of the strawberry pastry that sits on the table in front of him forgotten. The topics of interest have taken their usual twists and turns as well. Omi dominates the conversation as she is wont to do with her interest in whatever latest fashion craze she is obsessed with – something he always nods politely at even if he could care less about any of it – while Yoh murmurs about the skeevy professor from their mutual literature elective who tried to help her a little too eagerly after class when she had dropped some of her books. Fuminori's input, as always, is curt but polite even when he's in good spirits though Koji notices that his tone has a considerable edge to it when he suggests that he wait for his girlfriend after class to ward off any further unwanted advances.

The flow of their conversation is amicable and to an outside observer one might think nothing of the four friends (and two pairs of lovers) sitting around waiting for the next bell to ring. But the longer he sits in the familiar, uncomfortable plastic of the chair the more Koji cannot help but think that something somewhere has imperceptibly changed. He did not believe in horoscopes but whenever he turned to those kinds of channels on TV they had always told him to expect the unexpected and that surprises could be hidden in plain sight. It was not as if he had forgotten to do something; Koji considered himself someone who proudly kept to a schedule as if he were keeping a shrine or temple clean. His coursework was waiting for him in his bag but it was all fairly routine at this point with the semester winding down. It was as if…

"Well, Koji, what do you think?"

Snapping back to reality he shoots Omi a sheepish look.

"Sorry. I wasn't exactly paying attention."

Omi's lips purse together, her bruise-colored lipstick standing out against her pale face as she drums her fingers against the side of her head, and she rolls her eyes dramatically at him.

"Do both of you see what I have to put up with? I'm lucky if he answers where he'd like to go on a date half the time!"

Yoh and Fuminori both laugh politely. They really are made for one another, Koji has decided. As much as he loves Fuminori the other young man's eternally serious expression hides a fragile character. Yoh's weakness is just as ever present if less noticeable than her counterpart's. She long ago must have perfected the art of wearing a brave mask though it never reaches her eyes. It's all the same to Koji of course. No need to make waves if it would only end in trouble for all involved.

"Koji is a great listener, Omi. He knows when to be quiet and do what's asked of him, even if it doesn't benefit him. You can't say many men are like that these days."

Koji's brow furrows slightly. Fuminori's remark isn't barbed but it still feels out of place, not quite hostile but there is an underlying edge to it that he cannot ignore. Perhaps noticing his dismay Fuminori gives him a wan smile and shakes his head at him.

"I mean it, you know. Even if we don't always agree with each other there's no one else I'd rather have by my side in a scrap."

"How romantic," Omi notes dryly and rolls her eyes. "Just what are you two up to when Yoh and I aren't around?"

"What's that phrase Americans like to use? Don't kiss and tell? My lips are sealed."

Fuminori is nothing if not a good sport and simply nods his head sagely. "Sometimes matters of the heart are readily apparent but best left unsaid."

Yoh has said nothing at this point, her cheeks the same shade as the blouse she's wearing, and stares intently at a very interesting spot somewhere beyond Koji's shoulder. She has never told them much about her home life but he can only guess how sheltered it must have been. Her introverted personality and conservative dress for a girl as voluptuous as her (Koji feels no shame in admitting this as he means nothing untoward by it) seems ill-suited for university life but Koji finds Yoh a refreshing change of pace from so many of the boisterous girls – Omi included – who surround them. He only wishes she would share what she thought more often.

"You're just going to let me steal your man away, Yoh? Come on now, I thought you'd be willing to fight for him!"

He finds himself genuinely surprised at the devilish expression that Yoh gives him as she leans forward, her embarrassment slowly fading from her face as she winks at him. "And how do you know that I haven't already stolen Omi away from you too?"

Koji pauses for a moment before laughing and wagging his finger at her. "I doubt you have, otherwise I'm sure I would've heard you complain about all of her nagging before now!"

Suddenly that feeling of unease returns to him in full force. The mischievousness he mistook moments ago for an abrupt but welcome change of character on Yoh's part, an attempt at opening a little more to them, is gone and is place is something else. There is a strange amount of longing in her gaze as he watches her casually glance over to Omi and then back to himself.

"There was a few, at first, but eventually she stopped complaining."

If this is Yoh's idea of a joke Koji does not particularly find it funny anymore. Once again it is not what is being said here but in how Yoh and Fuminori have been acting. It is as if both of them are in on some big joke that he is not aware of. Even Omi has not told either of them off yet, something that strikes Koji as odd given her distaste for exhibitionist attitudes from other girls. Perhaps something in his expression gives his thoughts away as Yoh glances aside sheepishly.

"I'm kidding, Koji. She's very lucky to have someone like you in her life looking out for her."

"Protecting Omi? You've got it all wrong. If anything, she's the one who looks out for me. I don't think I've ever told either of you about the time she saved me from falling face first into oncoming traffic…"

Fuminori and Yoh lean in as he only slightly embellishes his story about a drunken stupor he can in actuality barely remember himself from his sophomore year. He always has a story ready in case he needs to change a subject even if it is only tangentially related to whatever was being talked about before. Koji would not call himself charismatic by any means but he must at least be a halfway decent storyteller as his friends lean in and laugh when he pauses for effect to let the mental image of him clumsily trying to hail a taxi home.

"You know, I don't think we've ever actually all gone out together in a while," Omi says, wiping a tear from her face before her changing her expression to one of thoughtfulness. "Hard to believe, isn't it?"

In truth it was not nearly as surprising as Omi made it sound. University was increasingly demanding and it seemed as if each of them had less and less free time as they settled into their careers with one another. Even when they did have time to sit around even that was only in small stretches such as their regular cafeteria trips.

As if he had read his mind, Fuminori shrugged his shoulders and replied, "School's been getting busier every year, Omi. You can't blame anyone that we haven't had as much time to relax like we used to."

"Well, why not do something later this weekend? Or tonight, even," Omi interjects and the sparkle in her eye tells Koji that even if he wanted to get out of this new plan he would not be able to. "It wouldn't have to be something very involved… oh! A potluck maybe? I'd have to call her but my mom has a great curry recipe… or wait, you should try her yakisoba, it's to die for. Or maybe…"

There is not much that Koji can cook but as he looks towards his other two companions he knows that it would be rude to turn down the opportunity for them to eat with one another. Fuminori's normally calm demeanor is broken by a grin and even Yoh vibrates a little in her seat at Omi's suggestion.

"It's a little short notice, I think," Koji ventures, "but it sounds like a good idea. Who knows how busy it's going to be once we need to start studying for finals? I'm not sure what to bring, though. You should count yourselves lucky that you haven't had to have any of my cooking before."

"You couldn't be much worse than I am in the kitchen, Koji," Fuminori laughs with a shake of his head. "Sometimes the things I make practically turn out raw."

"Well at the very least you and I will be able to provide the ingredients for Yoh and Omi, eh, Fuminori?"

"You won't hear me complaining. Yoh's cooking is delicious; practically the only thing I'll eat anymore," Fuminori pauses before looking over at Omi apologetically. "No offense, Omi." Koji watches Fuminori's hand slowly move across the table and squeeze one of Yoh's. 'Polite but distant' has always been a good description for Fuminori and Koji is sure that they rarely get to hear all of his friend's true thoughts. It's a strange mix of courteous and standoffish but Koji has never minded it. He would much rather have someone who is honest about having a hard time opening up to others in his life than someone who pretends to be friendly but is truly rotten on the inside.

"Really?" Koji turns to Yoh and places his head on his chin. "I hadn't heard you talk about any of the food she's made before. Sounds like you've been holding out on us!"

"Fuminori flatters me too much. I wouldn't say I'm a great cook; there's only a few things I can do really well."

Koji leans forward interestedly. "Like what exactly?"

"Meat. That's about it, honestly."

Images of sweet ginger meatballs and tonkatsu dance through his mind's eye but even so Koji pauses. Perhaps Yoh is just embarrassed at being put on the spot but normally when she is passionate about something her responses usually are not so… evasive.

"I'm sure that you've got at least one favorite dish, Yoh. We'd love to try it, whatever it is."

"Are you sure?"

The gravity in Yoh's voice catches Koji off guard. She is fixing him with a gaze whose meaning he cannot discern, her affect flat and unreadable. He can feel his stomach churn slightly, as if all this talk has disturbed a nest of butterflies.

"Of course. Why wouldn't we?"

"Gyutan."

Not even bother to hide his slight recoil at her words, he fixes Yoh with a perplexed frown.

"That's it? It sounds wonderful but I just thought…"

"Thought what?" Yoh tilts her head.

"Nothing. Forget it, yeah? I'm sure we'll all love it."

"Well… I suppose that getting the ingredients for it is kind of gross. You have to get the right cut of meat, after all, otherwise it'll ruin everything else."

Koji cannot imagine there being much trouble in searching for beef tongues but he is not a chef by any stretch of the imagination. He has to admit, of course, that even if barbecue sounds delicious the thought of eating something like that is beyond his normal palette.

"How do you go about selecting the right cut then?"

"You want to see a demonstration?"

His breath hitches in his throat and he looks around helplessly to the others for assistance. Omi is staring off into space, her disinterest not even being bothered to be hidden by his girlfriend, and Fuminori is watching him with the same quiet intensity as Yoh.

"Well… I don't know if we're going to have time to go to the computer lab for you to find something. Maybe later? My next class is my last one for the day."

"Don't be silly, Koji. I meant right here."

"What?"

"Tongue's a strange organ. If you don't prepare it the right way, it can get tough and gross…"

Koji watches seemingly in slow motion as Yoh gently taps Omi on the shoulder, the other girl finally looking up from the phone in her hand, as he watches the shorter girl lean in towards her friend.

"But if you know what you're doing…"

He watches uncomfortably as Yoh leans in towards Omi the other girl blinking uncomprehendingly as her friend places her hands on her shoulders. He can feel his own heart beating in his chest at several kilometers an hour now.

"…and if you know how to check that it was removed properly, it isn't so bad."

It happens in slow motion.

Yoh's hands work their way from Omi's shoulders to the small of her back as he pulls in her in for a kiss. Koji feels frozen to the spot, his mouth agape and a hundred different emotions coursing through him all at once. Confusion. Anger. Betrayal. All flit past one another and are gone as quickly as they showed up. Yet as he shoots his gaze towards Fuminori rage comes to the forefront of his mind, his vision turning red. His best friend sits absolutely still as he watches their girlfriends' locked lips work against one another and Fuminori's own face is filled with nothing but serenity.

"How about that, Koji? It isn't every day guys like us get dinner and a show."

"You're okay with this?!"

"Of course. We're all friends here, right?"

Fuminori's smile, Koji notices, does not reach his eyes and as he looks into them he sees just as many emotions as he is sure that Fuminori can see in his own. He almost has to look away to not be the direct focus of such malice and contempt. It is almost like seeing a completely different person than the stoic young man he met in primary school.

"…"

Whatever words of bravado he would have had die in his throat as he watches Omi begin to squirm underneath Yoh as blood begins to drip down the sides of his girlfriend's mouth.

"I don't know what I've done, Fuminori, but I'm sorry. Please… please stop this. You're hurting–"

"No. You're not. Not yet, anyway."

He looks around wildly, desperate for someone, anyone, to come to their aid but he realizes for the first time that they are completely and utterly alone in the cafeteria, the former soundtrack of their fellow students suddenly silenced. This is impossible, it is the middle of the day, there should be dozens of other people but somehow not a single one of them is present.

"Ah. It looks like Yoh finished going out to get the first of the groceries for tonight."

Koji turns back to Yoh and Fuminori and immediately wishes he had continued to look fruitlessly for a savior. Omi has fallen from her chair completely, blood covering the table in front of her former seat, as she twitches violently on the floor next to their so-called friends. He wants to get up and smash Fuminori's face into the table but he finds himself rooted to the spot.

"I think this should be tasty, Fuminori," Yoh chirps, her mouth still full of what he identifies in a moment of blind terror as Omi's tongue. "Omi doesn't know when to stop talking, so I thought it was going to be quite tough, but she was so sweet when I was inside her…"

"Y-y-you're monsters. T-t-this can't be happening. It's a dream… a nightmare. I just have to wake up…" Koji can feel his cheeks getting wet as tears begin to fall. Gods, he hopes that he is right.

"You're not very fast, are you, Koji?"

In a moment his sadness is gone as he rounds on Yoh, fixing her with all of the hatred that he can possibly muster within his being, as he watches her spit the offending appendage onto the table mere centimeters from him.

"Fast? Fast?! What does that have to do with anything you've done! You… you kil… Omi…"

Yoh rests her hand in her hands as she stares at him with bright green eyes as verdant as the side of a mountain in spring.

"You seem to be very upset right now. Maybe you should wake up, hm?"

It is at this moment that he notices Fuminori has left his position across from him. It is also the exact moment that he can feel an ax cleave into side of his neck, his blood spewing from it as the arteries are severed like a high pressure water valve.

Koji awakens in a cold sweat, screaming out into the darkness of his dorm room as if his life depended on it, flailing about like a madman. It happened again just as it has every night since he and Tanbo had avenged Omi. The details are different every time, as is his fate, but the outcomes are always the same. He is lulled into a false sense of uneasy security as something – some higher power or perhaps karma itself – sneaks its tendrils around him and never lets go.

No one will come check up on him. Eventually Koji had run out of goodwill from the others on his floor as they petered out one by one over the past few weeks though he cannot say he blames them. They all have their own lives and troubles to attend to without having to play sitter for him. He suspects that at this point many of them have even gone out and bought earplugs so that they will not have to hear him in the middle of the night.

He glances at the digital clock on his nightstand and looks at the readout.

3 a.m.

Koji wants something, anything, to stop the nightmares. No matter how many sleeping pills he takes, no matter how much alcohol he drinks, it never matters in the end. Fuminori, Yoh, or Omi will always be there to act out some macabre play before violently bringing the curtain down on the stage. His guilty conscience is only as limited as his imagination, after all.

At least there is only one per night. Small miracles should be celebrated too.

Throwing off his blanket, Koji stands uneasily as he makes his way towards the bathroom door in his cramped apartment. He had been lucky and his parents had helped splurge for one of the upper tier buildings that actually had its own toilet and bath. Perhaps a nice cool shower is exactly what he needs to take his mind off of things.

When he gets into the bathroom, his strip is unceremonious and careless as his t-shirt and sweatpants land in a small heap next to the sink. For a moment he pauses and almost considers just turning on the showerhead but he decides against his better judgment to look in the mirror. A gaunt, pale stranger looks forlornly back at him, the deep circles underneath his eyes indicative of a weight that only he bears alone and that no one else can lift. For a moment he almost has the urge to smash the mirror to pieces.

Yet if he were to destroy the offending surface then it would only invite his student advisers and university to have it replaced. If that happened, then he would lose the hiding place of the most precious gift that Tanbo had left for him. He does not know if he will ever use it but he cannot take the risk of having it confiscated especially when he does not know how it was obtained in the first place.

Turning away from the mirror he pulls back the small white curtain and turns the cool metal of the faucet on. For a few moments the pipes clank and churn but it gives way to a gentle stream of water. He steps into the tub and picks up a wash cloth, gently rubbing soap against it, and begins to lather up. His strokes with the cloth are gentle and slow; he wants to make sure that he can make this last as long as possible so that he does not have to lay his head back down onto the pillow in his room.

When he shuts his eyes as he prepares to use the shampoo in the bottle beside him all he sees are his friends' faces just as he remembers them from what seems like a lifetime ago. Omi, with her almost supermodel like proportions and pouty lips, Yoh, with her kind eyes, and Fuminori… no. It is all Fuminori's fault. He could have come to them with whatever had been eating away at him but he chose not to. Fuminori could have told the doctor that he had been having strange visions but he chose not to. Fuminori could have turned himself in to the police after he had murdered Omi (and, though Koji's stomach turns at the possibility, others besides). Fuminori could have spared Yoh the fate of becoming whatever it was he had twisted her into.

He could have abandoned the monster that he had found him with in the end but he chose not to.

Water pours down onto him whisking the scent of green apple down into the swirling drain beneath him as he tries to use every droplet as a way to relieve himself of his own memories. It is a futile attempt of course. If pounding away drink after drink at whatever local dive bar will not let him forget what he has seen then nothing will. In a way he supposes that Dr. Tanbo is almost as much to blame as Fuminori is, as much as he does not like speaking ill of his savior. But he cannot blame her too much. She did not want him to play the hero; he had chosen to take up the sword and slay the dragon himself.

As the last of the shampoo washes away Koji fumbles for the lever to turn off the water blinded by the stinging sensation of the hair care product. No more than five minutes but it does feel like at least a little of the weight he had been carrying into the bathroom has been lifted from his shoulders. Slowly opening the shower curtain he reaches out to the rack beside the toilet for the soft cotton of a towel and brings it to himself as he steps out onto the bath mat beneath him. The warm steam is already holds the promise of helping lull him into a dreamless sleep once he returns to the bed. As he takes the towel and begins to wrap it around himself he drops it in complete terror.

Meat.

That is the only way that Koji can describe the walls of what was once his bathroom. There is not a single surface that is not covered in pulsating, foul-smelling offal. It is almost like watching a science documentary of the human body, as the veins along every surface push blood through some massive, unseen organism, and the disgusting virginal pink of the substance quivers right along with it. Somewhere underneath his feet he can feel what he knows intellectually to be the tiled floor squelch underneath his toes. In a blind panic Koji makes a mad dash for the square-shaped hole that used to be a door. Grabbing a hold of what he thinks might be an appendix he throws it wide open to reveal that the same macabre canvas continues into his bedroom and living room.

Even running to his window does Koji no good. The thin layer of tissue covers everything as far as his eye can visibly see, a network of organs that stretches for miles without end underneath a pitch black sky. Is this hell? It would explain Koji's persistent and unending nightmares at the very least but he has never heard of any religion on earth that talks about punishing its sinners with a Mobius butcher shop.

Or perhaps this is a personalized afterlife, tailored only for him and no one else, from what his subconscious has cobbled together of his experience at the old abandoned house on the outskirts of town. So much blood, so many torn bodies that had littered the floor – yes, Koji is sure that this is all for him and him alone. Even if he were to step out into the door into the hall there would be no one in the apartment complex other than himself.

"aRE yoU CATchInG oN FASTer? FUMiNoRi said YOU wErE smARt bUT i DIDn'T thINk so."

The sudden words catch Koji just as much as by surprise as pain as he reaches towards his ears to shield them from the horrific echo that reverberates through his so-called room. None of them are in a language Koji knows, not Japanese, not English, and he is certain that they belong to no human tongue. It is rough, guttural, wet, all at the same time in syllables and tones he does not think anyone on earth could make.

"Where- what- who are you?"

His voice is small, barely recognizable at all as his own as he sits kneeling in the chum his world has turned into.

Exposed.

Alone.

"yOU alREaDY knOw."

He grinds his teeth together, eyes watering, as he presses his hands to his ears. If there is any deity in the heavens watching or listening he would pray to them for the rest of his natural life if they could pluck him from this purgatory to safety. Or at the very least shut the voice up.

Through tear-soaked eyes he barely makes out the cartilage lining his mattress flap ever so slightly and he is rooted to the spot once more in a fear so paralyzing that he can feel it jolt down his spine. No human can fit underneath a space that small. Whatever is with him here, whatever must be delighting in watching him cry out is nothing of this earth.

As if answering his thoughts he watches a slender tentacle work its way out, followed by another, and then suddenly dozens more as the thing emerges from its hiding place. Koji does not even bother to move towards the bathroom to get the pistol. His fate has been sealed long before he even got out of bed. Accepting death with dignity is something noble and not to be ashamed of. As he feels his mind give way against the hot, burning impossibility of his tormentor he can swear he hears a young girl tutting somewhere next to his ear.

"It's no fun if you don't scream, Koji."

"Why…"

He brings the pipe down on the thing beneath him, smacking at every feebly moving part that it tries to use to pull itself along the floor of the old slime-soaked house. Dr. Tanbo is gone. Yoh is gone. Fuminori is gone. It is just him and the thing underneath him now.

"…won't…"

His mind will not focus properly on the creature. Every time he tries to make eye contact with it, his gaze always seems to fall away from it somehow, as if the space it occupies will simply not let him process the information. Perhaps that is for the best, really, because whatever the yokai is is fouler than anything the best spinner of horror yarns could dream up.

"…you…"

Koji slams his shoe down onto one of its many appendages and he can hear a mouth give a squeal of what he can only assume is pain. He may not know what it is but by the constant noise escaping from it he can tell it has never before been harmed in its life. Every blow he is dealing is a fresh and confusing experience to it.

Good.

"…die?!"

His arm is starting to get sore as are his feet. No matter how much he bats at the thing it refuses to simply collapse. It has been making a steady crawl across the wood towards Fuminori's corpse a few centimeters away from them but Koji will do his damnedest to prevent it from defiling his former friend any further. He does not know where it came from but his gut tells him that it is at least partially responsible for all the misery that has cast its shadow over these past few weeks. Beating it like a dog is practically cathartic.

Koji is about to bring his foot up once more to stomp on it when a small voice from somewhere underneath him makes him pause.

"I'm s-s-s-sorry. P-please… n-n-no more."

It is young, far younger than anyone he is familiar with outside of his nephews, and he almost thinks that he has at last gone mad until it is followed by a series of ragged wet coughs. He glances down once more and practically flies back towards one of the walls. This is impossible, there is no way that the monster from before could be–

Could be the girl in the white dress spread eagled on the floor in front of him, limbs bent at horrifying angles and her large green eyes pleading with him for mercy, matted dark blue hair covered in blood. His mouth opens and closes several times, words completely failing Koji as he drops his makeshift weapon in surprise unsure of what to do or even say.

The girl's eyes shimmer with unshed tears as she coughs up a spurt of dark ichor. It does not even matter where the monster has slithered off to, if this is some kind of last minute trick that it is trying to do to spare itself, all there is now are Koji and the young girl.

"I didn't… where did you come from?"

There is so much blood underneath them. Koji does not even want to look at it now. The girl does not answer him, opting instead to loll her tongue uselessly in her mouth as she tries to form whatever curse he is sure she is planning to lay at his feet.

"Hurts… w-why? Y-y-y-y-you s-s-said I was b-b-bad…"

Koji has completely collapsed against the wall of the home now his eyes wide in confusion and terror. He glances down the hallway. Fuminori's corpse with its split face is nowhere to be found. The monster that was Yoh is no longer present at the far end of the room. Not even Dr. Tanbo with her shotgun is slumped off to the side anywhere. What has he done?

His mind swims with questions as the girl fruitlessly tries to move herself from her resting place and screams in pain as her broken bones allow her absolutely zero flexibility. He had been under a lot of stress recently, what with Omi's disappearance, Fuminori's descent into madness and his attempt at killing him, and his tumble down the well. Had he ever really gone out to find Fuminori? Did Tanbo really follow him? Was it all a fever dream and he was still stuck slowly dying of hypothermia and starvation at the bottom?

Wordlessly he reaches out wanting to do something, anything, to help.

Koji crawls forward hesitantly towards the girl. She will die; of that there is no doubt. There is no way he could call an ambulance at this point and there is certainly no way a doctor could put her back together. This girl will die because of him.

Murderer.

It is a simple, yet stinging description. Koji has deprived a family of their child, a community of a friend, and a young girl of her future. It does not matter what the circumstances were or how he accomplished it. It will be true when it is read to him in the courtroom by the lawyers and judge; it is true now.

"I'm… sorry. So, so… sorry. What's your name?"

"Saya," her voice is barely above a whisper. "S-S-Saya."

He gently reaches out to her and notices she does not move away from him (she probably cannot at this point but he tries not to think about it too hard). He puts his hand over hers and simply sits there with her. It is the least he can do.

"Did your mommy give it to you?"

"My d-d-daddy."

"Oh? How do you write it?"

"Like 'sheathe.'"

Koji blinks in surprise. The girl looks so young and yet she knows a word like that. Perhaps it is something her father has told her endlessly and had her absorb by osmosis.

"That's a beautiful name."

Koji has never been good with children. He does not know what else to say. He watches as her chest begins to slow and her eyes grow glassy. Then there is nothing but stillness in the air, not even his breathing, as she finally passes on and he is left to pick up the pieces.

Picking himself up Koji resolves to at least find someone – anyone – to let them know what has happened. He owes Saya and her mysterious father that much. He reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out his phone, flipping it open and pushing 110. Every beep from his phone echoes throughout the home.

"110, this is an operator speaking. How may we assist you?"

"Y-yes," Koji swallows the bile down that is quickly trying to push its way out of his throat, "I'd like to report a m-m-murder."

"A murder? Are you sure?" Koji practically wants to fling the phone against the wall opposite him at the man's utter detachment.

"...Positive." He grinds his teeth for several moments, eyes shut so tight he can see stars behind his eyelids before he continues. "I know because I did it."

"Oh. I see."

"'I see'? That's all you have to say about this?!"

The operator chooses to ignore Koji's indignation at his crime.

"Where are you located?"

"I…" Koji pauses unsure of himself. In all of his numbness he had forgotten to go and open the front door to peer outside to identify where he was even at.

"I don't know."

"Please find a landmark so that we can get an officer dispatched as quickly as we can to your location."

Koji trudges towards the end of the hall every step feeling like his legs are about to give out from under him at any minute. Whether that is from their torture of his victim earlier or if the gravity of what he has done is truly setting in he cannot tell. His fingers find the faux gold lock as he turns it to left and flings the door open. It appears as if he is in the middle of nowhere. Trees surround the building like some sort of ancient green fortress protecting a daimyo. One glance to his left reveals nothing but the thick undergrowth and to his right the practically pristine asphalt of a road that has had few cars drive over it.

"Are you still there, sir?"

"Of course. But I'm not sure where I am."

"What can you see?"

"Trees. That's all there is around me. Wait…" he pauses as he looks at a small granite slab that is facing away from him. "Give me a second." Koji hopes that the marker will at least let him identify the family whose home he has forever broken apart.

Jogging over to the stone, the phone still pressed against his ear, he skids to a halt in front of the rock and pants lightly. His legs, sore as they are, are on fire now. "Sir?" comes the voice from the other end of the line and Koji stops his heaving for a moment to respond.

"Sorry. I think I just found a residential plaque out in the front yard."

For a moment Koji is completely confused as he looks down at the small monument before him. Instead of being an object he can use to figure out whose home has invaded it is instead a private plot. Intricately carved characters adorn the structure, sitting quietly next to a lone thermos, white chrysanthemum blossoms, and a bundle of slowly burning incense. He wonders if this is dedicated to the mother whom Saya could not name to him minutes ago and he tries not to think about how the grave will grow ever so slightly after this night is over.

"What do you see?" The voice on the other end's professionalism is briefly broken and Koji physically scowls at the phone next to him. He understands having to move onto other emergencies but the absolute carelessness shocks and angers him.

"…I think I might have been mistaken."

Koji squats in front of the tombstone brow furrowed and eyes desperately scanning over the inscription chiseled into the exquisite granite. The stars do not light much but he tries his best. Perhaps even if they cannot figure out whose residence it is they can cross reference the deceased. Or at least he believes that until he reads closer. His vocal chords feel as if they have suddenly shriveled on the spot.

TONOH KOJI.
The stake that sticks up gets hammered down.

Flailing wildly about Koji rockets up from his seated position. No. This cannot be happening. Perhaps he could buy someone's name being written the same but there is little chance that they also share his birthday as well. Dozens of questions dip in and out of his mind as he looks around in blind panic. The more he considers things, the more he realizes he does not remember tonight's events – or rather, he does not know if he can trust them anymore. He has been deceived twice before tonight and now he has been tricked a third time.

"You're very easy to scare, you know that?"

The voice is reedy like a flute instrument, filled with disdain. But Koji knows who it belongs to even before turns around to face Saya. He should have trusted his gut instinct when he first found her lying before him. It was all a trick, a dirty, dirty trick to allow the monster he had been trying so hard to rid the world of time to heal its wounds.

"If only you could take the hint and just end it all on your own."

Koji ignores her.

"What are you?"

Saya tilts her head at Koji as if she is studying an insect pinned to a board. "I don't think that matters."

He barks a derisive laugh at her as he flips the phone shut and pocketing. "Funny. I thought minutes ago you were the one on the ropes. If you hadn't used your costume there I would've finished you off."

Saya smiles crookedly at him and Koji tries not to flinch at how unnerving it is to see her face brighten up underneath the moonlight as white as the sundress that hangs loosely around her small frame. "How do you know you haven't done that before?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Saya giggles as she skips around, her hair swishing to and fro as she stops before him. "Fuminori was wrong. You really are that dumb, aren't you?"

"I'm going to ask you again. What–"

"That you haven't realized you're dreaming yet is pretty pathetic."

It all makes sense. The disappearing corpses, the ominous tombstone, the shapeshifting oni in front of him. Memories of previous dreams come flooding back to him, each more terrible and numbing than the one before it, as rapid fire as his blows had been against his target. He staggers slightly, gripping the sides of his head as Koji collapses.

"Oh, well, I suppose that did the trick."

"…How're you doing all this?"

Saya taps her chin, her small face scrunching into a frown as she bounces one of her feet against the earth. Koji supposes it would be cute if she had not been his apparent tormentor for months on end now.

"In all the time you've been having these dreams, you've never asked that question before. But since I'm growing tired of this game… I suppose I'll let you know."

Saya leans in towards Koji as if imparting her scheme is some big secret. Her bright green eyes practically shimmer with a light all their own as she grins sweetly at him. "The night when you brought that bitch of a doctor along with you, when you killed Yoh…"

"When I killed you too," Koji says in what he hopes is a brave tone, defiantly meeting her gaze with a steely one of his own. The monster girl only shrugs in response as she moves away from him now, hands cupped behind her back.

"Be that as it may, you didn't notice one last gift I gave you. Did you find it strange that your head hurt so much afterwards?" Koji does not want to admit it aloud but he is sure by her expression of smug satisfaction she already knows the answer anyway. He had chalked it up to stress and nerves but the headache had been unlike anything he had ever experienced before in his life.

"I learned a lot of tricks on earth. I bet you didn't even feel me doing the injection at first!"

'Injection…?' That feeling of dread returns once more and it fills his entire being to its core. The thought of the thing in front of him, without its human disguise, sticking one of its pus-covered tendrils into him makes him want to wretch.

"I could have lived, you know, if I'd wanted to."

She is crouching in front of him now and studying him with an expression that is so fearsome he avoids meeting her gaze to simply be in the same vicinity as his captor. To think that someone so small could contain such rage, to the point where he could practically feel it radiating out from her like the aftermath of a nuclear weapon detonating, was almost impressive.

"But…"

The mask of anger she wears falters and for a moment in time Koji is back within the house as a broken doll lays collapsed on the floor. If she could cry, he is sure that tears would have fallen from her face by now.

"You stole my world from me."

Briefly he can see the girl's form twitch and twist as her carefully maintained illusion breaks ever so slightly. Her fists lay clenched at her sides, her breathing shallow, as her eyes try desperately to extinguish him right on the spot.

"So I stole the night from you, Koji Tonoh."

"You think that's everything?!"

Without thinking Koji's hands shoot forward and grip the front of her dress, bringing her centimeters from his face as he hoists Saya up off of the damp grass that surrounds them. "You stole my best friend, my girlfriend, my life. I don't know what you are and I don't know where you're from but I don't care. You're a monster; no matter how much you continue to torture me it's all you'll ever be."

She smirks that damnable smirk at him as he shakes her vigorously back and forth not even bothering to free herself from his grip. "You're wrong. Fuminori told me I wasn't. He told me I was better than that." The part of himself that had been preventing him from doing anything further to the girl in front of him suddenly snaps. Jerking her harshly downwards he slams Saya's face into the ground over and over again, his assault growing more violent by the second.

"Don't you dare say his name, you bitch! I don't know how but this is all your fault! He was fine until that goddamned accident!"

He does not even notice the spongy red tentacles that seem to rise from the air around Saya as he feels a sharp snap in both of his wrists. Despite the fact he is aware it is all a dream it does not stop him from yowling in shock as he flops onto his back, rolling away from his prey. Tears that Koji knows are not there spill from his eyes as he dangles the useless limbs in front of him as Saya sits up and slowly marches over to him.

"My dad told me, when he first brought me into this world, that he wanted to cleanse it. Humans were a parasite on it, he said, and that anything I could do would improve it. Did you know that at first I didn't believe him?"

Koji feels another one of her many limbs slip around his waist as it tightens itself. He can feel his breath adjusting to the sudden pressure.

"I learned as much as I could about you. You were so delicious in so many ways…" Saya runs her tongue briefly over lips and giggles to herself. "…But in secret I thought that maybe living on earth wouldn't be so bad. Perhaps I wouldn't even have to go through with my mission. Dad wouldn't hear it, though. He wanted me to end the world."

"When he disappeared, I was relieved at first… but then I was lonely. I realized I had no one – not until I met Fuminori at least. We saved each other. Did you know that, Koji? I didn't need anything or anyone else so long as I was with him."

Saya looms over him and for a moment he can see past her, into her world once more, a cacophonic orchestra of hellish noise and non-Euclidean geometries. Were this real Koji is sure that in his moment his mind would have broken into even further pieces than he is sure it is in these days.

"I tried to give you humans the benefit of the doubt as much as I could; I didn't even like having to go out and hunt you after I became intimate with Fuminori. But you ruined that. The man I tried to use to help fix Fuminori's mind…" Saya shivers in the still air and Koji only wonders what trauma she has suffered to make her so afraid to speak about it. "…he showed me what was in your species' heart when they think no one is around to witness them. He had shown me no mercy, so I decided to do the same."

"But I would be better than you: if you left Fuminori and I alone we would be able to live in peace. I should've known better than to trust your kind that much twice."

"If you're going to kill me," Koji says, his voice so exhausted at this point that it surprises even himself, "then just get it over with. I can't imagine what good it will do you, though. I saw you die myself."

Saya shrugs her shoulders and continues her now dispassionate gaze. "I'm nothing more than after image. I can't kill you, even if I'd love to. There's no way to get rid of me. Well… except one."

She does not even have to tell him what she means. He can see Dr. Tanbo's weapon sitting locked away behind his mirror now, one last bullet left in the chamber. "What if I tell you to fuck off?"

Saya shrugs and fold her arms across her chest. "Then we'll be doing this until the end of your natural life. It'll give me more time to be creative, at least."

The rest of his life.

He is a walking skeleton as it is. Even if he wants to be strong, to continue spiting Yoh's and Omi's killer, he does not know if he has the strength left to do so. Would anyone blame him if he finally checked out for good?

"What guarantee do I even have that that's the end of it?"

Saya sneers at him and rolls her eyes. "Are you asking if there's some sort of afterlife? No, this is it, I assure you. Do you think I'd be wasting my time with you if there was a way I could see my Fuminori?"

The rubbery mass of tendrils continues swarming him and he simply lies on the ground, gazing up at a sky that is not really there and sitting in silence with a monster that is nothing more than a vestigial remnant in the corners of his mind. He is tired; tired of being afraid.

"Don't worry you'll be with him soon."

Detective Kogami pulled his Toyota into the parking spot just as the King's final notes of "You're the Devil in Disguise" faded from the worn tape in the car's cassette player. He had not bothered to move his musical collection over to CDs yet and had no plans on getting a Discman in the near future. He had been loath to switch over from records to cassettes years ago; this was no different. It seemed the further that the industry came from analog a certain kind of magic was lost.

His useless diatribe was nothing more than a distraction from more pressing issues, of course. Kogami had been dragged out of bed almost an hour ago on an emergency call to an apartment complex on the outskirts of one of Tokyo's universities. The dispatcher had not bothered to clarify what the issue was other than it had been reported by the student body who had lived on the fourth floor. Despite the fact that something serious must have occurred for him to be summoned to the scene this early, Kogami could not help but feel cheated once more that the department had stolen another good night's sleep from him. It had been a good dream too. The two ladies might have been twins but he had not been complaining…

Shaking more pleasant thoughts from his mind he grabbed the obsidian umbrella in the passenger's seat beside him and unlocked the door, stepping onto the slick concrete of the apartment's lot. As luck would have it the weather had decided to throw a fit just as he was pulling out of his garage as well this morning. He could already see that the building was swarmed with officers as he made his way towards the glass entrance doors. Perhaps some of the heavy lifting had already been done and this would be a quick in-and-out run.

Stepping into the lobby Kogami notices that it is exactly how he expected it to be. Students sit anxiously on just about every available surface, whispering to one another not so subtly about what had transpired about an hour ago. He catches words like 'dead,' 'loud,' 'unexpected,' but he tunes them out as background noise. Questioning would come later once he had time to assess the situation himself. Gossip would only muddy the waters once all was said and done.

"Oh, detective! I didn't think they'd call you to this one."

Turning his gaze away from the young people gathered around him he locks eyes with Officer Kaname, her long hair put into a bun underneath her cap, as she gives him a small bow. Returning it he fixes the young woman with a warm smile and reaches into his trench coat pocket to remove a pencil and notepad. Out of all the officers currently on the force he finds Kaname the most tolerable. Perhaps it is because she fills out the uniform so well or perhaps it is because her enthusiasm – not yet beaten out of her by years of seeing how depraved humans could act – was infectious Kogami could not tell, but she was a welcome sight all the same.

"Ah, there she is. How does it feel to be a graduate?"

She beams at him once more, cheeks burning and eyes downcast, her hands fidgeting at her sides.

"I know it sounds stupid, but I'm glad I'm out of there. It's necessary but… I'm ready to start making a difference in the world, not just running exercises."

"Thatta girl. I'm sure you'll whip them into shape back at the precinct in no time at all."

Bureaucracy is a hell of a thing to change but Kogami likes to believe on some level it is not just empty praise. He genuinely hopes that the girl's career is long and prosperous, that somewhere her parents are as proud of her as he is.

"Walk with me. I want to know what's going on here."

"Right!"

Kaname falls into step beside Kogami as he gives a curt nod to who he assumes is the building owner, flashing him his badge as they strut towards one of the elevators. Kaname reaches for the button and turns to him, rubbing her eyes. Looking a little closer Kogami can see that the early hours of the morning have not been kind to his companion either.

"There's good news and bad news. The good news is that we know the 'what' and 'how' so far, just not the 'why.'"

"Heard some of the kids say that someone had died?"

The ding of the elevator's doors opening is the signal they need to push forward, stepping into the medicinal smelling lift as Kaname reaches for the '4' button.

"The boy who used to live in the room we're going to go see in a moment. It's definitely a suicide…"

Kogami notices that she trails off at that. He feels a pang of guilt at dragging her back up to the crime scene so soon. The nation's suicide rates are appalling and he is well aware that Kaname's brother ended his own life by jumping off of one of the city's many bridges this past year.

"...students on his floor said that he'd been acting strange for a few months. Night terrors, basically, but really intense ones. A lot of them went and had to get ear plugs because they couldn't deal with it and that's why no one noticed what had happened for a few days."

'Could be anything, then,' Kogami thinks to himself. 'Too much debt, maybe he was failing in his classes, or even trouble at home or with his woman.' He makes a mental note to ask if the victim had any friends who lived in the same complex.

"They smelled it first before anyone went to investigate."

"How badly was the body decomposing?"

"Pretty ripe. There was a large exit wound on him that had time to fester."

"Exit wound?" That was surprising. Kogami is sure he has figured out what has happened even before the elevator finally dings once more in response that they have reached their floor but he will still have to steel himself. He hates suicide cases the most and this will be no different than any of the others.

Kaname nods at him and she makes a left down the hallway. Rows of identical wooden doors stand eerily quiet underneath the fluorescent light bulbs as they walk together in companionable silence now. Kogami is not about to interrupt his companion if she needs time to prepare herself for what they are about to go look at it too.

As they reach the very ending of the hall he can see a few officers, and Akuma the coroner, the latter of whom is gesticulating inside the room that is taped off by thick caution signs.

"Look, damnit, will you let me in there? I'd like to get started before the whole floor starts smelling like we dumped cadavers in every room."

"No can do, Reiji. We got orders to hold everything until… oh. Would you look at that?"

The portly medical examiner turns to look at look Kaname and Kogami before rolling his eyes. "Figures they'd put you up to this, Kogami. I'm guessing they want you to take a look at the thing he used to do himself in before they're gonna let me start my job."

Kogami runs a hand through his salt-and-pepper hair before shrugging his shoulders. "Can't help it, my friend. I tried to get here as soon as I could but, well, when it rains it pours around here. What're we looking at?"

Akuma makes a shooing motion towards the two officers standing in front of the door as the three of them walk into the room. Inside is a typical 20-something-year-old's living quarters. A television sits quietly in the corner next to a desk with haphazardly strewn textbooks everywhere in front of a cheap looking laptop. Magazines litter the floor, each of a varying subject matter including several decent looking pornos, as well as VHS tapes. But on the once pristine bed lies their target.

The young man is sprawled against the wall, head leaning awkwardly for support against it and tangled in his once white sheets as one hand still clings to the weapon that did him in. Brain, dried blood, and small remnants of bone cover the surface he lays against like a grotesque coat of paint. Kogami's eyes move once more from the dead student back to the thing he carries clenched in his hand.

"Is that a magnum?"

Kaname nods at him gravely as she bends down to get a closer look at it, shaking her head all the while.

"It is. It's really strange too because it's not even registered to him. We're still running a background check but we have no idea how he got his hands on it in the first place."

"Looks like there was only one bullet in the chamber," Akuma chimes in, gesturing towards the offending object. "That'll blow a hole straight your dome but he wasn't planning on using it for anyone else other than him it looks like."

"Where the hell was he hiding something like that?" Kogami arches an eyebrow and looks to Kaname, the younger woman pausing her examination of the boy to jerk her thumb behind them. "Bathroom it looks like. They found the mirror cabinet wide open when the first responders came earlier. He lived alone so it isn't like anyone would've had a reason to check it beforehand."

"Dumb bastard is lucky that he shot it just the right way so that it didn't go through the wall," Akuma scowled, already taking out a pair of latex gloves and slipping them over his hands. "Can you imagine what it would have been like had he half-assed the job?"

Kogami wants to deck Akuma for no other reason than Kaname's sake but he decides that the slob is of better use to him conscious than not. Jotting down everything so far he glances over at the young officer in question. Her face is one of pure professionalism, detached and observant, as she glances every which way around the corpse on the bed.

'Knew she was made of the right stuff,' Kogami thinks approvingly, as he moves closer to the bed himself. He had been prepared to tell her that it was okay for her to leave if she was not comfortable doing something like this but he is glad he will not have to. The classroom could only prepare someone so much but if this is how Kaname is going to approach assignments in the future then she should have no problem with even more difficult cases.

Getting every last detail of the corpse down before Akuma does anything to it will be crucial so Kogami moves closer to the impromptu coffin himself, careful to give both of his coworkers a wide berth. He likes to start with the point of trauma and work his way from there and the head is an easy place to start from. The bullet seemed to have gone in at a 50 degree angle and, based on what Akuma had guessed earlier, possibly lodged itself into the wall beside him rather than going through. The fact no one had heard him for a few days suggested that he had died instantaneously from the wound rather than linger and suffer from it. Yet the most curious thing that Kogami notes is the fact that, however subtle, the young man's face offers an even stranger story than how he got his hands on a gun. At the corners of his mouth Kogami can swear he sees the faintest traces of a smile that is frozen forever onto the boy's features.

Kogami does not believe in gods. He has seen too much in this job to have faith anymore. But he hopes nonetheless that in death the boy found peace from whatever it was that had driven him into its arms in the first place.