Failure to Protect
His life stopped the moment he saw the bloodied body on the ground.
The robed corpse on the ground seemed to at least attempt to get away but it was obviously to no avail. The knife stuck out of him and Ichimatsu felt his world crumble before him.
There was numbness. His vision blurred to red since all he saw was the red, no longer the blue kindness of Karamatsu. The short time they spent together meant so much for Ichimatsu – it saved his life. He didn't know what he would've done had Karamatsu never took him in. He would've counted on drowning in the flood that built up that day. He would've starved to death eventually. He would've died from hypothermia. So many things could've happened to him had Karamatsu would not have the fortitude, the kindness, and heart, to take someone like him in.
The two had developed a close relationship and Ichimatsu… felt grateful for him. He fed him. He clothed him. He kept a roof over his head and, maybe, hopefully, loved him.
But now he'll never know.
The two had supposed to have dinner that night but Ichimatsu decided to stay at the cat café, his work place, instead of going home immediately and this was the result of his choice.
He didn't know when he vomited; he could feel remains of it on the side of his mouth. He didn't even know where he did it. Did he remember to call the emergency hotline? Would they have bothered? Would they even catch the culprit?
Anger tried to overcome the nausea that he still felt in the pit of his stomach. He didn't know how long Karamatsu laid there dead. Did he think of Ichimatsu when the final blow occurred? Did he cry for help, when he usually didn't? Was he angry when Ichimatsu told him he was to stay? Could… his spirit forgive him?
A sense of dread overwhelmed him all at once and his crying voice echoed in the now empty mansion. He wanted to tell Karamatsu his thanks, not death wishes. He tried his best not to tell him to die whenever he annoyed him but it was too great. His words didn't have that much power. He fell to his knees, now covered in his beloved's blood, and clung to his body as he cried. He could now feel the grief come over him. He couldn't protect him. He couldn't be there for Karamatsu's final moments.
He couldn't even tell him he loved him.
Darkness easily settled over the crying man. His cries of repeated apologies echoed and overlapped on each other. The different versions of himself begged for forgiveness multiple times and in multiple ways but he knew he'd never get an answer. And then he heard the footsteps.
He knew he wasn't alone. The culprit was still around and he killed his beloved Karamatsu. He could take the route and die with him. It'd be the ultimate romantic gesture but… I won't die until he's dead.
Immediately, a surge of anger and power rushed over him. Revenge. He had to get revenge. He had to get revenge for his precious Karamatsu. He couldn't die knowing he failed to protect him – no, he had to die after he killed the man who brought him to an end. Ichimatsu's own life was worthless anyway – he carelessly chose to be homeless and chose not to do anything about it. Karamatsu only extended his life a few extra months but it costed his own life. He didn't deserve that.
He grabbed the knife from Karamatsu's back, with a sickening sound echoing out, and growled more at the blood. He felt his eyes droop down. He didn't care anymore. He didn't want anything else in this life anymore.
The only thing he strived for now lied on the tiled floor of a giant mansion which only housed him and the corpse. Ichimatsu wasn't going to live without him. He wasn't going to continue on without Karamatsu, the only person on this earth who cared about him.
The only person who cared about him was gone and now Ichimatsu is hungry. The hunger for this person's blood to spill started to overwhelm him.
You don't have permission to live anymore. Ichimatsu coldly thought as he grabbed a mask and put it on. The only thing that he wanted this killer to see last of were his eyes. His cold eyes that mimicked his when he killed his beloved. "You don't have permission to live anymore."
Ichimatsu wasn't a stranger to the darkness. He reveled in it once before Karamatsu brought him to the light. Karamatsu was always scared of the lonesome house and had once told Ichimatsu that he believed the house was haunted. Ichimatsu wanted the spirits of the mansion to guide him to the future corpse – he felt the tears of anger and sadness and grief go down his cheeks even through the tight mask around his head. His breathing became labored as he slowly regained his hunting skills except instead of for warmth, for food, for shelter… this time, he hunted for this person's life.
He wasn't sure when he grabbed another knife. He didn't care. Anything to maximize the damage to the corpse that will soon stain these hallways. The hallways had already been painted in Karamatsu's blood and the debt has to be paid.
"He has to pay."
Through the night, he hunted. Through the night, instead of running away from the shadows, he embraced them. He called forth their dark powers to grant him enough power to take another's life. He begged for the power to take his life since Karamatsu's light had dimmed. There was nothing but darkness for Ichimatsu at this point.
"He has to pay," he repeated. His words were no longer words. Instead, they were growls. They were mumblings. They were murmurs. They no longer echoed in the mansion and he could no longer hear himself but a dark voice replaced his own. It almost sounded demonic and sweet and somehow familiar.
Because the mansion was so big, shadows and objects and, eventually, people, started to blend together and Ichimatsu no longer cared what was what. In his eyes, everything and everyone were the same monster, even he was no longer human. He didn't eat or sleep. Has it been days or nights since he started to hunt?
How is it he never got even close?
Soon, strange people came into Karamatsu's house and started to investigate. They appeared to wear cops' uniforms but all he could see were monsters disguised as humans. They disrespected Karamatsu's body and then that one detective showed up.
Something about him irked him. The way he'd take the seriousness out of a dire situation. It didn't matter. They were to die too. They weren't human. They didn't deserve to live among the humans if he dared to disrespect the dead like that. Jokes and quips and no one was any closer to finding the real killer.
Along the way, it was clear there were other victims in the mansion but Ichimatsu never saw them in his hunt. All he saw were shadows.
Still, no other emotion painted his face. His heart died along with Karamatsu.
The police never noticed him. They never noticed him raising his bloodied knives as he followed them, waiting for the right moment but it never came.
When they took the boats out to the lake, it suddenly got dark. The dark voice in his head whispered what ifs in his ear.
"What if it was their fault? It's not your fault. They should be taking this seriously."
They should take this seriously.
Anger clouded his already empty and weak heart. He wanted to eliminate them all. All of them didn't deserve to live anymore if they didn't treat Karamatsu's corpse properly. If they weren't going to dispose of the killer properly, then he would. Ichimatsu would take care of the killer as well as these useless cops. Shadows, though, they weren't cops. They were shadows. They merely imitated humans.
They all laughed at Ichimatsu and his poor attempts to find the killer. They weren't human. Ichimatsu was the only human left in this void of darkness. He had to regroup and rethink what he had to do…
He sat in the darkness as he once did before he met Karamatsu. The darkness always protected him from the everyday monsters but he kept an eye on him.
However… he didn't expect…
A prickly feeling turned into something sharp in his back. He gasped at the feeling and before he could properly react he felt his wrists being grabbed.
"You've failed. You thought I would help you? You thought that I would lead you to justice?"
The demonic voice seduced in his ears. "You've failed." The voice repeated himself. He could feel the blood seep through his clothes and felt a cold almost marble like hand wrap around his waist. He looked down, as best he could through the mask, and saw the hand of a demon. The demon laughed sweetly and licked Ichimatsu's ear.
"Your anger, your pain… it fuels me. Ichimatsu, you truly loved him, didn't you? You've allowed this love of yours turn into this ugly, horrible thing."
He felt another hand come from the other side and felt him stroke his chest and felt the hands lower. "Mmm, just pretend I'm your beloved. You've already sold your soul to me when you decided to kill, so it's useless to fight."
Ichimatsu wanted to yell but instead he reached for his knife that he put aside. He grabbed it and stabbed the hand. He grabbed the other and did it again. The demon behind him howled in laughter and shock.
Somehow this loosened his grip off the bleeding man and he tried to crawl away from the darkness, leaving a trail of blood. Now he understood why Karamatsu saved him in the first place – it was to protect him from the demon, to protect him from the darkness.
"Come back here."
The demon seemed to stretch his arm abnormally and grab Ichimatsu's legs. Ichimatsu couldn't scream – his mask prevented him from doing so – but he clawed even well after his fingers bled as much as he could. He didn't know what evils awaited him. He didn't want to know.
"Come back here, I said."
Still, Ichimatsu refused.
Then, Ichimatsu's head felt like it could be split open.
When he awoke, he found himself trapped and slowly weakening. He couldn't move his arms nor his legs. He felt the pain of the stab wound on his back.
"I'm sorry, Karamatsu…" he cried finally. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry!" he cried in pain as he realized that it wasn't Ichimatsu who failed to protect him.
It was Karamatsu who failed to protect him.
Ichimatsu kept begging for his beloved's forgiveness before he closed his eyes for a permanent sleep.
Bad End