AN: Delayed Halloween update! Hope you enjoy ;)
He knew the instant his foot crossed the threshold of the house that it would not be a good day. She stood, hip cocked, glaring at him. Looking down, he saw her pale, manicured hands, holding a crumpled sheet of paper. "What is this?" She practically spat out the words, throwing the wadded up paper at him. It landed with a skittering tap at his feet. Bending down, he picked it up, opening it slowly, dread pooling in his heart. The results of the national mock exam stared him in the face. 53rd.
"Fifty third. Fifty third! You know what that exam result means? Nothing, it will yield you absolutely nothing in life. Top twenty Akihito, how many times must I tell you?" She hissed, hands slowly clenching and unclenching.
"But it's the highest score I've ever gotten…" He mumbled, blue eyes peeking upwards cautiously.
Her lips tightened into a line, and he knew it had been the wrong thing to say. Quick as a flash, that pale hand backhanded him across the face as he stumbled with a cry, clutching his cheek. Already he could feel the heat blooming across pale skin. "You are just like your father," She gritted out, brown eyes ablaze. "Useless."
With that, she spun on her heel and marched towards her bedroom, but not before stopping and casting a final cold, impersonal remark. "You'll be attending cram school for twice as long now."
A door slammed as Aki slumped against a wall, still numbly clutching his cheek. "Yes, mother." He whispered.
Gently, the piece of paper settled on the ground, black ink still bold against the crinkled white paper. He picked it up, staring at the two numbers. Fifty third. A wet drop landed on the 5, smearing it as it soaked through the thin paper, then another and another. And before he knew it, his tears had wiped away all evidence of that hateful fifty three.
Sometimes, he felt like if he held his breath, he would be wafted away on the wind, his feeble presence dispersed permanently. Like if he just closed his eyes for a second, people would begin to walk through him without a pause, without even realizing that another human being was there. As if he was a mote of dust, drifting lazily into their way and swept to the side without so much as a pause, not even a blip on their radar. "Aki!" He turned, looking down the lazy intersection as Kou jogged across.
He smiled brightly, waving a hand. "Good morning!"
"Yup, ready for first period? The math quiz is going to kill me." Kou groaned, stepping easily beside Aki, falling in pace with the other boy.
"Yeah, totally." He smiled shyly. It was mornings like these that made his day.
"Kouuuuuuuu-chan!" An exuberant voice burst out behind them and Kou stumbled as Takato jumped on his back.
"Ow! Oi, Tak-chan, can't you walk? You were born with legs for a reason, you know." Kou groaned underneath the added weight. Still, despite his words, he stumbled onwards, dragging along Takato.
"Nope, I'm tuckered out." Takato opened his mouth wide in an exaggerated yawn. Turning his head this way and that, he caught sight of Akihito, silently walking along beside them. "Oh hey Aki! I didn't even see you!" The words cut deep, but Akihito just smiled and nodded in greeting. "Ohaiyou, Takato!"
"Oh that's right!" Kou turned towards Aki. "I wanted to ask you, do you want to go to the arcade later with me and Takato? It'd be fun!"
For a second, Akihito almost said yes. It had been so long since he had made anything close to a friend, so long since he had been invited to do anything after school. But…'you'll be attending cram school for twice as long now.'
Smiling at them amiably, he shook his head. "Thanks for inviting me Kou, but I have cram school every day now."
Without pause, the boy shrugged. "That's okay! I just wanted to ask! If you ever—"
He paused as the sound of the bell rang out. "Shit! I'm about to be late! Oi, get off me you slowpoke!" Playfully shaking off Takato, the two ran towards the school.
Aki looked up, taking in the vivid blue sky, the crisp breeze that swirled along the school courtyard. Breathing in deeply, he whispered to himself a promise. "Top twenty."
You'll be attending cram school from the end of school to 6:30, daily. The text read.
Sighing, he slipped the phone back into his pocket and shouldered his bookbag. Cram school was always an ordeal, full of things he didn't understand and tutors that rushed, probably on the behest of his mother. They were always like that, frantically trying to make him smarter, better. It was unfortunate he didn't have the intellect to keep up.
With a ding, the street light shifted from red to green, and he took a step forwards. It was a pretty long distance to the cram school, and tardiness was not tolerated. Rushing forward, he reached the concrete platform in the middle of the road before the lights shifted once again and cars began rushing by, silvery blurs. It would be a while before the lights changed again…
He looked around in boredom, glancing back at the road behind him. Many students from his school also stood on that side of the road.
A loud laugh burst through the air, cutting over the thrum of car motors. Aki turned more fully, his eyes widening. Kou stood there, laughing with Takato as they strolled down the street. Reaching the intersection, they took a right, presumably towards the arcade center. Just an ordinary pair of friends, going to have fun.
A sudden wave of spontaneity and longing seized Aki, and in a dreamlike trance he stepped off the platform, moving towards that side of the road, towards friendship.
The sound of a blaring horn was the last thing he ever heard.
Notice me…
Speak to me…
Somebody, anybody…find me.
"Come on, Asami! It'd be cool and you know it!" The captain grinned nervously, elbowing Asami.
"It's pointless, is what it is." Asami rolled his eyes. "Come on, Kazumi, why are you trying to get me to go into that building?"
Suoh sagged. "Look, the principal wants us to hold out training camp in there next week, since the gym is still pretty intact and it would cost the school nothing. But all the guys don't want to go, you know? It's supposed to be haunted. But if you go, and you see nothing, they won't be scared anymore! So please? It's just one night, and you owe me a favor for the car incident anyways."
Asami rolled his eyes. "And all I have to do is walk around in the building a couple of times at night?"
Suoh nodded eagerly. Really, with all that brawn you'd think he'd be less willing to bow his head, but he really had no trouble submitting to a higher authority (i.e. Asami only).
Glancing out the classroom window, he saw the building, still on school grounds, but abandoned and hollow. "Fine, I will. Superstitions can be so troublesome."
How absurd, to think that ghosts existed. He would prove the rumors wrong for the last time, if only for the sake of the superstitious guys on the team not whining about spirits and whatnot.
It wasn't hard to see why all the rumors had arisen. Asami stepped along the hallways, flashlight shining around. Everything was so dusty, they'd have to clean up before the training camp. As he passed by classrooms, he peered in. Nothing but old desks, left where they were. Sometimes, there was even a piece of chalk sitting on the tray of the blackboard, as if the next day students would troop in and sit down to learn.
Moths fluttered about as he rounded a corner, spotting the stairwell. First floor: clear. Even his mental voice sounded exasperated with this whole ordeal, goddamnit. Reaching the stairwell, he lifted one foot up…and paused. His head twisted this way and that as gradually a noise registered. Footsteps? They were coming from above, that was for sure.
It's supposed to be haunted…Suoh had said.
He tilted his head, trying to hear it more clearly. Sssssssk thump, ssssssk thump, ssssssk thump…
It sounded odd, like someone was walking, but with a limp, perhaps. His heart began to pound as his palms sweated nervously. No, it couldn't be a ghost. Maybe it was just an injured dog, or an old door that was getting loose. Cautiously, he lifted one foot after another, making his way up the old stairs, careful not to make any noise. Reaching the top, he placed his back to a wall, inching over until he could just barely peer into the dimmed hallway. It was pitch black, not a ray of light, unlike the first floor hallway that had been filled with windows. He gripped his flashlight tightly, turning to aim it into the inky blackness.
Jumping, he stifled a curse as the light struck something, casting it in black shadows. A figure stood with its back to him. Even from its silhouette, he could see the wrongness, the sheer eeriness of it. One of its legs was bent at an unnatural angle, and its arm almost seemed to dangle. And then, it turned.
The flashlight clattered to the ground with a thunk as Asami stared, legs locked in horror.
"Can you…see me?" The boy tilted his ruined face curiously as Asami just looked on, stupefied. Half of his face was pure unmarred white, a single pretty blue eye gazing out. The other half was a ruin of crushed bone and leaking brains. The skin was shredded and swelling, the flesh beneath writhing with maggots. The right side of his rosebud lips was torn wide, a long rip traveling up to nearly his cheekbone, adding a hissing sound to his words as air escaped from the gaping orifice.
He shook his head silently, half to the question and half in desperate denial. "No…no…"
The left side of his mouth curved up in delight as the right spasmed in a feeble attempt to keep up. His untouched arm reached out, the nails blackened with death, and he began to limp forward. Belatedly, Asami realized what the sound had been. Sssssssk, thump…the boy's steps rang out as he hobbled forward, dragging his ruined leg with it, leaving dark globs of clotted blood behind him. With every move he made, Asami got a view of that ruined leg, torn muscles and shattered bone shifting and squelching.
Run. Run! A shot of adrenaline hit his veins as Asami turned and ran away from that monstrosity.
"Don't…leave…" A hiss of air accompanied the words, escaping from between his exposed molars. "No…don't! YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME TOO!"
The unsteady gait increased, faster and faster, faster than it ever could have been. Ssk, thump, ssk, thump, ssk thump.
Rounding the corner, Asami breathed in and out raggedly as he sprinted down the first floor hallway, running for the exit. Already he could see the silver moonlight, bright even through the dusty glass panes. Reaching out, he sighed in relief as his hands touched cold metal, gripping tightly and pulling as he felt his muscles strain to move the door, jammed into place by old age and disuse.
With a groan and a continuous screech as the bottom corner scraped along linoleum tiles, it opened. A gust of wind from the outside, moist with the rain that drizzled lightly, caressed his forearms. Eagerly, he stepped forward, about to hurl himself outside, when he was yanked backwards. A grunt was forced out of him as he slammed into the ground, now looking up at the boy.
His single eye gleamed down in soft joy. "Stay..." And with his good arm pressing down Asami with ungodly strength, stifling all of the Asami's struggles, he brushed his ruined lips across Asami's. The next words Asami more felt than heard, reverberating throughout his skull.
See me.
The darkness pulsated once more, swirling in and surrounding them. Golden eyes gazed, horrified, upwards, all of his kingly calm lost. And all he could see was that blue eye and those white teeth, revealed in a beaming smile.
Asami jerked upwards, his forehead connecting with something hard. "Ouch!"
Akihito also jerked back, giving a yelp of shock. "What the hell, Asami?"
Asami's eyes darted around, eyes wild. But all that surrounded them was the school roof and the azure sky above. "Sorry, just a weird daydream." He murmured, settling his head back into Akihito's lap.
Once again, pale fingers dutifully combed through his raven locks as the boy dropped a gentle kiss on his lips. "Geez, no need to be so twitchy, you could've hurt both of us."
"Don't be cheeky." Asami smirked, already feeling his eyes slip shut again, comforted by the sunlight beaming down on them.
"Hai~" Aki settled back and watched the man drift off to sleep. The weight of Asami's head was heavy in his lap, and he gave a satisfied smile. "Let's be together for a long time, love." And his left eye blazed with an unholy fire.