Everything was so different today. Akise stopped his bike in front of a steep mountain trail that continued onto a seemingly unending thicket. He pulled his bike along as he walked up the steep mountain trail. The sun shined up in the blue sky, barely any clouds up, it added a hopeful atmosphere as Akise finally reached the top and continued onto the thicket.

When he heard running water, he knew that he was close to home. Akise smiled to himself. The first smile he's had for awhile since the worlds. He stopped at the very front of his home, a shoin-zukuri designed home with two ponds between the lawn bridge that he carefully walked over and set his bike against the left side of his house. After the fifth world, he decided to move from an open neighborhood and go somewhere quiet and private where he could sleep more peacefully.

Back in the other worlds, it would get harder to sleep, especially if he lived in a neighborhood that Gasai Yuno could raid any moment to kill him in his sleep. The past worlds haunted him and the after-cause of such gave him Insomnia. He hasn't had a good night's sleep since the last time he kissed Yukiteru and had a chance to smell his lovely scent, which felt like forever since then. He sighed. Even now, it would be difficult to sleep because he couldn't stop worrying about his beloved.

He opened the slide doors, closing it once he stepped in to be greeted by his sparse entry room. There was a fireplace on the center wall facing him with only two cushions in front of it, a stack of logs were leaning on the left of the fireplace. Living out in the middle of an unremembered thicket meant no electricity and no communication from the rest of the world, though Akise preferred it that way. Unlike Gasai, he didn't spam Yukiteru with texts. He would always let Yukiteru talk to him first.

He lit a candle and carried it as he walked over to sit down on one of the cushions. He added logs from the stack on the left side, to the empty fireplace and then added the flame of the candle to the logs. His fireplace crackled, immediately calming him down by its comforting warmth. Akise's smile dropped as he pulled his jacket off, staring at the fire and then at his backpack.

He had a lot of homework to do. Being a diligent and devoted student to his school, he always jumped to it and spent four hours absolutely concentrating on no other than his homework until it was right and until he had everything he needed to pass a test. His parents would try averting his attention from it, but he wouldn't take a break from his homework.

He shook his head. He didn't feel like it today. Akise kicked his backpack further away and curled up onto the other pillow, using his jacket as a makeshift blanket. He stared at the fire.

What had happened to his parents? That was simple. Akise watched in many worlds, as they both died. His mother would die in car accidents and his father would commit suicide from the agony of losing his wife. In some worlds, Gasai would make him watch as she killed them off, or he would do it himself...

Akise sat up from his troubling sleep. He looked around his dim and sparse bedroom. It was quiet. He reached over and pulled his lamp on. As he slid out of bed, his eyes widened at a sudden crack of glass breaking and then a scream. A scream that sounded so much like… his mother's voice!

Bolting out of his bedroom, uncaring if he was still in his blue pajamas, he raced down the stairs to find his mother being held at knifepoint to her throat. She was crying. Akise's eyes stayed wide as he realized it was Gasai Yuno holding his own mother at knifepoint.

"It's about time to you came out of your room, Akise Aru." Gasai said darkly, "I was getting bored."

"What are you doing here?" He asked calmly. He knew that she had another side of her he could easily reach if he stayed focused and calm about this situation right now. "Wouldn't Yukiteru-kun be upset with you if he knew what you were doing right now?"

Sure as he was, he caught a flash of fear in her eyes before it disappeared as fast as it was there. She was glaring at him. Carelessly and rather harshly, she let Akise's mother fall to the carpet on her side. Just as he was about to run over to her, Gasai stood in front of him. She shoved him down on the couch harshly.

"Listen here, Akise Aru, if you send my Yuki another one of those texts or dare to steal him away from me, I'll kill everyone you ever loved." She said angrily. "Now, you have to swear on your parents' life."

Akise stared at her blankly as he sat himself up on the couch.

"You're selfish. Yukiteru-kun doesn't deserve to be through such pain. It's your fault he's so vulnerable and paranoid now."

"….What did you say?!"

"You heard me. You're the reason Yukiteru-kun is scared of the world! Why should I make a promise that will be the death of the Yukiteru-kun we both love? I'm going to protect him from everything and I'm going to give him all the love in the world."

"…You bastard. HE'S MINE!"

"Yukiteru-kun is his own person. You can be possessive all you wish, but he deserves freedom! Do you realize how many times he's cried about how scared of his own life he is? He attempted suicide once because of you."

"….YUKI WOULD NEVER!"

Akise stood up.

"You're too delusional to accept the simple facts!"

His father raced down the stairs at this point, bewildered at the yelling.

"What's going on, Aru?"

"Father! Go back upstairs, quickly!"

"Aru, what is—?!"

"Go back upstairs, Akihiro!" cried Akise's mother.

Gasai started laughing hysterically as she listened to this family. She tossed her head back, her pigtails swaying behind her head as she kept laughing. Was this supposed to be an example of a loving family? Her father and mother wouldn't give a damn if she was being held at knifepoint. In fact, they would cheer the assailant on as her throat was getting slit. She laughed to the point that she was nearly whimpering. Akise narrowed his eyes at her before averting his attention back to his stunned father.

"If you don't go back upstairs, we're all going to die. Lock your door."

"Aru, your mother—"

"…I know. You have to go without us, father. Call the police once you've locked the door."

Gasai's laughs silenced, her face shadowed.

"You're wrong, Akise Aru. The only people dying here are your parents."

"…..Don't!"

"Then, you have to swear on their lives you'll stay away from MY Yuki!"

"He isn't yours or mine! He belongs to himself. I refuse to accept that he has to go through such pain!"

"In that case…."

"Gasai-san! DON'T—"

She stuck the knife into his mother's heart. Akise froze, wide-eyed as he watched the blood stain through his mother's chemise. She bled out, becoming limp and lifeless on the carpet. Akihiro, Akise's father, sank to his knees at the start of the stairs with watering eyes as he stared at his dying wife. Gasai laughed again.

"This is entertaining than I thought!"

"Atsuko…" Akihiro was crawling to her body, but Akise stood in front of him to stop him.

"Don't, father. You're all I have left."

"…Aru, promise me you'll stay away from that boy."

"….Father, why would you betray me like this?"

Gasai grinned. She seemed to have gotten one of their weaknesses taken care of. At this point, Akise would have no choice but to stay away from her Yuki.

"Please stay away from him…"

"…Stop it, father! You're not thinking logically—"

SMACK!

Gasai clapped her palm to her mouth, grinning behind it as she watched Akise hit the floor with his cheek bright red. Akihiro stood up, staring down at his son blankly.

"Your mother was the sacrifice of your actions… I've taught you better than to be so selfish."

Akise sat up, clutching his cheek as he stared at Akihiro just as blankly.

"There's a fine line between selfishness and possessiveness…" Akise's face was obscured by his hair. He rubbed his cheek slightly before forcing himself up. "In the other worlds, you knew those lines and differences…"

"What?"

Gasai raised her eyebrow silently. Did he say what she thought he said?

"YOU WERE TAUGHT BETTER THAN THIS, FATHER!" shouted Akise.

Akihiro's eyes widened.

"IF YOU CAN'T ACCEPT WHAT I'M TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH… THEN, YOU CAN DIE, TOO!"

Gasai stepped back, confused. This wasn't what she was expecting, at all. Akise ran to the kitchen, pulling a sharp knife from one of the drawers. He walked out with his face still obscured and the knife shining brightly in his hand. Akihiro stepped back, walking to his wife's bleeding body.

"Aru… Put that down."

"Die…" Akise lunged over to his father and repeatedly stabbed his stomach. Blood splattered onto the carpeting. His father dropped beside his mother, bleeding out with her. With the last of his life left, he reached over and grasped his wife's hand. Akise dropped the knife and stepped back, disgusted at his actions as he clutched his blood-stained pajama shirt.

"…I'm not staying away from Yukiteru-kun, Gasai-san." He said thickly.

Gasai blinked, staring at him with mere concern but mostly with amusement. He'd be a fun challenge.

"….Now, get out of my house." He walked back upstairs to his room and never bothered to clean up his mess until the next day.

Akise's eyes were clenched shut. He regretted it. He was as bad as Gasai, but he would change himself this world. He promised that, because sooner or later, he was going to erase his memories and forget all about the mistakes he's made. He reopened his eyes and was warmed by the crackling fireplace. He quietly sighed, snuggling into the cushions and his makeshift blanket.

Akise stared up at the ceiling, losing himself in thought. His first day at the same school, it was different compared to the other worlds. Tsubaki Kasugano had enrolled into the school but was in a different class than them. She was very popular for being the focus of the Omekata Religion. Hino Hinata, Nonosaka Mao, and Kousaka Ouji were in the same class as him. Since his seat was different this year, they didn't approach him first. Gasai Yuno and Amano Yukiteru were in the same class together as Akise was, but with different seats.

What stunned Akise the most is Yukiteru. Yukiteru had spoken to him first. Usually, it was the other way around, but this world's Yukiteru was… stronger, happier, and smarter. He wasn't the adorable boy who was paranoid and scared of the world. This world's revision of that boy had the very world in his hands and he wasn't scared to show it.

Akise didn't know how he felt about that. He was sure that he was worried and he knew he still had the same feelings for Yukiteru, but he seems so happy with Gasai… Akise frowned. Very slowly, Akise started to wonder, was it worth pursuing him anymore?