Chapter 7
"T-Tomoe?"
"I'm back, Riku." Tomoe beamed widely.
"W-what do you mean 'I'm back'! Why didn't you tell me!" A teary-eyed Riku quickly spun around so that he was now facing his older brother and began hitting Tomoe's chest repeatedly. He was shocked. He was happy. He felt cheated somehow but he was honestly pleasantly relieved to see Tomoe's face once more. Tomoe was really there, standing right in front of him.
The raven looked a little remorsed and patted the blond's head affectionately afterwards. "Sorry Ricchan. I just wanted to surprise you, that's all. Don't be mad anymore, mm-hm?"
"Of course I'd be mad, you idiot! I missed you so so bad!" Riku said as he pulled the other man into a hug and buried his face into Tomoe's chest. "And welcome home, Tomoe...-nii." Riku added hesitantly but sincerely. His brother came back. Tomoe had come back to him.
A prickling sensation unexpectedly invaded his eyes and Tomoe finally realized he was crying as well. Returning the hug just as tight, he began peppering soft kisses on top of Riku's head. "Yeah, I missed you so damn much like 'you have no idea' so damn much."
And the two siblings stayed in the comfort of each other's arms for a while.
"...Tomoe..." Riku started.
"Yeah?"
"Tell me what are you doing in the changing room again..?"
"Why, helping my lil bro getting out of that stuffy dress, of course~ And I had great fun assisting you guys in the play!" Tomoe squeezed Riku's waist tighter amnd squealed excitedly. "You were so cute I could just die with a smile on my face~~"
"Ow, you're crushing me, idiot!" Riku bit down a whimper. Shit, the bruises. Tomoe didn't know. He shouldn't. Mustn't! Conceal, Riku, conceal it! The blond carefully wriggled his body a little so that his brother's hold on him would considerably loosen up.
Some parts of Tomoe's word caught Riku's attention. "Assisting? You mean..." Ah! The mysterious masked knight! "Oh." Was all the blond's respond. Riku wasn't all that surprised to be honest. Tomoe had always been one who does things his way and not others.
"And you're hurting my feelings~ why did you thought I was Take-chan just now?" The unaware Tomoe complained like a whiny five-year old boy, much to Riku's chagrin. "Neeee, why Take-chan? Why is ittttt" The older among the two brothers shamelessly rubbed his cheek against Riku's like an overly affectionate cat.
Riku, blushing so easily, could do nothing but fumbled his words out. "U-uh.. That's be-because we're co-actors! We're literally glued together just to practice out the lines from the script!" Not really. But it wasn't that far from the truth. Takeru wouldn't stop following him around like a lost little puppy but Riku definitely won't disclose that to Tomoe, his overprotective brother nonetheless.
"Hmm~? Riku really need to learn how to lie better." Tomoe snickered and then raised his eyebrows naughtily.
"Oh stop, Tomoe. And is it just me or did you lose a lot of weight since I last saw you?" Riku stared at his brother's face with great concern and gently brought his hand to the thin high cheekbone. "Did you eat properly while you were there? Did you even cooked for yourself?" The black-haired man really did looked thinner and somewhat more boney than he used to be.
"Why did both you and Kyou asked the same thing again?" Tomoe effortlessly laughed in remembrance. It felt good to be cared for. Especially by his two most special persons in the world. "Yeah, of course I did. So, don't worry about it, okay?" He reassured, weakly grasping Riku's hand into his own.
"Kuga-senpai? You're still seeing him, aren't you?" Riku eyed the raven suspiciously. Did his brother knew how much Heath-senpai was suffering due to Kuga-senpai's stubbornness?
Tomoe nodded, words were simply not needed to know what was going on in that pretty yellow head of Riku's. "I know, Riku. And I planned to get him back to striding again, no matter what it takes."
At the dark haired words, Riku's face turned morose. "I don't want your relationship with him to be affected because of this though. Just leave it to us, Tomoe." Riku was certain that with his, Takeru's and the rest of the members' determinations, Kuga-senpai would definitely come back. They just need to come up with a great plan to somehow convince the silver haired man.
"My relationship with Kyou won't simply be ruined by some petty misunderstandings, silly~" Tomoe made a pouty face and momentarily pulled back from their embrace. "Now, let's get you out of that gorgeous dress, shall we? Turn around so I can pull the zip all the way down."
The blond instantly paled at the suggestion. Tomoe unzipping his dress equals to seeing his bruised plus patches of bandages on his body equals to overprotective brother complex mode on equals to absolute chaos and blood and war and all those unspeakable things that could possibly lead to an apocalypse. At that moment, Riku came down with a clear-cut conclusion; Tomoe mustn't see his naked body at all costs.
"T-tomoe, stop treating me like a four year old kid. I can undress myself so go wait outside!" Please. Riku screeched, unconsciously covering his chest area (wait, he had no boobs!). He intended to sound more angrier but his voice came out much softer and high-pitched than he thought and it sounded like an embarrassed teenage girl trying to chase her doting mother out of her room. Ahh, what the hell am I doing with my life right now.
Tomoe was just about to retort back when his vision suddenly became blurry and he staggered to the nearest wall for support.
Goddammit, not again... Just this time, please hold on...
Swaying a bit, Tomoe winked and flashed a toothy grin before he willingly exited the room on his own, trying very hard to appear normal in front of Riku. "Aw, my Riku's all grown up now~ Now, don't take too long or else I'm coming in there again!"
Riku, who didn't noticed Tomoe's sluggish movements, stuck his tongue out childishly as he waved the man off. "Not if I don't let you, you big pervert~" Then he shut the door close, locking it afterwards. The blond heaved a sigh of relief, thankful to be rid of Tomoe from the room. His secret was safe for now.
As soon as Riku closed the door, Tomoe slipped down to the ground with his back against the stage wall. Damn, he felt lightheaded and even started seeing black spots. This is not good. But at least Riku didn't suspect anything yet. His secret was safe for now.
"And you are?" The principal asked, cocking one of his eyebrow with a boring look an inattentive parent would give to his child.
"Just a humble knight..." Takeru walked closer to the principal's desk and sat on a chair opposite of without waiting to be invited. The other man was quite taken aback but said nothing.
"A rude young man, you are. Don't tell me, you're one of Riku 'striding' friends? What do you kids see in that useless sport anyway?" Riku's uncle spat the word 'striding' almost as if it was some kind of dirty infectious disease. He was belittling the sport they put all of their effort and souls into, like a despicable man Takeru thought he was.
Striding is useless? Takeru snorted in disgust as he scrutinized the gray haired man. Says the man with a pot belly and flabby arms. "...Mr. Principal, are you fond of...violence?" The raven cast a good look around the room until his eyes fell unto a framed picture of a young woman, who resembled a lot like Riku.
No way... Was that Riku's mother..? This man.. could he actually- He got it. He got it now.
's demeanour changed drastically, his face contorted into a mixture of vexation, displeasure and agitation altogether. "What do you mean by that, boy?" He said through gritted teeth, outwardly seething in pure rage.
"Ha! Touched a sensitive nerve did I? Is abusing that fun?" Takeru taunted with a snigger. That's right, go ahead and get angry, hypocritical bastard. Show me your true colors, you beast.
"Shut your damn mouth..!" Mr. Yagami brought a hand to his head and shakily combed through his thin hair, he seemed restless all of a sudden. And Takeru relished. "Brats these days are so irritable... so did that brat Riku rattle everything out to you, like an ungrateful little shit he is?" A wide, overstretched smile creepily crept across the principal's face and Takeru shuddered at such sight. And what did he just called Riku..?
"And no no, I don't think of it as abusing, I prefer to use the term education." He smiled coyly and felt around his stubble with his thumb and index finger.
Screw your 'education'.
"You're a psycho." Takeru breathed out, looking as if someone had just slapped him hard across the cheek, horrified and appalled. He was trembling now, shaking with an immeasurable wrath, aching to beat the sick man into a pulp but the thought of his beautiful Riku prevented him from acting so rashly. It was just a matter of time though. "You should stop this while you still can... Riku loves you, sick in the head or not." You're his family after all..!
"Love? That boy doesn't love me, he fears me, just like he should. Ahhhh, that beautiful scream.. that agonizing expression... when I imagined Risako showing me such a face, I can't stop. He looked so damn much like her, that's why." hunched over and chuckled lightly, his hand now digging through the scalp of his head. "So I use him as a substitution. He's just a worthless little bitch anyway."
That was the last straw. 's mockery and degenerating words towards Riku had Takeru snapped completely. Moving lightning fast, Takeru pounced on the unsuspecting man, punching him hard in the face and they both toppled to the floor with the raven on top. "Take that back, you swine..!" He snarled angrily. "Don't you dare talk about Riku that way!"
The man made a weird noise that sounded like half grunting, half chortling further fueling Takeru's anger.
"I thought of having a nice and slow talk with you but in the end my words aren't getting through that sick mind of yours, you're lesser than a degrading abusive piece of shit who doesn't even deserve a place in this world...you fucking asshole..!" Takeru gripped the man's collar harder until the older man almost choked, he was enraged at the moment and all he could see was red. It took every last of his fiber to fight the urge to kill the disgusting old man right there, right now. Asphyxiation. Choking to death? He's unworthy of dying such a simple death..! He should be shot dead, ran over by a truck, or even burned to death and have his remains fed to the dogs, this lowly scum!
Mr. Yagami, on the other hand, showed no remorse whatsoever. Instead, he started laughing, cackling maniacally before he leveled his gaze into Takeru's steely blue eyes. "Riku is MY family. So I get to do whatever I want with him and you have NO right to question my way of disciplining him."
Disciplining...? All those bruises and cuts on Riku's frail body were the end products of him getting disciplined..?
The principal was insane.
"Disciplining him?! Does beating your own nephew until he's all black and blue considered as disciplining?! Does breaking his mind your way of taming him?! You sick bastard!" Takeru landed another punch to the face flaunting that crooked smile. And another one. And another. Until his hands bled and bruised. Or was it actually from the face? But he wasn't satisfied just yet. Hardly. Not until he kill this retarded motherfu-
"FUJIWARA STOP WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"
The last few things Takeru could remember were staring at his bloody fists, the principal's fucked up face, Heath restraining both of his arms, Ayumu literally hugging his waist and Hozumi standing in between him and the wounded man.
"T-Takerun... I thought it was strange when I saw you entering the principal's office but what just...?" Hozumi's voice shook, and he was on the verge of crying as he stared at Takeru's grim face.
Ayumu tightened his hold around the first year's waist. "Fujiwara-kun, th-that's enough, o-okay?" While Heath loosened his grip around Takeru's trembling shoulders. "What the hell is going on here?" He looked just as confused as the other two second years.
Riku... You don't deserve all that suffering.. And this heartless bastard definitely doesn't deserve you..!
Takeru could feel his heart slowly shattered by an unsuppressed force and it broke into thousand of tiny little pieces. Regret. A thousand regrets. He shouldn't have left him! He should've been there for him when he needed him the most! If only he stayed by his side, none of this mess would've happened.
Overwhelmed by guilt, despair and self-hatred, Takeru covered his face and weeped as his thoughts wandered to a certain blond.
Meanwhile, the principal stood up on his feet and wiped his bloody nose with the back of his hand. Staring down at the crying raven with full authority, he mercilessly said, "For committing an act of violence to a school staff, I hereby expel you from this school."
Takeru didn't even flinched. He became numb of all emotions at that instant and all of his tears immediately dried up. He didn't care about some stupid expulsion. He didn't care about school anymore. Except for one thing: "I'll bring you down, even if I have to drag you to hell with me, I swear."
And his three horrified seniors could only stare at him and each other in bewilderment.
Inside the locked room, Riku carefully, slowly slipped out of the blue frilly dress before he noticed a small spot of red staining the bandage around his abdomen. Man, his wound must've reopened when Tomoe gave him that bone-crushing hug just now. "Takeru would be so pissed if he knew..."
Just then, Riku accidentally pricked his finger with a gold brooch decorating his dress. "Ouch..!" A ruby red dot formed on his index finger from the cut. And he was suddenly terrorized by an ominous feeling. Riku didn't know what it was but he could tell something bad was going to take place real soon. Come to think of it, where did Takeru go? He quickly buttoned up his white t-shirt and put on his black pants. Guess he'll find that leg maniac while he's at it.
"Tomoe, I'm done. Let's go!" Riku exited the changing room wearing his school uniform. The blond wandered his rustic eyes around the darkened backstage when Tomoe didn't reply to him and found no trace of him anywhere. Did he ran off to somewhere as well? Were they playing hide and seek with him as the seeker?
"Tomoe? Tomoe, where are you?" Riku searched around and saw Nana retaping some boxes at one corner. Most of the backstage crews had gone home with few remaining to clean up.
"Sakurai-san, have you seen Ta- um, Fujiwara or a lanky black-haired man?"
"Ah, Yagami-kun. Oh, I saw Fujiwara-kun left the stage right after the play. But I'm not sure about the other man you mentioned..." The twin tailed girl made an apologetic expression, in which Riku replied with a reassuring smile, "Thanks, Sakurai-san! I'll try searching around one more time, don't worry."
So, the blond made way to the huge curtains draped over the stage and reached out to look behind them.
"Are you still back here, To-" Kyousuke suddenly appeared from behind the large maroon curtains and both him and Riku froze when they spotted each other.
"Kuga-senpai... hello. Are you looking for Tomoe as well?" Riku gave a small polite bow to the silver haired man. He didn't knew his long-haired senior that well but even Heath-senpai looked up to him greatly so perhaps he couldn't be such a bad person after all.
"Yeah, so you meet up with him already, huh? That brocon idiot always does things at his own pace, doesn't he?" Kyousuke sighed in exhaustion but Riku could somehow detect a small smile on the stoic man's face.
"Yeah, he does. Same goes to you though. Must be hard to have such a high maintenance boyfriend, Kuga-senpai. I feel like I have to apologise on Tomoe's behalf instead." Riku lightly joked and the silverette's smile stretched wider. Riku and Tomoe didn't look alike at all. But if there's one thing that made them so similar, it's their headstrong personality. Both could be pretty stubborn once they made up their minds.
"Were you searching for Tomoe too?" Riku asked.
"Too? You mean..." Kyousuke trailed off.
"Yeah, he disappeared as soon as I'm done changing. He's not picking up his phone either." Riku ended up sighing as well. Tomoe made him feel like he was the older brother instead, maybe that should've been the case. "Shall we search for him together, senpai?" Riku offered.
Kyousuke readily nodded. "Sure."
The two of them simultaneously said, "Wanna go through the backdoor?" And then they bobbed their heads in agreement.
Something urged them to and they've never been as glad plus shocked as they were when Kyousuke twisted the doorknob and opened it. Tomoe was there, lying on the floor. Unconscious.
"Tomoe!?"
To be continued...
Hello everyone! I've somehow managed to finish up this chapter (how was it even possible) so I thought of posting it up before I stop writing for a while. My final exams are coming soon and I'll be done by mid May. So I'll be on hiatus until then.
Thank you so much for the favs, follows and reviews! Hope to see you guys soon. :)
P.S. This chapter is so crappy somehow? Ahhh I'm sorry~ *is dying from stress atm*
