It was better this way.
Shuichi was a nuisance, an infantile menace, a persistent noise that got in the way of his writing and thinking. He was better off without the clingy idiot breaking his concentration. Eiri opened the window and leaned on the sill, watching the cars go by on their way to work. Or maybe it was lunch by now; who knew. The only hours that had any significance were the ones immediately preceding a deadline. He lit a cigarette and blew the smoke out the window, wondering why it was so dark in the apartment this morning. Must have been dark every morning, but the whiny brat kept him from noticing the gloom.
Didn't matter. It was still better this way. Eiri slowly spun his engagement ring around his finger, debating whether to pawn it, stash it or keep wearing it.
Eh, the brat will be back.
Sure he would. He'd always come back before. And if he didn't, Eiri preferred living alone anyway. Lived alone for years and liked it just fine.
Just fine.
They had nothing in common anyhow. Shuichi liked video games, theme parks, Ryuichi Sakuma, and crying jags; Eiri liked...well, nothing. Maybe strawberry shortcake, frequent sex, mood swings, beer, cigarettes. Oh, and being cruel to people.
Wait, we do have one thing in common. We've both been raped.
Eiri set the cigarette in an ashtray, then wandered into the bedroom. Shuichi's crap was still scattered around the place, and he pondered what to do with it. Maybe I should pack it all up and ship it to his parents' house.
The brat would be back, though. He always came back for more.
Eiri stepped into the room and sat on the bed, fingering the broken pieces of turtle on the nightstand. Why hadn't the idiot just thrown them away? Must be important to him. Or maybe he just liked broken things.
So damn dark in here.
It was probably the darkness, but whatever the reason, he didn't feel like sitting around the apartment today. Maybe Seguchi had spoken to the moron by now.
"This is all your fault, Seguchi. You were the one who forced the brat on me. Turning up the radio whenever one of his songs came on, pushing us together—I told you I didn't want to be special to anyone ever again, and I didn't want anyone to be special to me. Kitazawa was special, and you saw what happened."
Kitazawa was special, and Tohma was special, and Shuichi was special...and he had bad luck with all of them. Bad Luck. Good name for a band. Ought to be my middle name.
Grabbing the phone on the nightstand he dialed NG, but the secretary had some unexpected news for him.
"I'm sorry, but Seguchi-san left the office a few minutes ago and went home. Can I take a message, Yuki-san?"
"Uh, no thanks."
This was better yet. Mika was in Kyoto, so he could go over to Seguchi's house and talk without interruptions. Anything was better than sitting here with nothing to do and no one to keep his mind off the darkness.
My light is gone.
