Chapter 11

Nowaki returned to Hiroki's room in the morning. His idea required more hours than expected, but he finished before he went to bed. Hiroki's previous yells reduced down as the afternoon past. Knowing Hiroki well enough, his beloved hated being ignored for long. This news might stun him enough for him to forget his previous transgressions.

Holding a tray of different light breakfast items and a stack of papers under his arm, he replayed his explanation inside of his head. His repetitive lying served to work on others, but with Hiroki, he seemed to look past his lies. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and entered.

Hiroki glared at him.

No surprise.

Nowaki coughed. "Good morning."

Hiroki crossed his arms over his chest, he eyed the tray of food, hoping to have something other than mush. "Morning."

"I'm sorry about yesterday." Nowaki set the tray on the nightstand, the papers crinkled underneath his arm.

"Explain yourself." Nowaki fidgeted. Hiroki's eyebrow twitched. "Well? Go on?"

"I didn't know how to tell you the news..."

Hiroki narrowed his eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"Kamijou-san...Hiro-san..." Nowaki handed him the papers, no going back, he continued on speaking. "I found a small article online and I printed it out this morning. You have to read it."

Hiroki kept his eyes on Nowaki. "So?"

Nowaki hunched his shoulders. "You're...you're dead."

"Excuse me?" Hiroki snapped. "What kind of lies are you spewing Kusama?! There is no way I'm dead. I'm eating and holding paper!"

Nowaki breathed in and out. "Read the article, Hiro-san."

"You're lying."

"I'm not." Pointing to the article, Nowaki insisted. "Read the article."

"Fine." Hiroki turned his gaze down to the papers in his hands.

Nowaki twiddled his fingers, biting his bottom lip.

Mitsuhashi's Professor, Kamijou Hiroki, dies from car crash.

Dies.

Car crash.

Hiroki uttered out. "How can you see me?"

Reading ahead, he saw no photos of the crash, to his relief, just a written article describing his life. Quotes came from his parents, Akihiko, Takahiro, anyone who knew him. Checking the date, it coincided with the day of Akihiko's house party.

Nowaki answered. "I can see spirits." Pinching his hand, he pushed aside his nerves before he backtracked. "I helped many spirits before they passed through the light. This is nothing new to me. Although, this is the first time I had someone I knew come to me. Trust me, this is hurting me as well. You were an amazing teacher."

Hiroki trembled on his spot on the bed. Processing the realization of his situation, dropping the papers, they scattered onto the floor. His hands clenched the sheets. He stared at the wall in front of him. He was dead. Dead. His parents outlived him. The mere thought brought a churning to his stomach.

As Nowaki patted his hand, assuming it came from pity on account of his dilemma, he pulled his hand back to his chest.

Nowaki's heart broke at watching the scene play out in front of him. Hiroki received the news harder than he expected. Broken. Devastated. In a way, Nowaki regretted making up that fake article and lying to Hiroki. But then again, Hiroki wouldn't make a fuss on account of being dead. The work came in convincing Hiroki of this fact.

Letting out a deep sigh, Nowaki stood up and picked up the crinkled papers. The noise brought Hiroki's attention toward him. He saw the first signs of tears forming in Hiroki's eyes.

The sight twisted a knife through his chest.

How could he continue going along with this?

Hiroki opened his mouth, stammering out. "A—Am I a bad person?"

Folding the newspaper in half, Nowaki hid it out of Hiroki's sight. "No."

Hiroki believed he was punished. This death came from retribution against whatever he did wrong in his life. Thinking back, he saw nothing horrid enough for this punishment. Although, his students would have attested otherwise. He imagined them celebrating his death.

Nowaki repeated his answer. "No. No you're not a bad person." He reached out and rubbed Hiroki's shoulder. The warmth seeped into his fingers, but this was no time to celebrate Hiroki almost leaning to his touch.

He provided Hiroki his full and undivided attention.

Hiroki gulped, looking down, his bangs covered his eyes. "I outlived my father…I can't imagine what he must be feeling."

Nowaki squeezed Hiroki's arm in comfort. "I'm sure he is fine—"

Hiroki snapped his head up, exclaiming. "How can you be so sure?! He loved my mother and I. He might seem like a stern man, but he has feelings. Were you even at my damn funeral?!"

Nowaki tried to calm down Hiroki. "That is not what I meant at all. Please, Hiro-san calm down. To answer your question, I wasn't there. It would be rude of me to go to a private funeral."

"Fuck all of this. Leave Nowaki." Hiroki covered his face with his hands as he tried keeping himself from sobbing in front of Nowaki.

Even though he was dead, he still desired to retain a portion of his pride. He was not going to let anyone other than his parents or friends, watch him cry.

Nowaki processed what Hiroki told as he shuffled closer to Hiroki. "What?"

"Leave."

"But why?"

"Just leave."

"Hiro-san, I—"

"Fucking leave me alone!" Hiroki pushed Nowaki away with all the strength he had and screamed. "What part of that don't you understand?!"

Nowaki lost his balance as he fell onto the cold wooden floor. The slam echoed throughout the room.

Hiroki turned to him in shock. Despite the fact that he was dead, he managed to push Nowaki away from him. Was this an effect on his emotions putting energy inside of him? He watched movies on paranormal activity, but those seemed to clasp on cinematography and visual effects. His limited knowledge on the dead helped little in his case.

Did this mean he slowly started gaining his strength back? He hoped with all his heart.

The doctor was in relative shock. The drugs were wearing off of Hiroki's system. This scared him. How was he supposed to keep Hiroki contained in this room if he was gaining some power in his limbs? He could overpower him and run out of the cabin.

Nowaki excused this as a lack of attention on his end. Convincing himself of his own carelessness, Hiroki caught him at a bad time because he was putting his focus on trying to remain in the room. Hiroki acted without warning.

He stood up from the floor as he rubbed his side. Even though he didn't land so hard onto the ground, the bruise still hurt. Nowaki left the room in silence, showing his face, Hiroki managed to catch the hurt expression on his face.

Hiroki clenched his fists as Nowaki closed the door behind him. "I'm so sorry…" The click of the door obscured his apology.

On instinct, Nowaki locked the door before he walked into the kitchen. He opened the biggest cabinet he had, which contained different varieties of medicine, each one with specific side effect that he needed.

He took out a few bottles from the cabinet and read the side effects that he wanted Hiroki to experience. Then, he opened all the bottles and removed a number of pills before he set them back in their proper place. The thoughts of not drugging Hiroki did surface, this was going too far, there were ways of keeping Hiroki subdued without drugs. His eyes narrowed as he snuffed these thoughts out.

The danger of Hiroki's family and his friends figuring out he was gone approached. There was no way Hiroki's tight knit family wouldn't figure out he was missing from his apartment. Especially Mitsuhashi University, they were not going to ignore the fact that one of their professors dropped off the face of the Earth.

He placed the pills in a mortar, crushing them with the pestle until they formed into a powder. Afterwards, he separated them into even piles and weighed them so they were the right amount that he mixed into Hiroki's food.

He didn't want to kill his beloved after all.

Nowaki finished this new concoction after a few minutes and placed each pile in individual bags. This way the weight wouldn't be compromised and Hiroki's experience didn't become anything too drastic, but still weak enough to his satisfaction.

A smirk appeared on Nowaki's face as he hid these new batches in the same cabinet full of medicine.

He closed it shut. "You are not escaping me so easily."

Nowaki entered his room and went to the wardrobe at the far end of his room. He opened the closet and crouched down to pick up the box he kept the clothes Hiroki wore on the day of the accident. Despite being stained with Hiroki's blood, he didn't dare wash them. Opening the box, he stood up and walked to his bed. He sat down and took the clothes out of the confined space.

He pressed the clothes to his face, inhaling the sweet scent of Hiroki's cologne and laid on his bed. He closed his eyes and held the clothes tight in his arms. Hiroki's cologne became a scent Nowaki enjoyed. He bought a bottle and kept it somewhere on his person at all times. The vibrant red scarf smelled stale after so many years, but now that he had these clothes.

Hiroki's phone fell out of the pocket of the jeans and fell on the floor with a smack. Nowaki snapped to the direction of the floor and crouched down to grab the phone. He checked it over for any marks and frowned when he saw a dent on the side of the phone. Otherwise, it remained in relative good condition.

He pressed the side button and the screen turned on. Growing curious, he slid his finger across the screen to access the phone's contents. Nowaki smiled when he saw a beautiful picture of a lake with flowers blooming all over the place as the wallpaper. He wandered through the apps in Hiroki's phone while he remembered to save the photo gallery for last.

He skimmed through the content and saw four people in the family section. Hiroki's parents were in the top slots of the list, Akihiko Usami, and a familiar name as well, Takahiro. His eyebrows furrowed on the importance of Takahiro. Why was he so important to Hiroki? This wasn't a new rival was he? He'd get rid of him if this was the case.

Nowaki shook his head, making those thoughts disappear, he went inside of the photo gallery. The first picture he saw was of Hiroki being held by his much older parents in front of a rose garden. Hiroki wore comfier clothing than what Nowaki sometimes saw him in. He was smiling at the camera. A sincere and breathtaking smile.

His heart sped up at. It was so beautiful. He wanted it directed at him in real life. He was certain the photo didn't compare to seeing it in person. It might take a while since Hiroki entered into a grieving stage after the news.

He went through all of the photos. Finding normal contents, many including family members of the Kamijou family. His finger slipped and saw Hiroki squished in between two men. Nowaki's hand gripped onto the phone tighter as he observed the picture, trying not to react to these men who were so close to his Hiro-san.

Nowaki's eyes narrowed when he saw the smile Hiroki sported on his face as he was held by these men. The man in glasses, which he guessed was Takahiro, pressed his cheek close to Hiroki's while he put up the peace sign. Akihiko put his arm around Hiroki's body, grinning, he held the camera with his other hand.

He didn't care about Takahiro's significance. Seeing the ring on his marriage finger meant that he was either engaged or married. This meant that Takahiro's threat level lessened. This gave him a form of relief. He didn't need another competitor for Hiroki's affections and if the opportunity arose, he might become friends with this man.

When his eyes went to the smile on Akihiko's face, he gritted his teeth in anger. The innocent smile on Akihiko's face warped into a condescending smirk. To Nowaki, it seemed Akihiko made fun of him for his inadequacy. How anything he did in his life paled in comparison to anything the great Akihiko Usami ever did.

He wanted no more than to break this phone into little pieces, but he might alert Hiroki to the noise. His hand held the phone in a death grip and knew for certain of making a commotion when he broke it.

Nowaki breathed in deep as he relished in his small accomplishment. He somewhat convinced Hiroki of his death. No easy feat, but he went through his explanations without giving himself away.

Hopefully, Hiroki would get used to being dead and learn to live a great life here with him.

Biting his nail, Nowaki calculated on adding more drugs to Hiroki's food, where he became weak enough not to reach the door. He didn't want to resort to using drugs, but it was necessary. The small bags in the cabinet would sustain Hiroki's weak state for a good amount of time if he kept feeding them to him.

A loud slam interrupted Nowaki's thoughts. He placed the phone on the bed and ran out the door. Nowaki made it to Hiroki's room in a matter of seconds. Heart pumping, he tried not to imagine anything bad happening to Hiroki.

He unlocked the door, opened it, and saw Hiroki staring up at him with the sheets tangled around his legs. Nowaki didn't hesitate as he collected Hiroki in his arms and the older man glared at him for being picked up.

Nowaki tucked Hiroki in his bed. "Why? Why did you get out of bed?" He couldn't believe it. Hiroki was trying to leave him.

Hiroki crossed his arms, huffing out. "I am not going to sit on my ass all day in boredom."

Nowaki looked up and tried not to grin, Hiroki wasn't trying to leave, he was trying to find something to do. "That's why?"

"I thought being dead would be more exciting. It just seems like a complete bore to me. All I'm doing is laying in a bed and simulating life. It's such bullshit. I might as well haunt Akihiko once I get settled."

Nowaki chuckled. "I can collect a stack of books to place on your nightstand. Do you want me to bring them for you."

"I guess." Hiroki stared at the open door, seeing a few pieces of furniture in the living room. "So when exactly can I go out and wander through the whole place you have here?"

Nowaki tried not to seem aggravated as he walked to the door. "Well," He lied to Hiroki. "It depends on the person, you are far too weak to move around. If you exert your energy, your spirit might disappear."

Hiroki's eyes widened. "Shit. I was hoping to visit my family to see how they were fairing."

Nowaki bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself from commenting, his earlier assessment of the elder Kamijou made Hiroki angry at him. How was he supposed to know how Hiroki's father would react when he had only met Hiroki's kind mother?

He walked outside of the room, stopped and turned around to stare at Hiroki. "I'm sure you will gain your energy soon enough, all of the other spirits I met left pretty quickly." He told him without any hesitation in his voice.

"I hope so." Hiroki muttered.

Nowaki resumed his walk as his eyes narrowed. He would let Hiroki believe he could leave once he was strong enough, but he had enough medicine in his cabinet to last him for years.

Hiroki wasn't going to leave him ever again.

Akihiko laid back on his chair, letting out a huge yawn. Having finished his newest novel, Aikawa's voice would have a nice break from her constant yelling. After the party with his friends, he was inspired to write something about the friendship between a trio of friends in a fantasy world. The burst of inspiration grasped a hold of him and kept him in one spot.

What better way to honor his friends than to create characters for them as they fought their way through an imaginary world? This was one of his more serious stories which focused on their friendship and journey, but Aikawa would pout over the lack of BL.

He heard his phone ringing, letting out a groan, he stood up from his desk. Oh well, he needed some exercise since he sat on his ass for far too long.

Taking out a cigarette from his pocket, he lit up before he took a deep puff as he walked down the stairs. He didn't want to answer, but he was sure it was someone from Marukawa checking in on his writing process.

Or it could be his father trying to get them to bond.

The mere thought prompted Akihiko to roll his eyes. His father came in person for such ridiculous ideas. The man was adamant on getting him and his brother to bond. Not happening, but it didn't stop the old man from trying.

He picked up the phone without looking at the ID. "Usami Akihiko speaking." Akihiko said without any remote interest, he wanted to go to bed after this call.

"Usami we have to talk."

Akihiko arched a brow, Hiroki's father never called him. "Kamijou? What a surprise, you never call me." The fact that the elder Kamijou knew his number was just odd to him.

"I know I don't call you. I am only calling because Hiroki has not answered his home phone or his cell phone for the past few days. We are starting to worry. Fuyumi is starting to worry."

Akihiko would have rolled his eyes if this was another person, but the sincerity came through. "Maybe he is just too busy, ever thought of that?"

"Not when it pertains to his promise of coming back home this very week. He called us two weeks earlier and told us he was done settling anything he needed. There is no reason for him to be busy."

Akihiko leaned against the wall. "Then, I have no idea what he could be doing. The last time I saw him was a week ago at my party. He was fine when he left my place and I'm sure he made it home alright. Have you called the people at Mitsuhashi?"

"I didn't think I would have a need to call them when I know the term hasn't started yet. Hiroki informed us he would start the week after this one."

Akihiko took another drag of his cigarette. "I could try calling him for you if you want."

"You will get the same result as us, he doesn't answer anyone. I tried my office phone and he still wouldn't answer the phone."

Akihiko held his cigarette between his fingers, trying to think of an explanation to give the elder Kamijou. It wasn't like Hiroki to not answer his phone to his friend and family, well unless it was private number trying to play pranks on him.

His eyes narrowed as Hiroki's claims of feeling someone watching him resurfaced in his mind. There was no way that had anything to do with Hiroki's sudden lack of answering calls.

He had to admit, this was all too strange to his liking and he needed to find Hiroki to assure himself of his safety.

Akihiko told Soshi. "I will go to his apartment in person if that will appease your mind."

"…Alright, just make sure to call us when you see him."

Soshi hung up the phone after that as Akihiko placed it on the receiver. He took out his cell phone and immediately dialed Hiroki's number. Placing it on his ear, he stood there, waiting for him to answer.

"C'mon answer…"

Akihiko heard Hiroki's voicemail and he ended the call.

He was definitely going to go to Hiroki's apartment.