Sweat pouring from his forehead like water down rapids, Tetsuhiro let his body collapse onto the stone. Forty-seven. Five more than yesterday. Or, rather, five more than whenever he'd done them last. It was hard to tell, considering the lack of contact he had with the outside world.

Assaulting a guard did gain him a trip to Coal, but it wasn't a direct trip. Instead, it was a trip that included a little preparation time. At least, that's what it seemed like. It hadn't felt like very long, but he knew that he'd spent at least one month holed up in solitary confinement. He spent up to full days in his tiny five-by-seven foot cell, only leaving to shower once every three days.

While in the cell, he had two options: sit in the corner and wait until emptiness corroded away his sanity and left him hollower than he already was—or work out mindlessly. There was also sleep, of course, but his bed was closer to rocks than comfort. He only slept when he had to. When he awoke, he always ached, so he could never determine whether he'd slept well or shittily.

He'd started out with standard sit-ups and push-ups, but recently he'd begun creating and including self-made routines into his workouts. His last activity included doing push-ups upside down. He hadn't been at them for long, but they weren't all that difficult. Perhaps and probably because of his strengthened arms. The hardest part was keeping balance, especially difficult whenever he couldn't see how far he listed from side to side. Forty-seven was enough for now. He'd pick up again a few minutes after his body stopped burning.

Only seconds after he'd finished up, raps with the intensity of meteors banged against his door. Instantly Tetsuhiro sat up and closed his eyes. Perpetual darkness meant his eyes weren't ready for legitimate light. When the locks clicked and a brief stream of air hissed out from the space between the wall and door, he prepared his eyes for battle and opened them into little slits. It hit him slowly at first, just barely seeping in through the cracks. Then like a typhoon it crashed into him all at once, a wave of needles stabbing through his eyes and into his brain. But the fight was as short as it was intense, and after only a few moments he managed to see without pain.

Two guards clad in a slight variation of the uniform—using a cloth mask to cover their mouth and nose rather than a helmet—stood in the doorway. Both held a set of chains, a sight that Tetsuhiro always furrowed his brow at. More effective and advanced, usually prisoners were restrained with a simple-looking set of black cuffs that could tighten or loosen if a certain code was typed. Chains were still used in the mines, of course, but other than that they'd pretty much fallen off the face of the world—or, at least, off the face of Diamond.

"Get up," one ordered.

Despite his confusion, Tetsuhiro stood up without question. What were they doing here? They'd come to escort him for showering yesterday. Even if a full day hadn't passed, it hadn't been that long since his last shower. It wasn't for food. Food was transferred into his cell through a little trap door in the wall. So what, then?

They set about chaining him up, though for the most part it was relatively worthless. The chain between the cuffs was long enough that he could move well, and he could tell that the chains were in fact from the mines. But the ankle chains prevented him from moving more than a few inches at a time, easily halving his steps. He could still swing his fists if he really wanted to, but unless the hit killed, incapacitated, or knocked the guards unconscious, it wouldn't be worth it. Not when he would've only gotten a few inches away before getting caught again.

The guards led him with the gentleness of pissed-off bears down the hall of solitary cells. Unlike what he'd expected, they resided in the top floor. They'd originally been designed to reside below the mines, but upon construction of the Shithole, the builders had found that there was a possibility of the mines collapsing if they built below them. And so, that plan fell through quicker than paper through a grate.

For the most part the hall remained quiet. But on occasion there would be screaming. It'd be loud and it'd be vicious, but it'd never last long. They'd fade quickly, and after they faded, they'd never be heard again from the same source. And if they were...usually a bang accompanied them.

"You know how long you've been here?" the guard to his left asked.

"Solitary or overall?"

"Solitary," said the right one.

"No. It's hard to tell."

"A month," Left replied. "And you're still sane. Surprising. Most crack after two weeks of staying inside."

"So why am I out? I thought my solitary sentence was two months."

"It was, but that's been changed," Right said. "Not only that, but you have a visitor."

Tetsuhiro's brow furrowed. A visitor? Who'd visit him, especially now? He hadn't had a visitor since...well, since ever. Not since he'd been incarcerated had he seen any of his friends or relatives from the outside world. No one wanted to visit him, anyway, regardless of their relation to him. All were afraid of the attribute that could kill just as well as a knife or gun: association. If someone visited Tetsuhiro, people would talk, even more than they had already. Images would be ruined, and enemies would be made, not just for those who visited him, but for Tetsuhiro as well. And then all chances of him being bought out of prison were gone forever.

Once the cells had ended, the trio entered an elevator. They stood in silence for the ride down, lasting about half a minute before the dual metal doors opened up. Yet another bleak space awaited Tetsuhiro, though this time interest almost sparked within him. Almost. After seeing nothing but black for a month, even the darkest grey was a welcome sight.

He sat in a stool on one side of a glass pane. Walls surrounded him on both sides, and the moment he sat down, a third one closed behind him. This was the one place besides solitary that prisoners had privacy, though Tetsuhiro had heard rumors that they recorded all meetings for security purposes. If they had cameras anywhere, they'd hidden them well.

The door on the other side of the glass closed, and Tetsuhiro's eyes widened gradually as his visitor came into view. His features were a little older but not by much, and his hair was a reddish-brown rather than Tetsuhiro's bluish-black. He sat on the other side of the glass, and his bespectacled blue eyes locked with the prisoner's hazel ones.

Immediately Tetsuhiro grabbed the small phone that would let them speak. "What the hell are you doing here?" he spat.

"Not even going to greet your own brother?" Kunihiro replied drily.

"Did you expect me to?"

"I don't like to think about you much."

Tetsuhiro scoffed. "Of course you don't," he mumbled. "Now answer me. Why're you here?"

"To say goodbye," Kunihiro said. "Since we won't be seeing you ever again. Our parents sent me here to say goodbye on behalf of all of us."

His brow furrowed. "Goodbye? For what? You're planning to never associate with me again?" He wasn't surprised, but he didn't think they'd determine that so early.

Surprisingly, though, Kunihiro shook his head. "No. Well, not entirely, anyway. You won't be seeing us ever again, Tetsuhiro. Or anyone."

"What do you mean?" It clicked moments later, and he added, "Is this about my sentence to Coal?"

Kunihiro nodded.

"I could still come back," he said. "Even if I'm sent there, I could always somehow come back. I've heard of people doing that before."

His brother stared. "They didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"Your sentence. They didn't tell you about where you're going for assaulting that guard?"

"Yeah. Coal."

"Did they tell you where?"

Now Tetsuhiro stared. "What do you mean? Doesn't everyone just go to the Pits?"

With a sigh that sounded more defeated than disappointed, Kunihiro shook his head. "No. Not the Pits. You're going somewhere else?"

"Where?"

"You're...oh, Tetsuhiro…"

"What?" His voice rose. "Where am I going?"

Kunihiro kept shaking his head.

"Answer me, for fuck's sake. Where am I going?!"

He lifted his gaze, and his words came down like a hammer. "The Tombs."