Hey guys! I'm back with another chapter!
I have nothing to say now so, enjoy!

Chapter 3

Kazuya went back in his house by the window where he got out to join Hiroto in the woods and closed it behind him. He removed his shoes and put them on the floor next to his door. He sat down on his bed with a heavy sigh and stared blankly at the television. Maybe the chosen ones were getting in the mansion just now. He hoped Rin would be okay. He didn't understand; Hiroshi always said they took bad children but Rin didn't do anything bad. Well, he got chosen last time and he didn't do anything bad. Did he do something without even realizing it? Was he actually bad? That would mean Hiroshi died for a bad kid? But if he was bad, why did Hiroshi go? He was good, he had friends and good grades, he had nothing to be chosen and everything for a good future! Why did he go and spoil it all by dying for a bad child? He didn't understand at all. Hiroto wasn't chosen because he was bad too… Well, actually, his case was different because his brother gave money to send him. The child didn't understand that very well too. How could someone send their own family in a horrible place like that? He didn't know where that guy was but he sure hoped he was regretting to have sent Hiroto there now.

Kazuya looked away from the black screen and stood up. He was a bit surprised that Etsuko didn't knock on the door again or unlocked it with one of those very thin sticks. They had a problem with the bathroom door a couple of years ago so it was getting locked by itself sometimes. She'd always use those sticks when it happened. Now, she didn't use them a lot but this would've been an exception. He was out of the house for almost an hour. She would've gotten worried if she knocked after fifteen minutes without having a paper slipped from under the door saying leave me alone or something like that. That's when she would've used it. The child walked to the door and realized it was still locked. Looks like she didn't unlock it with a stick this time. He slowly opened the door that didn't make any sound when he pushed it open and walked in the living room by getting down a set of a three steps staircase. He looked in the kitchen at his right to find it empty. He then walked in his parents' room but he didn't find her there. Did she go out without telling him? He doubted she would've let him alone. Maybe she just went to see if there was anything in the mailbox at the corner of the street. That would make sense.

He was about to go back in his room when he heard a sound coming from the end of the small corridor where Hiroshi's room was. It wasn't a sound like the floor cracking or something similar but more like a gasp or a sigh. The boy walked down the corridor and put his hand on the door. The door wasn't completely closed; there was a small crack but too small for him to see something through it. He lightly pushed the door to make the crack slightly bigger. He looked in the room and saw his mom sitting on Hiroshi's bed. She was looking down at the floor, slowly passing her thumb on the blanket. It was the first time the boy saw her in there. Normally, she seemed to avoid that room, like if she tried to forget that Hiroshi already lived there. He didn't understand why she would want to forget Hiroshi. Was this what happened after death? You were buried and then forgotten? What a pile of crap. He wasn't going to forget Hiroshi. Kazuya pushed the door open and stepped in the room. Etsuko looked up, a bit surprised by the visitor she didn't expect to see now. Her eyes were red and her cheeks seemed wet.

"Oh, hello Kazuya," she said, passing the back of her hand on her eyes, as to erase the proof she was crying.

The child walked up to her and sat on the bed next to her. She passed her arm around his shoulders and pulled him closer. Kazuya closed his eyes and hugged her. That's when Kazuya understood; she didn't try to forget Hiroshi. She just didn't want to cry in front of her other son. He let one tear fall but he contained the sob this time. It was the first time he saw his mom cry here. She was so strong to keep that sadness for herself. It was his turn to be the one comforting her.

Kazuya stood up with his plate in hand. He rinsed it in the sink and closed the water. He opened the dishwasher and took back his plate. When he was about to put it in the dishwasher, the plate slipped off his hand and fell on the floor. The plate shattered when it made contact with the ground. The sound caught Etsuko's attention who looked at the plate. She stood up while Kazuya got down to pick up a piece that looked a lot like the plate shard they picked up in that mansion; that same plate shard he killed Ryota with.

"Oh, you shouldn't touch that!" said Etsuko, "You'll get hurt."

But of course, when she said that, Kazuya was already holding the plate shard and staring at it. He could hear his fast heartbeat loudly like if his heart was inside his head. He looked up and saw that room in the mansion and Ryota leaping on him. He let out a mute scream and fell on his back. He dropped the shard and hid his face in his hands, trying to stop shivering and silently whimpering. His mom crouched and put her arms around her son, gently putting her hand on his head and bringing it on the base of her neck. The child closed his eyes tightly and let out another soft and silent whimper.

"Shh, you're safe… It's okay…" she whispered, slowly swinging back and forth.

She kept repeating this in his ear. He tried to believe it, he tried to believe everything was fine but he knew nothing would be okay for him as long as this demon was out there. It was like those evening when he thought he had no chances of having a nightmare about that mansion but ended up waking up trying to scream in fright. He couldn't take it anymore; he was so tired of that, he was so tired of those nightmares, he was tired of those visions and those memories. He just wanted all of this to end. He didn't know how Hiroto lived all those years keeping this for himself. He didn't complain even once. Kazuya wanted to keep his promise; he wanted to respect Hiroshi's last request but it was just so hard to do. From the outside, it looked so easy; stay alive. He couldn't help but wonder if Hiroshi would've done things differently if he had known what would happen after getting out of that place.

Kazuya grabbed his notepad on his desk and got out of his room. After a day, he had found his first question to ask Hiroto. He indicated, to his mom, thanks to the sign language, that he would be back very soon before getting out of his house. He walked down a couple of streets until he reached that building where every chosen one of the city went in and approached one of the men standing beside the door. He wrote down something on his notepad and showed it to the man.

Where's Hiroto's house?

The man crouched and pointed a street on his left.

"If you go in this street until you reach the last right turn before the dead end, it's the house on the corner. You can't miss it; it's the only house with a balcony at the front."

The child forced his lips to make a smile and nodded. He would've liked to thank the man but he couldn't say anything. He followed the instructions of the man and immediately recognized the house even though he never saw it. The house was slightly bigger than the others and there was also a balcony. Kazuya wrote down his question on the paper and knocked on the door. Obviously, it was Hiroto who answered. He looked a bit surprised to see the boy there.

"Kazuya?" he let out before letting some space for him to enter, "Come in."

The child stepped in the house and the adult closed the door behind. He followed Hiroto in the living room. The adult invited him to sit on one of the two couches and sat down on the same couch. The boy showed his question.

Do you have visions too?

"What do you mean by visions?"

Kazuya took out his pencil and wrote something down.

Like, do you ever walk in your room and see the corpse of someone you saw in the mansion for a split second?

Hiroto sighed.

"You have those?"

The child nodded.

"That's horrible… Just when you think you can forget about this, you're back in there for a split-second."

Kazuya looked down at his feet.

"But to answer your question, you're not the only one to have them."

The boy looked up, curious to know what Hiroto would say.

"I have one each time I see you. I see Arata all bloody. It's like if he found his way out and went to see me first. There's also the blood and the corpses of course. I see ropes with blood on them a lot. I dream being the one tied up very often."

Kazuya wrote down something that Hiroto read.

There's one boy I have a lot of visions about. He killed two boys and he tried to kill Hiroshi and me. He tried two times to kill me. I don't remember his name, though.

"Let me guess… Ryota?"

How did you know?

"The second I saw this guy, I knew something wasn't quite right in his head."

He then saw Kazuya seemed like he wanted to say something but didn't dare to.

"What's wrong?"

I killed him. I killed Ryota.

The boy looked away so the adult wouldn't see his face. Hiroto didn't know what to say. He heard the child make a couple of deep gasps and releasing it rather slowly.

"Kazuya, look at me."

The boy obeyed and turned around, revealing the fact he was crying.

"He tried to kill you twice. He tried to kill your brother. If you didn't kill him, he wouldn't have stopped. Besides, I'm not better. That girl I shoved in my way didn't do anything to me but I shoved her anyway. You were defending yourself. I was… I was murdering by pure cowardice."

The child looked down. He felt a bit better but he still didn't like to know that he killed someone.

Kazuya ran in the hospital. Yesterday, around eleven o'clock, Rin had gotten out of the mansion with two other kids, both very young. The youngest child had died the second they were out, the other one died while he was taken to the hospital and Rin was still alive but in a critical state. It was the first time someone was getting out of this place so quickly. The child had a feeling that his indications helped but this wasn't what would've made it go so quick. It also meant people died rapidly. Was there another cold-hearted killer like Ryota who died only at the very end? He hoped not.

The boy entered in Rin's room and approached the girl. She wasn't sleeping. She turned and smiled. For a second, he wondered if she was mute too but she spoke and this reassured him.

"We tried to kill that thing."

The boy put his hand on her arm.

"We all agreed in the train to stick together and attack that thing. We didn't think about the fact we didn't have weapons. We lost each assault."

She sighed.

"They were all nice; they didn't deserve to be killed by that thing."

She took a couple of breaths and smiled at him.

"Your indications helped a lot. Thank you."

Kazuya made a small smile and took her hand with both of his. She coughed some blood and fainted.

Etsuko knocked on her son's room door. The child opened it. His heart tightened when he saw his mom's saddened face.

"It's Rin… She passed away this morning…"

Kazuya climbed up the three steps that lead him to Hiroto's front door. He knocked with all his might, feeling a great rage burning inside him. Happily, he had already written down what he had to say on his notepad or it would be torn apart if he was writing it now. He was about to knock another time when Hiroto opened his door. The child didn't even let him do anything before he lifted the notepad right under the adult's nose.

That's enough. We have to stop this demon.

Hiroto was dazed by the sudden visit and those words written down on the sheet. He let Kazuya come in and closed the door behind.

"That would be a good idea but how'd you plan doing that? That girl told me they tried to take it down. They were fifteen and it didn't work! Do you really think we have a chance?"

It took a moment before the child wrote down something.

They had nothing to fight with except their bare hands and maybe plate shards and a metal stick. We'll find a way.

Hiroto immediately knew this sudden wave of determination wasn't random.

"You knew that girl, didn't you?"

He then realized he already saw her too.

"She was there during your year, right? I told the man to let her say goodbye. Was she Hiroshi's girlfriend or something?"

Kazuya looked down at his paper, the pencil laying on it for a short moment before he took it and wrote something down.

She would have been if Hiroshi had gotten out alive.

Hiroto felt terribly sorry for the child. He wanted to do something; he wanted this to end too but how could they do that? Even if they had weapons, how would they enter? The entrance of the mansion was watched twenty-four hours on twenty-four and the well where people were getting out was shut until the new chosen ones were entering the mansion.

Kazuya wrote down something and Hiroto read it.

I think I should go.

The boy stood up and headed for the door. It's when he turned the knob that a little idea sparked in the adult's mind. He had no idea if it could work; maybe it was stupid but he could tell it to the child. He put his hand on Kazuya's shoulder to stop him.

"I think I have an idea. Here's what we could do."

The chapter was a bit long to write. I guess that's what happens when I keep reading death note...
Well, anyway, leave a review and see you next chapter.