(A/N): Thank you all so much with your support about the plagiarism issue. It's been a trying situation, and one I want to keep an eye on, since the story was taken down only to be uploaded again a few days later. It's been taken down again, although I didn't report it this time, so thank you to whoever did. Also, I'm not sure who exactly posted these comments, but I'd like to thank the wattpad user 'nonamechan' for their support and the comments left, although these were taken down along with my own comments by the plagiarist. Regardless, thank you. And thank you to myangelicladyofdarkness, who updated me about what was going on.
Anyway, enough about that. Here is chapter 28! I know it gets a bit confusing with all the character perspectives changing, so sorry about that. :/ Oh yeah, John mentions about surface run-off and things later on (you'll see). I'm pretty sure that's the term, which I learnt in geography, but correct me if I'm wrong.
I'm afraid that, starting next week, my mock exams are starting, so I won't be able to spend much time writing. :( When it's over, I'll try and get back into the swing of things.

Thank you for reading, reviewing, favouriting and following Amnesia - I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Ok review answer time. Firstly, a general answer to my whole investigation into who likes what ship. The whole romance thing has been a problem for me a lot, and I'm really not sure if John will get into a relationship or not. I do want some romance, not necessarily between him and another character but maybe some different ones, but at the same time I don't want it to take over the story, since this isn't a romance story. Also, if there is some form of romance, it might not be in this story but in a later one, because this story really is all about John. One of the reasons I wrote this is because I felt that John's character had a lot of potential that was unexplored, so I wanted to make a story with him as the main protagonist, and I'm scared that romance might undermine that a bit. Plus, I think John is a bit busy to deal with any romance right now, what with the whole amnesia and the colleague trying to kill him and things :P But, who knows, there may be some form of romance between some characters, not necessarily John, but I'm not sure who or when.
Also, I know this stretches back a bit, but NightOfTheWriters, you mentioned another big problem for me in this story: the praying issue. I remember, when I planned out this story, I wanted a specific section where John was praying. It is part of his character, after all. But I haven't been able to find the right moment. In some places, you would just assume he'd do it anyway, so I didn't bother adding it in there (like before he slept when things were a bit less chaotic) and other times he was a bit too busy, like running for his life. I did plan on there being a scene at Itsuke's grave where John prayed, but then I changed my mind, since I think he was a little overwhelmed with everything going on. I have decided on a scene where he prays, later on, so don't worry, I'm not going to leave it out. Also, thanks for getting a wattpad account in response to the plagiarism issue, it's reassuring :) And I'm glad you were squealy. As the author, it makes me happy when people have strong emotions in response to the story. :D
To NaginiFay: I think you've pretty much summed up everyone's feelings towards Takigawa right now :)
To WhispertotheWolves: It makes me so happy to know you get happy when you see this story on the alerts list! I feel so happy!
To CatMaz: I really hope that no one else does. My friends tell me, "Oh but it means your story must be good" and things like that, but a lot of them don't really understand how it feels. Thanks for keeping an eye, and if you see anything, please message me.
To the anonymous review: Sorry this took a while, but here we are - Chapter 28. (Is my story really awesome? Thanks!)

"This is it."

Rin stopped the car and climbed out, observing her surroundings. I followed her, to be met with a cold, morning breeze. Only the sound of the river, running smoothly, could be heard.

That morning, Rin and Hiro had agreed to take me back to the location where I had been found. As for why I needed this, I had not gone into full detail. Involving more people was the last thing I wanted.

"This isn't the exact spot, but it's not far from here." She shivered in the cold morning air. Hiro waited in the car.

"Thank you so much." I bowed my head. "For everything."

Rin bowed her head in response. "Don't worry."

I glanced at the ground, where the grass looked like it had been torn up. Due to the recent rain, the remnants of any tracks from vehicles were faint and barely visible.

"Do cars come along here very often?" I did not want to be interrupted.

"No, not that I know of." She peered down at the mud, where the tracks were. "Those are probably from the ambulances that came here."

I nodded. "I see." Hopefully, I wouldn't run into anyone.

Rin looked down the course of the river. "I hope you find what you're looking for."

The site of Mattaku Psychiatric Ward. I shivered. Somehow, it was still the last place I wanted to be.

"Thank you. I hope Hayate-san recovers soon."

She smiled sadly. "Yes. Good-bye, Brown-san. I hope to see you again."

"Yes, me too." It was a hope and a fear – all I could do was hope I could get out of this situation alive. My fear was that I would never see the people I loved again. My friends and my family.

As the car left, I felt the ice cold grip of loneliness ensnare my emotions once more, and I hurriedly pushed it away. Instead, I knelt down by the river and observed the direction of river flow. The water seemed to be flowing South…I must have been carried South down the river, then.

So I needed to go North to find Mattaku. Picking my way through mud and crumbling dirt, I began my reluctant journey.

Takigawa had been driving for a while, and fatigue was beginning to catch up with him. Maybe it would have been more sensible to try and find the exact location at which John had been found, instead of rushing straight to the river, which was a lot longer than Takigawa had expected. No, he had been driving up and down, trying to find any evidence that John had been there. Nothing so far. Stalling the car, Takigawa put his head in his hands and groaned. Fear still enveloped him, cold and paralysing, as he tried to banish the thought in his head – had John escaped, or had he already been taken away?

Shaking himself, Takigawa restarted the engine and continued driving.

After a short while, I found myself pausing. The area seemed so familiar. The river was straight, and a bush grew on the bank. Here, the ground was a lot more saturated. A lot of vehicles had been here. Was this the location?

I climbed further upstream, searching for high ground. I had jumped in off a cliff, so it would make sense for Mattaku to be on higher ground. Again, I shivered, suddenly feeling a wave of fatigue overcome me. The unpleasant memory of being found here lingered in my thoughts. I could almost taste the blood in my mouth and feel the pain in my arms and ribs. My legs felt heavy and standing upright was an effort, like someone had tied weights to them as I remembered the scene. The nauseous feeling of everything being muffled and yet everything being too loud, too much physical contact, everyone gathered around and getting too close, not knowing if they were going to attack me or hit me wherever their hands got near

Another patient suddenly grabs me and pushes me hard against the wall during roll call.

"Du må ikke stole på ham!" He shouts in my face, grabbing me by the scruff. Some of the orderlies walk close, but not actually doing anything, and he hisses at them.

"Du må ikke stole på ham!" He shouts again, looking desperate. "Du må ikke stole på ham!"

The orderlies watch curiously. Seeing as they are not going to act just yet, Matthew breaks out of formation.

"Hey, lay it off –"He begins angrily, trying to push him away, but the patient shrieks and flinches from him, standing behind me, almost hiding.

"Holde seg borte fra meg!" He screams. His grip is tight on my arms as he clings to me.

An orderly approaches, surprisingly slow.

"Get out of the way." He demands to me. I try to pry myself form the man's grip, but he turns me around and shakes me.

"Du må ikke stole på ham!" He shouts again.

Now, the orderlies begin to act. They begin trying to drag him away from me, and get him back into formation. The orderlies are shouting, yet the other patients remain silent and frozen, staring at the floor. Then a voice speaks calmly, cutting above the chaos, and everyone stops.

"What's going on here?"

Saburou walks forwards, hands in his pockets. He pauses and observes the scene. An orderly mutters something to him and he nods slowly, in understanding. His eyes rake in the scene, first examining the other patient before laying on me. His gaze does not waver, and the intensity of the malice in his eyes makes dread climb up my throat.

"Put them in solitary isolation." His words strike fear inside of me. "Brown-san and Bjelland-san here. I think they need to be…calmed down."

"No!" Matthew stands in front of me. "Leave him be, Osaki. There's no need." He demands. Saburou raises an eye brow. Silently, he strides forwards, then grabs him by the neck. Matthew wrestles with the grip, to no effect.

"Are you questioning my authority?" Saburou asks with a musical voice. His grip around Matthew's neck tightens.

"Matthew!" An orderly restrains me. "Let him go!"

Surprisingly, Saburou does this. He releases his grip suddenly, and Matthew falls to his knees, grasping his throat and coughing.

I wrestle out of the orderly's grip, which has loosened slightly, and crouch down beside him.

"Matthew!" I examine his neck anxiously. A bruise looks like it will form. If Saburou had kept his grip for a few seconds more, Matthew would be dead.

"I'm…alright…" He gasps, trying to recover. I help him struggle to his feet.

Saburou shares a glance with an orderly, who seems to understand his gaze and grabs me, dragging me away from Matthew. Another orderly grabs the cowering Bjelland, and we are forced in front of Saburou.

He smirks.

"Like I said. Solitary isolation."

"No!" Matthew is swiftly restrained by an orderly. Cold dread fills inside of me. All I can do is share a terrified glance with Matthew before I am dragged away.

When Takigawa caught sight of the figure, lying on the ground by the river bank, he was immediately filled with panic. Was it…? Was he…?

Takigawa got out of the car and approached the figure. As he neared, he caught a glimpse of blonde against the dreary backdrop. He hastened his speed.

"John?" He called hesitantly. No response. When he got closer, when he saw exactly who was lying on the ground, his heart seemed to stop.

John could have been asleep, from the position he was lying in. Natural and almost peaceful. Apart from the twitch of his hand, and the frown that passed on his face, he could have been dead. An old wound on his forehead was beginning to bleed.

"John!" Takigawa grabbed him and shook him. "John!" He shouted. "Please, can you hear me?!" He moved John into a position lying flat on his back and titled his head backwards slightly. He lowered his head near John's mouth and listened. The sound of breathing was faint but discernible. He placed his fingers at John's neck – there was a steady pace.

"John!" He shook him gently. "Please, wake up! John!"

I gasped awake, and a reel of spinning images flashed sickeningly before my eyes. Panting raggedly, I shut my eyes, and only opened them when the images had faded away. Now, I tried to focus on the figure in front of me.

"John!" The figure called out to me. "Are you awake?"

I recognised the voice at once, but my mind refused to believe it.

"T…" The figure was beginning to focus. "Taki…"

It was him. He was staring down at me, concern and…fear…etched on his face.

"…John?"

I stared at him, speechless, as my mind drew a blank and I had no idea what to say or to even feel.

In the end, I scrambled to my feet and backed away from him.

"What are…what are you doing here?!" I demanded, wincing as pain shot to my head. The wound must have reopened.

"I thought…we thought you were…" Takigawa stammered, almost as speechless as me.

I flinched away from him. Of course. He thought I was mentally ill. Had he sided with the colleague? Had he come to –

"We thought you had been taken away."

I didn't understand what was going on anymore.

"No. No, you – you shouldn't be here." I shook my head, backing away from him. "You need to leave."

With that, I turned and began to walk swiftly away from him.

"Wait a sec – John! Stop!" Takigawa followed after me. My heart was racing and emotions battled within me. Anger and relief were on par.

"You have to come back." Takigawa warned me. "You can't do this on your own. It's too dangerous. Colleague-san –"

"I'm well aware of what colleague-san wishes to do." I spoke in a miraculously even voice. "But I'm not going back. There's somewhere I need to go."

"You want to go back to Mattaku. Am I right?" He made me freeze temporarily. How did he know that?

"I…Just, leave." I rose my voice, anger taking advantage of me as I carried on walking.

"Please. You have to come back. It's not safe." Takigawa pleaded.

I turned on him. "Really? It's not safe? Maybe you should have thought of that before you, you accused me like that." I could no longer control the emotion in my voice. "Don't you realise how much that hurt me? Don't you understand how painful that was for me?"

Takigawa remained silent. His expression was one of guilt and sadness.

"I confided in you, and then at the moment when I was the most scared, when I had just been abducted, you turned around and decided that I was crazy. After everything we have been through, you judge me like that?" I bit my lip. "And after he told you about my…" Somehow, I couldn't bring myself to say the word. "…that was when you had really fallen for it, wasn't it? You judged me based on an illness that I suffered from years ago. How could you do that? So what if I had an eating disorder?" This time, I spat the word. "Does it change me? Does it give you any justification to treat me differently?"

Again, he said nothing.

"No, for you, it meant that I was a completely different person. For you, suddenly it means that the-the stranger who appears and claims that I have schizophrenia, well, everything he is saying must definitely be true. I mean, I had an eating disorder, so everything I say mustn't be taken into account, right? The stranger must be right?"

Shaking, I pointed to the bullet hole in my jacket where Saburou's gun had skimmed me. "What excuse did he give when he pursued after me and tried to shoot me?" I demanded.

Takigawa paled. "He tried…"

"Yes, he did. And I barely escaped. I was damn lucky, but I had to run for my life." I wiped the blood from my eye. "And when I encountered him again, he almost killed me. I honestly thought I wouldn't escape alive. I had to rely on spirits to get me out alive. There were no living people I could rely on, only dead people. Or do you still not believe me about that?"

Takigawa swallowed. He did not say anything.

"Why would you betray me like that?!" I shouted, now feeling despair settle on me. "Why?"

Takigawa moved forwards a little. "I'm so sorry."

I did not react.

"I was an idiot. I was careless. And I'm sorry."

I rolled my eyes. "Of course."

"John –"

"Brown-san." I corrected him. At these words, I could see I had hurt him. But he swallowed, inhaled shakily and nodded in understanding.

"Brown-san. You don't have to forgive me. I don't expect you to. But please. You have to come back with me. It's not safe here. If you're all by yourself, then you're an easy target for colleague-san. He'll take you away and kill you."

My heart was torn with the desire to shout at him more and to wrap my arms around him and sob with relief. In the end, I chose to bottle up both emotions and retaliate with indifference.

"I'm not going back." I told him, my voice nonchalant. "I can't. I need to go to Mattaku Psychiatric Ward. I need to find out what happened there and settle things. If I don't, he'll just keep on coming after me."

Without waiting for an answer, I began to walk again.

"Wait!" Takigawa insisted, grabbing my arm and pulling me back.

The orderlies grab my arms with vice like hands. I do not know what has happened to Bjelland. His screams have faded away now. I struggle against their grip, to no avail.

Solitary isolation. They have taken us to a section of the ward I have not seen before. It is mainly dark and only lighted by lamps that are strobe and painful to look at. I can't see much beyond where I am standing – there is no way to tell how big it is, or what is there.

Saburou walks in front of me, to a table, where there is a stereo player. He presses a button, and some music begins to play.

"W-what are you going to do to me?"

Saburou smiles and plays the music louder. The melody is jarring and disjointed.

"Well, you caused some disruption back there. I understand it was Bjellan-san's fault, but I'm afraid you both have to be punished. To hold up an example."

His logic makes no sense. It feels like he is trying to make an excuse. He is, I correct myself.

"What about the anechoic chamber?" An orderly suggests. I don't know what that is.

"No, not today. We still need to clean up the mess in there after that patient…well, you know what happened."

I hear one of the orderlies mutter to another one. "Using her teeth…that must have been painful…"

"No, I was thinking about using the identification punishment." Saburou puts up the music even louder.

"What number shall we use?"

"Hmmm…let's see…11 9 14 4…" That's my identification number.

"How about 9?"The orderly suggests.

"9 it is." Saburou agrees. He slips into the shadows. The orderlies drag me forwards. Now I am in complete darkness. They force me to my knees and take off my shirt, before tying my hands to two wooden posts so they are spread out to either side of me.

Trying to control my breathing, I can just see Saburou standing in front of…a furnace? Something glowing orange with heat.

I struggle against the constraints. Saburou walks forwards, carrying something in his hands. The end glows. Is that…?

The autopsy report flashes into my mind. That woman who was found in the woods, near the village Shiroku…what did it say? She had a number branded…

Oh no. Oh, God no.

With panic, I realise what they want to do. My hands writhe against the rope, but to no avail. No no no no…the brand is burning brightly. Saburou smiles, and kneels down beside me, handing the brand to an orderly. Panting, I struggle against the rope. Saburou places a hand on my shoulder, and I freeze.

"Don't struggle." He warns me, his face startlingly near mine as his hand slides to the side of my neck. I swallow, but do not avert my gaze from him as fear courses through me.

"We only do one number at a time." He explains, as if it's some kind of normal procedure. "One number from your identification number, that is. When you come back, we might do the next one. It keeps people in line, once they've got one of their numbers."

The music is still playing loudly. Trembling, I take a deep breath, waiting for the pain to start any second. Saburou watches me fondly. I look at his expression.

"You…you're a sadist…" I whisper, more to myself.

Saburou grins and leans towards me. He whispers in my ear.

"I know. That's the best part of working here."

Something is placed near my back. I feel heat radiating onto my skin.

No no no no no no

I brace myself. There is no escape.

No…no…no…

The pain begins.

I jolted awake, panting. My back felt like it was searing with pain. I inhaled sharply, resisting the urge to throw up. As I came to my senses, I was aware of someone speaking.

"Are you ok?"

I was still standing, but had Takigawa not been there to hold me up, I would have fallen to the ground, like before. What had happened? This was the second time within ten minutes that I had remembered something. What had caused the flashbacks to come so quickly? I had never experienced them this quickly before…

It meant only one thing. The amnesia was deteriorating, fast. My suppressed memories would come to light. And everything – the good and the bad – would come back to me.

Wincing, I tried to steady myself, but my legs felt like lead. I was probably a dead weight, although Takigawa seemed to have no problem holding me up.

A sudden anger overcame me: anger at myself. I felt pathetic. I needed to pull myself together. Even so, the pain in my back would not stop.

Allowing myself a moment to calm myself, I finally managed to stand upright. Using all my willpower not to start scratching at my back again, I began to pace, getting rid of the adrenaline in my system.

"What happened?" I asked Takigawa solemnly.

"You passed out, I think. Did you –"

"Yes." I answered a little too quickly. "It…it was nothing. Nothing important."

Takigawa nodded slowly, sceptical but not saying anything.

"I need to go." I started to walk again, but this time Takigawa ran ahead and stood in front of me determinedly, blocking my path.

"You're not going alone." He decided.

Scowling, I tried to evade past him, but he blocked each attempt.

"If you go by yourself, you're as good as dead." He told me, exasperatedly.

"I'm not going back." I repeated myself firmly.

"Fine." He said, to my surprise.

Then he added, "But if you're not, then I'm coming with you."

I gritted my teeth. "Takigawa-san…"

"It's safer. You can't deny that. And I have my car. It will be a lot quicker."

I exhaled, and looked away from him. He was right, of course.

"…Fine." I gave in. "Just because it's quicker."

In Takigawa's car, I sat in the front seat, staring out of the window. My wound had stopped bleeding, and we were slowly driving north, along the river, not daring to go too quickly in fear of the thick mud that might catapult us into the river. All the while, we did not utter a word to each other. I was still seething, and Takigawa did not dare speak to me for a long while.

Finally, he spoke up. "Are," he coughed, "are you cold?"

"Hm?" I looked down at my hands. They were shaking.

Cursing silently, I folded my arms tightly. "No."

That ended the conversation. He attempted to start another one.

"Do you know exactly where it is? The Ward?"

"I'm not sure exactly. But I know that it will be on high ground. There's a forest nearby."

Takigawa nodded thoughtfully. "Well, I've been up and down here a few times. There's a spot where the ground starts to rise. I didn't travel very far up, so I don't know what's up there, but from the looks of it, it seemed to go pretty high. Maybe it's up there."

"Perhaps. That seems like the best place to look." I glanced out of the window. No one was following us.

"Did you tell anyone that you're here?" I asked.

"No…" Takigawa admitted. "I tried to ring Naru-kun once I got here, but there's no signal."

I frowned. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Check yourself." He passed me his mobile, and I selected Kazuya's contact. Immediately, it beeped. I looked at the screen.

'CALL FAILED'

"That's strange. There should be signal."

"What makes you think that?"

"Rin Ikeda and Hayate Yoshida were able to use their mobiles to ring an ambulance when they found me here. But now…"

"Do you think colleague-san might have something to do with it?"

"Maybe."

We lapsed into silence again. A question occurred to me, although I didn't want to ask outright.

"…Why were you ringing Kazuya-san?"

"Well, we're all looking for you."

There we go. "Oh. How did you…?"

Takigawa nodded, grimacing. "It was Mai-kun. She had a dream."

"A dream?"

"Yeah. She saw what happened. I think Naru-kun had already realised it was a trick from colleague-san, but if it weren't for Mai-kun, we'd have all carried on falling for it."

'We'? My heart sank. So, the others had been tricked, too? I felt uneasy. How would I face them again? If I ever saw them again?

Then another comment caught my attention. "Wait…Kazuya-san didn't believe it?"

"Well, Saburou-san didn't come to him, I know that much."

"Oh…" I frowned. From the way Lin had spoken to me in the car, I had been sure that he and Kazuya suspected I had schizophrenia. If not, then what had he been talking about?

The rest of the journey was completed in silence. Although my foul mood had calmed, I still felt uneasy in front of Takigawa. There were still so many unspoken problems between us, so many difficulties, I could not feel like I could trust him.

By the time we had managed to reach the high land, it was getting dark, and the forest was yet to come into sight. Takigawa stopped the car.

"We shouldn't carry on now it's getting dark." Takigawa peered anxiously into the dimming light. "We'll be easy targets if we're stumbling around hardly being able to see a thing."

"Mm." I nodded, but did not contribute further. My back didn't hurt as much, but I still felt twitchy with adrenaline. Takigawa waited for me to speak up, and when he realised that I was going to remain quiet, he coughed and turned off the engine.

"Shall we stay here for the night?" He suggested.

"Sure, whatever." I stared out of the window. Sighing, Takigawa opened the car and stood outside, stretching. He must've been driving all day, up and down the same area. The more I looked at him, the more tired he seemed to be. Every now and again, he had been rubbing his temple, and his eyes were red.

"Do you want to rest?" I asked, monotone. I got out of the car so I could hear him better.

"Huh? Oh, no. I'm fine." He began.

"You look tired." I told him bluntly. "You've been driving all day. You should get some rest."

He looked reluctant. "I don't think that's a good idea…"

"It's not a good idea to deprive yourself of sleep. What if we did get attacked? It would be hard for you to do much if you're too tired."

He exhaled, and nodded. "…Ok. Wake me up in a few hours, though."

Takigawa was sleeping lightly and restlessly in the car, while I remained on watch. I had chosen to wait outside, leaning on the car door, where the air was cold and made me more alert. The darkness had come rapidly, and soon I was forced to turn on the flash light that Takigawa had provided me with. Sweeping the beam across the grass, it provided little reassurance.

My biggest fear right now, save for that of another confrontation with Saburou or the colleague, was having another flashback. I had not revealed anything about the information I had gained to Takigawa. But I was getting worried. Somehow, they had rarely been this…unpleasant, but now they were becoming more sinister and frequent. And each time I had a flashback, I passed out. It left me infuriatingly vulnerable, but there was nothing I could do about it.

I glanced at Takigawa in the car. Even now, I still felt angry with him, but with this anger came guilt. Ever since he had appeared here, my thoughts about him had been conflicted between anger about his accusation, and relief that he believed me now. Not only that, but fear had crawled its way into the mix – when I had been by myself, it was painstakingly lonely, but at least I knew that no one else would be caught in the situation and hurt. Now that Takigawa was here, there was a high chance that he would get hurt. Or even killed. I prayed it wouldn't come to that. At least, when he didn't believe me, he was out of harm's way.

Honestly, I didn't know what to think anymore. I just wanted this all to be over.

After six hours, Takigawa drifted awake. He got out of the car and stood beside me.

"Hey." He said quietly. I glanced at him, saying nothing. For a moment, we just stared into the darkness, listening to the river flow. There was something comforting about the noise, something tranquil.

It was cold, and Takigawa stood closer to me. He sighed.

"I'm sorry."

"I know." The river flow was constant and steady. I looked down at my feet.

"…You shouldn't have come here." I told him quietly.

I felt him tense beside me. "Why?"

"It's dangerous. I've pulled enough people into this mess already. I don't want more people to die."

Takigawa turned to me, and placed his hands on my shoulders gently. I flinched, but did not move.

"Do you remember what I told you?" He asked. "When you came to me and you explained your situation fully?"

He stared into my eyes intently, and I did not look away.

"Yes."

"I'm not going to just stand by and watch. I don't care if I end up getting hurt. You're my friend, and you've suffered enough. Colleague-san has made you suffer. I have made you suffer. And it needs to stop."

Taking in a breath, not breaking the eye contact, I nodded slightly.

Now, it was Takigawa who kept watch. Leaning against the car, he strained his eyes in the darkness while the river flowed steadily past. The noise was lulling and relaxing, but Takigawa fought the temptation to drop his guard. Inside the car, John had reluctantly fallen asleep in the back seat.

The problem with being on guard was that Takigawa's mind kept on wandering. There was still so much he needed to sort out between him and John, but it would take time. And Takigawa was afraid that their friendship would never fully be healed. What's more, death seemed to be a more and more likely possibility. It would be cruel if they both died before their problems were resolved.

When John had collapsed into Takigawa's arms earlier on, Takigawa had been spooked. Whatever John had remembered, it had been unpleasant. It had only been for five minutes or so, but during that time he had been shaking and muttering. His grip on Takigawa's arm had been very tight. Furthermore, there was the disturbing information he had received from the janitors at the hospital; John had been abused more than he realised. But Takigawa did not dare bring it up – he felt like he did not have that authority anymore. He had given up the right to view into John's pain and problems the moment he had accused him. Instead, John was just going to carry on suffering, and Takigawa felt like he was powerless to stop anything. Even his eyes were almost as vacant as the eyes of the spirits at the abandoned house – completely void of the light that once lingered there. It was something that was out of place for John, and Takigawa wanted to change it back to the way it once was. The only chance they had was to discover what had happened at Mattaku.

A noise caught his attention. Takigawa glanced inside the car. John, who was asleep and was sitting, leaning against the window, was stirring. His arms were wrapped tightly around himself, and there was a frown on his face. It looked like he was speaking in his sleep.

Carefully, Takigawa opened the car door and turned on the light. He sat next to John and tapped him gently.

"J…Brown-san?"

"D-don't let him…" John was shaking now. His breathing was rapid. "P-please…Takigawa…"

Takigawa froze. John was still asleep, but…

"…What's he doing, Brown-san?"

"He's going to br…" He stopped, and began to cry out in pain.

"Takigawa! He screamed. "Takigawa, please! Please…help…"

By now, Takigawa had already wrapped his arms around the young man and drawn him close.

"Help…Takigawa…help…" His pleas became quieter.

"You're ok." Takigawa tried to reassure him, soothing his hand down the foreigner's back. John's body trembled beneath his hand. "I'm here. I'm right here."

"Please help me." John whispered, barely audible.

"Don't worry. I'm here. I'm not going to let him hurt you anymore." Takigawa did not know who 'him' was, but he guessed grimly that John had been remembering being branded. It sent anger blazing through him. "You're safe now. I won't let him hurt you."

"…Promise?"

Takigawa inhaled sharply and swallowed, before answering, "I promise."

After that, John seemed to calm down. His breathing steadied, just like the flowing river outside. He stopped shaking, and his facial features relaxed. Sleep claimed him once more. Nonetheless, he still hung onto Takigawa tightly.

Takigawa pursed his lips. Another promise. Even though John hadn't been conscious to realise what had happened, Takigawa could already feel the pressure of responsibility from this hastily made reassurance. Would he fail to keep it, just like before?

No. Not this time, Takigawa decided determinedly. Not this time. Takigawa was not going to let the colleague hurt John anymore. He was going to stop the suffering inside of him, whatever it took. This time, he would not fail. He was sure of it.

Outside, the river seemed to rush faster, the currents whispering in agreement.