Crimso's Corner

It's the 30th and tomorrow is New Year's Eve, and I don't really have any plans. Oh well. I can just spend another relaxing New Year's Eve with nothing to do. That's always fun. Well, I guess I can still say it's the 29th. It's one AM in the morning and I still consider it to be the 29th until I actually go to sleep and wake up. I think I've said this a number of times, so in order not to bore you, I am going to skip right to the notes.

Note One: Takes place right after he has told his tale. Everything that was said in the last chapter is what he said out loud.

Note Two: Second to last chapter. …I… can't believe it.

~~~~X~~~~

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Atonement

They all listened, and they all took in the details of this story the boy before them was telling them all. It was a strange tale, a tale of how an ordinary boy became a villain, just like the legend had said. But no matter how you looked at it, this was not what the boy truly believed. He may have said he decided to follow his destiny by playing that role, but that wasn't really the truth. He believed himself that he was not truly a villain, that his action were justified by his previous experiences.

It was, in some ways, a tragic tale, of how a normal boy who could have become someone great decided to corrupt himself… without even knowing that he was. It was just one big misunderstanding on his part.

"That's all," he concluded.

After those words, no one really knew what to say. They just stood there for a few moments, taking in the details of what had just been told to them. They processed the information, letting it go through their minds.

It was truly a sad tale.

"But as you know, it didn't go completely as planned," Takeru spoke. "I was not expecting Masaru to go ahead and tell everyone the truth, for one, and even with my backup plan, I didn't expect you to kill Yasuo…"

This was one of the reasons why everything went wrong, Keiichi noted, even though it wasn't even what he planned to happen, causing all of this to happen. But no matter how he looked at it, he was not a true villain. His actions were barely forgivable and Keiichi knew that he would never be able to forgive him for killing Rena, but perhaps he could atone for his sins by fixing this all. It would take time and effort to convince people, probably even years, but if they tried hard to fix the boy before them, maybe, just maybe, they could.

Things would never be like normal. Rena was dead, as was hundreds of the villagers, and Takeru would probably be labeled with a bad name for the rest of his life, even after he had atoned. But… it was too late to fix those things. They just had to fix what they could for now, and that one thing that they could fix was Takeru. If they could convince him to stop all of this, to spare the rest of the lives of the villagers that were to be killed in the coming minutes, then he could apologize and atone by doing good things for the village. It would be hard, but Keiichi could see it.

"I'm… sorry, Takeru," Akane told him gently. "I didn't know that you were listening and—"

"And what? It doesn't matter if I heard it or not, you still hate me. Even now, you wouldn't mind if I died, because you have your precious twins with you now." He practically spat the word twins, and there was hatred in his tone as he spoke it.

This was just what prompted Mion to talk.

"And I'm sorry, too. For scratching you like that. I've always been a competitive person, and when it comes to games, I'd do anything to win. And since that was technically a game…" She looked ashamed of herself, knowing that such an action had led to the build up of the death of hundreds of villagers. Though in his mind, Keiichi wouldn't have doubted Mion to do something like that, and if this whole incident hadn't ever happened, she probably would have never cared or apologized. She always loved winning, after all.

Shion nodded her head. "I didn't scratch, but… I'm sorry, anyways. For all that I ever did to cause this." Really, all that she meant by that was "I'm sorry for existing." She could have said that out loud and the words would not be any different, but it sounded cruel and sad, so she didn't say those words. Instead, she stuck with just apologizing for everything.

"Too late for that, too. Should have told me earlier." There was bitterness in his voice, but he actually seemed thankful for the late apology. Still, though, it was indeed an apology that had come much too late. In fact, there were some unshed tears beginning to well up in his eyes, shimmering with the reflection of the silver moon.

Satoshi looked down at the ground, having nothing to apologize for. He wasn't too sure what to say. But when he finally spoke, they were words of encouragement. "Listen, Takeru. …Keiichi and I… we believe in you. We believe that you can do this. I'm sure Shion believes, and Mion too, as well as your mother. We believe that if you give up on this dream and move on, we can return to the fun times."

Keiichi nodded his head in agreement at Satoshi's words. "I agree with Satoshi. We all believe in you, that you can fix everything. While it may be too late with the dream of becoming a hero or killing the twins, you can still become someone great for atoning for this sin of yours. It may take years, maybe decades, but you can do it. Because you're a strong person." He gave him a reassuring smile, sticking out his hand for him as Rena had done right before she had died. "I quote Rena when I say to believe in me." It was a reflection of her own last words, as if he were honoring the girl's spirit.

He turned away from the hand, ignoring it completely. The tears in his eyes began to grow to the point where one of them trickled down his cheek.

"I said it was too late, Keiichi, Satoshi. No matter what you say, I will still be known as the boy who murdered hundreds for his own selfish want. Because he wanted to become… a hero." There was clear pain in his eyes now, and another tear streaked its way down his cheek, hitting the grass below. "It's all too late. What I wanted is now impossible. What I lived for."

Mion stepped forwards. "I know you've done terrible things to me in the past, like ordering Yasuo to capture all those children and have me kill them… but… I think I can forgive you, like Kei-chan says, if you are willing to atone for your sins. If you can become someone great through that, perhaps by cleaning up the town, then this demon here is sure!" There was confidence in her tone, bravery. She was truly showing the real Mion to the boy in front of her, her own younger brother. "You should listen to him… really!"

"I'm sure you'll still be the heir," Shion spoke. "Sis here hasn't gone through training like you have, and there is no way that Oryou-sama will disinherit you or anything. You can still become someone!"

It was now Akane's turn to speak. She looked down at her broken son, who was now crying uncontrollably. Tears rolled down his cheeks like never before as he realized he was indeed wrong, that his dream had been shattered because of what he had done. "Dear, listen to me. I didn't love you at first, but I grew to love you. You became my irreplaceable, precious little boy. I would never give you up for anything, and I want you to know that. Those days are long over. So… as your mother… I think I can forgive you if you are willing to give up this stupid dream. Like your father said… it would be fine." She smiled at the boy, sadly. "So, please…"

Takeru listened to each and every one of their words as he sobbed, taking them in and thinking hard about them. Could he still become a hero if he were to atone for these sins?

"Rena…" he whispered.

Keiichi sighed at the mention of her name, and he looked over to the dead body. Her eyes now closed, she looked as if she were sleeping, and one would assume so if it weren't for all the blood surrounding her and staining her clothing. "Takeru, I'm sure she's with us right now, her spirit. I'm sure that she's listening to this right now, listening to your story and understanding you, just like she would do if she were alive. I know you killed her… but… I don't think that you were truly thinking, Takeru." He paused for a moment to take a deep breath. He needed to be convincing. "Remember her last words to you, Takeru! What did she say again? She said that she believed in you, that you could still become someone if you were to give up the dream you had now. You can still become a hero in another way. And when you do, I'm sure she'll be watching you, and being proud of you! Her spirit is still with us!" he cried out. "It's nothing that I can easily forgive… no, it's something barely forgivable. I'm not going to lie about that. But like I said, if you can become someone great by atoning, then you can be forgiven! I'm sure that Rena's spirit will forgive you for that, too!" He paused again, catching his breath. "So that's why we all believe in you, and we want you to come with us right now and move on from this!"

Takeru listened, but tears were still falling down his cheeks. They all stood there and watched him, waiting for him to say something, for him to make some sort of move. But they all understood it was hard for him to give up on the fighting for now, to believe in them when they said that he could become someone better. So they all waited, giving him the time that he needed to make this decision. He looked down at the ground, his bangs shadowing over his eyes and mostly hiding his expression from the world.

But that's when they were interrupted by footsteps, footsteps that came to a halt when they came to the scene before everyone.

"Master Takeru, we're losing demons by the minute," the demon who had arrived spoke. "Most of the Thirties have been lost aside from Number Thirty-Five and Number Thirty-Nine, and a lot of the twenties and tens have gone as well. Numbers between forty and fifty have few missing demons and are still fighting, but the Furudes are still strong. Some have been killed, but they have Kai and Kaede on their side. At this rate… everyone will die."

Takeru looked up to the demon, and slowly stood up. He gazed at the demon, showing almost no sign of emotion as he did so. "Thank you, Number Forty-Nine."

She bowed to him. "It's no problem, master Takeru. What are your orders?"

He took a deep breath, trying to compose himself for a bit. Then, finally, he spoke. "Number Forty-Nine, tell everyone to stop at once."

She looked surprised. "Huh?"

"You heard me. All fighting shall be ceased and this war will end right here. We're forfeiting this." He looked further into the woods, seeing the figure of a demon that had been approaching, but had stopped in her tracks upon hearing his words. "You heard me too, Number Fifty. If they don't believe her tell them you heard it, too."

Everyone looked over at Takeru, a huge smile on their face as they heard him speak those words. He had finally given up on the dream and decided to listen and pursue his want to become someone great by atonement.

The demon, Number Fifty, looked over to Number Forty-Nine, both of them looking very surprised at the order when their master had been so intent on the battle before. It was very confusing, but they had no choice but to obey.

Number Forty-Nine nodded her head. "As you wish, Master." She turned towards her partner. "Let's get going, we have convincing to do."

"Right."

The two demons left, leaving behind the group.

"Shall we go, too?" Keiichi asked.

Satoshi nodded. "We should."

Mion, Shion, Satoshi, Keiichi, and Akane turned around, beginning to head back. However, Keiichi instantly stopped and turned around when he realized that Takeru had not followed. He was instead standing there, his eyes gazing at the ground.

"What's wrong, Takeru?" he asked. "Aren't you coming?"

He shook his head.

"Why not?" Keiichi asked.

That was when the boy looked up, straight into his eyes. There were tears running down his face, and a look of pure sorrow plastered all across it, sorrow like no one had ever known before. "I know you said I can atone…" he spoke, his voice breaking up completely. "I listened to it all, I listened to what you said completely. But you know what?" he took a deep breath. "As I said before, it's already… too late…"

Suddenly, and before anyone knew what was happening, the boy reached down and took the gun that was on the ground, pointing it at the group of them. Everyone became completely horrified by this, wondering what had suddenly told him to whip out the gun and shoot them even though he had informed the demons that he wanted the war to end. However, his intentions quickly became clear when the direction of the gun was changed.

"Takeru, what in the world are you—"

The sentence was not finished. A gunshot cut off whatever words were to be said, and the boy quickly fell to the ground, blood pouring out of the wound created by the gunshot right in his head.

No one moved, and no one ran up to check on him or anything similar to that. Takeru just lay there, completely still. He didn't even twitch.

"T-Takeru…" whispered Satoshi.

"…What the hell… we just convinced him that everything was going to be fine, and then he goes ahead and commits suicide?" spoke Keiichi in disbelief. He just couldn't believe that even with everyone's words of encouragement, he still gave up on not only his dream, but also his very own life. He didn't have to do that! Everything was going to be completely fine. They were going to heal him and patch him back up, and then go on with their lives, happily. But he just had to do that! He had to kill himself and shatter what could have been perfect for not only them, but for him, too! He could have had his dream achieved, even if not in the way he planned it at first. So why did he do that?

But in the end, it became clear. He was just too stubborn and did not believe.

Akane stood there, completely stunned. Her son had just committed suicide right before her very eyes, and there were no words that she could find to speak.

Mion and Shion stood there, horrified. They exchanged stunned glances, but they too couldn't find words to speak.

"T-Takeru…" Akane managed to speak out, tears in her eyes. It was the expected reaction. "Oh… Takeru…"

"Mom…" Mion whispered as she looked over at her mother's tearful gaze. Shion did as well, though she remained silent.

"…I-In any case… I don't think there's anything we can… do," Satoshi spoke. "And besides… we need to tell everyone what happened…"

Keiichi nodded. It seemed very odd to just walk away from the scene like that when there was a boy, a former close friend, who had just committed suicide there, and a girl, a very close friend, who had been shot dead, but there really wasn't anything they could do now. They had done their job, and now they just needed to tell everyone and see the end to this war. There was no longer a point in standing there. They would have to go back and fetch the two bodies later.

"Let's go…"

Satoshi and Keiichi began to walk away, leaving behind the corpse of a boy who had gone horribly wrong in life. Akane stood there, stunned to the ground as she looked at the dead body of her son. A hand gently touched hers, and she looked over to find the gaze of her youngest daughter, who was silently telling her that they had to go, and that it would be more painful. This look gave her some courage, and she nodded, walking along with her two daughters, who were attempting to comfort her along the way. It was indeed better this way.

They walked along the paths silently, until the two demons from before came into view. They were cutting down the nets that Satoko had set up containing the demon comrades, explaining to them what had just happened.

"Master has ordered us to forfeit…" Number Forty-Nine spoke.

"H-Huh?" replied Number Thirty-Nine, one of the demons who had just been cut down.

"It's true, I was there," Number Fifty added on.

They did not yet know that their master was dead, but that was all to be revealed in time. They just needed to clean up this mess of a war by going to the shrine and stopping the main battle.

Akane was still sobbing, but the twins were doing their best to comfort their mother. It was hard to do so, as her son had just died, and that was something that was hard to get over, but they were doing their very best attempt and it was very comforting to have her two daughters by her side.

"Mom, it will be okay. I don't think it would have worked out, anyways. He did some pretty bad things…" Shion told her gently.

"Yeah…"
Akane shook her head. "I know that, but he was still my son…! Your brother…! I didn't love him at first, but still…! I didn't want him to die!" She looked at the twins on her side, some strength in her eyes as she did so. "…But now you two have to promise that you will never die, and you will never leave me again. Ever."

Shion nodded her head and reached out to her mother's hand, clutching it tightly. "Of course. Sis and I both promise that."

Mion squeezed her mother's hand to comfort her, a silent promise.

~~~~X~~~

Eventually, the group of them reached the Furude Shrine. There was still battle going on, as the demons who had been informed to stop were right in front of them, having paused for a while to get all the demons out of the traps. They were now also convinced of the truth, but they needed to stop the main battle, fast.

When they got there, Keiichi looked about the shrine area. There were so many corpses that it was crazy. There were barely any humans there now, the ones reaming being severely injured or dead. However, demons were fighting with each other now. There were notably less Kimiyoshi demons than Furude demons, probably due to the fact that Kai and Kaede, two of the strongest demons ever, were on their side. There was no way that they would be able to beat them. However, there were some Furude corpses on the ground along with a mass of Kimiyoshi corpses. Not only that, but whole scene was painted with blood. Keiichi wanted to throw up when he saw how much blood there was. Never before had he seen so much blood in one place, and the fact that it belonged to a mix of a hundreds of people made him even more sick.

Number Forty-Nine took a deep breath and ran into the crowd.

"STOP!" she yelled out to all of them.

The number of demons was small enough for everyone to pause in their tracks, and some of the demons that had been fighting to step away from each other as they looked at the demon that had just interrupted them all.

"Master as ended the war! He tells everyone to stop! It's a forfeit!"

There was murmuring breaking out amongst the many demons there.

"What in the world! ?" cried a Kimiyoshi demon. "What are you talking about, Number Forty-Nine? Master wouldn't forfeit!"

"But he did!" yelled Number Fifty, stepping up to take a place next to her partner. "I was there when he said so, he told me to tell you all too! Isn't that right, guys?" She turned around to face the group of demons that had been rescued from the various traps along the way.

One of the demons nodded. "It's true, it's a forfeit!"

"We have to stop!"

All the fighting demons looked at each other, unsure for a moment. But when they heard how many demons were saying that they had heard it too, they sheathed their claws and inched apart from each other, showing no signs of hostility.

"Wow," Keiichi whispered. "That was… easy…"

Mion nodded. "Well, they're demons. They have to obey. Just like how things were with me before you saved me."

Keiichi smiled a little bit at the memory of saving her. He had come a long way, hadn't he?

Suddenly, they were approached by two demons, everyone instantly recognizing them as none other than Kai and Kaede. They had blood on them and were injured, but it looked like it was nothing too severe. They were demons and could be healed easily, after all. It did look like they had fought hard, though, and everyone was rather glad to see that they were both safe.

"It appears as if Sonozaki Takeru has given in," Kaede said.

Keiichi nodded. "He did. …We tried to convince him to come back with us… but…" he swallowed, having a hard time getting the next few words out. "He killed himself…"

Kaede raised an eyebrow. "That is very surprising. I suppose that he felt guilty for everything he had done." She sighed when that was spoken. "Serves him right, though. He killed off hundreds of people. While we did manage to save a few, others…"

Kai sighed as well. "We don't need to say it, Kaede. They can see it."

"Right. Well, as you can see the numbers left unsaved is quite large. And I believe that there are more demons out there that are still attacking." She looked over to the forest, and then further down the pathways leading farther into the village. "I will get the demons on it at once, if you wish."

"As with me. I'll do what you say if you order me too," Kai spoke.

Keiichi wasn't really sure what to say to them. He looked over to Satoshi and the rest of the group, wondering what he should say in response to them.

"I think that we need to stop them right away. So Kaede, I think you should do that," Satoshi spoke to the orange-haired demon. "And… um… didn't you say that Rika and Satoko were caring for the injured at their house? Kai, I think that you should order a few of the demons to go transport injured over to their house and seek treatment. Uh… um…" He scratched his head. "We need someone to round up the villagers who are still alive and are hiding. We need to officially declare this war over."

"That sounds good to me," Mion spoke. "I can help, if you want."

"Yeah. I think that we'll all go looking for people around the village, but some demons should do that, too," Keiichi spoke. "But it's a good plan."

Kai and Kaede looked at each other, and then back at the group of people who were standing before them.

"I'll get on it," Kaede spoke before turning around and running off.

"As will I," Kai said, bowing to the group of them before he too went off to do his job.

The demons were ordered around, and they all went off in many directions, some bending over and lifting up still alive villagers and carrying them off into the forest, and some of them running to catch the demons who were still fighting or look for humans.

"I think that we should get on our job, too," Satoshi spoke.

"Yes. Let's get going."

And with that, they set off to go find the other villagers, and finally bring this whole, silly war to an end once and for all.

~~~~X~~~~

Crimso's Corner V.2

Short chapter. We needed one of them, though. And considering it's the second to last chapter… it is a little odd. But there isn't much more to say here. That was all for this chapter and I did not want to carry it on. It does seem like a strange second to last chapter but the next chapter wil continue on with scenes that just didn't fit in the end of this chapter. I'm going to start working on the next chapter tonight and maybe finish it tomorrow, and I will probably have it uploaded the first thing I do after finishing it. Yes, I know it's funny to have a 4,000 word chapter as the last chapter, but still. GED did have a longer second to last chapter (8,000 words. It was actually originally combined with the last chapter) but still.

Takeru. He was an interesting character, but in the end, he really just didn't believe that such a thing was possible. It's kind of true, though. The main characters make his sin seem forgivable with enough effort, but that effort would be extreme and it would be very hard for him to achieve such a thing. However, that's how things are with the main characters of Higurashi. They can forgive when they know a friend is not truly bad at heart if given enough time, especially in this case where it would take a while to forgive Rena. But Takeru… as I said, in the end he just couldn't believe in such a thing. His life was so messed up from the beginning that there wasn't much more he could take. R.I.P. Whether or not you want that to stand for "Rest in peace" or "rest in pieces" is up to you, based on whether or not you can forgive the boy. I was actually talking about whether or not the backstory could justify someone's actions in a series. Do you think that's true? I don't know if I can, like as much as Takano's backstory was sad, I still can't forgive her for trying to kill off a whole village consisting of two thousand people while having a little girl as the main target. I understand her backstory but I don't think it's enough to justify such an action. Takeru... I don't think he could be forgiven, but he's my own character and it is my own story so I cannot be the judge in this situation.

I can't wait to write the next chapter, really. This has been an amazing fic to write. I hope that I will have as much fun writing WAN as I had writing BFB. I will leave notes and goodbyes for the Epilogue rather than the next chapter, but I just feel like saying that I love you all if you have stayed with me until this point in the fanfiction. It's been a long run. Just the next chapter and the epilogue, guys, and we're finally finished.

~Crimso