So, things will start getting interesting from now own. I strongly advice you don't read the remaining chapters somewhere in a crowded or a bright place, seriously. I didn't work this much for nothing after all!
Chapter V
For some reason Akashi's house felt ten times darker when he finally reached it.
Or perhaps that was just the male's imagination.
'You're being paranoid again.'
Of course he was.
Would Akashi be a normal human being if after all that talk with Midorima and his mother he wouldn't be distressed?
'You need to calm down, get ahold of yourself. Everything will be okay.'
Of course it will be.
'Okay, then let's remember what you must do now.'
I have to... I have to test Midorima's theory. And if it proves to be correct... I have to find out for what reason he left his house that day.
'Correct. But remember to stay calm.'
Easier said than done.
…
His room was cold. Why was it so cold? The rest of the house wasn't after all.
Akashi quickly flickered on the light and it rather dimly illuminated the chilly area. The redhead's eyes fell on the lifeless computer and afterwards his phone, innocently laying on his disheveled bed. He swiftly made his way to the device and checked its power.
Of course, it had run out.
After the redhead had connected the charger to his phone, his attention once again shifted to the computer on his desk. Honestly, he wished to stay away from that thing as much as possible, but he understood that such a thing wasn't an option. He'd have to face his fears sooner or later.
Besides, it had been several days. Perhaps that bug (or whatever was haunting him) had disappeared in that time.
With a heavy heart Akashi approached the device and plugged it into the outlet. Taking a seat, he turned it on and patiently waited.
The computer started normally, like it was supposed to. Everything seemed the usual. Akashi opened up the browser and entered that damned website's address. He hadn't gotten any new messages, but the redhead knew that wouldn't be the case for long. However, tonight he had other plans.
December 14, 79:98
Akashi Seijuurou: Hello?
A minute passed. Another one. After the third one Akashi was foolishly beginning to hope that perhaps no one would answer him this time. Foolishly.
*beep beep*
80:63
KuroKo TetSuyA: Akashi-kun
The redhead's heartbeat immediately accelerated at that. With already trembling fingers he slowly typed in a single word.
80:64
Akashi Seijuurou: Tetsuya?
No response.
A minute.
Another one.
Did he mess up?
*beep beep*
80:68
KurokOTetSuyA: Akashi-kun, why did you do that
KuRokO TeTsuya: it's your fault
It could now crop out words without resending the actual message first it seemed.
That (and those words) unnerved Akashi greatly.
KUrokoTetSuya: it's your fault
KUroko TetsUya: Akashi-kun
A pause.
The redhead could feel that ache in his head slowly worsening. He was being blamed for something. He was being blamed by him. Akashi had a sudden urge to apologize. What did he do wrong? Why was he...
A foreboding feeling slowly began eating the male from the inside.
80:70
KuRokO TeTsuya: I can't, Akashi-kun
KurokO TetSuyA: I can't
KuRokO TeTsuya: I can't
KurokO TetSuyA: I can't
Those messages were disturbing him.
That dread only kept worsening, devouring him whole. Akashi's instincts yelled at him to stop this immediately, to shut down the computer, to get away from here as quickly as possible. Something was terribly wrong.
But because of that Akashi couldn't leave. Something was wrong.
Something was so so wrong.
80:71
Akashi Seijuurou: You can't what?
KuRokO TeTsuya: I can't
…
KuroKo TetSuyA: BR EATH E
…
That affected Akashi more than one would have thought.
The redhead could physically feel all the functions in his body stopping, his mind shutting down.
Oh God no
A hitched, muffled cry welled up in his throat.
No no
His eyes were as wide as dinner plates, full of terror as his clouded mind was processing those words.
No no please no NO
As if his body was moving on its own, the redhead shot up and threw the computer from his desk, hearing a satisfying breaking noise as the device hit the ground, successfully shutting off the screen and those horrifying words along with it.
God-Goddammit
Akashi tried backing away, but soon his shaking legs gave out and he tumbled to the ground, though that didn't seem to affect him that much.
His heart was pounding against his ribcage wildly, it seemed as if it would break out at any moment.
His head was becoming so light. Everything seemed spinning.
Incredible, how just a few words could affect a person.
…
I need those pills.
Akashi was going on a panic attack.
With great difficulty, the male began crawling to the cabinet that he earlier placed those bottles on. Finally at his destination, he extended his shaking hand and grabbed the slightly smaller container which he knew held sedatives. With disobedient fingers he as quickly as he could opened the lid and took one pill from the bottle. The redhead threw it straight into his throat and swallowed.
Akashi slowly leaned his back against the counter and closed his eyes. He had to calm down. He needed to get ahold of himself. This would solve nothing.
Fuck, goddammit, calm down.
'Deep breaths. Everything is okay now.'
Jesus, no, how am I supposed to take this?
'...Perhaps take some of those sleeping pills. Mornings are wiser than evenings.'
Right...
Akashi reopened his eyes and exhaled a deep breath. He once again extended his hand and grabbed the second bottle. However, before he could open it, a loud ringing noise broke through the uneasy, deafening silence, horribly startling the redhead.
''Jesus,'' Akashi hissed angrily after he had recovered from that mini heart-attack. He could only think of one person that would call him at this hour, which made him all that more infuriated.
Now is not the best time, Shintarou!
The male to his best abilities with his still slightly trembling legs stood up and walked over to where his phone was charging, just besides the bed. The redhead was already thinking up of possible excuses to end this conversation as quickly as possible, but all of his thoughts shut down as soon as his eyes landed on the caller ID.
.
..
…
This is not possible.
The name read Tetsuyaalong with his number.
But that was simply not physically possible.
The messages, yes, there might be a logical explanation for them, but for this...
No.
His phone... His phone, along with him, was...
Akashi's mind was too clouded for him to fully register the situation. He could no longer feel his own heart, his breathing, any of his senses, nothing. He could only stare at the ringing device with the name Tetsuya displayed.
And it didn't stop.
It rang and rang and rang and rang-
Stop already.
Fuck, just stop.
It didn't.
And Akashi understood what he needed to do for that goddamn ringing to stop.
Somehow he knew that declining wouldn't work.
The redhead, as if on auto-pilot, picked the device up and answered it.
…
Nothing. Silence.
Complete silence.
What did he expect, really?
Must have been a malfunction.
How, though?
Somehow that could be logically explained.
Of course.
However, after about a good minute static noise began erupting from the device.
Akashi could have sworn that wasn't the only sound coming from his phone, that there was something in the background of it, but he just wrote it off as his paranoia.
A simple malfunction. Of course.
The call ended.
The redhead slowly placed the phone back on the cabinet and turned away from it.
He felt exhausted.
With that thought the male approached his bed, took that bottle of sleeping pills, threw a couple of them into his mouth, swallowed and plumped down on the soft mattress, not even bothering to change his clothes or head to the bathroom.
Akashi just wanted to forget everything right now.
And as his vision darkened, as his mind began slipping away, he didn't hear (or pretended not to) that quiet, slow melody from underneath his bed.
December 15th
Akashi was beyond glad that his night was void of any dreams. He was well aware that even with sleeping pills there was always that chance of dreaming, so he was indeed relieved he didn't have any. Reality was enough to stress him out.
If truth be told, it was very easy for the redhead to try and write off last night's final event as a hallucination, since, when he picked up his phone from the cabinet in order to dial Midorima and assure him everything was fine, his calling journal did not display any disturbing calls from last night. As if no one had called him.
Of course, it would have been easy to simply pretend Akashi just hallucinated, if not for that lingering sick feeling in his throat.
Unfortunately, the messages were a whole different story. The fact that his computer was laying on the ground, broken, was proof of a startled enough Akashi. However, he decided not to dwell on that now.
After the redhead had called and assured Midorima nothing had happened and he was simply very tired and fell asleep early, the male decided to take a shower. It was a good idea to refreshen himself after all that stress from last night. Speaking of which, Akashi still wasn't quite sure what his next actions will be. Perhaps some exercise would clear his mind and would help him come to a decision.
…
The chilly air in his lungs and the slightly stinging sensation in his legs honestly cleared the male's distressed head. The redhead used to jog awhile back to stay in shape, but recently he hadn't been doing that, so naturally he got tired a bit quicker. Not that he minded the sensation of feeling alive. It helped him forget.
'You can't run away forever.'
I'm not. There is nothing to run away from.
'You're lying to yourself.'
And you're just trying to convince me I'm going insane.
'Denial is not the solution.'
It may as well be.
What was Akashi supposed to do? How could he... How could he possibly accept the events that are unfolding around him? How could he possibly accept that he was...
The redhead harshly bit on his lower lip.
He had to prevent such thoughts from entering his mind.
Otherwise Akashi feared his sanity would break.
'So you're denying Midorima's theory.'
It shouldn't have been a possible theory to begin with. Too absurd. Simply impossible.
Everything can be explained by logic. I overreacted last night.
'You cannot deny the obvious truth forever.'
If I accept it we both know what the outcome will be.
Akashi already had trouble keeping his paranoia at bay.
Finally home, Akashi exhaled a deep breath and dropped back down on his soft bed. That little trip exhausted him. He wished he could continue running though, not minding his exhaustion. Nevertheless, the day had once again come to an end, so the male had to put all those plans for another day.
However, Akashi was quite restless. Of course, he could always drink some more sleeping pills, but he decided to put that off a bit. It wasn't even that late after all. He wanted to occupy himself with something for awhile, to avert his thoughts from that uneasy feeling he experienced every time he was in his room. Something calming perhaps.
Ah, of course.
It had been a long time since Akashi had played the violin. He simply had no such wish after... He loved when the redhead played after all, so it was natural Akashi was quite reluctant in touching the instrument for awhile. Nevertheless, it always did seem to calm him down, so why not.
The violin was rather dusty to say the least. Not to mention out of tune from being unused and shoved away for more than a year. The redhead had to adjust the chords quite a bit for it to produce decent sound. Luckily the instrument itself was of high quality, so with a little adjustment it rang as new.
After he had taken a seat on his bed, Akashi positioned the violin against his jaw and placed the fiddlestick on the chords. Closing his eyes and taking a few deep breaths, the male began creating gentle sound. At first the notes were long and low, but eventually, albeit slowly the melody grew in both speed and height. Akashi wasn't exactly playing a specific piece. He was simply improvising, allowing his emotions to take control and translate through various sounds, thus creating a rather peculiar melody, though enjoyable to the ears nonetheless.
Perhaps the redhead should had returned to music earlier. It closely resembled a therapy session, successfully soothing the distressed male. Slowly Akashi began loosing himself in the melody he himself was creating.
However, something rather odd began vaguely reaching the male's hazed mind. A soft, foreign sound began quietly intertwining with the violin's melody. Listening a bit closer, Akashi identified it something remotely similar to a tapping sound. From where, however, he couldn't tell.
Nevertheless, puzzled, the male opened his eyes and ceased his playing in order to hear the strange sound better, but, to his surprise, as soon as the song was cut off, dead silence fell. Not a single sound could have been heard. Perhaps that tapping was merely his imagination? Akashi was quite tired after all.
Lightly shaking his head, the male resumed playing. The stress was certainly affecting him. However, not long after the soft melody once again filled the room, Akashi's sensitive ears caught that strange sound once again. Was it really his imagination? This time, though, he didn't stop playing and tried focusing on that sound through all those melodious notes. He had this odd feeling that if he stopped playing that sound would cease as well. And Akashi disliked any unsolved mysteries.
Gradually that soft tapping began increasing in volume, to the point that it began closely resembling footsteps, getting louder and louder. When such a realization sunk in in the male's head, he felt how his heartbeat fastened. Was there someone in the hallway? Someone heading in his room's direction? But that shouldn't be possible. The mansion's security was top-notch. No one should be able to freely break it.
One this was certain: this unnerved Akashi greatly.
Not that he was scared. No, he would be able to handle an intruder, of that he was sure. But that strange dreadful feeling in his chest was what was so uneasy. Besides, something didn't seem right.
Nevertheless, Akashi couldn't simply sit there patiently and let someone wander his home. With that thought he stopped his playing and, after carefully placing the instrument on his bed, stood up. As he had expected, that strange sound stopped immediately after his melody cut off. The redhead quietly approached his drawer and took out the sharpest thing out of it, a pair of scissors. Afterwards he, as silently as he could, walked over to the door and placed his hand on the handle. Taking a deep breath in the hopes of calming down his racing heart, Akashi opened the door.
The redhead quickly flipped the light switch, thus brightening up the dark hallway. For a brief moment Akashi thought his vision had caught something, but blinking once he found the corridor completely void of anyone. Had that sound been indeed merely his imagination? Was tiredness getting to him so badly?
Lightly nibbling his lip, the male turned the lights off and closed the door. However, his hand lingered on the handle for a few moments and he hesitantly locked the door. Perhaps Akashi was being paranoid again, but that foreboding feeling wouldn't leave, so just to be safe. His father wouldn't probably like to get a phone-call, informing him that his son had been found stabbed in his sleep or something. Better safe than sorry.
The redhead walked over to his bed once more. Maybe getting some rest wasn't the worst idea. If he even began hallucinating...
Yes, perhaps it was best to fall into oblivion and pretend that sound was never there.
Okay, so if anyone's interested why Kuroko was suddenly being more active and more... uh... restless, no, it's not a plot hole. The reason why he started acting darker and will continue to do so was literally because of Midorima. At first, he suggested Akashi leave this place, which already angered Kuroko, but then MIdorima forcefully took Akashi and he didn't return until, as you could see, several days after. Kuroko seriously did not like that at all. So he got a bit more restless. Hopefully that clears that up.