4. Torture
"I love you," Kaito says and Hato's heart flutters. It's almost enough for him to ignore the pain. Maybe Hato can make himself believe it. But no, they both know it's just another lie meant to ensnare Hato, to keep him from running back to Academia and safety.
But Hato has learned that "safety" doesn't truly exist. Academia was his home, the place meant to protect him, and yet he was isolated and neglected. The rebels in Heartland were supposed to be forgiving and accepting, and yet here he is, standing in front of the soldier.
Rope is too precious to waste, Kaito had explained earlier, so she is tied down with a thick, rusted chain wrapped around her arms and legs, attaching them to the seat's arms and legs. As she struggles, it digs deep into her skin and thin rivers of blood trail down her tanned skin.
They haven't even done anything to her yet, and yet already she fights her bindings, her eyes wide and wild. Her teeth gnaw into her gag, and she lets out the occasional noise of fear. It's not a pretty sight. Her eyes first concentrated on Kaito; despite his small stature, he is the obvious threat. And then they flicked over to Hato and widened in recognition.
He feels as though he's the one in the chair, not the other way around. He can't still his hands from shaking, and he shoves them into his pockets and rub his fingers against his worry stone. It doesn't help, not when the Fusion soldier makes a pleading groan and digs her nails into the wooden arm rest.
Hato can't help her any more than he can help himself. He has to do what Kaito wants otherwise Hato will be the one in the chair or worse. Hato cannot allow that to happen. He must survive this.
Kaito hands him a knife. It's small, the blade only about the length of his index finger, and well taken care of. Hato can't see any visible nicks in it and it isn't rusted like everything else in Heartland.
"Hato," Kaito says in a warning tone and Hato figures he's spent too long studying the knife in hopes of Kaito forgetting what they're here for. "If you don't do your job, then you won't be fed." Kaito's eyes are cold and calculating and they remind him of his old teachers' eyes. Those are eyes that would strike a child down for sneezing in class.
"Hato," Kaito tries again, sighing and relaxing his stiff posture as if to appear more open and inviting. "She's a Fusion soldier. You know she won't talk unless we use force, and we need the information."
It's true. Hato himself has been trained to keep his mouth shut, even at the threat of death, and since it's been months since he left Academia, many of the things he knows are outdated and of no use to the rebels. With the knowledge this soldier has, they could learn any scheduled sweeps or major changes inside the social system. It could save lives.
He gulps, then raises the knife. "This is your last chance. Agree to cooperate, or we'll have no chance but to force you to talk." Despite his internal conflict and rapid heartbeat, his voice is calm.
Even with her obvious fear, she narrows her eyes and shakes her head. Hato mentally applauds her courage. He wishes he was made out of the same stuff as her. Alas; Hato is a cowardly dove, ruled by fear and too weak-willed to defend himself from those who are stronger than him.
Hato buries the blade into her thigh, and she screeches through the gag. Kaito makes a disapproving noise but says nothing; Hato didn't hit any major arteries so she won't be bleeding out any time soon. That means they still had plenty of time to interrogate her.
When the knife is pulled out, blood pulses from the wound and races down her legs. It's thick and black and audibly drips to the concrete floor. Hato had hoped that showing he is willing to use force would loosen her tongue, but the soldier grits her teeth and makes no attempt at communication. Kaito hovers behind Hato like a hawk, his critical eyes following every movement.
Hato gulps, suddenly missing Academia's carding method. In some ways, it'd be much more humane than this. He wonders how old she is. Younger than Hato's 16 years, but surely older 14. She's too young to be suffering in such a way; she's supposed to be idealistic and cheerful like all children are, not a trained soldier resisting torture. She's just a girl.
He slides the blade down her arm, flaying a lengthy portion of skin, and then does the same again down a different area. Two slices of skin fall to the floor. They look more like bloody lunch meat than something that came from a human body.
Already he's beginning to run out of ideas. The teachers didn't teach ways to slowly kill at Academia; soldiers rarely had the time to do such a thing. Interrogation tactics were sometimes taught, but only to students who wanted to go into that field of study.
What would Yuri do? What would Yuri do? Hato repeats in his mind, and then decides this is a bad idea. Hato isn't Yuri. Even with what he's doing now, he will never repeat Yuri's actions. Yuri enjoyed the blood and the pain; he got off on screams of pain and the look of terror in his victim's eyes. Hato has justification for hurting this girl. If he does this, she'll give him the information Kaito wants. He doesn't take pleasure from this, so he's not truly at fault.
Right?
Moving up to her head, Hato slices either side of her face from her ear to her lips. In order to make the cut deep enough, he yanks out her gag. Even without it, she stays quiet except for whines of pain and the occasional spit to get the blood flowing into her mouth out.
Her ear is too thick to just cut off with a single swing, so he has to saw at it, also chopping away at her long, blood-soaked hair. For the first time, Hato notices her earrings. They're small and were hidden by her hair. Ladybug studs. There has to be a story to them because cute, decorative earrings are banned from Academia. She must have gotten them from one of the other dimensions while out on a mission.
Breaking an Academia rule like that would earn someone a month of detention, including hours upon hours of being the live dummy for physical combat training. It's impossible that she wasn't aware of the consequences her action of wearing the earrings would bring. She knew, and yet she did it anyway.
The revelation hits Hato like a punch to a gut. He can remember his own flavor of deviating from the strict rules at Academia. He would steal flowers from the elite garden he wasn't allowed in sometimes, shove them into his pocket and leave for his dorm. There, he'd examine them and learn from their biology. He too knew that, if caught, he'd be severely punished, yet he did it again and again.
Sometimes it was the small acts of rebellion that kept him alive some days. If he could get away with committing a crime, even one so minuscule, then it proved that Academia wasn't the perfect "true cause" they enjoyed boasting about.
"Hato." Kaito's sharp voice brings Hato back to reality.
"I got distracted. It won't happen again." Hato doesn't look back at Kaito, doesn't want to risk him seeing the cogs in his mind spinning with thoughts and emotions. Hato drops her ear with the cute ladybug earring on it.
He can't keep doing this. He can't hurt this girl any more than he already has. She's just like him; born in a difficult situation and forced to do terrible things to keep herself safe. She would have been killed even if she did snitch out her friends, and her name would be soiled. Perhaps she has family back home who could be prosecuted if she became a traitor. Perhaps she sees Kaito and Hato for what they truly are: monsters.
With a swift movement, Hato slits the girls' throat, slashing the jugular. Blood squirts onto all three of them, and the girl is alive for long enough to widen her eyes in shock, and then she's gone from this world.
"Hato!" Kaito grabs the back of Hato's jacket and yanks him back, wrestling the knife out of his hands before he can do any more damage. Hato falls back onto the floor, Kaito's steel-toed boots on his chest. Kaito is smaller than him, but they both know he can beat Hato in a fight. He doesn't even bother trying to get up.
"What the hell was that?" He doesn't even sound angry, just cool and calm. He kneels down, still half on top of Hato, and gently presses his hand against Hato's throat.
"She reminded me of Haruto." It's a lame excuse and Hato knows it, but he also knows there's still some form of humanity inside Kaito.
Just at Haruto's name, Kaito's body relaxes and he sighs after a second. He lets go of Hato's neck and backs up. "If she had squealed, we might have been able to save more kids like Haruto, you know." Kaito shakes his head. "There will be more soldiers like her. We will just have to try again next time. If you disobey me again, you'll be punished severely. Get cleaned up and return to the others." Kaito leaves at that, grabbing his bat at the door and walks out of sight.
Hato is left alone on the ground with the girl's body next to him.
In a way, he wishes Kaito had killed Hato to get things over with.