'What was happening?' Karamatsu's voice echoed within his own head.

"Please tell us your name," the judge instructed.

'This is actually happening?'

"M-Matsuno Karamatsu . . ."

'He said it wasn't happening.'

"Date of birth?"

"May . . . 24th, 19-"

Ichimatsu's words within Karamatsu's head took over the sound of hearing himself, 'You're dreaming.'

"Legal domicile?"

'Go back to sleep,' Kara heard both Ichimatsu's voice and his own utter the same words.

"J . . . Japan."

Karamatsu stared out at the three judges, the six lay judges, the prosecutor, and . . . Ichimatsu, his defense. It felt like he was seeing himself as well. Himself, along with the rest of the spectators and officers in the room. It felt as if everything was in third person, as if he was somehow dreaming and watching himself. Yet he knew he wasn't. This really was happening. No matter how many times his mind wanted to repeat that question over in his head.

The judges were still speaking, and he was still answering their questions, but it was getting more difficult to distinguish what was actually being said to him at this moment, what had been a memory, and what had been a dream.

Last night had . . . been a dream? Being at the stand right now was his reality, even if he was completely unsure of how he got here.

Last night had felt so real, that it made standing here in reality feel questionable. But no, Ichimatsu had told him he was dreaming. That what he saw wasn't real. To 'go back to sleep.'

What occurred in the bathroom had already done something to his head. Both his body and head. It was difficult to believe that he had actually allowed for his brother to ███ him ██, and then everything after that just made him feel out of source.

Ichimatsu had gotten the sample into the refrigerator and returned to watch him shower. He had just stood there, leaning against the door with his arms crossed over his chest with that completely expressionless look the whole time. Utterly unmoving.

After that, he had fed Karamatsu dinner. Instructions had been given that as of tomorrow (today), he really was to make every meal of the day. Ichi was going to get 'permission' to take him out after the first court session for food shopping. From then on, it was to be Kara that would provide all the chores and housework as he had added within his initial plea for 'the deal.'

How Karamatsu was actually looking forward to that, because it didn't feel good at all to be told to sit on the floor eating expired yakkisoba pan from 7-11 while Ichimatsu sat on the chair. Even the cats were allowed to sit on top of the table and eat their expensive wet food! Ichimatsu had gotten a Domino's delivered pizza for himself where he fed the sardines on it to the cats by hand.

However . . .

After that . . .

"You're sleeping in my room," Ichimatsu had pulled Karamatsu right back upstairs when he and all the cats had finished eating.

From what had just happened in the bathroom, Karamatsu felt like Ichimatsu could have just tossed gasoline and a match to his face with how hot his cheeks had gotten. He shouldn't have felt that way, considering they had grown up together sleeping next to each other nearly all their lives.

Did it make such a huge difference that this was a western style bed and not a futon? Or was it because it would just be the two of them and not their other brothers in the room now?

Those thoughts had made Karamatsu feel actually ill, as he recognized he shouldn't even be having such questions to begin with since they were related. It shouldn't have been any sort of big deal, but somehow Ichimatsu had made it a big deal the second he decided he wasn't ███ing himself ██ fast enough and had to do it himself. Now sleeping next to each other felt like more than just simply sharing a mattress.

"Don't look at me like that," Ichimatsu grunted with his continued apathy as he noticed the added color on his brother's face. Ever since the shower, that tired-uninterested expression never left him. Which, that being a good thing or not, was debatable. "Are you thinking perverted things?"

"What!?" Karamatsu jumped back a bit, sputtering the word out in English. "N-no! It's just-"

"Just what?"

"Nothi-"

"No."

"No?"

"No, answer me. What were you thinking about?" Ichi smiled.

He smiled. Again. The apathy was better, Karamatsu decided.

Ichimatsu had smiled and moved himself closer to him. Each hand had lightly grabbed hold of Karamatsu's arms as he turned him, taking stark steps towards the bed. He didn't need to be forceful, as Karamatsu was easily obedient to do what he wanted in allowing for himself to be directed to sit down on the mattress. "You really are thinking dirty things, aren't you. About me? Your own brother?"

Karamatsu quickly shook his head no. "That's not it!"

"Then what was it?" Ichi cruised his hands down from the other's arms without removing his touch. He slid his fingers over his stomach, further south along his thighs, and only stopped at his knees where another latch was then arched over him. He may have been soft with his trail over to the bed, but the way he yanked Karamatsu's legs apart was callous. "Yoooouuu're thinking about what it would be like for me and you to share a bed together," he inched himself forward to now stand between his opened legs where he pressed his ███ over Kara's. "You're getting all flustered imagining sleeping next to me again . . . did you miss doing that? Ah . . . I know you did, because I've lost count of how many times I had to hold myself back from strangling you to death in your sleep from how you'd always try to cuddle next to me."

"I didn't-"

"You did." Ichimatsu sharply pressed a finger to Karamatsu's lips, keeping it in place as he continued, "Only now it will just be us. None of the others to have their eyes upon you. None of the others to judge you for what you really want to do with your little brother. Fucking pervert."

"Ahh! Ichimatsu, brother! Stop talking like that! Please!" Kara tried turning his head away as a means to no longer feel Ichimatsu's finger. That was nothing though compared to how he felt him getting ██ right against him though. He dare not comment on it though. "I . . . I'm not a pervert!"

"Just like you're not a killer, eh?"

"I'm not!"

"Well . . . if you're not a killer or a pervert . . . then you'll have no problem when . . .," Ichimatsu took a step back, breaking their contact, "I tell you that you're sleeping on the floor next to my bed."

"Huh!? But-"

"I would say because that's where animals belong, but such an insult that would be to animals. My cats especially deserve to be up here with me. You though? Hah-" Reaching forward, Ichi latched his fingers around Karamatsu's collar. With one fierce tug, he yanked him off the bed and tossed him towards the ground. And to make sure he hit the floor, Ichimatsu lifted his foot and slammed it down against his back. "Pathetic. You actually thought I would want you sleeping next to me? Getting all hot and bothered by the idea-. Heh, when really you got embarrassed for nothing."

A few small grunts passed from Karamatsu's lips as he tried to sit up, but this only made Ichimatsu apply more pressure down on him with his foot.

"Do you have any idea what it's like?" Ichi added. "Having the freedom to actually sleep alone in my own bed-without you-! Without having to constantly fight off your stupid weak snuggles; without having to smell you. Without having to hear your dumb soft breathing. Without being suffocated by the warmth of your body heat. Without having to see you as the last thing I do before going to sleep and the first thing when I wake up. Without you!"

Without you.
Without you.
Without you.

Those were the words that wouldn't get out of Karamatsu's head that night from then on. Ichimatsu hadn't said another thing after that, and he had thankfully decided to let him up.

Neither of them had said another thing after that. They hadn't even looked at one another. And before the clock hit midnight, Ichimatsu was in his bed, and Karamatsu was in his designated spot on the floor beside his bed.

After all that had happened the past twenty-four hours, Karamatsu found it easy to fall asleep. He was thankful for that, as it was such a temporary escape of some kind of peace from whatever layer of Hell the world had decided to unleash on him.

That was the assumption: That sleep was a faux peace.

That was a thought that would be on its way to get proven false in the court of law though with what he woke up to mid slumber.

Something █████████ onto his cheek, causing for him to flutter his eyes open. The tiredness resulted in Karamatsu's vision to be slightly blurry at first. But after blinking to clarity a couple times, the sight he saw made his eyes to open wide with alarm.

Ichimatsu was seated on the side of his bed, ████ in hand, lingering over him with that carnivorous predator grin staring down at him.

At once Karamatsu flung his hand to his face, wiping his fingers down a thick pool of ████ that ████ over his cheek, mouth, and chin. "I-Ichim-" Karamatsu gagged, unable to even finish speaking the name.

"Shh, shh, shh~" Ichimatsu moved himself from off the bed, getting on his knees to be at Karamatsu's level. "You're fine."

"Huh!? I am not! What did you do!?" Kara looked at his now tainted hand, both fingertips and breath trembling as he watched the ████ down his palm and wrist.

"You're dreaming. Go back to sleep," apathy again.

"Wh-" Before another thing could be said, Karamatsu felt a small tablet, a capsule, shoved between his lips. He was then tasting Ichimatsu's fingers once more. He had earlier that evening after receiving the collar, but now he was tasting his fingers with his █████ along them as he forced the pill down his throat.

Darkness.

The alarm had gone off at 5:30 A.M., and the moment Karamatsu opened his eyes he slapped his hand to his face. Nothing was there though. Nor was there any ████ of anything on any part of him. His whole body quivered as he stared down at his hands in trying to figure out if the feeling, the taste, of his twin's ████ had been a memory or dream.

'You're dreaming.'

"On April second," the prosecutor's voice snapped Karamatsu back to Hell's reality, "around eleven pm . . ."

He knew that voice. He knew all these voices. But, that voice in particular stabbed a stake into his eardrum more than the others. Maybe it was because the person responsible for trying to get the death sentence achieved, or maybe it was because he was someone they went to high school with: Atsushi.

"The defendant was on late shift at his work. He sold the victim, Kenneth McCormick, a foreigner on work visa, a pack of cigarettes. The defendant then took his break immediately afterwards, where he followed the victim out with the intent to murder," Atsushi declared, standing straight, tall, and spoke without even reading anything from a file as if he had memorized it all. "The defendant grabbed the victim buy his upper arms. The victim attempted to fight back, notably kicking the defendant once in the chest. The defendant then grabbed the victim again and stabbed him once in the abdomen with a fixed steel blade fishing knife. The victim tried wrestling the defendant off some more, but then received twenty-one more stab wounds ranging between abdominal and chest. The victim died from blood-loss and shock as a result."

The cuffs around Karamatsu's wrists suddenly started to hurt way too much. They made him re-aware of the hidden collar around his neck from under his button-up top hurt even more. The only part about everything that he was hearing that he could remember was selling a foreigner a pack of cigarettes and then going on break. His whole body was once again shaking the way it had this morning, and he couldn't tell what really did hurt the most: The cuffs, the collar, Ichimatsu's bored face, or Atsushi continuing on.

"Desecration of the body had been further performed by the dissection and removal of the victim's right fourth vertebrosternal rib. The fishing knife used to conduct the murder was found to belong to Tatsuo Uebayashi, the previous victim in the 'Recycler Slayer' killings, which concludes that the defendant is the culprit in the series of murders. The crime the defendant has done is called 'homicide', specified in Criminal Law Article 199."

"All right, thank you." the presiding judge, Judge Kanojo, remarked.

Judge Kanojo . . . Karamatsu felt like she was someone he vaguely knew, but couldn't quite remember. Maybe he had been mistaking her for someone else? The other two judges though? He had the same familiar-unfamiliar feeling for the judge to the left of Kanojo. The tag for that executioner was 'Judge Sousou.'

Then, to Judge Kanojo's right . . ., Karamatsu was sure he knew her. And, that was bad. Judge Iwase.

The six lay judges didn't make him feel any better either: Shinnosuke, Suzunosuke, Sanosuke, Dennosuke, Yuranosuke, and Shonosuke Hijirisawa.

'How could that be legal?'

Judge Kanojo continued, "Are there any errors in the case the prosecutor has just announced?"

Every person's eyes on Karamatsu felt like an individual brick tossed on him. He swore his throat was closing up on itself as he tried to reply, but the silent stares could have been physical duct tape that was slapped over his mouth.

His eyes moved from the judges back over to Ichimatsu. He was the only one not looking at him. He had his head rested in his hand, elbow on the table, while just blankly staring out at nothing towards the opposite wall.

'What a bastard,' Karamatsu gritted his teeth. It had been enough to break that metaphorical duct tape.

"Y-yes! There's a mistake!" He cleared his throat and went to spread his arms out, but the cuffs didn't permit such a thing. "I didn't murder him! I didn't kill anyone at all!"

Several shifts and murmurs that were supposed to be quiet were all too loud within the courtroom. And still, Ichimatsu did not put his attention on his client. Judge Kanojo retorted in an instant, "Written here, the accused confessed during the investigation. Does the defense wish to provide a statement and plead the case that may offer reasonable explanation for the denial?"

Ichimatsu took his time in rolling his eyes away from the wall and at the judge, then towards his client. "Hm . . ." A low, heavy sigh dropped from him as if he just been asked to clean a Porta Potty without gloves. "Yeah . . ."

Karamatsu's current shiver suddenly increased. How could Ichimatsu be talking like this in court!? Everyone else within the room clearly looked annoyed by the lack of respect. Was this the way he always conducted himself in court? And if so, then how did he have a perfect winning rate!? Or was he just being like this since he hated who he was supposed to be defending? Karamatsu felt as if his brain was going to fall out of his ears with how much his head was spinning.

"You see . . ., your honor," Ichimatsu also took his time in making his way next to the stand. "It is because . . . my client is an idiot."

"WHAAAT!?" Karamatsu nearly lost his balance over the podium.

"That cannot be speculated," Judge Kanojo replied. "Will the defense please stan-"

"No," Ichimatsu interrupted.

Karamatsu fell even more agape at this. He wasn't sure why he was feeling surprised, this was Ichimatsu, after all. But still, to be the same Ichimatsu in a court of law!?

With a quick glance around, everyone else except for Atsushi was also sharing the same wide-eyed-opened-mouth expression. Atsushi just appeared annoyed with his arms cross over his chest, however. The judges' shock was hastily turning into ire as well.

"Ah . . . Ichimatsu, brother . . ." Karamatsu whined as he tried leaning over towards Ichi as much as the stand would allow, "Why are you doing this to me!? Please st-"

A hand roughly pushed into Karamatsu's chest, causing for him to cough over his words as Ichi half-punched him away from his vicinity.

"You see . . .," from behind his back, Ichimatsu held up an overstuffed folder in one hand and a USB thumb drive in the other, "I have evidence to support the claim that Matsuno Karamatsu is an idiot. School work, paperwork, videos, photos dating back from when it was a child to support the claim."

"Hey!" Karamatsu glared at his brother, "Wh-where did you get-!? It!?"

"The court-" Judge Kanojo started, but Judge Iwase leaned forward which halted Kanojo's words.

"Actually . . .," Iwase interjected, "I'm inclined to agree. The defense may present their evidence to support their reasonable deniability of the plea."

The smallest of smiles tugged the corner of Ichimatsu's lip for the first time within the trial. "Perfect . . ."