Before Karamatsu felt as if his breath had stopped when Ichimatsu had grabbed him close. That had been nothing to the way it felt as if his heart had stopped when the sight of his punishment had been revealed.

And even though he was still walking around experiencing all his five senses, he swore he was actually dead. Then if he wasn't? He knew he was about to die any second now the moment that Ichimatsu would decide to 'initiate' his punishment.

Not wanting to test Ichimatsu, Karamatsu had quickly obeyed the instructions. It had been humiliating. He had done exactly what Ichimatsu had wanted in sliding his shorts down and wrapping that ████ right around his ██████.

And it was bad, really, really bad. It was so bad due to how tight the shorts were on him. They would not hide it if he were to get a boner. Even worse if that boner was a result of something his own twin brother had done. It made him feel light-headed to think that this was exactly the reason why Ichimatsu had 'allowed' for him to wear his own clothing of those shorts.

Karamatsu felt as if he was actually going to puke from the anxiety as he was literally being 'walked' outside and down the street by Ichimatsu.

One of Ichi's hands held the end of the chain leash while the other stayed rested in his left pants pocket. No doubt with his fingers just hovering over the toy's remote.

After Karamatsu had realized he spoke too much out of line before and ended up in this situation, the hesitancy had such a choke hold on him to not say anything else that might 'upset' his brother more. Yet it was all driving him crazy! The closer they got to the grocery store, the more it seemed like an on-coming train he was just casually strolling right into. People on the sidewalks were already staring. And despite that, Ichimatsu didn't even bat a fucking eye.

God, he couldn't stand it and he was probably going to regret it too, "Ichimatsu-brother . . .," Karamatsu picked up the pace of his steps so that he was trailing right at his side, "I . . . I'm not saying we shouldn't be doing this, but-"

"But?" Ichimatsu shot a warning look at his sibling.

Right away Karamatsu's whole body tightened up and his tone drew even more flimsy, "b-but couldn't this . . . I mean . . . if people see me . . . with you . . . in public," he actively chose to leave out the part 'like this', "hurt your reputation and career? People are already staring . . ." which normally he liked, but not this instance.

"I don't care."

"Eh!? But-"

"But what-?" Ichi snarled and roughly slammed his finger down over the on-button of the remote hidden in his pocket.

"Nh~!" At once Karamatsu gasped a noise as the buzzing of the toy █████████████.

"Oh, you like that?" Ichimatsu canted his head up, still appearing irritated.

"N-No! That was just-"

"Good, because you're not supposed to enjoy it-" Ichi slid the dial up higher.

Karamatsu struggled to keep another sound in as he stumbled down, sitting on his knees on the ground with his palms flat against the gravel. "No . . . no . . ." he started to feel █████ his cheeks hurt with how much they were burning. "Mmnh-" Kara bit down on his lip, shutting his eyes tightly in trying to control his body's response to the sensation, but already he was ███████████. "I-Ichima-please . . . stop-!"

The next speed up was initiated and Karamatsu failed in restraining a ███ as the ███████████ █████████████ ████████████.

"Every time you tell me to stop," Ichimatsu roughly yanked at the leash, "I'm going to just turn it up more," he threatened, and that naturally made him grin. "So be like the ███ in ███ you are and crawl on all fours into the grocery store with me."

Ichimatsu proceeded to walk, but Karamatsu stayed in place, looking not unlike an actual dog that was refusing going to the groomer. "I cant~!" He whined, and in response Ichi drove the chain with more force, causing for Kara to fall completely against the pavement and scrape his knees.

It stung as the gravel sliced into his flesh, but the noise that came from Karamatsu at that moment was even more pronounced with twisted ████.

"Hah-" Ichimatsu spat, "you depraved degenerate-liking a side of pain with your pleasure, eh?" With a sharp breath, he stepped to him. Slowly but sturdily, he placed his foot on his brother's side, rolling him over on his back as he stared down at him. "Let's see how ███ you are . . ."

Karamatsu was outright panting as he laid there, eyes glossy from his internal heat. "St~op . . . No . . . don't look . . .," he went to place a shaky hand over the █████████ his shorts, but Ichi was agile in kicking it away.

"Wow~ what would people think seeing that? Being so turned on by your brother . . ."

"No! That's not it!" Karamatsu shook his head, grunting and withering as he forced himself into a half sit from under Ichi's foot. "Ah~ please . . . please don't make me . . . go in there . . . like this . . ."

"So then what would happen if I turned it off?" he flicked the switch, ceasing the toy completely. But before Karamatsu could even finish a sigh, Ichi squatted down and gave a single swift slide of his index up along the defined ███████████. "Look . . . you were even starting to ████ through your ugly shorts . . .," he kept his finger placed at the obvious █████████████████████████████████████.

"Ahhn~!" Karamatsu rolled his head back, both tightly shutting his eyes and clenching his jaw. Even with those attempts at holding himself at bay, he still didn't succeed in keeping his ███████████████████████ Ichi's touch.

"Doing this in public . . . you're so obscene . . .," Ichi brought his finger to his mouth then, giving it one lick to taste that █████. "Makes me want to puke-"

The entirety of Karamatsu's face was flushed as he watched this. Did Ichimatsu really just █████? "Wh . . . No . . . no, no, no! Let's just go back, please!"

"Hmm . . .," fishing into his pocket, Ichimatsu took out the remote and dangled it in front of the other's face. "The problem is here you're not showing me proper respect," he stood up and then pushed his foot down ████████, causing for Kara to let out his first actual groan of pain. "First you don't even give me a single thank you for getting your plea changed. Then you actually have the balls to try and order me around!? Show me your gratitude you piece of shit, and I might-might-just let you walk on two feet in the store!"

Going from ████ to pain in a matter of seconds within his ████ made Karamatsu feel nauseous. He coughed and cringe from the ache swimming through him thanks to Ichimatsu's shoe shoving into ████████. "All right!" He coughed the words out. "Thank you and I'm sorry!" The words had been shouted in English.

It took everything he had, but Karamatsu managed to squirm out from under that foot's weight. He moved himself, getting back on his knees where he kowtowed in front of Ichimatsu with his face planted to the ground, "My dear, sweet brother! My perfect brother! I am not worthy to have the likes of you bestowing your flawless abilities upon me! You are like a god among men! Truly! Thank you for servicing me with your skills! And . . . and I'm really sorry for stepping out of line! I should have known better! I should have-"

"Hey . . ." Ichimatsu bent down, reaching forward to tilt Kara's head up towards him. His eyes were narrow as he peered at him. But other than that, there was a lack of no expression. "I want you to tell me . . . that without me, you'd be nothing. Say that, and we'll see what I decide."

So much Karamatsu tried to get his body to stop shaking. It was odd. He just wanted the shaking to stop even more than he didn't want to say what Ichimatsu wanted to hear. All his brain's efforts to still himself were futile though.

Karamatsu felt his throat was so tight, and it was as if he was trying to swallow over a rock. The collar around his neck could have had spikes penetrating inward with how stiff the nod he gave was. "Yes . . . Ichimatsu broth-"

"No."

"No?"

"Lord Ichimatsu. Or just master will do too."

"Ah-" Karamatsu suddenly had that feeling of thinking there was an extra step when there really wasn't while going up the stairs. Was he really going to have to start calling Ichimatsu master from now on?

For a moment Kara glanced around, taking in his surroundings. The sounds of the streets. The people going about their business. The cars. The scents in the air from the nearby restaurants. It took him a second to realize that he was actually doing a legitimate reality check. But it was true, as looking back in front of him all he saw was his younger twin staring down at him. How? That single word question dominated his head again. Things had just been . . . so normal three days ago, then it all caught fire without warning at all.

Or no . . . maybe things had stopped being normal a long time ago the moment that Ichimatsu had moved out.

"Well-?" Ichimatsu gave a slap to his brother's face.

"Hey-!" Kara sat up and pressed his hand to the throbbing spot. "I mean . . ., sorry . . .," he lowered his head back down.

"No . . . I want you to look at me while you say it. Look me in the eyes and tell me how worthless you are."

It hurt. It physically hurt for Karamatsu to look back up at Ichimatsu, but he forced himself to. "You're . . . right. You're right, . . . master. I'm . . . I'm worthless. And without you, I'd be nothing. It's you. It's only you that makes each breath I take worth it. Life has . . . Life has always been so overwhelming for me. I'm so sensitive. Too sensitive. It's why I'm a poet at heart! And you . . . you've always been there making everything all okay because nothing can top you! You have been what has given me the courage to function everyday! I always thought that . . . if there's anything too scary, anything that I can't handle, then you would be there to take that fear away if I couldn't myself. If it wasn't for you, I would have never made it as far as I did! You . . . you were always there for me! You nearly murdered every single one of our classmates that thought it would be funny to trick me with that citric acid! That's why . . . when everyone wanted to give up on you, when everyone said you were the one for most alarm, I wanted to believe in you. Because I knew what you are capable of! You're capable of so much more than I'll ever be and I would go to Hell for y-"

"Shut up! God just shut up!" Ichimatsu outright pushed his brother away from him. "You better not say another fucking word. You said enough, got that!? You will not talk unless I specifically give you permission to. Do you understand, you piece of shit!?"

'Yes' had been at the tip of Karamatsu's tongue, but instead he gave a nod as he stood up. Still unable to stand straight. Had he comprehended the command not to talk and took the actual intelligent rout to not answer that 'question' verbally? Or . . . had it been something else?

The truth was, Karamatsu felt as if his voice would have cracked and his whole body would have broken if he really did speak another word. He had not even realized everything he had been actually saying to Ichimatsu until he had to be directly pushed.

His cheeks burned all over again, but this time it wasn't from any sort of perversion. Rather regret and embarrassment. Everything that he had just said . . . had been a whole lot more than just 'I'm worthless without you.'

The sound of those metal hoops jingled again, which was a sign that he had better pick up his feet lest he wanted to make his scratched up knees bloodier. Walking wasn't easy either. Most of his ████ had been subsided, but it was still present. So was that smeared ████████ where Ichi had . . .

The recent memory of Ichimatsu █████ him like that and then ███████ wouldn't let the blush die over Karamatsu's face. It also wouldn't' let his ███ die either as he felt his ████████ with thinking about it. That made him panic. The question of 'how' quickly turned to 'why'. He was not supposed to feel that way about his own brother! Maybe it was just all the stress build up of everything that had taken place along with Ichi's mocking words about him getting turned on by him gnawing in his head.

It wasn't Ichimatsu that he was feeling █████ by, right? It was simply his ██████████████████ being provoked from that wretched toy. Right.

Whatever the reason was though, it didn't really matter right now. What mattered was that it had happened, and now he had half a ██████ his shorts that was about to be seen by everyone in a God damn grocery store.

Each step Karamatsu took was more awkward than the last. He tried to pull the hem of his shirt down to cover past his waist, but it wasn't long enough. Already people were looking as they took their first step within the establishment.

"Here-" Ichimatsu shoved a basket into Kara's chest.

An exhale dropped from him as he tried to use that to cover his █████ █████, but that really didn't help make things appear any less awkward. The fact was that he was still wearing a leash and collar and was being pulled by someone with the same face as him. How he was actually praying that Ichimatsu wouldn't decide to turn that switch on again while they were in here . . .

"Let's see . . ." Ichimatsu placed his hand back in his pocket for a moment, which made Kara's heart attack itself. "I think I want sukiyaki tonight."

Karamatsu had been squeezing the basket's handle so firmly that his knuckles had gone white. His whole posture was tight as he prepared himself to feel a certain fluctuation ████ his ████ again. But instead, all he felt was the weight of bok choy being tossed into the basket.

Then, the weight increased as the mushrooms were added, followed by the lotus, the cabbage . . .

How he was so glad it was only the weight increasing and not the ████████.

Ichimatsu had never liked to spend extra time in stores than needed. They had been creating rather good ground with one ingredient after another to make up sukiyaki being added to the basket without really stopping. That was why, when they did, Karamatsu had actually bumped into his brother's back as Ichi stood still.

Kara had been waiting to receive some kind of glare from him, but it was not him who was in his brother's visual death daggers this time.

Ichimatsu was glaring at Atsushi. They both held the same package of tofu, the tips of their fingers even touching as if each digit was an individual knife. Upon looking to the side then, Karamatsu could see that it was because what the two had was indeed the last container of tofu.

"Well . . ." Atsushi returned the stare, half-lidded with just as much annoyance.

"Well . . ." Ichimatsu repeated.

Neither of them released their grip.

Atsushi's eyes gaze down to their hands, then over towards Karamatsu that that made him open his eyes wide again as he shot his sight back over to Ichi's face. "What is this?" he gestured his head towards Kara.

"Hm . . . Nothing."

"Noth-do you have him on a leash and collar?"

"Yes."

Several wide blinks with an open-mouth stair was given to Ichimatsu from Atsushi as he was trying to process not just this sight, but that tone, or lack of, from his colleague. "Ahem . . . well . . . right . . . I'll just be taking this tofu then, okay?" he gave one of his all too fake-smiles.

"No."

"But Ichimatsu, I was going to make sukiyaki tonight, so~ . . ."

Karamatsu felt his brow lift. Did he just hear Atsushi call his brother Ichimatsu? First name? No prefix?

"Hmm . . ." Ichimatsu looked back down at their hands holding the tofu. "I was going to have sukiyaki too tonight . . ." he slowly turned his head towards his brother, and just as slowly his smile formed.

Not good.

"How about . . ." Ichi looked back to Atsushi, "You come over for dinner. Sukiyaki really is meant to be eaten by more than one person."

"Huh . . ." Atsushi appeared genuinely surprised, "are you . . . You're serious, aren't you?" he let go of the tofu, placing a hand on his hip as he stood there.

"Dead serious."

"Odd . . .," Atsushi smirked lightly, "why now? I've been trying to have dinner with you for how long now, and you always tell me . . . ah . . . what is it?"

"Fuck off."

"Yes, that's it."

Karamatsu felt as if his brain was about to break as this conversation continued. Was Atsushi, the guy who was known around town for being the coolest, most well-groomed, flawless man, actually in some sort of accord with Ichimatsu in trying to be friends with him!?

Ichimatsu, who was basically death incarnate, never took time to brush his hair, wore dark rings around his eyes like a gold medal, and could make Edgar Allan Poe look like the school's prep compared to him!?

This was really . . . a messed up reality.

"I only have to get one more thing . . ." Ichimatsu added with his returning smirk. "Then . . . why don't you leave with us. He plans on cooking right away, doesn't he?" he turned to face Kara.

Karamatsu rapidly nodded, "Ye-yes! That's right!"

The glare from Ichimatsu returned almost as fast as it had left.

Then Karamatsu saw it: That hand going in his pocket again. He knew what he had done all too late, and it was like watching a car wreckage that he had no ability to stop. He spoke. He spoke, and had now dropped another ███ against his will when ███████ again. "Ahhn~ Mnh-st-" Karamatsu grunted and held the basket against himself much more securely. Just when he was feeling completely free of his previous████, his █████████████████████. Even in the middle of public!

"Um . . ." Atsushi lifted an eyebrow, "is he okay?"

"Yes . . ." Ichimatsu yanked at the chain, "he's just excited to cook."

Karamatsu could barely walk. Each step was a struggle ending and starting all over again. He could feel everyone's eyes upon him-everyone's eyes but Ichimatsu's.

Every step was a challenge and so was every breath. He panted instead of just breathed regularly, and perspiration started to mist over his brow while he followed after his brother down the aisle.

Atsushi was looking at him more than anyone else too. No doubt he was trying to analyze and figure out what was actually going on with his role of being the prosecutor. "I think your brother might actually be ill with a fever. He's sweating."

"He's fine-" Ichimatsu snapped without delay, "Don't pay attention to him." He stopped in the pet section, Karamatsu once again bumping into him which caused for Ichi to roughly push him back, making him fall on the floor.

The bin had slipped out from Karamatsu's hand, but he was quick to save it from spilling over. Several whines emitted from him as he actually found himself pressing the basket fixedly over his ██████████████████████. That's all it could be though. Because no, he wasn't going to allow himself to █████ a grocery basket. Even though his ███████████████ towards it.

A large bag of dog food was lugged over Ichimatsu's shoulder as he turned back around. "All right, let's go."

Atsushi gave another tilt of the head. "You got a dog? I thought you had an unhealthy obsession with cats."

"Shut up," Ichi wrenched the chain, causing Karamatsu to scrape his knees all over again with not getting up fast enough.

The last thing Karamatsu wanted to see right now was Ichi's hand going back in his pocket, but it did! The speed was turned up and so was a █████ that came from Kara as they waited in line. "Nhhgaaah-my . . . my stomach h-h-hurts~!" He tried to cover up why he was █████ due to how everyone still had their eyes on him. Maybe it could be slightly believable too with how he started to rub his bloodied knees together in his body's ███████. "B-bath-bathroom . . . ah~ . . ."

Ichimatsu gave a narrow leer from over his shoulder. A warning look. Karamatsu knew he'd be in trouble for this later, for talking more, but he felt like he'd rather get an extra punishment than have everyone staring at him like this. At least for now that seemed like the better option.

"Excuse me but . . ." Atsushi cleared his throat, "Ichimatsu . . . I think your client-"

"Shut up! I told you he's fine and not to pay attention to him!" The bag of dog food was slammed on the counter, and instantly after he grabbed the basket from Kara's grip to slam that down just as well.

Without delay, Karamatsu cupped his hands in front of his █████ to try and ████████. "Bags!" He yelled out loudly. "Give! Give me the bags to ahn-to carry!"

And just like that, Ichimatsu was grinning again at Karamatsu after yelling at Atsushi. "See what a good boy he is, Atsushi?" Ichi tossed the multi-pound bag of dog food over Karamatsu's back and shoved the grocery bags at him.

All too needy did Karamatsu grab at the bags, gripping them in front of himself. His mind was reeling. It was about everything from keeping himself under control with this messed up ██████ Ichi was giving him, concealing the ██████ his shorts, and how uncomfortably odd it was that both Atsushi and Ichimatsu were so casually dropping each other's names.

One of those things halted then as the stepped out of they store. The ███ was turned off once more. "Oh . . .," Karamatsu exhaled, "Jesus, thank you . . ."

"Hey . . ." Atsushi started, "this isn't some sort of elaborate ploy to get him an insanity verdict, is it . . ."

"What did I say-" Ichi made a new death-glare at Atsushi. "Just because I've invited you over for dinner, doesn't mean you get to talk to me."

"Uh-huh . . ." Atsushi returned the glare then, "you do know that when you have someone as a guest, you are supposed to create conversation with him, Ichimatsu."

'God damnit, stop!' Karamatsu started to grind his teeth. There was just something with Atsushi continuously saying his brother's name like that which got under his skin.

Atsushi shook his head, "Are we supposed to just eat in silence? Am I to believe that you really invited me over for the sole fact that you felt bad there was only one tofu block left?"

'No . . .' Karamatsu stared up at their to-be guest, 'That's not it at all . . . it's me. He invited you over because of me and what he plans to do to me while . . .'

At that realization, Karamatsu started to feel dizzy. This ████████████████ wasn't the punishment. It was having the prosecutor in front of him while he did!

Ichimatsu continued to look disgruntled at Atsushi the whole while, even as they reached the apartment and got inside the elevator with the abusively long ride up. "I invited you over in order to give you a proper warning. To tell you to drop this case."

"Excuse me?" Atsushi tilted his head up.

Ichimatsu didn't respond though. It was his silence again as they stepped down the hall and he undid his five locks.

"That's a little excessive," Atsushi chided.

"Karamatsu . . ." Ichimatsu yanked him inside. The dog food was accidentally dropped on the floor. "Go make dinner. Now."

"Ah . . . Yes . . ." Karamatsu slid off his shoes and hurried himself towards the kitchen.

Even though he was in there now with the task to cook, his eyes bounced out towards the main room every possible chance, and he was purposely trying to be quieter with everything in order to pick up anything that would be said between the two other men.

"So then . . ." Atsushi moved within the apartment more and then crossed his arms over his chest, "What is it exactly you want to warn me about?"

"I'm advising you to step down. Get someone else to take the prosecution position with this one."

"No. I don't think so." There was a small moment of nothing else said. Only the sound of Karamatsu preparing the vegetables and stew radiated. Then, Atsushi smirked. "Are you afraid that I might actually break your winning profile? Is that it? Because you do know, I also have a zero-loss record."

A crash of domestic thunder. A pot had been dropped to the floor and Karamatsu was staring out with eyes and mouth open so wide. How could this be!? He had been unaware that Atsushi also won everything he took on!

"Oh." Atsushi's smiled became more broad, "I guess he didn't know," he reached forward to touch his fingers to Ichimatsu's face, forcing him to look at him as the dropped pot had gotten his attention. "What else didn't you tell him about me? About . . . us?"

"There's nothing-" Ichi didn't waste time in slapping the other's hand away from him. He did look at him though, deeply, and with venom. "I'm only going to tell you this once. If you even think about using your usual tactics during this case, then it will be the end for you. Understand?"

"Hm? And what if I don't?" Atsushi's vain expression didn't leave him.

". . ." Again Ichimatsu glanced passed Atsushi towards his brother standing in the kitchen with his sight plastered on them. "Karamatsu!"

Having his name barked like that made him jump in spot. "Y-Yes!?"

"What are you doing!? I said to make dinner!"

"Right, m-master!" He promptly turned, frowning the second he was no longer facing the two of them. Seriously though . . . what was he doing? What was Atsushi doing? What had he meant by those comments he made.

Karamatsu almost felt as if he was falling all over again even though his feet were rooted on the ground. He felt so out of it. Like his body was working on auto-pilot in everything he did with the ingredients. His mind had been elsewhere. Ichimatsu hadn't told him that the person trying to put him away had also never lost a case. And just like Atsushi had noted, what else hadn't Ichimatsu informed him of?

Within the other room, Atsushi had taken a step closer to Ichimatsu. "Did he just call you master?" he perked an eyebrow again.

"Listen-" Ichimatsu sneered and grabbed Atsushi by the collar of his shirt.

That was what did the job and wiping his arrogance away.

"You know very well that you wouldn't be standing here right now if it weren't for me," the poisonous, yet hollow look formed within Ichimatsu's pupils as he leaned in closer to Atsushi. A whisper sounded more like a hiss though. Was it that he really didn't want his brother to hear, or that he wanted to make sure the other man took him that seriously. "So might I suggest, in my professional opinion, that you do understand me."

There had been a strike of surprise that took over Atsushi for a second, but he was keen in regaining his poise. He stared right into that hazardous look being shot into him. His own eyes half-lidded and his mouth straight. "Are we really still doing this . . .," Atsushi sighed and slowly moved his hands up to clasp over the ones clutching at his shirt as if he was about to remove them. They just rested over Ichi's though. "When are you going to just give in?"

The question had been asked when Atsushi had leaned in. His half-lidded eyes soon fully closed as he laced his lips over Ichimatsu's.

Ichimatsu had fallen back against the dining table. It had been his turn to experience the shock that wrote all over his face. Or perhaps, it was more of instant, spontaneous anger rather than surprise. He growled against Atsushi's lips, straightaway pulling his hands up to push at the man's chest in order to get him away from him.

Their contact broke, and with the added space between them, the sight of Karamatsu standing there at the other side of the table came into view.

It was only a second. But for a beat in time, the two twins shared the same expression over their same faces: a distress, a harrowing longing, and self-reproach with knitted eyebrows. It was only Karamatsu who kept such a rendition, however.

That look was all too soon swept away over Ichimatsu as such cruelty presented a grin for him to give to Kara.

He smiled slowly, narrowly, and moved his hands back up over Atsushi's chest, though this time keeping them in place instead of pushing him further away. "Hey . . ." he tilted his head towards his brother, his teeth appearing like fangs as he spoke, "aren't you supposed to be cooking?"

"I . . ." Karamatsu felt his voice crack as his mouth ran dry. "I was just about to . . . tell you that . . . dinner should be done soon . . . and to . . ." Sharply he turned his head away, hands forming quivering fists as he had to try and rid of whatever awful feeling it was that was making him feel so dejected at the moment. Sadness and anger flipped between one another like pages of a book. "And to-"

Karamatsu cleared his throat with a cough, his thick eyebrows then touching within this questionable resentment that was gnawing at him, "And to come to the table, but it looks like you're already here-" he huffed, not realizing that he had sounded as furious as he did until he saw the way the smile left Ichi's face.

It was like Atsushi didn't exist at all. It was only the two of them, Karamatsu and Ichimatsu with whatever sort of restless wave they were creating between one another. Atsushi even had to take a step back so that he was now out of Ichimatsu's vicinity.

"Well . . ." Atsushi loudly cleared his own throat then, making both twins jump out of their stare-down and observe him instead. "Thank you, Mister Matsuno." Atsushi said with a smile as he sat himself down at the table, peering at Karamatsu, "Even though it is my job to make sure you get the death penalty, I really hope there are no hard feelings. It's just business."

Karamatsu's eyebrow twitched. He felt like he wanted to strangle Atsushi, but now he really felt like he wanted to rip his body into pieces after strangling. "Oh-" Kara snorted, "No hard feelings at all-" he turned to fetch the chopsticks and bowls.

"Hey-" Ichimatsu roughly pulled out the chair across from Atsushi, heavily sitting himself down. "What was that about-" he stomped on Atsushi's foot from under the table, causing for him to let out a small groan.

"Oh come on-" he glowered back.

Karamatsu had also returned with the dinnerware. He set three bowls down. Or more so, he set two bowls down and half-tossed the third in front of Atsushi.

A quick look was given to Karamatsu, and then Atsushi turned his attention back to Ichi, "You can't possibly be still on that-you-have-someone-else-you-like thing? It's been over two years, Ichimatsu. If-"

The clang of wood. A small curse was uttered under Karamatsu's breath as he dropped one of the chopsticks. This was just . . . insane-whatever was going on with this prosecutor. Karamatsu couldn't believe it, because it was Atsushi. With the way he was talking, that foul kiss, was Atsushi really pining after his brother!? And Ichimatsu . . ., Ichimatsu liked someone else? Well of course. They all did. Totoko.

"Ahem . . ." Atsushi continued, "If he hasn't hooked up with you by now, do you really think it will ever happen? I mean . . . just look at you."

Clatter. The rest of the chopsticks all fell and rolled across the floor as Karamatsu dropped them in hearing what he just did: He.

A could sweat took over Karamatsu again as he hastily knelt to pick up all the chopsticks in order to conceal how he felt his face must have agape for the millionth time today. 'No way . . . it can't be . . . Ichi likes . . . a dude!?' The thoughts raced and splattered all within his head.

"I mean, who could you possibly be holding out for-?" Atsushi stood up, pressing his palms firmly to the table. "I . . . I dumped my girlfriend for you!"

The lower lid of an eye twitched as Ichimatsu leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms. "Not my fault."

"I thought you wouldn't reject me-No one has ever-"

"Well . . . first time for everything, right?" That toxic smile crept back over Ichimatsu's face, "Just like . . . this trial is going to be the first time you'll lose. Because you're not going to use your usual tricks. Am I right?"

The aggravation was clearly building up within Atsushi as he was practically seeing red while stating down at his opponent. " . . . Okay . . . fine . . .," he gritted his teeth in forcing his own grin, "If I win this case . . . and you have to let me date you."

"Hmph, all right," Ichimatsu replied without second thought, sounding ever so sure of himself.

Once more the chopsticks fell as Karamatsu dropped them all over again in hearing this bet, "Eh!?" he couldn't keep himself silent either. "You're . . ." Kara snatched all the chopsticks and stood up, pointing at his brother with one, "Both our bodies are on the line here!?"

"HEY-" Ichimatsu got up, knocking his chair over in the process as he pushed at Kara, making him drop the chopsticks for a third time. "Stop fucking around! Get the damn sukiyaki!"

"I'm fucking around!? You're the one making bets on my trial like it's a game!"

"Did you forget who you b-"

"Actually . . ." Atsushi coughed once more, "the defense is right. You have your stake here if I win. What about mine?"

"Tch-" Ichimatsu clicked his teeth.

"Don't tch me."

"Don't need one."

"What?"

"You heard me. My only rule here is that you don't test me on what I told you before. It will be for your own good."

"Right . . . Well then-" Atsushi pushed his chair in, trying his best to appear impassive, but the irritation was clearly stricken across him. "I'm suddenly not in the mood for sukiyaki. You two degenerates enjoy. I need time to prepare for my examination of the convicted tomorrow."

"Accused-" Ichimatsu rapidly corrected.

"Of course . . ." Atsushi reached across the table and grabbed hold of Ichimatsu's tie, pulling him towards him. "Thanks for the kiss-" he planted his lips back over his, but it only lasted a short moment before Ichi had steered him away from him. "Hm . . . because I expect we'll be having a lot more of those once I win this trial."

Ichimatsu had clicked his teeth again, seething as he looked across the table at his 'guest'. Karamatsu had once again appeared stunned with a wide open mouth.

"Do take care," Atsushi adjusted his suit jacket and then turned his back, leaving the apartment in that heavy silence.

Karamatsu was the one to break it this time. "Hey-!" He stomped a foot forward, "What the hell was that about!?"

"Hm?" Ichimatsu stared at him, appeared confused for a moment. ". . . Oh . . .," he smirked once more as he sluggishly wiped the back of his hand to his mouth, "You mean this?" he pointed at his own lips.

"Yes!" Kara was completely red across the face, but it was from pure agitation.

"Why do you care?"

"I don't!" He went to take another step forward, but at feeling himself draw closer to Ichi, he took a step back instead, "I . . . don't . . . I mean . . . it's just surprising, that's all. He's a guy and I wouldn't expect you to-"

"He's pathetic."

"Huh?"

"He thinks he can thank me by giving himself to me."

"What do . . . you mean?" Karamatsu absently lifted his fingers up to brush along his collar without being conscious of it.

"Hmn . . . he was going to kill himself."

"What?"

"Yeah. Jump or some shit. I was around and I don't know . . ." Ichi placed his hands in his pockets and shrugged his shoulders, "I guess I said the right thing that made him not want to do it. Something about . . . everyone being different. I don't really remember, but ever since then . . . hah . . . he dumps his stupid girlfriend, then asks me out, thinking it would be like someone offering me a PS5. I told him to go to hell and that I-"

Abruptly Ichi turned his head away, seemingly to suddenly glare at nothing. It had been a different type of narrow look though. Something uncomfortable.

Karamatsu recalled the recent conversation, and it wasn't hard to fill in the blank.

'And that I had another guy I like.'

As much as those words may have been on Karamatsu's tongue, he had to bite it.

"Whatever-" Ichimatsu sighed and sat himself back down. "Dumbass could have just given me another cat if he wanted to show me his gratitude. As if I'd want a life with him."

"But . . ." Karamatsu had to literally bite his tongue now as it was getting more difficult to keep it in. It would just drive him mad though! "But there is someone else, right-!?"

Slowly Ichimatsu looked back up to his brother, his eyelids falling further down as his frown spread. ". . ."

". . ."

". . . Even a guy like Atsushi can have gratitude. Why can't you?"

"Huh . . . what?"

"Go get the sukiyaki."

The ███ started. Ichimatsu had turned the switch on to the remote again.

"Ahn~!" Karamatsu lost his balance, but caught himself against the wall. "Y-yes, master!" He dropped the chopsticks on the table and hurried himself back to the kitchen. How glad he was that Atsushi had decided to leave. He didn't know what he'd do if the guy trying to get him killed was still here while Ichi decided to have this sick fun.

Little droplets of broth spilled out over the tray as he could barely keep his hands steady while carrying the dish to the table. "H-h-here you are . . ." Kara smiled, skewed and artificial.

Moving himself, Karamatsu then went to take a seat next to his brother. Ichimatsu stared down at the pot, not looking up as he spoke, "Wait."

"Wh?"

Some of the sukiyaki was put into his bowl, and then Ichi pushed the larger pot more away from him towards the center of the table. "Did you forget . . . you weren't supposed to talk unless I gave you permission. How many times did you break that rule?"

"Ah!" Karamatsu felt all the blood drain from his head as he did forget. "N-no! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I just-"

"Hey-" Ichi remained seated but slid his chair a bit. "Take off your shorts and underwear."

"Eh!?"

"Take them off."

"But-"

"Now."

"All . . . all right." Karamatsu gulped and slid his shorts and thong down around his feet. His cheeks became all too red as his ███████████.

"Good . . ." Ichimatsu finally turned his look back to him, "Ah . . . seems like you're ███ again."

"Well yeah-" Kara growled under his breath, "because you ██████ ██████ . . ."

"Come here."

"Uh . . ."

"Stop being stupid to everything I say and just obey me-" Ichi grabbed at Kara's leash to tug him in front of him. "Sit on the table. There-" he pointed to the spot where his bowl was.

"But . . . your food is there?"

"Is it so hard to figure out!? Sit your ass down on the table, and █████████ around the bowl to not disturb it!"

"Ah! R-right! Okay!" Kara hurried himself to do as he was told, moving himself to sit on top of the table, in front of his brother, with his █████ where the stew remained in the middle.

"Now . . ." The smile was fully formed over Ichi again as he leaned back in his seat and took out the remote, flicking it between his fingers. "I'm going to ██████████, and you are not allowed to █████ as your punishment for talking when you knew you weren't supposed to."

"Oh God . . . please no!" Kara actually slapped his hands together in a praying posture.

"No. This is your fault," Ichi's thumb slid the round dial ████████ like he had stated.

"Nhhaaa~~" Karamatsu tightly shut his eyes, his ████████ just the slightest, making some of the sukiyaki spill.

"Careful now~ remember, don't mess up the food," several chuckles fell from Ichi.

"Ah, Ichima-master! I-" Karamatsu latched his fingers sternly around the edge of the table as his ████ trembled. His whole body felt way too █████ and his heart hit against his chest so hard it hurt among the overflowing, cruel savory ██████ starting from that ████, ████████, and then ███████.

"Hmm~ you what?" Ichimatsu watched with widespread eyes as Karamatsu's █████████████. "Oh no~ looks like you're ██████ . . . what did I say?"

"Nhh-" Karamatsu squeezed his eyes closed tighter, his teeth piercing his already cut lip from the fiberglass, causing blood to fall down his chin all over again.

"Well-? What did I say!?"

"Ahh~ th-that . . . that I ca-can't . . . ███!"

"Yes~ that's right . . ."

"So . . . so please! St-" with excruciating effort, Karamatsu just barely opened his eyes, the sight of his twin blurry in front of him. "Stop . . . please turn it off or . . ." his ████████ the table, causing for all the bowls and chopsticks to shake with how he was trying to keep ██████████.

"Not yet . . . I don't feel like it."

"Ichimatsu, please!" Karamatsu shot his eyes open wide as he felt such a ██████████████████████. "I can't, I can't, I can't! Nhh~! It ███████!"

"You really can't stop misbehaving-"

"Ichi, Ichi, Ichi!" Karamatsu shut his eyes yet again as the tears from the pressure boiled up. ████████████████████████████. His senses couldn't take it another second, and ███████████████████████████ it.

Karamatsu's nails were already dull, but one even managed to crack with how harshly he was digging his fingers into the side of the table. That pressure only increased as the █████████████████████████████████████.

A █████████████████████████████████████████ █████████████████████. Saliva now mixed with the blood that leaked from his mouth as he could barely swallow with how labored his breathing was within the enrapturing bliss that spun his head.

████████████, so did Ichimatsu slide the dial of the remote down to a stop.

"Really . . . what am I going to do with you . . ." Ichimatsu shook his head, though still grinning all the while. "Now I have to punish you yet again for disobeying such a simple task . . ."

"Wh . . . s-simple?" Karamatsu slowly opened his eyes, still ████████ lightly. "How was . . . that simple not █████ with-"

"Drink it-"

"What?" Karamatsu blinked his sight completely back now as Ichimatsu was on his feet, shoving the bowl he had accidentally ███████ in to his face.

"I said . . . drink it."

"You're . . ." Karamatsu swallowed down some anxiety as he stared into his brother's looming, twisted face. He had to bite the inner of his cheek though from saying something else he'd regret.

Hands still unsteady, Karamatsu took hold of the bowl and touched the rim of it to his lips.

"Do it. That's going to be the only meal you get tonight."

"Er- . . ." A final shaky breath was taken in, and he closed his eyes, trying to drink down and consume the █████ broth as fast as possible.

"Good . . ." Ichimatsu pressed the chopsticks against his brother's hand to take so that he could really have it all.

"Nh-" Karamatsu gagged, eyes watering further as he shoveled the rest of the sukiyaki in his mouth.

"Such a good boy . . ." Ichimatsu continued to praise. "Maybe tomorrow you'll have learned to be more obedient," he took the bowl from the other's hand and set it down on the table again.

Karamatsu let out several coughs, trying his best to keep everything down.

"Or . . . maybe you won't be obedient . . . because it looked like you really did enjoy that all."

"No-" Karamatsu winced.

"No?" Ichi grabbed at his chin, smearing some of the blood that had fallen around it. "But you said yourself . . . that it ██████~" he leaned in, just barely touching the tip of his tongue up along the trail of red that lead to the corner of Kara's lips.

"Ah- . . ." Kara could feel himself hold his breath as his brother's tongue grazed one side of his mouth. "Wh . . . what are you . . . doing . . ."

"Hm . . ." Ichimatsu, stepped back, his eyes now empty again as he just looked at Karamatsu with disregard. "Put your pants on and clean this mess up-I'm ordering a pizza."