Chapter 15: The 2nd Academy (Part 1/2)
At the academy, Rei and I received a much higher standard of living. Three meals a day, nice beds, clothes, a proper bathroom, and an education to boot. That's how people should be living life in the first place. While I was focused on the glass half full, Rei had become quite the opposite. He gained a weird fixation on killing bugs which I found disturbing but also strangely fascinating. It was like an itch being scratched but I tried my damndest to be our voice of reason. Even then I shared his gloom sometimes, remembering what we had done for Big Madam and the Ghoul Restaurant. Survival or not, the blood was and still is on our hands. Another thing to add to the pile was how off putting it was to stop seeing Ritsu ever since that day we got rescued and how we were probably gonna live with her as opposed to living at the academy. It didn't help that we were being taught about ghoul biology and such as well which only served to fuel my obsession about Ritsu and ghouls in general.
The staff and other cadets viewed us as abnormal and honestly, I couldn't blame them because they were right. Rei didn't bother trying to make friends and even told me that I was wasting my time. Once again, his point was proven when I kept getting shunned at every turn. Just when I was ready to call it quits and take his advice after a week of perseverance, I was stopped by a pair of twins on my way back to our room. We shared some classes but I never talked to them before. All I ever knew about them was that they and their friend really liked Amon's lectures.
"Oh great. Are you two here to rub salt in the wound?" I sighed.
"N-No, not at all. Your name is Kira, right?" The white haired twin asked softly.
"Yeah, that's me," I confirmed, holding back a sarcastic remark.
"I'm Nashiro," the white haired twin greeted.
"And I'm her sister, Kurona," the black haired twin added.
"I—We could tell you were trying your best to talk to other cadets so we figured we should try to get to know each other better," Nashiro explained.
"Not to mention that we also find it unfair how you and Rei have been the subject of many rumors going around," Kurona clarified.
"Well, uh… thanks," I scratched my head. To say it felt weird not knowing exactly what I wanted to come out of my mouth is an understatement. There were so many topics I had ready to go when no one was giving me the time of day but now I suddenly had nothing. I chalked it up to being that they're cute girls and giving me the right attention I was seeking. "W-What do you wanna talk about?" I just asked at random.
"O-Oh, I-I… um," Nashiro stammered.
"You're blowing it already," Kurona casually commented. "Let me fix it."
"K-Kurona!" Nashiro exclaimed nervously.
"Let's get lunch together tomorrow. We'll talk then. Bring Rei too while you're at it," Kurona said succinctly.
"O-Okay, I will," I responded, taken aback by her sheer confidence.
"Really? We'll see you tomorrow then!" Nashiro smiled as she and Kurona walked past me.
"See how trivial that was? You were worried about nothing," Kurona said, just barely within my hearing distance.
"E-Easy for you to say!" Nashiro remarked. Tomorrow came about in the blink of an eye. I surprisingly didn't have to drag Rei to join us probably thanks to it being about lunch. We happened to bump into the twins at the cafeteria entrance.
"Perfect timing, you two!" Nashiro complimented.
"Consider it to be sheer luck," I said. Going in, we grabbed some food and sat down at a table, ignoring some of the lingering eyes on us. Regardless, the eyes seemed to vanish shortly after as Nashiro and Kurona pulled us into a conversation. Moreso me than Rei from what I recall. Chatting with them was kinda surreal given that Kurona and I have black hair while Nashiro and Rei have white hair so it was like talking to alternate versions of ourselves in a way. Nashiro seemed really interested and engaged with me while Kurona tried her best with Rei.
"Are you sure you're not the little brother? Kira seems more suitable to be the big brother," Kurona sighed.
"He wishes he could be. If I had my way, he would be more like me so we can have twice as much fun!" Rei chuckled and started pulling on my right cheek. "C'mon, Kira! Be more like me! Y'know you want to!" He taunted.
"Knock it off. It's not happening," I simply decline, smacking his hand away.
"Awww, you were never so boring until we got here. What happened?" He complained.
"It's called focusing on what really matters, which is education in this case," I answered.
"Such a shame but you'll come back around sooner or later," he chuckled.
"Whatever," I rolled my eyes.
"Hey, Kira. How come you haven't touched your nattō?" Nashiro asked curiously.
"I hate it but they made me get it," I answered.
"But it's very healthy for you! I think hate is too strong a word," Nashiro grabbed the small bowl of nattō and started stirring it. "Try giving it another shot. I will even help you out," she asserted, picking up a slimy strand of beans.
"Fine," I shrugged, not wanting to upset her. Leaning across the table, I held my mouth open as she fed it to me. When our eyes met, a warm flash of red suddenly engulfed our faces and made me pull away. For the briefest of moments, I felt that similar feeling Ritsu gave me. "H-Huh. Y-You're right. It's not as bad as I remember it the first time."
"S-See? I told you so," Nashiro stammered while Kurona quietly giggled and Rei focused on eating.
"What's funny?" I inquired.
"Nothing to worry about," Kurona smirked. From that day onward, we hung out a lot more and it felt nice being able to talk to more than just Rei. Those days were very short lived though when their other friend, Shizuku, had passed away. I accompanied the twins to her tombstone to support them.
"I didn't get the chance to know her but I wish I did," I sighed.
"She probably would've enjoyed your company," Nashiro said with a stoic sadness. "Thank you for coming, Kira."
"You're welcome. It's the least I could do," I replied.
"So where's Rei? She was his classmate too," Kurona asked.
"I don't know. Somewhere," I answered. My eyes looked at the grass, knowing he was probably too busy smashing bugs and the like again. Walking with them along the path to our dorms, we ended up coming across Rei sitting on the side of a grassy incline.
"Rei! Why didn't you show up?" Kurona asked.
"Does it really matter? All living things only have so much time anyway. I guess her time was just shorter than ours. Why waste energy on her?" He responded, not bothering to look at us as he selectively swatted at the ground. I wanted to be surprised that he would say that but couldn't.
"How could you say that, Rei?! Where is your empathy?!" Nashiro shouted, stepping closer to him. "Does Shizuku's life just not matter then let alone anyone else's?! How would you feel if Kira died?!"
"Go away already! You're annoying me!" He angrily exclaimed. Kurona and I gasped when we caught glimpses of red splotches on his shirt. My brain went into overdrive trying to dissuade myself from thinking it was blood. There was talk from other students about finding animal remains on the campus and with seemingly clear evidence in front of us marking Rei as the one responsible, I refused to believe he would go beyond crushing insects.
"Nashiro, get back," Kurona warned. Taking notice of the bloody patches, Nashiro quickly backed away to her sister's side out of sheer shock.
"Are you the one… killing those animals?" Nashiro inquired hesitantly.
"Maybe I am! What are you gonna do about it?!" He yelled.
"You two should head back to the dorms. Let me handle this. Things can't be as they seem," I forced myself to speak.
"I know he's your brother but be careful," Nashiro advised. I simply nodded as they left the scene. Rei seemed to cool down. Taking a seat beside him, I noticed the crumpled anthill at his feet.
"Did you actually do it, Rei?" I questioned.
"Were you not listening?" He asked.
"Look me in the eyes and tell me you did it," I requested. Facing me, his blank eyes gazed into mine.
"I killed those animals, Kira," he said plainly. I don't know what it was about his face at that moment but I just knew he didn't actually do it and instead chose to lie.
"I will never believe that," I said, hugging him. "No matter what you or anyone else says."
"You can keep thinking such," he said dryly, pulling away from me and leaving. I had a couple things I wanted to say but didn't tell him because I knew he wasn't gonna really listen and it would only hurt me more in the process. Unfortunately, other people must've seen the scene because Rei was suggested to be behind the animal killings by our peers immediately the next day. Even some of the adults felt the same way but never openly said it. In spite of that, I kept defending him which did me no favors. Finding friends in the Yasuhisa twins completely backfired on me soon enough when they miraculously disappeared without a trace from the academy. It was like crumbling all the way back down to square one. Just the two of us again but barely that.
Even though we shared a room, there was clearly an ever growing rift between me and Rei but I couldn't give more energy to patch it up. In one of his rare moments, he picked up on this and snapped out of his depressive funk. Taking initiative to rekindle our once close bond the only way he knew how, he dragged me away from my studies so we could spar like we used to do. Letting him do that was a double edged sword.
"Are you ready, Kira?" He asked excitedly, getting into a fighting stance.
"Yeah but let's make this quick," I affirmed, putting my fists up. The second I threw a punch and he dodged it effortlessly, it was like we were still scrappers. Muscle memory made us fight like our lives were still on the line, trading punches and kicks. Despite the bruises, we were grinning wildly at each other. As the fighting kept going, I quickly realized how serious I was getting. What was supposed to be simply indulging my brother was me actually trying to kill him due to old habits and the only thing preventing that was his own skilled reflexes. Trying to hold myself back, I ended up losing, having been tripped off of my feet.
"I knew it! You still know how to have fun! If only you didn't stop yourself, then it would've been a much more difficult fight!" He chuckled before helping me up.
"Whatever helps you out," I sighed, shaking off the murderous intent I felt. It hit me that I now understood the conflicting emotions I had towards Rei smashing bugs. What I thought was just a mask I was wearing back then was and still is naturally in my blood. A twisted attraction for violence. Every hit I dealt to Rei and vice versa, I was deeply enjoying the pain and thrill of.
"Later," Rei suddenly whispered in my ear. I didn't quite grasp what he meant at that moment so I just nodded like I understood. Later that same night as I was preparing to go to bed, he snuck up behind me and grabbed my waist.
"R-Rei?!" I gasped.
"Remember what I said earlier?" He inquired.
"Y-Yes," I answered, turning to face him. Without another word, his lips were suddenly against mine. Completely shocked, I broke away from the kiss. It felt so weird. He hadn't kissed me in what felt like forever. As much as I still liked it, it now carried an inappropriate energy to it after having lived much more normal lives.
"Something wrong?" He tilted his head.
"This… doesn't feel right… and your injury," I replied hesitantly.
"It's fine. Nothing but a faded scar now. Besides, I haven't felt like this in a minute and you lost, remember?" He pressed his crotch against mine. I gulped nervously. After a few seconds of thinking, I relented, desperately wanting to satisfy him.
"C-Can I ask something of you then?" I stuttered.
"Of course," he responded.
"Could you… bite me like a ghoul… during it?" I inquire shyly. I couldn't bring myself to tell him to hit me and the like.
"Sure thing," he affirmed, kissing me again as we undressed each other. I couldn't stop myself from blushing when my eyes caught a glance of just how much bigger we've both gotten. Picking me up, he climbed onto my bed and laid me down. He ravenously bit me all over as I tightly held onto the sheets, both of us lost in euphoria and moaning each other's name as my bed violently rocked from Rei eagerly railing me. Having reached a mind-numbing climax together, we stared deeply in each other's eyes as we panted heavily. "Wanna keep going, Kira?"
"Y-Yeah!" I answered. Sharing another kiss, we kept going at it, letting him manipulate my body into whatever positions he desired and climaxing again and again. When we were finally out of energy, we shared the bed and cuddled. "Hey, Rei."
"That's me!" He chuckled.
"Do you plan on going forward with the Academy? Being an investigator, I mean?" I asked.
"Of course. You know I wanna fight and it's not like I have a choice," he answered. I sighed, not wanting to waste my breath and tell him he's wrong because he won't ever budge.
"Then I'm following you! I won't let you do it on your own!" I hugged him tighter.
"I was hoping you would! Make sure to keep up with me then so we can be strong investigators together!" He smiled.
"I will!" I affirmed. I knew I shouldn't have slept with him given how this started when we were younger let alone choose to be an investigator but I just wanted my big brother back along with the intimacy we used to have. That passionate night completely reignited the carnal habit. It'd mostly happen after sparring together, following the same rules he had set in place. Admittedly, I would be the one to instigate it sometimes without even a need for fighting prior just to quell my thoughts about Ritsu… and then that quickly stopped being the case the moment I spotted someone who was stalking the school.
The stranger in question was a woman with dark purple hair that was obviously dyed, sporting a black tank top and slightly ripped jeans. A very punk kinda style in general. Every other day she would sit on a bench facing the academy from across the street and just watch us. I couldn't help but glance at her from time to time given how distractingly beautiful she was. I wondered endlessly about what her deal was, letting it take over my mind during my classes and the thoughts even followed me to our dorm. Not even a full week passed since the stalking started before I just had to get to the bottom of this.
The next time I noticed her staring, I moved away from the other students walking alongside me and found myself bewildered at the reaction I got from it. Her eyes were locked on me! This whole time she's been staring at me specifically! Noticing that I've acknowledged her, she smirked and beckoned me. Despite knowing all the potential danger of approaching her, I still went ahead with it, making sure no one saw me as I climbed over the fence and went to the bench she was sitting on.
"And here I thought it would take way longer to get your attention," she chuckled.
"W-Who… who are you and what do you want with me?" I asked, cautiously still keeping some feet between us.
"Oh yeah. It's been a couple years, hasn't it? Of course I couldn't expect you to remember me especially looking like this," she said. Her possible identity suddenly struck me like an arrow piercing flesh. It was a long shot but who else could she ever be?!
"R-R-Ritsu?" I stammered.
"Ding ding! You're correct!" She grinned. "I'm glad we cou—ah,"she gasped, having been hugged so suddenly by me. She gently stroked the back of my head. "Glad we could reunite."