7

Reminiscence

Niragi

The stench of urine that wafted over to Niragi after Kenzo emptied the contents of his bladder hit him with full force. It was like being punched in the gut so hard you saw stars. It kicked the door to his memories off it's hinges and a tsunami of pain, horror and darkness washed over him, threatened to drown him. He was trapped in his own mind, paralysed by the memory that forced its way to the core of his very being.

"Be a good boy and eat up," one of Niragi's classmates sneered at him. There were five in total. Five classmates who'd intercepted him on his walk home after school and dragged him into an abandoned alley. One of them stood behind him pinning his arms to his sides to stop him from struggling while another forced his mouth open. Niragi had watched in horror as they had urinated into a container filled with rice.

That same rice was now forcefully shoved into his mouth. The smell alone was enough to make his stomach twist. He choked on the rice, desperate to spit it back out.

"Ah ah your kind doesn't spit remember?"

Niragi's mouth was forced shut and his nose pinched. He had no choice but to swallow. Only then did they release his nose so he could take a breath. Niragi started to gag but another load of rice was shoved into his mouth and forced shut. He grunted at the effort to try and free himself but it was in vain. There were five of them and he was alone.

Niragi tried not to cry as they shoved mouthful after mouthful of urine soaked rice down his throat, but he was too disgusted and frightened to hold back the tears.

"Oh look the faggot's crying! We told you not to move during target practice yesterday," one of them mocked.

"If it's so bad maybe we should cut off your tongue," another threatened.

"Or maybe we should pierce his tongue," a third suggested.

"I like the way you think,"their leader laughed.

Not long after, Niragi was kneeling on the sidewalk his hands braced against the wall as he emptied the contents of his stomach. He kept gagging long after his stomach had nothing left to give. When he finally managed to stop he dragged himself a few feet away, sat with his back to the wall and hugged his knees to his chest. It took him hours to stop the waves of tears and nausea but the shaking never receded.

The sun had already set by the time Niragi somewhat managed to break through his state of paralysis. He forced himself to his feet, legs feeling like jelly and dragged himself home. His mother would be furious. He should have been home hours ago.

Niragi hesitated as he reached the front door to his house, a fearful frown plastered on his face. He quietly opened the door and entered. He'd hardly closed it and made it two steps inside when he saw his mother charge at him like a feral beast. A heartbeat later her hand connected with his face. She slapped him so hard his head snapped to the side and his glasses slid from his nose.

"How dare you come home this late?" she bellowed.

"I'm sorry," Niragi mumbled looking down at his feet, shoulders hunched.

He felt his mothers hand grab his chin, tilting his head up. "Look at me when you speak," she spat.

"I'm sorry," Niragi repeated.

She released him and ordered, "Go to your room. No dinner for you tonight. I can't stand the sight of you." And as she stalked off Niragi swore he heard her add, "I wish I'd never had you."

Niragi didn't sleep that night. Like so many countless other nights he laid there, staring at the ceiling hating himself, the world, his life. He was desperate to find a way to escape his daily torment, he couldn't take it anymore. He had hoped his bullies would grow bored with him over time but they had just come up with worse ways to torture him every day.

That night his hope had finally faded away. He'd wanted nothing more than to just close his eyes and die.

Several hours later his alarm tore him from his dark thoughts. He didn't take long to get ready for school and slipped out of the house skipping breakfast. He was too miserable to deal with his mother's wrath.

The events of that morning were the last straw that convinced Niragi that death was definitely the lesser of evils. He never made it to school that day. His bullies had ambushed him on his way there and forced him to pierce his own tongue with a rusty old needle. By evening Niragi had been rushed to hospital, covered in his own blood, on the brink of death, his wrists slit. He hadn't even been capable of killing himself, hadn't bled out fast enough.

His mother hadn't even visited him in hospital after his suicide attempt. And when the doctors released him, he'd reluctantly returned home only to have her sneer at him. "I wish you'd been successful," she'd spat. "But you couldn't even do that right."

Life got even worse after that.

Something smacked him in the chest and he startled as he got pulled back to reality. A phone lay in his lap. It wasn't his. Was that what smacked him? He looked up from his screen blinking as he tried to recall where he was. Chishiya, illuminated by the spotlight, was staring at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Finally! Pick your answer Niragi we're out of time!" It was Asuka who yelled at him.

Niragi only then remembered where he was. His eyes flicked to his screen and upon realising the timer had run out he quickly selected an answer at random. Only after that did he actually read the three statements.

Niragi winced as his collar shocked him. He heard Asuka suck in a breath as she too received an electric shock. They'd both chosen wrong. He watched his score drop to one point. If he chose wrong next turn he was dead.

The spotlight focused on Asuka and her three statements promptly appeared on his screen. He read them again and again but he didn't know the answer. He had a two in one chance of dying tonight he realised. Maybe it was a good thing if it all ended for him here. Maybe the world would be better off.

"I have an idea," Chishiya's voice suddenly cut through the silence. "Don't select an answer yet."

"Are you mad? We'll all be eliminated," Asuka hissed.

"See, I don't think we will," Chishiya replied coolly.

"Explain then," she demanded.

"Tell me. When you read your own statements you found them all to be true did you not?"

Asuka nodded sharply.

"Niragi?" Chishiya asked him expectantly.

Niragi slowly nodded.

"That means that technically speaking all statements are true. Because you believe them to be true. One statement though can be identified as a lie if the player applies logic. The player on trial may believe the statement is true but in reality it may just be a lie they tell themselves, " Chishiya began.

"Just get to the point," Asuka grumbled impatiently, watching the timer count down.

"What I am trying to say is the lie is also the truth. Our task is to identify the lie but if the lie is also a truth then all statements are technically true. The game rules didn't state that we'd lose if none of us choose an answer. If none of us select an answer then we all believe the three statements to be true. So I say we don't choose an answer at all."

Both Niragi and the woman studied Chishiya who waited calmly.

"And what if you're wrong and your theory gets us all killed?" Asuka contemplated.

"I don't hear any other suggestions," Chishiya shrugged.

"I trust him," Niragi said.

"The way you two eye each other off suggests otherwise," she scoffed.

"I trust his judgement. He might be a selfish ass but he's smart. If he can't figure something out no one can," Niragi shot back.

"That may be the kindest thing you've ever said about me," Chishiya teased.

"Don't get used to it," Niragi grumbled back at him.

Was that the solution then? Could they save all three of them if they all refused to choose an answer? If Chishiya was convinced then so was he. The real question was, did he want to get out of this alive?

"Your time is up. Please make your selections now," the game masters voice instructed.

All three of them stilled. Minutes seemed to pass in silence.

"What now?" Niragi asked. As soon as he'd voiced his question their collars clicked open and clattered to the floor. The shackles released their grip on them.

"The game has been cleared, congratulations to all players" the female voice announced.

Niragi huffed a short breath and shook his head in near disbelief. Asuka jumped to her feet in relief, mumbling something that vaguely sounded like a thank you, and fled as fast as she possibly could. Only Chishiya remained still, watching Niragi with the slightest hint of a smile on his lips.

Niragi caught his eye. "You threw a phone at me," he accused.

Chishiya barely shrugged. "And?"

"You could have missed."

"Who says I didn't?" Chishiya challenged, but his eyes were filled with humour.

Niragi cocked his head and raised his pierced eyebrow at him. Then he softly laughed and Chishiya cracked a genuine smile.

And that was the moment Niragi realised that the answer was yes. Yes, he did want to live.