THE IZU CEMETERY
Everyone met up at the new Izu Cemetery to honor the deaths of the ones who fought in the war and the innocent ones who died during the battles.
Xuanyu stood in front of the graves.
Everyone stood at the back as Xuanyu made his speech "Everyone... yesterday... was a very sad day... We've declared that day as "Warrior's Day" after the Wood War's battle at the central Election Stage Grounds and the outside mountains next to the swamps. We honor warriors... and the innocent lives that have been taken from the war" Xuanyu caught everyone's attention.
"So, today we honor all of our warriors and people… who unselfishly placed their lives on the line for our country! Those men and women were ordinary people... Innocents and the warriors have left their families… their homes… and their lives… not fame or even the honor we show them today. They fought to protect our country and their families. As we honor our veterans and the citizens who fought and remember their great deeds, let us also salute those who are currently fighting for our country!" Everyone saluted and cried.
"This script is good," Xuanyu says in his head. Some people turned back and covered their mouths as it was too emotional for them.
"Jun had a plan... a wonderful plan to kill Moises before anything gets even worse... but that plan has failed.. and led to all of these deaths. We must remember, that Jun was the only one who had a plan other than us just fighting head-on. He had a chance to kill Moises.. but he became too scared to kill his best friend... I get it too... having to kill your best friend like that"
The citizens turned their faces into anger and stopped saluting "You're... telling me... that all this was Jun's fault!?" A man shouted at the back.
"Huh-" Xuanyu got confused "No, that's not what I was-" Xuanyu gets interrupted by the whole crowd yelling "It's all his fault!!" "His plan failed because of him!" "He was too weak to kill an enemy!!" "I knew he was the worst!!" "How was he the first President!?" "This guy couldn't kill an enemy to Izuzunu!!" "Jun sucks!!" The yelling was getting out of hand. All of the members looked in confusion. Some are even scared of what might come next if they don't fix this fast.
"Everyone..." Jun spoke into the microphone "I-... I was too-" A woman interrupts him "Don't speak to us you freaking bastard!!"
Jun looks at everyone in the crowd "What?" He asks himself "Why is everyone blaming everything on me?"
"Jun... this is all your fault" A little boy points as he cries "My home!... my family! They're all gone because of you!"
The crowd goes quiet as Jun makes a fist. He quickly puts his hands in his pocket. He looks down at the grass paths.
"Oh... right..." Jun looked down at the floor "It is my fault... this is my fault..." he said, but not into the microphone.
"Jun" Xuanyu walks up to him trying to cheer him up. Jun quickly pushes Xuanyu's hands away and walks out of the graveyard.
"Yeah!! Leave! You traitor!!" "Get out of here!" "You killed everyone!!" They all yelled as Jun walked out of the cemetery.
"I think... this is where I lost it... " Jun speaks in his head "I lost it all... my respect... and my citizens" He walks through the paths to go back to his house in a depressed manner "Everything was gone"
RISE OF IZUZUNU
VOLUME 4, CHAPTER 31, AFTERMATH
CENTER OF IZUZUNU
Jun and Mark are at the ruins of the center of Izuzunu's election stage. The town was not on fire anymore, it had been a few hours since Moises died and the war ended.
"You're mad?" Jun asks. The silence grows "I haven't slept in two days" Mark says. "You were sleeping?" Jun asked.
"No" He answered. "Then... what happened?" Jun asked. "I-... I didn't get to see him" Mark answered.
Jun wondered "Oh... so you're mad that I told Irene to wake you up?"
"No!" Mark shouted in anger, startling Jun. Jun's never seen Mark this angry before. "I was cleaning the bathroom!" He shouted, "Why'd you call me over?"
Jun was speechless "Uh- So you could help us-"
"I haven't done anything!... I haven't done anything... to help!" Mark yelled as he formed a fist.
"I-" Jun didn't know what to say. He doesn't see the real problem here. "When I told Irene to call you, it was the beginning of the battle, I guess she took too long to get to you," He says.
"Why?" Mark walks through the paths as Jun follows him. They make it to the center of the election grounds where people sit.
"This place is a mess" Mark spoke. They both stood next to each other on the side of the election grounds.
Mark spoke out "It wasn't you though, was it?... It was the president, he stole my kill"
"I see" Jun looks down. "I talked to him the other day," Mark says "And uh... he told me... that he wanted you all dead"
"Who? Xuanyu?" Jun asked in his head and then out loud.
"Moises" He answered "He said he wanted to go to war with you all... and I just thought- You know-... I've been preparing... And I haven't slept in two days... and now he's gone"
Jun finally understood what he was trying to tell him earlier "Oh... You're upset because... you were preparing to fight him and then you come to war and then... then... he died and you've... prepared for nothing"
Mark replied "Yeah, waste of time... wasted... nights... days.... I could've slept"
Jun was speechless and held his head "I guess... I did call him to come to war for nothing"
Mark looks up at the sky "I... I don't know what I want" He says.
Jun stares around the town and then turns to him and looks into his eyes "Do you want another war to start?" He asked.
Mark clenched his face, wondering what Jun was about to offer. Jun held his sword tighter "I could get you that if you want it"
HOURS LATER
"Rest in peace, everyone here" Mikey and George finally get back to Izuzunu from the Usagi Empire and notice all the damage.
They sat at the Izu Cemetery with some of the members, drinking sodizu. "Jun's in trouble," Evelyn says to them, "Everyone thinks it's his fault and that he's the one that causes all of this"
"Oh... where is he now?" Mikey asked. "He's probably at home" She replies.
"I feel bad for Jun" Edison spoke "He tried his best to save everyone... and now this is how he's getting treated"
"True" Chloe faces her head forward "I don't understand the citizens," Nugget says.
"Max... he saved my life back there when we were fighting Yusuke," 07 says. It's a sad day for all of them.
They then hear footsteps behind them "Hey" Misha arrived "I heard the news... sorry I wasn't here to fight with you guys" He says.
"It's fine" Xuanyu replied "What are we gonna do with Jun though? Does he have to live his whole life with everybody hating him?"
Everyone stayed silent. No one knew what to do to tell everyone that it wasn't Jun's fault. Lilly sat down afar from the others, shaking, worrying about Jun.
"We have to find a way" Lilly spoke out "I don't want Jun to deal with this alone" She stood up and walked away from the others.
ELECTION STAGE
"Phoenix... huh?" Jun asked Mark. "Nice to meet you" Phoenix and Jun shook hands.
"If I'm ever gone... call this guy, he'll help you fight in the wars," Mark says. "Okay," Jun replied.
"I heard that everyone hates you now," Mark said. "Yeah" Jun replied "It's all my fault that the town got ruined"
"No... it's not" Mark tries to cheer Jun "It's Moises's fault. Stop saying that now"
Mark walks away with Phoenix "I'll see you around then, bye" Phoenix says.
"Yeah," Jun replied as he walked back to his house.
Jun arrives home while he cries a bit. After closing the door and standing there for a second, he fell to the ground and bawled out "It's all my fault!!" tears filled his eyes as he shouted out loud.
"If only if... I was able to kill my best friend... this would've never happened!!" He punches the floor; the banging echoes through the living room.
Jun wipes his tears and stands up "No more crying" He says "Irene... and Max... they both died... for nothing"
"Jun" Lilly called out, walking down the stairs "What's wrong?"
"Nothing... it's just... the citizens" He walks past Lilly as he goes to the third floor, where his room is. "Jun... Just know that... it's not your fault" She says "Yeah, I know" Jun walks away to his room "Goodnight" He says while closing the doors.
Lilly stops the doors from closing "Jun" she said. Jun looked into her eyes, seeing her teary eyes he wondered "Lilly... why are you crying" He said, worriedly.
"It's just that... everything" She goes for a hug. Jun's surprised as his eyes widened. He began tearing up as he held her tight "Jun, it's gonna be okay" Lilly said "We will find a way to fix this"
"Okay," He said while he sobs "I don't- I don't want nobody to hate me," he said in a shaky voice, wailing out "I'm just- I'm just a kid... I don't wanna go through this"
"It'll be okay, Jun" Lilly assured "Just rest for now"
Later, Jun looked at the town through his window while lying down next to Lilly. Everything was still destroyed, but starting tomorrow, they'll rebuild everything again.
Jun drinks some cold water and places it down on the desk next to his bed. He lays down next to Lilly, who decided to stay with Jun, and closes his eyes "It's been a long day"
He held onto Lilly as one last teardrop.
SUDDENLY
"Wake up" "Wake up" "Wake up!!" "Everything's gonna be okay" "You're gonna be fine" "Don't worry"
Flashes of images. Flashes of visions. Flashes of... old memories.
"Come find me when you're back! Okay, bro!" A strange girl shouted at Jun. More flashes of images came into Jun's mind.
"Wake up" "You promise??" "I promise!"
TO BE CONTINUED..