Atsushi opens his eyes, that's odd he actually has his eyes now. He lifts up his upper body to sit up, he looks around to see where he is, everything is white, and calm colors with some doctor's equipment. Atsushi thought for a moment, he's probably in Dr. Yosano's 'clinic' as she calls it, he always found white boring and unnatural.
He touched his face to feel it was smooth, unlike it was earlier, and felt chunky and wet earlier. He removed the thin cloth that was over him and lifted his legs to the side and attempted to get up, but he stumbled a bit before getting the hang of his legs again; he took around 10 steps to the door that led to the main office, where he normally did his paperwork, Dazai annoyed Kunikida, and Ranpo ate his sweets.
The wooden floors creaked yet he ignored them when he turned the door knob and pushed the door. He was blinded by the natural light the office had; it took a second before his eyes adjusted and he saw everyone.
All eyes on him, except Ranpo and Dazai, had the same reaction. They shared the same shocked and concerned reaction; it was unoriginal in his opinion yet he could not say that. Kunikida was the first to do something, he had gotten up and walked over to the man eating the tiger."You had us worried, brat…Why did you do that?"Kunikida looked concerned but he still looked as serious as usual now that he knew Atsushi was fine.
"I-..."Atsushi didn't know what to say, he didn't even know himself. He doesn't even know if this is real, since the white haired man was still there, still staring at Atsushi yet nobody seems to see him."Are you alright?" Kunikida asked him.
Kunikida was probably confused as to why I was staring at the darker corner of the office. "I'm alright Kunikida, I am sorry for worrying everyone, but I do not know why I did it…' Atsushi bowed towards everyone as an apology, but now that he thinks about it…His face feels numb, but he guesses that it is only natural.
Everyday that passes he sees them, not just the headmaster, now the white haired man follows him around…but unlike the headmaster, the white haired man does not speak, sometimes actually sees children, feeling like he recognizes them, but from where?
He did not know, so he shrugged it off as he did many things. "Maybe you should continue to rest, you seem off." Kunikida continued but before he could say anything else Atsushi cut him off, "Im fine, I swear! I'll get right to work since…How long have I been asleep?"Atsushi asked, confused, and made mental guesses about how long he had been asleep.
A new voice spoke, 'Atsushi you have been asleep for 2 days…' The voice belonged to Yosano, who had walked into the office when he had asked, His eyes had widened a bit since that was a lot more time than he had originally thought. "Oh, I was asleep for 2 days…?"The Man eating tiger, even though he had already received an answer. He nodded and walked to his desk before anyone else could speak or respond.
He started working on paperwork that was already placed on his desk. He felt guilty because someone had to do his part of the work since he was out, and he did not even understand why he did it.
However, …he did know that the man was behind him, watching him work. Atsushi couldn't smell him with his ability or even hear him.The man eating tiger did not like that, he didn't like the fact that he recognized the man behind him, he didn't like how he knew who the man was, he hated that he knew the man was Shibusawa. He hated it. He hated knowing what he did, but ignored the guilt that ate him from inside slowly.
"Atsushi! Go home, you can't work like this."Atsushi turned to the voice, it was Ranpo. "W-what do you mean, Ranpo?" Atsushi had asked the detective that was sitting at his desk eating sweets, that was normal."You heard me, go home."Ranpo repeated himself, Ranpo only understood a bit of what Atsushi was going through, Ranpo had never been able to fully deduct anything on Atsushi that wasn't obvious.
Atsushi got up and grabbed some of his stuff before saying bye to everyone before heading home, he knew better than to say anything back to Ranpo even though Atsushi knew…That there was more following him now.
There were no footsteps or any smell of them; he just knew they were there, he walked down the sidewalk, and walked faster. Before he knew that he was panicking, trying to get away from them, he was too scared to look back; he only ran on pure adrenaline. He ran up the stairs and locked the door quickly, struggling to lock it because he was shaking too much, and he hated it.
He locked the door, ran, sprinted to the closet, and always found comfort in small spaces since that was all he ever had.
He squealed when he heard loud banging at the door, 'was it them' that was all he thought, that thought repeated over and over again when the banging got louder; it was as if they were trying to break down the door.
The man eating tiger teared up when it stopped, this was so much worse, he knew they were inside. He moved himself closer to the wall of the closet and was holding his ears as if he did not want to hear. . . or remember.
He did not want to remember and knew what he had done. He knew why they were there: He knew who they were.They were the people he killed, the kids at the orphanage, Shibusawa, he caused all their deaths.
He could hear their voices now, 'Atsushi~ Why did you kill us?' a little girl asked through the closet door."I didn't…i didn't mean too, this is fake isn't it?"The man eating tiger asked, he asked the people he killed yet they only giggled, they giggled, and that was all he heard.
'You are a murder.' 'you are a monster.' ' You're a cannibal.' that was repeated, he was losing it, he broke down, he brought his legs to his chest and hugged them. He rocked himself as they laughed and repeated it, and he was losing it.
``I didn't mean to..I DIDN'T MEAN TOO!… I am sorry, I'm sorry…' He yelled and apologized, he did not mean too.
He was scared of the punishment; he knew he deserved it, and he did the opposite of what he was taught. He had to help people, he killed them and ate them instead. He could remember the feeling; he was back at the orphanage, and it was not his blood. The blood on his hands was so warm, yet the body that he was eating from wasn't.
He remembers, how could he… how could he try to forget about those lives that he took? He deserved everything didn't he? He did. He ate the only person at the orphanage that cared about him; he still remembers the feeling of the blood dripping down his arm, down his face… he liked how warm it was when it lasted, how could he?
Wait…no.. No now, they were together, but the other children. They were mean, they deserved it, right? No they didn't.
Atsushi was losing it, he couldn't tell anymore.
"You killed me with those claws." Atsushi's eyes widened at the voice, and he finally spoke. Shibusawa spoke, he spoke over he kids, his voice was all that could be heard since it echoed.
"You made me, that was your fault…"Atsushi didn't know what to feel, the tears stained his face."You ate me after killing me, just like everyone else." His voice was loud and straightforward, the man eating tiger lived up to his name.
He had made himself forget, no the tiger did…
He didn't want to, he had no other choice..
"You didn't have to kill us" The children spoke again, they were right. He didn't have to yet he did, he was a monster.
"You don't deserve to live" They all spoke in sync, they repeated that same phrase, over and over again, he started to believe them.
Atsu- The man eating tiger started to believe them since… that was what the world needed.
Nobody needed him, and nobody needed an animal cannibal.