I went still in the doorway, my eyes traveling around the room which had been turned upside down. There were new graffiti on the walls, many more that the previous time and much more aggressive, which said: "Kill yourself! Sicko!", amongst several other insults.
Shirane and the girls have been here, I concluded, lowering my eyes to the floor, ashamed that Doctor Tsunan had to see this, yet again.
'Do you have a sponge?' he asked, making past me and wounding his way towards the kitchen.
My head snapped up in surprise.
He found the bathroom and came back with a bucket full of chemicals and a sponge.
Tossing off his coat and hitching up his sleeves, he got to work immediately.
'You really don't have to do this,' I assured him, a bit frozen.
'At two, it's going to be faster. I'll take care of the graffiti while you tidy up a little.'
I hesitated a minute, not really knowing how to react, so much I was touched by his kindness.
'Thank you. I really appreciate your solicitude towards me,' I told him with a smile, closing the door.
I cleaned up the bedroom before getting to the kitchen which hadn't been spared either, though there were no graffiti there fortunately.
When I was done, I came back into my bedroom to ask the doctor if he wanted to have another drink, only to find him fast asleep on the couch in a sitting position, all the graffiti having been rubbed off.
I guessed that he must have sat down to rest down a bit and he fell asleep without realizing it, too tired. He had been driving the whole day after all. His palms were still red with hard work.
I gazed at him for a moment. His expression seemed so serene while he slept. What happened with Naoto had been a difficult time for him to go through. It must have been a while since he hadn't closed his eyes like this and enjoyed a peaceful sleep, so I decided not to wake him up.
Putting him into a more comfortable position, I took off his shoes and covered him with a thin quilt, before I switched off the lights and went to bed, sinking into a deep slumber.
***
Meanwhile…
Placing a hand up against the cold tile, Ayame closed his eyes, letting the cold water fall over him.
He saw himself back in the past, sitting on the swing of the playing ground at sunset, all alone.
*Flashback*
Eight years ago…
He didn't really know why he continued to come here every day. Maybe, because he used to like to come to this playing ground when he was younger. Maybe, he expected his mother to come and fetch him like she always did.
Even if, this was no longer possible. Because she was no more. His whole family was no more.
It was nostalgia.
'Look, whose there!' snickered a familiar voice.
Ayame didn't have to look up to know who the voice belonged to. It was that same boy in his class at school and his "mutts" who picked on him all the time.
'It's the son of that degenerate who has massacred his own family. And when I think that little Ayame used to shout on all roofs that his daddy is a true hero! Hero my foot! He was a sicko, yeah!' scoffed the boy and his followers laughed, cruelly.
Ayame gritted his teeth, tears welling up his eyes, his hands tightening around the chains of the swing.
'He's so pitiful!'
'I have goose-bumps when I see him!'
Ayame tried hard to ignore their comments but it was too hard. Breaking into tears, he jerked to his feet and shouted, 'My dad wasn't a degenerate! He was the sweetest and kindest father of all. He's not a killer. He loved us a lot. He loved us!'
'Really? If he's not a degenerate then why did he kill your mother and your sister,' they retorted. 'Why did he stab you?'
Words failed Ayame; he was utterly debilitated.
Out of the blue, Katsuya Hattori appeared and he kicked the boys' asses, making them run away, much to Ayame's admiration and surprise.
'What a brat that boy is! He has violent friends. When he'll grow up, he'll become a delinquent!' muttered the mothers who had come to fetch their children at the playing ground, casting upset looks towards Ayame. 'Worst, he'll become a psychopathic killer like his father!'
'What are you looking at?' Katsuya snapped at the women and they jumped, hurrying away with their young ones.
'Don't listen to them!' the ginger-haired boy told Ayame, ruffling the blond's hair. 'They don't know what they're talking about.'
Ayame didn't know the older male well; having only met him a few times at the organization. But he knew at that moment that the ginger-haired boy was his hero and this would never change.
***
Kagami Gushiken had saved him. The organization had saved him. He had found a new family in its members. But he could never get over the tragedy that he lived. He supposed that it was just impossible to get over something like that.
Closing the tap and grabbing his towel, he wounded it around his waist. He was about to step out of the bathroom when, suddenly, a voice came from behind him, saying, 'I should have recognized immediately.'
The blond flung around instantly, coming face to face with a tall and muscled man with tanned skin and colored blue hair, clothed only in a hakama with his chest left bare. The guy seemed to be in his thirties, his irises crimson red.
Ayame froze, disconcerted.
'You're that same little boy from eight years ago. You should be dead but it looks like you have survived.'
Without any warning, the blue-haired man dashed at Ayame. The blond had expected a collision but it wasn't what happened. The blue-haired guy went through Ayame, their bodies fusing together to form a single entity with two consciences, except that only one of them was in command now.
***
The next day…
It was seven o'clock in the morning when I stirred out in bed, the sun shining brightly outside. I glanced at the couch; Doctor Tsunan hadn't woken up yet. Kōmori-san was still fast asleep too.
After performing my morning rituals, I prepared some tea, but also some coffee, not really knowing which the doctor preferred. I wrote him a small note then, before I would go out to head for Ayame's house.
The blond lived in Kuribayashi neighborhood and I had gotten his address from Doctor Tsunan the day before. I had talked about Ayame's frights with the doctor in the car.
I wondered what I was going to find at the blond young man's place; how the latter would react to it.
As I arrived in front of the two-storied house, paused down a minute, scrutinizing the place. It was here that Ayame grew up; it was in this place that he lived with his family. It was also in this same house that his dear ones were brutally snatched from him. It was still here that he lived.
Contrarily to him, I would never have had the courage to do that.
My eyes traveled the tiny front yard.
Rinshō Tsuge had pursued him in the yard where he had stabbed him several times until he thought that little Ayame was dead.
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I strode my way up to the front door and knocked.
A minute later, Ayame came to open the door.
'Shun?!' he said, his expression puzzled. It was unlikely that he forgot that he asked me to come. I wondered if he had a change of mind.
'Come in,' he told me, then, opening the door wider and getting out of the way. I entered, supposing that he hadn't been sure that I would really come.
The kitchen was on the left, the living room on the right. A small corridor led to inside rooms. There was a staircase which opened up right across of the front door which went upstairs.
I followed Ayame into the kitchen, glancing around, a bit jittery.
'You've come to see if a demon has been here, but this won't be necessary.'
My eyes focused on Ayame.
'A demon has been here, indeed. And that demon is none other than Kaiken.'
I blinked in confusion.
What's going on? He sounds so sure of himself.
He smirked. 'I guess that it gives him immense pleasure to take control over people and make them kill their dearest ones with their own hands.' He held his face in his hand, his expression twisting. 'Can you imagine the shock that he had when he realized that I've survived? It was a first!'
'Ayame?' I breathed, further confused.
I gulped at the evil glint in his eyes.
And then, only then, I realized something in a blinding flash.
I jerked backward instantaneously, gasping out in shock, 'Kaiken!'
My heart fluttering in my chest, I activated my Godai Shakujō but before I could do anything, Ayame- possessed Ayame- lunged at me. Everything happened in the blink of an eye. He seized my throat in an iron grip and shoved me violently against the wall behind me, my Godai Shakujō dis-activating as I hit my head.
Instinctively, I clutched at his hand, struggling and gasping for air as my windpipe was being crushed, my feet barely touching the ground. I couldn't concentrate enough to use my ability again.
'You, monster hunters, aren't that impressionable; though, you're all a real pain in the butt. I have to admit that massacring you and your dear ones procures me with sadistic pleasure. I was just thinking about making a small trip to the organization, but I guess that I'm going to start with you!' he hissed at my face.
My eyes were beginning to roll back into my head from lack of oxygen.
I groped around for something, anything, and my hand entered into contact with something cold and smooth. Seizing it firmly, I hit Ayame on the head with it. The flower vase broke upon impact and the blond stumbled backward, knocking off the small dining table and a few chairs on his way, holding his bleeding head in pain.
I had landed on my behind, gasping for air.
Without losing a minute, I activated my Godai Shakujō and performed the five hand signs necessary such that the attack wouldn't affect Ayame but only the demon possessing him. Each staff represented an element and so, the signs were those of the five elements.
'Chi! Sui! Hi! Fū! Kū!'
At my will, the five shakujō impaled Kaiken, expelling him out of Ayame's body.
The latter stumbled away, disoriented but unscathed, while the blue-haired demon sank onto his knees on the tiled floor, his face twisted with pain.
My heart jumped to my throat as I realized that the attack didn't kill him. I guessed that it was due to the fact that when I performed the five signs, the effect reduced the power of my ability by half to protect the human soul.
I sprung to my feet, staring frantically at Kaiken as he gripped one of the staffs and dis-impaled himself, before he crushed it with his bare hand, which had the effect to dis-activate my ability by force.
He was about to attempt an escape for the door but I jerked at him, pinning him on the ground before he could.
I activated my Godai Shakujō again, the effect of the five elements signs annulling automatically.
This demon has killed the family of Ayame! The sight of the miasma permeating this room- this place- was a terrible spectacle for the eyes. This demon has killed Shuko's father and the latter's students. He made Rinshō Tsuge and Naoto Higaonna pass for murderers. He has destroyed Ayame, Shiragiku and Shuko's lives!
Staring at him in the eyes, I attacked him, my five shakujō impaling him, with me along.
Thank you for reading!