The next morning, Iuno woke up after a long, heavy sleep. The night before had been extremely hard on her, not just physically but mentally. At first, she did not even want to get up from her bed.
The memories of the man in the trench coat kept surfacing in her mind, flashing before her eyes. Even her dream last night, no better than a nightmare, had been about that same man.
In her dreams, he chased after her madly through a dark corridor with that strange, puppet-like movement. That motion was deeply engraved in her heart. She shivered just remembering it.
All of this made her feel small and weak. And she hated being small, being looked down upon. Because of that, she stood up from her bed out of sheer stubbornness.
'Kai nii-san will scold me for getting up, but I'm not a child. I can take care of myself. I'm an adult and these things happen in an adult's life. We just need to move with a smile on our faces.'
With such optimistic thoughts, she got up. After making her bed, she went to freshen up in the bathroom.
When she had brushed her teeth and washed her face and looked somewhat presentable, she finally opened her bedroom door.
The moment her fingers touched the doorknob, a sickening feeling assaulted her. The memories of last night crashed into her and her eyes turned numb.
'I'm not a child.'
Repeating it like a mantra, she took a huge gulp. She gathered her courage and opened the door. The instant the light outside fell on her face, her heart began beating rapidly.
She had the sudden urge to run back and hide under her blanket. But her stubbornness overshadowed her fear.
She took careful steps, little by little, one step at a time, trying to find Kai.
'Nii-san might still be sleeping. I shouldn't disturb him. He must be tired because of last night.'
Another thought crossed her mind. She planned to make her nii-san's favorite dish to please him, to make his mood better. She had seen how Kai reacted the previous night. Kai was not the type to usually show his love and care for others, but last night even a random person could have read his overflowing emotions.
Even though Iuno hated being taken care of, even she couldn't help but feel happy.
'I have the best brothers in the world.' Saying so, a genuine smile crept onto her lips.
Just then, from the corner of her vision, Iuno noticed a shadow of someone lying on the floor between the kitchen and the living room.
'Is it the trench coat man?'
The possibility was high. Maybe Kai nii-san had tied that man up to hand him over to the police the next day? That was possible.
She approached the shadow until she could clearly see the man. The moment her eyes fell on him, the ground seemed to disappear from beneath her feet.
The man lying on the floor was not the trench coat man. It was her own brother. And not only was he lying there with a stiff body, he was also foaming at the mouth. Tears streaking down from his eyes had dried, the snot running from his nose had dried too. His muscles were tense as if he had a seizure, his eyes rolled back, showing only white.
"N-n-n-n-n-NII-SAAAAANNNNN!!!!"
Iuno screamed at the top of her lungs. She leapt forward and shook Kai's unconscious body vigorously. She desperately tried to wake him, but he gave no response. He was as stiff as a rock. His body was cold to the touch, lacking any semblance of warmth.
That spooked Iuno beyond belief. Tears had already begun sliding down her cheeks without her realizing it. Her mind stopped working, her body felt numb and paralyzed. She couldn't form proper words. Only incoherent syllables spilled from her mouth as screams.
Her mental state was already weak from the previous night, and now, seeing her big brother lying on the floor, cold as a corpse, shattered whatever strength she had left. Her mental fortitude simply wasn't high enough to take everything at once.
So she stopped thinking altogether. She bolted straight to her room and searched frantically for her phone. When she finally found it, she dialed Ryuga's number, hoping he would come home soon.
Fortunately, the call connected in a single ring, and she released a small sigh of relief. But the next words from the callee crushed even that tiny fragment of hope.
"Hello, are you perhaps related to this person? Maybe family or friends? See, I'm calling from the Western Akebono Hospital. The owner of this phone was found drowning in the Peony River with a knife embedded in his back. He is currently admitted here. If you are related, please come soon."
Thud—!
Iuno's phone slipped from her grasp and dropped to the floor with a dull sound. She couldn't react. She just stared at the wall in front of her without blinking.
On the other end, the caller kept repeating their words. "Hello! Please answer, this is really urgent. The person needs medical treatment and we need someone to sign his documents. If his bills aren't paid soon, we will have to stop his treatment.
"Hello? Is anyone there? Are you listening? Hello?? Please answer. This is extremely urgent. Don't take this lightly. Hello? Hello?"
In the end, the caller hung up in frustration. Iuno still hadn't recovered from her stupor. Her mind was blank. She couldn't think, react, or even cry.
After minutes of staying frozen, she slowly moved to a corner and crouched down, hugging her knees. She buried her face and started bawling her eyes out.
She cried so much and for so long that her throat became parched, and it started hurting just to make a sound. She kept crying until she finally collapsed from exhaustion.