Satomi's POV:
What an idiot. How disgusting...
"Please go out with me...!"
His eyes lit up, full of hope and admiration towards me when I asked that question. It was hilarious.
His face made me ecstatic; I tried so hard to hold my laugh in. Did he really think I'd go out with him? He isn't popular at all!
...
He did have money though...
...
I knew I wanted to target him the moment I saw how kind he was. How easy he was to manipulate...
He's the type of guy to trust anything and anyone as long as they give him any affirmation, but hey, that's life, you get taken advantage of by people like me if you're naïve.
...
I heard that his dad died in elementary school.
He seemingly was well off because of it, at least with the death gratuity he gained.
So...
A little plan formed in my head after some thinking...
...
"STOPPP PLEASE!!" I was yelling into my phone during a karaoke session with my friends.
"Chi! What did you think of that one! Was it realistic?"
"Oh, beautifully done...!!!" Chisaki replied nervously.
Everyone around was laughing pretty hard, I just wanted to keep the mood alive.
There were four girls, Me and Chisaki, alongside two other girls. The two other girls went to separate schools nearby, but they work at some of the local spots, so they get us discounts.
...
Then the next week it happened, I framed him in front of everyone in the group chat, and ditched school for a new days. I also went to his parents house and extorted money from them.
"I framed him, I'm glad his parents are so stupid."
They didn't even try to listen to his side; this was the easiest score I've ever been a part of!
...
And all I had to do, was keep my mouth shut along with my friends.
...
"Hey...isn't this a little messed up?" One of the girls asked.
I didn't really think it all through to be honest, and I ruined some random classmates life.
"What if he like, kills himself or something..."
I pretended not to hear her, I didn't want to ruin the mood with a deep conversation or anything, it was funny making fun of him.
Yet...I think deep down I was scared of him doing something he would regret.
...
Chisaki looked back at her with a stern face.
"Eeeh? You were a part of this too, remember?"
"Uh, actually...haha, nevermind it's nothing." The other girl replied quickly, double backing on her words.
...
"Yeah, let's mess with him some more, I'm kind of curious on how far we can take this."
"Yeah, I'm going to smack him around again tomorrow, what happened in class was hilarious! I wish you could've been there..." Chisaki said, taking a drink of her mango smoothie.
I'm not sure why I felt the urge to try and take everything from him, but it did feel good taking all of their money.
...
His empty eyes this last week looked hilarious to me.
Pure desperation.
I wanted to stare into them continuously.
I wanted him to fall lower. I wanted to see how far I could take this.
...
In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have went this far...
...
...
Fukashima's POV:
I grew away kind of abruptly, and it was completely my fault. I was deeply in love with Haruki all of my life.
I realized it when I was a child, after his father died we grew extremely close.
I was glad when his father died, it gave me a chance to love him more.
It's disgusting...I know but I can't help but think it...
...
But then we hit high school and things changed; he was overly nice to everyone, he talked to so many different people.
He was nice to the girls in the class, and didn't look at me as much anymore. I was...jealous.
He was always asking questions in class and getting good grades, he attracted a lot of the girls around the school, although he was ignorant of it.
He thought he was mediocre, why did he think so less of himself?
It...made me angry.
So I started ignoring him, and talking to some of the other guys at school, and I stopped walking to school with him.
He started looking at me with a lot of pain in his eyes, it felt...like a dopamine rush seeing my prince...Fawning over me.
...
So, I stopped talking to him and I gave him a cold shoulder.
I wanted to keep that feeling going, I wanted to see him more jealous, just as he had made me.
...
I stopped eating with him at lunch too...
And eventually we stopped everything, all contact was gone.
I wanted him to fight for me; I wanted him to look at me more.
...
Then before I realized it, I couldn't turn it back. i tried knocking on his door, and talking with him in the hallways, yet he was completely into his own little world.
It was a stupid decision I made.
...
I was jealous of everyone else; I wanted him all to myself.
...
Then months passed.
And I realized I went too far; we stayed this way too long, and we drifted apart without a way to reconcile.
I didn't know how to talk to him.
After a while I saw a lot of people take advantage of his kindness, asking things like.
"Hey Haruki, can you take care of cleaning duty for me?" Daisuke would ask.
Or.
"Hey Haruki, if you get me a drink, I'll really like you..." Akami said.
...
He was being taken advantage of, or even bullied at times without him realizing it.
I don't know why I didn't want to stop it, maybe it was revenge for leaving me all alone in my own mind. Revenge for ignoring me all this time.
I was upset, and I was taking it out on him. This was for my own selfish wishes.
Until that day happened.
...
"Did you hear about Haruki?"
...
"He's such a pig"
"Fucking creep..."
...
Everyone hated him, I heard that he assaulted a girl in another class, and there was a recording or something like that.
My first thought was Haruki wouldn't do that. He was someone who was shy, and stuck in his own mind. They were just rumors that would fade over time.
But...I started to become annoyed at him, just thinking about how he wouldn't come and talk with me, how he wouldn't even attempt to reconcile with me in the slightest.
I was angry at the world for disregarding his kindness, and my inability to act towards my own feelings.
I was upset, then I bumped into him in the hallway after class.
...
His eyes...
His eyes were so full of pain, yet they looked right past me.
So much desperation. He needed someone, I could be that someone.
The moment he started talking to me softly, anger swelled up inside of me and I blew up. I still don't know why...
I couldn't stop myself
...
"Go away, don't talk to me you rapist...!"'
...
Why did I say that...?
I mean I know it wasn't proven or anything, it could have just been a rumor.
But I was still so angry at him.
Maybe I regret it now, since that pain in his eyes was real. Maybe he needed to explain his side. He looked hurt.
He hasn't looked like this since his dad died I recognized that face, but then... he just walked away.
He looked like an empty husk of his old self and by the end of the week, it was worse.
Who did he even attack? I decided to look into it.
Eh? A gyaru?
...
Maybe I should talk to her about what he did... I should get clarification directly from her about what happened, and maybe try to stop some of these rumors.
Unless...he actually did it...
...
And so I looked into it, and into her.
I went up to her during class break, and decided to converse...
...
"Hey...um...Satomi..?"
"Hmm?" Satomi looked back at Fukashima.
....
"Hey... I'm sorry to hear about what happened with Haruki."
....
"If you're able to, can you talk to me about it maybe?"
...
After a moment, Satomi seemingly remembered something.
"Huh? Oh yeah that guy, yeah, he attacked me after buying me some presents on a date, he thought I was easy I guess."
I mean it was a little weird it took a while for her to remember.
...
"A date?"
"Yeah, I uh...asked him out last week."
Satomi said, snickering with Chisaki back to Fukashima.
"You...asked him out?" Fukashima asked.
"Yeah, the look on his face was priceless, I was sooooo in love with him." She said back.
It was obviously sarcasm.
After a moment of interjecture, and of course laughter from both Satomi and Chisaki, they calmed down.
...
"Well, please text this number if anything comes up. I'd be glad to help"
"Anytime, what did you say your name was again...?" Satomi asked.
"It's Fukashima Mai, I used to be friends with Haruki." She replied.
"Oh, haha alright I'll take that into account!"
I walked away.
Something had me confused, and slightly angry.
...
Someone who was assaulted the weekend prior wouldn't have acted like that.
They wouldn't have laughed about it or pushed it off like they did.
...
Why didn't she report it to the teachers or police?
He would have been arrested by now.
Many questions were running through my head at this time...
Haruki has always been one strong with his principles, and he was always so kind to everyone.
It doesn't make sense that he wouldn't have apologized about this even once, his principles wouldn't have let him.
I scoffed out my breath in nervousness.
Maybe I should look into this more.
Maybe.... maybe I should have listened to his side of the story in the hallway...
...
...
...
Ayumi's POV:
I have...a weird brother.
Of course he was my half brother, but I didn't care.
He always seemingly put on a fake smile, a fake laugh, and it upset me seeing him constantly have a mask on. That mask that would cover my real brother away.
I saw right through him, he was athletic as a kid, but always held a sort of emptiness.
...
He was angry at times and cried randomly. He was inconsolable by anyone except for Fukashima. I was young, so I didn't understand anything at the time.
I didn't think a boy should have acted like that, so it made me angry.
...
So we grew away in middle school. Yet...I still loved him.
But he grew cold towards me I think.
...
Something changed in him when he hit high school.
He became overwhelmingly nice to people, always volunteering to help.
...
He was working himself to the bone and I saw it in his face. I wanted the real him, the one who was indifferent.
I saw it in his eyes as well; they reminded me of with they were when he was with Fukashima.
His eyes were empty.
...
I wanted to tell him it's okay to be normal, that he didn't have to have such pain behind his eyes. That it was okay to cry at times.
But things changed once I hit middle school, I guess.
I hit a rebellious phase in my childhood, and when I did, I started acting like I despised my brother.
I treated him so bad. I don't know why did I acted like that.
Don't get me wrong, we were never extremely close, but I started to tell him how much I think he's trash.
...
I wanted him to fight back for once.
He would shut off at times, but mostly, he just had a mask on.
I think I wanted my brother to be happier, so I got it in my mind that if I was harsh to him, something may change.
I was hoping something would change.
...
After a while, all I saw in him was an aura of loneliness.
Especially recently, he started wearing such a terrible expression.
Our parents didn't really care, especially my father who didn't pay much attention to either of us.
...
Well, at least I could tell he didn't care, maybe my mom felt differently deep down.
But I think that it hit him the hardest when she would ignore his pleas.
He tried to connect with her at every turn, asking questions, or trying to make family plans.
I guess we were slightly dysfunctional as a family, but we did love each other I like to think.
Even if we didn't show it often.
...
He came home last week genuinely happy for once and even asked me for advice.
"A date?" I said to him.
"Yeah! Do you have any tips for me?" He asked me.
....
"Why should I care, figure it out yourself..." I said back to him playing on my phone.
It came out sharper than I meant it to.
...oh....
"...I didn't mean... sorry..."
He said this looking so sad, I regretted it as soon as he turned away to leave.
Then he left.
I quickly reached out before retracting my arm.
"...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." I whispered.
...
Then the next day, a woman came to the door with a few of her friends and accused my brother of sexual assault.
My mom was begging on her knees; I've never seen her like that.
Then I overheard the audio she played on her phone, it was the woman screaming in pain, or in fear.
"Onii-chan assaulted someone?" I thought to myself all day.
He couldn't have.
...
Why did he do that? What's wrong with him?
I really tried to hate him after this, I thought that if I was awful to him, he would repent his actions.
So I started being even more cruel.
Throughout the week I'd look at him with awful intentions.
I'd wipe my arm off anytime he touched me, or if I had to touch any surface he did. I even gave him a burning look after he tried to explain himself, but really... did I ever listen to his side of the story...?
...
I made it known he was disgusting to me.
I'd make it known I hated him, that he was unloved.
I even mentioned that our parents hate him to try and hurt him. That his father would have rolled around in his grave if he knew what his only son had done.
But he didn't apologize.
Not even once.
...
He just continued having a face of pure sorrow, one of sadness and contempt. I think...he was growing to hate me.
Why won't you just apologize?
I love you, you're my brother and I will always love you. I'd even forgive you if you only said you were sorry...
...
Then my parents decided to kick him out of the house.
Huh...?
Why are they kicking him out? What's happening?
...
Give him a chance to repent...
All I could do is stare at him as our parents disown him. My eyes were as blank as his normally would, I didn't know what to do.
I'm scared for my own brother.
Why won't you repent? Maybe they won't kick you out if you say sorry.
Please JUST apologize.
Feel some sort of regret.
...
But he never did feel that regret.
...
I tried getting him to one last time, looking to see some sort of regret in his eyes.
So I played along with my parents, I thought that if I tried to pressure him into apologizing, our parents would be more leinent.
I want a reason to fight for you, onii-chan.
"Good riddance." I said this, looking at him directly in his eyes.
I want to be on your side, I want to fight so mom and dad will let you stay in the house. I want ot be your person on the inside.
Help me....
Why won't you apologize?
.....
"I hate you, Ayumi."
....
"Huh..?"
"I'm going to disappear, and you'll never see me again."
...
What did he say? He hates me...?
He looked at me dead in the eyes.
I was genuinely caught off guard, there was no way my kind brother would use those words.
...
There was emptiness in his eyes, darkness overtook them, but somewhere deep within him held something burning.
A hatred I've never seen.
I'm worried, did I do something irreversible? I don't want onii-chan to hate me.
I've never seen that look on someone before.
I'm sorry. I love you onii-chan.
Don't hate me.
...
...
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AUTHORS NOTES:
Hello everyone! This one was a fun write, the POVs was interesting to get into the minds of all the characters. Id appreciate it if you'd let me know if there is anything you like or dislike so far!