Fukashima's POV
I didn't sleep the night after I found that recording.
I've been at home, wallowing in my own pity, something that wasn't allowed to Haruki anymore. No one even knows where he is, that goes for the police as well...
...
Everytime I closed my eyes, I saw Haruki, and my own guilt...
I'd see his face, holding terrible expressions, basked in horror...
...
Not how he was before, not even what it was like when he was desperate.
I saw him dead, rotting in a gutter somewhere, it was my punishment.
...
His face...malformed, dead because of us...because of me.
....
If he was truly dead, I'd never forgive myself, I don't know if he was or not, and it scared me.
The unknown is terrifying.
...
I kept the phone close, and safe to me.
...
That recording, Satomi's voice laughing, plotting everything, it was proof.
Concrete proof of what Haruki had been screaming into the void all along, it was the only evidence that I held, the only one that existed.
...
That he was innocent, that we were wrong, and how we had driven him to this point.
...
...and we ignored him, we abandoned him, he was telling the truth the whole time...and we didn't listen.
I don't know how I managed to eat breakfast. My chest was caving in the entire time. It felt awful, I wanted to get rid of this feeling.
...
But I didn't. I had to face this.
Even if it shattered everything.
Even if it tore people apart.
Because he was gone, and if this was the only way to bring him back, then...
...
Then I'd burn this city to the ground.
...
I'd do everything in my power to bring him back.
For him to know my remorse...I'd even give him myself...
...
Before I can think of myself though... I need..
I need to do this first...
...
I walked to Ayumi's house.
...
Every step felt like I was wading through wet concrete, a terrible feeling of anxiety crawling up my throat. It had been raining for the last few days, so my shoes were already water damaged anyways.
The gate was slightly ajar. I slipped through it, the creak of the metal loud in the still morning.
...
I rang the bell, yet no one answered right away, but after a moment hurried footsteps came closer.
...
Ayumi opened the door in hope, her face was sunken, hollow, but she had a glimpse of light in her eyes.
...
...
She blinked at me...."Fukashima...?"
She looked disappointed, but I don't blame her.
I swallowed.
...
"Is your mom home...? Or your parents...?"
...
"Y-Yeah, my mom is...but what happened? Are you okay...?"
...
"Listen, um I found something new about Haruki. You both need to be here for this..."
...
"Huh...? Really?!"
"Y-You did?! Wh-What is it...?" She said, stuttering on her words.
...
She was heavily anxious, as she normally should be regarding her missing brother.
...
Then I was welcomed in and brought to the living room.
...
When I walked in, the house felt cold, it was also messier than normal. The curtains were shut, and light was bare within.
Their mom appeared in the hallway, clutching a dish rag, eyes just as hollow as the last time I saw her.
...
I didn't say anything.
My throat itched, I was scared to show them.
But I must...
"I need you to listen to this..." I said, pulling out my phone, turning up the volume.
And pressing play.
The audio filled the house.
...
...
"STOPP HARUKI PLEASE NO....."
...
"Haha! That was perfect Satomi...!"
"Do the scream again — yeah, like that."
"I bet he'll cry when we bring this up..."
Laughter. So much laughter.
It was cruel, careless, and wicked.
"Let's just scare him, make him panic. I'll cry a little, and boom...payout."
...
...
Ayumi staggered.
Her mother dropped the rag on the floor, neither of them said anything at first.
They just stood there, paralyzed together.
...
Then Ayumi's knees buckled, and fell back against the wall, before catching herself against it.
She started sobbing after collapsing to her knees.
...
Her sobs came from someplace deep, and terrifying.
I've never heard this noise before, something I didn't want to hear again. It was something you'd hear after someone close had died...
...
"No... no, no, no...NOO!"
Their mother stood frozen, eyes wide.
Tears fell down her face, her eyes puffy...
"This can't be..." she whispered.
"He was telling the truth...THE WHOLE TIME IT WAS THE TRUTH!" Ayumi screamed, her voice breaking as she clutched her head.
...
Her hand reached for the wall, to catch herself. Ayumi's mother looked dastardly pale.
...
"I paid that girl," she murmured, voice cracked.
"I told him... I told him he wasn't part of our household..."
...
I couldn't breathe. I couldn't speak. I just stood there, watching this family crumble beneath the weight of their own sins.
"You didn't believe him, I-I didn't..."
...
"You threw him out!!!"
...
...
"I thought I was protecting him..." their mother whispered.
"I was trying to keep him from the police... from scandal... I didn't think he was innocent. I thought... I thought he'd learn."
Ayumi's crying never stopped.
...
"I told him he was disgusting," she sobbed.
"I didn't even give him a chance."
I dropped the phone on the table.
...
"I'm showing this to the school," I said. "Everyone has to know."
Ayumi looked up, tears streaking her face.
"What if it's too late?"
...
"What good does that... DO NOW! HES GONE...!" Ayumi screamed, breaking down.
I didn't have an answer.
But I knew everyone had to know.
...
...
...
Ayumi's POV
It's strange, how guilt feels in your body, it's similar to acid.
Burning slow, at first, just discomfort, then after time it eats you alive.
All I feel is regret at this point, regret and sadness.
When I heard that recording, I felt everything inside me collapse. All the pieces of who I thought I was, scattered.
He was innocent, my brother, my only brother, was innocent.
And I let him rot alone.
...
I let him walk with nothing, nothing in his own name, just shame and silence.
...
He begged us, he looked me in the eye and begged me.
And I mocked him. I turned my back. I told people I didn't care, then told myself it wasn't my problem.
But it was and always will be. He's my only brother.
...
Now he's gone, and he might never come back.
What if he's dead?
What if my words were the last ones he ever heard from someone who once loved him?
My mother kept pacing.
Her hands were shaking.
"I told him he was useless, a deviant," she whispered, like she was choking on the words.
"W-we broke him..." I said.
"I know!" she screamed. Her knees hit the floor like her soul left her body.
"I know... I don't...I c-can't take this..."
...
"Mom..."
"We need to go to the police and file a report."
She didn't move...
Fukashima stood like a shadow in the room.
...
Please...
"MOM!" I screamed at her, still collapsed to my knees.
...
"O-okay, I'll drive us..."
"Y-yeah, let's go now, we need their help..." Mom said, her eyes nearly hysterical still.
...
...
...
The police station smelled cold and sterile, a faint buzzing took place inside as the fans blew.
...
Mom's hands trembled as she clutched the pen, she used to fill out the report.
I couldn't hear anything.
It was all silent, not even my own breath was heard.
I felt like I was suffocating under the weight of everything.
I was dragging the last remnants of a shattered family into a place that didn't want to listen.
I saw Fukashima's jaw clench as she held that cursed phone tightly in her hand, like it was the last piece of Haruki left to us.
We sat down with the officer, a middle aged man with tired eyes but a kind voice.
"We...we need to file a missing person's report..."
...
The officer asked for details: last known location, people to contact, possible reasons for disappearance.
"Shimatsu Haruki, age seventeen., he was last seen ten days ago."
I couldn't look at Mom. I was afraid she'd crumble even more.
...
We answered, and my voice caught on every word.
Then Fukashima spoke again.
"We also have evidence, of blackmail and fraud. I know the perpetrator personally.
"Woah, wait slow down. Fraud? What happened?"
...
We explained everything to the police, from paying Satomi, to him being kicked out of the house.
...
I knew it...
He looked at us in disgust and also worry. I know, we are trash.
Please, just find Haruki.
...
"So, as far as you know...he's still on the street somewhere...?"
I nodded "Yes..."
My mother looked broken. She was lightly crying still, and holding her chest.
...
Fukashima handed over the phone.
There was no mistaking the recording. The cold and cruel plotting, and the lies that destroyed our family.
...
'This is Arugawa Satomi."
...
"This evidence, definitely constitutes as fraud, we'll get more information from you later, but you said you go to Kobayashi Prepatory school yes...?"
I nodded back to the officer, who promptly took the name of Satomi down.
The officer listened, then nodded slowly.
"This will be added to the case files. We will investigate thoroughly."
I swallowed the lump in my throat, eyes watering.
I felt disgusted with myself, I have since the day he left us.
...
I just hope he isn't rotting in a ditch, like the vision I see in my head.
But even here, in this place where justice was supposed to live, I felt how fragile hope really was.
...
"Will my brother be found...?"
The officer stared at me...
...
"Once the missing person case is open, and fraud is reported, we'll contact the school authorities. They will have to cooperate."
"For his whereabouts, we will immediately send out a notice to all officers."
...
I thought about Satomi.
Did she know how far this would go? Did she imagine Haruki would go missing like this...?
Did she know she would break a family...?
...
Would she feel the weight of this guilt clawing at her, tearing at her soul like it did ours?
...
I was scared she wouldn't.
Even if the guilt wasn't there, I'd make it hard on her.
I want her to suffer.
...
...
...
Satomi's POV (A few days later)
The corridor outside the faculty office stretched long, I was laughing with Chi earlier and making plans to go shopping this Sunday.
Then the teacher came into the room.
...
"Satomi, come with me."
'Eh? Why...?"
...
"It's regarding Shimatsu Haruki."
...
My heart sank.
Did they find something out? I mean I'd already been paid out, same with Chisaki.
Why? What happened? Did they find him or something? Did he move schools?
...
Shit, I'm going to keep my story straight, and I drilled it into the heads of my friends not to snitch, so I should be fine...
As long as everyone stays loyal.
Every step I took echoed against the floor, dragging the weight of nervousness deeper into my chest.
My fingers clenched and unclenched around the strap of my bag, trembling in anxiety.
Eyes darting around, as I followed our teacher into the office.
...
Did they find out...?
That's all I could think about.
I was escorted into the faculty office.
Then I met the face of everyone in there. Haruki's mother, his sister, and two police officers.
...
...
Huh...?
...
"Satomi..." The teacher said sternly.
...
"What did you do."
...
...
I immediately started crying...
My face dropped, and I lost strength in my legs.
...
They had been waiting for me, am I going to be arrested...?
...
I wasn't ready to face this.
Not like this, not with the walls closing in so fast I could barely breathe.
Wait, are they here to take a report on my behalf...?
I wanted to tell myself this was a mistake. That it wasn't really me.
...
I had just been swept up in something bigger than I could control.
But the truth was raw and unyielding: I was trapped in the mess I helped create, and there was no escaping it.
"Arugawa Satomi, recognize this...?"
Then came the sound, that damn recording.
...
My own laughter, and incrimination.
Shit...
My own voice, cold and sharp, filling the room with laughter, telling the phone my plans as plain as day.
...
I wanted to turn away, to cover my ears, to run from that cruel echo of myself.
But I had nowhere to hide.
Silence settled after the recording ended, thick and suffocating.
One officer cleared his throat, breaking the stillness.
"Arugawa Satomi, we're here to question you regarding your involvement in the harassment and fraud concerning Shimatsu Haruki."
I swallowed hard, feeling my throat close like a vice.
I wasn't proud of what I'd done. Not for a second.
But it wasn't like I'd set out to ruin his life...
It's not my fault...
I didn't think he'd up and vanish like that. I actually feel guilty for him; I don't want him to be dead or anything.
I... might have been a little too cruel. I chose the wrong person...
I didn't think he'd snap mentally like that, how was I supposed to know he'd just disappear like that?!
...
I just wanted some money, and I thought I manipulated his mom enough to believe he did it...?
What went wrong...?
Fuck, the tears just won't stop. What happens now...?
...
"You are under arrest for fraud and harassment related to Shimatsu Haruki."
...
oh my god.
...
please... no...
...
Handcuffs clicked around my wrists. The physical sting was nothing compared to the humiliation tearing through me like wildfire.
I was paraded off of campus, every single student was able to see me. I was the cause of mass humiliation for the school.
...
Fuck, am I going to be expelled? Am I going to jail...?
I thought this to myself, tears falling down my face as I'm escorted through the hallway.
The entire time, my face was bright red from both embarrassment and crying.
...
My sins have caught up to me.
I wasn't just caught. I was exposed.
The door opened behind me, and as I was led away, I caught sight of faces pressed against classroom windows, students whispering and staring.
They saw me.
Saw me, handcuffed...
They saw the great Arugawa Satomi, walked down the main hallway, out of the school building and into a police car.
The weight of their eyes was unbearable; disgust was all that was fathomed.
"False accusation...?" is something I heard from one of the students watching me.
I wanted to scream that I hadn't meant for this to happen.
I just wanted money, not this... I-I didn't want this at all...
But no one was listening.
...
No one was coming for me.
No one would save me now.
And in that moment, all I felt was the bitter, cold ache of being utterly, completely alone.
I'm wallowing in my own sins.
...
AUTHORS NOTES:
Justice.