3 bar menu

V8 Story I – Part 02

Yusuke paced around the room, humming casually.

I observed his movements with rapt attention, holding my breath. He had finished erasing all traces of Hirugao. Now he busied himself with something else.

Clank!

He picked up several bats from the pile of junk, carrying them in his arms.

“O’ pretty goldfish wearing red clothes, I will give you a treat if you wake up.”

The song changed, smooth vocals resonating. Yusuke approached the bed and knelt down. Reaching under the bed, he searched for something, and numerous bats rolled out.

Clank, clank, clank.

“The red goldfish makes a tiny bubble, then wakes up from its afternoon nap.”

The song intermingled with the metallic clatter. Next, Yusuke pulled out a bat bag from under the bed. He lined up four bags on the floor and started cramming bats into them, way above its capacity, and forced the zipper shut.

Zip!

The noise was grating. Yusuke nodded, satisfied.

He slung the bat bags over his arm, stood up, and turned towards me, his lips parting in a smile.

“Well then, Odagiri-san. I’m—”

“Where are you going?” I cut him off.

Yusuke fell into an unnatural silence, his eyes blazing fiercely.

I held my breath for a moment, then exhaled. My throat felt unusually dry. But I had to say it. I knew what his plan was, and I couldn’t just ignore it.

“Who are you going to kill, Yusuke?”

A profound silence fell. Yusuke gave me a puzzled look. I wondered if he would deny it. I prayed he would. If he did, there might still be a way.

“The fox and Maihime,” he answered easily. He didn’t even attempt to hide it.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead. The heater wasn’t on. The temperature in the room was low, but the tension caused sweat to bead on my skin.

“Yusuke, revenge won’t…”

“If you say revenge won’t accomplish anything, I’ll beat you to death.”

For a moment, I couldn’t comprehend what he said. Words flowed smoothly from his lips, and he fell silent, wearing a surprisingly gentle smile.

“I’ve known that for a long time,” he said softly.

I was struck by severe vertigo. I had to stop him. But his smile rejected my words far more effectively than any verbal retort could.

He was serious. Yusuke had already killed people. He wouldn’t hesitate.

“Wait a minute. Wait, Yusuke. Please, just wait.”

“Are you serious?” Yusuke hissed. “I’ve lost count of how many people I’ve beaten to death. Hell, I practically killed my old man. It’s not a big deal now, is it? Stop worrying about me and delete me from your memories.”

“I won’t!” I snapped. “Besides, this is different from before!”

Before I knew it, I was shouting. But I couldn’t understand what I was saying.

Unable to gather my thoughts, I grabbed Yusuke’s left arm. The sleeve of his shirt brushed against my leather gloves. What was different? What did I think was different? I wasn’t sure.

But something was crucially different.

I bit my lip. Yusuke fixed me with a chilling gaze.

“Hmm. What’s so different, then?” he asked.

I swallowed hard. A wrong answer and the bat bags would come crashing down on my head.

With trembling lips, I mustered the effort to speak. “I know you were a different person until your family committed suicide, and you drove your father to his death.”

Yusuke furrowed his brow, but I pressed on. I was sure. When Asako and Aki were still around, he was a more ordinary boy.

“Destroying yourself, acting like you have excess energy. It’s like you can’t live without doing any of that. Acting like nothing mattered. That’s not who you were before. And then you met Hirugao. You found something important again, and because of that—”

Yusuke remained silent, attentively listening to my jumbled words. I grabbed his right arm.

Words surged within me, bursting from my chest. And I shouted them out.

“This will be the second time. The second time you kill for revenge. You lose something, and you try to fill the void. It’s not right. You have to stop. That’s the one thing you can’t do.”

Finally, I could see what I wanted to say. Hirugao’s smiled flashed in my mind, then faded away. They were like close siblings, but she was no longer here.

Losing someone important, seek revenge, and kill people.

This series of actions was the origin of Saga Yusuke, what inflicted him with a fatal wound.

What would become of him if he kept doing these things over and over?

“It will destroy you,” I said.

I doubt his heart could withstand any newer wounds.

My fingertips trembled. Tears streamed down my cheeks. I had no right to cry. Yet, the tears wouldn’t stop. My hand holding his arm was shaking. I let out a sharp breath.

“Please, stop. It’s not too late,” I went on. “You must not go through with it.”

Hirugao wouldn’t want that either. There’s no way she would.

How did it come to this? How did blissful days end in such a tragedy? Slowly, I realized something. A sharp needle pierced my chest.

Before I could discern the cause of the pain, Yusuke muttered, “Whatever.”

“What—”

Intense pain shot through my body. Fearfully I lowered my gaze.

Yusuke’s toes were embedded in my side. He had avoided hitting Uka. I collapsed on the spot. Drool dribbled down my chin, dripping on the floor. Tears spilled once more.

“Ugh…”

“Can you stop doing that already? It’s fucking annoying.”

Yusuke looked at me like he was looking at a bug. He ruffled his hair. His lips parted as if he were about to say something, but he turned his back without saying anything.

I grabbed his ankle, and Yusuke stopped in his tracks. There was a chilling silence. He let out a heavy sigh, cracking his neck from side to side and relaxing his shoulders.

His arms dangled at his sides. The bat bags slipped from his arm. He bent down and picked up one of them.

With fluid movements, he opened the zipper and grabbed a bat. Then, he turned around slowly.

The tears prevented me from seeing his face clearly.

“I said shut the fuck up!”

He swung the bat down. I set one of my arm free and shielded my head.

My arm went numb, the pain searing my vision. Frantically, I reached out and caught the second strike with my palm. Sweat trickled beneath the leather gloves. I held onto the bat and stood up.

Exhaling the breath I’d been holding, I faced Yusuke. He stared back at me with a face devoid of emotion.

“Give me… a break,” I managed. “Do you really think… this is enough to stop me?”

“Right. You’re so fuckin’ annoying at times like this. I almost forgot. Well, fuck. Not that it makes a difference,” he said melodiously.

He kicked the bag, scattering its contents on the floor. Yusuke kicked one of them into the air; it hit the ceiling and plummeted towards me.

I took a step back, narrowly avoiding it. At the same time, Yusuke snatched the bat from my hand, then grabbed the handle of the bat that bounced on the floor. I hugged my throbbing arm, wracked with pain.

“Stop, Yusuke!” I shouted. “What are you planning to do?!”

“What am I planning to do?! Nothing! Shut the hell up!”

The bat arced through the air, and I narrowly dodged it, the tip grazing my stomach. Cold sweat ran down my cheek. I leaped back to create some distance, but landed on a magazine. I slipped sideways.

From an unsteady position, I raised my arm to shield myself as best I could. The bat hummed as it struck my arm. Bones creaked, pain searing through my flesh. I had no time to writhe in agony. Yusuke pulled back the other bat and struck my abdomen with force. I retched instead of screaming.

My nose and throat ached, and a foul taste filled my mouth. Raising my trembling palm, I pressed not my mouth, but my belly.

Papa? Uka was trying to reveal itself.

“Not now, Uka. Be a good girl, okay?” I said, comforting my worried child.

I spat out saliva along with stomach acid. Punching my stomach was nothing short of insane.

I shot Yusuke a sharp glare. “Don’t hit my stomach, or you’re dead… If there’s nothing you want to do… then just stop.”

“You’re so irritating. Do you even hear yourself? Seriously, are you an idiot? Do you really think doing all that can change someone’s heart? In that case, your brain needs some serious rewiring.”

A cutting remark. I gazed up at him, and was taken aback as I caught sight of his face, hidden beneath his bangs.

“Yusuke?”

He was crying. Large tears streamed down his cheeks.

Before I could say anything further, he took a deep breath and screamed. “Shut up! You don’t have to tell me. I already know! You don’t think I get it?! What do you expect me to do then, huh? What else can I do?! Nothing! I can’t… I can’t…”

He clenched his teeth and swung the bat. I shielded my head with my arm, closing my eyes.

Clang!

The bat crashed on the floor and slammed against the wall.

Yusuke roughly wiped away his tears. He sniveled and stamped his feet like a child throwing a tantrum.

“I can’t do anything for her anymore. Nothing matters anymore.”

“So you’re going to kill Asato and Maihime? It’s not gonna help Hiru—”

“And I keep saying you’re fucking annoying!”

Yusuke lifted his left leg and brought it down on my head. My trampled face twitched.

I grabbed his ankle and pulled his foot away. “Then what do you want to do…?” I managed. “You’ll only end up hurting yourself.”

“I don’t care about that! I didn’t listen, I couldn’t do anything, and she’s dead, end of story! But still… I won’t let it end like this. I’m gonna kill them. There’s nothing else for me to do. And you…”

He paused abruptly. Like a switch had been flicked off, he fell silent.

Yusuke pulled his foot back, and I rose back up. Dragging my shaky legs forward, I grabbed his shoulders with both hands. Words would be meaningless. Nothing could change the fact that Hirugao was dead.

“I understand your anger and sorrow,” I said in vain. “But please, stop. I’m begging you.”

The emotion vanished from Yusuke’s face. He tilted his head slightly. Tears slid down his frozen cheeks. Then, he tilted his head to the other side, wearing a curious expression. Suddenly, he smiled.

A toothy smile that resembled a bare skull.

“Ah, whatever. Just die,” he said casually.

He raised his arm up and brought down the bat.

The wind howled, and everything turned black.