Domino Effect (Yukio)

7. No More Chances

"I- It can't be... That's not possible... Is that... Is it really you? Brother?"

Another flash of lightning brightened everything up for a moment, illuminating the entire room. In that moment, it confirmed what I didn't want to be true.

"Did you just say that you were studying?" Ryota asked before he had burst into laughter.

With him moving closer to the light, I was able to see more clearly that the person who was nicknamed as "Lost" within the Shiratori gang was indeed Rin. I watched in disbelief as I took notice of all the excessive scars and old bruises covering him. His clothes were incredibly dirty, his hair was messier than ever before, his eyes looked dulled and lifeless. His ears weren't pointed, and his teeth didn't have the usual sharp ends. He was almost like a different person. I was given the terrible notion that they didn't just bully him but fought with him, hated him... Hurt him.

Wearing a face looking to be like he was used to this behavior from the guys, I could only stare at my brother. I couldn't fathom why it was he was with these guys, of all people.

"Ryota, you don't have to be so mean to the poor guy. I mean, he's only trying to keep up with his studies for school." Reiji said in a sarcastic tone to snide Rin.

"But didn't he drop out of school a while back? What does he need to study for? Lost never makes any sense." Daisuke added in dismissively.

All of the guys laughed again as Rin only stayed silent, which was unlike the brother that I know. The Rin that I was familiar with would never bite his tongue, he would never hold back from speaking his mind. He looked absolutely worn out and mentally drained from having to deal with these guys acting like this.

Rin had started to walk away from them without saying another word.

"Where do you think you're going Lost Boy? You never seem to want to hang out with us anymore." Hiroki asked mockingly.

Hearing this made Rin stop walking to the stairs to what could be the place where he sleeps. This run down place might be his "home" with these terrible guys.

The storm raged on as thunder and lightning continued outside these walls.

Rin stopped and turned his head to glance over to Hiroki and the rest of the gang awaited his answer. Turning away to not face them, Rin breathed out a deep sigh before speaking.

"It's because I don't want to." Rin answered bluntly.

A short silence took over the room and I awaited in the suspense to see how the others would react to being told that. There was nothing that I could do as I watched Rin being treated as if he was less than worthless.

"Now, now, I hope you haven't forgotten that you owe me Lost. You do know what I mean, don't you?" Reiji asked Rin gravely.

'What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into?' I wondered when I heard that comment.

Looking back at my brother, it looked like he flinched at the mention of this. It made me wonder what Rin could've done to land in this situation with Shiratori owning him.

Not answering Reiji, Rin didn't move to keep walking ahead either.

"See here, you owe me quite a bit of money since out of the goodness of my heart I bailed you out of that terrible cell that one time. Now, remind me where you'd be if it wasn't for little old me to save you?" Reiji revealed in a condescending manner.

'Jail?! Rin was arrested?! What happened to you, brother?...'

"Yes! I get it already! I was in jail for some stupid fight and you got me out! How many times do you have to keep reminding me?! Why do you always have to throw that in my face?! I didn't ASK for your help!" Rin said, not holding back his anger.