Astrophile

039

Ever since the older you informed you of Shinichirō's death, you had hardly gotten any sleep. Worry flooded your body as you suddenly became paranoid. You would often work until closing hours at Shinichirō's shop, not caring if it made you get beaten up by your mother for staying out late. You needed to be with Shinichirō to protect him.

You also became very jumpy at every noise that you would hear while working. The lack of sleep made you become more clumsy, often mixing up your wrenches. Shinichirō, obviously was very worried for you, but every time he tried to ask you, you would just stare at him and start getting teary eyed.

A sigh left your lips as you blinked quickly to stay awake. It was your 12th bike that day and Shinichirō kept on shooting you worried glances. After a long while of contemplation, he finally walked up to you and grabbed the wrench out of your hand, "Alright, that's enough..." You looked at him in surprise.

"The customer asked for that bike tomorrow, so just rest a bit, will you?" He pulled you up and grabbed you by the arm to take you to the couch, "Get some sleep right now." He ordered, a firm expression on his face.

"N-Nii-san..." He cut you off by placing a hand on your shoulder and pushed you down to sit on the couch, "No! You've been overworking yourself, and everyone is worried about you!!" He yelled but felt himself falter in his anger when he saw your teary eyes yet again, "I'm sorry..." He muttered as a few tears escaped your eyes. He could only let out a sigh before wiping your tears away softly.

"No... It's not your fault... I just don't know anything anymore..." Your words confused him but he decided to stay quiet and let you rest. He let you lay down before draping a blanket over you and kissing your forehead.

"Please... just rest for now..." He whispered softly and saw you closing your eyes in exhaustion. Once he saw you fall asleep, he got up with his face contorted in anger.

Picking up his phone, he walked in the other room and began dialling a familiar number, "Hello?" A voice from the other side called out.

"Hey, Takeomi... Are you busy?" Shuffling was heard from the other side as the said man spoke up, "Not really... why?"

Shinichirō tightened his grip on the phone, "Can you do me favour and keep an eye on [Name]'s mother?" The other line was quite for a bit, "Did she do something to her?"

Shinichirō could feel the murderous intent from his voice, a shiver unconsciously running up his spine, "Not that of my knowledge, but [Name]'s been pretty distressed these days..."

Takeomi let out a sigh, before agreeing, "Fine, is she with you right now?" The black haired shop owner hummed in agreement, as the other one contemplated his next actions, "Give me a call when she's about to leave, I'll follow her..."

Ending the call with a sigh, Shinichirō shoved his phone back in his pockets and looked back at your sleeping figure; you were having a nightmare.

You squirmed and moved around in your sleep, eyes screwed shut as the older boy rushed to you and tried to wake you up, "[Name].... [Name], wake up!!" He tried to wake you up softly but you ended you letting out a scream as you woke up, "No!!" You yelled as Shinichirō tried to calm you down.

"Hey, hey... you're fine... It's all just a bad dream, you'll be okay..." He softly muttered as he let you rest your head on his shoulders.

'I know I'll be fine.... but I'm not sure if you'll be fine too...' The dream wasn't normal, you knew that much. It wasn't even a nightmare. It was a memory. You recalled your future self telling you that the only reason why she visited you was because it was still too early to expose you to the truth.

If your future self was sending you memories since she could no longer visit you, then you're sure she has succeeded. Because you managed to get some information from those memories that even your future self didn't tell you.

Time of death: Past Midnight

Cause of death: Blunt hit to the head

You panted heavily and the ravenette instructed you to stay still as he grabbed some water. You sat up with your eyes wide open, the dream-or rather... memories still playing in your head.

Killer: Kazutora...

Kazutora was the one who killed Shinichirō...

The discomfort you felt after that dream was immeasurable, and out of fear, you began slightly avoiding Kazutora. You didn't want to do it, it just automatically happened. Whenever you saw him, you would think about what you saw and it led you to immediately feel sick.

Kazutora was quick to catch up on you avoiding him and he tried ignore the fact, thinking you were just not feeling well. But your actions persisted throughout the month, as you casually talked with everyone but him. He started to feel depressed that he might have done something to piss you off.

Did you perhaps find out about the people he beat up, that were bad mouthing you? Or did you find out how he stole your favourite snack for you?! All of the things he had done for you, came crashing in his mind as he tried to think as to why you were avoiding him.

After you introduced Haruki to your little group of friends, Manjirō gave him a weird nickname, Pah-chin. You didn't know why but it kind of suited him. He seemed to get along quite well with everyone, and Baji was the one who introduced Kazutora to everyone else.

Even though Kazutora mentioned that he was your friend, you felt uncomfortable and quickly excused yourself. The others didn't know what was wrong with you whereas Kazutora wanted to cry out and ask you why you were avoiding him.

Noticing Kazutora's distressed look, Baji told him to go after you. Although a bit hesitant, the yellow eyed boy agreed and went after you, determined to know the cause of your behaviour.

You, on the other hand, felt extremely guilty. Kazutora still had yet to do anything, but you still treated him like a criminal. You felt tears pricking at the corner of your eyes that you swiftly wiped before anyone could come over and see you.

Suddenly, the door opened to the outside and revealed someone. To your surprise, it was Kazutora and he wore a pained look, "[Male Name]..."

He softly called out as you turned your head in fear. You feared that he would hate you, yet at the same time.... you feared him for what he was going to do in the future.

You let out a shaky breath before turning to him, "Kazutora-kun..." He immediately perked up and looked at you with hope in his eyes, "[Male Name]... I understand if you're not feeling well, you can tell me... just please..." You saw tears rolling down his cheeks, "-don't avoid me..." That was the last straw for you.

You let out sobs that became audible and he looked at you in surprise, "I'm so sorry, Kazutora-kun...." You whimpered while he held onto your shoulders. You continued to beg for forgiveness, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..."

You knew how much Kazutora treasured you, how much he cared about you. You were his first friend and the first person who was kind to him. It was obvious that he would be very attached to you, in a very unhealthy way.

But you still punished him for a crime he had yet to commit. You didn't even know why he killed Shinichirō, you just avoided him without question.

'I'm such a bitch... I'm no different than a monster...' You thought as regret pooled in you and you began clinging tightly onto Kazutora's shoulders.

"I'm so sorry, I just don't know what to do anymore..."