The Pseudo Semicolon

CHAPTER 20: Blood on His Hands

Akira woke up the next morning with his eyes red and puffy. "Ugh." He made a face in disgust as he looked at himself in the mirror. "Cringe."

Akira put on a random shirt and headed into the kitchen, feeling parched and empty. He poured himself a glass of water as yesterday's worries showed their ugly faces to haunt him today.

It was maddening.

He checked his phone for any missed calls from Devland and found none. His worry increased, biting down hard on his lower lip as he scrolled through the last texts he sent Devland. Go to sleep, bitch.

Not exactly the last words he wanted to tell Devland, but hopefully they weren't. Akira thought some more about his situation and finally decided to visit Devland's house and read the rest of the diary, his curiosity getting the better of him.

He peeked inside his mother's bedroom and smiled softly as he found his dad sleeping on the bed and his mother on the ground beside him, resting her head on the bed as well.

He quickly wrote up a note for his parents to find, explaining where he was going and—after a quick change of clothes—he got out. Akira kicked stones down the street as he walked, his hands digging deep into his pockets.

When his phone suddenly rang, he quickly answered it and held it above his ear. "Hello?"

"Hey Fukumoto."

Akira grinned like an idiot, immediately feeling a wave of relief wash over him. "Dev, I was worried!"

"I know—I'm sorry. I just got a bit... held up." Akira heard a grunt from the other end, "Sorry the range here is pretty shitty hold on." After a few more seconds, Devland was finally back on the phone. "So what were you up to?"

Akira wanted to ask a million questions to Devland, wanted to chew him out for not calling him yesterday and making him worry over his life. But all of those frustrations and questions were fought down with a feeling of delight. Akira rapidly explained all the events that transpired—which was not much but regardless, he felt happy to just talk to Devland again.

"Oh that's nice. Also, you can drop the name of the rich guy your dad works for and I'll make some... arrangements. Through some very very legal methods."

Akira laughed, "Thanks, but maybe not now. Anyway, what were you doing?"

There was a pause at the other end. Devland took a heavy breath before continuing, "I was trying to get some information out of these idiots—" Another grunt, " —They're keeping quiet. But it's okay—they'll break soon. I'll make sure of that."

"You sound scary when you say that." Akira admitted as he patiently waited for the bus, checking his watch as he did so, "What are you even gonna do to them?"

"Secret. But I'm hoping it'll be effective because I really don't have another plan." Akira heard the thump-thump-thump of something beating against a surface, a sickening crunch followed the noise that made Akira squirm, "Oh it finally broke! I've been trying to break it for a while now."

"What did you break?" Akira frowned as he handed over some coins to the bus conductor. He sat down and looked out of the window, witnessing the blurry world beyond.

"My punching bag." Akira could practically hear Devland shrugging,

"You're working out?"

"Yeah. Just in case they decided to gang up on me. I need to fight back."

Akira felt his insides squirm as regret started leaking into his mind. Maybe letting Devland go for this trip wasn't a good idea. "Promise me you'll be safe."