The Sequel to The White Room Troubles is finally here! Follow Kiyotaka on his journey for freedom, peace of mind and the protection of the people he considers closest to him. It's All or Nothing for him. It is recommended to read The White Room Trou...
A typical family in Japan or anywhere in the world consists of a mother, father and two children. All living together in harmony, loved and cared for. Sure, arguments would develop from time to time and others may be hated, and the family may grow distant after a while. But the typical family stood at this number and stayed loving throughout the family's life.
So where am I going with this? We'll get to that, but let me just remind you of who I am.
I, Karuizawa Kei, am a girl who has experienced the extreme depths of darkness found in human beings—the feeling of dislike just for existing.
The torment I faced through bullying (could it even be called bullying?) whatever it was, it destroyed me.
Tacks in my shoes, roadkill on my desk, slurs on my uniform, ice-cold and dirty water dumped on me while I was using the toilet. Even the basics of pulling my hair and punching and kicking. I'm sure one wouldn't need to be reminded of all the things I faced.
I couldn't fight back... No, that wasn't exactly true. I did try to fight back, but everything I did, everything I tried, ended up making things worse. The results were all for naught.
Even when the school acknowledged the bullying against me, they usually dealt with it behind the scenes with light warnings against my aggressors. It wasn't enough to deter them from doing it again, especially since every time they were caught, they would be given the same warnings.
As Kiyotaka, my boyfriend, had put it, my previous school was one of those that stubbornly refused to admit their "holy grounds" housed demons even if a bullied student killed themselves and left behind a note. In Japanese society, reputation mattered and some places would do anything to keep reputations.
Of course, there were other reasons why the school would look to hide it, but in my case, it was definitely because they cared more about reputation than students.
I had been betrayed by everyone there, yet I still kept going to that school. Even though it kept breaking me, I still kept my head up high and tolerated it until the time came to graduate from that school...
...but that day never came.
Kiyotaka found out about my scar and was the only one to ever know. However, I never told him the truth of it and he never asked me either. I was grateful because I never wanted to live the memories of it again.
I was sure Kiyotaka made assumptions of how I got this scar, as if it was part of the bullying I received at my previous school that went too far. If I was being honest, I would have thought the same thing too.
But the truth is far from that. This scar has nothing to do with the bullying. It wasn't the bullies that gave me this scar but someone even more terrifying—someone much closer to me than I would've thought. The day I received this scar was when I saw the horrifying truth.
I had wanted to leave behind that memory, but now as I lie on the rooftop of Keyaki Mall with fear in my eyes and terror shaking through my body as I'm about to be defiled...
...I find myself picturing them.
Them... The Karuizawa household...
...Myfamily...
I couldn't believe I had long forgotten about who was in my family.
Like all typical families, there were four people. There was me, my mother, a younger sister I had long forgotten about...
...and him.
I didn't want to remember him...
Because he was the reason I never graduated from that school. He was the reason I felt broken, felt so betrayed. Hewas the reason I turned into a parasite, turned into someone I never wanted to be but had to in order to protect myself. The bullying was just an extra contribution.
The scar on my body was but a gift, a mark left on my beautiful body from him...
I inevitably remembered the face he made, and here he was again making the same face. It's terrifying, and makes me want to crawl under my bed and vomit.
But surprisingly, despite my fear of seeing this man again, that wasn't the main focus of these memories. No, it was actually the other person I had long forgotten about.
My sister, a girl the same age as me. She was meant to be my sister, yet I couldn't remember her name or her face.
And that's when the man brought out a photo of all of us together.
For the longest time, when I got to know Kiyotaka and date him, everything I feared disappeared and I forgot about them. I felt happy again for the first time in my life.
But it was soon after seeing him, and seeing that photo, I'd learn the truth. I'd finally learn who that girl really was...
...And it would break me once again...
End of Prologue...
A/N:
Welcome to All or Nothing Volume 4 people. Today we start off with Kei's solilquy, which seeing how V12.5 went makes me feel bad for what is to happen in this volume.
That being said, I hope you all enjoy Volume 4 as it is a BIG volume. Let's not care about the latest volumes coz COTE is no longer the same anymore and I never liked it for a while. This story is the REAL CANON story... You all agree, right?
