Inai Ni Yami ((Within Darkness)) {{FINISHED}}

Chapter 41 ((Keisuke))

Chapter 41

The first words that left Rio’s lips were a mirror of my own thoughts, but from way back in the old days when Takeyama, Daisuke, Yuki and I were all trapped several floors below, in level eleven. It’s all my fault. 

As a kagami, I’ve always been too connected to my original’s past. Takeyama never related himself to Kuro, nor did his mind develop like Kuro’s. The Rio we’d known was nothing like the real Rio Shiroi we’d heard of. Yuki, empath that she was, never quite fit the role of head surgeon even when she tried to take her original’s place. None of them really fit in with their original. As for Daisuke’s original… he’s never told us about him. 

On the other hand, I was more disconnected from the world of advanced technology and politics. I worked in a pharmacy, helping to cure people of their sicknesses and ailments, trying to do any good I could. I cared for life. Treasured it, especially since half my family was already dead, and a few more would die soon without having children. Being the youngest in my family meant seeing everyone die away and know I would die one day too without anyone to remember who the Yamamoto family was. 

Despite knowing this, I lived on. Unlike other Kurais who’d shut themselves out from the world completely and drink away their booze and Dorei’s - if they were rich enough to have one, anyway - I went by on a day to day basis trying not to let go of both my sanity or desire to see others optimistic or at least positive and alive. 

The day it happened started out much as any other day. I dressed up in my usual uniform, prepared for what seemed like an uneventful day giving prescribed drugs or suggesting other areas to get them. I’d had breakfast like any other day, walked to work like any other day. All in all, it should’ve been any other day, but on the way to the pharmacy I encountered something more than just a little problem.

Line after line of Mecka-Kikai’s had faced me, blocking off the rest of the road to the pharmacy. As it was the early hours of the morning and not many others got up this early to work, the road had been utterly empty and the Mecka-Kikai’s were too silent in their work, closing in around me in a circle with cold silver eyes that had set the adrenaline running in my system. 

I wasn’t a naturally violent person. Never had been, and no one in my family had any history of sudden violent bursts of anger, so when I snapped and lunged for one of the Mecka-Kikai’s, I hadn’t actually intended to do it, or even thought of what to do. I only knew I was in danger, and the silver-eyed people before me were the danger. 

As a Kurai, I’d never really used my abilities for the purpose of preserving my life but that day it came to  point where I had no other choice. At first, it felt like something was burning in my chest as I ran, making me disregard it as normal chest pains from all the adrenaline in my body, but when I made that first fist contact with a Mecka-Kikai closest to me, all that burning exploded and whip-lashed at the Mecka-Kikai. I’d watched in mixed horror and shock as the Mecka-Kikai was sent flying, crashing into a nearby house.

Whatever sense of victory I’d had was quickly extinguished as another Mecka-Kikai grabbed me from behind and just stabbed into my stomach. The move was purely unexpected. I’d only thought they’d kidnap me or lock me up, nothing too violent. Nothing that could possible involve my own definite death. The pain that followed afterwards took over as I thrashed in the Mecka-Kikai’s deathly grip. From there on, they carried me off the streets and towards the more industrial and business side of town. This was were all the big companies resided, towering over the city in their towers that barely stopped before the rocky ceilings of Shin-En. 

I was dragged into one of those many buildings and forced underground, screaming as I went. The Mecka-Kikai’s - heartless things - didn’t mind any of my screams, and every now and then I felt like they were the very instigators of my pain. Of course, there was also the fact that the knife I’d been stabbed with was still buried in my stomach and each little movement cause the sharp edge to dig around my skin and give it some more room inside my stomach. I couldn’t handle the pain, but my body was too aware to pass out leaving me in constant pain and constant awareness of where I was being taken.