The Boy With The Blank Stare: Punishment Time

Chapter Ten: The Pianist

"Sometimes a lie has some truth in it."

"In another world...another time...maybe it would have ended that way"

"But...sometimes the truth will destroy more than fix..."

"Even then, we destroyed everyone's trust in us...we destroyed our own reputation...so what's the truth going to fix?"

"No...neither did what I thought I has to do fix anything either...I just allowed the corription of my soul to finally complete"

-/-/-

"Hey Akamatsu" I greeted. She waved me hello and gave me a sad smile, "oh...hi Saihara...I didn't see you at the funeral for Kiibo yesterday" she noted.

My eyes widened, "that was yesterday?" I asked and she nodded, "it...affected me more than the last one I think...maybe cause we were friends..." she told me.

"I can't believe I missed it..." I mumbled to myself feeling guilt. Akamatsu all of a sudden started staring at me.

"Do I...know you from somewhere?" She asked and my eyes widened, how does she recognize me? Is it from Chiasa's funeral?

Akamatsu then gasped "oh my gosh your from the-" she started but I quickly put a finger to my lips signaling her to stop.

She nodded, still looking confused as I led her out of the room and we headed to the hallway.

"Your from my old recitals and the funeral for one of the DICE members...so you actually do know what happened huh?" She asked and I nodded.

"I didn't actually know about what killed them...Kiibo told me" I admitted and she sighed.

"So...who are you related to? Or were friends with?" She asked and I paused, "Chiasa Jin" I answered and her eyes widened.

"But...you said you didn't know who she was?" She asked and I shifted uneasy.

"I lied, I wanted to figure out what happened and I thought if I presented myself as her cousin no one would give me their true thoughts on her" I admitted.

"Oh...no wonder I remember you in the recitals...you used to hide behind your hat so much I could barely see your face..." she laughed.

"I remember after every recital she would practically tackle you in hugs and you looked so flustered" she joked and I chuckled.

"Did she? I forgot all about that" I admitted, "but I don't doubt it"

"I...I probably should apologize for something" she admitted, I looked over at her confused.

"For what?" I asked and she sighed, "when I was younger...along with Amami...we were kind of bullies to be honest" she admitted.

My eyes widened, "you were a bully?" I asked and she shrugged "we act different when were younger...I thought Chiasa was really weird...she would always want to do the weirdest things and I hated her having the same teacher because she played so BADLY" she recalled.

"She didn't have friends till Ouma huh..." I realized and she nodded, "yeah when we got older we matured and we realized our mistakes...but by then Chiasa went deaf so..." she admitted.

"I don't know sign language...and I didn't want to admit to what I did even to myself...so I never apologized for the bullying...now knowing she committed suicide...and how we never really ever appreciated any of them...my gosh I feel bad" she concluded.

"I don't think she would have been angry or have any spite towards you" I assured her.

"Yeah...just...everything's changing...now we lost so many classmates...and I know that we messed up with helping Ouma now" she said.

"I didn't realize how much us forcing him to surpress his dark thoughts would keep dragging him further till Momota was gone...and I realized how much you were making him happy" she told me.

"Happy?" I asked, "ok less emotionless than normal though that in itself took Momota nearly a year" she told me, "you accomplished it in about a month" she renounced.

My eyes widened, "Akamatsu...there's a lot of horrible people in this town...who basically want to either pretend none of what happened to DICE ever happened or try and get rid of the last reminder" I told her and she nodded.

"I think everyone should learn from what happened and actually help Ouma and all those effected so those people can finally rest in peace" I proposed.

"How do you want to do that?" She asked and I paused.

"DICE was shrouded in mystery...so I want to discover the whole and unguarded truth..." I admitted.

"Can you help me?" I asked and she nodded.