Mask Off part 2
Kazuki chased Kuroyuki all the way through to different sectors, filled with hunters roaming around. "Get off my brother!!" after getting a comfortable distance, he blasted off and did a spin slash to cut Kuroyuki's right arm.
Hoshikawa then got released from his grip, falling down from more than 10 meters. Kazuki managed to catch him after bouncing off a wall while sheathing his sword back. The two landed on the pavement below while Kuroyuki screamed in agony.
After making sure that his brother was alright, the two continued to stand by in their fighting stance. Not long after, Kuroyuki quitted from his Grim form, and turned to normal. Approaching the brothers.
"What do you want?!" Kazuki stepped forward to protect Hoshikawa.
"To take back what's mine, and my brother," Kuroyuki answered, sending shivers down Hoshikawa's spine, "you heard me right, Kazuki isn't your real brother... I am," he finally stopped his steps.
Hoshikawa obviously did not believe Kuroyuki right away, while Kazuki just stood in silence, frozen, unable to refute Kuroyuki's claim. He seemed to know something that Hoshikawa doesn't. But then, he shook himself, "There's no way that's true! You're just trying to find any reason to kill me after that first mission incident!"
"The one hidden ability of being a dark element user is enhanced memory, I learned that from Yamisuke himself. Now I remember all of it, my life was just filled with lies... I am the real Itsuka!! Not you!!" Kuroyuki then continued to tell that when both he and Kazuki were born, the two were switched by Kazuki's father, perhaps because of the Itsuka superstition.
He then explained his miserable youth, being bullied by his schoolmates for being born on the sacred date but without any luck. How everything went downhill because his 'family' spiraled into debts after his father became a gambling addict with a tragic end. "My life was just a mess after the Erizawa family took me in... nothing about me was lucky. Abandonments, everytime... even that first mission," he was reminded of the tragedy.
After that first mission, Kuroyuki was taken by the hunters to Yamisuke. Because he found potential in his natural dark element, he enhanced his skills, giving him the ability to transform and control the hunters. In return, he got his memories back, as well as the truth of the Ookami curse.
"And I will prove it to you," Kuroyuki ended his story by powering up his right hand fingers, making Kazuki even more alert with what's about to happen. But Kuroyuki then punched the ground, and two tentacles appeared from the concrete behind the two. One of them touched Hoshikawa's forehead, while the other touched Kazuki's.
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The three were then transported into Kuroyuki's memory projection. It was a hospital, where he and Kazuki were born on January 14th. They saw a man hastily run through the hall with a blond baby in his hands. He then entered the nursery where there's a lot of other babies around. After looking around with his weary eyes, he switched the black-haired boy from his crib with the one he held, then rushed to leave the room.
A moment later, the Itsuka parents were there to check on Kuroyuki. But to their horror, it has been switched with Kazuki instead. After that incident, the Itsuka family with their influence managed to convince others that Kazuki was an accident, missing his programmed date and was born the day after. If they were to abandon Kazuki back then, the clan would be in a bad light. That's why they kept Kazuki for that long to avoid negative criticism.
"This is the truth... you're not an Itsuka, Kazuki," Kuroyuki once again stated in the middle of his memory projection, "and everything you've got from the family wasn't your right to have... it was mine,"
While Hoshikawa was frozen after seeing Kuroyuki's memories projected in front of his eyes, Kazuki looked down and motionless for a few moments. "Is that true... brother?" Hoshikawa asked him, but to no response.
Kazuki then slowly raised his head, and grinned widely, "Out of all people, finally you said it,"