Act I: Decay

We promised in April, when the cherry blossoms bloomed.

We were still kids.

He promised. He promised we'd take care of each other, never hurt each other.

He promised...

You promised..!

I think it was his eyes that should have tipped me off.

That he wasn't the boy I remember from 10 years ago.

Even as children his eyes were off-putting, so dark you couldn't see his pupils. They had this kind of soulless, void-like feeling about them that unsettled most people. But they never bothered me. This time, though, they were different. I didn't notice at first, but when the torture began I had ample time to examine my surroundings and tormentor. Less 'soulless' and more 'manic'. They looked more malicious, and I could swear they weren't the deep chestnut I remember. More dried blood, sort of. They looked too red to be normal, is the point.

Even his hair looked distinctly different, like it was once in an apple cut but grew out and he stopped keeping it tidy and evenly cut. I mean, it was once was an apple cut, but that was a whole decade ago...

The pitter-patter of the rain was a perfect white noise to help me forget I was running for my life that November.

The forest. I ran through it like I was going to die if I stopped. I would, actually. Why else would he be chasing me with a blade?

Rin always told me that this forest was really dangerous to run in, and that I should be careful and always wear protective footwear. She knows that because she went here once and broke her leg, tripping on a tree root.

I'm pretty sure Rin didn't consider mostly destroyed stolen army fatigue pants and a tattered t-shirt that qualified as a tank top because of the burnt-off sleeves 'protective wear'.

I was sprinting barefoot too.

Definitely not protective footwear.

To be fair, I was too busy thinking and running to think about the pain of a few hundred little cuts on my feet and the fact I was either going to die of blood loss from the wounds from torture or blood poisoning and infection and who knows what else in a few days. And then there's the godforsaken heavy iron brace he stuck on my arm like some kind of fucked, sadistic jewelry edition of a ball-and-chain. Well, he is rather fucked in the head and sadistic now, so. He would do that, since he has.

She'd strangle me too, if I told her that I thought to steal pants off a corpse but not shoes. But she couldn't, since she was unconscious and in a coma.

Oh god, Rin.

If I die here, who'll take care of her?

Yao? Nah, he's probably dead. Kiku said so.

But he might be lying.

Mei can't even take care of herself most of the time, but she probably could- oh wait. She's probably dead right now, too.

Emesa? He doesn't even know Rin, and he's halfway across the country. Won't work.

...

So what?

My only option now is to hope Rin wakes up soon and isn't changed and is still mentally sound and can keep herself alive and that he doesn't find her and that the war doesn't just put a stray bullet in her head and-

I had to stop thinking then. I tripped and a low-hanging branch off a dead tree slapped me in the eyes. So naturally, without my sight, I tripped and resnapped an ankle, I don't remember which one. All I remember is that it contributed to me falling down a slope I never saw because I was blinded momentarily and going airborne just long enough to fall and gravity having the power to break all of my untouched bones. So, about 2-4 ribs.

I landed hard on the arm with the brace, and I realized that busting the last of my unbusted ribs was not something I was immune to the suffering of, even after what I went through in his hands.

I could't get back up out of the mud by myself, so I grabbed a tree and struggled up. I still couldn't stand properly without help, so I just leaned on the tree and hoped no strong winds came by.

...

Fuck it.

This is close enough to a hill.

I might as well die here.

Haha...

He'd laugh, too.

Damn, I hope Rin wakes up soon and can take care of herself...

I know what happened after I thought that, the last act of this dark play was the beginning to its sequel.

I remember this part because this is the point where he found me.

Lied, didn't speak.

And stabbed me to death.