Chapter 11: Oni Tomodachi

I paced back and forth in Mune's bedroom three days after Karma's death. "Personally, I think this is a horrible plan. We found nothing last time we broke into Vanitas's home last time." Mune said, rubbing his forehead.

"Wrong. We found the girl that we saw that night. And Karma when he was a young boy." I said.

"That was you, not us. For all we know, it could just be your imagination." Nico asked, who seemed more interested in what Havoc, Mune's dog, was eating. Jay shook his head.

"That's not true. I saw it too." he said. He looked at all of us. "I say we should go."

Mune sighed and got up. "If anything I'm not leaving Jay alone in this situation." He said. "For all we know, he could get caught and you wouldn't be able to find anything. So I'll go, but only because you need a foolproof plan."

We all stared at Nico. After a few minutes, he threw his hands in defeat. "Fine, let's all just go to Vanitas's place! We'll definitely not get caught, right?"

~~~

We waited until we were sure that Vanitas wasn't inside, then we snuck in. We split up, Mune and Lina (she would've told our parents what we were up to if we didn't allow her) would check the first floor, Jay and I would check the basement, and Nico would check the second floor.

We found nothing in the basement, not even a ghost or werewolf. The twins didn't find anything either, except for a diary with a language none of us knew. But what really caught our attention was what Nico found. We all stared at the dried blood at the center of the bedroom. "I've never seen anything like this." He said.

Mune went up to the blood and scraped some off with a pin he found. As he was doing that, Lina opened an empty plastic bag while Jay pretended to gag. He placed the piece of blood in the bag and placed it in his pocket. "I'll go visit my uncle." Mune said.

"You mean your uncle Kuro?" Jay asked. He nodded. We all walked outside, listening to crickets as we made our way home.

"Hey Oni," Nico called. I turned to look at him. "You coming with us or you going on the subway?" He asked.

"You know me. I'll take the subway." I turned back and continued to make my way to the station.

"'Kay, just don't get yourself killed when we come to pick you up!" He called, and joined the others.

I made my way to the station and sat there, watching as the lights blurred with the wall. My phone vibrated in my pocket. It was Mune.

Mune_Misuki (8:46 pm)

Hey. Just found out whose blood it is.

(8:47 pm) You

That was quick. Whose is it?

Mune_Misuki (8:49 pm)

Karma's.

I stared at my phone, shocked spreading on my face. How? He died three days ago, so how was it his blood? Wouldn't it be Vanitas's blood?

(8:51 pm) You

Are you sure it isn't Vanitas's blood?

Mune_Misuki (8:53 pm)

I checked three times. Not only that, it's from fourteen hours ago. Meaning he's still alive.

Mune_Misuki (8:55 pm)

I've already told everyone else. I wasn't sure if you were ready for it.

I sat up, and stared at the roof of the subway. Alive. He was alive. That was all I could think about. He didn't die. He didn't commit suicide. "-til three weeks from now." A voice said in front of me. I looked up to see none other than Vanitas talking to someone else. At first, I couldn't recognize them. Then, I saw those eyes. They were ocean blue eyes. Karma's eyes.

"Three weeks? I thought it was two." Vanitas complained. Karma shrugged.

"That's what Dākushī told me." Karma said, noticing my presence yet not alerting it to Vanitas. The train stopped, and both of them got off, while I followed them.

After a few minutes or so, they decided to walk across a train track. It surprised me how easy they made it seem. It's not that hard, I thought. If they can do it, so can I. I was just about to fall down when someone grabbed me from my collar. I tried to get free from their grasp, but they only held on tighter. Just then, a train passed by, blocking my passage. The person let go, and I was able to look at them properly.

I would have given the person a piece of my mind. I would have told them that I was doing something important and that they stopped me. I would have, if my mother was not standing in front of me. She stood there, staring at me with her red and puffy eyes. Finally, she told me four words; "What were you thinking?" Before I could say anything, she continued.

"You could've died back there." She said with a shaky breath. "I can barely think without having the thought of what happened to your brother-" She choked back a sob before moving on. "Why would you do that?"

I stared at her, both confused and surprised. I didn't know what to say. She was dealing with so much since the passing of Karma's death-my bad, since the passing of his fake death-while I was here, brushing it off like dirt. I avoided eye contact, and told her "I thought I could make it."

Then, out of nowhere, I was pulled into a tight hug. I looked up to see my mother holding me tightly, as if I would disappear if she let go. "Don't ever do that to me, understand?" She whispered in my ear. "I won't live with both of my sons dead."

I took a deep breath to stop myself from crying. "I won't die yet, mom." She let go of me, and wiped her tears.

"Now, do you want to go home with me, or do you want to go your own way?" She asked.

"I'll go with you." She nodded, a small smile appearing on her face. I followed her to her car. She sat in the passenger seat, while I sat in the driver's seat.

I understand this is crazy, but I know how to drive. Since I was thirteen, my uncle decided to make me a fake driver's license- apparently, my mother came from an assassin's family, so making fake identities wasn't as hard as it seemed- and taught me how to drive, for reasons I don't know.

We drove past many stores, some of which I wanted to go to, but couldn't because of my mother. We stopped beside the graveyard, where Karma's fake body laid. I turned to notice two people there in front of Karma's grave.

There was a stranger- probably Karma himself- in the cemetery while Vanitas was standing outside, smoking a cigarette. I didn't realize I was holding up a bunch of cars until I heard a song of horns, accompanied by a few shouts.

I continued to drive back home, ignoring the shouts being yelled at me while being given the finger and moving on. I wasn't surprised when my mother returned the favour. I sighed, wondering if this day was going to get any worse.