It had been a week since Sayuri's birthday - and Kagerou's death. Koichi didn't speak to me at all that entire week. Until Tuesday, at least. Until Tuesday, he was completely silent towards me. He wouldn't even look at me. I understood that he had been friends with Kagerou, but I never thought he would be this upset.

On the Tuesday of the following week, however, he started talking to me again. Very small talk, but at least he wasn't completely ignoring me. He still wouldn't text me, though, so on Wednesday, while I was working at Yasu's, I heard nothing. Not even a single word. That troubled me a bit, but then again, I had justWhat else should I expect?

It was an uneventful day at work that Wednesday. Nothing surprising happened in the store, but all around in the outside world, people kept reporting strange disappearances. All of them belonged to the Yuki clan. So it goes.

As it happens, on the way back to work that afternoon (I had a doctor's appointment in the middle of the day for my broken leg--turns out you shouldn't wait a week to see someone about it), I literally ran into a nervous, confused man. He had platinum blonde hair and gray-green eyes. His face was pale, but there were red blotches, and since he was breathing hard, I guessed it was from running. I spotted his clan mark on the left side of his face. He was from the Yuki clan, and I couldn't help but wonder if he would be the next to disappear.

"Sorry, man, I'm in a hurry- Hey, happen to know where Danice's is?" he stammered.

Danice's is an American chain grocery store. Why one was here I never found out.

"Uh, it's right down the road..." I pointed up the street, extremely confused.

"Thanks, bro! Er, what's your name?" He asked suddenly, his voice suddenly ten times friendlier.

"Tamotsu Akiya-" But he was already running off.

"I'm Hitoshi! Nice meeting you, thanks again!" he called, waving a farewell.

"That wasn't... weird at all." I muttered as I walked across the street to Yasu's. It was only 2:30-ish, and there was still lots more time before closing, so, dismissing my pride (I was wearing crutches), I... urgh... hobbled through the door.

That's about the time when things got weird.

"Tamotsu! You're ba- what happened?" Satoshi broke off as he saw my crutches and the cast on my right leg.

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine, I just, uh..." I tried to think of an excuse. "Ah, nevermind, you wouldn't believe me anyway."

"Tamotsu." Satoshi stared me down, meeting my gaze, and put both his hands on my shoulders. "You can tell me anything. Don't be shy."

"Wh-" But Satoshi cut me off, putting his finger over my mouth in a shushing gesture.

"It's gonna be okay," he whispered, pulling me into a hug.

"Dude." I pushed him away. "You seriously won't believe me. Okay, fine!" I added after Satoshi tried to hug me again. "Some asshat hit me with his car and broke my leg, alright?"

"YOU POOR THING!!!" Satoshi wailed.

"Who?" Yoko stood up from behind the counter. The conversation between Maiko and Kagerou pulled itself to the front of my mind.

"Tamotsu got hit by a car!" Satoshi exploded in a mess of tears and snot. Although a worried expression was etched on his face, his voice sounded a little to excited, even though he was crying.

Before Yoko even took a single step, Yasu burst through the doors to the storage room, tears streaming from his eyes as he threw his arms around my neck.

"TAMOTSUWHYDIDN'TYOUTELLMEEEEEE" he cried into my shirt. "ICANCOVEREVERYTHINGWECANSUEHIMWHOEVERHITYOUWILLPAYSHHSHSHSHSHITSOKAYDADDY'SHEREDADDY'SGOTY-"

"Get away from me. Now." I shoved him off of me. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure you should be here, though? I mean, you got hit by a car. Most people don't get over that so quick," Tsuneo pointed out. Holy shit, he scared me. I hadn't even realized he was there...

"Well, I'm not most people, so you don't have to worry." I had meant to say "stop worrying," something changed my mind last-second and my voice softened. I kept glancing at Yoko, remembering what Maiko had said. Does that mean... no, she couldn't be. She's human.

"Tamotsu? Is something wrong?" Tsuneo asked.

"No, I'm fine." I subconsciously glanced at Yoko again.

"Oh, I see," Satoshi purred.

"I'm sure," I growled.

"You like Yoko, don't you?" he whispered.

"WH-WHAT?! Like hell I do!" I snapped.

"Violent denials mean you're lying!" he sang teasingly.

"S-Says who?"

"Everyone," Yasu answered, the same, teasing tone creeping into his voice.

"You know, I really hate you all right now."

"You don't need to hate us just because we're smart, Tamo-chan."

"NO! NO WITH THE CHAN." I snapped. Next they'll be calling be Koko-chan!

Yoko seemed thoughtful, then walked over and asked, completely out of nowhere, "So, is Tamotsu gay?"

All eyes turned to me. I must've looked like and idiot, confused, horrified, and hating everyone more by the second.

"I am fucking done with you all!" I stormed out, as best I could on crutches.

"Someday I will rip your head off your shoulders for that," I muttered to Satoshi as I passed him.

---

I gripped the leather handle of the knife tight, a sneer plastered across my face as I slashed the blade through the girl's skin again and again. The scent of iron floated through the open space. Her warm blood ran from the knife down to my hand, fresh and bright red. Adrenaline ran through my veins as the metallic blade sliced through her flesh.

I finished it, thrusting the chrome-stained-red blade through her throat. Then I saw her face.

"T-Tamotsu...?" she whispered.

Sayuri.

---

I awoke with a sickening jolt. Running my hands through my hair, I turned to check the clock. 1:43AM. Too early to get up, but I knew I couldn't get back to sleep. I reached over to check my phone, which lay on my nightstand, but before I could, it flashed on. It was a Mype notification from someone under the name rocksandbones, with a skull emoji on either side.

rocksandbones: yo

I unlocked my phone and waited for Mype to load. When it did, I replied.

silveRBlade: Hey.

💀rocksandbones💀: arent u that guy i ran into yesterday ?

silveRBlade: Um... Who is this?

💀rocksandbones💀: its me, hitoshi
u dont remember me ?

silveRBlade: Oh, yeah. Yeah, I remember you.
How did you find me?

💀rocksandbones💀: justa tip- dont make ur user ur name

silveRBlade: Uh, okay...?
Anyways, did you need something?

💀rocksandbones💀: just wanted to talk . . .

silveRBlade: Alright.

silveRBlade has accepted a contact request from 💀rocksandbones💀.

💀rocksandbones💀: u kno the band ever nowhere ?

silveRBlade: Hell yeah!

💀rocksandbones💀: o good c:

silveRBlade: Did you hear? They're coming here for a concert in a couple weeks.

💀rocksandbones💀: duh, i kno there gona b here ! how wouldnt i kno ?

silveRBlade: Maybe you don't keep up with the news.
Wait, your name is Hitoshi, right?

💀rocksandbones💀: ye

silveRBlade: Do you even realize how lucky you are? That's so cool that you have the same first name as the lead singer!

💀rocksandbones💀: well . . . you wanna know something ?

It was the first time he had actually spelled know and you right.

silveRBlade: Sure...?

Silence for a few minutes.

💀rocksandbones💀: ah , never mind , you wouldn't believe me anyway

We talked for the rest of the night as if we had been friends for forever. Small talk was all it was. When six-thrity drew near, I signed off. Now I was alone, though, the dream that woke me up in the first place returned to my direct memory. I turned on the radio to a news station in an attempt to push it away.

"...nother missing Elemental belonging to the Yuki clan was discovered missing from her home this morning. She has been identified as Sayuri Yukimura."

My head shot up.

As I listened, I realized that the description of the scene sounded like she had been almost killed, then dragged away before she died. In a sudden fit of rage, I hastily slammed the radio's power button, but all I really hit was the volume button. I roared and, seizing the radio box with angry, trembling hands, sent it flying across the living room from the kitchen. It hit the front door and shattered, the male reporter's voice cutting off mid-sentence. I stood silent for a few seconds before sinking to my knees, my rage-turned-despair slamming into me like a two-ton truck. I lost track of time.

-<^~*|*~^>-

Silly reader, you thought the chapter was over? HAH! Fools.

Eventually I came to. Glancing at my watch, I saw that I was now an hour late. Strange, I thought as I left the house, that I lost track of time like that.

Upon arriving at school, I stared at the building for a moment before continuing my walk inside. I stopped by the office and filled out a late pass. Because the first class lasted all morning, and I was only an hour late--it was about 9:30 when I got to school--the hallways were completely deserted. In the eerie silence, my thoughts drifted back to my dream.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that the scene described on the radio matched the scene from my dream, almost down to the last detail. Honestly, it scared me a little. Dishonestly, I didn't even dream last night.

The classroom was loud and extremely rowdy when I walked in. A few people glanced at the door and waved a little, but that's all. Well, besides Koichi glaring at me darkly. I had no idea what that was about.

Taking my seat on the other side of the room, I pulled out my sketchbook and began drawing. Soon, the class quieted down a little. I hadn't noticed before, but I realized that Ms. Kawaguchi was gone. Fuji, who I had met several weeks before, was trying desperately to pull the class back together. As I watched her dig desperately through drawers for worksheets and hand them out to unwilling students, a thought occurred to me. I could help her get the class back on track.

Then again, I don't have to, I countered.

"Alright, listen up!" I shouted from the front of the room. "This is Ms. Kawaguchi's class, is it not?"

The students nodded, a little confused.

"THEN WHY AREN'T WE LEARNING?"

With Fuji and I teaching, the class seemed to fly by, At least, fo reveryone else, it must have. I think we did a pretty good job of making class at least enjoyable, if not totally fun. Unfortunately for me, the next class I had was art.

"Tamotsu!" Kokoa gasped when she saw me.

Great, she's sitting at my table. I sighed and set my stuff down at my spot. The stack consisted of two sketchbooks, three journals, a roll of colored pencils, and a book called Harpsichord Master, by Kent Vernegar. I was halfway through it.

I opened my sketchbook to a drawing that I had been working on for a while. It was the same one from that morning in Ms. Kawaguchi's class. I hadn't yet put my pencil to the paper before Kokoa was leaning over my shoulder, staring at my drawing.

"Wow, that's amazing! How long did it take you to do that?"

"Uh, only about an hour altogether." It was already inked in and shaded.

"That's amazing, Tamotsu! You're amazing!" she exclaimed.

"Thanks..." I went back to drawing. "You can, uh, go sit down now."

"Nah, I'm good," she chirped, leaning further over my shoulder. No matter how much I could ask her, I knew she wasn't going to move.

Ohmigod he is so fucking hot I love him so much, I heard her obnoxiously loud voice screech in my head. My hand tensed and my eyes narrowed as I tried to block her out.

He draws so good, too! It's like he's a character from a book or something! My eyes narrowed more and my face began twitching. I made a wrong line and aggressively erased it.

But there was nothing wrong it looked fine why did he erase it is he drawing me oMIGOD HE'S DRAWING ME

The lead on my pencil broke. I began instinctively tapping my foot as I replenished the lead.

I wonder what it's gonna look like I bet it looks just like me he's so good at drawing he's so cute he is definitely the hottest guy in the entire school I need to stop. Yes, please do.

wait no i sHOULD TOTALLY ASK HIM OUT!!!!

I slammed my pencil down onto my desk, messing up the demon's eye.

"Please..." I breathed, by voice shaking desperately. "Just... sit down."

"Oh... okay." Kokoa moved back around to her chair, her body limp with defeat. I didn't feel bad at all.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move in the window. It was gone before I could actually look up, but I didn't need to. Koichi walked through the door of the art room. I watched as he waited to speak to the teacher. When he did, he spoke too quietly to hear, and even if I could eavesdrop on either of their thoughts, if would have been drowned out anyway by Kokoa's intruding thoughts, which I will not mention here in case we have some innocent minds in the audience.

Even though I couldn't hear what they were saying, I could watch the way they moved. Mrs. Arakawa, the art teacher, kept glancing at me, and Koichi would gesture towards me sometimes. Eventually, Mrs. Arakawa called out my name.

"Tamotsu Akiyama?" I stood up. "Koichi Hisagawa has requested to speak with you." I followed him out into the hall. It was a long, secluded hall, since it only had three rooms--choir, art, and technology. There were no lockers or windows, other than the windows for the art and choir rooms. Koichi led me further down the hall, I guessed so no one would hear.

He sighed, then turned to me. His face was calm but his eyes were filled with rage. "You know," he chuckled. "I though you were a pretty decent guy.

"What made you think that?" I scoffed, only half-joking.

Koichi's face instantly turned red, an angry expression painted across it. "That doesn't matter! What does is, now Sayuri's dead!"

"Actually, she's technically missi-"

"But she's not really, is she?" Koichi sneered. I stood, taken aback by his sudden burst of anger. How would he know about that?

"She's not, is she?" Koichi snapped again. It was more of an accusation than a question. "She's dead, and you killed her!"

Silence. For what seemed like eons, Koichi stared at me, daring me to answer. My dream drifted to the front of my mind, but I pushed it away. Koichi gragger my collar and yelped again, "YOU killed her, didn't you!"

I stayed silent. Koichi shook me, and I saw tears begin to form in his eyes.

"Answer me, damnit! O-Or I'll force it out of you!"

"No... I didn't..." I began after a while. My voice trembled and I hated it. "I didn't kill... I didn't kill her... I-I didn't..."

"Then where is she? If you didn't kill her, what happened to her?"

"I-I don't..." My voice was barely above a whisper.

"Give me the fucking truth!" Koichi yelled. It's a wonder how no one else was coming out to the hall to see what exactly the hell was going on.

"I am telling you the fucking truth!" I shot back. Koichi dropped me and handed me a small piece of paper.

"When you're ready to admit that you are a murderer, meet me here. I'll be waiting." He walked away.

Blue Moon Café, 6-10PM. Be there. It was the place where we had celebrated Sayuri's birthday.

The door to the elective hall slammed shut. Now I was alone.

What the hell am I supposed to do?

-------------

A/N: Hey, guys! It's been a while. I have been SO CAUGHT UP recently with crap like schoolwork and Undertale and various amazing cartoons and Undertale and Supernatural and Undertale-

Wait I said that already. ANYWAY-

I finished Season 10 of Supernatural and HOLY SHIT WHY.

ITS FUCKING STUPID.

LIKE WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED

IM SO CONFUSED

HELP

AAAAAND I'M ABOUT TO GET UNDERTAAALLE

Andmaybeihavesomereallysweetandhugenewsaboutmeandrinchan

I DUNNO IF I SHOULD BE TELLINGYOU THIS BUT-

(I know her irl so its ok)

ME AND Rin_chan32 ARE GOING OUT YAYAAAAAY

It's not a weird internet relationship either we go to the same school and shit so yeah

AND BY THE WAY YOU BETTER FUCKING DELETE THAT PICTURE OF SEVEN YEAR OLD ME

OH WAIT BUT IM GONNA HAVE TO LIKE IT ON SUNDAY SHIT

OH WELL HAHAHAHA ENJOY THIS REALLY SHORT SHITTY CHAPTER THAT TOOK ME LIKE 4 HOURS TO WRITE COS IM LAZY BYE

----

Total typo count for this chapter: 2--six-thrity and gragger.

----

wait I'm not finished yet past self! ugh i hate this

ANYWAY I changed the cover!

After reading ginawriter's rant book Let's Rant, I realized that the first cover for KNX is horrifyingly crappy. So is this one but it's less horrifying. I included pictures of Sayuri, Tamotsu and Koichi and i am so happy with it im screaming.

It's not officialy them but yknow it looks like them.

Also I keep seeing Koichi in my mind as having that weird little headband thing that I think someone in naruto wears idfk i dont watch it so //shrugs

AAAAAND YEAH BYE

Love you all and thank you for sticking through to the end of this completely unnecessary author's note that's longer than the actual chapter itself hoohwee

BYE FO EVEH