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CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE
how it happened

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༇ "I'LL find you, Yuzuki."

Those were his last words before he watched her eyes become hazy, fluttering closed no matter how hard she tried to keep them open.

Chishiya watched her for a while, until her breathing pattern became even. Then he lay her on the ground, gently, and stood up, his hand hovering near the button to make sure.

His eyes caught sight of the screen, where "GAME CLEARED" flashed in black letters.

Though Chishiya was never afraid of dying, the old him never would've imagined he would choose to be a sacrifice, and he grimaced because of it.

Then he closed his eyes and—

"I pressed the button."

Slowly, one of Chishiya's eyes cracked back open, followed by the other one.

He blinked, confused. He got so caught up in his fight with Baya that he forgot about Kota's presence.

"You did— what?"

"I pressed it." His bottom lip is quivering heavily, tears rolling down his cheeks. "I didn't want you to fight! I wanted— I wanted you to stop. I wanted to help—"

Chishiya was unable to form words for a while. He should feel relieved. The Beach version of him would feel relieved. The Jack Of Hearts version of him would feel relieved. Now all he felt was pity. Maybe because Baya cared about Kota. Maybe because he was just a kid. Maybe because he liked having Kota around. Maybe everything at once.

"I told you not to," he finally managed to say.

"And I told you not to," Kota replied.

"I'm the adult here," Chishiya's voice sharpened. "There was a reason I told you not to press that button, Kota. You're going to die now. In any minute."

His lip started to tremble even harder. "Can't you tell me a few nice things instead of that?"

"Like what?" Chishiya rubbed his forehead in frustration. "You want another damn bee story?"

Kota bursted out sobbing and attacked Chishiya with a hug, soaking his clothes with tears. "Something real."

"Something real?"

"Yes," he pleaded.

Chishiya stiffened at the sudden hug, feeling the boy's small arms clamp desperately around him. His first instinct was to pull away. He didn't. Instead, he let out a slow, quiet breath and lowered himself to sit on the ground, Kota still clinging to him.

"Alright." Chishiya leaned his head back against the wall, letting his eyes fall half-shut. "I'll tell you a story. About a boy."

Kota hiccupped softly but stayed quiet, listening.

"There was a boy who had a very cold father. A doctor. Brilliant but distant. The father didn't really know how to love anyone. Maybe he thought providing a house, food, and education was enough. Maybe he thought being cold would make the boy strong."

He felt Kota's fingers tighten slightly in his shirt.

"One year," Chishiya continued, "the father took the boy to a medical conference. Not because he wanted to spend time with him. Just because he didn't have a babysitter, and the boy was quiet enough to drag along. The conference hall was big and white. Filled with people who spoke like machines. The boy sat through hours and hours of lectures about disease and death. About how the body falls apart. No one cared if he understood."

Chishiya closed his eyes fully now, speaking almost to himself. "And at the end of the day, when they left the hall, the father said, 'Medicine is about control. If you control the body, you control life. Never forget that.'"

A long silence stretched out. Kota's hiccups had quieted. He was just clinging to him, breathing softly. Chishiya opened his eyes again.

"And that," he finished, "was the only thing the boy ever really learned from his father."

Kota lifted his head slightly. "That's a sad story."

Chishiya's lips curved into the faintest ghost of a smile. "Real things are often sad."

"What happened to the boy?"

"He became a doctor," he said simply. "A very good one. Better than his father, in my opinion."

Kota stared up at him, confused at first, then realization dawned. "Was that you?" he whispered.

Chishiya shrugged lightly, looking away, but his silence was enough of an answer.

Kota wiped his eyes on his sleeve, sniffling harder. "Can you tell me another one?"

Chishiya lowered his head, his white hair falling slightly into his eyes. Another one. He almost wanted to laugh. What else did Kota expect him to say? There weren't many good stories.

Still, Chishiya found himself nodding. "Alright. One more."

"The boy liked puzzles. Not just the ones with pieces. The ones people couldn't solve. This boy... he thought if he could understand everything—every system, every weakness—then nothing could hurt him. But the truth is, no matter how good he got at solving things... he was always lonely. Even when he didn't know it."

Kota clutched at his sleeve, hard.

"And one day," Chishiya continued, "he met someone who made him realize puzzles aren't supposed to be solved alone."

"Who?" Kota whispered. "Who did he meet?"

Chishiya breathed out through his nose, almost a sigh. "A girl," he said simply. "A very stupid, very stubborn girl who smiled even when she was supposed to be angry. Who kept talking even when she should have run away. Who stayed, even when there was no reason left to."

Kota's mouth parted slightly. "Was that—"

Chishiya nodded once. "Yuzuki," he said. "It was Yuzuki."

"Will you find her?" Kota asked. "Even if you also die because you pressed the button?"

Chishiya's eyes, so often empty and guarded, softened in a way so rare it was almost painful. "I promised, didn't I?" he said quietly. "I'll find her."

He leaned his head back against the wall, closing his eyes, feeling the exhaustion dragging him down. His mouth was.

"Tell me one more," Kota whispered. "Please."

"The boy, well, he had a very strict biological clock. It always woke him up at exactly five AM, no matter what. So, one day, the boy wakes up. And when he opens his eyes, there's the girl. She's lying on top of him, completely unaware of what she's doing. She's moving around in her sleep, shifting and turning. The boy doesn't move. He just stays there, watching her, unable to do anything but wait."

"Wait for what?"

"Wait for her to wake up. See, the thing about the boy was, he didn't care about disturbing people. Especially not when they were in such an innocent, peaceful state. And yet... he lay there, for hours, just watching her."

Kota frowns. "That sounds... kind of scary."

"Maybe. But the boy was stuck. He couldn't leave, couldn't move. The girl had somehow taken up all the space." He pauses, his eyes narrowing slightly as if considering something. "And the boy? Well, he had to wait for five hours. He had no choice but to lie there, trapped under her, watching her sleep like it was some kind of test of patience."

"So what happened after five hours?" Kota asks, his voice a little hesitant.

"The girl finally woke up," Chishiya says. "She acted like it was just another normal morning. She had no idea what she'd done, no idea how long the boy had been stuck under her."

He gives another slow sigh. Kota didn't let go of him, his small body pressed tightly against Chishiya's side. "Another one?"

Chishiya's eyes drifted closed for a moment, the memory surfacing almost without permission. "There was another time," he began, "with the boy and the girl."

Kota looked up at him, waiting.

"The boy had almost died," Chishiya said. "He wasn't supposed to make it out. But somehow... he did. Barely. And after everything, when he could barely sit upright, he found himself sitting with her.

"The girl had cookies," Chishiya continued, a tug at the corner of his mouth. "She was eating them like nothing had happened. Like they hadn't just come close to dying. She told him he should take it easy. He told her she should be nicer to someone who almost died."

"What happened next?" Kota whispered.

"She teased him," he said. "Held a cookie just out of reach, daring him to take it. So he leaned in and stole it from her fingers. She got flustered, but she laughed. She laughed so much."

Kota made a soft noise, almost a snicker.

"The boy didn't realize how badly he needed to hear that laugh," Chishiya said. "They kept stealing cookies from each other. Fighting over them. Feeding each other. Laughing so hard they couldn't breathe. For a little while, it was like nothing bad had ever happened."

"And then what?"

Chishiya opened his eyes. "Then they kissed," he said simply.

Kota's eyes widened, and Chishiya almost chuckled.

"And after that?"

"After that, the girl got hurt. Very, very badly. You can still see her scars if you look closely. Near her temple. Her ribs."

For a long moment, Kota said nothing, just leaned against him and breathed.

"Was it you?" he asked finally. "It was you again, right?"

"Yeah," he said at last. "It was me."

"And the girl?" Kota pressed, even though the answer was obvious.

Chishiya smiled faintly, something so small it barely touched his mouth.

"She's the one I'm going to find," he said.

Kota nodded, sniffling hard, but he smiled too.

The soft glow of the room was disrupted by the sharp, mechanical sound of a laser beam slicing through the quiet.

Kota's body slumped instantly, the weight of his small frame collapsing against Chishiya's side.

A harsh breath escaped Chishiya, his heartbeat quickening as he looks down. The silence is deafening for a brief moment. His gaze flicked to the spot where the laser hit, the blood pooling, the lifeless eyes of the boy still wide open.

"Damn it," he mumbled, even though he knew it would happen eventually.

How will Baya react when she finds out about this? Will he tell her or show her? Who will be the first to wake up? He was too lost in theorizing what will happen after to realize that two figures stepped into the room.

"Finally."

Chishiya caught a glimpse of a tie before his head dropped low, the impact of the syringe they stabbed into his neck immediate.

A third figure rose.

Chishiya blacked out.

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🂱 — A/N: "Vera you'll never keep this up until September if you keep publishing more than once a day" I have plans for an entire act 4 AND 5 if needed, so don't worry

This feels like escaping a prison because in my other fanfics it was a habit to publish 2+ chapters a day (though those chapters were shorter).

But even if I wrote act 4 and 5, I will make a different book for it. This one will get extremely long if I don't, and I still need to mingle the other version of act 3 in here

And I do feel truly sorry for killing a kid off, but... it had to happen.

Have a good day!! x

Any theories??