He knocked on the door, he knew Hitori would not open the door, but he knocked against it. And when he had knocked for the third time, Akira drew his wand and cast the spell to unlock the door.
It clicked open, he thought, No safety at all, huh? And walked inside. The lamps were off, as expected, and the blinds were drawn close. The same dark and gloomy vibe of a depressed, struggling with life, teenage boy.
Akira ignored the setting and focused on finding booby traps if Hitori had set any. Akira knew Hitori could not set any traps. Either he was carefree, or he knew his traps would not work. Being lazy and not knowing was out of the question.
He looked out for any possible traps as he crossed the porch and reached the hall. He decided to take a detour instead of heading straight to the dark room in front of him.
He stopped in front of the room, he tried the handle, but it was locked. Instead of just breaking in, he decided to call Hitori to make sure he was in the room.
"Hitori!" he called, no reply. "Hitori, it is me, Akira."
Fortunately, he replied. "What are you doing here?"
"You went missing, and I knew you would be hiding here."
"I am not hiding, I am taking a break."
"Okay. I knew you would be taking a break here, so I came to retrieve you."
"No need to bother yourself. I will come back when I wish to."
Akira should have expected such an answer. Why would Hitori get friendly with Akira and let him into his life? No way.
He sighed. "I have no other choice," he muttered and touched the handle with his wand.
"Do not do that," Hitori called as if he knew that Akira was unlocking the door. "Where is Reon?"
"Reon?" He frowned. "Do you not know that Onogi took her?"
"Are you Onogi?"
"I am neither Onogi nor his man. I am Sai—" He stopped. He realized it was still too early for that. "I am Akira."
He heard Hitori sigh. "I do not even care if you are sent by him, come in."
Akira unlocked the door. He was confused why Hitori would not care about his life. When he went inside, he saw Hitori sitting right next to the door, in the corner, on a gaming console.
Before asking, he glanced at the screen that displayed an avatar spinning around itself at a tortoise's speed. He looked down at Hitori and felt a sense of despair and gloom.
"Have you still not recovered from the incident? Look, I know this is hard for you," he said, getting closer to Hitori and laying a hand over his hand, "but we need you to get better so that we can charge back harder than them."
"What do you know, man, you do not even know the start—"
"I got involved in the middle, did not I? So I know everything that happened since I got involved, and the rest? Eya-nee and Kakashi let me in the things from their perspectives."
Hitori sighed and leaned over his table. "I logged into the game…" he said.
"Yeah, I can see that. Is gaming still your escape from reality? I thought you were over it when your partner died."
"I am going to believe they told you about Kamiya. Why? I do not know, I do not want to know. Because as long as you are helping me, that does not matter."
"Yes, they did tell me about Kamiya and everything that happened that day."
"Why? Why did they tell you?"
"I guess, you will have to ask them."
Hitori glanced at him and looked back at the gaming screen. "I met Onogi in the game," he said, changing the topic.
"Hm. And what happened?"
"I…" Akira waited, he found that Hitori was trying to re-arrange his words. "I wanted to know more about Reon's situation, but I feared contacting Onogi. No. It was more like I knew he was waiting for me in the game– the only way we could contact."
"What did you talk about? Did he threaten you or something like that? What was Reon's situation?"
Hitori waited for the words to come to him as Akira waited for Hitori's words to come out. He said, "He challenged me."
Akira was surprised and a little shocked. Challenged? What did he mean by that? "What challenge?"
"He showed me the territory that once belonged to me. I got to the point and asked him about Reon. I could not help but overthink about the worst."
"What was his reply?"
"His reply was relieving for a moment. He said that Reon is still alive and well– he gave her a beating to silence her."
Akira felt a surge of anger the moment he heard the word 'beating.' It was on instinct that he wanted to strangle Onogi right now. "And?" he asked, biting his lip to control his emotions.
"Tonight is the night…" Hitori said and leaned back in his chair. "I can not… oh… the same will happen. With me or without me, I think I can…" He took a deep breath.
Akira took that chance to push his words. "Let me see what happened to you." He stepped forward and extended his arms.
Before Hitori knew Akira was holding his hands. He tried to jerk his hands out of Akira's grip, but it was surprisingly strong. "W-What are you doing? Are you really gay?"
"Shut up. Give me a minute." Akira tightened his grip and closed his eyes.
He was taken into Hitori's mind, he navigated to the past and reached the Pontianak dungeon. At the mouth of the dungeon, he saw the conversation Onogi and Hitori had.
He heard Onogi say, 'Come and stop me if you can.'
Anger was already boiling in him, without his knowledge, he was squeezing Hitori's hands tighter than ever.
'If you care about her, show me by saving her. It will happen tonight.'
"Stop…" He heard the moan but ignored it.
'That slut. The same will happen…'
"Stop!" Hitori shouted and jerked his hands out of Akira's grip, he pulled Akira on the way and almost made Akira lie over him.
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