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Sirens wail as the three boys all stare down at the sprawled out body that is their friend. Tears streak silently down Winwin's face. Yangyang feels like he's going to throw up.
"I-I don't understand..." Winwin's voice feels so far enough, so broken. Yangyang can barely manage to breathe properly, his mind is utterly numb. Kun was only away from him for a moment, wasn't he? Yangyang tries to rack his brain, didn't Kun go to the toilet?
"Dong Sicheng? Would we be able to speak to you next?" Police officers walk off with Winwin, Hendery now returning from his chat with them. More officers tape off the area around Kun's body, some take vials of blood from his stomach and another is taking photographs of every single detail.
"Are you okay?" Hendery puts his hand on Yangyang's arm.
"Y-yeah, I guess. I just... can't believe it." Tears boil up in his eyes and he turns to hug Hendery. Hendery pulls him close and carefully pats his back. Yangyang can hear Hendery sniffle and they stand there for what seems like ages and barely a minute at the same time. He can only tell time has passed when the female police officer returns with Winwin and asks Yangyang to come with her. Sluggishly, Yangyang follows them into the arcade where they've set up a table in the dining area. Officers line the walls, all talking with each other, some barely whispering and others shouting. Yangyang's mother is already sitting down at the table, Yangyang almost bursts into tears again, just at the sight of her face.
"Take a seat," The officer gestures to the seat opposite her, breaking Yangyang's focus on his mother. "I'm Detective Hwang, I'm in charge of looking into your friend's murder." The detective speaks softly, Yangyang can feel himself relax a bit as he sits down. "I understand that this is an extremely traumatic experience for you but I'm going to have to ask you to cooperate so we can get the information we need, do you understand?"
"I understand," Yangyang mumbles in response. Detective Hwang turns to his mother.
"Mrs Liu, as Yangyang is still a minor you have to be here for the interview, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask them." Yangyang sees his mother nod solemnly out of the corner of his eye.
"Now, Yangyang, can you tell me the entire story from when you came to the arcade after school up until Mr Qian's death?"
"Uhm... well, Hendery and Winwin went to play basketball together... and Kun and I decided to play DDR. We ended up playing around five rounds before getting a drink." Yangyang strains to remember, his brain feels like mush.
"Okay, you're doing good." Detective Hwang is furiously scribbling notes.
"Then... we played a racing game. Kun beat me and then... uhm... I think he went to the bathroom."
"And did he return from the bathroom?"
"No, I eventually went to Hendery and Winwin because he took a while. We tried messaging him but he never answered, then we decided to look in the bathrooms but he wasn't in there. Winwin noticed one of the side doors was open when we came back into the lobby, and then... well, we found him." Yangyang's heart started to beat faster as he remembered the stone-cold shock that flowed through him when he first found his friend's body.
"I see... Has Mr Qian ever previously gotten into fights? Or been connected with those who may have a reputation for being violent?"
"No. Never. Kun has always been a caring friend for us, he always looked out for us and... and..." Yangyang couldn't stop the tears that fell, his throat closing up as the reality of the situation came crashing down on him. Kun was dead. He would never see him again. His mum rubbed circles on his back.
"Kun was a beautiful boy, he would never fight anyone." His mum offers to the detective.
"I understand. Thank you both for your help, if we find any information regarding Mr Qian's death, you will be the first to know." Detective Hwang stands and walks over to the other officers, comparing notes.
"Come on Yangyang, let's go home." Yangyang slowly raises from his chair, his limbs threatening to give out. His mother pulls him into a hug and helps him to the car, telling him that Hendery and Winwin have already gone home.
At home, Yangyang's mum tells him to go take a shower and that she'll order dinner for them. Yangyang drags his feet up the stairs when he hears his mum on the phone.
"Mrs Lee, I have to tell you something..."
Yangyang doesn't listen to the rest as he quickens his pace, he doesn't want to hear his friends' reactions, he doesn't want to deal with the pain. Yangyang steps into his bedroom, how funny that just this morning he was rushing to meet his friends after being apart for so long, how funny that now one of them is dead. Yangyang shakes his head as more tears slide down his face, he fucking hates that that's all he can seem to do. He fucking hates that he can't help Kun, and he fucking hates that he wasn't there when Kun was getting brutally pummeled to death.
You abandoned him.
Yangyang pushes everything off the top of his dresser. Photo frames go flying as he screams in outrage. Glass smashes onto the carpet and something snaps. Breathing heavily, Yangyang bends to the floor and curls into a ball, sobbing.
"Fuck... FUCK!" Yangyang grabs the already-smashed photo frame off the floor and flings it across the room. Have a shower, that's what his mum said to do. Yangyang pulls off his jumper when something scratches his back. Confused, he peers into the jumper and sees a tag dangling from the neck. That's odd, Yangyang thought. He has had this jumper for years... hasn't he? He peers closer at the tag and realises two things.
