Living A Dead Dream (Baji x OC)

12

Why didn't I make her come with? Why did I let her stay? Why didn't I tell her to ignore him? Why? Why did this happen?

I wandered aimlessly for what felt like forever. Eventually, I found myself at Take's apartment building. I didn't want to be alone. I couldn't. I slowly made my way up the stairs, the stinging on my knees becoming more evident. I reached his room and tried the handle. It was unlocked. "Take?" I asked as I stepped in.

"Daju?" he asked from the darkness.

"You left the door unlocked," I said as I shut and locked it.

"What's wrong?" he asked, turning on a lamp. His eyes widened when he saw me. "Hey, what happened?! I'll get the first aid kit, sit down!" he worriedly exclaimed before rushing to the bathroom.

I walked to the table, ignoring the piles of junk, and sat on one of the cushions. My knees were covered in dry blood and dirt.

"Found it," he said, sitting in front of me. He started cleaning my wounds with a rag. "What happened? Did you trip?"

A wave of sadness suddenly hit me as I watched him. I tried wiping the fresh tears, but they just wouldn't stop.

"Whoa! H-hey, wha-"

"Some- someone hit Sayu..." I said as I began to sob. "I left her in-in the car for two minutes... and someone fucking crashed into her." Take didn't say anything else, the sound of my crying being the only thing filling the room as he finished wrapping my knees. Not even bothering to put anything away, he helped me to the futon and covered me with a blanket after laying me down. By that point, I had calmed down some and was just sniffling. "I just... can't live without her."

"I know..." he said after a moment before shutting the lights off again. "Hina... she died right in front of me. And Akkun..."

"Come here," I said, pulling him down to lie next to me with his back facing me. This was something we hadn't done in about twenty years now. I'd climb up behind him in bed and curl into a ball while hanging onto the back of his shirt. We lay there quietly for a while.

"I... I was supposed to die too..."

"Hm?"

"Hanma, that Mobius guy... he was there. And he said I was supposed to be in the car... Then Akkun... Daju, it's the same as before. Kisaki is still pulling the strings."

"We still haven't met him yet... We'll have to stop him from meeting Mikey. Hopefully, then, we'll be able to stop all this. I just hope we don't have to go too far to stop him..." Finally, my tiredness was catching up with me. We have to go back... To save Sayu... To save Hinata... To save Akkun...

~

Eventually, the day of Sayu's funeral came. It broke my heart all over again. I could hardly even look, much less talk to her family. Over the years, they came to be like a second family to me. At first, her parents didn't approve of me too much, but as my temper started settling, I started to grow on them.  When we go back, I'll make sure she doesn't die. Whether she was being targeted or it was just a freak accident, I'll make sure nothing happens to her.

~

A few days passed with no word from Naoto and Take and I texted each other to see if the other heard anything. Then, finally, we were told to meet up at the detention center. It's a lot bigger than I thought.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Naoto apologized as he arrived.

"I hadn't heard from you in forever. I was wondering what happened," Take said as I just slightly glared at Naoto. I was irritated that he ghosted us before telling us to meet up out of the blue.