Things Can Go Wrong

Chapter Nine

TANOSHI

It's been about an hour since me and the gang went into the warehouse for our Friday night and so far, I think I am having the best time out of everyone in the entire club. However, I can't help but feel a little bit sour right now. You know when you get that strange feeling in your stomach where you think that something might happen, and you attempt to deny it in your mind because you're having fun?

Well that's what is happening now.

In order to forget this feeling, I decide to break away from the gang to get more drinks and to go to the bathroom (the large amounts of Coke and passionfruit mango mocktails that I drank do not help my rather sensitive bladder)

Once I manage to break away, I attempt to find my way to the male toilets, however I am held up by a large commotion going on. I'm not exactly sure what is happening, but people are getting beaten up and I feel obliged to help. Within seconds, I join in, breaking the fight before four guys, about twice as big as me, attempt to swing directly at me, however they are stopped by a girl, presumably in her late teens, who is crying and screaming for them to stop in Japanese.

They scramble away into the sea of partygoers, and I help the girl up. She is unharmed, however she looks extremely stressed, and her face is slightly wrinkled, likely from crying over the chaotic scene. She looks up at me as if she's seen an apparition, and with that I quickly smile at her before I walk off, feeling even more sour.

Once I am about to open the door to the toilets, I hear noises, which to me sound of a sexual nature, and I laugh to myself quietly. Maybe I should wait until they are done, and then I'll go in. I mean, it would be rude to burst into a place where people might be having sex, but at the same time it is their own fault for doing 'it' in a public place and thinking that no-one will hear at all.

I think I will wait a few minutes, and then decide.

KYOU

This actually feels really good. Me and Suji aren't doing it, but we are getting pretty close. Making out spicily is almost like a 'version 0.5' of sex and in many ways, it works extremely well at a party as from what I know, no-one can hear us, which is definitely a really good thing.

The two of us originally were just planning to stick it out until we exposed Tanoshi, but I insisted on having a little bit more fun before we did. Despite the fact that our original time plan to expose Hito has spilled, we have decided to do it later in the night, and enjoy ourselves relentlessly now.

We both break away from kissing, before the two of us wrap our arms around each other and immediately begin making out again, this time a little bit louder, seeing as no-one is around us. I prop my shoulders up and notice that the door handle to the toilets is moving slowly and quietly, and I immediately push away from Suji, and he knocks his shoulder on the left side of the cubicle.

He winces in pain, and I quickly mouth "There's someone in here." and he nods, before checking his phone quietly, hoping to not alert anyone at all. I start shaking and trembling, and I hope one thing; that this isn't Tanoshi. If he finds out that me and Suji have been dating, he'll absolutely kill me.

I hear the guy's phone ring from the next cubicle, and within seconds he answers.

"Yo."

Well we are completely and utterly screwed. The all familiar voice of Tanoshi rings through my ears, and blood rushes around my head as nervous adrenaline surges through my body. I look at Suji and I grit my teeth. As he keeps talking to one of his friends, he walks closer to the cubicle that me and Suji are in, and I hear him say the things that I really never wanted him to say throughout this entire encounter.

"I heard some couple doing it in the bathrooms, so I'm going to joke around with them." he says, before I hear him hang up and he places his phone somewhere. Suji holds on to my shoulders tightly before mouthing " Nanimokamo yoku narudarou." (Everything will be fine) and he flashes a nervous smile at me.

I hear Tanoshi exit the cubicle before he confidently says "Who's the lucky couple getting some then?"

"Speak up, I mean you had the confidence to do it at a party with hundreds of people, so why not come out?" he adds.

After a couple of seconds of prolonged silence, I see his hands touch the top of the cubicle and he pulls himself up at us. I look at Suji and tears start to fall down my face. He tries to wrap his arms around me and make me comfortable, however by the time he gets to me, it is too late and I see Tanoshi peek over the cubicle. I look up at him, and his face of amusement turns into a face of pure rage.

He drops from the cubicle, and I hear him quietly cry, before he exits the cubicles, slamming the doors and screaming swear words.

I look at Suji and I immediately burst into tears of pure guilt. He does not try to do anything, and stares at me blankly as if he is waiting for some kind of response from me. He does try to hug me, however I scream at him to get off of me and I immediately realize that it was the biggest mistake of my life so far to even think about going with Suji.

And, I'll have to suck it up and deal with it. With that, I run out of the cubicles, choking on my own tears, my head hung low in extreme shame.

TANOSHI

I run out of the warehouse, and in the direction to my apartment, trying extremely hard not to burst into tears or have thoughts about beating the utter shit out of Suji for stealing my girlfriend. Along the way, I keep beating my fists into numerous walls and ledges, once I reach my apartment, I punch the stone cold walls outside, dragging my knuckles to the ground.

Dark red blood oozes from both of my hands, and as the blood from my knuckles trickles down to my fingers and to the ground, I leave the trickling trail, grab my keys and open the door to my apartment. The moment I get in, blood spills all over my bed sheets, and I immediately burst into tears, smashing glasses, objects and anything that I can get my hands on. By the time that I feel that I have calmed down ever so slightly, I look around my apartment and sigh quietly. Now I'll have to clean this mess up and get on with it.

On Monday, I will have to face Suji and Kyou, and hope that I don't get expelled for what I do next. My phone pings, and I see that it is a random number. Intrigued, I click on the message to see photos that make me want to slit my wrists.

There are photos of Suji presenting loads of texts from when I was in his gang, and the entire slideshow of texts has been edited to make it look like I was the culprit for everything. All of the drugs. All of the robberies. All of the death threats. Below the photos is a caption that says "Enjoy the rest of your life, Tanoshi." and it is signed by one of Suji's gang members.

I feel as if I have been punched in the stomach, and for the first time in my life, I want to go to bed and never wake up, in fear of facing everyone. More importantly, everyone who I have made friends with, will now think that I am some sort of criminal that ruined the lives of so many people.

I cannot begin to fathom how Jack, Danny and Tsuki are going to feel, and I start to think of scenarios in which they all scream at me and wish I was dead. In some ways, I wish I was, because then this would have never happened and I would still have a decent group of friends.

I slowly get up from the floor and go to the balcony of my apartment. I look down at the rest of Koenji, and amongst the hustle and bustle of the streets in the evening, I see the moon shine brightly, almost cuddling the many office buildings and stores that lay beneath it. I look at my trembling hands, still stained with the glowing color of my blood, and I start to cry again. I look up at the sky, and the stars shine brightly as my eyesight flickers from all of the crying.

I look down and I notice the girl that I helped from earlier, and the two of us make eye contact with each other briefly before she runs off quietly and sadly. As much as I want to go and talk to her, my mental state says otherwise, and as a blubbering mess I don't think that my look right now is presentable to any woman.

I go back inside, and I turn on the TV, not bothering to clean up the mess that I created. I pick up one of the many glass shards scattered across the floor of my apartment, and upon picking it up, I fall from my couch, the piece of glass cutting my hand as more blood rushes from my body to the floor, and I find myself drifting in and out of consciousness, before my eyes shut for the night, my mind and body wrecked and my heart shattered to thousands of miniscule pieces.