Elysian's Monogatari

Chapter 102: Scars Left Unseen

𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗗𝗮𝘆
𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗙𝗶𝗹𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗩𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗣

...In the end 'my' warnings were too late. We underestimated the hatred from the long-oppressed non-honored students. Back then I mainly worked remotely from my base overseas and couldn't feel that atmosphere. I really hoped I could use this excuse. But I should've stayed by my little brother's, by Kaname's side, if I truly wanted to protect him.

We are a family. I should've been there for him, even if it meant abandoning everything I had. Even for just a little bit earlier, before everything was over. I've regretted it ever since. I believed my little brother's report despite the fact we hardly interacted with each other before.

I arrogantly assumed he must be as competent as I am since he's my little brother. But Kaname was a clumsy, foolish kid. He kept making mistakes so to avoid being scolded, he tried his best to cover up his failures. He was as fake as a cardboard cutout, full of exaggerated lies.

He kept insisting that 'This job was a huge success', 'I'm perfect and excellent', and 'No problem at all.' But there are all lies. He lied like a child who wanted to make himself look competent, desperately trying not to get abandoned by his guardian. And I didn't see through those lies. I believed them blindly and felt so proud of my little brother.

I've been regretting it for so long. The real fool was me all along. HiMERU thought. "Although we recalled the past for the sake of COMP we can't air any of this right?" Tatsumi asked. "...iiya isn't that obvious right from the start? Whatever happened back then there's just no way we can let the world know this. CosPro wouldn't allow it." Shiro said with a sigh.

"...Indeed. Older Hanagaki is right. An incredibly horrendous society with unbearable class disparities. Rampant discrimination, bullying and violence. Cultist ideologies spread from the Catacombe. And finally the riot-like brawl that happened here." HiMERU said.

"There is nothing to be proud of in any of this. Nobody would want to enroll in Reimei Academy after hearing all that." He then said. "Although sparse, we did experience a few enjoyable, happy moments. That was my youth." Tatsumi said. "Even embellished with the word 'youth' this place was a living hell for sure." HiMERU said.

"Not to mention the incident that ended your youth is not something to be made public. That's why they covered it up as a scandal as if it had never happened. Nobody would want to dig it up now." He added. "But what was that incident about in the first place? I still don't quite understand even till this day." Tatsumi said.

"....I guess even now you're still an idiot, Kazehaya Tatsumi." Shiro said. "...Nii-san..." Ren said with a sweatdrop. "But it's not like we can blame him. After all Tatsumi-senpai doesn't know about it. 'Do you remember that Akehoshi?'" He then said.

"That day right when Tatsumi-senpai and HiMERU-senpai were about to form their dream unit, a video that started with that began playing in the auditorium." He added. "Just like the SS previous to the last one. Well they probably reused the video after they experienced the success of stopping Tatsumi's revolution with it." HiMERU said.

"...And that's why I still hate CosPro to this day. That video was aimed directly at Akkun. Even though all he wanted to do is to stand on stage and sing with the rest of Trickstar they had to humiliate him in front of the audience." Shiro said with a sigh.

"....'That Akehoshi' just keeps causing troubles in the industry even after his death. Perhaps that's why he's considered a taboo." HiMERU said. "We shouldn't speak ill of the dead. It's common etiquette unrelated to religion. Besides I don't think Shiro-san would like it if his childhood friend's father is being blamed on." Tatsumi said.

"Anyways on that day as that weird video continued to play, the non-honored students gathered there suddenly rushed onto the stage, looking fierce and hostile. Then before I could stop them they began to physically assault HiMERU-san while spitting out insults." He then said.

"The teachers turned into a blind eye to the situation. The honored students who treated HiMERU as their representative who were supposed to have received favors from HiMERU-san didn't help either." He added.

"Reo-san, Shiro-san and I tried to stop them because I thought that kind of violence was definitely wrong while Reo-san and Shiro-san wanted to make sure HiMERU-san doesn't get hurt badly. Yet we were powerless and the raging crowd pushed us aside, eventually off the stage." He then said.

"Indeed. Taking advantage of that the honored students who resented you also started punching and kicking you while Older Hanagaki and Younger Hanagaki tried to protect you. In the end Older Hanagaki protected both you and Younger Hanagaki so Younger Hanagaki did not suffer any injuries. That wasn't the case for Older Hanagaki however. He got minor injuries but he started to hate you more. What a living hell it was." HiMERU said.

"Hai. I really don't want to remember it to be honest." Tatsumi said. "...Ah? Who wants to? Definitely not me nor Ren. And I doubt Yuugiri-senpai would want to especially since he did not attend the COMP." Shiro said. "Yuugiri-senpai...I wonder if he's still traumatized by what happened back then...maybe he's still not over it that's why he didn't want to come..." Ren said.

"...Due to that incident Tatsumi-senpai and HiMERU-senpai got hospitalized, a state where they couldn't possibly continue working. Whereas for us Celestial, we had to repeat a year for the troubles we caused. Yuugiri-senpai didn't want to give up so we continued our activities as a unit but it got worser even after Eve formed." He then said.

"In the end the unit disbanded, Yuugiri-senpai transferred to the another school, got into a new unit called Divine Verse SQUAD while we quit school for a while before transferring to Yumenosaki and meeting Ito-senpai before forming Elysian." He added.

"Indeed. A lot have happened and the fact that we're all able to return like this is a miracle. Especially HiMERU-san, since what you've gone through was so much worse then me." Tatsumi said. "Hmph. HiMERU is not that easy to defeat." HiMERU said.

Or one could hope. In fact Kaname never did recover from the irreplaceable damage he suffered that day. And he is still in the hospital. He's been in a near comatose state and even on the rare occasions that he wakes up all he does it scream and yell.

My little brother is shattered. Torn apart by malice and violence. He is still suffering in agony after being trampled on by those fools. He did nothing wrong. HiMERU thought.

[No this time I did not use ChatGPT 😂]
[For suggestions for titles? Yep. Using those titles? Nope. So yeah this time the chapter that may sound so ChatGPT is actually my idea 😂]

[Also posted this early cause due to family personal issue I probably won't be able to post the chapter the next day]