Kokoro no X (I) ~EDITING~

Fourteen

I decided against meeting Koichi that evening. I just didn't feel like leaving the house. I'd had a long day, and like many people do after an eventful day, I just wanted to sleep things off. Instead, I kept myself busy - cleaning, drawing, homework, writing even though I suck- y'know, non-murder-y things. However much I wanted to sleep, I couldn't. Maybe it was the dream from the night before. Maybe it was Sayuri's death. I wasn't really able to tell.

I wouldn't have been able to sleep, anyway. At around 10:30 or so that evening, I got a message from Mype.

Call from rocksandbones.

I knew he wouldn't stop calling me until I picked up (don't ask me how I did because honestly I don't know myself), so I answered. The usually blue screen flashed awake with video, and Hitoshi's dimly illuminated face filled the small window.

"Uh... hi?" I began. Although HItoshi was sortof-kindof a famous face, the crazed expression on his face made it feel like I wasn't talking to a human at all.

:"Hey. You're a Kokoro, right?" he asked, his voice ringing with insane excitement.

"Yeah, and?"

"W-Well, I just want to ask you something." The camera froze, then if flipped around. It was pretty dark, so I only really saw the dark silhouettes of everything. Then the lights flashed on, and...

....there, bound by ropes in a chair, was an unconscious Sayuri.

"Did I do okay? I haven't done this in a while," Hitoshi admitted sheepishly.

"Well, usually I make friends with them, then meet up somewhere and-" I shook my head, breaking off. "Why am I telling you this? Let her go."

"Is she your 'friend?'" Hitoshi laughed. I was silent. There wasn't any way for me to positively answer that question.

"See, we're like twins. Kokoros are killers. I'm a killer. Our parents are dead. We're kindred spirits, right? Only differences is-"

"Are," I muttered under my breath.

"-I'm a Yuki. That we can't change, sadly, for reasons that I'm sure you know." He set the camera down and then walked in front of it, twirling a gun in the air. "But there's one thing that we can change." He pointed the gun at Sayuri.

"Y'see, your Maiko took away my family. She took away my mom. Then, just a couple of weeks ago, she took my dad, too. And with Daddy Dearest went the only one who could ever love me. So, since I can't take away your Maiko, then I can take the only one who could ever love you." He lowered the gun, and I let out a sigh that I didn't know I had been holding. I thought of the dream that I had had the night before Kagerou's death.

"If she really is your 'friend,' then come and save her. Otherwise..." He waved the gun tauntingly in front of the camera.

"I'm feeling generous right now; after all, you are my future friend. So, I'll give you twenty-four hours to find me. No rules, just... if you don't find me in the next day, then sweet little Sa-Yuki here eats lead." He waved goodbye, hanging up.

I was silent, frozen in shock. Sayuri wasn't dead, but she wasn't safe, either. Hitoshi Nagai - the Hitoshi Nagai - was a murderer like me. I have to find Sayuri.

As much as I hated to admit it, I needed help. Koichi's never gonna believe me, I thought, but maybe Takumi can help.

---

Takumi and I set out to find Sayuri the next day, Friday, after school. I told Satoshi to tell Yasu that I wasn't gonna be there (I said I felt sick and wasn't able to work. Of course, he fell for it immediately) as a cover. Fortunately, Takumi had his car with him, so we cut about an hour of time. I had found Hitoshi's address that day during lunch, when I had pulled out my phone and pulled him into a conversation about Ever Nowhere's new album and the actual meaning behind it. Instead of telling me straightforward what he intended the album to represent for fans, he spoke with me as if he were a fan of ENW, like me. It was actually kind of cool, but then I remembered that he was going to kill Sayuri that evening. So, I found the address and wrote it down, waited for the conversation to come to a natural close, then signed off, perfectly timed.