We All Fall Down

☽ Hold Your Eyes Closed, Take Me In ☾

The Town

We gather one by one, forming a silent circle, and I'm still holding Mirai in my arms. Krul is the second to last to come, surprisingly, and I can tell she tried to be last by the look of irritation that crosses her face.

"Where's Shinoa?" Mitsuba asks, and nobody answers, we don't have to before Shinoa comes into view. Behind her a silver-haired man is trailing, and we immediately tense up. We all relax once we realize it is Shinya Hiiragi, Shinoa's elder brother.

"Shinoa, does he remember?" I call out to them once they are close enough and she nods solemly.

"Major General." I salute as he enters the circle. He smiles sadly at me.

"Kid, here we don't have ranks, feel free to call me just Shinya, all of you." We all nod. 

"Are we ready to move out?" Shinoa asks, slinging her backpack over her shoulder. We nod silently, and start heading west.

Around evening, we stop in a hotel, Krul pays, and the attendant tries to spark up a conversation with us about what happened earlier today. She starts talking about a city on the West Coast that has us interested.

"You know what happened just a few miles east? Apparently it happened out west too. In a city called Shinjuku, apparently. Sad, what happened. Security cameras caught it, and it looks like a giant wave of white just coming at you." The woman chats, trying to fill the silence.

"Where is the car rental around here?" Mistuba questions, the first one of us besides Krul to talk.

"Oh, just down the street. Should be walking distance from here." She answers, happy to be of help as she hands us the key. When we get to our rooms, one for the guys, one for the girls, we all go into one room to discuss our plan.

"Should we rent a car? It'll take us weeks to get there on foot." Yoichi says, plopping down on the chair at the small table. 

"We might not be returning it." Shinoa muses, sprawling out on one of the beds, glancing warily over to where Krul perches on the same bed.

"True." I mumble from my place leaning against the wall, looking over to Shinya for his advice. 

"Well, everyone older than me in my family is dead now, so I technically have all the money." He announces and Shinoa laughs. 

"Why are you laughing at your family being dead?" Krul asks, stealing a quick glance at Shinoa.

"Because even now they were all assholes and better off dead." Shinoa snorts and Shinya nods, agreeing. Well.

"So how much money is that?" Mistuba asks from the other bed. Shinya smirks.

"More than a million, so I can buy a car and it won't put that much of a dent in the savings." He explains, and everyone falls silent. Krul looks around the room, her eyes finally landing on Shinya.

"I can also help with the car buying. I have about two million in savings right now." She claims, lowering her gaze to her lap, and act of unsure stance.

"What did you do for a living?" Shinoa asks, mouth agape. She shrugs. 

"I worked as an art director at the museum."

"That's where I've seen you before!" Yoichi exclaims. Krul looks over at him, clearly surprised. 

"You've been there?" She asks, and he nods.

"Yeah, I worked as the gift shop cashier. I would see you pass the gift shop every once in a while. I believe you also bought a water from me once." He explains, nodding. She smirks.

"You remember that? I'd almsot forgotten."

"Guys we are getting off track!" I remind them, and they all nod.

"Raise your hand for car, keep it down for no car." Yoichi announces. We all take our vote, hands slowly raising, and soon everyone's handds are up. When I count the number of people with their hand up... it's seven. Not six.

"Mirai?!"

The City

"Yuu-chan!" I call, frantically searching. "Yuu-chan!" I'm beginning to have a panic attack. I had one job. ONE JOB and I couldn't even do THAT.

"Mika!" A cheerfully hopeful voice calls from up street, drawing my attention. My hand goes to my sword immediately, but when I spot a srig of raven hair against the light metal of the building. He's waving his hand in the air, and I can see his smile from here. I immediately rush over to him, grabbing him up in a hug. He laughs softly, and I can tell he's genuienly happy, but there's something bothering him.

"What's wrong?" I ask, my voice gently prompting him. He shakes his head as he burrows deeper into my shoulder.

"Let me have my moment, Mika." He mumbles, voice sounding broken and flat. I start petting his hair ever so softly, a reflex from when he would be sad all those years ago. It breaks my heart, and in that moment, I know I will do whatever possible to keep him happy and safe. 

"Hey, I'm here for you." I whisper against his hair. Not a second later I feel my t-shirt begin to dampen with what I know to be Yuu's tears. He shakes ever so slightly in my protective embrace. Not because he's scared, no, or because he's cold, not that either. He's crying, and I let him. I hug him tighter to me, letting him know I'm there. That I'm there, he's alive, and this is real.

"M-m-mika." He stutters out after a while. I pull ever so slightly back so I can look into his eyes. I'm shocked to see they are a dead green. No life, not even a spark. 

"Y-yes?" I reply without a single thought.

"They made us watch." He says, voice void of life. A tingle crawls up spine. 

"They?"

"The angels." He sniffs, looking down to the ground. He seems ot be trying to gather himself, so I don't ask the millions of questions trying to ram themselves through my mouth. "I saw it all." He sniffs, and I want to kill whatever made Yuu watch what that thing did. 

"That wasn't you, Yuu-chan." I say, pulling him closer to me, rubbing his head steadily and firmly.

"But it was." He says, burying his head in my shoulder.

"No it wasn't. The only thing you, Yuu-chan, are capable of killing is a mean vampire, not innocent civilians. That was the angel." I remind him firmly, and I can feel him smirk against my shoulder.

"I guess you're right, Mika." And when I pull back, there is a spark in the green.