Inescapable Despair (Song of Despair AU)

Chapter 4: Grief

Four people were now too broken to leave their rooms, and Haru was definitely one of them. It had finally fully sunken in that Jirou was dead, and not only that, but he had suffered in agony for an extended period of time before it happened.

As Haru sobbed into his pillow, he was full of regret. He shouldn't have let Jirou go out alone, and he should've gone looking for him when he was taking a long time to get back. He couldn't believe he let this happen.

After a while, Haru heard a knock at his door, and ignored it. It came again, a little more forcefully, and with a sigh Haru stood to answer it. He pulled open the door, and to his surprise Orochi was standing there.

"I decided to come talk to you to spare you from Satchiko before she gets here." Orochi explained, looking a little awkward. "So can I come in?"

Haru hesitantly nodded, and stepped aside to let the engineer into his room. The two sat on the bed next to each other, and after a moment Orochi spoke again.

"It must be tough..." He stated, looking down at the floor. "I won't pretend to understand how you feel, but I know you really loved Jirou."

"Yeah..." Haru muttered, staring at the floor as well. "If only I looked out for him better..."

Orochi shook his head. "Don't blame yourself, that'll only make it worse. It's not your fault. One of my dads... um... he's really my uncle, technically, blamed himself for my parents' deaths for so long, he couldn't get over it for years." The engineer let out a small sigh, running a hand through his dirty blonde hair. "And I know this isn't your fault. You couldn't watch Jirou twenty-four-seven, that's ridiculous."

Haru looked over at the other boy, feeling just the slightest bit better. "Thanks, Orochi... you're really not as annoying as I thought."

"Wow, thanks." Orochi said sarcastically with a light laugh. "Well, you can stay here if you want, but if you do Satchiko's coming for you next."

Haru gave a small nod, before standing up. "There was a new area that opened up, right? It couldn't hurt to check it out."

Orochi stood up as well, a small smile on his face. "Yep, let's go."

Satchiko burst into the room with a determined expression. "Alright Haru Miyamoto, I'm about to fill you with hope! I'm not letting any despair stay here!"

Haru just slowly shook his head. "Sorry Satchiko, that job's already been done."

"Orochi, you really succeeded at something?" Satchiko tilted her head a bit, before tackling the dirty blond haired boy in a bone crushing hug. "I'm so proud of you!"

As Orochi tried to push her off, Haru just watched, a small smile slowly growing on his face. Even though Jirou was gone now, he still had his amazing classmates.