Help from Hidden Writers

Balance Problems Part 7

"Has he woken up yet?"

"No, he hasn't."

"All right. Tell me when he does."

"Ryokai- Wait, hold on, Ryaku, I think he's waking up now."

Sharp brown eyes fluttered open as Keisuke slowly began to gain consciousness. He looked around the room, noting that it was a tent. It had some tears here and there, so he could see the red skies above.

Hold on, red?

His memories flowed back in, and his eyes widened, "NEECHAN!" as he shot up from the bed.

Well, tried to.

Instead, he was pulled back to the bed rather abruptly by a pair of handcuffs 1that pinned him to it. He winced, rubbing his wrists to soothe the pain...

Only to see 3 people scrutinizing him.

"Eh? Ryaku? Bao En? Kai?" he blinked.

Immediately, Kai grabbed his shirt, growling, "Who gave you the right to call us by our first names, huh?"

"K-Kai? Are you okay..." Keisuke trailed off, noticing the battle scars the trio had. " You're not my friends, are you? You're their EW counterparts."

"EW?..." EW Ryaku frowned for a while, before his eyes suddenly widened, "Wait, hold on, could you be... Could you be RW Keisuke?!"

"I guess you can say that," Keisuke shrugged a bit.

EW Bao En noted, "He's quite... Skinny, to be honest. No wonder we mistook him for our Keisuke."

"Right..." Keisuke wasn't a huge fan of the EWs right now.

The 3 then looked at one another.

"... Come on, we'll have to take you to our Aruke," EW Ryaku unlocked the handcuffs as EW Bao En helped Sakura New Town's protector down, gently letting him lean on her.

The 4 set off from the tent to another, which was just nearby. Keisuke could hear mumbles of "Horrible" and "jerk" as they neared the tent. EW Ryaku then called out softly, "Aruke-san, we have a visitor."

The murmurs immediately stopped, and soon, a crazed-looking Aruke opened the flap. Upon seeing Keisuke, he snarled a bit.

"Aruke-san, he's not our Keisuke. He... He's from the RW," EW Kai explained.

EW Aruke's eyes widened, "... I see. Come in, Keisuke-kun. Come in."

EW Bao En helped him while EW Aruke began pouring out some tea. Keisuke gratefully took it and drank, letting the bitterness of the tea snap him out of his numbness. 

Once the 5 were comfortable, EW Aruke sighed, "I suppose you do not know who masterminded this entire war." 

Keisuke blinked, "It was our group's EW selves right?" 

EW Aruke shook his head, "They merely STARTED the war. They did not mastermind it." 

EW Ryaku nodded, "They were what the mastermind would call 'pawns' to make our world darker and more deadly." 

"Eh?" Keisuke felt a bit perplexed. "I don't really get it." 

EW Aruke sighed again, "I figured. Anyway, I am pretty sure that you know this is the Evil World." 

Keisuke bobbed his head up and down, "My EW self and the others were not hiding that." 

"You know their backstories?" 

Cue another nod, "They rambled about it to me to try to get me to join them." 

"I see. That is good. This will make my explanation much more shorter," EW Aruke smiled a bit. 

"What explanation?" Keisuke looked confused. 

"The fact that EW Enma is the person who caused all those tragic pasts," EW Ryaku stated without hesitation. 

Keisuke's eyes widened, "WHAT?!" 

EW Bao En nodded, "He framed our Keita for a murder, sent the worst Youkai after Touma's parents, indirectly caused the Arihoshi family massacre, killed Rau's father, sent Lizzy-" At this, she gripped her fists tighter, "-'s parents into a coma, and later on killed them, made some bad guys beat up Choiseung and Chenhua, and-" 

"-Made Akino hate me," EW Aruke's eyes were glowing yellow as tears pricked at his eyes. "I-I apologise for whatever they may have done to you, because I let them go on." 

The 3 kids winced hearing that. 

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Keisuke asked them. 

"We... We killed a lot of people just to keep them safe," EW Kai was looking away while he answered the question. Keisuke's eyes widened. 

"EW Enma had a lot of enemies, and since he always boasted over his beloved champions, they were attracted to them," EW Ryaku explained. 

Keisuke was speechless. 

"I know this may seem impossible to do, but please... Help them see the light," EW Aruke begged, going down to his knees and doing the dogeza. "T-They're still kids... They never deserved this fate. It was all stupid Enma's fault." 

As EW Aruke bowed, Keisuke noticed some scars on his wrist, so he gently took it into his own hand and looked at it. 

He gasped in disbelief.

Names had been etched all over. He recognised his own name, with Natsume, Touma, Akinori, Tenade, Lizzy... everyone's names had been written down there. 

"W-What is this?..." He mumbled. EW Aruke looked away.

"I-I owed them for what I allowed to happen...  That's why I did it. To remind myself who I was fighting for." 

Keisuke's eyes widened, taking in the pale complexion and weak look he had, "You're dying, aren't you?" 

EW Ryaku nodded, "He's getting old, RW Keisuke. He's already in his 50s. Plus, Aruke-san never really had good health." 

Keisuke was honestly amazed. He was dying, and yet he still did this for people who hated him. 

He truly was too kind for his own good. 

And that fuelled his determination to save the EWs. 

His resolve now there, he quickly thanked the group before asking EW Aruke to open up a portal for him. The Fate Changer had agreed whole-heartedly, and Keisuke jumped in, ready to save his friends and the worlds.