I hate you
Ruby's last words continue to spiral through Aqua's head even after she passed out; they are not leaving any room for other thoughts, swallowing his entire mind as they echo back and forth every time louder than the last.
Eventually, he snaps out of it and pulls Ruby's limp body into a tight hug, while falling onto his knees. He presses his face into the crook of Ruby's nape. Seconds later, the room is filled with quiet, suppressed sobs.
"Pathetic."
I can't save anybody.
I should protect Kana.
But instead, I condemn her.
All because I am too weak.
How does she manage to do it?
Kana…
How can she stay strong all the time?
I can't take this anymore.
Everyone around me is always in danger.
And nothing I do ever changes it.
Is this the real reason for my second life?
Torturing me by letting fate take everything from me?
No, it is not.
It is my own fault.
My own decisions brought this upon me.
Fate doesn't exist.
I might be pathetic–
But as long as there are people who need me.
As long as my two legs carry me.
I just can't stop running.
Aqua is so lost in his thoughts that he doesn't even hear the doorbell ring at first. Only after a few minutes of continuous ringing, he finally snaps out of his thoughts.
He slowly gets up, his legs almost crumpling beneath him as he carries Ruby over to the bed, placing her down and kissing her forehead, all while the ringing of the doorbell doesn't stop.
After a few moments, he lets go of Ruby and leaves the room. Wiping away the tears from around his eyes while heading downstairs. Each step feels dreadful, like he doesn't belong here; he isn't angry or sad. He just is.
When finally reaching the door, he slowly opens it, the bright sun shining into his eyes, blinding him momentarily. He is already ready to tell off whoever is disrupting him in such a crucial moment.
But when he finally regains his sight, he doesn't bring out a single word. Right before Aqua, dressed in her typical school uniform with a bright smile across her face, is Ruby.
Aqua, who was confused at first, regains his composure and realizes what's going on, just after the initial surprise dies down again.
"What are you doing here, Akane?"
Akane, who is standing about 2 meters in front of Aqua, looks up and down at herself as she strikes various poses.
"Isn't this outfit totally awesome? I even managed to fool you for a second there."
Akane's smile falls slightly, yet her expression remains bright and cheerful.
She walks up closer to Aqua and reaches into his pocket, pulling out his keys. Aqua follows her movements with his eyes, taking a good look at his keys for the first time today.
There are his usual keys, but there is also a keychain, a keychain he has never seen before, it's a green cartoonish owl-like creature. Akane swiftly pulls it off the set of keys and starts talking into it; her voice comes back out of her phone.
"I'm sorry, but I just had to get you back."
She smiles at Aqua while holding his set of keys out for him to take them back.
"That's why I'm here. I heard everything, I know it was wrong of me to do this. But it was necessary. Please, let's do this together, you and Kana don't stand a chance if you show up without Ruby, and you know it."
Aqua roughly grabs the set of keys out of Akane's hands before shoving them back into his pocket.
"So you heard all of it…"
Aqua looks down at the floor, unable to look into Akane's eyes.
"Not everything. I mean I heard the call with Kamiki, but after that I didn't have any time to continue listening."
Akane's reply comes out without missing a beat.
"Come on, we have no time to lose."
She takes a few steps and signals Aqua to follow her, but he continues to stand there, frozen in place.
"I know spying on you was wrong, and if you're mad at me it's totally fine. But it's important that you come with me."
Aqua stands on the doorsteps for a few more moments, unmoving as the cold air blows through his hair.
"Are you really sure about this? You cou-"
Akane interrupts his words before he can finish.
"Yes I am, you might feel alone for some reason, but I'm with you. Now... do you want to save Kana or not? Because if you want to save her you should really pick up the pace."
She starts walking again without looking back. After a few steps, she can hear how the door falls close, and a moment later how footsteps follow after her.
26th of December, 2:45 pm, streets of Tokyo
"Let's hurry up a bit, Akane. His address is still a good distance away."
Aqua holds Ruby's cracked phone up while increasing his pace, while still making sure Akane can still keep up.
They are crossing through Shibuya, the buildings around them becoming gradually taller and the people more and more.
"We still have 45 minutes, that's more than enough. Instead we should focus on what we're going to do once we're there."
Akane picks up her pace, catching up to Aqua walking next to him now.
"You are concerned because of Kana, and so am I. But we can't cloud our judgement because of that."
Aqua slows down again.
"You're right."
He stops walking, his gaze turning from what lies ahead to Akane, who is standing next to him.
"So, did you also think about a plan?"
Akane's eyes meet Aqua's gaze for a single moment before she looks down.
"I have, but you'll have to trust me for it to work."
She nervously looks around, checking if anybody is looking at them.
After making sure that nobody was paying attention to them, she quickly pulls out a knife she had hidden on her the entire time, handing it over to Aqua.
"I will cause a distraction, it will be enough of an opening for you to get to him."
Akane starts to take a few steps before coming to another halt when she can't hear Aqua's steps following behind.
"What kind of distraction?"
He continues to stand unmoving, not fully convinced by Akane's plan.
"You are talking about trust, but you are not going to tell me the entire plan?"
Akane turns around once more, her back facing Aqua again as she speaks.
"Yes I do, Aqua. You need to trust me without knowing every detail for once. You'd understand, I'm sure of it."
He pulls out the phone once more to check the time. The cracked screen shows how the clock jumps up from 2:50 pm to 2:51 pm the second he turns it on.
Although he still doesn't know the entire plan, he reluctantly agrees since they have already used enough time.
I just hope she is sure about it.
Please don't be something insane.
I can't lose you either, Akane.
…
In the end, they managed to get to the foot of Kamiki's penthouse after another 30 minutes of a mixture of speed walking and jogging.
"Wait, Akane."
Aqua says while leaning against the wall of the building, gasping for air.
"We still have 10 minutes, we should play this smart, we need to catch our breath for a bit before we go in."
26th of December, same time, House of Gotanda Haishi
The room is dark and utterly silent, not a single sound of the surrounding world pierces the walls of the apartment.
"...huh…"
My head, what… What's the time? Why do I feel so… weird? I was just talking to Aqua… Where is he? What were we talking about again?
"...Aqua…?"
…
"…Aqua….?"
Ruby tries to call out, but her weak voice is barely enough for a whisper.
After she doesn't get a reply, she tries to sit up straight, her body barely listening to her.
She finally manages to sit up straight and look through the room. Weak memories come back of what occurred earlier.
Where are you, Aqua… There was something important, but what was it? Did I just fall asleep?
No…
I remember what happened.
I didn't fall asleep.
He drugged me.
Made it so I can't help.
But why?
Was I really just in your way?
How could you do that to me?
I thought we were a team.
Tears begin to form in her eyes.
Isn't this our revenge?
Why do you always have to do everything on your own…
Why can't you ever trust me to carry this burden with you?
I am not the little girl who needs protection anymore.
Are you too blind to see?
Ruby tries to climb out of her bed, but as soon as she gets out, her legs give out beneath her weight, sending her flying to the ground. The rough impact makes her yelp in pain. But her determination is fierce.
I won't forgive you, Aqua.
For doing this to Kana because of me.
You won't treat her like that any longer.
Not this time…
Ruby finally manages to get up from the hard floor, carefully taking one step after another, while leaving the room, heading downstairs, and out of the front door.
26th of December, 3:20 pm, just in front of Kamiki's building
"We should head in now, let's not risk Kana being hurt because we waited for too long."
Aqua says while pushing himself off the wall of Kamiki's complex before starting to walk towards the elevator.
The elevator ride is silent. Neither Akane nor Aqua says a word, the dread growing inside both of them for each floor they pass.
This is it. After all these years, it ends right here and now.
I thought I'd feel something, hatred, or maybe doubt. Maybe even anticipation. But right now? Nothing. Or maybe something, I don't really know.
Focus. Kana's right there. She is close. I should not think about what comes after, not when after is not even certain yet.
If Kamiki hurt her… no, that is wrong, blaming him for my mistake. She got dragged into this Idol industry, into Ruby's environment, because of me. Because I used her feelings to manipulate her. I knew what I was doing.
What do I even say to him? Try reasoning? No, it would be pointless anyway; he is too far gone. Whatever I would try to say, I could never break through his years of delusions.
Stay sharp, don't lose focus. I will go through it one more time.
Priority one: keep up the act, Akane is Ruby now. If he realizes the truth, it is over.
Priority two: watch out for traps. This is his ground, I can't let down my guard, not even for a second.
Priority three: get Kana to safety, no matter what the cost.
If she dies… she'd probably die thinking I hated her.
I couldn't even be mad at her for thinking it.
A loud *ding* sound from the elevator snaps Aqua out of his thoughts; both he and Akane, who still looks just like his sister, step out of the elevator, the doors closing behind them.
The hallway they are in looks exactly like the typical apartment complex hallway, to the left, a view of downtown Tokyo, and to the right, the doors to the apartments. The only difference is that it looks far more luxurious, and instead of many doors leading to different apartments, it's just a single door in the middle of the hallway.
Aqua and Akane simultaneously start to slowly walk towards the door.
They stop right in front of it. Aqua checks the clock one last time. It's 3 minutes before 3:30 pm. They have made it, just in time.
Both of them turn their head to face each other before Aqua reaches his hand out, ringing the doorbell.