Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

In one month, his world turned upside down.

In one month, he would lose everything.

In one month, he would feel the worst feeling known to man.

Betrayal.

It started when the new foreign kid entered his high school. At first glance, Hiroki thought of nothing about the new kid, well, besides the fact that the new kid looked like an adult man who had a family already with a mortgage to pay. Hiroki paid it no mind as he was three grades ahead of him, so why should he bother knowing him if he was going to graduate next year?

That was until the foreign kid started to harass his girlfriend, Nao Honzawa. Hiroki and Nao began dating at the start of the new school year, and it was a spur of the moment. Hiroki had always had a crush on Nao, long before entering high school. They attended the same school and shared the same classes growing up, and everyone knew Nao was the prettiest girl in their class. They were often paired together for projects, so they flirted with each other here and there, and even began walking to and from school together. Through this, Hiroki developed a crush on Nao. Hiroki had planned to ask her out in high school during the cultural school festival to make it as romantic as possible.

So when the new school year started, and Nao asked Hiroki out, he was puzzled at first, but immediately said yes to her proposal, as not only was she very popular, but it was a no-brainer being asked out by his crush. In his eyes, Nao was the most beautiful girl on the planet. Black hair formed into pigtails, a soft, delicate pale face that never required any makeup, brown eyes that seemed to hold the universe within them, and body proportions that would make professional pornstars blush.

Now, imagine the surprise Hiroki had when he saw the foreign kid cornering his girlfriend in the hallway after class. “Hey,” Hiroki shouted, “what are you doing to my girlfriend?!”. Hiroki began to stomp his way towards them, his spikey, fiery blonde hair, his blue eyes, and his left ear having piercings gave off the image that this kid was nothing but trouble. However, he was never one to start it, it was usually he who stopped it. 

After his father’s passing, Hiroki vowed to himself to always protect his mother and sister, and in turn protect his loved ones from anything that can harm them. Standing at a height of 5’6”, many bullies would underrate his ability to properly fight, so they laughed at him for intervening frequently…until those same bullies were on the ground with broken noses and missing teeth, because as much as pure strength can help you win fights, technique would always outrank it.

As Hiroki got closer, he finally got a good measurement of the foreign kid. Standing at 6’4”, with broad shoulders and a frame that screams he eats nails for breakfast…without any milk, it looks like he should’ve been trying to make it to the NFL as a middle linebacker back in the USA rather than being in Japan and harassing high school girls. As Hiroki now stood face to face with the foreign kid, he was drastically undersized against the foreign kid, yet Hiroki knew some of the bible and knew the story of David versus Goliath. 

"I don't appreciate how you cornered my girlfriend, so can you back off?" Hiroki told the much taller boy, forcing his head up as he tried to look this man in the eye. The foreign kid began to speak in a very bassy voice, "Woah man, it seems like your girlfriend deserves a real man like me. Not some puny shrimp like you. All you asian boys are so fucking weak." He finished speaking leaving a shit eating grin on his face. This pissed Hiroki off so much, "Oh yeah?! Well, why don't we settle this outside like men? Get ready for me to kick your ass!" Hiroki held up his index finger at the foreign kid to show he meant business. While walking outside, Hiroki began to think to himself about the opportunities this situation could carry, for now and throughout his high school life.

This will be his David versus Goliath moment.

This will be his time to show Nao how much of a man he truly is.

This will be his time to show the school not to mess with his girlfriend.

This will be ... the beginning of the end of Hiroki’s happiness.

He got his ass whooped, not beat, whooped. The foreign kid made a showing of Hiroki outside on the school grounds. The foreign kid, whose name he learned was Bert, dragged his ass around like it was a book bag and walloped him. Hiroki wouldn’t even be surprised if Bert gave him the Hulk/Loki treatment.

After the ass whooping Hiroki was forced to apologize to Bert, but at the moment Bert felt something in him that he hasn’t felt in a long time.

Something that rivaled the feeling of euphoria.

Something that made his primal instincts roar in excitement.

Bert felt power unlike anything else, and due to the sudden rush of it, he set out to belittle Hiroki even further. He knew that bullying Hiroki constantly would lead to him getting kicked out of school and probably sent back to the States; the reason he came to Japan was to avoid jail altogether for doing the same thing. Bert looked next to Hiroki and saw his new avenue, the women in his life, who would take them from him and make him suffer. Make him suffer for daring to think he can take him on, because in this world, Bert only knows the rule of the jungle: The strong shall control the weak.

That was a month ago.

After one day of going back home from school, after yet another beating dished out by Bert, Hiroki walked in and heard it: moans. Hiroki was shocked at first. He knew his sister and mother were human and had to vent their sexual frustration somehow, but he just didn’t expect to hear this early in the day. However, as Hiroki reached the stairs to head to his room, he heard another moan, yet this was a different tone and inflection. Hiroki was now straight up confused, but as he walked down the hallway, he heard it louder and louder, and it wasn’t coming from his sister’s or mother’s room; it was coming from his room.

Hiroki, now his heart beating so fast and caught in his throat, he gently opened the door, and he saw it. He saw his girlfriend Nao Honzawa, best friend Ayumu Sumin, older sister Kanoko Mori, and mother Kaede Mori naked, panting, sweating, and faces of ecstasy plastered on their faces. What made the situation worse of all was the man who gave them the pleasure, Bert, standing nude and towering over the women, symbolizing the ownership he now has over them. Bert had his back facing the doorway. 

Once he heard the door creak open and saw Hiroki standing there with his mouth wide open, eyes filled with disbelief, and shaking like a leaf during a windy day, he laughed. He laughed so loud it broke the girls out of their daze, and they were all able to join in his laughter. Bert was the first speaker, "Look at the little shrimp, so scared he doesn't even know what to do. What buddy? Dick so hard seeing the women in your life naked and sweaty that you're afraid to speak you may cum your pants?" Bert said through fits of laughter. 

The second was Ayumu, his best friend. She looked at Hiroki's eyes, hers filled with some shame, but mostly filled with disgust. "Hiroki-nii...I'm sorry you had to see me like this, but Bert is just the more superior man to you. I knew the first day I met him, you had no real power, and Bert had that. So sorry, but overall, you were going to find out eventually. After all, it's our job to put you in your place." Ayumu said this with a sorrowful tone that anyone could be confused of her showing true empathy, but seeing her actively crawling toward Bert and began to kiss and lick his cock said otherwise. 

The next was Kanoko, his older sister, and when Hiroki caught her eyes, they were filled with irritation. "Dork finally saw some real tits and ass and is over there having a mental breakdown. What a fucking loser, I knew teasing you got you hot and sweaty, but seeing your sister naked would make you so horny your brain crashed? Well, you do share our fath- I mean, cuck's genes, so of course some went into you. At first I fucked Bert to protect you. Now, I want to see you broken and tormented, like you deserve to be, you cuck." She as well began to crawl to Bert to join Ayumu in sucking off Bert, while both girls made direct eye contact to Hiroki. 

Nao stood up and began to walk to Bert and stand by his side, and Bert wrapped his arm around her waist. "Hiroki, I hope you understand I did this for us. I did it so we can both be happy. You will no longer have to constantly worry about us and protect us when Bert can do that, and all you have to do is accept to be our cuck. Isn't this great! We can be happy and safe thanks to Bert, who is a real man." Nao said in a cheery, positive tone with a smile that contradicts the actual words that were held within her statement. Nao then turned her head and kissed Bert, full French kissing so Hiroki could see their tongue intertwine, tormenting him further. 

Lastly, and the worst of all, Kaede stood up and stood on the opposite side of Nao on Bert's side, eyes filled with adoration and lust as she looked at Bert, then she began to speak. "Son...I understand that your father was an...okay man, but Bert is a much better man and lover. Your father had no chance for a man like him. Even if he were alive today, I would choose Bert over him in a heartbeat without a second thought." She then turned her head to look at Hiroki, her eyes and tone now filled with disgust, "I'm ashamed to even bear a boy as useless as you. You disgust me, and we ought to teach you a lesson," she then looked back at Bert, eyes and tone switching to cheerfulness, "Our lover Bert suggested putting you in a chastity cage, isn't that great! Now be a good boy and get it for mommy." While all this was happening, Bert simply had that shit eating grin. The same shit eating grin he saw the first day he met the bastard. The day the end began for him.

Hiroki didn’t know what to do; he didn’t know if he should fight, throw up, scream, yell, or cry, so Hiroki ran. He ran away from the hallway, away from the house, away from the neighborhood, away from it all. They mocked him, destroyed his ego, and worst of all...he began to think they were right.

Mocking him for being a cuck.

Mocking him for being useless.

Mocking him for being the son of his worthless father.

Now here we are, Hiroki standing on a bridge that hangs over a river. Hiroki didn’t know what to do. This past month has been torturous for him. First he got his ass beat, now his girlfriend was growing more cold and distant to him, his older sister teasing became full of harassment and bullying, his mother forgot to feed him proper meals or ensure he was okay, and his best friend flat out ignored him and started calling him weak for no apparent reason. Hiroki was fed up, if he really couldn’t make them happy, maybe his death would make them happy.

Hiroki mounted onto the concrete railing that works as the edge of the bridge and looked down. Underneath was a river about 50 meters away from his feet. Hiroki looked down and looked back up at the moon. He knew what he had to do, but didn’t know if he had the strength to do it. “I’m sorry, Dad,” Hiroki said in a voice full of hurt, and despair, tears brimming at the edges of his eyes, “for what I’m about to do. I’m sorry for not being able to protect Mom and sis. Nao, I’m sorry for not being the boyfriend you wanted. I’m sorry for being too stupid to think I can stop Bert and prevent all this from happening. I hope you become truly happy with him. Ayumu, I’m sorry for not being the best friend you wanted. I’m sorry for being too small to stand up to Bert, so you never had to become a victim of him. I hope he becomes a better mentor and friend for you. Kanoko, I’m sorry for not being the little brother you wanted. I’m sorry for being so weak that I wasn't able to fight my fights and rely on others. I hope he never has to rely on you to fight his fights. Mom…I’m sorry for not being the son you wanted. I’m sorry for being so useless that I couldn’t protect you, protect my sister, protect my best friend, and my girlfriend from Bert. I hope he can protect you and provide a peaceful life.” Hiroki finishes his monologue, eyes red from crying, nose full of snot, and a face withered in pain and heartbreak, and he looks back down at the river. He steps inch by inch on the concrete railing, closer to the edge. It’s a long way down.

He now stands at the edge, one more step and he will be gone, away from the pain, away from the names, away from the torment, one more step and he will end it. Hiroki takes one more look over the edge, finally content with his decision.

Hiroki takes a step…

Backward.

He takes a step back from the edge, and another, and another, to the point he mantles off the concrete railing. Hiroki decided not to go through it. He didn’t want to make his tormentors happy, knowing he died because of them, and he didn't want to upset his father. Hiroki faced the abyss and did not blink. He began walking down the bridge back to his home. He knew going back was a death sentence; he probably was going to be beaten black and blue, he was going to be tormented again by the girls and Bert, but he would rather go out fighting than running.

Before Hiroki could reach home, he came across a burning building. A house caught on fire, and a crowd started to form around the spectacle. Hiroki joined the crowd as his curiosity got the better of him, plus it gave him more time to prepare for the beating he would get. He wriggled his way to the front of the crowd. Due to his size, he was easily able to get a better view of the commotion and fire. 

While in the front of the crowd, he overheard a firefighter tell a black woman, whom he assumed was the mother of the household, that they weren’t able to reach her son, who was still trapped inside. “Ma’am, I’m sorry to say, but your son may not be able to make it. We are doing the best we can, however, due to how narrow the pathways are to reach him, and with how fragile the entire building is due to the foundation and roof being scorched from the fire and the water causing it to crack, we can’t fully ensure your son will make it out alive.” The firefighter said with a tone of sorrow to a crying and weeping mother. Hiroki, for a quick second, saw his mother in place of the black woman, his mother on the day of his father's funeral. Seeing her cry that day made Hiroki vow to protect his family so his mother would never have to cry like that again. His vision shifted back to the current time: a house burning, a mother weeping, firefighters trying to control the fire, and a boy stuck inside, hoping to live to see the next day.

Hiroki didn’t know what made him do it.

Hiroki didn’t know why he did it.

Hiroki didn’t know how he would do it.

But he did it.

Hiroki pushed past the firefighters and ran into the household to save the mother's son. Hiroki knew this would probably kill him; he wasn’t looking forward to death, but he knew his life was over the second he got home, so why not spend his life to ensure another life could live on? Hiroki heard the crowd and firefighters plead for him to come back, that he'll get himself killed, but he didn't care. If no one was going to attempt to save the child, then he would do it. He made it inside the household, and the heat was unbearable; he was sweating like a sinner in church just a second in the house. 

He screamed to where the child was, “HEY KID, WHERE ARE YOU?!”. Just shouting and breathing in burned his throat, but he pushed the pain down. He felt the most amount of pain he had ever felt in life earlier that day, this was just an ear pull compared to that. Hiroki heard the kid shout back, “I’M IN HERE,” and, unfortunately, the child was upstairs, and blocking the passageway was an inflamed wood that fell from the roof of the household. Hiroki had no time to complain or think, he instantly went to the stairway and pushed the inflamed wood boards to the side to create a passage more bearable to squeeze through, but not without the expense of getting 2nd degree burns.

Once he was able to reach the top floor, he saw that the roof of the household was coming down quicker and quicker. He had no time to think about it, as his goal was to save the child. He ran his way towards the second door on the right. Once he reached it, he saw the entire door was on fire, so reaching for the door handle was out of the question. Not even thinking of another possibility, Hiroki shouted at the kid, “HEY KID, STEP BACK.” Hiroki took a couple of steps back, and a second later, the door came off its hinges as he slammed his shoulder into it from a running start. “MOTHERFUCKER,” Hiroki shouted after landing on the floor as he threw his full weight into his shoulder without anyway of catching himself, holding his arm as he felt he may have dislocated it, on top of experiencing more 2nd degree burns on it due to the that area of his shirt being burnt off from the fire. 

Hiroki scrambled to his feet and hobbled towards the kid, still holding his arm in pain, “Hey kid,” Hiroki outstretched his hand towards the frightened kid who couldn’t be older than 5 years old, “let's get you out of here.” The kid who took after the looks of his mother hesitantly reached out to grab Hiroki’s hand, but once he did, the kid felt so much safer. He had no idea who this man was, yet this man was sacrificing himself to save this kid; this man was a hero, for all he knew.

Once Hiroki got hold of the kid, he picked up the kid and carried him like a lumberjack. Once they reached the door of his room to enter the hallway, the roof started to collapse quicker and quickly. Hiroki, without thinking, put the kid down and took off his shirt, wincing in pain as his shoulder was still dislocated. “Here,” Hiroki said to the kid through gritted teeth, “use this to protect you. Use it like a jacket or blanket. Whatever you do, do not put it down or let go of it.” The kid looked at the shirt, and back to Hiroki, confused, eyes filled with fear, but hope still present. “What about you, Mr.-?" the kid began to ask before being interrupted by Hiroki, “Hiroki, my name is Hiroki,” Hiroki said with a voice full of warmth. The kid giggled because his name sounded like it had ‘hero’ in it, and it’s fitting for him. “Hehe, your name has ‘hero’ in it, makes sense because right now you are my hero.” Hiroki had nothing to say to that, for the past month, he was reduced to being a punching bag, a joke, and to being forgotten by his loved ones. He thought he was worthless and deserved it, but this kid, this 5-year-old boy, just told him he was a hero. It made the pain he was going to go through to save this kid so worth it.

Hiroki quickly grabbed his shirt and covered the kid with it, tossed the kid onto his shoulder, and wrapped an arm around the boy’s leg while grabbing his left arm with his right arm. Hiroki sprinted through the hallway, down the stairs, as more and more inflamed debris began to fall quicker, scorching his body. He ignored the pain as his goal was to make sure the boy got out alive. While running throughout the house, Hiroki’s mind began to fill with the thoughts of the girls and Bert belittling him, torturing him, and making him feel worthless, however, they all evaporated with the memory of the kid calling him ‘Hero’. Hiroki went down the stairs after pushing the inflamed wooden boards that were once there with his free hand towards the first bottom floor, causing him to now have 2nd degree burns on both hands. 

As soon as Hiroki reached the front door of the burning house, he saw a large piece of inflamed debris blocking the doorway. Cursing at his luck, Hiroki mustered up the adrenaline and will to shoulder-ram the debris blocking the doorway to get to the front lawn. He didn’t care that he would die; he didn’t care that this could be the end of him; he wasn’t even thinking of these outcomes. All he wanted to do was ensure the safety of the kid he had on his shoulder.

The crowd, while all this was occurring, held their breaths as they saw the scrawny, spiked blonde-haired boy run in. The firefighters were unable to reach him because as soon as Hiroki entered, the inflamed debris covered the doorway into the household. Now, all the crowd, the mother, and the firefighters did was pray that both boys make it out alive. After about 7 grueling minutes, the prayers were partially answered. The same doorway that was blocked by debris had a shirtless child, no, a shirtless man burst out from it with a kid on his shoulder. 

He has done it, Hiroki saved the boy, and in greater terms, ensured a family could stay intact, for he understood what it felt like to lose one. The crowd burst into cheers, the firefighters hollered and whistled, and the mother sprinted for her son to take him to safety, who was lying beside Hiroki as they landed on the grass, thanking God for sending Hiroki to her to save her family. The firefighters, now without anything holding them back, fully blasted the house with water to take out the fire. After taking out the fire, a large cloud of smoke covered the land, and while the smoke cleared from the area where both landed, they finally saw Hiroki, or, more of that state he is in. His hair was scorched and burnt, his once blond spiky hair now looked like a botched buzzcut that left some patches of hair on his head. His right shoulder, which had taken a 2nd degree burn earlier, was now a 3rd degree burn; his torso was littered with 2nd degree burns; and his arm that was simply dislocated looked like it was broken. Hiroki looked more like a corpse than he looked alive.

As soon as the mom let go of the kid for a brief second, the kid ran straight to Hiroki and crouched down beside him with tears in his eyes. The kid, through tears and sobs, asked Hiroki, “Mr. Hero, you did it! You saved me, you’ll be better now, right? You’ll be okay?” Hiroki couldn’t answer that truthfully, nor could the firefighters, as the paramedics still had quite some time to reach the location of the house. The crowd, once cheerful and happy, became sorrowful and saddened. Many people in the crowd believed they were witnessing the death of a young man who saved the child, and many didn’t want to face the reality. 

The mother of the kid crouched down beside Hiroki as well, thanking him through tears, “Th-thank you for saving my s-son. I will nev-never know how to repay you.” Hiroki chuckled at that, causing his throat and lungs to burn. He didn’t know how much smoke he was inhaling, but it sure wasn't a healthy dosage. Hiroki looked at the mother, and said with a hoarse voice, “Make sure to be there for your child, as a mother is the most important woman in their life until they become a man themselves.” Hiroki then looked at the kid, “Hey kiddo, just make sure to become strong and protect your family from anything. I may be a hero, but you gave me the power to be one.” The kid giggled at that, even though the kid's eyes were filled with tears. Through the pain Hiroki must be feeling, he still was being a hero through and through, the kid thought.

“Harlan,” the kid said, “my name is Harlan.” Hiroki smiled at that, “That’s a good name, Harlan. Make sure to protect your mother, and ma’am, make sure to love your son.” With that being said, Hiroki closed his eyes and fell into the abyss with a smile on his face. The crowd became mournful, the mother broke out into more tears, the firefighters tried to keep a straight face, many failed, and Harlan…Harlan cried, for his hero had passed away.

Hiroki Mori died…

And it started to rain.

Chapter Text

Kaede Mori shot up from her sleep, sweating profusely and breathing heavily. She had just woken up from a nightmare that felt too real. She couldn’t remember the exact details; all she remembered seeing was a burnt corpse of her so-, of her useless offspring named Hiroki, and how it kept repeating ‘Why?’. Not in a threatening tone, not in a menacing tone, in the tone of a child who lost their parent and is questioning God for taking their parent away. 

While Kaede was still shaken from the nightmare, the body next to her in bed stirred a bit due to the sudden movement Kaede made. This is how Kaede was able to regain control of her mental state and emotions, and in doing so, she finally took a look at the state of her room. Littered across the floor were clothes ranging from schoolgirl uniforms to high-quality lacey lingerie. Boxes of condoms were torn open, some opened correctly, and some simply ripped apart. Condom wrappers themselves spread across the floor as if they made up the pattern of the carpet. After seeing the disarray of her room, she thought back to what happened the previous night, and in doing so, it helped paint the picture of events.

After her worthless son ran off after finding out all the important women in his life had betrayed him, the girls laughed and laughed at his expense. Once the laughter subsided, Kaede clasped her hands together to get everyone’s attention and announced to the group, “Now that the brat is gone, how about we take this to my room and try on outfits I’m sure master would like.” Her seductive tone, lip biting, and lustful eyes did not leave much to the imagination of what these outfits could entail; all they knew was they were going to have one hell of a night. Throughout the night, the sex felt more sensational, more fulfilling, more…naughty. As if Hiroki’s discovery of their sexual relationship fueled their lust to higher levels, helping them reach pure bliss through their orgasms. Just remembering the events that occurred last night made her woman hood throb for more “superior black cock” as her master would like to call it. At first she didn’t understand why his race mattered so much when providing sexual pleasure, but once reminded of the stereotype that asian men had small dicks she quickly understood why he always emphasized. 

Her current thoughts were once again interrupted by the body that stirred next to her in bed. Her wonderful master, Bert, had taken the spot next to her in her master bedroom. The other girls were all in Kanoko’s room as no one wanted to sleep in Hiroki’s due to the stench that had built up in there from their love making. Kaede looked over at the sleeping Bert, but for some reason, she couldn’t find herself smiling at him like she could with her ex-husband. With all her might, she simply couldn’t produce a genuine smile; all her attempts were forced ones, and it made a pit within her stomach grow and grow.

All these thoughts were, yet again, for the 3rd time that day, interrupted by the doorbell. Kaede had a puzzled look; she wasn’t expecting anyone? It was a Saturday morning, and from her knowledge, no one in the house had made plans as they used this weekend to have a full-on sex-filled romp, as their initial plan was to capture Hiroki and force him into the chastity cage so they could further enjoy his humiliation. With Hiroki coming back into her mind, the nightmare before she awoke replayed in her mind yet again. This time, it made the pit in her stomach grow further into a sinkhole. Before she could dwell on it further, the doorbell rang again as if it were urgent. Airing out a groan, Kaede threw herself out of bed and went to grab a bathrobe so she could still be somewhat presentable at the door to whomever is ruining her Saturday morning. She planned to wake up Bert with some morning head so she could be treated for serving her master, not answer the door.

After throwing on whatever bathrobe she could find, which simply emphasized the size of her breasts, and putting on her household slippers, she went to answer the door. Walking down the hallway, she passed Hiroki’s room, she stopped at it, looked at the door, and that sinkhole within her stomach grew exponentially. As she continued her walk to the front door, down the hallway, down the stairs, and into the living room, it became worse. With each step she took, her feet felt like cinder blocks, and the sinkhole grew further and further into a blackhole. Finally reaching the front door after what felt like an eternity, she opened it, and to her shock, a police officer, a black woman carrying a small boy, whom she assumed was her child, and a firefighter were there to greet her.

After coming down from her shock, she addressed the group that stood outside her house. “He-hello of-officer? Wha-what seems to be the pro-problem?” Kaede stuttered out, as her emotions were all over the place from this morning to right now. Her mind was racing at 1000 miles per second, but one thought, or rather, one person kept being present, Hiroki Mori. Before Kaede could think of why her useless son was frequently appearing in her mind, her thought process was interrupted by the officer taking off his cap and clearing his throat, “Well…um…ma’am, my name is Officer Kennedy, and is it possible that we can come inside? We have some news for you.” 

Kaede, without thinking over what the implications could mean from his phrasing, obliged and invited them in. The group gathered inside her living room, the mother holding her son, sat at the end of the couch, Officer Kennedy sat at the other end, the firefighter chose to stand up and lean against the wall, while Kaede sat in the armchair. After everyone had sat down and composed themselves, Officer Kennedy began to speak again, “Well… Miss Mori, we came here this morning to speak to your son Hiroki Mori.” Kaede felt disgusted at the mere mention of her useless offspring. 

Why did her son, yet again, have to ruin her morning as if he hadn’t ruined years of her life ‘protecting her’? Before the group could see the physical recoil Kaede made when Hiroki was mentioned, she physically composed herself, but couldn’t compose her tone. “What did my son do now, officer? That kid is always being reckless and an annoyance to society.” Kaede spat out with some venom that did not go unnoticed by the group. Officer Kennedy regained his composure, “Well…your son passed away last night, Miss Mori.” The thoughts of Hiroki being a useless beta bitch vanished from Kaede’s mind as soon as the news hit her, and the news hit her like prime Myke Tyson punched her in the gut. That black hole seemed more like a bottomless pit at this point. Before she could get a word out, she puked all over the living room rug and fell to her knees from the armchair.

Officer Kennedy and the firefighter quickly rushed to her to help support her from her fall, fearing she may have injured herself from it, or simply to support her through her mental grief, which is what they thought. Kaede, now in all forms, began to shake quietly, and then the crying started. Hysterical wails filled the household, almost as if the house was a prison she couldn’t escape from, escaping the reality of the situation. Her offspring, her son, her boy, that list thing that resembled her late husband was dead. The memories of Hiroki began to play back within her mind. From her first time holding him after giving birth, the first ever diaper change she had to give him, his first word being ‘mama’, his first steps, his first day of school, his promise to protect her and Kanoko after the passing of her late husband, and his face after walking in on him and the girls with Bert. This caused Kaede to vomit once again on the rug. 

Officer Kennedy and the firefighter quickly sat Kaede back into the chair, and the firefighter rushed into the kitchen to get a glass of water for Kaede. After a brief moment, the firefighter came back with the cup of water for Kaede, and she chugged it down, gagging at the lingering taste of vomit in her mouth. Once Kaede was able to compose herself, she said, through tears and sobs, “H-h-how d-did h-he d-d-d-die?” The once venomous tone her voice carried when referring to her son was now gone, and a heartbroken mother took its place. Officer Kennedy sat back on the couch, put his head down, and sighed, “He died saving a young boy from a house fire. No one at the time was able to get the kid due to how narrow the pathways were to reach him. However, because of your son’s size, he was able to fit through them. Your son died a hero, ma’am.” Kaede, still reeling from the news that her son had died and how he died, looked over at the black woman holding the little boy. 

Kaede, now looking directly at them, began to ask through tears, “W-w-were y-y-you t-the -?” She was cut off by the voice of the black woman, “Yes, my name is Tessa, and your son saved my son, Harlan, my little boy’s life last night.” Kaede now looked over at the kid, and if it weren’t for the shock of the news, she would have noticed that Harlan looked like a toddler version of Bert. Before Kaede could get a word out, the little boy Harlan mustered up his courage to speak, “U-um M-miss Mori. T-thank y-you for taking c-care of Hiroki. H-his name w-was Hiroki b-because he was a h-hero, right? H-he b-became my hero last night, he w-was yours too, right?” Harlan said, trying to hold back the tears in his eyes that threatened to come down if he kept going further. However, he did continue, now full on letting the tears go, “H-h-he t-t-told me to p-p-protect my mama, and to t-t-take care of her, b-b-because he d-did t-that for you, t-thats what heroes do. P-p-protect t-the p-p-people they love.” Kaede was at a loss for words at that moment. The boy she deemed worthless and useless less than half a day ago was now being praised as a hero by a family he had never met. This was all too much for Kaede as she leaned back into her chair and grabbed her head, getting a migraine not only from the information she just received, but from the excessive crying she had done while being dehydrated from last night’s session.

Regarding last night’s love session, coming down the stairs in nothing but boxers was Bert. As soon as he entered the living room with a greeting of, “Hey bitch can you stop fucking crying, I’m trying to sleep.” Bert was still half asleep, so his eyesight was blurry from heavy eyelids and eye boogers. Once he rubbed his eyes to take out the eye boogers and stimulate them to stay open, he finally saw the officer, firefighter, Kaede, two people he could never forget the face of, “Mom?! Lil Bro?! What are you doing here?!” Bert shouted in a shocked and accusatory tone. 

An officer being here? He half expected from believing how bitch made Hiroki can be, the firefighter was kind of weird so it threw the idea of Hiroki calling the police out the window, but his mother and lil bro just threw a wrench into all his reasoning. “Why are you two here? Why is there a police officer?” Before Kaede can ask Bert what he means by ‘Mom’, Talia answers her son. “Me being here doesn’t require you to know, more importantly, what are YOU doing here? I thought you had a weekend-long tournament with your high school basketball team?” Talia put down her son on the couch and stood up, crossing her arms and giving Bert a look that resembled, ‘You got 15 seconds to answer truthfully before I whoop your ass across this room.’ 

Bert began to stutter and look away bashfully while rubbing the back of his neck. This looked shocked Kaede as she never saw her mast-, Bert like that from the time they spent together. After what seemed like forever, Bert said nothing, then Talia looked over at Kaede, who began to look more bashful when Bert came into the living room, then back at Bert, then back at Kaede, which Talia now saw some hickey marks across her neck, then back at Bert, and connected the dots. “YOU’VE BEEN FUCKING HIROKI’S MOM? HOW FUCKING DARE YOU. YOU PIECE OF SHIT HUMAN. HOW FUCKING DARE YOU PULL THE SHIT YOU DID BACK IN THE STATES HERE. YOUR FATHER SENT YOU HERE SO YOU CAN ESCAPE THE TROUBLES BACK HOME FROM DOING THE SAME SHIT. HE BEGGED AND PLEADED FOR ME TO HOUSE YOU BECAUSE HE WAS WORRIED ABOUT YOUR SAFETY, AND WITHIN THE FIRST MONTH YOU DO THE SAME SHIT AGAIN?” Talia shouted at Bert like a gumball machine would shout at a blue jay and a raccoon, and if the entire household wasn’t woken up from the sobbing of Kaede earlier, they were for sure now. 

Bert tried to find and make excuses for himself, but he couldn’t form any that were solid enough, “M-m-mom, look, it isn’t how it seems, um…Hiroki, yeah, Hiroki was weak and couldn’t properly protect Miss Mori here. So I came into the picture to do so, and one thing led to another, and here we are.

Before Talia could continue the verbal rampage on her son, the three other girls came down the stairs. Kanoko in a wife-beater that was considered see-through and some booty shorts that looked more like thongs, Nao in an oversized shirt that resembled a tent caused by her boobs, and Ayumu in some pajamas that looked one size too small. Kanoko was the first to speak, still half asleep as all three were from just waking up, “Well when are going to fuck Bert? It seemed Hiroki never came back home after he came in on us fucking in his room, so we can continue fucking in his bed,” she yawned out while stretching which caused her shirt to rise a bit too much. Nao was next, “Yeah Bert, when are we going to fuck. I’ve been aching since I woke up and need you in me now, plus, for being such a great girlfriend of Hiroki’s, I don’t think he’ll mind if we continue in his room again,” she stated while leaning on Bert, purposely putting his arm right between her breast valley. Finally, Ayumu rubbed her eyes to clear them up and remove any eye boogers, and became wide-eyed at the number of people she did not recognize in the living room. “U-u-um, who are these people?” Ayumu said with a voice of shock and slight panic.

Talia, after seeing what had just transpired when the three girls came, what they just said, how Kaede held a venomous tone at first when referring to his son, and how Bert tried to say Hiroki was weak, it all came together even clearly, and she was more furious than ever. “YOU PIECE OF SHIT SAD EXCUSE OF A HUMAN. YOU DID THIS TO HIROKI? YOU DID THIS TO HIM? WHY? WHY DID YOU FUCK NOT ONLY HIS MOM, HIS GIRLFRIEND, HIS OLDER SISTER WHICH I ASSUME FROM THESE PHOTOS ON THE WALLS, AND A CLOSE FRIEND BASED ON DEDUCTION, WHY? WHAT MADE IT YOUR SOLE MISSION TO RUIN HIS LIFE, AND FOR WHAT, TO BOOST YOUR EGO OF BEING A MAN BECAUSE YOU GOT BITCHED BACK HOME? IS THAT IT, SON? IS YOUR PRIDE SO HURT YOU HAD TO PICK ON SOMEONE THAT IS NEARLY HALF YOUR SIZE AND 5 YEARS YOUNGER THAN YOU?” Talia was now screaming like a banshee at her son, filled with pure rage at the audacity her son had to even do that to Hiroki’s mom, let alone almost every important girl in Hiroki’s life, from her understanding. 

After Talia referred to Hiroki’s age and looked at the girls and back to Bert, her stomach felt like it was doing cartwheels when she realized the ages of Nao and Ayumu. “BERT YOU FUCKING FREAK, THESE GIRLS ARE AROUND 14 FUCKING YEARS OLD. GET THAT IN YOUR SKULL, BERT, 14. I KNOW THAT YOU’RE ALL IN HIGH SCHOOL, BUT YOUR FATHER RAISED YOU BETTER THAN THAT.” 

Talia then focused her rage onto Kaede, pointing at her, “AND YOU, YOU CALL YOURSELF A MOTHER? ALL I SEE IS A STREET CORNER WHORE WHO GOT ADDICTED TO COCK AND GAVE UP HER SON FOR IT. HIROKI DID NOT DESERVE THIS TREATMENT, AND IF GOD EXISTED HE WOULD SMITE YOU ON THE SPOT.” Talia was now red in the face after getting that out of her system.

At the mention of her useless brother, Kanoko scoffed, “What does my useless brother have to do with this besides?” Kanoko smirked and crossed her arms, pushing her breasts up while doing so, not on purpose. Talia snapped her head so quickly at Kanoko, there was a genuine concern of whiplash. “YOUR BROTHER IS DEAD. HIROKI IS DEAD. HE DIED SAVING MY SON FROM A FIRE. SOMETHING NONE OF YOU FIVE WOULD EVER THINK OF DOING.” 

This caused Kanoko's smirk to fall and her eyes to bulge out of their sockets at the news, Ayumu to instantly fall to her knees in a catatonic state as if she had fainted, and Nao to let go of Bert’s arm as she was in distraught at the news. Hiroki? Dead? There was no way that was possible. He promised. He promised Kanoko that he would allow her to name one of his children after her for being such a cool older sister. He promised Ayumu that he would attend all her martial arts matches in her professional career once she reached the major leagues. He promised Nao that he would take her on more dates to her favorite locations, as he said he loved seeing her smile when she was excited and loved how her eyes shone when she was amazed.  

While the girls were now processing the death of Hiroki, Bert scoffed at his death, “So what if the loser is dead? He did something in life that had meaning and saved my little brother. Another way to realize he was always meant to be disposable and to serve me and my interests.” What happened next shocked everyone in the group, minus one person, Talia didn’t say anything, the girls didn’t say anything, and the officer or firefighter said nothing. 

Little boy Harlan stood up on the couch, pointed at his older brother, and shouted, “H-H-HIROKI WAS MY HERO. S-S-STOP TALKING BAD A-A-ABOUT HIROKI. Y-Y-Y-YOU’RE NOT MY BIG BROTHER. Y-Y-YOU’RE A BULLY. I HATE BULLIES!” This caused everyone to be shocked, not at the words within the statement, as no foul language was used, but shocked at the declaration of Harlan disowning his own older brother. 

Bert was taken aback by his little brother's words, who seemed to be genuinely hurt, “H-Harlan buddy, you don’t mean that... right? I’m always big bro.” Harlan crossed his arms and scoffed, “Not anymore, I HATE YOU!” he shouted at Bert. Talia now joined in the dogpiling of Bert, “I agree, from this day forward, you are no son of mine. I will be sending you back to the States with your father. I do not care for what happens to you any longer, as Hiroki did more for me and Harlan than you ever did in the last month.”

Bert couldn’t understand why, WHY! The little blonde asian bastard had too much of a good life, smoking hot girlfriend, adorable tomboy best friend, sexy old sister, and a gorgeous milf as a mom. He had to put the loser Hiroki in place to make him realize his position in life, to always be underneath men like himself. At the mention of Bert being sent back to the States, he was filled with so much rage. Bert locked his eyes on his mother and went to attack her. However, what he didn’t realize in his unbridled rage was that the empty cup that Kaede had used to drink water earlier was right where his foot was, and he had tripped over it. In an act of sweet karma, Bert didn’t just land face first on the ground, he landed face first into the vomit Kaede threw up on the carpet that morning. 

At the sudden change of movements, Officer Kennedy quickly went in to arrest Bert on the actions of attempted aggravated assault. “Sir, you are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent. If you wish to communicate with an attorney, you can.” Officer Kennedy stated while arresting Bert on the ground, and somewhat purposefully pushing Bert’s head into the vomit. Even though it may not seem like it, Officer Kennedy seemed to properly man-handle, he forced Bert to stand up made him walk to the cop car while he was kicking and screaming and cursing the girls, his mother, and his little brother, saying he’ll make them all pay and was glad Hiroki had died. 

After what seemed like forever, Bert was finally in the back of the cop car, and Officer Kennedy came back into the house to hand over Hiroki’s belongings that they found on him when he had died. His phone and wallet were the only things he was carrying that night he left home. Officer Kennedy gave one final statement to Kaede and the other girls as he made it loud for all of them to hear, “What you did wasn’t technically illegal. The age of consent here in Japan is 13, and there are no laws regarding causing emotional distress, unlike the United States, so I guess we can’t charge you. However, know this, just because we can’t charge you doesn’t mean we do not think of you as the lowest of the lowest people. Never cross me again, or I will make your life hell. Are. We. Clear?” Officer Kennedy said in a threatening tone and deep tone. With that, Officer Kennedy left along with the nameless firefighter, as they had to now process a new inmate, and the firefighter was a perfect eyewitness. 

Talia, after calming down from the shock that her son would attack her, finally looked at the girls, all four, and said this, “I hope you are happy. I hope you are happy that an amazing and brave young man’s final day alive was filled with heartbreak and sorrow, that the only good moment he had that day was dying surrounded by people who had no idea who he was, but he didn’t care as he was happy because he saved my son’s life.” Talia went to pick up Harlan, who seemed to be emotionally drained from the meeting. “I would say I hope you have a great rest of your day, but I would be lying, and there have been too many lies told in this household.” With that, Talia walked out the door, not even caring to close it, leaving the four girls by themselves: Nao, Ayumu, Kanoko, and Kaede.

Kaede, still holding Hiroki’s wallet and phone, tried to turn on his phone, but the battery had died, so she went to open his wallet instead. The wallet wasn’t very unique, it was your standard 8-compartment wallet, four on each lip, and one big opening for cash. Inside, she found a small amount of yen and some gift cards on one side of the wallet, but on the other side of the wallet was a different story. Each compartment had a picture of him with each of the four girls. 

The first compartment was of Hiroki and Nao sitting side by side in the Ferris Wheel ride at the local theme park, overlooking the view at the highest point on their first ever date. Looking at the photo, Nao remembered that day because Hiroki had used all of his food money at a carnival game to win a stuffed animal for Nao, because she simply told Hiroki she liked it. Nao never forced Hiroki to win it for her, but out of Hiroki’s own volition, he went out to win it for her. Ironically, it came down to Hiroki’s last attempt due to running out of cash to continue, and he won it. Hiroki couldn’t buy anything to eat, so whatever Nao bought to eat, she offered to share as a thank you for winning the stuffed animal, and so he didn’t starve at the fair. It was also the first time they shared an indirect kiss by accident, but later on in the date, during the Ferris Wheel ride, Hiroki finally made the first move and kissed Nao. It was right after the picture was taken, it was sloppy and bad, but Nao thought it was the most romantic thing someone had done for her. 

The next compartment was Ayumu, and it was she and Hiroki standing side by side, arms around each other as they stood on the podium with Hiroki winning first and Ayumu winning third. Ayumu remembered that day because not only was it her first ever judo tournament, but before it, she was having a nervous breakdown before it even started. Hiroki had found her in the locker room and came to console her and tell her everything would be okay. After hearing the words of encouragement from Hiroki, Ayumu gained enough courage to go out and participate in the tournament. She got third for her first-ever judo tournament, and Hiroki got first, but it seemed Hiroki was more ecstatic about Ayumu getting third than him getting first. What also made that day special was that it was the day Ayumu started to like Hiroki romantically.

The third compartment was Kanoko; in the picture, both she and Hiroki were sitting side by side at a local baseball game, waving their baseball gloves in the air in celebration of what seemed like a home run their team had just scored. Kanoko remembered that day because Hiroki was begging for her older sister to go, as he said it would be boring if she didn’t go with him. Kanoko firmly stated no on many occasions up until the day of the actual game. That day, Hiroki pulled the puppy eyes card on her, and Kanoko, not being able to handle her little brother’s cuteness, begrudgingly agreed to it. At first, she found the game boring, but as it continued, she got more and more into it, even to the point of shouting at the umpire whenever he made a ball call on a pitch. She had no idea what it meant, but she saw other people do it and thought it was fun. It’s also an important memory because it was the last time she was able to go out and do something with her dad before he passed away.

The final compartment was Kaede. In the picture, Kaede is holding her baby Hiroki in her arms. She looks exhausted and nearly half asleep, as if she stayed up hours to take care of the child. Kaede always remembered this moment because her late husband had taken the picture, and due to the flash, Hiroki had woken up. At first, Kaede was mad at her husband for leaving the flash on, but a few seconds later her anger would be swept away as Kaede heard Hiroki say his first words, ‘mama’. All the tiredness and fatigue went straight out the window as she went to coddle and coo at Hiroki for calling her ‘mama’. Kanoko’s first words were ‘dada’, and she believed she was going to be a daddy’s girl. This left Kaede sad as she wanted a child to look up to her like that, so when Hiroki came along she became more and more nervous as Hiroki took on more features from his father’s side, to the point Kaede had given up altogether and just felt she would be the odd one out of the family. That was until Hiroki said ‘mama’, and she knew she had a momma’s boy in her arms, and she vowed to make sure he lives a great life.

After looking at the pictures, they are too stunned to speak, too stunned to act, too stunned to move. In the past 12 hours, Hiroki had found out about their relationship to Bert, Hiroki had died saving Bert’s little brother, their relationship to Bert now being revealed to his mother, and Bert being arrested and will most likely be deported back to the States.

It was only noon.

Chapter Text

The rest of that Saturday was a blur for the four girls. They simply sat around the living room, still in the same clothes they wore that morning. All four are still trying to grasp the situation at hand: Hiroki is dead, Bert got arrested, and none of them will be able to see either person again. They’re sex fueled and driven life came to a screeching halt overnight, and they wanted to blame Hiroki for it. They desperately tried to find a reason or an excuse they could justify in their head, but nothing came to mind. All the girls sat there in their little mindscape, each with a different process.

Kanoko was seated on the couch and staring up at the ceiling. Her mind was one of confusion and anger. She could understand that her brother had passed away; he was a loser and a coward. She came to think he died by committing suicide, therefore further validating her idea of Hiroki being a beta male. What she didn’t expect was her brother dying as a hero; she would’ve thought the world was ending by that point. She tried to think back on the clues of Hiroki having any ounce of heroism in him, and she had found some that were so noticeable that Stevie Wonder could see them. Hiroki would always sacrifice his well-being for his mother and sister. One time, walking home together after getting groceries at the local market, an elderly man encountered both of them and tried to grope Kanoko. Kanoko was so afraid and couldn’t do anything at that moment. Before she could even process what was happening, Hiroki stood in front of her and punched the elderly man and wrestled him to the ground. 

“QUICK, GO HOME AND GET MOM TO CALL THE POLICE. I’LL HOLD HIM DOWN, HURRY!” Hiroki had shouted at Kanoko while pinning the elderly man's chest to the ground with his arms behind his back. Kanoko finally snapped out of her petrified state and ran home as fast as she could. Once home, she quickly ran to Kaede to call the police. About 10 minutes later, Kaede and Kanoko went to where Hiroki had the man pinned down, only for them to see the man be escorted into a police car and Hiroki sitting on the curb being questioned by police. Kanoko quickly ran towards Hiroki to envelope him in a hug, not caring that she shoved Hiroki’s face right into her breasts. At that moment, Kanoko felt the safest in her life since her father passed away.

As soon as Kanoko remembered that moment, she quickly curled her hand into a fist and punched the armrest of the couch in a fit of rage. Whether the anger was caused by her being so weak, having to rely on her useless brother Hiroki for safety, or anger because the man who truly made her feel safe since her father's passing was no longer with them was hard to distinguish. She had no idea if the latter or former were true; she simply knew that Hiroki was gone and would never return.

Nao sat on the opposite end of the couch, looking out the window. She never would’ve thought her useless boyfriend would be so weak that he would die right after finding out about her and Bert's sexual relationship. Hiroki never gave her the notion of him being suicidal, nor had she seen him sad. He would always plaster this smile on his face, even during moments that would make anyone sad. She remembered vividly getting an exam back, and Hiroki scored a 24 out of 100. To the average student, they would simply shrug it off if they were a delinquent and did not care, or become depressed and sad if they worried about their studies. Nao, who sat beside Hiroki, looked at his expression and the score, worrying about Hiroki’s reaction. Instead of expressing either of the reactions previously mentioned, Hiroki expressed determination and turned to tell Nao, “I’ll pass the next exam, don’t worry!”

Nao always found those moments to be annoying yet cute at times. Annoying because she knew Hiroki had no chance to better himself, he would always be a knucklehead who lacked any critical thinking skills. It took him a whole month to find out his girlfriend was cheating with his bully. Why would Nao believe Hiroki would improve his grades? Even if Hiroki asked for help from their homeroom teacher, Miss Kyouno, Nao believed Bert would compromise her as well as she believed no woman could withstand him and his sexual prowess. Fortunately, Miss Kyouno would not become a victim of Bert, as Hiroki was no longer around to seek guidance from her, meaning she was no longer a person Bert had to target to break Hiroki. 

She sighed as she looked back at the photo from Hiroki’s wallet of the two. For some reason, seeing Hiroki’s smile in the photo made her feel warm, but that feeling quickly went away, and nothing would take its place, making Nao feel empty and hollow. Nao couldn’t put a finger on why she was feeling the way she did. Hiroki simply had to accept that he was inferior to Bert, and they could’ve lived a happy life together. However, not only did Hiroki leave to end up dying, but Bert is most likely going to be deported too, leaving Nao with no one to take care of her emotional and sexual needs. She sighed as she leaned and propped her arm on the armrest of the couch to support her head as she looked outside the window, still wondering why looking at the smile of Hiroki made her feel ill.

Sitting between Nao and Kanoko was Ayumu, with her head down, staring at her hands as she intertwined her fingers together. It never even crossed her mind that Hiroki would die at a young age. She had seen Hiroki get tossed and beaten down so many times; seeing him without bruises or scratches was a miracle in her eyes. What even came as more of a surprise was knowing Hiroki died from his injuries that came from saving a kid in a house fire. Bert had implanted in her mind that Hiroki was weak and useless; he would never be able to protect Ayumu at all. The physical strength and prowess were the sole reason she succumbed to Bert in the first place, and badmouthed Hiroki. After her first sexual encounter with Bert, she stopped seeing Hiroki as a man altogether.

Yet, what is a man if they don’t stand up for their ideals? Was Bert a man because he could pleasure her, or was Bert a man because he made her feel safe and cared for? What even were Bert’s ideals? She never once heard Bert talk about the goals he wants to accomplish in life at all. Did Bert want to be a professional sports athlete, maybe go to college to get a degree in his chosen field, or lay in bed all day and only get up to get his dick wet? Ayumu never questioned Hiroki’s ideals and goals at all. Hiroki always wanted to become a professional MMA artist, and even tried his luck at going to the UFC. He was always gushing about MMA fighters like Conor McGregor for his swagger and demeanor, and Usman Nurmagomedov, for his technical ability at wrestling and striking, being able to win both via knockouts or submission. He wanted to be the embodiment of Conor’s swag (without the out-of-the-ring issues) and Usman’s skill to be the ultimate champion.

Hiroki was always a loudmouth and bragadocious, yet he was a softie underneath that exterior, as he always risked his well-being to protect the innocent. He never looked at the people he protected as weak or inferior; he never addressed them that way or showed any indicator he thought of them like that. Instead, Hiroki would simply protect them because, as he said, “That’s what a man does. A man doesn’t protect people because he thinks they're weak. He doesn’t protect them because he wants something in return. He protects them because if he didn’t, who would?” Ayumu remembered him saying that when a boy tried to pick her for looking too much like a boy, the boy said to let him teach her what it feels like to be a woman. Hiroki had stepped in to protect her, and the boy left her alone. However, before the boy left the two by themselves, he told Hiroki, “Whatever, I know you’re just protecting her to get inside her pants as well. Fucking hypocrite."

Ayumu, looking back at the memory, always made her get butterflies in her stomach as she thought about how cool and hot Hiroki looked standing up for her. Now that same memory makes it feel like she wants to puke her guts like Miss Kaede did that morning. She wouldn’t confess to others, but she did feel slightly bad about betraying Hiroki, yet she never tried to stop it, for where else was he going to find a man like Bert? That word again, ‘man’, Ayumu no longer knew what a man was anymore. Maybe if Hiroki were the same age as Bert, at 19, he would’ve been more of a man than Bert ever will be, maybe Hiroki would've provided her the same sexual satisfaction Bert had done, maybe Hiroki would’ve made her feel loved. She’ll never know now since Hiroki is gone, and all she can do is play fantasies throughout her mind of the future that can no longer come to fruition. 

Kaede was sitting by herself in the armchair. She wasn’t thinking. She couldn’t think. She tried to force herself to think of anything, say anything, do anything, but she couldn’t. After Officer Kennedy, Bert, and his family left, she didn’t say a word to the other girls. She simply got up from her chair, went to throw out the carpet rug she had thrown up on, and sat back down in the armchair. Her movements felt robotic, no emotion within them, as if she were on autopilot. Kaede was looking at the door where the group had entered and left, the door where Bert came in to give her pleasures she couldn’t even think of, the door she entered with a baby Hiroki in a baby carrier as she and her husband came back from the hospital, the door she entered crying with Hiroki and Kanoko by her side as they came back from her husband’s funeral, and the same door Hiroki walked through after finding out about their betrayal and never returned the same night.

She still didn’t think it was real, she thought it was a continuation of her dream from earlier, of the burning Hiroki that asked her, “Why?” Could that have been Hiroki before he continued to the afterlife? She shook her head at that, There is no way Hiroki was dead. This was all an elaborate prank Hiroki conjured up to get payback at them for the betrayal. She was staring at the door, waiting for Hiroki to walk right in, and once he did, she would call Bert to come back so they could continue their plan. So she sat there in the armchair, waiting for Hiroki to come through the door, and she did. One hour passed, nothing, two hours passed, nada, three hours passed, the door opened, but it was Ayumu and Nao as they both received phone calls from their parents to come home, as they had news to share with them and only felt comfortable telling them in person. An hour passed after that, then another, and this time the door did open, but it was only Kanoko who went to get food and came back with KFC, as she couldn’t get her mother’s attention to ask what she was going to make for dinner.

It was now 9:00 PM, and Kaede still hadn’t moved from her chair. She was still waiting for Hiroki to come through the door. She was startled by a notification on her phone. She looked at it, thinking it was a text from Hiroki saying he’s staying at a friend’s house or something. Instead, it was a notification to take her birth control and head to bed. She started to take it because of having sex with Bert and liked to fuck bareback. Now she wasn’t sure if she should bother to take it, as she would most likely never see Bert again. She sighed and headed to her bedroom to sleep. Along the way, she stopped at Hiroki’s door like she did that morning and looked at it. She didn’t know what to think or what to feel; all she knew was that something felt wrong. She pushed that feeling down and continued her walk to her room, stopping briefly at her late husband’s shrine. She didn’t stare at it as long as she did when looking at Hiroki’s door, but she swore she could see the disappointed look her late husband had in the picture. She quickly rubbed her eyes and relooked at the picture to ensure her eyes weren’t deceiving her. The picture looked like it did before, with the same smile he had. Kaede still felt the disappointment within it, but she ignored the feeling, playing it up to exhaustion and lack of food, making her mind play tricks on her. She headed to bed soon after, not knowing the shit show that was about to start.

When Ayumu and Nao went back to their respective homes, they were smothered by their parents in hugs and tears. The girls had no idea why this was occurring; however, when they were told by their parents how sorry they felt about losing Hiroki, they understood why. The news of Hiroki’s passing got around quickly; it seemed to be the case as it was covered on the news, and the local community started to praise Hiroki as a hero. Ayumu and Nao just stood there in their parents' arms, not expressing anything, looking soulless as their parents showered them with tears and apologies for losing their boyfriend and best friend. Once their parents let go of them, they looked at Ayumu’s and Nao’s faces to see any indicator of depression or grief, but instead, they looked expressionless. The parents simply chalked it up to shock and still not being able to process that Hiroki is gone. They sent them to their rooms so they could grieve in their comfort and by themselves if they didn’t feel comfortable grieving with them.

Once Ayumu and Nao got inside their rooms, both girls lay down on their beds, exhausted from what the day had transpired. As they laid there looking up at the ceiling, all they could think of was Hiroki’s face when he walked in on them in his room having the orgy with Bert. Before, when the girls thought back to that memory, it was the hottest sexual moment for them and lit a fire in their womanhood, but now, when they think about it just fills them with emptiness. They looked over at their bedside table and saw the necklace Bert had given them: a black chain having a black spade on it. Bert told them it would show their undying loyalty to the man and his people, not understanding what that meant at that time, both girls later on understood it meant black men were the ‘superior beings’ to asian men. They used to wear the necklace with honor, not when they look at it, they feel nothing but shame. 

They reached out to grab it, but once they touched it, it burned their hand. They both quickly drop it and look at their hands to see any burn marks, but none appear. Thinking it was just a figment of their imagination, they reached out again to grab it, this time, however, it didn’t burn them. Once they held it, though, they felt an insane amount of dread. They quickly stood up from their bed, spade necklace in hand, and threw it away in their bedroom trash can. They couldn’t put a finger on why they did it; it just felt right. With the revelations that occurred that day, once they lay back in bed, they instantly fell asleep.

The next day, Kaede and Kanoko both went to the morgue to see Hiroki’s corpse. The coroner led them to see Hiroki’s body. The walls were cold and white, there were no windows, so the only thing that lit up the building was fluorescent lights. The sound of a low hum generated by them provided no sense of warmth or hospitality. The workers there looked like they were corpses as well. The girls simply chalked it up to the number of times you see a new dead body, you lose a bit of yourself. Once in the room that looked to be filled with drawers, the coroner pulled out one of the drawers. Inside was the corpse of Hiroki, hair missing, parts of his skin looked black and red from the burns, his arm looked purple and bent at a weird angle.

The coroner provided the girls some space so they could mourn the loss of their son/little brother, yet the girls never expressed any type of emotion. The coroner was puzzled at this; usually, mothers would cry and break down at the sight of their deceased child, yet this mother didn’t shed a single tear. The coroner reentered the room to close the drawer holding Hiroki’s body. Kaede had scheduled the funeral to be that upcoming Saturday, meaning funeral preparations had to be done within less than a week. Kaede simply told them they want a simple funeral, no reception afterwards. The staff were puzzled by this, but simply agreed with it as they didn’t care; they just wanted to make sure they were getting paid. The girls left the morgue in silence, not talking to each other through the drive there, their visit, or on the way back to their home.

Monday rolled around, and Nao woke up to get prepared for school. On Sunday, Nao didn’t do anything, simply lay in bed all day, and only left her room to eat or use the bathroom. The entire day, she simply looked at the wallet photo of her and Hiroki, looking for a clue on why she is feeling a certain way. Nao was waiting outside her household, mad that Hiroki was late walking her to school. Around 5 minutes later, she remembered Hiroki was gone, meaning she had to walk to school by herself. No matter, she can call Bert to walk her-, she then remembered Bert was arrested, and nothing has come out saying whether he would have a bail or not. Nao tsked and started to walk her way towards the school. 

Since the beginning of Nao and Hiroki’s companionship, even before they started dating, she would always walk to school with h;m, it was pretty much their routine. They would tell jokes, laugh, banter, and talk about the latest trends in social media, which allowed her to not feel as lonely. Many girls outcasted Nao growing up because they felt Nao was hogging too much of the male attention from them. Nao had no control over this and apologized, but they didn’t care. Around the same time, she met Hiroki, and from then on, they became close friends. Hiroki would always carry Nao’s book bag for her to show her, by quote, “How much of a gentlesir I am.” This would always make Nao laugh til her sides hurt, as he always said it in a very posh accent, sounding like those butlers from a rich household.

Once Nao arrived on campus, she was swarmed by students and staff offering condolences. Nao stayed expressionless still around the whole ordeal. Everyone simply thought it was her trying to put on a brave face, to be strong for Hiroki, hell, she even came to school, and no one would've blamed her for missing to grieve. However, Nao simply had no way to express her emotions. What was she supposed to feel? Sad, heartbroken? She knew she had a hand in the demise of Hiroki, yet couldn’t feel guilty or sad about it. She headed to her homeroom class, and the first thing she noticed was that the desk next to hers had flowers, Hiroki’s desk. She walked over to his desk and took the flower. While holding it, the thorn pricked her finger, causing her to bleed. She quickly put the flower back down and turned to sit at her desk.

Throughout the classes, she was bored out of her mind. She was so done with school, she turned to face Hiroki to see if he could help her find some entertainment, only for her to turn to an empty desk. This was the second time today she forgot Hiroki had passed away, and that feeling she got while looking at the photo came back. She hated that feeling, it made her feel horrible as she had the stomach flu with a migraine. She put her head down onto the desk, the teacher would berate her for this, but knowing that Nao’s boyfriend had passed away, she allowed her to do so. The first school break came and went for Nao as she didn’t have anyone to converse with, as the only person who would converse with her was Hiroki. 

Lunch time finally rolled around, and Nao headed toward the cafeteria to eat alone. She usually had Hiroki with her, talking to her about the latest MMA fight or something. She always found him adorable whenever he would go on and on endlessly about a topic he liked. She won’t admit it, but she did miss his voice. Once she got her lunch, she plopped down at the table where Hiroki and she used to eat. While the cafeteria was loud, the silence at the table she sat at was louder. Many onlookers simply left her alone as they thought she was still tackling her emotions since Hiroki’s passing. Once she was finished with her meal, she was looking for her juice that she always had with lunch, however, today it seemed she didn’t have it. She was yet again reminded about how Hiroki would always buy her her favorite juice out of his own volition, with her asking him to do so. Today she had to go buy her juice by herself.

She didn’t like how it felt.

Ayumu’s day in school wasn’t as eventful as Nao's. Ayumu only had to deal with sorrowful looks and apologies from the staff and students in the morning. Afterward, her school day went as usual; same old classes, same old teachers, same old peers, same old same old. She always found it boring until the final bell of the school day rang. Ayumu was always looking forward to the final bell because it signified that school was over and the judo club started. She quickly gathered her book bag and ran to the girls’ locker room to change.

Once changed, she headed to the judo room, and as usual, always announced her presence with the usual callout, “HIROKI-NII I’M HERE, LET’S FIGHT!” She never worried about scaring the other members because they weren’t there. The judo club didn’t start til twenty minutes later, but she and Hiroki would always be there early to get a few more minutes of sparring or even just talking. Once she didn’t hear a call back, she remembered Hiroki was gone. This made her happy mood instantly sour. She walked over to the mat they used to spar and wrestle on and simply sat down. It was the same mat Bert fucked her on. What should have been a moment of good memories of her time with Hiroki, instead was filled with memories of seeing Hiroki’s facial expression when he found the girls with Bert in his room. She quickly got off the mat as it was lava and sat in one of the spare chairs that trainers sat in while watching over the students.

The twenty minutes before the judo club started were arguably the longest twenty minutes of her life. When Hiroki was around, the twenty minutes would go by so quickly that it felt like they time-traveled to the beginning of the judo club. Ayumu sat there and thought about the conversations they had with her and Hiroki in the judo club. The first conversation they had together, unfortunately, was Hiroki going out with Nao. When Ayumu was first told this, it felt like her heart was broken into a million pieces, however, she had to keep a straight face for Hiroki as she knew how much he liked Nao. Hiroki went on and on, gushing about every detail of Nao. Ayumu was full of jealousy, but seeing her best friend have this much joy, she was able to push it down and express her happiness for him.

The next conversation she remembered was Hiroki asking Ayumu for advice on where to take Nao on their first date. Ayumu, still feeling the sting of jealousy, was hesitant to give Hiroki an answer at first. Why would she know where to take Nao? She never had a boyfriend, let alone been on a date! This got Ayumu to question Hiroki, “Hiroki-nii, why ask me where to take Nao? I never had a boyfriend before, or even gone on a date. How should I know?!” while throwing her arms up in a dramatic, sarcastic fashion. Hiroki looked at Ayumu and, without breaking eye contact, “Well, because you’re a girl, of course.” This caused Ayumu to go red in the face and blush frantically, the reason being that growing up, everyone called Ayumu a boy because of her tomboy fashion taste. At first, it became small verbal jabs, then straight-on physical bullying. This was how she met Hiroki and had become friends with the boy, he protected her from a group of bullies who threatened to cut off her hair so she could look more like a boy.

The last conversation they had in the judo club was the day before his passing. Hiroki had looked like he had been tossed and thrown around in the mud when he came to the judo club room. While he may have looked and smelled like shit, his smile never faltered when he greeted her. They began to talk about mundane things, school, house life, and UFC news. Hiroki then stopped and looked downwards towards his hands, as if he was thinking about his next choice of words. Ayumu saw this and asked him, “Hey, what’s wrong, Hiroki-nii?” Hiroki looked back up at Ayumu, sighed, and explained what had been transpiring with his love life, “It’s nothing, Ayumu, it’s just… I feel like Nao has grown more distant lately. She takes forever to reply to messages, she doesn’t want to hang out with me as frequently as she used to, and every time I see her, she gives me this deadpan tone and expression as if I’m bothering her. What should I do?” Ayumu had fully known that Nao was seeing Bert behind his back; hell, she was also seeing him, and they even hooked up in a couple of threesomes. Ayumu gave Hiroki a forced and fake smile, telling him, “It could also be that time of the month for her…” Hiroki understood what she meant and nodded in understanding. He knew what that meant, living with his older sister made it to where if he wanted to ask for a favor, he had to wait until she had her period, and if not so he could not be successful.

Fast forward four days later and Ayumu is sitting alone in the judo club, by herself. A couple of minutes later, the remainder of the club members arrived as well as the trainer. While practicing and sparring with other classmates, she was off her game. Tripping on her own feet, misplacing her body, and lacking any energy to withstand long fights. She was so sloppy that her coach pulled her out of practice and told her to watch another classmate pull the move off so she could learn. She stood there next to her coach and looked at the other students practicing, laughing, and having a good time. She remembered the times she and Hiroki would simply goof off and laugh whenever they were on the mat together, except for remembering making something in her hurt badly.

In a room full of people, Ayumu has never felt so alone.

The Mori household felt more like a prison than a home. Before, sounds of laughter and banter would bounce off the walls, either it being Kanoko and Hiroki arguing over who got the last slice of pizza, fighting over who got to control the TV, or fighting over who got to bathe first. Looking back on it, they fought a lot growing up. Kaede’s side was much different as Hiroki would go out of his way to make his mother feel special, whether it was helping her clean the house, staying in the living room to watch movies with her, or helping her with making dinner, especially if it was his favorite dish.

Kanoko came back from school. She was so tired of the constant condolences from her peers and staff that it caused her to get a migraine. Once she walked into the household it felt like she was freezing her ass off, nipples instantly became so hard she could cut diamonds with them. She went to check the thermostat to see why her mother had set it so low. She went to check it, and it was simply at room temperature. She thought that was weird, however, she had no time to think about it as she was freezing. She quickly ran up the stairs to get a sweater on, but while going to her room, she walked past Hiroki’s room. She noticed that the cold was especially strong around that area. Curiosity getting the better of her, she reached for Hiroki’s door handle…only for the door to swing open to see the rotting corpse of her little brother standing in the middle of the room. 

Before she could react in time, the entire room was engulfed in a fire, erasing the cold atmosphere with something that could rival hell. Kanoko lost the ability to speak as she took in so much smoke in her lungs that it caused her chest to hurt when she breathed. She dropped to the floor from the crazy amount of heat that shot out from Hiroki’s room into the hallway. She was now on all floors, desperately trying to breathe, to gain some strength. She looked up at where the rotting corpse of Hiroki was standing, and now it’s been engulfed in fire, making the smell much more pungent. She made eye contact with Hiroki, and Hiroki looked at her with a sad expression. If Hiroki had an expression of anger, rage, anything of the sort, Kanoko would’ve understood and been fine with it, except Hiroki had a facial expression of disappointment, and he continuously asked the question, “Why?” Kanoko tried to respond, but this time she was swallowed by the fire, and her screams filled the room.

Kanoko woke up from a nightmare in her bed, breathing frantically as if she were still having issues breathing. She quickly went to check her body for any burns or marks, yet nothing was there. Kanoko then instantly ran to Hiroki’s room for any sign of him. She burst through the door to find nothing. The room that was once used as a sex den, which was then set on fire in her dream, now looked clean as if it were a guest room. Kanoko then went to sit on Hiroki’s bed, the same bed where she had berated Hiroki. She then checked through Hiroki’s drawers for anything, what she was looking for, she didn’t know, but once she found it, she would. In the bottom drawer of his nightstand stand that’s where she found it: a picture of a toddler Kanoko holding a baby Hiroki in her arms with the support of her father. Looking at the picture, a wave of emotions hit Kanoko. Not knowing what to feel, she sat there on Hiroki’s bed looking at the picture for any sign, any clue, something, anything that could help her get rid of these feelings. She was so cold, she instinctively wrapped Hiroki’s blanket around her to keep her warm.

She was missing the warm hugs her little brother used to give her.

Kaede Mori sat in the same armchair in the living room the day she got the news of her son's passing. She still hasn’t concluded that Hiroki had passed away. It made no sense. First, her husband had passed away, Hiroki had died, and now Bert was going to be deported. Why did all the men in her life leave her? As she was sitting in the armchair, she remembered she had to clean the house, as she didn’t do so either Saturday or Sunday. She begrudgingly got up and started to clean. While getting up and walking to get the cleaning supplies, she walked past her late husband’s shrine. Looking at the ruined state it was in, Kaede would laugh at it, but now it just made her feel empty. She went and gathered items and did her best to fix it, yet she knew no matter how much she tried to fix it, it would never undo the damage she had done. After fixing the shrine, she mopped, wiped down, swept, and vacuumed every corner and every room of the house, minus one. 

Kaede stood outside Hiroki’s room, mentally preparing herself for what stood behind that door. The room has not been cleaned ever since the night Hiroki saw them with Bert in it, since the night Hiroki died. As she was reaching for the door knob she was visually and violently shaking, to onlookers it looked she had parkinsons, but she knew she was afraid, afraid for whatever was behind that door. She grabbed the handle and slowly opened the door, only to be hit in the face with the smell of sex, sweat, cum, and most of all, regret. She quickly went to cover her nose, but it was too late as she got a deep smell of it, and quickly ran to the bathroom to puke up her breakfast that day. After calming down, she went and gathered her strength to enter Hiroki’s room. Once inside, the smell became more bearable, but still as gassy. Before she could start cleaning, she noticed a picture frame on the floor. She picked it up, being wary of the glass shards that surrounded it, and examined the picture. Within the picture, it was herself, her late husband, Kanoko, and Hiroki as they spent the day at the beach together. Hiroki was merely 4 years old in that picture. Kaede then remembered how it was smashed on the floor, it was an order from Bert as she was bent over Hiroki’s desk in doggystyle position being fucked by Bert. Bert commanded her to knock down the picture frame, and she did so willingly. This was the second time Kaede had to run to the bathroom to puke today.

After what felt like forever cleaning Hiroki’s room, she looked at the time and went to prepare dinner for the family. She walked back down the stairs and noticed a pair of shoes at the doorway; it seemed Kanoko had come home from school. While Kaede was cooking, she got lost in her thoughts and accidentally gathered ingredients to feed a family of three instead of just a family of two. Kaede didn’t recognize this as cooking became second nature for her, as she was used to feeding three mouths. When Kaede was nearly done cooking, she called her children to come down to eat, “KANOKO, HIROKI, COME DOWN TO EAT!” Kaede gathered three plates and divided the food into three equal portions. After a couple of minutes of her children not coming downstairs, she went up to go retrieve them. She knocked on Hiroki’s door to let him know she was coming. Once she entered, she didn’t see Hiroki; instead, she saw Kanoko sitting on his bed holding a picture in her hand with an expressionless face. 

“Hey, sweetie, what are you doing in your brother’s room? You know what, never mind, just come down, dinner is ready, while I look for your brother.” Kanoko raised an eyebrow at her mother in a confused manner, “Uhh, mom, Hiroki is dead…remember?” Kaede looked at her daughter with a shocked expression, yet everything came back to her at that moment. She became lightheaded, the room was spinning, and she leaned on the door frame to support her weight. “Mom! Are you okay?” Kanoko quickly got up to support her mother, photo still in hand, and Hiroki’s blanket still wrapped around her. “I-I-I’m fine, sweetie, just a bit dizzy. Just go downstairs and eat, okay?” Kaede said between fits of heavy breathing. Kanoko didn’t believe her mother for one second, but respected her wishes. Kanoko went downstairs, leaving Kadede in Hiroki’s room. She went over to Hiroki’s desk and picked up the photo frame she had found on the ground earlier. Kaede found a spare frame and put the picture within that one and set it up on his desk earlier when she was cleaning his room. After staring at it for what felt like an eternity, she was broken out of her trance by her daughter, who yelled from the kitchen to come downstairs to eat with her. She set the frame down and went back downstairs, but looking at the table made it leave a bad taste in her mouth. Three plates were on the table, and a plate sat where Hiroki would sit with them.

She no longer felt hungry.

Chapter Text

The sunlight broke through the master bedroom window, waking up Kaede Mori. She woke up with a pounding headache, unsure where it came from. She looked at her phone for any new notifications she could've gotten overnight during her slumber. There weren't any messages, nor notifications from social media apps; all she had was one set reminder: ‘Today is Hiroki's Funeral’. Reading that instantly made her lose her stomach, and she had to run to the bathroom door to puke up whatever she had last night. It was like this all week; whenever she thought of her, she would have to puke. She did it so much she thought she was pregnant, to the point she went out to buy a pregnancy test. Thankfully, it came back negative as she was silently praying during the whole ordeal not to be pregnant. After cleaning herself up in the bathroom, putting on some decent clothes, and heading downstairs, she went over to check on Kanoko, who she thought was still asleep. She silently opens Kanoko's door, sticking her head in a bit to see her daughter, “Sweetie, are you awake? We have to get ready for your little br-.” Kaede could not have finished that sentence as Kanoko was not in her bed. “ Where the hell is my daughter? ” Kaede thought to herself. Kanoko's bed still looked like it was cleaned, and no one had slept in it at all last night. Concerned, she quickly closed the door and tried to head downstairs, hoping to find her daughter. She already lost her son, damn her if she lost her other child. 

Before she could descend the stairs, she heard snoring coming from Hiroki's room. She stops in her tracks and looks towards Hiroki's door; every time she looks at it, it always makes her want to puke. This time, however, she was able to control herself and her puking habit and walked towards the door. She puts her ear to the door to hear inside, and sure enough, she hears someone snoring in it. She pulls her ear away and slowly begins to open the door. Once opened enough to look inside, she saw the source that was producing the snoring, and it shocked her. Inside was Kanoko, sprawled and lying in Hiroki's bed, passed out, drool began to pool on the bed right below where her mouth was. What made Kaede the most shocked was seeing Kanoko wearing one of Hiroki's shirts as sleepwear. The shirt was so small for Kanoko that it looked more like a crop top. She even went out of her way to wear some of Hiroki's gym shorts that looked more like booty shorts! 

Kaede needed to wake her daughter up so she could get ready for the funeral, yet when she looked at her daughter's sleeping face and noticed how peaceful she looked, it made it impossible to do so. Throughout the week, Kaede has been waking up in the middle night from Kanoko's blood-curdling screams. The first night, Kaede woke up and got out of bed instantly, throwing on a robe and some slippers. She sprinted out of her room and down the hallway to Kanoko's room, afraid of losing yet another child in the same week. Once she got there, she swung the door wide open, and what she saw confused her at first. Their room looked the same, no shattered glass beneath her window, no sign of any altercation was present. At first, Kaede thought it was her imagination playing tricks on her, for she was having a hard time sleeping as well. That was until she heard silent sobbing coming from what she assumed was Kanoko in a sitting fetal position, rocking back and forth and on her bed. Kaede went to console her daughter, who she assumed had had a very harrowing nightmare from her scream earlier. As she went to comfort her, all she heard was “Hiro-kun…” and “I'm sorry…” between sobs and cries. At first, Kaede was puzzled. Who the hell was Hiro? 

Then, a second later, a memory of seeing her daughter carry a baby, Hirok, 2 days after giving birth at the hospital. Kanoko was merely 5 years old and was so excited to meet her little brother. She was staying with her grandparents at the time while her mother and father stayed at the hospital. Once her grandparents got the news of her little brother being born, she begged and pleaded to go visit him. Once they arrived, Kanoko sprinted inside, skipping and giggling throughout the building without having any idea where her mother's room was. Thankfully, her father was in the lobby waiting for his parents and daughters; he was able to prevent her from getting lost in the complex. “Hey champ! Ready to see your baby brother?” Kanoko's father picked her up and started to carry her. “Heck yeah, I am!” Kanoko said with a big smile on her face and a fist pump into the air. Kanoko's father laughed at her gimmicks, as it became a common habit throughout the Mori bloodline. Once the grandparents caught up with the father and daughter, they went on to see Kaede and the newborn Hiroki.

They arrived at the hospital room, but before they could enter, Kanoko's father told them they must knock in case Hiroki was asleep and not to startle him. Her father knocked on the door, and after a couple of seconds, a voice on the other side heard, “Come in.” Once inside, they saw Kaede lying on a hospital bed, carrying a small baby within her arms. On the side of Kaede seems to be a sushi tray on a side table. Kaede's husband frowned at this, “I thought we were going to share?” he questioned with a pout, obviously not taking it too seriously. Kaede remarked in a teasing tone accompanied with a smirk, “I had a child within me for nine months, and in that nine months, I couldn't have sushi. So, unless you want to carry the next child, I don't want to hear you complain.”

“You know she's right, dear,” Kaede's husband's mother began to say, “unless you plan to carry my next grandchild, I don't want to hear you complain,” she said, chuckling at her son's expense. “Moooom,” Mr. Mori groaned sarcastically. “Oh, shut up you, I'll buy you a roll, okay," Kanoko's father's mother said in a laughing manner. Mr. Mori's mood instantly went 180 and plastered on a huge smile, “Thank you,u Momma! You're the best mom in the world!” He went to rush to hug his mom, but before that, a noise was heard. Kaede coughed at her husband's antics, “Hey, don't forget I'm a mom too, he'll make me into a mom.” Mr. Mori started to rub the back of his neck from a nervous reaction, “Hehehe, you're right, honey, so sorry…” Kaede smacked her lips at this, still maintaining the playful atmosphere, “Tsch, momma's boy…” While all this was occurring, little Kanoko walked to the side of the bed, trying to peek over to get a good view of her new baby brother.

Kaede saw her trying to see Hiroki, and then asked her, “Hey sweetie, want to hold your little brother?” Kanoko shook her quickly and was ecstatic to hold him. Mr. Mori helped get Kanoko onto the bed to sit beside Kaede and helped prepare his daughter to hold Hiroki by putting her arms in place to properly hold a baby. Kaede then proceeds to gently transfer baby Hiroki from her arms to Kanoko's arms. Kaede still had full control of Hiroki, yet she provided enough illusion that Kanoko believed she was holding Hiroki. Kanoko looked at Kaede and his father and asked, “What's his name?” “His name is Hiroki,” Kaede said, smiling at her daughter. Her daughter looked back down at Hiroki, “Hiro…kun.” Kanoko whispered, but loud enough for her mother to hear. “No sweetie, umm, his name is Hiroki,” Kaede said in a nervous laugh. Kanoko didn't seem to have heard her, as she was deep in thought, looking at her little brother. “ I promise to always protect you, Hiro-kun. I promise to be the best big sister ever! ” 

Ever since Kanoko wouldn't budge on saying Hiroki's name properly, she has always kept saying ‘Hiro-kun'. She would always refer to him that way, whether it was playing video games together, playing outside, or eating with family at the dinner table, always. Kanoko would always refer to her brother that way. Kaede and Mr. Mori were afraid of their daughter developing a brother complex! Fortunately, or unfortunately, they wouldn’t have to worry about that ever becoming a possibility. The day she stopped referring to Hiroki as ‘Hiro-kun’ was the day their father had died. That day sent a reality shock to both children, as in an instant, they were forced to grow up. Fast forward to a couple of nights ago, Kaede was sitting beside Kanoko in her bed, with Kanoko holding a stuffed animal Hiroki had won for her at the school festival last year. Kanoko rocked back and forth, calling for Hiroki with his childhood nickname for her, and repeatedly saying sorry. That was Tuesday night, and from Tuesday up until Thursday, she had night terrors.

Kaede tried talking to her daughter about the situation on  Wednesday morning. Kanoko seemed to freeze at the mention of Hiroki, regain control of herself, and shrug off any mention of her late little brother. Every time Kanoko would listen to or see anything referencing Hiroki, she would clam up, sweat profusely, and not be able to properly function for a while. Her class friends thought this was just her still grieving and not feeling comfortable enough to talk about her brother. Hiroki’s death wasn’t the talk of the school during the week. Midway through the week, word of Bert being arrested made waves around the campus. What confused Kanoko’s class friends was that when they mentioned how Bert got arrested, the reaction Kanoko gave when Bert was mentioned in conversation was. She would always wear this expression of shame, as if she had known Bert personally. Kanoko knew, though. Kanoko knew the cause of death of Hiroki, why he wasn’t home that night, why Bert got arrested, and why the family was torn apart.

As if the school conversations weren’t enough, each night she would go to sleep and experience the same nightmare, and every time it was the same result. Hiroki would be standing at a distance in a white empty void, facial expression happy, smiling ear to ear, showing his pearly white teeth. That grin, that stupid grin that gave Kanoko butterflies. She knew incest was bad, she knew it was morally wrong, even if in Japan it was legal, the shame she would feel each time she would purposely give Hiroki sexual advances would eat her up, but the euphoria she experienced when she saw a flustered Hiroki made her heart and womanhood soar. Kanoko would desperately try to reach Hiroki, grab him, and take him far away from this place so he could be happy. Even if Hiroki never forgave her, as long as Hiroki was alive and safe, it was all that mattered. Unfortunately, she was bound by chains via a collar, a collar that had a spade hanging from it. She would then see Bert manifest in thin air, holding a gas canister and a lighter. Kanoko knew what was going to happen each night. She tried to force herself to wake up, but she couldn’t bear to witness it again, yet she always did. Bert would douse Hiroki in gasoline, laughing as he did, each laugh echoing off the walls within the void. As soon as Bert emptied the canister, he would look at Kanoko, light the lighter, and say, “He’s worthless, right? Isn’t that what you said?” and light Hiroki on fire. Replacing Bert’s laughter, Hiroki’s scream would fill in the void, making it impossible not to hear the 14-year-old boy suffering at the hands of his bully. What made Kanoko terrified, what made Kanoko sick to her stomach, wasn’t the screams, and it wasn’t witnessing Hiroki being lit on fire. It happened within the second right before Hiroki being set ablaze; Hiroki’s smiling face switched to one of pleading as he looked at Kanoko, he would mouth “save me” to her, and Kanoko was unable to do anything, failing to maintain her promise she had made all those years ago.

After waking up from the night terror on Thursday night, Kanoko decided to go to Hiroki’s room. Something about it made her feel somewhat calmer whenever she would look at it after coming from class. She couldn’t in her life figure out why it calmed her down; hell, it was the room that made Hiroki run away from the house that night! Yet something about it always drew her into it. Maybe it was his bed, maybe it was his blanket, or maybe it was the smell both had that reminded her of Hiroki. When she arrived in the bedroom, her clothes were soaked due to her sweat she generated through her night terror. She took her negligee off and was now standing in Hiroki’s room naked. Not wanting to go to bed naked, she went to Hiroki’s drawers and closet to find clothes that could fit her for nightwear. She found a shirt that seemed to have a robotic face, lit on fire with a fire resembling an oni mask with the word ‘Samurai’ underneath. Kanoko thought the design was cool, maybe it was a local indie rock band Hiroki got into. Kanoko threw the shirt on, and it fit her like a crop top cut out, showing a bit of underboob while wearing it. She then strolled over to Hiroki’s drawers and found some gym shorts. She put them on, and they looked more like dolphin shorts on her than gym shorts. Once dressed, she lay down in Hiroki’s bed and covered herself with Hiroki’s blanket. It was the best night of sleep she had had in a long while.

While Kanoko was suffering, and fortunately, or unfortunately, found a solution, Kaede herself wasn’t handling the situation much better. That Monday night, she hadn’t eaten dinner and simply sat on the living room couch until the grandfather clock chimed at midnight. She was startled by the noise and looked at the table once again to see her place and Hiroki’s plate by their lonesome. She recalled all the moments where she and Hiroki would eat at the table by themselves because Kanoko was a sleepover, leaving Kaede and Hiroki to have mother and son time. Kaede could no longer stand the sight of the plates by themselves. She walked over to the table, grabbed the plates, and dumped them, plate and food, into the trash. We’re the plates faulty? No, but her mind and soul were, and those plates were not helping. Throwing away the plates wasn’t enough for Kaede to overcome her mental issues. She started to see Hiroki’s face at the corner of the house. Kaede needed something to help get her mind off Hiroki, something, anything. Every corner of the household reminded her of Hiroki, from him coming home one day with his childhood friend Ayumu, him standing next to a wall so she could mark his height as he grew up, and him bringing over his first ever girlfriend Nao and being flustered by the whole ordeal. She had to do something to get her mind off him, so she broke a promise she swore to not just her late husband, but to her parents. She went and opened the cabinet over the refrigerator; inside were wine bottles, not the high-quality kind, the cheap kind, the kind to merely use for cooking, the kind to have one or two glasses a night when eating dinner. 

During her college days, Kaede was an irresponsible drinker. She would go to college parties day in and day out, get blacked out drunk, end up in some random living room, and go out and do it the next day. She would miss important exams and lectures due to her excessive drinking and partying. She was kicked out of college twice due to her actions, her parents almost cut her off, and made her fend for herself. Kaede was given one last chance to redeem herself if she still wanted to be in good standing with her parents. She didn’t believe in herself, however, she felt she was going to fuck up again, because that’s been her life til that moment. At each opportunity she had to become something better she would fuck it up. The new semester at the new school was looking like that again; she was behind in classes and struggling to understand the material. One day she stayed in the campus library, rereading the same textbook and notes over and over again, trying to find a clue on why she couldn’t understand the material. After what seemed like forever, she shut the book and wrapped her arms around her head. She wanted to cry so bad, but crying in public would not be great for her image. Suddenly, a young man with blonde hair sat across from her. Worried expression on his face, “Hey, Kaede, right? You're in my Tuesday morning lecture, everything okay?” Kaede had no idea who the man was across the table, yet his presence calmed her down. “Y…yeah, lecture with Miss Jenkins correct?” That conversation was the beginning of a loving relationship between Kaede and the blonde man.

She would then go on to marry the man, but not without telling him her past, confiding in him of her irresponsible younger days, where she would lose her sense of identity in a bottle. She promised him that she would never drink another ounce of alcohol, vowing to her future husband and family. At first, Kaede struggled without drinking alcohol; she would have withdrawal symptoms, and with the stress of continuing college, the numbness alcohol provided seemed more tempting. It became so bad that she went to the local Alcoholics Anonymous in her precinct, with the help of her then-boyfriend Mr. Mori, who gave her the support and courage to battle her demons. Now here she was, a hollow household, sitting on the armchair in the living room, the same armchair she received the news of her son’s passing, downing her second bottle of wine that night as she stained the brand new carpet rug she bought with wine stains and tears.

It is now Saturday, Kaede had just left Hiroki’s bedroom to allow Kanoko to get more shut-eye, for she understood how difficult it had become to sleep recently. Kaede walked down the stairs and took in the image of the living room. The place was a mess. The ground was littered with empty wine bottles, beer cans, and empty snack bags. A wine glass stood alone on the coffee table next to an open family photo book. She then looked into the kitchen, the sink was full of dirty dishes, the countertop even had more wine bottles, and the countertops and floor looked to be stained with wine. Kaede sighed in frustration, knowing she’ll have to get this clean, it was her son’s funeral, and she knew people would more than likely come to her household for the reception. With the thought of people attending her son’s funeral, she had sent out messages to her sister to invite her and her daughter, Kaede’s niece, to come to the funeral, as she knew how close they were to Hiroki, especially her niece. Kaede and her sister would often joke that Hiroki would marry his cousin; they were never opposed to the idea, as incest between cousins was morally accepted in Japan, but incest between siblings was looked down upon. With that in mind, she still had to invite two other people, two people who were close to Hiroki as well, two people who had a hand in his torment and pain.

Nao's week wasn't the best. After her first day of school, she went home and just lay in her bed staring up at the ceiling; memories would float around her head of her and Hiroki. Memories of when they were inseparable at the hip growing up. Hiroki would go on and on about how he would become this great boxer, or grow up to be a great father like his dad was. She would happily look at him with awe in her eyes, being at such a young age yet so determined. Nao herself didn't know what she wanted in life yet, hell, she was barely in elementary school, and Hiroki had his goals already planned out for him! All Nao knew was that she wanted to be in Hiroki's life, for she knew Hiroki would do great things. That all changed when Bert showed up. At first, Nao was annoyed by the presence of Bert. She was used to being hit on by guys, but ever since she and Hiroki became friends, guys would simply not attempt it anymore, finding it useless to win her heart. Nao was grateful that the boys stopped asking her out, finding it peaceful; she didn't have to worry about girls getting mad at her or boys holding a vendetta for being rejected. When Bert asked her out, it caught her off guard. First, why would a foreigner be asking her out? Second, why is he asking someone out who is three grades below him? Third, why was he so committed to having sex? Nao rejected him, yet Bert was so persistent that he stayed with her and even backed her into a corner. She was terrified until her boyfriend spoke up, telling Bert to ‘back off’. Nao was so grateful that, finally, this foreigner could learn his place once Hiroki got done with him.

Hiroki lost against Bert, and Bert made a mockery of him. Out of fear, Nao pleaded to Hiroki to apologize to Bert, and Hiroki did so begrudgingly. Afterwards, Nao had to take Hiroki back to his household and put him on bed rest. While Nao sat beside Hiroki's bed, she thought back to how Bert was so degrading to Hiroki, and had to find a way so that in the future Bert wouldn’t try to harm Hiroki anymore. The next day at school word got around quickly that Bert kicked Hiroki’s ass, and it was feeding Bert’s ego more and more. Nao knew once Hiroki came back to school Bert would kick his ass again to feed his ego. Nao had told Bert to meet her after school, as they had something to talk about. Bert agreed and had a very perverted grin with eyes leering at her body. She hated how they felt; it felt like how boys looked at her before Hiroki became a prominent figure in her life. After class, Nao met Bert behind the school, and their conversation wasn’t the best. “Look,” Nao crossed her arms, looking at Bert with a glare, “you beat my boyfriend, good job. You’re also like four to five years older than him, so you have the clear advantage.” Nao then sighed, uncrossed her arms, collapsed them together in a praying manner, and tried her best puppy eyes, “Please don’t hurt my boyfriend again, I’ll do anything.” At the mention of anything, Bert gained a sick, twisted grin, “Oh well…anything you say?” Bert then rubbed his chin in a sarcastic thought, “How about I come over and you prepare me a tea instead,” he said in a kind, deceiving tone, obviously showing he had ulterior motives underneath. Nao was kind of struck by this, not money or anything like that? Tea? She can do that, it was so simple, “Alright, I guess that can work…” Nao would then lead her to her household, where she would prepare the tea.

Nao should never have let Bert inside her house. She tasted her first experience in sex. She never knew something could feel so wrong, cheating on your boyfriend, yet feel so good. The taboo, the knowledge of doing something morally corrupt, made her feel exhilarated. Instead of dipping her foot in the pool of ecstasy, she cannon-balled into the deep end and had no intention of coming out of it. After that day she started to look at Hiroki as less than a man, she saw Hiroki as a puppy she had to take care of, and in taking care of him she would fuck his bully to keep him safe, is what she thought at first. After the first week, it just became more about experiencing pleasure than preventing Hiroki from getting beaten up by Bert. Hell, she was the one who suggested Bert go after Kaede with the help of Kanoko. Her mind had been so corrupted and clouded by sex that she thought she was doing the right thing, getting the women around Hiroki that they knew he couldn’t protect, and ensuring Hiroki wouldn’t need to sacrifice himself to protect them. Bert would protect them while Hiroki can be weak, useless, and not feel bad about it. She thought she was helping, she thought she was being a good girlfriend, she thought that until the day Hiroki had passed away. Hiroki had died saving Bert’s little brother, someone Bert couldn’t protect because he was too busy fuck her and Hiroki’s family that Hiroki had to be the man of the situation and sacrifice himself. While Bert can pleasure women like no other, what else did he provide that can be considered a man? Was Nao wrong all this time? Was Bert the weak one, using pleasure as a replacement for sacrifice? These were the questions rolling around in her mind as she looked up at the ceiling in bed, the same bed that started this chain reaction of betrayal, hurt, and loss.

After Monday, Nao’s school week became somewhat uneventful. When Bert was arrested, it became the talk of the school, and Nao was questioned repeatedly about it. None of the questions were about Bert and Nao having intimate relationships, as no one in the school besides Kanoko or Ayumu knew, it was more so about how Hiroki seemed to be more of a man than Bert was even if Hiroki got his ass kicked by Bert. Nao simply nodded along and agreed, but something within her eyes made the students not believe her. None of her peers questioned her about it, still thinking she may be going through emotional withdrawal over the passing of Hiroki. During lunch, it felt like a million eyes were on her in the cafeteria. Hating the feeling, Nao made her way to the school’s rooftop to have lunch where no one could see her. As she sat down on the rooftop, it was quiet and peaceful, no eyes to stare at her, no eyes to show her worry, no eyes to give her pity that she knew she didn’t deserve. While eating, she looked at the edge of the rooftop. Something about it called her to it. She got up and walked her way, and peered over the edge. As she looked down, she saw Hiroki standing there looking up at her. At first, she was shocked. Hiroki was alive? There was no way., She rubbed her eyes, thinking she was simply tired, and looked back again. Hiroki was gone. Nao simply concluded it was her mind playing tricks on her, either trying to make her feel guilty or sad, yet all she knew the fall from the edge looked very appealing. The void was screaming at her to jump, to do it, for the void within her felt she deserved to be dead, to have the same fate as Hiroki, as it was she who made it impossible for him to stay home that day. 

Fast forward to Saturday morning, and Nao woke up from her sleep to a phone call. “Who the fuck is calling me on a Saturday?” Nao said angrily in a groggy voice. She looked at the color ID and saw it to be Hiroki’s mother, Kaede. She had saved her as ‘Pet #03’ in honor of order she, ‘Pet #01’, Kanoko, ‘Pet #02’, Kaede, ‘Pet #03’, and Ayumu, ‘Pet #04’, were taken by her mast-, Bert. Nao begins to wonder, will this finally be the moment Kaede snapped at her for essentially killing her son? Nao at first wanted to decline, yet the void within her told her to answer it, for the void said if it was that she deserved it. Nao accepted the call, and on the other side it was Kaede in a very neutral tone, “Hey, ojyo-san, it’s Kaede, I was wondering if you wanted to come to Hiroki’s funeral, you and your family. Thinking, I should offer because you were close to my son before the whole…” Nao was frozen for a moment. Kaede wanted her at her son’s funeral? She was the one who started all this! If Nao never slept with Bert, hell, if Nao went to the police right after their first encounter in her home, they wouldn’t be here! Kaede's voice came back on the line, "O-ojyo-san, you there?” Nao snapped out of her thought process to answer Kaede, “Huh, oh yeah, yeah, I uh…I can come.” Nao said, feeling somewhat worse after agreeing to go. “Good, well, the burial will be held at the community cemetery at around 2:00 PM. Make sure to wear black, see you then.” With that, Kaede hung up, and Nao lay back down on her bed and looked up at the ceiling, with the void within her telling her she should join Hiroki in eternal slumber.

After the first school day without Hiroki, Ayumu walked back home with her head down. She was thinking over her entire life, how she met Hiroki, how Hiroki helped her become the fighter she is, how she fell in love with the boy-how she betrayed him. Ayumu was so lost in thought, going through each memory over and over again, that she didn't see the two boys who began to follow her. Ayumu turned a corner, and once she did, the two stalkers grabbed her and dragged her into an alley. Ayumu was so lost in thought that she had no chance to counter or fight back. “Hehe looks like we got us a good one,” one of the stalkers said. “Yeah, man it's been forever since I got my dick wet, and to do it with such a young girl,” the other said. Stalker 1 had his mouth over Ayumu's mouth, so she had no hope of screaming or calling for help. Stalker 1 reached under her skirt and caressed her thigh, brushing his hand against her panties. Tears started to roll down her face, she wanted to cry for help, scream, shout, but she couldn’t do anything. Then she remembered a moment where Hiroki had his hand over her mouth in a friendly tussle they used to have growing up. She bit Hiroki's hand for him to lose his grip and got the upper hand in that fight. Ayumu decided to bite Stalker 1's hand, “Ow! You little bitch!” It was enough of a second for Ayumu to kick Stalker 1 in the cock, another thing she did to Hiroki once in a friendly tussle, and broke free from his grip.

She sprinted down the alleyway, looking for an escape, yet she came to a dead end, and she heard her attackers running after her. “Little girl, don't worry! We won't hurt you,” Stalker 2 had shouted at her. “Yeah, come on, we know you wanted this, that's why you walked home alone at this time of night.” Ayumu then remembered she used to walk back home with Hiroki, which is why no one ever attacked her, because Hiroki would be there to protect her. Scared, cornered, and afraid, she called out for help from one person she could count on, “HIROKI!” Ayumu waited for Hiroki to show up, but nothing happened, for Hiroki was dead, and she contributed to it. Ayumu fell to her knees and started to cry, holding herself, either to keep herself together or imagine if Hiroki was holding her. “Aww, don't cry, it's not as enjoyable if the girl cries,” Stalker 1 said; then Ayumu and the two stalkers heard something, “Hey! Leave that girl alone!” It was the neighbor who had overheard the struggle. As soon as the stalkers looked behind them to address the newcomer, a cop car pulled up. “Shit! Scram!” Stalker 1 shouted at Stalker 2, but both tripped on themselves and ate shit. Thankfully, a cop was able to apprehend the stalkers, and Ayumu was questioned by the police and made sure she was okay before she was let go. Once Ayumu got home, she went straight to the shower, trying to wash away the handprints the stalkers put on her. She scrubbed so hard she began to draw blood, yet she didn't stop until her mother knocked on the bedroom door, asking if she was okay. Ayumu got out of the shower and headed straight to bed without eating anything, because she felt she deserved it after what she did to Hiroki.

Tuesday came by and the same old same old occurred, class, break, class, lunch, class. When it came around to go to the judo club, she didn't arrive twenty minutes earlier as usual, for she felt no one was there to even greet her. Once it finally came to when the club started, she entered the club and overheard some boys talking about Hiroki, “Yeah, man, it sucks Hiroki is gone, but I can finally try my shot with Nao,” one of the boys had said. “Yeah, like don't get me wrong Hiroki was a cool guy, but ever since he lost against Bert he became a back baby bitch.” Another guy laughed and said, “Hey, maybe since Hiroki had lost so badly, he killed himself or was suicidal and was the reason why he entered that fire!” The three boys laughed; however, the ‘leader’ of the trio, the third speaker, laughed the hardest. Ayumu was so angry at them, she asked her sensei if she could have a one-on-one spar with them. Her sensei agreed, and Ayumu with the ‘leader’ of the group stood across each other on that matt, but Ayumu didn't see the boy, she saw the stalkers standing right there where the boy stood, and the brief second before the fight started, she sat Bert standing there with his cocky grin.

Ayumu sat up in a startle on the school's infirmary bed. She tried to get her bearings straight when looking around the room, and she experienced a sharp headache. She didn't know how she got here or why, but she knew something horrible must've happened at the club. Finally, her sensei came into the room, “Sensei, what happ-” Ayumu began to say before seeing the principal walk into the room. Ayumu looked at the principal, and then went back to her sensei, “Uhh, sensei…what's going on?” The sensei gave her a look that she was…afraid? Why is the sensei afraid of me? Why does the principal look mad? What the hell is happening? “Miss Sumin, you are suspended for the remainder of the week due to harming another student. After being told to stop by your sensei in your spar, you continue to thrash Mister Ito. He has been taken to the hospital for his injuries. After your suspension, we may look into expelling you entirely. This will come as no surprise, but you have also been kicked out of the judo club and banned from the club room. Do I make myself clear?” The principal had just barraged Ayumu with disciplinary actions, his tone becoming more and more strict and authoritative as he continued. Ayumu sat there in the bed, kicked out, banned, suspended, expelled. Ayumu became catatonic after that she had to be shaken by her parents, who came to pick her up. Her parents had a look of worry, fearing something like this would have happened with the death of Hiroki, thinking it had made her snap.

When they arrived home, Ayumu went to shower and change; she stank from the beating she had given out. As she undressed and headed into the shower, she looked down at her arm and saw scratch marks. She figured they came by from the kid she hurt, but Ayumu felt she deserved to be hurt as well for the pain she caused. The pain she caused Ito, the pain she caused to her sensei, the pain she caused to the principal, the pain she caused to her parents, the pain she caused to…Hiroki. After finishing her shower, she reached to grab her shaving kit, and she took out a razor. She walked back into her room, sat on the bed, and looked back to her arm. Then, with hesitation, she took the razor and started to cut small nicks in her arm. At first, she was scared, so fucking scared, she couldn’t believe she was doing this. Then she saw the blood that was spilling out, and she understood why she was doing it; she deserved to be punished. Each time she did it, she saw Hiroki, standing at his doorway, when he saw his loved ones betraying him. Each slice was an offering to whom she didn’t know, but to her, it felt right. Blood began to stain the carpet floor beneath her. She hissed in pain as with any movement of her arms against the air, her wounds would become sensitive to it. She didn’t care about the pain she was feeling; she never felt as numb as she did during that movement. First Hiroki dying, then almost becoming a rape victim, and now getting kicked out of the judo club? No matter what hardships she had suffered, though, it never came close to what Hiroki had experienced. Ayumu knows no amount of pain she inflicted on herself could equal the same amount of pain she inflicted on Hiroki.

Saturday morning came, and Ayumu woke up to her phone ringing. She reached for her phone, wondering who could be calling so early. She saw the ID and had to do a double-take; it was Hiroki's mom. Ayumu was puzzled by this, was she finally going to berate her for betraying her son, was she going to get revenge for her son and come get her, no matter the case she knew she deserved to get hurt; looking at her arm she saw the freshly healed cuts she gave to herself last night, along the other cuts she gave herself that week nightly. She accepted the call, “H-hello? O-okaasan?” Ayumu said with bated breath, wondering when the punishment would begin. “Morning ojyo-san, I was wondering if you wanted to come to Hiroki's funeral today? You were his childhood friend, so I was wondering if you wanted one last goodbye…” Kaede finished her statement with a hollow tone, with both parties knowing what heinous actions they had committed against said boy. At the mention of Hiroki, Ayumu threw all rationale out the window, “O-of course I w-will like to come! Where will I be h-held at?” Ayumu said frantically, basically tripping over her own words. “O-oh! Well, the funeral will be held at the local cemetery at 2:00 pm. Make sure to wear black.” Kaede was surprised by the quick response Ayumu gave. After that, they told each other goodbye, Ayumu flopped back onto her bed, and looked at her bedside table. On it was a photo of her and Hiroki, and next to it was the razor blade she had been using. She was tempted to use it again, but something in her told her that Hiroki wouldn't want to see that. With that, she got up and began to look for a black outfit, one with long sleeves.

2:00 PM came around, and at the local cemetery, the Mori's, the Honzawa's, the Sumin's, and even Bert's mother and little brother, all stood around a casket that carried Hiroki Mori's body. As the preacher continued his sermon, Harlan was crying, the Honzawas were weeping, and the Sumins stifled back tears, while Kaede, Kanoko, Nao, and Ayumu showed no emotions. Talia stared at the four girls, her facial expression showing no emotion, but her eyes carrying the devil within them made the four girls feel as if they were being hunted. When the casket was getting lowered, everyone threw in yellow gladioli, for they represent strength, strong morals, with the yellow as a connection for Hiroki's hair. When the casket was finally lowered to the bottom, the gravediggers began to fill in the grave. The families began to say their farewells. First came Kaede’s sister with her daughter, offering their condolences, shedding tears. Next family was Talia, “I'm surprised to even see you here. Wondered if you had already found a new boy toy since my idiotic son is heading back to the States tomorrow. I hope you're happy with your decision.” Talia said in a neutral tone, yet with her eyes, Kaede felt she was facing God themselves and being judged by them. Talia turned around quickly, picked up Harlan, and walked to their car. The Honzawas and Sumins approached Kaede together, “I’m so sorry for your loss, Mrs. Mori. I always wanted my daughter to marry the boy; he was so good to her. I would've been honored to be his mother-in-law,” Mrs. Honzawa said, holding back tears. Mrs. Sumin took over the conversation, allowing Mrs. Honzawa to catch a breather from the emotional weight, “I would like to say I'm sorry as well, my daughter Ayumu talked about your son so brightly all the time, to the point I thought she was dating him. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out that way, but he was always a kind young boy when I interacted with him.” Mrs. Honzawa rejoined the conversation to ask a question, “Is it okay if Nao spends the afternoon with you? She was close to your son, would that be okay?” Mrs. Sumin then jumped in, “Can that be extended to my daughter as well? They were club friends, and she joined martial arts because of him. She's been going through a real rough patch right now, would that be okay?” Kaede was caught by surprise by all this, but her mouth was quicker than her mind for her to think about the implications, “S-s-sure, yes, they can come over.” With that, Kaede, Kanoko, Nao, and Ayumu got into Kaede's car to drive back to the Mori household.

Once inside, the weight of dread washed over them. For Kanoko and Kaed, they have gotten used to it, but now with the presence of Nao and Ayumu, it felt like the house was suffocating them. They gathered in the living room, Kanoko, Nao, and Ayumu sat on the couch while Kaede went into the kitchen to get some water. The three girls on the couch suddenly looked at a photo album on the table, and they saw baby Hiroki, with a big smile, looking at the camera. Who would've known that this same boy, this same baby, would grow up to see his loved ones betray him, hurt him, discard him over some dick. This, though, was broken when Kaede finally came back to the living room, and the girls, relieved to no longer sit with their thoughts, accepted the water. They sat there for about 30 minutes, not saying a word, not saying anything, for each of them knew what the other was thinking, “ How did we get here? ”. Kaede sat there in the armchair, looking down at her feet, holding the glass of water, and in one motion, Kaede chugged the remaining bit of water.

After finishing her glass of water, Kaede stood up from the armchair and went into her room and Hiroki's room. The girls were puzzled by this. What the hell was Kaede doing? She then came down with candles, a big picture frame with Hiroki in it, and some essence. The girls then understood what was going on, all three of them stood up and went to Hiroki's room to gather some items that were close to him, and that he valued. They came downstairs and started to set up the shrine. Kaede brought from Hiroki's room his favorite stuffed animal that was given to him as a child. Hiroki kept it all these years, even lied to his mother about him not having it anymore. Kanoko brought a baseball cap, the same cap he would always wear when they played together outside during the summer. Nao brought a childhood friendship bracelet he had kept in his desk drawer, a bracelet she had gifted him after their first year of being friends. Ayumu brought Hiroki's judo belt, for it was Hiroki who got her into judo and made her believe she was strong.

After setting up Hiroki's shrine, they all took out the photo that Hiroki had in his wallet when he passed away. Each picture contains the most important women in his life, and the same women who betrayed him. Kaede holding a baby Hiroki, Kanoko and Hiroki with their late father at a baseball game, Nao and Hiroki's first date as an official couple, and Ayumu’s first tournament standing on the podium with Hiroki. Each girl knelt in front of the shrine, looking at Hiroki's pictures. Hiroki, eyes filled with joy and happiness, his smile holding the same brightness as the sun, nothing but positive energy. Kaede had deliberately set up Hiroki's shrine right next to his father's shrine, the shrine she had repaired. They were on their knees for ten minutes in silence, looking at Hiroki's photos, millions of thoughts going through their heads, not sure what to say or what to do.

Then the first tear dropped.

Nao had not cried all week, had not cried the day she heard Hiroki passed away, had not cried even when she felt alone at school, when she began to start her suicidal ideation, nothing. At first, Nao's cry was a whimper, something soft, yet after each passing second, it turned into a sob, and then it turned into a full-on bawl. Tears stained her black dress, unable to let go of the hem. Her knuckles began to turn white as more and more tears began to drop.

Ayumu was not far behind; she easily broke, skipping the whimpering and sobbing stage to full-on ugly crying. Either it was from all the self-inflicted pain, or all the stress and pain that piled up on her since Hiroki's passing. From the two stalkers to her being suspended and kicked out of the judo club, all she did was cry out her pain, but it couldn't go away. She wished for Hiroki to come back and save her from this pain.

Kanoko tried to put up a fight, tried to stay strong for her brother's sake, yet each time a memory with Hiroki played back in her head, all it did was add more and more to her cries. She saw so much of his father in Hiroki, someone who was a bit arrogant, someone who tried to do good by the right people, someone who cared for their family. Yet, her immaturity got the better of her, and all she did was weep for her little brother. 

Lastly, Kaede finally broke down, as she was the loudest to cry among the four. Nothing came to her mind; it was as if the pain of the last couple of days finally broke through the dam, and she was feeling it all at once. It became hard to distinguish which thoughts were rolling in her mind; all she knew at the epicenter was Hiroki, her son, her baby boy, the spitting image of her late husband, the brightest candle in her household, the son she lost because she was too selfish.

“ Hiroki-kun, I'm sorry for being a horrible girlfriend. I'm nothing but a slut, a whore, a bitch. You should never have fallen for someone like me. I never deserved you, and you didn't deserve what happened to you. Please, just once, I want to see you again. I want to see your smile, hear your laugh, be in your presence one last time, then I'll be out of your life. Just one more time, please. I'll give up my life to see you, I'll take your place in the afterlife, I’LL KILL MYSELF IF IT MEANS I CAN SEE YOU ONE MORE TIME! ”

“ I miss you, Hiroki-nii, I miss you so much! I'm so sorry, senpai, I would do anything to have you back! I will cut my flesh, sell my organs, cut off my tongue, anything…ANYTHING TO HAVE YOU BACK. I MISS YOU SO MUCH, I'M SO SORRY, PLEASE SAVE ME! I'M SO LOST WITHOUT YOU, I'M NOT STRONG, I'M NOT AWESOME, I’M JUST A DUMB LITTLE GIRL THAT NEEDS HER SENPAI TO SAVE HER. PLEASE, SAVE ME HIROKI-NII! ”

“ Hiro-kun, I'm so sorry for being a horrible older sister. I’m sorry for being weak, for not protecting you, for letting that man ruin your life. I got raped and didn't even bother to ask for help, go to the police, nothing. I was weak and foolish to believe that piece of shit. I'm so sorry! Please, Hiro-kun, I love you! I want my little brother back! I don't care if you ignore me for the rest of your life, just knowing you're alive and safe is what matters to me! PLEASE, HIRO-KUN, COME BACK, PLEASE! ”

“ My son…my sweet baby boy…my sunshine…I’m sorry for being a terrible mother. I not only failed you, but I failed your father as well. I became a whore and a slut just for some dick. I am a failure of a woman; I broke my promise not only to you, Hiroki, but to your father as well. God, I deserved to be punished for this; my life is in shambles. Please come back, son, let me make you your favorite meal one last time, let me tuck you into bed, JUST LET ME SEE MY BABY ONE MORE TIME, THEN YOU CAN TAKE MY LIFE. TAKE ME INSTEAD, I RUINED MY LIFE, TAKE MINE INSTEAD, LET MY SON LIVE HIS! ”

“ I WANT TO SEE HIROKI ONE LAST TIME! ”

Then it went black.

Chapter Text

Kanoko slowly started to open her eyes. All she saw was darkness. She had no idea where she was. One moment, all four of them were kneeling in front of Hiroki’s shrine, crying their eyes out; she was praying to see Hiroki one more time. Now here she is, in an empty void, it reminded her of her nightmare she had, but instead of a white void, it was a black void. Then the lights turned on, blinding her for the moment, and in front of her eyes she saw a big screen, one that looked like it was meant to show movies. She propped herself with her arms, turned around, and saw a row of seats, containing four chairs. She looked past them and saw what looked like a kitchen and four separate doors that led somewhere. The walls were black and had what seemed to be movie theater lighting. It took a while for Kanoko, but she now understood she was in a theater room. Kanoko is now really confused because her family did not have the space or money to construct one, and she didn’t know a person in her life to had one. She took in the surroundings where she lay, on her right side lay Nao and Ayumu, Hiroki’s childhood friend and girlfriend, and on her left side lay Kaede, her mother. She turned over to get on her knees and crawled on her knees. Once she got to her mother, she grabbed her by her shoulder and started to shake her, “Mom! Mom! Wake up! Where are we? I don’t know what’s going on!” Kanoko was terrified. First, her brother died, and now she has been teleported into a different room! 

“Hiroki, I’m sorry…” Kaede mumbled in her sleep, presumably having a nightmare. Kanoko couldn’t wait any longer and slapped her awake. “Wake up!” Kanoko was sure she didn’t slap her mom too hard, but with how the theater was constructed, the smack reverberated off the wall. “OWW! What the hell! Who slapped…Kanoko?” Kaede saw the state Kanoko was i,n and honestly, she looked horrible; her black dress was stained with what seemed to be blood, her lip had a cut, and her tooth looked like it was stained with blood. “Kanoko, darling, who did this to y-” Kaede started but soon cut herself off, for she now started to look at her surroundings. A theater room? What the hell? Did they get kidnapped? Were they going to be sex trafficked? With how she treated her son, she felt as if karma finally caught up with her, and she didn’t put up any fight. “Wh-where are we?” Kaede looked at her daughter, fear and confusion within her eyes and tone of voice. “I-I don’t know, Mom, I woke up and saw that we’re in some theater room…” Kanoko responded, “Before we came, we were praying in front of Hiroki’s shrine, and now we're here…I don’t know what’s going on…” Kanoko finished her statement, her understanding and confidence shrinking as she was speaking. Both she and her mother sat there on the floor, lost in thought as to where they were, and finally coming to terms with them losing Hiroki, and it being their fault. Then, out of the blue, they heard a moan, “Hiroki…”, and snapped their heads back to the other side of the room to see who had said that.

Ayumu was in a peaceful bliss; she was on the beach, toes in her sand, and just sunbathing. She had her sunglasses on with a book in her hand, reading. She put her book down and looked into the ocean, and saw Hiroki, her husband, playing rough house with their children. Her son, named Haruto, aged 7, had his father’s hairstyle, but with his mother’s hair color. He had red eyes like his mother, making him seem scary, but he had his father’s smile, one that would fill anyone with comfort. Haruto looked like he was burying his father in sand with the help of his sister, Ayumi, age 4. A girl with Ayumu’s hair but with a dirty blonde hair color, and beautiful blue eyes like her father. When Hiroki told Ayumu that he wanted to name their son Haruto because he was, and I quote, “I look like Naruto, we’ll just change the N to H in honor of me!” Ayumu had rolled her eyes a thousand times at his suggestion, but the joy his smile contained when he stated that made it worth it to name their son Haruto. The choice for the name Ayumi was quite a funny one, forever people have confused Ayumi’s name as ‘Ayumi’ instead of ‘Ayumu’, so she decided to name her daughter Ayumi to honor herself, but even honor her grandmother who had the same name ‘Ayumi’. This got Ayumu to think back to when she and Hiroki started to date. The way their relationship started wasn’t the best; it started when Hiroki found out Nao had cheated on him with the foreign student, Bert. This caused Hiroki to become sad, but he still put up a strong face to make sure his loved ones didn’t worry about it.

Then his sister, Kanoko, got raped by the same man. This caused Hiroki to fall into a deep depression, for not only did he lose his gilfriend, the person he trusted more than anyone else, but his tormentor also raped his older sister. Kanoko went to the police to report Bert, and Bert was arrested and sent back to the States. Hiroki sat next to Kanoko and held her hand as she cried and cried and cried inside her room, the trauma and PTSD from it affecting her everyday life. Hiroki felt useless and weak, for he couldn’t protect his older sister, a promise he had made to his dad, which he had failed to fulfill. Hiroki wouldn’t leave his room for what seemed like forever, so as a last resort, Hiroki’s mother, Kaede, called Ayumu to see if she could cheer Hiroki up. Ayumu had been tracking the story. At first, she was sad that Hiroki was heartbroken, angry at Nao for betraying Hiroki, but deep within her, she was happy, for she now had a chance to be with Hiroki. She’ll never outright say it, but the thought that now she has a legit chance at Hiroki’s heart filled her with joy. Ayumu also took note that her body has been developing into a beautiful young woman, for she feared that Hiroki would not see her as one because of her tomboy appearance. Now, though, she would catch Hiroki becoming flustered when she went to hug him, purposely putting his arm between her breasts. From there, it started small. Ayumu was more of a friend with a shoulder to cry on for Hiroki, but as they grew older and older, Ayumu helped Hiroki understand it wasn’t his fault for what happened; sometimes, evil people will do evil things for no reason. She also reminded him that Bert was a whole ass half decade older than him, and Hiroki still hasn’t reached his physical peak at all. Since that day Ayumu came to comfort Hiroki, what started as a friendship turned into a beautiful marriage. Whatever happened to Nao? Who cares, Ayumu got Hiroki, and that’s all she cared about.

Snapping out of her mini flashback, Ayumu looked back to see Hiroki somehow breaking out of the sand burial, and started to playfully chase after Haruto and Ayumi. She looked on at her family, and she felt like the luckiest girl in the world. For not only does Hiroki look like a fusion of Ryan Reynolds and Chris Hemsworth, but he also has his charm of being protective and caring for others. Ayumu thought back to their first time together, which was sometime during their senior year of high school. Hiroki, by then, had already somewhat grown into his adult body, standing at 5'10”, Hiroki still wasn’t that tall, but it never dissuaded him from becoming an MMA fighter. He had well-toned abs and biceps; his body screamed lean but defined. Ayumu would catch glimpses of him shirtless whenever they went to the beach together for a date or during his MMA fights, and by God, she would lose sleep that night over the amount of shlicking she did. Ayumu also knew her body wasn’t anything to scoff at either. While her breasts never grew into the size to rival his ex-girlfriend Nao's, Ayumu’s hips, rather, were her calling card. She became every ass man’s wet dream, having child bearing hips that were meant for breeding. She knew that growing up Hiroki became more of an ass man and less of a tits man, and she knew it was because of her body growing into what it became. She would purposely sway her hips whenever she would leave Hiroki in the hallway or on her way back home, and she would always turn around and catch him drooling at the mouth a bit. Now here she was, standing in Hiroki’s room in nothing but her panties and bra, and standing across from her was Hiroki in his boxers. They stood there, shy as hell, for they had no idea what to do, or how to do it, but they both knew they were ready for it. Hiroki reached for Ayumu and pulled her into a hug, and started to gently kiss her neck, causing Ayumu to moan, “Hiroki…”. Hiroki pulled his head back to look at Ayumu, and with the warmest eyes, told Ayumu, “Wake up.” Ayumu was confused until Hiroki started to repeat it over and over again, “Wake up. Wake up. Wake up,” and suddenly Ayumu was shielding her eyes from the theater’s lights.

Ayumu battered her eyes open, trying to fix her vision, pulling her arm away, she propped herself up, and finally took in the surroundings. Kneeled next to her left was Kanoko, and standing behind her was Kaede. They both looked exhausted, but worried, whether that be from crying in front of Hiroki’s shrine, or not understanding where they were, she didn’t know. “Um…hi Mori-chan…and O-okaasan, what happened?” Ayumu was puzzled, where the fuck were they? “Hey Ayumu-san…you okay? What were you dreaming about anyway? You kept moaning Hiroki’s name.” Kanoko questioned Ayumu, her first one being one of concern, and the second one being one of jealousy. Even Kanoko herself was confused about why she asked that question in the first place. Ayumu rubbed her eyes to wake herself up more and be less groggy to address Kanoko, “Yes Mori-chan, I’m okay, and what I was dreaming about was…” and then Ayumu became red in the face, and lay back down due to both her hands shooting to cover her blush. Kanoko had a confused look, wondering what in the world the girl could have been dreaming about to moan Hiroki’s name. While this was occurring, Kaede walked around the theater room, taking into account the kitchen. She walked to the refrigerator to see what was inside, and it was…empty? Weird, however, she put that thought to the side as she heard a scream, and what seemed to be a fight breaking out. “YOU LITTLE BITCH. THIS IS YOUR FAULT. YOU’RE THE REASON THIS HAPPENED. I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU TO AVENGE HIRO-KUN. FUCKING MONSTER!” Kaede heard her daughter scream, and she ran over to where the commotion was to see what was going on. Once she saw the brawl, she fully understood why. Kanoko was straddling Nao’s lap, she had her hands wrapped around Nao’s neck, and Nao’s face was full of fear, grasping for breath as she reached to grab Kanoko's arm to make her ungrasp her neck. However, Kanoko was much stronger, and Nao’s attempts were useless. Nao’s vision was starting to go darker and darker, tears started to roll down her face, whether it was hers or Kanoko’s, she didn’t know, but she didn’t care. Nao accepted her fate and dropped her arms to her side, “ I deserve this… ” Nao was ready for death; hell, she had wished for it when she prayed in front of Hiroki’s shrine.

Before Nao accepted her death, a loud and booming voice echoed inside the room, “CAN YOU BITCHES NOT BE SO DAMN ANNOYING FOR LIKE FIVE MINUTES JESUS CHRIST. IT’S ONLY BEEN 5 MINUTES SINCE YOU'VE BEEN HERE AND TWO OF YOU ARE ALREADY FIGHTING, ONE HAD A WET DREAM, AND ONE TRIED TO FIND SOME ALCOHOL.” All the girls jumped from where they were. Kanoko let go of Nao’s neck, and Nao started to breathe heavily and fast, coughing a bit as she tried to get oxygen into her system. “WHO THE FUCK WAS THAT?” Kanoko had shouted, standing up, looking around to see where that voice was coming from. “It was me dumbfuck,” the voice replied. “And who exactly is ‘me’, dumbass,” Kanoko retorted, already pissed at the booming voice. “I’m…hmm, good question, for I do not know who I truly am. I’m simply someone who is helping convey a story to you all for other people's enjoyment by looking at your suffering and self-pity.” Kaede then addressed the voice, “Umm…excuse me, sir…is there some way we can address you?” Kaede had asked, voice full of fear and worrisome for they had no idea how strong this voice was. “Hmm…well, you can call me Misunderstood Desperado, it’s my Wu-Tang name, but that’s too long of a name and I don’t feel like typing it frequently, so just call me Oso.” The girls looked puzzled. “What does Oso mean?” Ayumu asked. “Oso means bear, but in Spanish, and I just became synonymous with it due to personal reasons.” The girls then had to do a retake, how the fuck were they understanding English, the voice, or Oso, wasn’t speaking Japanese at all. “Excuse me, Oso, how are you communicating with us? We don’t speak English, and yet we perfectly understand you. Do you have an explanation?” Kaede asked, more confused now than fearful. “Oh, that’s easy, I don’t speak Japanese, and most of the readers don’t as well, so I gave the ability for all of you to speak English fluently :)” Oso said. “How the hell did he communicate a smiley face by speaking?” the girls thought, even more confused with what was occurring.

The last person to speak in the room finally got her bearings straight and collected herself, “Oso, um…what are we doing here?” Nao asked. “Oh, I’m here to show you an alternate universe of the person you all betrayed for some mediocre dick. Like let me just get real here, you all simply put down the one man in your life who didn’t look at any of you like a cut of meat, like someone to simply fuck, but sacrificed their body to protect you from any harm? Like holy fuck you four are the biggest bitches known to man. Honestly I don’t even know why I’m doing this I should send you all to hell to be tortured or make it to where you guys are sex trafficked OR BECOME A RICH PERSON’S SEX SLAVE SINCE YOU FOUR LIKE DICK THAT FUCKING MUCH.” The walls of the theater began to shake as Oso’s voice became angrier and angrier. “Ughh…well it doesn’t matter, because I’m someone that has a sick fascination about Hiroki’s story and like seeing him overcome his hardships, something YOU FOUR gave him. Plus, I like seeing you four see his hardships and become more upset about betraying Hiroki once you understand his potential and get mad at yourselves for underestimating him. So I’m here to show you guys an alternate universe of Hiroki, let’s say like a ‘multi-verse’.” Ayumu did not seem cheerful. “So Hiroki is alive,” she questioned, voice full of hope and glee. “Oh no, your guy’s Hiroki is fucking dead. Good job dumbasses, maybe instead of fucking Bert that day Hiroki wouldn’t have to be the hero for Bert’s family.” The girls then lost all hope as they now fully accepted Hiroki was dead, and it was their fault for doing so.

Oso continued his monologue, “Actually there is a universe where you four never fell to Bert’s ‘temptation’ or whatever the fuck he had, and Hiroki is still alive. Hell, in the same universe, Nao and Hiroki got married, and Ayumu joined them as a throuple because polygamy was then recognized as a lawful marriage. Kanoko went on to become a CEO, and Kaede became a grandmother of four beautiful children, with Nao having two children and Ayumu having two. You all FUCKED up.” This caused the girls to become even more depressed, as life sounded wonderful. Hiroki was alive, Bert was out of the picture, Nao would still be with Hiroki, and Ayumu would get to be with Hiroki. Kanoko becomes the CEO? She didn’t believe due to her delinquent habits in high school, but knowing she was able to achieve something of higher stature made her happy, but sad that she threw away that future. Kaede had the worst reaction; she would’ve been a grandma. She would’ve still had her son, she would’ve been able to spoil her grandchildren and relive raising Hiroki and Kanoko, relive what being a mother felt like again. Kaede then snapped out of it, asking about something Oso had said earlier, “Wait, you said something about a ‘multi-verse’, are there anymore like…ours?” Kaede asked with a hint of shame and worry, hoping other versions of Hiroki didn’t have to go through what their Hiroki did. “Hmm? Oh yeah, honestly, you guys aren’t the original universe. The original one is much, much, MUCH worse. Your Hiroki had a better outcome than the original one, so there’s that…” Oso said, voice carrying a hint of sadness at the end. The girls then felt worse, their Hiroki had a better ending than the original? Jesus fucking Christ how horrible must the original universe be then? Kanoko then asked a question, “So what universe, or what Hiroki will we be watching?” Oso perked up at this, voice full of excitement, “I’m going to show you Hiroki that came from the streets, the gutters, the lowest of lows. He will transform himself through many hardships, ups and downs, and come out the opposite end as a legend in his city.” 

The girls were not intrigued by this, “What kind of universe is this one,” Nao asked, finally fully recovered from her ass whooping given to her by Kanoko. “Well…that’s a surprise! :)” All the girls' sweat dropped at this, from not being told what the universe will entail, and how Oso simply conveyed a smile yet again through speaking. “ Again with the smiley face…how! ” Ayumu then raised her hand, out of habit, and asked a question, “So…can you tell us about the other universes of Hiroki?” “Hmm…well, I don’t want to give too much because I don’t know whether I’ll show you those universes, but I probably won’t because I feel my plate is already full from showing you this one, so I can tell you a few.” The girls perked up at this, for they were able to get some knowledge about Hiroki, even if it wasn't there. Oso then began to list out his few favorite ones, “I think my second favorite universe is one where he’s an angry mailman and was shot in the head by Chandler Bing from ‘Friends’ and died. Then some robot dug him out of his grave and a doctor took the lead pieces of his brain, and just gave Hiroki a whole bunch of shit. Now he’s looking for this thing called the ‘Platinum Chip’, looking to kill Chandler Bing, and his spurs are jingle jangle jingling right along.” The girls were so confused. What are the situations that Hiroki finds himself in? Who the fuck was Chandler Bing, why is the Platinum Chip so important, and why does he keep dying! Kaede then asked, “Umm… Oso, can you tell us a universe where my son doesn’t…die?” Kaede asked, hopefully getting to be told of a universe where Hiroki lives a good life. “Hmm…oh, I know. So this universe is Hiroki discovers your guy’s betrayal, pieces of shit still by the way want to remind you, and instead of dying he runs away and lands with the Yakuza. As he grows up in it, he becomes one of the most feared gangsters. However, one day he had a change of heart and started teaching! While his teaching methods may seem out of the ordinary, he loves his students and will die for them. Oh, and yes, he does find a love interest, and damn is she fine.” Kaede smiled at this, knowing that out there, there is a Hiroki like her own, someone who still didn’t lose their will, and still upheld their values. She then became sad, even though this universe's Kaede betrayed her son, still, at least he was still alive.

Kanoko then went to ask for another universe, “Can you tell us ano-” but she was cut off by Oso’s booming voice. “Look, sweetheart, as much as I would love to tell you about other universe’s Hiroki’s, and universes where none of you fucked up, or one of you did and the other three were there for Hiroki, with Nao always being the one to fuck up, I don’t got time for that. This chapter is already 3602 words long, it’s 2 am, and frankly, I’m tired as hell. So please, hold your questions until further notice. We’ll have minibreaks if any of you want clarification for things you’re about to see, because not only you but some readers may have questions as well.” Kanoko was pissed off at Oso, but just gave up knowing she can’t do anything to an unembodied voice, “Fine, whatever prick.” “Now, please take a seat, and yes, you will be assigned seating to hopefully stop fighting between your group. Looking at you, Kanoko and Nao.” Both girls looked away bashfully until Kanoko snapped her head back to Nao and growled at her. “Okay, dog girl, calm down. Okay, so on the far left side will be Kaede, next to her, right will be Kanoko. On Kanoko’s right will be Ayumu, and on the far right side will be Nao. Understood?” Nao then asked, “ Oso …can we change out of these dresses? I’m beginning to feel uncomfortable…” “Some readers will want to make you suffer as much as possible, but for me, no, I have assigned each of you a room on the back wall next to the kitchen. There is your exact wardrobe from back home, so you guys can go in there to change. I’ll let you guys do it right now, once changed, come out to the kitchen so I can explain how that will operate as well.” The four girls then got up and walked towards the wall containing the doors, and each door had a silhouette of each girl painted on the door, to represent which room it belonged to. As they all entered, Oso began to address the readers, “Hey shitheads, thanks for reading! I know it took a whole ass five chapters to get here but I promise it’ll be worth it. I did some rewrites of the first chapter and edits. I made it to where there was a more substantial history between Nao and Hiroki. Also, I have this posted across AO3, Wattpad, and Fanfiction.net. The reason for bringing this up is that I will only post the author’s notes on AO3. After all, it has a dedicated space for them. Now, thank you again for supporting me so far! It’s my first ever fanfiction and I hope you guys are enjoying it so far!” 

The four girls exited their room and a wide range of entries. Nao wore a white oversized hoodie that reached down to her mid-thighs. Oso wanted to ask if she was wearing anything else, yet for his mental well-being being he didn’t ask because that headache was not worth it. Ayumu wore some black dolphin shorts and a red longsleeve that made her cleavage stand out, Oso wanted to ask her why does she have such provocative clothes in the first place, but then realized they are from a doujinshi world and the author of said world is a fucking creep. Kanoko wore a purple oversized shirt and had a similar situation to Nao. At this point, Oso gave up questioning this woman's attire, looking to drown his sorrow in some Coke Zero. Finally, Kaede wore some sweats and a sweater, and Oso couldn’t thank himself enough for making that outfit. All four girls then walked towards the kitchen, acting skittish and nervous. “You all look…yeah I don’t know your world’s creator is a fucking creep. Welp, anyway, this is the kitchen. As you can see, nothing is here at all. Well, don’t worry, on the countertop is a tablet, and with it you can order groceries and stuff that will then be teleported into the fridge throughout your guy’s watching experience. Pretty neat, huh? Next you’re going to ask me, ‘Why can’t we just wish what we want to eat out of existence?’, and the reason is because A) fuck you that’s why, and B) cooking can be therapeutic, and from what you will be experiencing you’re going to need all the therapy you can get.” All the girls gave each other worried expressions. Kaede picked up the tablet and turned on the screen, and was met with a YouTube video called ‘Reading Reddit Stories’, and she scrolled down to see that the channel that was uploaded was named ‘Smosh Pit’. “What’s this?” Kaede asked Oso  The tablet within Kaede’s hand disappeared instantly, “GIVE ME THAT. DAMMIT GAVE YOU GUYS THE WRONG ONE. Here, use this one instead.” Another tablet was then on the counter, Kaede grabbed that one and was met with a list of food items, ranging from ingredients, snacks, and drinks. Unfortunately for Kaede, she saw she couldn’t order alcohol, but maybe it was a blessing in disguise that she couldn’t. After selecting a couple of items to be delivered, she put in her order and was met with the screen, ‘Will be delivered after the viewing of ACT_00_THE_PROLOGUE_’. Kaede was confused by this, but this whole situation was confusing, so she simply went along with the flow, no longer questioning anything that could happen in the theater.

Oso's voice came back to fill the room, “Okay, all set? That should cover everything…okay, each of you take your seat so we can start this reaction fanfiction already, so my readers don’t get mad at me for postponing it still.” All the girls got over the weird things Oso was saying and just decided to take their seats. As they sat in their designated chair, they couldn’t help but feel as their feelings were heightened tenfold, their sense of hearing, seeing, and touching being more potent than before. “Umm… Oso, why do I feel more…well… ‘feel’,” Nao asked. Oso laughed, a laugh that felt like it had ulterior motives, “Oh, you’ll see. For now, sit, relax, and watch the worthless boy you know become a legend in Night City."

And with that, the screen turned on.

Chapter Text

As the four girls sat in their theater chairs waiting for the screen to start playing whatever version of Hiroki they’ll be watching, Kaede chimed in, remembering something Oso said earlier when explaining other universes Hiroki’s. “Hey, so, um... I remember Oso saying how in one world Hiroki was shot in the head and left to die, and was saved by a robot... You don’t think he’ll show us a world like that,t right?” Kaede asked the four girls, with a sense of dread in her tone, fearing they wouldn’t watch a world as gruesome as what Oso had told them. Kanoko scoffed and crossed her arms, leaning back into the chair and slouching, “Beats me mom, all I know is as soon as I’m able to harm that bitch Nao it’s over for her.” Kanoko then leaned forward while maintaining to be seated to peer at Nao and growling at her. Nao was scared shitless, but composed herself to respond to Kanoko, “Hey! At least I didn’t make my mother BAIT for my little brother’s bully!” Kanoko growled and gripped her armchair, and her knuckles began to turn white. Kaede, being the eldest in the group, decided to put a stop to it. “Look, can you both calm down! Yes Nao you may have the been the first, but we all fucked up. Why can’t you guys be like Ayumu and try not to blame anyone else?” Ayumu, who was daydreaming about her dream with Hiroki and how he looked shirtless, snapped out of it at the mention of her name, “Huh, did you call me? Sorry, I was just remembering a dream I had... a good one.” At the end of that sentence, Ayumu started to bite her lip and rub her thighs together. The other three girls looked at Ayumu and each other, wondering what the fuck the dream could’ve been? Finally, as if it were divine intervention, the screen came to life, and they began to finally get a peek of a different Hiroki in a different world... 

The screen turns on to what seems to be ... trash bags littered across the ground, a car body without its doors, a porta potty laid on the ground, dead trees and bushes, concrete barriers on the side of a dirt road, and next to it a burning pile of trash. Next to the pile of trash seems to be a sign, and it’s beginning to fall off its frame, saying “WELCOME TO NIGHT CITY”, as the backdrop seems to have skyscraper buildings, office buildings, and holograms that seem to shoot up to the sky.

The scene then shifts to what seems to be multiple oiling rigs, buildings that seem to have collapsed due to wear and tear, fire spewing from the gas outlets indicating that the oil rigs are still in use, and behind all this is to be the same backdrop of the first scene but from a different angle.

The scene shifts again to the industrial aspect of the city, with large buildings that look like factories, indicated by the smoke emitted from the smokestacks. These buildings would allude to the aspect of this area being used for manufacturing, as there aren't any visible windows on them. What seems to be the craziest aspect of it all was the small glimpses of flying vehicles in the sky!

The girls are confused by this; this looked like NOTHING from their world at all. Holograms that shoot up from the sky and flying vehicles? Plus, what kind of name is ‘ Night City ’? It seemed so lazy and uninspiring. Kanoko was the first to speak, “What the fu-,” but was cut off as the video seemed to continue playing, not letting the girls get their comments and thoughts off.

The next scene came up and a hologram version of what appears to be this ‘Night City’ showed, the next scene came of a moving close-up shot of the mega buildings of the city as it goes over some building complexes. The camera is now inside the tallest area of the city, large buildings on display that seem to reach the sky, and flying cars flying around said buildings. While this was occurring, what sounded like a radio frequency being changed to then land on the proper signal allowed the radio host's voice to come through. “Good morning, Night City!” The view then went onto the street between a busy road as cars drove right past it, to then change to what seemed to be a man lying in a chair and hooked up with wires. The camera than zoomed in closer to the screen of where the wires are connected, and on the screen seems to be a man with white dress shoes, sparkly black pants and a sparkly gold shirt with a black stripe across his chest, cyan pompadour hairstyle, waving his hand to the camera as he continues his report, “Yesterday’s body-count lottery rounded out to a solid ‘n’ sturdy thirty!” The screen then changed to the news channel logo to then change to a shot of a person laying on the ground dead in a pool of their blood, behind them a van and a car were on fire, and on the concrete wall as the backdrop seems to be graffiti spelling out ‘Maelstrom’ with a skull having spider like legs and eyes. The next shot came and went as it was to be two guys pointing weapons at something towards the ground, as the shot never captured what was on the ground, and both guys letting a shot ring out. It quickly changed to a building that seems to be rundown and destroyed in the back, with a man wearing a blue jacket kicking another man on the ground, who is in the fetal position, in the stomach. The reporter continues his report, “Ten outta Heywood - thanks to unabated gang wars!” 

The next scene displayed a group of people lounging in a rundown building with graffiti plastered on the wall, and what seems to be their only light in the room coming from a flare on the ground, as they lounge around a couch, drinking and partying with a woman dancing in the middle of said room. The next scene portrayed a moving camera capturing three women dressed in very skimpy clothing jumping a man who has his hands up in self-defense in an alley. Two of them were punching and hurting the man while one stood back and flipped the guy off continuously. The camera changed into a first-person perspective view of a man who is robbing a convenience store, sticking a gun up to the patrons and cashier, and while walking up to the counter pistol pistol-whipped an innocent bystander in the face! It then changed back to a third person perspective of a black woman in a purple jacket, neon green pants, and damn chromatic cyberarms destroying a concrete pillar with just one punch! It even showed her shooting a blowtorch on her arm to signify they cannot be damaged! The scene changed to a man wearing a cowboy hat, booty jean shorts, and a tucked-in long-sleeved shirt dancing in front of a mega building. Oh, and he also had implanted cyber legs. Bystanders walked by him as if this were a normal occurrence. The report continued, “One officer down, so I guess you’re all screwed!” The shot changed to what seems to be on a balcony, and a flying vehicle came to hover and park alongside it, and stepping out was a full team of police officers wearing heavy tactical gear and weapons drawn. It then changed to a dash cam recording of a routine traffic stop, with two police officers approaching the pulled over vehicle, and the driver of said vehicle jumped out and started running... only for the police officer to shoot the fleeing man in the back. Before seeing the bullet hit the fleeing man, it changed to a screen displaying a cartoon of a wolf in a police uniform punching a white sheep as it stepped out of the vehicle. The news report continued, “‘Cause the NCPD will NOT let that go.” 

The camera then changed locations to what seems to be the outskirts of the city, in the industrial aspect of it, and then changed again to what seemed like unfinished buildings with a dam in the backdrop that had ‘PETROCHEM’ in the background. It quickly flashed a room full of screens with a bunch of code and graphs, giving a red hue, before switching to show a bald woman wearing a visor that looked like one of those screens from the shot before, wearing some type of suit, and has a cord sticking to the back of her head. Behind her seems to be a camera with visible orange rays scanning the room. The next scene showed a male wearing armor and having a cybernetic arm, and he is plugging into a panel with a cord that's connected to a handheld computer, it seems. The camera then shifts to a different event; however, it now properly shows the handheld computer in a proper view, and on the display seems to be a large amount of code that will give any normal person a headache to decipher. The report continues, “Got another blackout in Santo Domingo!” The scene changes to a room with two people being illuminated with red from the screens of the computers they are working on whatever hack is occurring, then it quickly shifts to the first person perspective of someone pulling out a cord from the back of someone’s head, and the next scene showed the entire city losing electricity as lights began to turn off instantly. The screen then showed a red pixelated hologram of a city with tall buildings, with a red pixelated bear then jumping in front of said buildings. The host continues, “Netrunners are at it again, poking holes in the power grid!”

The camera than changes to a view of what seems to be a center plaza and an interchange for many vehicles, then the next shot shows a well fashioned black man exiting his high end vehicle with it then panning out to show what seems to be the high end area of the city with palm trees planted within, sleek building designs with metallic coating, and other civilians wearing very high end clothing. It then quickly showed an asian woman in a white satin sleeveless turtleneck dress with gold lining on her arm, sporting a makeup of blush and white foundation. She is walking beside a man who seems to be security, wearing a white suit jacket with a black shirt, holding a high-tech weapon, and has a substantial amount of cyberware in his neck. The scene then changes to behind a DJ, a setup while looking over the crowd seeing people dance, and in the back seems to be a bar. Either people are dancing, chatting, or lounging at the bar, with the DJ pumping his arms in the air, trying to get the crowd excited. The next shot is a close up of two people, a male and female, wearing what seem to be glasses, with the male spasming, and it quickly changes to the first person perspective of a person within a club looking at a stripper, cheering her on, and handing her a shot glass as they have one in both hands, presumably one for the stripper and one for themselves. The next shot is one of a puddle of blood and next to it a dead body with only the feet being visible from the camera shot, and then it cuts to three body bags as the shot took place inside a crime scene. The scene then changed to a security camera recording, with a woman wearing hair buns cutting a man’s head off, who was in a white oni mask and red tank top, with a bystander behind the man looking at the scene in shock and horror. The scene changed to what seems to be a crime scene as it looks to be a medical personnel is assessing the damage of the bodies within in, and the camera than cuts as it gives a wider shot of the scene with a police car, a car that has been flipped over, and one of the flying vehicles that came in. The scene then changes to a man who has cybernetic features on his face, catching a blaze, and is spasming in pain as the computers behind him begin to spark. The report continued, “While over in Westbrook, Trauma Team’s scrapin’ cyberpsycho victims off the pavement!”

The scene then changed to what seemed like an anime, and it contained a robotic girl standing on clouds, with a TV as a head that had cat ears, and she looked disgruntled and in pain, until it started to shoot a blue beam out of her face, destroying the tall sky scrapers around her. The scene then changed to what seems to be inside an apartment room that the host is standing in, the floor is littered with garbage, the walls have graffiti, and overall looks filthy and uninhabitable. Then, a second later, the room splits in half, and the host begins to float in space, with what seems like a space station behind him. The host continued, with his arms high up as he was about to announce big news, “And in Pacifica!” The scene then changed to a man with a cybernetic arm tweaking off something, then the camera cuts to get a wider view of the scene, with the previously mentioned man sitting on top of a cargo container, and on the ground are barrels that have fires within him, multiple people seem to be tweaking, the area looks dark and littered, and the area just oozes of dirtiness. This is even supported by the host, whose tone of excitement is now one of disgust and acceptance, “Pacifica is still Pacifica... ”

After that the scene changed to a man with long hair, a pair of tinted sunglasses, and a silver cyberarm, holding a microphone with a guitar on his lap, carried by the strip around his neck, and the flare from the yellow lights behind him make it very hard to see who the man is exactly. It then cuts to an asian woman with hair buns, bringing out cybernetic yellow arms that have the logo of ‘Militech ’ between them, raising her arm to present this new technology. The host continues, “This has been your man, Stan.” The scene changes to what appears to be a Japanese market on a bridge with holograms of koi fish floating around. It then changes to another view of the hologram fishes, this time them being blue and floating towards the camera. Lastly, the scene changes to a man with spiky blonde hair, wearing a jacket that has ‘SAMURAI’ on the collar, with a logo of a mechanical face on fire that resembles an oni mask. The man is wielding a high-end weapon, and he props it onto his shoulder. At the moment, the camera cuts to get a wider view of the scene, and next to the man is a red motorcycle that resembles the motorcycles in the ‘AKIRA’ anime with decals on it. The blonde man looked out at the city, and the host finished his report with, “Join me for another day in our City of Dreams!”

The girls sat there in utter silence, not knowing what the fuck they saw, or what they fuck kind of world this Hiroki is in. The person to break the silence was unexpectedly Kaede, who shouted, “What the fuck is this!?!?!” The other girls jumped out of shock and fear, they had never heard Kaede that loud, or angry, “What world is this! Flying cars, cybernetic enhancements, and why the fuck is the host casually just announcing that thirty people died like it’s an everyday thing! Hell, he called it a lottery!” Kaede’s face was pure red; it was her turn now to shout at Oso, demanding answers for what she had just seen. “ OSO! What kind of world is my baby in? Why must his world always be some type of danger or violence?” Kaede now collapsed back in her chair, head in her hands, sobbing quietly, “Please... I can’t see my baby get hurt again... I’m so sorry, Hiroki... please forgive your mother.” The three other bystanders just looked at Kaede and were still in shock to do anything, for they as well had no idea what they had just witnessed. Ayumu was the first to speak of the three, “Well... ummm..that was... intense...” She then quickly curled up in her chair, nervous of what they might see in this world... nervous that the Hiroki they were about to see had no semblance of their Hiroki at all. Kanoko then realized something from the showing, “Wait a minute... that logo and name... I wore that shirt from Hiroki’s closet! Is this the future of our world? OSO! ANSWER ME!” Silence. Oso seems to ignore the four women. With this, Nao just sighed, “Ugh... I hate this Oso guy, why the fuck can’t he just answer our questions?” Ayumu then gave her two cents on the scenario, “So... um that guy at the end looking out to the city... he had blonde hair... could that be Hiroki?” Kanoko and Nao had glimpses of hope in their eyes maybe Oso wasn’t bullshitting about showing an alternate Hiroki and would finally show them. Kaede finally calmed down and was ready to proceed with the viewing, “Let’s just hope ou- this Hiroki isn’t caught up in too much trouble... ” Kaede carried a somber look as she said that, turning back to the TV to see what would be shown next.

The screen turns on again, but this time, instead of a news report being shown, it is a Mexican-themed bar. Walls covered in murals that resemble ‘Dia de Los Muertos’, had neon signs of different things, and were decorated with newspaper clippings. At the bar, many patrons were sitting, enjoying their drinks, trying to either drown their sorrow, celebrate by themselves, or enjoy the atmosphere. The camera then shifts towards the right side of the bar, a blonde man wearing a white, dirty tank top with the logo of a skull with braided flared out hair and the word ‘BITCH’ underneath it. Over the tank top, he wore a leather jacket vest and had a pair of goggles hanging around his neck. He wore what seemed to be puffed-out sweats with tiger print running on either side, and had kneepads installed on them. On his feet, he wore what looked like athletic shoes with the tongue being widely oversized. His arms were covered in small tattoos, one arm had a Patriotic tattoo with the abbreviation ‘NUSA’ written underneath, while on the other arm was a black handprint.  

Kanoko this time was the first to speak, “Jesus, if the fashion is like this in the future I hope I die before than because what the fuck is this style! Nothing makes sense... it looks like it’s all thrown together without any care.” Nao nodded at Kanoko’s statement, “I can’t believe I’m agreeing with the angry orange bitch, but yeah this fashion is horrendous.” Ayumu wanted to protest, “Well... I won’t say it’s all bad... It looks fun getting to wherever you want!” Kanoko and Nao looked at each other, then back at Ayumu with faces of questioning faces. Ayumu saw their faces and asked them, “Wha-what? Was it something I said?” Nao answered the martial artists, “Girl... we gotta work on your wardrobe, you cannot be this bad at fashion. I know you’re the ‘tomboy’ but honey... You also need to work on your beauty.” Kaede remained silent throughout, and no it wasn’t because she was thinking about how bad the fashion was in this world, more so it had to do with the bar setting, and the amount of alcohol on display, “ Oh I been a bad girl~ Mommy needs some juice~ ” Kaede thought.

The camera jump cut to each body part of the man without showing the man’s face, and it then seamlessly went through the back of the man’s head and became somewhat of a first-person view of the man. The man was looking at his left knuckles, as they were bruised and swollen, probably from an altercation earlier. Then, from the man’s view, the bartender slid a shot glass across the bar to the man, saying in a deep voice with a hint of a Mexican accent, “A little... anesthia.” 

“OUCH,” each girl screamed, quickly grabbing their left hand as they felt it was in pain and swollen, then quickly reaching up to their nose as they felt that too was broken. “Jesus fucking Christ why is my nose... WHY IS MY WHOLE BODY HURTING!” Kanoko screamed. She quickly tried to get out of the chair, but some unknown force was preventing her from doing so, and in trying to exit the chair, her pain felt ten times worse. “FUCK WHY IS THIS HAPPENING!” Kaede, trying to handle the pain, addressed her daughter, “Maybe... this was what Oso was mentioning when we asked him why our senses were enhanced while sitting in these chairs.” Nao added her thoughts, “Great... in a world of pain and suffering, we’ll not only witness it but also experience said feelings.” Ayumu, trying her best to manage the pain with her eyes closed, reopened them to look at the screen, and what she saw shocked her. “Guys! Look!” This got the other girls' attention, and they all turned their heads to the screen, and the pain they were feeling was quickly ignored as their attention was now fully captured.

The man then finally looked in the mirror, letting the audience now see the man’s face. Tattoos littered his face, one above his left eye saying ‘BORN TO KILL’, on the side of his left eye were dog tags, one under his right eye saying ‘NUSA’ accompanied with two tear drops, and a set of three squares above his right eyebrow. Across his neck was a diagram of a jagged line with scissors next to it, indicating ‘cut here’. He had piercings galore; his left ear he a small stud, while his right ear had a much bigger one, he had a stud under his bottom lip on the left side, his right eyebrow had a pair of studs underneath it while his left eyebrow had a pair of studs underneath and above it, and to finish it off he had a open septum bull nose ring. He had a pair of cybernetic lines going down and through his eyes, into his cheek, to then curl back towards his forehead and then turn towards his ears in an uneven line. The man had short blonde spiky hair on top with a low taper fade on the sides, he had a short but nicely patched blonde beard that matched his hair on top, and blue eyes that resembled the ocean. His face looked bruised and bloodied, his nose swollen and black.

“N-no way, is that-” Nao began to sputter, before being cut off by Kaede with her shout of, “SON!” There was Hiroki, sitting at the bar, looking like he had just gone through hell and back. They did not expect Hiroki to look like this one bit; they knew he had a punk and street vibe in their world, but seeing this alternate version of Hiroki have that and multiply it by 10, it just broke their brain. Kaede began to be incoherent and rock back and forth in her chair, ignoring the pain that shot throughout her body, “My son... my sweet baby... My boy... ” The other girls were in shock, as not only was Hiroki much older in this world, but he was so fine as well. All their womanhoods were on fire as they saw Hiroki, with Ayumu and Nao being upfront of their feelings, “God this Hiroki is sexy, I wouldn’t mind taking him back to my place~” Nao said, biting her lip, eyes filled with lust, as she played with her right breast. Ayumu wasn’t so different, as she was not so secretly rubbing her woman hood, drooling at the mouth, “Oooo this Hiroki looks all bloody and beat up, but that just adds more to his sexual appeal~” Kanoko knew to stay silent, how would the other three react to an older sister lusting for her little brother, even if it was an alternate version of him? It didn’t stop her thinking though, “ Hiro-kun... It’s unfair for you to be this sexy... God you look like a hot delinquent that will ruin my pussy and make me beg~ ” Kanoko thought while trying her best to rub her thighs to stimulate her vagina with pleasure.

The video continues, with the blonde man reaching over to grab the shot glass the bartender put there for him. He downs it in one shot, looks back over at the mirror, he reaches for his nose to set it back in place, and in one motion his vision becomes shaky, and he then turns fully now towards the bar exclaiming “Urgh, motherfucker... !”

“OUCH GOD DAMMIT,” Nao screamed. All the girls quickly grabbed their noses as the pain seemed to originate there. This helped Kaede get out of her ramblings and the other girls stop their horny thoughts. Kaede finally clicked the thoughts within her head, “Girls... I think whatever Hiroki feels is what we’re going to feel.” This got Nao in an uproar, “WHY SHOULD I FEEL WHAT HE FEELS! YOU SEE HOW CARELESS HE IS. IN ONE MINUTE, WE SEE THIS HIROKI, HE ALREADY BROKE HIS NOSE AND BRUISED HIS KNUCKLE!” Kanoko retorted back to this, “AND IF YOU DECIDED TO BE A LOYAL GIRLFRIEND WE WOULDN’T HAVE TO EXPERIENCE THIS! THIS IS KARMA FINALLY COMING BACK TO BITE US IN THE ASS AND DELIVER PUNISHMENT FOR WHAT WE DID!” While Nao and Kanoko were going at each other's throats, between them Ayumu was crying, “Fine,” she started to say, “if I have to feel what Hiroki feels to see him again... then I’ll do it... ” The other girls looked at her and each other and sighed... with Nao leaning back into her chair with her arms cross, “If I have to feel some pain to watch Hiroki then fine I’ll do it... not like he’s going to die or anything so we won’t have to feel that... ”

The camera then pans out of the first-person perspective, becoming a free-roaming camera that always seems to be centered around the blonde men. The blonde man looks at the bartender, the bartender is wearing an iced out silver Jesus piece around his neck, his right arm having gold plating with a Dia de Los Muertos tattoo on the upper arm, his left arm had a gold bracelet on it, and his left hand a beautiful gold wedding ring. He wore an alligator skin-looking vest with red leather shoulder straps, and had slicked back black hair and a black beard to go along with it, a face filled with wrinkles. The bartender said, “Everything chill, mano?” The blonde man responded, “Some bastard tried to mug me. I handled it.”

Kanoko was livid at this, “WHO DARE TRY TO HARM MY HIRO-KUN! I’LL MAKE THEM PAY!” Kaede was the first to notice the second part of what Hiroki just said, “... what did he mean by ‘ I handled it ’?”

The bartender bent down to put the shot glass away, and came back up, asking, leaning on the counter, “Who? Local guy?” The man gave a lightly offended response, “Ya really think somebody local’d try to mug me, Pepe?”

“Wow... Hiroki seems to have a lot of street cred if he seems to be slightly offended at the thought of someone locally trying to hurt him... ” Ayumu said out loud. Kanoko was feeling somewhat weird about this situation... for one, she’s happy that Hiroki was having more of a backbone... yet she felt sad as it seems he, or this Hiroki, didn’t need her... 

Pepe, the bartender, now leans onto the counter with both arms, as he looks at V with a need for help, “Listen, V... I have a problem. Serious this time.”

The girls had to do a double-take at that... “ V... what kind of name is that? ” They all thought this version of Hiroki would also have the same name as, well, Hiroki... but it seems to be the opposite. “Whatever... I’m still going to call him Hiroki... ” Kanoko said out loud, and the other girls nodded their heads in agreement.

“C’mon, spin it - what is it now?” V said with a tone of annoyance. Pepe looks away, putting his hands into a ball, “It’s, uh, Kirk... I owe ‘im. Don’t pay by tomorrow, said he’d bust my legs. An’ he don’t joke about that stuff. Got cartels in his corner.” V, at this point, was baffled by the stupidity of Pepe, raising his hand to exaggerate his disbelief, “You in it with Kirk?! Every man, woman and rat in Heywood knows he’s a fuckin’ shark.” Pepe continued, explaining his reasoning on why he worked with Kirk, “My bro jumped the joint, deserved a hero’s welcome... I know I fuck up, V.” V continued to badger Pepe with his thoughts, “Huh, you ever gonna get wise, Pepe? Least tell me your brother’s doin’ all right.” Pepe looked away in shame, rubbing his hands together in nervousness, “Ah, doing his thing, you know... So, can you help?” 

Kanoko was livid now, first Pepe, the bartender, seems like a complete idiot for doing work with someone that isn’t trust worthy, to celebrate his brother that got out of prison, only for the same brother doing the dumb shit that probably got him into prison, and now Pepe is looking for Hiroki to help his problem? What the fuck!? “God, is this world full of problems that only Hiroki can take care of!?!” Nao chimed in as well, “Honestly, I hope Hiroki doesn’t help the man, so he can learn his les-”

“I’ll talk to Kirk. But then you’re gonna owe me one,” V says, getting up from the barstool.

“... Never mind,” Nao says in a voice full of defeat.

As V walks away, Pepe responds to him with, “And you’re savin’ my life, V, truly.” V walks through the bar heading to the left side of the establishment, turning to his right to head up the stairs, and as he does, he passes a pool table and arcade machines on his left side. As he walked up the stairs and entered the second floor, the walls looked the same as they did on the first floor. V walks down the first hallway and turns right to walk onto an interior balcony, and reaches the booth where a white man is sitting wearing a blue jumper jacket, black pants, and aviator glasses, with the top of his head slicked back and tapering on each side of his head. Standing next to the booth is a large white man wearing a dark blue tank top, red pants, a snapback pointing backwards, a gold link chain around his neck, and eating a cheeseburger. 

V addressed the man sitting down, “Hey, Kirk. Wanna talk.” The man in the booth, Kirk, responded, “V, been a while. Spin it - watcha need?” V goes to sit down, “Pepe asked me to talk you up,” he starts, but as he sits down he is quickly followed by the large man that was once standing, sitting next to him, as way to threaten V and prevent him from escaping, to further prove this the large man pulls out his gun and sets it on the table.

Kaede was the one to be pissed now, “WHAT ARE THEY DOING TO MY BABY?!? WHAT IS THAT PIG DOING!?!”

Kirk continues the conversation, not even acknowledging the large man sitting that decidingly chose to sit next to V, “What, he too shy to hand over the eddies hisself? Ah, tell him I don’t bite. Not yet.” V looked at the tub of lard to his right, eyebrow raised, “Hell’s your problem?” The tub of lard looked at Kirk, looking for support, but didn’t get any, so he went back to eating his hamburger.

“Ugh, this fat fuck is already annoying me... ” Nao bemoaned, getting the other girls to agree. “ I never thought Hiroki would have such a spine... It’s kind of hot! ” Ayumu thought, happy to see her senpai have a backbone.

V turned back to address Kirk, who was still reading his magazine, “What’s he owe ya?” Kirk answered with bullshit, "Afraid that’s client confidentiality. Call it a lot and leave it at that.” V retorted, “A creedshark with business ethics. Sounds too good to be true.” Kirk responded smugly, “Well, Merry Fuckin’ Christmas.” V then tried to play at Kirk’s heartstrings to hopefully get Kirk to give Pepe more time, “Cut him some slack, will ya? He’ll pay - just needs some more time.” Kirk took a whiff of his cigarette, blowing the smoke right into V’s face, and responded to V, “Do I look like a priest that runs a charity to you? You borrow eddies, you gotta pay ‘em back - with interest. It’s common fuckin’ knowledge. You suggestin’ I let a flaky cunt who can’t keep a deal off the hook?” V, now visibly pissed, told Kirk, “No, you let him off because it’s me askin’.” Kirk scoffed at this, “Hah. You know me - I’m a man of the biz. So I need to know what I get out of it.”

Kanoko growled at this, pissed at Kirk and just meeting him for less than thirty seconds, “I hope Hiroki puts this annoying prick in his pla-”

V now leaned more towards Kirk, getting into his face, “Know what, Kirk? I sometimes get the impression you forget you aren’t from around here. Pop into Heywood for the occasional visit, sure, but you live far, far away, in Pacifica.” Kirk kept huffing his cigarette to calm his nerves, but his tone wasn’t reaching his demeanor, “What’re you gettin’ at?” V leaned back into his side of the booth, arms crossed with a smug ass look, “Gettin’ at you prolly needin’ to think before you start somethin’ with a local son.”

Kanoko smiled proudly at this, “Never mind! Seems lil bro got this covered.” Nao on the other hand thought Hiroki right now was hot as shit, sure they’re Hiroki was the same, cocky, arrogant, but always looked out for others, hell it was the reason she fell for him in the first place. This Hiroki, however, had more power, it seemed like, more aura, it was so suffocating yet so hot. She knew her panties were soaked, yet she did her best not to bring attention to herself.

Kirk gave a shit eating grin, knowing that V would do anything to ensure one of his own was safe, “Hmm... I’m open to other options.” He then set the screamsheet down on the table and turned it around to show V the page he was looking at. V grabbed the screamsheet, “Mhm... ?” On the page was a video advertisement of the ‘Car of the Month’, a vehicle named ‘2077 GUINEVRE’, a sleek, front-engine, high-end car that represented ‘The Legend of Aerondight’. Kirk spoke about the vehicle, “Preem ride there on the page. Only four of ‘em in NC as of now. One - Rayfield regional direction. Two - Mayor Rhyne. Three - a rental service.” V then asked Kirk about the fourth one, tone of his voice knowing full well what his task will be, “Uh-huh. And four?” “Number four’ll belong to my client - just as soon as you klep it for me, that is,” Kirk said, finally telling V what he will be tasked to do to wipe off Pepe’s debt. V sets down the screamsheet and looks back at Kirk, “I do this, and Pepe’s debt is squared?” Kirk grins, knowing he just pulled V into his awful gig, “Course. I’m a man o’ my word, you know that.”

Nao was even more frustrated. She knew Hiroki could be dense and obtuse at times, but this whole job sounded fishy as hell. She pouted and crossed her arms as she sat back in her chair, “I swear to God I hope Kirk finds his demise soon... ” Something about Kirk also reminded her about Bert... that shit eating grin, having ulterior motives, it did not help with her suicidal ideation one bit.

Kirk took one last puff of his cig and threw it away, “Whole thing’s simple - you swipe the Rayfield for me, I clear Pepe’s account. Even toss in a cut for you I’m such a nice guy. My man Rick works a parking structure by Embers, club where our Rayfield driver likes to kick it. There every Friday night like clockwork. Soon as you appear, security cams shut down, gate swings up - the road is yours. Just gotta grab the Rayfield and roll out. Simple.”

Ayumu’s doubts now about the gig became tenfold, “I don’t know guys... this plan screams it’s not going to end well... ” Kaede nodded and agreed with the little martial artist, “I agree, Ayumu, oh is it okay if I call you Ayumu? It’s just... after what we experienced, and what we’re about to experience, I feel the need to drop the honorifics.” Ayumu nodded vigorously, “Of course, Mrs. Mori, and is it okay if I can call you by your first names, Nao and Kanoko?” Nao just shrugged, “Sure,” while Kanoko huffed, “I don’t care.” The energy in the room was very sour, Kaede tried her best to shift the topic back to the viewing, “W-well I just wanted to add to your point Ayumu that it doesn’t sound that solid, I mean it’s one of four cars in the city, there has to be some type of high end security?”

V had a face of bewilderment, “Plan sounds shaky as fuck.”

Ayumu giggled at this, knowing Hiroki seemed to agree with her... it made her feel happy... something she hadn’t felt in a long time.

Kirk tried to look offended, but failed as he knew the job was shit, “Oh? How so?” V then explains his reasoning, “Sounds like you’re lookin’ for a sucker.” Kirk wagged a finger at V, “This ain’t not setup, V. Heard you got a good head. Maybe we help each other make a few eddies.” V sighs, then accepts the job, “How’m I supposed to do this? Expect me to slide under the chassis on a skateboard for a quick hotwire, fast an’ easy? Kirk, wheels like this got security systems. Good ones.”

Nao was just bewildered by Hiroki simply accepting the job offer, knowing it sounded shaky as hell, all to help someone get out of a bind... it was one of the many traits that made her initially fall for the blonde boy.

Kirk pauses V, reaches into his back pocket, and pulls out a weird fucking technological item. “This bitty bop works like the key Rayfield techs use for repairs. Opens locks, bypasses identity authorization,” Kirk explains to V. V scoffed, looking at the item as Kirk pushed the skeleton key to him across the table, “A skeleton key for all Rayfields in the city. Heh, c’mon, Kirk, even you don’t buy that.” Kirk leaned back into his seat, “Kabuki’s tech wizards sell more magical shit than this under the counter. Have a little faith.” Kirk threw his arms up and shrugged, “So... we all agreed, then?”

Kaede clasped her hands together, praying within her mind that her son doesn’t decide to follow through with this stupid gig, “ Please... son... don’t go through with this... ” However, Kaede knew full well he would.

V was thinking deep in thought... “ Was it worth it? Risking my life just to ensure Pepe was safe... eh fuck. ” V grabbed the device and began to stand up. Thankfully, the fat lard had moved, allowing V to get out of the booth while saying to Kirk, “Best keep your word, Kirk.” Kirk, feeling the tension behind V’s words, tried to calm him down, “Eeaaasy V. Job’s gonna pad your wallet too, y’know? Head to Embers, in the Glen. Rick’s in the garage, be waitin’ for ya. You two’ll hit it off. Good luck out there. We’ll be in touch.” With that, V turned around to head out the back of the bar. 

“... why do I get the feeling this job is going to go botched as hell... getting my little brother hurt and that we’ll also experience the pain as well,” Kanoko said, voice full of annoyance and despair. The rest of the girls agreed and prayed Hiroki didn’t get hurt, and if he did, it wasn’t as bad as earlier.

V exits through the back door of the bar, outside he walks into an alleyway that has a pile of barrels in front of dumpsters, the floor littered with potholes, and trash thrown around as if to were the cherry on top. He turns right, heading down the alleyway, graffiti honoring the theme of Día de Muertos on the walls, and before entering a gate, a homeless man can be seen sitting in front of a dumpster, “Spare a veteran some change?” V contemplated for a bit, but decided to give the man some eddies, “Here, all yours.” The veteran was grateful, “Knew I saw good in you. God bless.” 

Kaede was the proudest she has ever felt in her life, “ Even though I may not have raised this Hiroki... knowing he’s still the kind young man makes me proud. ” 

V walks down the alleyway and reaches a basketball court. He approaches a man talking on the phone, and he says something to what is to be presumed his bodyguard standing next to him, “Talk to the people in Santo. Tell 'em to be ready.” “Yes, Padre,” the muscle responds, while holding up the trunk of a car. Inside the trunk seems to be a body, dead or alive, who knows? As soon as V walks up, Padre puts his phone down and turns around to greet him, “Well, who do we have here... V... long time. Didn’t know you were around.” The muscle shuts the trunk, and V looks at the now closed trunk and chuckles, “Yep, no place like home…”

The girls are shocked by this… why the hell is Hiroki simply playing off a body in the trunk as if it were another Tuesday? Ayumu was the first to say, “... I don’t like this universe already…” Nao added onto her statement, “Same… I’m more terrified of what Hiroki is going to do rather than what could happen to him if that is his reaction to seeing a dead body stuffed inside a trunk.” While this back and forth was occurring, Kaede was trapped in her thoughts, having a mental breakdown, “ No no no no… my baby can’t be a murderer… There is no way… why must you do this to me,    Oso … DIDN’T I SUFFER ENOUGH? ” Kanoko, on the other hand, thought this world was sick as hell. “ Hell yeah! This world seems sick! ”

V turned his attention back to Padre, "Got back from Atlanta a few weeks ago.” “See you got a good down-home welcome. How was it back east,” Padre questioned. “Tell ya later, got somethin’ on my plate…” V answered before being cut off by Padre, “How about you fill me in now? We’ll give you a ride.” Padre gestured to the car and began to walk into the back seat. He turned his head to his muscle, “Marcus, let’s go.” V walked to the opposite side of the car, and Marcus opened the back seat door for him. The interior of the car was black leather, the floor had cyan LED lights, and the overall design was sleek. Once inside, V got a better look at Padre, as before it was too dark to make out his features. Padre was an old, balding Hispanic man; he had a bald top with flowing short hair on the sides of his head. His face was filled with wrinkles, and he wore simply black pants, a sweater, a shiny gold watch, and a gold crucifix chain around his neck. 

Kanoko whistled as Hiroki got into the car, “Man… that’s a nice ass ride…”

Marcus got into the car, and Padre turned to look at V, “So, where to?” “The Glen. Drop me off at Embers.” Padre nodded at V’s request, then asked, “Front door?” “Take the ramp back to the bar. Show you where to stop.” Padre nodded, then spoke to Marcus, “You heard him, Marcus.” Marcus looked like a brick house; he had tinted shades, a long-sleeved leather jacket with a collar, and sleek black pants. As Marcus began to drive onto the street, Padre turned to V to ask him about his return, “Your return to NC has been good? Busy already?” V turned to look at Padre, for he was looking out the window at the street lights of Night City, “Ehh, pick up somethin’ here and there. Nothin’ major. But I’m gettin’ by. ‘Preciate the concern.” V turned to look out the window again, while Padre continued to ask questions, “So… Atlanta didn’t turn out like you expected, huh?” V turned around again, as it was respectful to look Padre in the eye when speaking, “As you can see, I’m back If it’d been better there, wouldn’t’ve left.” Padre gave V a solemn look, “Maybe it’ll all work out for the best…”

The girls were now very interested in this. What did Hiroki need in Atlanta? What was he looking for… they heard about Atlanta and what it was like, it’s where that bastard was from, Bert. He would never go into detail about what went down there… for he was blowing the girls back out to even have a conversation. Ayumu quickly tried to change her thoughts about Bert, for it was still a sensitive topic for her, taking into account the city, “Well… at least Night City looks nice… I like neon!” Kaede chimed in as well, for the same reason as Ayumu, “Yeah… I just don’t like all the graffiti…” Kanoko had to cut her mom off, “You kidding me, Mom? That is so cool!” Nao wanted to add to the convo as well, but the screen caught their attention, “Wait… why is that car flagging them down?”

As the car took a left turn, a car with an American decal on it pulled up on the left side of Padre’s car. “Shit…” Marcus exclaimed, already not liking this one bit. In the back seat, an arm poked out the window, waving a gun, telling Marcus to pull over.

Kanoko was not liking this one bit, “WHAT IS THIS DUMBASS DOING?!?! PEDAL TO THE METAL GET THE FUCK OUT OF THERE?”

Padre reaches to touch Marcus’s shoulder, “Stop the car.”

Kanoko continued her rant, “WHAT DO YOU MEAN, STOP THE CAR? HELLO? ARE THESE PEOPLE INSANE?” The three other girls watched with bated breath, unsure if they were to breathe, they would cause a horrible event to occur.

V had confusion written all over his face, “What’s going on?” Padre turned to look at him, calm written all over him, “Business. You carryin’?”

Kanoko looked like she was about to go ballistic, meanwhile, with Kaede, her mind was in turmoil, “ Why would my son need to be ‘carryin’? What does that even mean? Please, Hiroki, please be safe. I can't lose you… ”

Marcus pulled the car over to the sidewalk, and the car that demanded them to pull over pulled in front of them perpendicularly. The window next to V rolls down, as he sees the man waving the gun earlier step out of the vehicle. The man that came to the window had robotic cyberarms, a t- shirt with the NUSA flag on it, tactical vest and belt, a face with cybernetic lines, and on top of head was a gold plate with screws that resembled a mohawk. He was carrying a pistol in his right hand. As he approached the window, he spoke to Padre, “Sebastian Ibarra. Looks like it‘s my lucky day.” He then rested his right arm on the window while purposely pointing his firearm at Padre.

The girls are now dead quiet; the only thing they can hear is the frantic heartbeat within each of their chests, fear written all over their faces. They just had their own Hiroki die… they weren’t ready to see another one die so soon.

V kept his eye on the punk, not even turning around to see the annoyed face Padre had, “What do you want?” The punk smirked, “To settle our biz. Once and for all. Got an offer for ya, Paddy, so listen up. Get the fuck outta Vista, pull your boys off the street. I’ll give ya the Glen, done deal. No more restless nights. See how generous I can be? Well Pa-” The punk was cut off by V, who was getting angrier and angrier as the prick continued his proposal, “One more fuckin’ word…”

“HIROKI-NII PLEASE NO,” Ayumu shouted, fearful that Hiroki’s savior habit would cause him to die, like it did in their world.

The punk then turned his attention to V, “Stay outta this. I don’t know you.” V retorted back, “And I don’t know you,” V pointed his finger at the punk, “which means you’re worth shit around here and capable of even less.” Silence came from the punk, as he was now fearful of V, “Well? Anything else,” V continued. Padre now stepped in, “It seems our conversation has come to a close.” The punk upset, bared his teeth in anger, and began to pull his arm away from the window, “Careful, Padre. Never know who’s got a barrel at your six,” the punk then looks at V and points at him, “You neither, shitbucket.” The punk began to walk back to his car, “Marcus, please,” came the voice of Padre, as the negotiation seemed to have ended. Marcus backed up and turned to get off the sidewalk.

The girls in the audience seemed to collectively let out a sigh of relief. Hiroki was no longer in danger… for the time being. Kanoko reached out to grab her mother’s hand, as Kaede began to quietly sob and shake, repeatedly saying, “Hiroki… Hiroki…” fearing that Hiroki would die right there. “ Little brother… I understand it’s in your nature to stand up for your beliefs… but I’m afraid it’ll get you killed again… ” Ayumu and Nao also feared for the boy’s life… but were also extremely turned on by Hiroki’s aggressiveness he gave to the punk. “ I forgot that Hiroki could be so aggressive and strong… It’s very sexy… I just wish he could not put himself in dangerous situations where he needed to do it! ” Ayumu, however, didn’t keep the thoughts to herself, “Hiroki-nii is fucking hot,” in a tone as if it was a fact. All the girls snapped their heads at Ayumu, surprised to hear that come from the martial artist. Ayumu went bright red and covered her face with her hands, embarrassed by what she just said.

As they drove off, the window rolled back up, and V turned to look at Padre. “I’m pleased to see you have not forgotten your roots, still have the gift,” Padre told V, he continues, “So many of the little shits left around here… their spines go soft when they look down a barrel.” Padre looked out the window as he finished talking. V then asked who the punk was, “Who was that?” Padre waived the question, “No one important. He’ll be gone in a week’s time, another will come in his place.” V then told Padre the severity of what had just occurred, “He pulled iron on you.” Padre just shrugged it off and continued looking out the window. “He did. And he will pay for doing so.”

Kaede finally calmed down from her mini panic attack and… whatever that was with Ayumu, was finally able to think about what world Hiroki was in. This world seemed unforgiving, ruthless, brutal, as if murder wasn’t a major concern for their world. Kaede can only pray that Hiroki doesn’t have to fall so deep into the cesspool that is Night City to achieve his goal…

As Marcus was about to drive the car under an overpass, V told Marcus to stop the car, “Pull up here. Right here. I’ll just drop down below.” Marcus pulls a U-turn, and as V is about to get out of the car, Padre pulls out a business card and hands it to him, “Here. Before you go.” V grabs the card, “Your number?” The card is gold, with a crucifix that has a vineyard of roses and thorns, and ‘Father Sebastian’ written where the crucifix is. “Could be useful. Maybe we can also work together again - take ourselves back two years,” V put the card away, and looked back at Padre, “Thanks, Padre. Gotta go.” V then begins to close the car door, but not before hearing Padre, “So go with God.”

Kaede finally found her voice again, giving her thoughts on Padre, “Well… he may not be the most morally right person… but he looks after his own an- WHAT THE FUCK IS HIROKI DOING?!?!” The girls quickly snap their heads back to the screen, wondering what the fuck Hiroki is doing.

V jumped over the concrete side barrier, landing on a closed dumpster, which he then quickly jumped-squats off onto the concrete, landing safely.

“AH MY KNEES,” Nao screamed. It didn’t hurt as much as her knuckles and nose had hurt earlier, but the pain was still there. “I knew Hiroki was careless, but not by this much!”

V walked down the alleyway and turned right into what seemed to be a storage room. In the storage room, he turned to see an elevator and stepped inside. He presses the button to go down to the parking level. Just as the door closes, he gets a call on his holo from Kirk Sawyer, “V, status?”

Getting over the brief pain, the girls were fascinated by this piece of technology, Ayumu being the most vocal, “Woah! He can accept calls without using a phone?! That’s so cool!” The other girls were equally as impressed… Maybe this future isn’t so bad at all.

V just arrived at the parking level, with the elevator doors opening, “On location. About to find your man,” he whispers. Kirk responds, “Rick’s one of the good guys, you’ll see. I trust ‘im like a brother.” Kirk then closes the holo, but remains on call. V travels down the corridor and enters the parking garage. He looks right, and it seems to be the security post. The security guard calls out, “Yeah? Somep’n I can help you with?” V didn’t ask the guard if he was Rick, just a simple, “Kirk sent me.” The guard, who can be assumed as Rick, says “Mhm… Camera’s blind. You got twenty minutes. Do your thing.” V leaves the post and begins walking around until he reaches the VIP section, and one of the spots has the Rayfield. He grabs Kirk’s attention, “Kirk? I see the ride.” Kirk responds, “Your moment to shine, kiddo. Good luck.” 

The girls were now on the edge of their seats, knowing full well this gig had ‘bust’ all over it. “ Hiro-kun… at least come out safe… if not for me, at least for mom, ” Kanoko thought, gripping her mom’s right hand tighter out of nervousness and fear.

V pulls out the skeleton key, “Let’s take this piece of wondertech for a whirl.” Kirk, catching the snark in that comment, responds, “You’re a man of little faith.” The butterfly doors of the Rayfield open, and Kirk had to comment on it “See? We’re rich. Now fire ‘er up and call me when you’re underway. Tell you where to go.” Kirk hangs up the call, leaving V alone to his own devices. V enters the driver seat and places the skeleton key on the dashboard, “Hm… Looks like this’ll be a cool breeze.”

The girls let out a sigh of relief, the second time that day, Ayumu was the first to speak, “Yay! Hiroki-nii didn’t get screwed over, now he can-” but was cut off as more events on the screen unfolded. 

V sat in the car, waiting for it to turn on, until the driver door opened up, and he was met with an iron pointed at him from a Mexican man wearing gold bracelets, a gold ring, a gold crucifix chain, a leather tactical jacket, black tactical pants, and his hair done in a bun. “What the…?” V started, but was cut off the man, “Get the fuck out.”

By this point, the girls were panicking, “HIROKI FLOOR IT,” Nao shouted, praying that Hiroki didn’t see the same fate as their own. 

V knocks the gun, and tries to floor the car, yet the skeleton key burned out, and he was just sitting there like a duck. The unknown man jokes at V’s expense, “Wow, you can drive.” V punched the steering wheel out of frustration, “Fuck!” The unknown man grabbed V by the shirt and pulled him out of the car, “Now out.” V, bewildered by this, “Wha- What’re you doin’?” 

“FUCK! WHY CAN’T ANYTHING GOOD HAPPEN TO HIRO-KUN,” Kanoko was so furious at the world, from her Hiroki dying and being betrayed by them, to learning the original Hiroki had a much worse reality, and the on-screen Hiroki having a horrible time, when the fuck was he going to get a break?

Suddenly, cop sirens filled the garage, and the unknown man let go of V, “Qué chingados…?” Two police cars quickly swerve and stop right in front of them, with the leader coming on the speaker, “NCPD, drop your weapons.” V and the unknown man put their hands up, and an NCPD Officer shouts and draws their weapon at them, “Don’t move! You’re under arrest!” Another NCPD Officer decides to join in, “Stay where you are!” The leader came back on the speaker, “Hands where I can see ‘em! Nice an’ slow!”

“Aw fuck I don’t-OW,” Kanoko began to say, but the felt difficulty to breath, as if he was pinned to the ground and arms tied behind her back. All the girls grunted in pain, unable to move at all in their seats, as if they were stuck.

The second NCPD Officer approached the unknown man, “On the ground, motherfuckers! Now!” The first NCPD Officer grabbed V, pulled him out of the car, tossed him to the ground, and pinned him, making his arm lie flat in front of him. The leader of the NCPD crew stepped out of the vehicle and started to address the unknown man, “Jackie Welles, my old pal from the ‘hood. See you haven’t grown an ounce wiser.” Jackie responded, grunting as he was being pinned to the ground, “Hey, argh… Detective Stints! Been a while, huh?” Stints responded quickly to correct Jackie, “Inspector Stints.” “Same shit,” Jackie responded, struggling with being pinned. Stint picked up Jackie’s iron and then started to address V, “Speakin’ of… your mug’s familiar, too.” V, having enough bullshit for the day, snapped, “How about that, ugh - a pig that chatters.” Stints, ignoring the insult, “Left for Atlanta, lookin’ for a slice of happiness. Guess you didn’t find it.” Stints walked towards V and squatted in front of him, “I’ve always maintained it’s the same for all you termites in Heywood. Born here, live here, die here. Looks like I was right.”

The girls were struggling to breathe, trying to wiggle out of their seats but couldn’t move an inch, “Hiroki-nii… argh… please… save yourself…” Ayumu sputtered, struggling to get it out. “Fuck… filthy pig… ugh… leave Hiro-kun… alone…” Kanoko said, grasping at any room she could find within her seat to breathe. “Son… hng… please… don’t die…” Kaede wallowed, trying her best to stay strong for Hiroki’s sake. “Hiroki… fuck…” Nao couldn’t say anything further, for she was in too much pain to have a clear head.

V, being the hard headed merc he is, responded to that statement, “You know fuck all about me.” Stints smirked at this, “Truth hurts, huh? Just watch your tone - I’m not a patient man.” Jackie decided to join in on the conversation, “Hey, c’mon, Stints, give us a break, huh? You lock us up, we’ll just jerk off till trial, and then what? Worst case, agh, we get some months. Hell, standin’ room only nowadays in el bote, so… we’ll prob’ly be out early.” The owner of the vehicle finally made his appearance: “Are these the thieves?” V let out a sigh, “Fuck, he’s here.” The owner continued his monologue, “Ordinary street trash.” Stints got up from his squatting position, “Got ‘em in custody, Mr. Fujioka. We’ll be takin’ ‘em now.” Mr. Fujioka is an Asian man, wearing fingerless white gloves with buckle padding, gold-tinted aviator glasses, a striped collar long-sleeved shirt, and a gold vest, with some light grey dress pants. He has two large security guards wearing white masks, making the officers look weak. He is irritated, “It’s a waste of effort. I have no time to testify or play at an investigation.” Stints is confused by this, “Suggestin’ we let ‘em go, sir?” Mr. Fujioka then went for the kill, pressing a finger into Stint’s chest, “I suggest you toss them in the sea. Cuffed legs broken so this trash doesn’t float.” Mr. Fujioka walked away, leaving Stints angry, “You heard ‘im.”

The girls mentally were now going crazy; there was no way the police would honor Mr. Fujioka’s request, right? Right? They just had their Hiroki die, now they were going to witness another one? Is this some type of game for Oso? To make them watch an endless amount of Hiroki’s death, make them suffer for their sins? They started to hyperventilate, and in combination with the inability to breathe properly, it just made their pain worse. However, they knew this was a proper punishment for what they did to Hiroki. So they accepted that Hiroki would die… and just waited to see his doom.

Jackie gave one last statement, “Heh, fuuuck…” V was then flipped upright, eyes facing the ceiling of the garage, and in a second, he was whacked in the head by an electric baton from the police officers.

Darkness.

The girls, finally able to move in their seats, shot their hands straight to their heads as it felt it had been crushed by a hydraulic press. They couldn’t speak, they couldn’t scream, for they feared that if they did, their head would explode. Finally, after what felt like forever, they were able to calm down for a bit. Their eyes met the screen, and it was black. No one moved, no one dared to speak. Kanoko looked mortified, Ayumu began to cry out, Nao looked speechless and dead inside, and Kaede? Kaede was smiling, a sinister smile that killed. She started to laugh, first it was a chuckle, then a giggle, then full-on maniacal laughter. The girls were terrified by this, “Mrs. Mor-” Ayumu began to say, but couldn’t finish before being cut off. “SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU MASOCHIST SLUT.” Kaede shouted at Ayumu, who then began to shake in her seat, afraid of Kaede. “Mom, calm down, sh-” “SILENCE YOU! YOU FAILED YOUR BROTHER, AND NOT ONLY THAT YOU ALSO WANTED TO FUCK HIM! GROSS! YOU’RE A DISGRACE TO THIS DAMN FAMILY. I WOULD RATHER HAVE YOU BE DEAD INSTEAD OF HIROKI,” Kaede shouted at Kanoko, whose face was filled with heartbreak. Nao didn’t dare to say anything, for she now feared the wrath of Kaede, but Kaede didn’t care for the silence. “WHAT? TONGUE GOT YOUR MOUTH, NAO? WHY DON’T WE TALK ABOUT HOW YOU STARTED THIS MESS? YOU WERE THE ONE THAT SUCCUMBED TO THAT PIECE OF SHIT. YOU WERE THE ONE WHO SUGGESTED HE TARGET ME. YOU WERE THE ONE TO COORDINATE THAT VIDEO. THIS IS YOUR FAULT. IF I COULD MOVE FROM THE SEAT I WILL HANG YOU BY YOUR INTESTINES YOU FUCKING BITCH!” Kaede was red in the face, anger seeping over her. Everyone was in shock by Kaede’s verbal crashout; they never expected this to happen in a million years. Suddenly, for all of them, their nose started to hurt badly, and they shot their hands up to nurse them. Kanoko was the first to say, “Wait… don’t tell me,” all the girls turned their heads back to the screen, with hope in their eyes.

The screen showed the first person perspective of V, as he looked up towards the sky, hands around his nose as he began to put it back in place, “Motherfucker… Agh!” V looked back down after forcibly fixing his nose, and his vision was a police car that was leaving the alleyway. V then turns to his right to look at Jackie, “Honestly, for a sec there, things looked iffy. Wasn’t sure we’d worm outta that alive.”

Kaede, the mother who looked like a moment ago was going painted the room red with Nao’s blood, was now sobbing hysterically, “HIROKI… HNGH… MY BABY… HNGH… YOU’RE ALIVE!” The three other girls looked at each other, confused as hell about what was happening, but overall just happy that Hiroki was alive.

The camera leaves V’s perspective and becomes more of a free roam, ensuring V is in the frame at all times. “Nah, Stints wouldn’t do us like that,” V retorted. Jackie questioned that belief, “You sure about that?” V then goes on to explain his reasoning, “Mhm. He’s Heywood-born, bred and grown like us. Hates suits as much as you do. Did what he had to do, that’s it.” Jackie shook his head, “If I hand’t come, you’d be cruisin’ Night City in sexy wheels right now.” V reassured Jackie the plan was dogshit, “Nah, c’mon. Job was toxic from the start. Even Kabuki under-the-counter magic can’t get around an alarm like that. Shoulda known I’d have the PD on my ass.”

Ayumu, fearing to speak, tried to find her courage, “W-w-well… I g-g-guess we c-c-called it from the s-s-start.” Nao and Kanoko nodded their heads, as they were also afraid to comment on the current scene.

Jackie, trying to make the atmosphere lighthearted, “So, maybe now, as God ordained.” He then turns to face V, to properly greet himself, “Jackie Welles.” V followed by courtesy, “V.” Jackie then got a serious face, as if he were trying to remember something. He connects the dots and points at V, “I know you… You hang at the Coyote.” V also did a double-take, “Wait, Welles… like Mama Welles. Heh, thought I recognized that name.” Jackie nodded along and smiled, “She’s my blood, all right. Coyote’s her dive. It’s strange you and I never met before.” V then explained how he ended up in the Rayfield, “Got the job to steal those wheels at the Coyote. From Kirk.” Jackie seemed confused by this: “You work with that sewer slug?”

Kanoko now finally found her voice, still shaky, but it was hers, “S-see? Even h-he knows he isn’t r-right.” Kaede was still in her land, completely forgetting what occurred for the two minutes, just more focused on Hiroki being alive.

V then explains his reasoning for taking the job, “Pepe owes him big and can’t afford to pay, so I stepped up.” Jackie let out a sigh, “Man, gotta wonder about Pepe, lettin’ slimy Kirk boss him around like that.” V then gave his reasoning for Pepe fearing Kirk, “Heard what they say - he’s backed by cartels.” Jackie then proceeds to correct V, “Cartels? No, no, listen. I know those cartel types, and I guarantee you none of ‘em have even heard of Kirk.” Jackie then stood up from the stair step, “El cabron’s gotta learn… he don’t do people in Heywood dirty.”

Kanoko felt happy seeing Jackie be forward and strong-headed… maybe her mother was right… Maybe she should start learning to love another man who wasn’t her family. She felt she fell in love with Hiroki because it was comfortable, he was the constant male in her life since her father passed away, maybe it was time for her to get uncomfortable. “Wow… I know this Jackie guy threatened to kill Hiroki… but he seems like a chill dude, don’t y’all agree?” Ayumu nodded her head, giggling. Nao looked at Kanoko confused, as if they were going to just ignore Jackie pulling a gun on Hiroki, and Kaede was stuck in ‘la la land’ still.

Jackie turned to V, “C’mon, let’s go have some lunch.” V looked at Jackie, puzzled, “Just like that? You put a barrel to my skull not so long ago.”

“THANK YOU, FINALLY SOMEONE WITH COMMON SENSE!” Nao exclaimed, finally feeling she wasn’t taking crazy pills.

Jackie shrugged it off, “You help my homies, you’re OK in my book. No harm, no foul?” V chuckled, “None at all.”

“Nevermind, I am taking crazy pills,” Nao said, slumping back in her chair, with a giggling Ayumu next to her, and Kanoko sporting a shit eating grin. Kaede was still manically sobbing and being incoherent… Hopefully, she can be alright for the next chapter.

Jackie started to bounce around a bit, “Gettin’ one of my good feelings.” “‘Bout what,” V questioned, for he didn’t believe how they were at each other’s throat one second ago, to now be buddy-buddy. Jackie gestured between him and V, “‘Bout us. Sense a kind of chemistry, y’know?” Jackie walked ahead and gestured for V to follow him, “C’mon. I’m fuckin’ starved.” V got up from the step, “Ok, food it is. Let’s go.”

Then the screen turns black.

Chapter Text

Ayumu sat there staring at her hands, twiddling her fingers as the time went on and on. Oso had said he’d come back after the first showing, yet where has he been? It’s already been 4 hours, and nothing has come from him. With this time, though, Ayumu got back to thinking about Hiroki, or V, from what they saw. First thing to note: Holy shit, Hiroki is hot. Hiroki was always attractive; he had this boyish charm that all the aunties and older people fell in love with. Hell, Ayumu was unsure if some older high school girl would have her way with him. That reminds her, Hiroki was 14 years old when he fought against Bert, who was 19. Ayumu had to do a double-take at her thought. Hiroki was 14? Five years younger than Bert? Hiroki wasn’t even done with puberty, and he had to fight someone who was twice his size. Why the fuck did she ever compare Bert to Hiroki at all in the first place? Why the hell did she think it made perfect sense to belittle her childhood friend over some dick? Of course, Hiroki couldn’t be the man that Bert was at that moment, because Hiroki was fucking FOURTEEN YEARS OLD. Hell, maybe Hiroki is a better man than Bert, because he sacrificed his life to save a family, always putting other people’s well-being over his… something he did for her. Ayumu now felt alone and scared; she wanted Hiroki to hold her, tell her everything would be okay, protect her from these thoughts, but no. She went and got Hiroki killed. She made Hiroki run away. If Hiroki had stayed home that night, he would’ve been safe and alive. If she had never betrayed Hiroki, maybe she could’ve been with him, a bunch of ‘if’s. Now she finds comfort in cutting herself, feeling the pain she inflicts on herself, hoping that maybe, just maybe, the pain she undergoes would let her see Hiroki again. Ayumu turns her arms to inspect her cuts, all still there, all still faded, yet the pain never goes away.

While Ayumu was having an internal crisis, Kanoko was angrily tapping her foot. Not because Oso has simply been ignoring them for 2 hours, but because her mother is still crying hysterically. Wherever she gets new tears to cry, she has no idea; it honestly reminded her of a green-haired kid from an anime, Hiroki, and her. To add to her dilemma, Nao fell asleep after the first 30 minutes of silence and has been snoring ever since. One thing is to have a loud mother crying continuously, it’s another when the reason you betrayed your brother is sleeping and causing even more noise. Kanoko looked to her right to where Ayumu was sitting, and Kanoko looked at the scars on Ayumu’s arms. Kanoko wanted to speak up, ask if she was okay, but she stopped herself, for she already knew the answer: none of them were okay. Kanoko turned her head back and looked at her left side, and there was still her mother, rocking back and forth, crying into her hands, as she continuously said, “Hiroki… my baby…” After this, Kanoko decided it was enough, “OSO GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE!!”

The theater stays quiet… until a rumbling occurs. At first, the theater shakes, nothing too noticeable, then it starts to violently shake, lights begin to flicker, the screen starts to release sparks of electricity, and the walls begin to crack. Ayumu and Kanoko are terrified at the sight of these, embracing each other in a hug, afraid to face this all alone. Then suddenly, it stops. The shaking stops, the lights come back, the cracks retreat to the ground, and the screen magically fixes itself. Kanoko and Ayumu look at each other, confusion written all over their faces. “What just hap-” Kanoko began, before being cut mid-sentence by a booming voice, shaking the walls, and they sound angry, “WHAT THE FLYING FUCK DO YOU WANT?” Oso shouted at them. The two girls were frightened. By this, Ayumu was the one to speak up, “Umm, Oso, sir… we were wond-” but she as well got cut off, “I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU’RE WONDERING ABOUT! IF IT’S ABOUT THE NEXT EPISODE, IT MAY TAKE A WHILE FOR ME TO PROPERLY CURATE IT TO PRESENT IT.” Ayumu quickly shut her yap and went back to sink into the couch. The room then became so quiet you couldn't hear a pin drop… until a snore was heard. “Who the fuc-? NAO? WAKE YOUR PUNK ASS UP!” Oso shouted. Nao was still fast asleep until Oso physically shook her chair, causing her to eject out of her seat, hitting her head face-first onto the ground. The pose she was in was face down, ass up, but she looked more like an ostrich sticking their head into the dirt than being in a sex position.

Nao quickly looked up and rubbed her temple, face filled with anger, “OW! What the fuck was that for? Who did that shit? I swear if one of you-” Oso cut her off, “IT WAS ME HOE. GOD DAMN SLEEPING WHEN I’M TALKING. YOU’RE LUCKY I DON’T MAKE YOU EAT A POPEYES BISCUIT WITHOUT A BEVERAGE.” Nao, following Ayumu, shut her trap and hurriedly went back to her seat. “Finally, now can all four-” “Hiroki… my baby…” Oso was now pissed. “WOMAN, I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD IF YOU DON’T STOP CRYING RIGHT NOW I’LL GIVE YOU A REAL REASON TO CRY YOU FUCKING HEAR ME!” Kaede snapped out of her daze and slowly looked at everyone to her right, and she was confused. The rest of the girls looked terrified as if their lives were on the line. Kaede then asks the dumbest question you could ask in this situation, “Uhh… what’s going on?” “WHAT’S GOING ON IS YOUR SLUT ASS CRIED AND WEPT THROUGH THE ENDING OF THE LAST EPISODE, MISSING A CRUCIAL RELATIONSHIP! SECONDLY, YOUR SLUT OF A DAUGHTER-“Hey!” “IS SO DAMN ANNOYING WHEN I’M IN THE MIDDLE OF SOMETHING.” Kanoko then got on the offense, “Well, if the HOST wasn’t damn LAZY, we would already be through two episodes!” “WELL EXCUUUUUUUUUSE ME, PRINCESS! I HAVE A LIFE OUTSIDE OF THIS SHITTY THEATER, MAKING FOUR SLUTS REACT TO ARGUABLY THE BEST MAN IN THEIR LIFE BECAUSE THOSE FOUR HAVE WORMS FOR FUCKING BRAINS AND INDIRECTLY KILLED HIM.”

This made all the girls look down in defeat and annoyance, for they knew he was right. Oso sighed, “Look, I know I’ve been lagging on showing you guys the next episode… but I’ve been busy.” Ayumu asked in a meek voice, “Busy doing what?” The room then went silent, but then you could hear a shameful whisper say, “Playing ‘Grow a Garden’…” and then the room went ballistic. “YOU’RE PLAYING VIDEO GAMES WHILE WE SIT HERE FUCKING BORED OUT OF OUR MINDS?!?!” “...yes…” All the girls then wore an expression of exhaustion. “Look, we can keep arguing back and forth, or I can show you guys more of Hiroki's story… what will it be?” The girls looked at each other and sighed in defeat. “Sure… why not?” Nao said. “Oh, Nao, just so you know, I can read your fucking minds, and it’s pretty fucking ironic how you had a wet dream about Hiroki.” Nao got all flustered, “Hey! You can’t just reveal that, that’s private!” “Damn, didn’t see you get this defensive when it came to recording and giving SEX TAPES to your boyfriend.” Nao quickly sat back in her chair quietly, and Kaede then started to giggle at this interaction. “Oh, don’t think you’re off the hook now bitch. Calling out your daughter’s incestuous habits when you ALSO wanted a piece of Hiroki is fucking insane. I pray for your therapists when you guys leave this place.” Kaede then went back to putting her head down, for she found the floor to be very interesting. “MOM! YOU CAN’T CALL ME A FUCKING INCESTOUS CREEP WHEN YOU WANTED TO FUCK YOUR SON! WHAT YOU WANTED HIM BACK IN YOUR PUSSY,” Kanoko screeched at her mother, “ALSO, WHO FUCKING TELLS THEIR CHILD THEY WISH THEY WERE DEAD? THAT’S FUCKING INS-” “CAN YOU SHUT UP AND FIX THIS AFTER THIS EPISODE? THIS ISN’T DAMN FAMILY THERAPY!” Kanoko then crossed her arms across her chest and pouted, grumbling about the annoying speaker's voice. 

Ayumu, mustering her courage, spoke up, “Um… Oso… when are we going to watch the next episode?” Oso, now with a much calmer tone, “Look… I know I yelled at the other two, but you don’t have to worry… as much. In honesty, you’re my ‘favorite’ out of the four. You were just too naive and young to understand what was happening. You got exposed to that part of life way too early, and you became a victim of it without understanding the implications.” Ayumu was holding back tears, grabbing the hem of her red tank top, trying to compose herself. “And Kanoko… you were raped. I’m sorry to say this to you, mija, but you were fucking raped by that dickhead. I don’t know how you became what you became; my guess is Stockholm syndrome. However, as much as I don’t want to blame the victim, what you did to your brother is horrible. Oh, Nao and Kaede, you two are horrible people, genuinely. Nao, you did kind of have the same predicament as Ayumu at first, but then you went after Hiroki’s mother, and Kaede that bastard didn’t force you to do shit; you simply gave up on your son. Those are the reasons why I gave Ayumu so much leeway and not you three bitches, if you guys were wondering.” The other three girls quickly closed their mouths, for they were going to ask why Ayumu got so much leeway. “Thank you, O-” “Oh, don’t thank me. You still did something awful to Hiroki. Hell, you could’ve just told him the truth about what Nao was doing. Then Hiroki would’ve learned what his own family was doing, and who knows, maybe Hiroki would still be alive in your world, just not in your lives, of course, but alive!” Ayumu also got quiet alongside the girls, for they all knew they were guilty. 

“... can we just start the new episode?” said Nao in a soft whimper. “Yeah, yeah, I’m going. Oh, and one more thing, I’m changing your outfits; all of you will wear a simple shirt and sweats. Nothing will be revealing or provocative. Ayumu, I can have you wear a long-sleeve sweater for… reasons.” Ayumu looked bashful and looked away as soon as she felt the other girls' glued their eyes glued to her. Oso then ‘clapped’ his hands to change their outfits instantly. All the girls wore a shirt matching their eye color and black shorts. Ayumu wore a long-sleeved sweater instead, but as she looked at her sweater, she saw she also had a T-shirt underneath. Ayumu guessed that whenever she became more comfortable with her image and was not ashamed of her scars, she would be able to take the sweater off. However, for now, and for her sanity, she would remain with the sweater. Before the screen can show the next episode, Oso speaks again, “Oh, one more thing, I will not be talking to you guys directly until a certain event happens later on.” Kanoko raised her eyebrow, “What event?” Oso didn’t speak for a while until he came back, saying in a somber tone, “ … well… he’ll make it to the ‘Major Leagues’.” The girls looked at each other in confusion. Why is baseball a major event in this story? Before they could ask further, the lights turned dark and the screen turned on.

The screen stays black, but the annoying voice of the news anchorman from the first showing comes back on, “Helloooo there, Night Cityyyy!”

“Jesus fuck, we have to listen to this guy AGAIN?!” Kanoko bemoaned as he slumped into her chair. The rest of the girls nodded in agreement, watching from the first-person perspective of Hiroki on the screen. “I just hope it doesn’t just jump cut to different scenes and let us see what is happening,” Nao said, already annoyed 5 seconds into the new episode.

V is looking up at the sky of Night City and sees an advertisement saying, ‘FOCUS ON WINNING THIS FALL’ that contains a woman dressed as an angel, with a logo of what seems to be the Empire State Building with ‘NEW EMPIRE’ within it. V looks back down, seeing Jackie walk backward, which makes a bystander on the phone have to physically move to dodge Jackie walking into him. Stanley continues his monologue, “Stanley here with ya, and we got another day ahead of us in this city of dreams.”

Kaede, seeing Jackie, became furious, “Wait, isn’t this the same guy who put a gun to Hiroki’s face?!” The other girls, without even taking their eyes off the screen, responded to Kaede with a monotone, “Yes.” Kaede sighed at this, “I swear, no matter what universe, Hiroki will always make the weirdest decisions.”

The scene then changes to what seems to be inside Jackie’s household, or his mother’s house, as Jackie embraces the old woman who was standing by the coffee table in an endearing hug. V then greets Jackie’s mom with a handshake, all while V turns his head to see Jackie reaching into what seems to be his mother’s dinner, prompting his mom to smack his hand away. Jackie goes up the flight of stairs as he comedically rubs his hands as if he were seriously hurt by the hit. 

Kaede smiled at this, but then her face became sour, for she remembered the times Hiroki would try to steal her food as a kid, and she would payfully punish him back by smacking his hand away or telling him that if he kept doing that, Santa wouldn’t give him his favorite gift that Christmas. She sat quietly in her chair, looking at the screen, sinking into herself, trying to repress the negative emotions those memories now came with.

V throws a duffel bag down in what seems to be Jackie’s room, and then walks to the mirror and looks at his reflection. V is still wearing the same outfit as shown earlier, but his expression seems to be depressed and sad until Jackie smacks his arms to wake him up out of his slump.

Nao cooed at Hiroki's reflection, “God, Hiroki is so damn sexy grown up.” Ayumu, sitting beside Nao, nodded her head eagerly in agreement with Nao, “I would love to see what Hiroki looks like underneath all those clothes…” Ayumu bites the edge of her sleeve, imagining the toned body that lies underneath Hiroki’s outfit. Kanoko, on the other hand, is trying to restrain herself from agreeing with Nao and Ayumu, “God dammit, Hiro-kun! You cannot be this damn sexy, or your big sister is going to go FERAL!!!” Kaede, who sat to the left, was just saddened she couldn’t see her son grow into the man that she sees on screen right now, for she and the rest were somewhat responsible for ending his life so soon.

Stanley continues, “Oo, I love this town! Love it like you might love a mother who popped you out on the steps of an orphanage once and now stops you to ask if you got a smoke for her!” The scene now shows what seems to be inside a club, with a woman dressed in a somewhat revealing outfit walking out of a room that has a man in a suit sitting inside, knocked out while wearing something on his eyes, and his left hand on a briefcase. The woman hands something to V, possibly a USB drive, and leaves, letting V and Jackie enter the room. V then walks towards the guy’s briefcase and slowly tries to slip it away under his hand. Unfortunately, the man in the suit woke up, which led to Jackie sucker punching him across the face, knocking him out once again.

“WHOA, THAT WAS COOL!” Kanoko cheered seeing Jackie knock the guy out. Kaede grew worried, “Why is my son doing this? What could be the reason for stealing a briefca-”

“Every new day here means a hundred new arrivals! But only half these gonks’ll survive a year. And that’s if it’s a good one!” Stanley continues, as on the screen, V pushes past two bodyguards, carrying the briefcase, while Padre calls him over. V sets the briefcase down in front of Padre. Jackie is greeting the people who are standing around the area, being welcomed back, while V looks over to Padre, opening the briefcase to see wads of cash, and getting a nod of approval from Padre.

“Oh, so that’s why he got the briefcase…” said Ayumu, not being able to recognize the actions Hiroki was doing, for this wouldn’t be like him. Ayumu never took Hiroki to commit a crime, but she is supposed to be in a city full of murderers, criminals, and thugs, so you have to get by by any means necessary. Nao said nothing during this, eyes strictly on the screen, finding any reason why Oso was showing this to them when it isn’t even their own Hiroki.

Padre hands V a cred chip, and V turns to Jackie, holding it up as Jackie gets excited. The scene changes to V standing in front of a girl, shaking the cred chip, as she steps out of the way to show V a car that Jackie is standing next to, kicking the tires to see if they are properly aired up. The scene then changes to Jackie pointing at a woman who seems to be setting up some essence. The next scene provides a clearer look at the girl; she has mushroom bobbed blonde hair, heavy dark eyeliner, a necklace that appears to hold a sun and star symbol within it, another necklace with a skull pendant, a spiked black collar, and a loose blue sweater. She smirked at V and nodded her head in a direction, essentially telling him to follow her.

The girls, primarily Nao and Ayumu, became defensive in response to seeing this woman. “Hey! Who’s this chick?” Nao shouted at the screen, Ayumu followed suit, “Yeah! I don’t like her getting real chummy with Hiroki-nii!” All Kaede could do was giggle at the girl’s expense, for she did not hold as much jealousy as they did. She still was possessive of Hiroki, and did have attraction to this Hiroki, but at the same time, she came to realize she didn’t deserve Hiroki’s affection and love. All she could do was hope Hiroki would pick a good woman to be his wife. Kanoko, on the other hand, was not as calm. She gritted her teeth and slightly growled at the appearance of the woman, before realizing what she was doing. Once she realized, she stopped her actions and reassessed the situation. She was supposed to get over Hiroki; she was supposed to move on, but this was becoming harder than ever. She just hoped they wouldn’t see Hiroki having sex, then maybe it would be possible for her to get over her brother-con phase.

The blonde girl led V and Jackie to the door, and Jackie, for some reason, couldn’t get his eyes off her, walking backward to the door all while keeping his eyes on the blonde girl. V even had to shove him through the doorway.

“Phew!” Nao and Ayumu sighed in relief, for no,w they understood there was no sexual implication behind her grin. “I understand I hurt Hiroki a lot… and that I know I don’t deserve it, but in my sick mind I still love that goofball… ” Nao thought to herself, wondering if there was any possibility of redeeming herself. There had to be a reason they were experiencing the same pain as Hiroki on the screen, right? Oso simply wouldn’t make them experience such if there was no meaning behind it, right? Ayumu giggled after feeling relieved that the girl wasn’t tempting her senpai, “I wish I could go back and tell Hiroki the truth… even if the fallout would’ve been bad, he may have forgiven me after some time, and maybe I could- no. I don’t deserve it, not after what I did…” Ayumu sank back into her chair, bringing her knees up and wrapping her arms around them.

Jackie, leading the way, walks into what seems to be an operating room, with a girl sitting in a reclined medical chair with LED lights over her, lighting her. A man sits next to the patient on the chair, his left arm seems to be wrapped, and he’s wearing a glove; his right arm has a full sleeve tattoo, and his outfit looks like he’s wearing scrubs. He jokingly punches Jackie in the gut and then pulls him into a ‘bro-hug’. He then gives V a handshake.

Kaede smiled at this, “Seems like Hiroki is being a responsible adult and getting a doctor's check-up!” Kaede used to remember she had to drag a kicking and screaming Hiroki to the doctor’s office for his yearly physical, and don’t even start her about Hiroki getting his shots. While Kaede was going down memory lane, her train of thought was cut off when the screen went to the next scene.

The screen shows V running after someone in an alleyway, as the person runs into a stack of concrete powder. Then it shows them running between two people, shoving a person as they try to escape V’s pursuit. Then it shows the chase-e slipping before getting back up on their feet and turning left. The chase ends with the chase-e getting body checked by Jackie into a dumpster. Stanley’s monologue continues in the background, “And why do these peeps come to NC? Well, to be street samurai like Morgan Blackhand and Weyland Boa Boa! The greater the risk, the bigger the bounty, kids. Or so they say…”

Kanoko whistled at this, “Man… I like how this Jackie guy operates!” Kaede, Nao, and Ayumu all had a different opinion about the situation: why in the world is Hiroki chasing after that man? It made no sense. They also had problems with what Stanley just said: was Hiroki going to do something so dangerous just to be a legend? I mean, they are literally witnessing Hiroki chasing someone; the first thing they saw him do was try to rob a car. How much danger is Hiroki going to put himself in?

The scene then changes to V and Jackie dancing in a club, and then it changes to V dancing with a girl.

“HEY, WHAT IS THAT BITCH DOING!” Nao shouted at the screen, startling the rest of the girls. Ayumu, sitting next to her, put her hand on her shoulder, “Calm down Honzawa-ch-” Ayumu started before her hand was smacked away, “I DON’T WANNA HEAR IT FROM HIROKI’S NUMBER ONE FAN!” Nao shouted at her, not facing Ayumu, looking away at the screen. “YOU WERE JEALOUS OF ME BECAUSE I STOLE HIROKI FROM YOU! WELL, GUESS WHAT YOU TOMBOY FREAK, HE WANTED TO DATE A GIRL, NOT ONE OF THE BOYS! So SHUT UP, I DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT FROM YOU!” Nao finished her rant, now red in the face, and breathing heavily. The whole room went silent until a sniffle was heard, and Nao could see who it came from. Ayumu began to get teary-eyed and then started to softly cry. Nao is now recollecting what she just said, her face turns into one of confusion, until she realizes what she just said. “A- Ayumu I’m so sor-” Nao began, reaching out to console the crying Ayumu, but her hand was smacked away from the crying girl. Nao not only ruined her relationship with Hirok, his life, but also keeps ruining her other relationships. Nao leaned back into her chair, closing her eyes, praying the ground could swallow her whole and take her away from this situation. The girls then turn their eyes back on the screen, seeing Jackie dance with Hiroki, but also seeing something troubling coming. Kaede was the first to break the awkward silence that fell over the group, “I don’t like the look of this…”

As Jackie and V were dancing, four rough-looking men approached the duo, looking to do some harm. It then timeskips to V taking a swing at one of the goons, only for said goon to duck underneath it and deliver a nasty right hook, knocking V to the floor. V retaliated by kicking the guy back, but it did so little as he looked to his right and saw Jackie getting laid out by two of the other goons. The goon that knocked V down didn’t take it too kindly to get kicked back, so he made V taste the bottom of his boot, knocking the kid out. Stanley continues, “But you can only be a major league player for so long. The faster you live, the faster you burn out - if you don’t get a bullet to the brain first!”

“AH, FUCK!” Kanoko shouted, as all the girls just felt the sucker punk and stomp the Hiroki on screen. After recovering from the pain, Kaede recalled what Oso said earlier, and Stanley just said it as well, something about ‘major leagues’. This caused a pit inside Kaede’s stomach to form… and the only thing Kaede wanted to fill that void was some of ‘Mommy’s Special Juice’. She knew she had relapsed, she knew it was going to end terribly, yet it helped her escape the pain that is reality.

V is now looking down at his hand, and looking directly at a tooth that he most likely lost after getting stomped out from the previous encounter.

All the girls cringed at this, Kaede being the first to share her thoughts, “I know Hiroki would always get in fights… but at least he never lost a tooth from it…” Nao thought back to the first time in elementary school that she lost a tooth, and was terrified that all her teeth were going to fall out. As she wept, Hiroki went to her and brought her to the nurse’s office. It was so heroic in her 6-year-old mind, it was as if he were her prince in shining armor. It was at that moment that Nao believed she would grow up to marry Hiroki. Looking back at that memory now, it made her very depressed.

V tossed the tooth into the bathroom sink and looked back up at the mirror, showing his teeth to ensure he looked fine without the missing tooth. In the next scene, we see from the first-person perspective of V, kicking down a door, holding a pistol in his hand. Once inside, he meets a man holding a rifle, wearing a bulletproof vest, patrolman sunglasses, and a green beret. V quickly knocked the rifle away and pistol-whipped the rifleman. 

“HIROKI!!” Kaede shouted, scaring the girls around her. “JESUS MOM!” Kanoko yelped out of fright, “Can you calm down?” Kaede sharply looked at her daughter, “KANOKO, YOUR BROTHER IS GRIPPING A WEAPON AND HAD TO TAKE DOWN A GUY HOLDING A BIGGER GUN!” Ayumu huddled within herself, “I hope Hiroki-nii doesn’t get hurt…” she mumbled to herself, but was loud enough for Nao to hear. “I agree…” Nao thought, silently agreeing with Ayumu, not wanting to be vocal with her agreement due to how she exploded at Ayumu earlier. 

The scene jumps to V holding his pistol up, aiming it at a group of people, with Jackie on his right. They approach the group, and V walks up to what seems to be the leader of said group and presses the barrel of his gun to the leader’s temple. The leader snarled, but couldn’t do anything, letting V grab a blue carrier right next to the leader. After grabbing it, V and Jackie start walking backward away from the group, guns still aimed at them. The leader then stood up and did a ‘cut throat’ gesture with his thumb, relaying to the boys that if he ever catches them, they’re dead.

“We’re barely on the second episode of this crap and Hiroki already seems to be an enemy of a gang,” Kanoko stated out loud, her head resting on the palm of her hand, which is being propped up by the armrest of her chair. 

The screen jumps to V looking at Jackie holding up a screamsheet, pointing at an item so the weapon vendor can see exactly what he wants. It then shows the vendor placing four grenades on the counter, and V and Jackie grab a pair each. The vendor then brings a futuristic rifle, and V grabs it from him. While Jackie is inspecting the weapon, the vendor brings two gold-plated, custom-designed handguns that sort of resemble the Desert Eagle. Jackie instantly gives the rifle back to V and reaches for the two gold handcannons. Jackie then starts to mimic the cowboys of the older era, holstering and unholstering his pistols stylishly. Stanley’s monologue continues, “NC’s legends! Know where you’ll find most of ‘em?!”

Kaede's face was full of worry and panic, “M-m-maybe the guns are just used for protection?! Doesn’t mean he’ll kill some-” she began, but was cut off as the screen shows her eating her own words.

Stanley answers his own question, “The graveyard!” The scene switches to an alleyway shootout, still in the first-person perspective of V, firing the weapon he just acquired at the gun vendor shown in the last scene. He shoots from behind cover, randomly spraying. The person he was shooting at seemed to leave their cover, and V just ran out of bullets. V then leaves his own cover, throws the now-empty rifle to the enemy, and pulls out his pistol, shooting the enemy in both his kneecaps.

Kaede could do nothing but sob; she knew the world they were reacting to was drastically different, she knew that murder and dying were a common event in the streets, yet she wasn’t prepared to see her own son become a murderer. While Kaede was having her second emotional breakdown of the viewing, Kanoko was fired up! Her mind glossed over the fact that this was a real world they were reacting to, and that Hiroki essentially killed someone, but she didn’t care! It felt more like an action movie she was watching. Nao and Ayumu shared the same view, with both girls sharing that the actions Hiroki was doing on screen were making him even sexier.

V is now seen walking down the stairs of the Welles household, and goes to see Mama Welles, who’s on the couch reading a book. V hugs her and then leaves through the front door of the house, looking back at Jackie and Mama Welles, giving a farewell. Stanley's monologue continues, “Matters not where you’re from, matters not where you start.” The scene then jumps to V looking inside an empty apartment, boxes open and scattered in one corner, lights turned off, but V makes himself at home as he drops his duffel bag on the coffee table, kicks his feet up, and leans back into the sofa. Stanley continues, “What matters here is if you walk the walk.” 

Kaede stops her crying session to see Hiroki entering his new apartment. She knew the money he got to buy it was probably stained with blood, but she didn’t care at this moment. Right now, she felt like a proud mom, for her son was now a homeowner. However, she knew this wasn't technically her son; it was another Kaede’s son, it was another woman's child that she was proud of. So instead of being proud like she was a second ago, she was now saddened with herself, knowing she is the contributing factor to why the Hiroki in their world can’t become a homeowner.

V then gets up from his couch, walks to the bathroom, and looks at himself in the mirror. V now has a different shirt with what seems to be a lemon with a big gushing scar across its forehead, a mouth with jagged and missing teeth, an angry expression, and is injected with a syringe with a blue liquid inside. His arms are now much more visible, and veins run all across his arms, showing the training he does to be lean and strong. “In Night City,” Stanley continues.

All the girls blushed at this. They knew Hiroki was hot in this world, but they didn’t know his arms would be lean and veiny like this. “Oh God, I’m his MOTHER… but as it was brought to my attention just now… I’m technically not ‘his’ mother… oooo ‘Mommy’ can teach you some things if you’re a good boy Hiroki~” Kaede thought while biting her finger on her left hand. “Hiro-kun! You can’t be this sexy and be surprised if your big sis wants a taste for herself~” Kanoko thought, with her right hand gently rubbing her womanhood over her sweats. “Hiroki-nii! You can’t be this hot and make your kouhai all hot and bothered! It’s not fair~” Ayumu thinks while gripping the armrest on her chair, trying her best not to touch herself, wanting to prove to herself she isn’t some slut. Nao, however, did not give two shits, “FUCK HIROKI! IF I KNEW YOU WERE GOING TO BECOME LIKE THIS I WOULD’VE WAITED TO HAVE YOU! FUCK BERT, HIROKI IS SO DAMN FINE,” she thought, daydreaming about what Hiroki’s hands would look like as a necklace.

V then enters what appears to be an office room on the outside, but once he enters, it looks like a work station to tinker and modify weapons. The walls even have cutouts of katanas, grenades, pistols, and shotguns, assuming these are weapon racks to display multiple weapons that V will gather in his journey. V sets his duffel bag on the workbench, unzips it, and pulls back the weapon slide manually to see if there is a pistol within the chamber.

This action got the girls out of their hot and bothered mindset, and brought them back to reality that the Hiroki on screen is willing to kill and murder to achieve his goals. “... I just hope Hiroki-nii doesn’t kill good and innocent people…” Ayumu said, saying her thoughts out loud. Kaede added on to it, “Maybe Hiroki will be a pacifist and not kill to achieve his goal?” Kanoko looked over at her mom, still trying to get past what her mother said earlier, and the revelation Oso made to everyone about how she and her mother are incestuous creeps. Kanoko, still not over the words her mother said, scoffed at her remark. “Puh-lease, Hiroki killing someone? Like, I know this isn’t our Hiroki, but it’s still Hiroki. He doesn’t have the heart to end a person’s life like that; he cares about people too much.” Nao kept quiet, for she knew Hiroki, in fact, would kill if it meant protecting his loved ones. He made that declaration to her many times throughout their time together. Kanoko looked at Nao and deadpanned, “... did you forget that we literally saw him kill someone like 10 seconds ago?” Nao went to rebut but became silent, trying to find the words. She couldn’t, so she sat back in her seat, flustered.

The scene turns to black, and then switches to V viewing down the chamber of his pistol, but sitting in the driver's seat of a car. He looks up, and Jackie is sitting shotgun. Jackie speaks first, “Chick, we’re looking for somewhere in this building. Probably crawlin’ with the pendejos that kidnapped her. Eyes and ears open, all right?” Just then, an indicator on the screen shows [JAPANTOWN - HALF A YEAR LATER]. 

Kaede was shocked by this, “So in half a year Hiroki got a new car and an apartment?! What kind of work has he been doing to get that kind of mo-,” Then she stopped herself, for she saw the work Hiroki does to earn the money. 

Jackie turns to look at V, “Speakin’ of which… got you a little somethin’,” Jackie reaches into his pocket and brings out a shard, “Militech training shard. ‘Case you need to, uh, brush up on your dance moves. Down for some target practice in VR?” V grabs the shard, but doesn’t slot it, “Now now, Jack - no time. Maybe later.” “Sure, sure. Manana, manana…” V, after pocketing the shard, looks back at Jackie, “Wakako give you any tips and tricks for the job?” Jackie begins to tell V what Wakako exactly told him, “‘I’m not your mother. Just do what I pay you for. It’s easy work.’ Sh’yeah…” V decides it’s pointless to ask anything else, “Let’s do this,” he says before getting out of the vehicle. “Elevator, this way,” Jackie says as he’s leading V. Looking around the garage they’re in, it looks abandoned. Walls are tatted up with graffiti, worn-out seats and couches decorate the floor, boxes and boxes stack up in corners, and it’s barely lit, for a couple of the lights seem to have gone out.

The atmosphere gave the girls the hibbie-jibbies. Already, this mission feels like a bad idea. This garage looked abandoned years ago. Kaede silently prayed for her son, “Please keep my son safe…” Kanoko, Ayumu, and Nao continue to watch with baited breath, hoping for their sanity Hiroki is safe.

As Jackie approached the elevator door, it automatically opened. Jackie and V stepped inside. The interior of the elevator matched the garage decor: graffiti plastered on the walls, rundown floors, and exposed wiring. It felt more like a deathtrap than anything else. When they stepped inside, V was unable to tap the panel to take them to a higher floor. It looked like the mission was going to fail, until in V’s HUD, a hacker named T-Bug hacked the mainframe of the elevator panel and manually enabled the elevator to rise.

Kanoko was astonished by this, “HOW THE HELL DID A HACKER DO THAT, AND HOW THE HELL COULD HIROKI EVEN SEE IT BE DONE?” The other girls were just as shocked. How far has technology reached in this universe, and why is the technology in their universe isn’t different from it at all!

On V’s HUD, a notification of an incoming call from T-Bug popped up. V answers and T-Bug begins explaining the gig details, “Target’s Sandra Dorsett. Target’s biomon went mute a couple of hours back. Suspected abduction. Target could’ve possibly flatlined already. Not sure you’re in time.” Jackie responds to the negative outlook T-Bug has on the mission, “We’re in time, Bug - we. Sure, you’re on ‘phones, but… that doesn't make you any less a part of this squad.” T-Bug doesn’t let it slide, “‘Squad.’ Charming,” she responds in a sarcastic tone. V decides to give his two cents, “Bug, ya could at least try to be… nice,” in hopes of diffusing the situation. T-Bug did not find this helpful: “You want nice, supportive? Call a damn helpline.” Jackie just shrugs at this.

“Well, looks like we got a new member in the group!” Ayumu stated to the group, being Miss-Captain-Obvious. Kaede smiled at Ayumu’s outburst. She thought Ayumu’s energy was adorable, for it reminded her of a young Kanoko, while Kanoko did not react to this, for she had completely learned to tune out Ayumu being… well… Ayumu. As for Nao, she felt irritated by this, and she did not know why. She remembered how she blew up earlier at the young girl, but couldn’t pin down why she said the things she said. Was she always harboring these beliefs about the young girl? Was she scared that if she herself messed up once with Hiroki, Ayumu would swoop in and steal her man? While Nao had known Hiroki longer, they weren’t close in the early years like Hiroki and Ayumu were. She decided to keep to herself for now; hopefully, after this episode, she and Ayumu can talk.

The elevator stops, and as soon as the elevator door opens, Jackie unholsters his dual gold-plated pistols, ready for action. V follows right behind him and pulls out his pistol. As they walk down the graffiti and littered-floor hallway, T-Bug comes back on coms, “Lookin’ for twelve thirty-seven. Target should be inside, but I got zero eyes on her biomon. Fingers crossed it’s not too late. Ugh, hate this life or death shit. Hurry.” Just as she was saying this, a resident of the apartment complex walked out of her door and was immediately frightened by the presence of V and Jackie. V quietly shushed her and gestured for her to go back inside for her own safety. The old lady obliged and quickly hid back in her room. 

The girls at this moment were not watching with baited breath… What kind of situation did Hiroki get himself into? Why is Hiroki always putting himself in danger when it comes to saving people? “I just hope Hiroki doesn’t get too hurt…” Kaede thought to herself, gripping the armrests until her knuckles turned white. Kanoko had her arm resting on the armrests of her chair, and suddenly she felt someone grab onto her arm, as if they were clinging for their life. She looks over to her left and sees Ayumu latching on to her as if her life depended on it. Kanoko was so confused by this, but she felt a sort of familiarity with the feeling, for she remembers Hiroki would do the same whenever he was scared or nervous growing up. Right now, Kanoko knew she had to be a big sister, and she would not fail for a second time.

T-Bug continues her coms, “Try hackin’ the door. Think you can trip it on your own, V?” Just as he reaches the door, V’s HUD changes, and his vision becomes more highlighted to objects that can be hacked. Everything seems to have a green tint to it, and as he focuses on the door, the option to open it appears on his HUD. He clicks on the option, and the door opens magically.

“Well… that’s kind of scary to think anyone can do that…” Nao muttered, her voice low and tone somber, but it was loud enough for the other girls to hear. The other girls couldn’t add anything to her statement, for they were too worried about what was behind that door.

As V enters the apartment, everything looks like an ordinary living space. The only odd thing was the shelves near the front door, but besides that, nothing out of the ordinary. The floor was a mess, the ceiling was missing tiles, but due to the apartment complex looking like it was rundown, this was most likely a common issue throughout all the apartments.

The girls let out a sigh of relief, finally seeing what was behind the door. Thankfully, all it looked like was just a rundown apartment with trash littered. Kaede was the first to speak, “Well… thankfully nothing is there to harm Hir-” but the words were caught in her throat, as she saw Hiroki walk through the back door of the apartment, and the horror that was within that room.

Jackie took charge, leading the way, and as they entered the backroom, it looked like a clinic of some sort at first glance, but as they went deeper, what they saw was truly grotesque. Jackie notices a carcass on an operating chair; her chest is opened, eyes ripped out of their sockets, and overall, an unpleasant sight to see. “Grr, are we fuckin’ late? Is that her, IS that our target, V?!”

The girls were shocked and disturbed by what they saw; none of them could even begin to speak because they were too scared that they were going to throw up if they even opened their mouths. The most terrifying part to them was Jackie and Hiroki having zero problems with what they saw on the chair, mostly how they did not react to how badly mutilated the body was, as if it was a common thing to see in Night City. 

V scans the corpse and sees that the corpse has black market cyberware, which contradicts the cyberware Sandra Dorsett has. “Sandra Dorsett’s protected under echelon II corpo immunity. Our girl’s top shelf… This one’s packin’ black market Zetatech repros. Typical black-alley fix-ups. Not our lucky gal. Let’s keep lookin’.” 

“I just hope Hiroki-nii gets out safely…” Ayumu muttered, finally able to find her voice after seeing the corpse, a voice barely louder than a mouse squeak. Kanoko went to grab the young girl’s hand to reassure her. Kanoko didn’t say anything, for this was a chance for her to redeem herself from being a big sister. She failed with Hiroki; she would not fail again with Ayumu. Kanoko and Nao were just sitting there, stunned. They couldn’t do anything because the girls sitting right next to them hated them. All they can do is comfort themselves… they really were missing the warmth Hiroki provided.

Jackie stood next to a door leading further into the apartment, but right before V could enter, Jackie stopped him. “V, mira, eyes up, pendejos ahead,” Jackie whispered. The other room looked like the one prior. V notices a goon walking up to what seems to be a large cooler. V crouches and sneaks up right behind him. V quickly stands up, grabs the man, and in a split second, bashes the man’s head into the cooler, and shoves him inside to hide the body.

Ayumu yelped at this, looked away, and planted her face into Kanoko’s arm. Kanoko comforted the crying girl, stroking her hair to ease her nerves. Seeing Hiroki take a man’s life on the screen was not easy to stomach; all the girls felt sick and wanted to throw up, yet they hadn’t eaten anything all day, so there was nothing to throw up in the first place.

As V dumped the body inside the ice container, Jackie whispered loudly, “Nice. I couldn’ta done that better myself.” V then leaves the ice box and enters what seems to be a bathroom, with a gigantic hole in the wall on their left. The massive hole seems to be a convenient passageway between the apartment they were in and the one next door. As they go through the passageway, on their left, they see that the apartment next door also has a massive hole in the wall, and two goons are in the backroom of the second apartment. The backroom seems to be stocked with guns, ammunition, and blasting EDM. T-Bug comes back on the coms again, “On your toes. More badies incoming, they’re almost on you.” Jackie, crouching behind V, whispers, “Fistfuck these reapers. Oye, V! They’re comin’! Wait for your chance. Pick the prick off.” V and Jackie sneak past the hole in the wall. As they crouch behind a refrigerator, the two goons enter the passageway into the apartment and make a right, entering the first passageway into the bathroom. Jackie whispers to V as they pass, “Cabrones… thick as locusts. Let’s wait and plan a spree. Take one down! Just real quiet.” V nods and begins to sneak behind the two goons who had their back facing them, “Hey, grab the one closest. Let’s take ‘em… Suerte.” V gets behind the closest goon, puts them into a chokehold, and swiftly breaks their neck. 

After seeing Hiroki take out the second goon in a deadly fashion, the girls simply had to get over the fact that they would see their sweet boy, the boy they betrayed, the boy they tortured, kill in this world. Ayumu let go of Kanoko’s arm after some time, finally calmed down from the first life Hiroki took on camera. Kanoko whispered into Ayumu’s ear, “Ayumu, if you ever need to lean on someone, know that I’m always here for ya…” Ayumu looked up at the gal, and said, “Thank you…” in a low voice. Kaede had a hard time believing her boy would easily take a human’s life. She wondered how the Kaede in this universe went wrong; maybe she was just as bad as her.

After dropping the bodies, Jackie whispers to V, “All down, limp meat. But probably not the last of ‘em. Move on, move up. Right behind you, V.” V takes charge and reenters the second apartment, and makes his way to the backroom. V approaches the man closest to the entrance and pulls out a knife. V stands up and quickly stabs the man’s neck, with blood spewing out of him like he was a water balloon. V enters scanning mode and sees a fan he can operate that could potentially distract some of the goons. V activates, causing one of the two remaining goons to go look at it. V uses this time to sneak behind another goon and treat them the same way he treated the last one. As soon as V drops him, the enemy, distracted by the fan, hears the noise, and V quickly throws his knife at him, killing him on the spot. Unfortunately, a man who seems to be the head honcho saw this and quickly went to grab his machine gun. V quickly went back to scanning mode and short-circuited the man, but that did little to no damage. V, without many options left, ran to the body with the impaled knife and threw it at the boss, but that wasn’t enough to stop him. As a last resort, V pulled out his pistol and finished the boss quickly, but not without getting hit by some bullets.

“AHHH FUCK!” Kanoko screamed, clutching her stomach. The other girls followed suit, feeling as if they had just been shot, literally. “I’m going to hate this so fucking much…” Nao muttered, but she knew this had to be some sort of test; it has to be! There wouldn’t be a reason to endure this much pain if it meant nothing…

As soon as the boss’s body drops, T-Bug comes back online, “Don’t see any movement on the sensors. Looks like you got ‘im. You’re clear to go.” V quickly runs to an office room, the room the boss was standing in front of, “Shit, where the hell’s our target?!” V looks around frantically, “Look around, gotta be there somewhere,” T-Bug chimes, hopefully to calm down V. Jackie talks to V, “Guaua, ese. Flat out doubted we could be that sneaky. Well, that’s not my favorite way to roll, but… nova anyway.” V enters what seems to be a bathroom, and inside is a bathtub. “Jesus fuckin’ Christ…” V says out loud, disgusted by the sight that lies before him.

The girls weren’t ready to witness the inhumanity of what lay in that bathroom. Bodies were piled inside the bathtub alongside ice and water, as if they were trying to keep the bodies fresh. Kaede felt sick, but mustered up the courage to speak to the rest of the girls, “Girls, we must as well get used to these kinds of sights if this is the world this Hiroki lives in. We have to stomach everything if we ever want to figure out why Oso has us watching this.” Kanoko, still pissed at her mother for her earlier outburst, sighed in defeat, “Fine… but don’t think we’re cool all of the sudden, Kaede.” The pit in Kaede’s stomach grew bigger when her daughter addressed her by her first name by her daughter.

V rushes to the bathtub and pushes aside what seems to be a lifeless corpse, and underneath it is a naked woman with a buzz cut. V pulls her out of the tub, “Think I got her. Got our target.” T-Bug responds on coms, “We make it? She alive?” “About to find out.” T-Bug then directs V, “V, jack into her biomon. Need to know what we’re dealin’ with.” “Jackin’ in.” Jackie chimes in with his two cents, “Ooh, this does not look good…” V pulls out his neurolink and sticks it into a port on the side of the girl's head. In V’s eyes, a panel pops up with numbers and phrases that the author is too lazy to write or care for. V relays the information he sees to T-Bug, “Sandra Dorsett. NC570442. Trauma Team Platinum.” “Platinum? Shiiit, Trauma shoulda swooped in if she sneezed,” Jackie chimes in, adding effective commentary instead of helping. T-Bug instructs V what to do next, “Guessin’ they jammed the transmitter sig. Lookin’ at a hacked biomon, firmware reconfig or a neurovirus.” Jackie finally provides useful information on the coms, “Carajo, T-Bug! You ain’t seein’ this place. This is tubs, ice, hooks, and cleavers.” With this, T-Bug, finally having good information, concludes what could be hacking the victim’s biomon, “Hmm… Scopmuncher’s hack, huh. Got an idea. Check her neuroport. Find a shard? Yeah, pull it - that’ll be what’s muting the biomon.” V checks her neck and sees the shard sticking out, “Found the shard. Removing now.” V pulls the shard, “Check the biomon. Anything change,” T-Bug relays. Suddenly, the biomonitor begins to speak, “Greetings, Sandra. If you are conscious, assume recovering position now. An emergency evacuation unit has been dispatched and is due to arrive at your location in 180 seconds.” Sandra still begins to convulse and shake, “Biomon claims Trauma’ll be here in three minutes.” The Biomonitor continued, “Your premium plan will cover 90% of the projected costs of your rescue and treatment.” “Ay probecita, let’s get her off that ice,” Jackie said. V unplugs his neurolink and begins to drag Sandra out of the tub.

The girls let out a sigh of relief they had no idea they were holding, “I wish health insurance was that good for us back home…” Kaede commented, jealous that Sandra’s health insurance would cover 90% of the cost. Kanoko, Ayumu, and Nao looked at each other and just shrugged, boiling down that Kaede's comment was more aligned with adulting. “At least Hiroki saved the girl… wait, what’s happening?!” Nao’s commentary got cut off with what was lying on the screen.

As Sandra is being pulled out, her body starts convulsing much harder, scaring V, “Aw, fuck!” “She’s flatlinin’,” Jackie added. V gently puts Sandra on the floor, T-Bug rushes back on coms, “V, need to know what’s goin’ on!” Without thinking, V shouted at Jackie, “Jackie, airhypo! Fuck, this is bad!” Jackie quickly turns around and tosses the medicine to V, “Ey, catch, vato!” V catches it midair, primes it as soon as he catches it, and instantly injects it into Sandra’s chest. Thankfully, the medicine worked, “I think…! Holy shit, it worked,” V exclaimed, relieved that his quick thinking worked. V began to pick up Sandra again.

The girls yet again let out ANOTHER sigh of relief, and after regaining themselves, Ayumu asks the important question, “I wonder if Hiroki is staring at her boobs.” The girls slowly looked at her, wondering how that was the only question she had in this world. Kanoko wanted to laugh so bad, but from a quick glare from her mother, she calmed down. While Nao sat there questioning why Hiroki made some of the weirdest friends ever!

As V picks Sandra up, Jackie provides more great coms, “Fuera, cabron. Get her outside!” Jackie stands by, eyes on the doorway in case any more enemies come to see the commotion, but he sees it’s empty, “Hm… Scavrats abandoning ship. Musta seen Trauma, decided to cut their losses.” As V moves closer to the terrace, Jackie, once again, provides great coms, “Fuera, get ‘er out! Terrace.” While standing out there on the terrace, the buildings are littered with neon signs, and smoke clouds cover looking further in the alley. Suddenly, a flying vehicle emerged from the clouds, announcing its arrival, “Landing, stand clear! Initiating security protocol. Follow all instructions.” As soon as the vehicle was parallel with the terrace, it opened its side hatch, and a medical team wielding weapons came out, pointing at the duo. A soldier stepped forward and placed a package on the floor that expanded into a bed. “Place the patient on the ground,” the soldier shouted at V. As V approached and placed Sandra on the bed, a soldier came and shoved V back, “Five steps back. Now.” V just looks on as they defliberate Sandra. As soon as they leave, V turns around to face Jackie. “Let’s get outta here. Elevator gets us to the garage direct.” Jackie then begins to walk to leave the apartment, and V follows suit. T-Bug comes back on coms to sign off, “Good work. Shitshow’s over. Cuttin’ my wires now. See ya in the near future.” 

Kaede clapped at this, “Yay, Hiroki is safe!” Ayumu wasn’t far behind, “Woohoo!” Kanoko smiled at Ayumu’s reaction… It reminded her so much of Hiroki when they used to watch their morning anime together. Nao felt relieved seeing Hiroki okay after having to fight a couple of goons. However, there was this feeling she had in her chest whenever Hiroki carried that chick, her name was Sandra, wasn't it? The way Hiroki held her, as if she were delicate and fragile, taking care of her every step of the way, she didn’t like it. Why did Hiroki have to hold her that way? Why couldn’t he just carry her on his shoulder, and why did it make her angry? Was she jealous? There is no reason for her to be jealous! She cheated on Hiroki, she made his life a living hell, she betrayed him, and this isn’t even her Hiroki, so why did it hurt her so much? While Nao pondered this, the screen still kept going.

While walking out, Jackie asks V a question, “Listen, mono, I got this thing. Mind if I borrow your wheels?” “Hmmm…” Jackie continues, “I got a date with Misty, but… heh, I can’t take the metro! How’s that gonna look for me?” As they walked out of the apartment, it was simply taking a left turn, and they were right at the elevator. “Won’t leave you hangin’, Jack. But don’t get used to it.” The elevator doors open, “Aah, savin’ my ass, V, thank you. Now, about I drive you home, eh?” The duo enters, and it closes right behind V, “She’s all yours. I’m beat as it is.” “Oh, almost forgot. Should get Wakako on the holo - tell her the job’s done.” V puts up his contact list on his HUD and calls Wakako Okada. “Ahem! V? How did it go? Our client is alive and well?” Wakako asks, and Jackie punches the elevator button to go down. “‘Course she’s alive and well. That’s what we agreed, isn’t it?” Wakako is pleased, “Splendid. Your payment awaits you - ready to come and grab whenever you like, even right away. But I guess home is the only place you wish to be now. The NCPD has surrounded Watson. The district is closed. If you are to make it past the cordon, you must move fast.” The elevator door rings open. “Thanks for the heads-up. Swing by to see you later.” V ends the call and follows Jackie as he exits the elevator.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I really like these moments where it’s just seeing Hiroki talk…” Kanoko said out loud, with the girls not missing what her underlying meaning meant. They all missed his voice, they missed his laugh, his jokes, his arrogance, his actions; they just missed Hiroki. So with these moments of just hearing him talk or shooting the shit with Jackie or whoever feels like their Hiroki is still with them. “Speaking of which, Jackie said he’s got a date with a girl named ‘Misty’. You think it was that bobbed girl we saw earlier in the montage?” Kaede asked. Nao and Ayumu then thought the same thing, “I wonder if Hiroki is in a relationship right now…” and both hated the possibility of that.

“Word’s out the NCPD gonna put Watson on lockdown. If I’m gonna sleep in my own bed tonight, we better put it in fifth,” V told Jackie. “Leave it to me, mano, I’m drivin’.” They approach the car, V gets in the shotgun, while Jackie takes the driver. As they pull out of the parking structure, the song ‘GR4VES’ by Konrad OldMoney comes on the radio. As they drive through the neon lights of Night City, Jackie strikes up a conversation, “Can’t stop diggin’ Night City.” V scoffs, “City like any other. Just bigger.” Jackie chuckles, “Nah, mano. Not just any other city. Morgan Blackhand, Andrew Weyland, Adam Samsher. Legends are born here.” The car gets quiet, letting the song fill the void, until Jackie cuts the silence, “Man, I’m starvin’. Let’s grab a tight-bite. Whaddaya say?” V looks at Jackie with a “you-fucking-kidding-me?” look, “Jackie - they’re lockin’ down Watson, ‘member?” “Ah, shit. You’re right.”

Nao was the first to speak, “I like they’re dynamic. I know at first I thought Hiroki was making a big mistake, but seeing how they bounce off one another, it’s nice.” “I can’t believe I’m agreeing with the slut, but yeah, they do,” Kanoko said with a shit eating grin. Nao quickly snapped her head to the left and looked over Ayumu to look directly at Kanoko, “HEY! You can’t call me a slut when you’re just as big as me!” Kanoko fired back, “Well, if it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t be in this mess now, would we?!” While Nao and Kanoko kept bickering at each other, Ayumu was the one being drowned out, “Guys-” “Well, if his BIG SISTER had PROTECTED HIM instead of selling him out, maybe he wouldn’t need to feel he had to carry all the weight!” “Guys-” “Well, if his GIRLFRIEND was LOYAL and went straight to him about what she went through, maybe he wouldn’t need to prove SOMETHING!” “Guys-” “Well maybe if-” “GUYS!” Kanoko and Nao now looked at Ayumu, who shouted, catching their attention, “WHAT,” they said in unison. “LOOK,” Ayumu said, pointing at the screen. With that direction, Kanoko and Nao snapped their heads back towards the screen, and what they saw did not look good.

Jackie starts looking in the rear view mirror, “Is it just me or…” V does as well and sees a van tailing them. Suddenly, it switches lanes, “Agh, fuckin’ knew it! Van on our ass - tailin’ us,” Jackie says. The van speeds up and gets right in front of them, “Chingado. I don’t like this, V. Not one tiny bit.” Suddenly, the back doors of the van open, and two gangsters are there holding firearms.

“HIROKI,” all the girls shouted, in fear for the boy’s life. “Why can’t Hiroki just have a quiet moment?” they all thought in unison.

V quickly leaned out the passenger window, gun drawn, “Scavs! Hijos de puta,” Jackie yells. In a couple of shots, V takes down one gunner, “Fuckin’ drive, Jackie” he shouts at Mr. Welles. Jackie, trying to dodge traffic and escape the V, provides even more incredible commentary: “Come on, V, shoot!” V quickly reloads his pistol, while verbally firing back at Jackie, “Can’t! Keep her steady!” V then disposes of the second guy in the back of the van. The van takes a sharp left turn, catching Jackie off guard, “Hold tight, V,” and he has to swerve onto the sidewalk and barely misses two civilians just walking and minding their own business.

The girls, after recovering from the hits Hiroki just took, cheered, believing that Hiroki and Jackie got away, but just a couple of seconds later, their cheering would mean nothing. “Are you fucking kidding me?” Kanoko bemoaned as the van suddenly became parallel with Jackie and Hiroki.

The van re-emerges, and Jackie shouts, “Mierda, perdon!” V doesn’t take a second and quickly shoots the driver, headshotting him, making the van stop at a standstill. Jackie quickly speeds up to get away from the scene, “Got you assholes!” V gets back into the car and lets out a sigh of relief, “Argh. Scratched your baby up pretty bad. Sorry, V.” V chuckles at Jackie for being more worried about the car, “It’s OK - it can wait. Let’s just focus on gettin’ home.”

Kaede cheered once again, clapping at Hiroki surviving yet another life-threatening situation. Nao was so tired of all the violence, especially since it affected her physical being too, “Ughhh, is every episode going to cause pain on us?” Kanoko and Ayumu, on the other hand, were gushing at how cool Hiroki looked when he headshotted the driver so quickly, “Kanoko-chan, did you see Hiroki-nii quickly aimed at the driver?” Ayumu asked Kanoko. “Yeah, that shit was pretty cool, huh?” Kanoko responded, trying to be nonchalant but failing due to her fangirling over her little brother. 

V and Jackie approach the bridge that leads into Watson, and barriers seem to line up alongside the entrance with ‘NCPD’ written across them in neon lights. They reach the checkpoint, and it’s filled with concrete barriers, police cars, and even a damn mech suit. “Damn. They’re pullin’ out all the stops,” Jackie says, providing excellent commentary. A female officer comes to the driver's side and starts asking questions, “Watson’s on lockdown till further notice. Necessary security measure.” Jackie tries to ‘charisma check’, “Officer, ma’am! Damn are we ever lucky we ran into you.” “Really… What’s it that makes me so special?” It works, but then comes a harder one. “Aa, a heart o’ gold? ‘Cause only somebody with a heart o’ gold can understand just how much I need to get back to my girl.” “Your… girl,” the charisma check fails, and now Jackie is fumbling the bag. “Uh-huh. Gonna be worried sick if I don’t show. I mean, I’m tryin’ to be a stand-up guy. She is giving me a chance, waiting.” The officer is not pleased, “Hm… that’s a shame.” V now has to step in to save the day, “Look at ‘im. No model citizen, maybe, but he’s a good kid.” The officer left the driver's side window and raised her arm, “Let them through. But they’re the last.” She walks back to the window, “Okay, on your way.” Jackie nervously responds, “You have a good evening, now, officer… ma’am.”

“Well, they couldn’t make that any more awkward than it was…” Nao muttered, realizing that Jackie is more like their Hiroki than, well, the actual Hiroki in this world. Ayumu giggled, “Yeah, well… It was a cute attempt!” Kaede, watching Jackie stumble around, recalled a memory of when Nao came to visit and Hiroki was bashful throughout the entire time. She thought Hiroki looked so adorable, but she then remembered that was the day Bert came to visit… It was the same day he made her record that video of throwing away her motherly vows. Kaede began to cry, and Kanoko heard her, “Mo- Kaede, you okay?” Kanoko looked over at her mother, who had tears in her eyes; Kaede quickly recovered and forced a smile at Kanoko, “E-everything is fine, dear… just… reminiscing.” Kanoko gave her mother a raised eyebrow, but simply shrugged and continued to watch.

After the officer stepped away from the vehicle, Jackie began to drive off. After leaving the police checkpoint, V strikes up the conversation, “So you can be nice when you feel like it.” Jackie gave V an irritated look, “When am I not nice?” V shot Jackie a look of confusion as Jackie’s comeback was really dumb, “Umm… always?” Jackie, displaying his incredible argument ability, responds with, “I’m always never not nice.”

Ayumu thought this interaction was so funny, it reminded her of when she and Hiroki would hang out in the judo room after school. Sometimes they wouldn’t even be sparring; they would just talk as friends about random topics. She cherishes those memories and is grabbing on to them for dear life because if she lets them slip, she will never be able to find purpose in her life.

As Jackie and V continue to drive back to V’s apartment, they stumble upon an ongoing carjacking. Jackie speaks up, “... Check it out, V. Shit’s goin’ down.” As the four carjackers pull the driver out of the vehicle, a hovercraft of sorts begins to hover over them, and one of the thieves exclaims, “SHIT THEY’RE HERE,” with another responding, “FUCKIN’ SHOOT!” However, the armored hovercraft was dealt no damage, and instead, the side door fully opened, with two armored personnel jumping off it onto the street. They quickly dispatched two goons, and one tried to flee, yet was riddled with bullets to the point the car behind him caught aflame. The last goon had the idea of hiding behind the car and hopefully surprise-attacking them, yet he was quickly dispatched as soon as he left cover. V gave his two cents, “Doesn’t look like your average bust…” Jackie then explains to V who the personnel is, “‘Cause they ain’t your average badges. That’s MaxTac - NCPD’s apex predators. MTac rolls in when things fly outta hand. Gonks out there, though, just a midday snack for ‘em.” After eliminating the goons, the hovercraft parks onto the street, with a guard guiding Jackie to go ahead, “Welp, show’s over. Poor bastards… but they had it comin’,” Jackie comments.

Kaede felt that pit in her stomach. Every time the screen showed any type of violence, her mom's instincts would go haywire. She was so nervous for her baby; she didn’t want any type of harm done to him, but what can she do? This world seems to run on violence, sex, and crime. Not only that, but she knows she is being hypocritical. She failed her own Hiroki, and now she’s over here worried about another one when she should’ve taken care of hers in the first place! Kaede leaned back into her chair, more depressed than she already was.

Jackie pulls into a parking structure, “Made it. Almost at your place.” V wonders how Jackie is going to be able to go back home, “What about you? Not likely to make it back to Heywood now…” “Chill, V, they’ll let me through,” Jackie tries to reassure V, but he ain’t buying it, “Sure about that?” Jackie laughs at this, “Oh yeah, I’ll play nice Jackie again.”

“Pshh, like you didn’t need Hiroki’s help to get past the cop,” Kanoko scoffed at Jackie’s confidence. She did find it endearing, and he did remind her of her own Hiroki; however, no point in fawning over another man when that man was taken. Also, no point in doing so when he’s from another damn world. 

Jackie pulls up in front of an elevator, parks, and turns to look at V, “Sweet dreams, then.” V daps up Jackie, “Tell Misty I said ‘Hi.’,” and exits his car. Jackie calls out, “I will. Ahi luego,” and drives off. V steps into the elevator to go up to his apartment, and he gets a call from T-Bug, “Forgot earlier - a runner I know has somethin’ you could probably use. Zippin’ you her detes.” With that, T-Bug hangs up, leaving V alone. The elevator comes to a stop, and V steps out into a dirty and littered hallway, graffiti on the wall, vending machines looking worn down; it somewhat resembles the apartments V and Jackie entered earlier to save that girl. V walks down the hallway and stops in front of his apartment. He opens the door, and inside looks to be a nice, humble abode; however, the screen doesn’t show a lot as V enters the shower to clean the blood and sweat accumulated from the mission.

Seeing Hiroki go to the shower got the girls excited; maybe they could see what was ‘under the hood’. Nao and Ayumu were practically salivating at the thought of a lean but well-endowed punk Hiroki dominating them. “I wonder if Hiroki-nii will let me be on top…” Ayumu thought while sexually biting her finger. Nao, on the other hand, “FUCK! Imagine his veiny hands around my neck as he treats me like his little slut,” daydreamed as she began to bite her lip, slipping her hand into her PJ bottoms. Kanoko and Kaede, on the other hand, were trying their best to fix their incestuous fantasies, but this showing wasn’t helping them in the slightest. However, before their thoughts could be descended into lust, their hopes of seeing Hiroki’s ‘master sword’ were crushed as the camera only showed the upper body. “COME ON! GIVE US MORE EYE CANDY AT LEAST!?!?!” Nao and Ayumu shouted at the same time. Kanoko and Kaede were taken aback by their sudden outburst; they couldn’t register what either girl said. 

The screen showed V standing in the shower, washing his hair as he sings, with the camera moving backward, showing more and more of V’s body; however, due to the temperature of the showers, the glass shower door fogs up, cockblocking the viewers from seeing V’s package.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO,” Ayumu and Nao screamed, even more furious about getting cock-blocked (clit-blocked?) by the screen. Kaede and Kanoko just sweatdropped at the sight of the two girls, wondering how they became such sexual deviants, until they realized they actually knew the reason why, and decided they couldn’t judge them one bit.

The next scene shows V stepping out of the shower with a towel around his waist, and walking to his closet to change into simple gym shorts and a wife-beater. 

Ayumu decided to take her small ‘W’s’, “You know, it may not be exactly what I wanted to see, but it’s still nice to see!” Nao just gave a girl a ‘are-you-fucking-kidding-me-?’ look, for she had no idea why Ayumu tries to find a positive in EVERY scenario; It was one of the reasons Nao hated her before arriving in the theater, for she was afraid if she ever messed up with Hiroki Ayumu would still him from her… she was in-fact so wrong about that.

As soon as V got done changing, he went straight to his bed, not even tending to the apartment, and as soon as he hit the sheets, he was fast asleep.

The screen turns off.