chapter1 · 008-ep8
Episode 8: The Next Victim
Wednesday, closing homeroom.
The teacher stood at the lectern with a face even more exhausted than the morning's.
At this point, the sickly pallor was basically becoming his default.
"So... as I said this morning, everyone goes straight home. No detours."
The classroom's air stayed heavy.
Third-year Awakeners, attacked.
Multiple of them.
The school was visibly on edge too — teachers had been filing in and out all day starting from lunch.
"Avoid being alone wherever possible. If anything seems off, contact the school or the police immediately. Understood?"
Told "understood" — but the bar for what counts as "off" doesn't exist anymore.
I mean, the situation itself is plenty off.
"That's all. Get home safe."
With that one line, homeroom finally ended.
The scrape of chairs rang out all at once.
But there was none of the usual after-school lightness.
Everyone was quietly aware of everyone else.
Naturally.
After hearing that third-year Awakeners got attacked, not many people feel like strolling home alone.
I slung my bag over my shoulder and stood.
Today I'd promised to walk with Sōsuke.
Not that it's some big arrangement.
We're just walking the same stretch partway.
If that alone buys a little peace of mind, it's cheap.
When I stepped out of the entrance, Sōsuke was already waiting.
The moment he spotted me, his expression loosened a little.
"H-hey."
"Yo."
We fell in and started walking.
Sōsuke was quieter than yesterday.
Probably the morning homeroom still sitting on him.
Well, fair enough.
"Third-year Awakeners attacked, multiple victims" — the people who can hear that and stay calm are the unusual ones.
"...Thanks for today."
Sōsuke said it quietly as we walked.
"Don't worry about it. Apparently I've gotta walk with somebody anyway."
"It is scary being alone, huh."
"Don't be so scared."
"Can't help it..."
Fair.
Sōsuke, in his own way, has oddly sharp instincts.
He's the type where anxiety runs ahead of everything, and at a time like this the extra imagining just won't stop.
We walked together for a while.
By the time we entered the residential district, the school commotion had faded behind us.
But Sōsuke's tension hadn't really unwound.
He's an easy read.
At the fork, Sōsuke stopped.
"W-well, I go this way."
"Yeah."
"Um... thanks for today."
"Yeah, yeah."
Sōsuke gave a small, wry smile, then a small wave.
"See you tomorrow."
"Later."
Sōsuke headed off down his own way home.
I gave his back a brief glance, then turned down my own street.
After that,
Sōsuke walked alone through the narrow streets of the residential district.
The sun hadn't fully set yet.
But the evening light was already thinning out.
Maybe because he'd been with Ren until a moment ago, being alone now made him feel suddenly defenseless.
Sōsuke walked faster without realizing it.
It's fine.
It's just overthinking, probably.
Even that stuff at lunch — half of it was probably him scaring himself.
He had to think so, or it felt like he wouldn't even make it home alone.
But right then.
"Hey."
A voice from behind, and his shoulders jumped.
He turned around.
Standing there was Sakagami Yūdai.
Behind him, three more guys.
All still in uniform.
But they felt far more unpleasant than they had inside the school.
"Huh? Wh-what is it?"
Sōsuke's voice cracked pathetically.
Seeing the reaction, Sakagami smiled a little.
"So you're an Awakener, huh."
Sōsuke's throat clicked dry.
"...!"
"I was listening at lunch."
A light tone.
Light, and not light at all.
"That kind of thing carries, you know. Even when you whisper."
The blood drained from Sōsuke's face.
He'd heard.
The lunch conversation.
The sheets.
Even the part about someone maybe narrowing down the Awakeners.
"Truth is, we're working through the third-years first."
Sakagami's mouth loosened just a little.
"You're the only special case."
"Wh-why... me?"
At the question, Sakagami gave a tiny shrug.
"The stuff we're doing — beating down Awakeners — it's gonna come out eventually."
He took a step, closing the distance to Sōsuke.
"And we'd rather it not come out too soon."
Sōsuke couldn't say anything.
There was no way he could.
"Which is where you come in."
Sakagami smirked.
"You'd already figured out what those sheets meant by lunch, hadn't you."
"...!"
"Sharp little brats like you are such a pain."
In that instant, something inside Sōsuke ended.
Oh no.
By the time he thought it, it was too late.
The first hit came from the side.
Someone's fist caught his cheek.
His vision swam.
"...Agh...!"
As he staggered, a knee drove into his stomach.
His breath cut out.
The air crushed out of his lungs, no sound coming.
"Whoa, so weak."
"The third-years yesterday put up more of a fight."
Laughter.
Sōsuke's hands found the ground.
It hurts.
It just hurts.
But more than that, it's terrifying.
His body curls in on its own.
Tries to protect his head.
The kicks still come.
Shoulder.
Side.
Back.
All of them heavy.
"S-stop..."
"What was that?"
Sakagami crouched down.
He took a light grip of Sōsuke's hair and forced his face up.
"Don't go thinking anything extra."
Those eyes were strangely cold.
Not the inflated face he wore at school, either.
Rawer. Nastier.
"Just shut up and stay scared, and that's all this has to be."
The next instant, another fist sank into his stomach.
Sōsuke's body folded.
A kick from the side into that.
And another one into him where he lay.
"Ohh?"
The short-haired guy spoke up.
Sakagami narrowed his eyes, like he was checking a window.
"It went in."
At those words, all three behind him reacted at once.
"For real?"
"Ooh — XP?"
Sakagami's brow ticked slightly, and then he snorted.
"...Wait, THAT little!?"
A beat late, all of them burst out laughing.
"That's way too little."
"Weaklings really are inefficient."
"The third-years were way better."
Laughter.
For Sōsuke, the conversation wouldn't properly enter his head.
Between the pain and the terror, there was no room.
Only one thing came through, vaguely: that the reason he was being beaten was, to them, half a game.
And that made it scarier.
"Whatever."
Sakagami stood.
"Worked fine as an example."
He toed Sōsuke's stomach, lightly.
It was supposed to be light. It wasn't light at all.
Sōsuke couldn't manage a proper voice anymore.
"If you go saying anything weird to anyone—"
Sakagami said it, looking down at him.
"—next time won't end this nicely."
At those words, a chill ran the length of Sōsuke's spine.
Laughing, Sakagami and the others left.
Sōsuke couldn't move from that spot for a while.
The asphalt was cold.
His breathing was shallow.
His vision swam.
When he tried to get up, his body wouldn't take strength.
"...Hah..."
It hurts.
A kind of pain he'd never felt before.
Cheek, stomach, back — everything hot and heavy.
A little later, from somewhere far off, he heard voices.
"Hey— are you okay!?"
An adult's voice. One he didn't know.
Footsteps running closer.
Another voice.
"An ambulance! Call an ambulance!"
Only then did Sōsuke understand that he couldn't stand on his own.
He couldn't get home.
Not alone.
He hadn't gone so far as to black out.
But the point where he could have managed under his own power was long, long past.