Game

Miku's Residence, Den-en-chōfu, Tokyo, Japan - Midnight 

Miku Takasawa

It’s been three days since Kenta vanished. Three long, suffocating days.

And now Ryu’s… different.

He still smiles at me, holds my hand, and walks me home as usual. But something about his eyes. It’s like they’re searching for something behind my face. I can feel it. He knows something. And tomorrow he asked me to go to the school rooftop to 'talk'.

The thought keeps clawing through my skull, no matter how many times I tell myself to stop.
Someone must’ve told him about everything.
But who?

Reine? No. She’s too stupid to plan something like that.
Yumeko? Maybe… She’s been strange lately, avoiding eye contact with me, answering my texts late.
Or maybe…

Could it be him?
Kenta.

I bite my lip hard enough to taste blood.
That bastard. That fucking dropout moron. Did he… did he tell Ryu everything before he disappeared?
But how does he disappear now? If he truly did that, he would have blackmailed me for a bunch of rounds in Kabukicho by now. And I would have complied....doing everything to hide the truth from Ryu...
No, he couldn’t have. Papa said he shut down the billiard bar. That’s all.  Papa wouldn’t...
Papa wouldn’t do that to him, right?

Then who did this? 

I’ve been careful. Always careful.
No one saw me talk to those other boys after I blocked them.
No one saw what I did to those girls before.

So how?
How does Ryu look at me now with those quiet, distant eyes?

I remember the way he held me the other day. The way he said he needed me.
His voice was trembling as if he were saying goodbye.

I don’t.....deserve him. I know that. I’m not the kind of girl anyone should love.
But when he touches me… when he says my name…
I almost believe I could be someone better. I want to become a better person for him. To be 'normal'

I press my palm against my chest, trying to calm the pounding beneath.
If I lose him…
No. 

No....

I can’t lose him. Not now.

I’ll find out who’s behind this.
Whoever tried to tear him away from me…

I’ll burn their world to ash.

================================================================================

Hikarigaoka School Rooftop - Afternoon

The wind was colder up here than I remembered. The sky was pale red, the kind of color that made everything feel too eerie. Ryu stood there, leaning his arms against the rail, eyes lost somewhere beyond the schoolyard.

For a second, I hoped he was going to say something ordinary. Like he always did. Something small. Something safe. But then he turned around. And everything in his face told me I was wrong.

“...Miku...”
Just that. But it sounded like the end of something.
"Why.....why'd you do this to me?" 

He gave me an envelope with photos of all of my other boyfriends, who are already exes at this point, even though I never made it official to them. I could have told them they are my exes, but the photos have dates and all of their names written behind them. 

I....wanted to laugh. To say that’s not real, to grab his hand, to beg him not to believe it.
But the look in his eyes stopped me.
He wasn’t angry.
He was sad.

"...Ryu....I...." I couldn't even finish my sentence....

“I don’t want to believe it, Miku. I really don’t. But… it feels like..... like I never really know who you are anymore....Just tell me, is this real?”

My throat tightened.
I wanted to scream that it’s not true, but... my mouth... couldn’t move. Deep down, part of me knew there was truth in what he said. 

The silence stretched between us.
All I could hear was the wind and the faint sound of students laughing below.
It felt so distant, as if I was dragged into another world of despair.

“I....I'm sorry...” I finally whispered, my voice trembling.
He didn’t look at me.
Just stepped back, eyes down.

“So it was true...” he said softly. "Thanks for everything..."

He turned around before I could reach him
Before I could say Please don’t go!

The sound of his footsteps faded down the stairwell,
And suddenly the air was too heavy to breathe; it felt like a thousand knives went through my chest.

I stood there alone,
the wind tugging at my hair,
my heart burning like someone had hollowed it out.

I want to cry. But no tears ever came. Somewhere inside me, I knew I deserved this.

================================================================================

Rouge Garden Bar, Shibuya, Tokyo - Night

The pink neon outside spilled across the wet pavement like spilled paint. I pushed through the bar's door, and the warm, sticky air hit me: laughter, cheap perfume, the faint tang of booze. The room seemed to blur for a second; my eyes narrowed down to two faces at the far end of the counter.

Yumeko and Reine. Laughing, flipping their hair, like nothing had happened in these last three days of my life.

I walked toward them slowly, letting the click of my heeled boots announce me. The chatter around us dimmed into a soft hum. They looked up when I slid into the seat opposite. I should have kept it soft, played the part. But something inside me had snapped clean.

“Gimmie that wine,” I snagged the wine bottle and chugged it, and my voice was colder than I intended. Not a joke. Not a tease. The two of them exchanged a glance that said, ‘This isn’t good.’

Yumeko tried to laugh it off. “Miku? Is your princess's head okay? You look pale, ma'am.”

Pale. Yeah right. Like I hadn’t been finishing people off with my smile for years. I gripped the edge of the bar so hard my nails ached.

“Don’t fucking play dumb, whores.” I said. The words came out sharper than I meant them to be. My jaw felt like it was made of stone. “Which one told Ryu about my other eight??”

Yumeko seems annoyed. The little twitch at her mouth, the way she frowned. Reine looked more freaked out as she looked away to the empty side of the bar seat.

“Why are you even snappin' like this, girl? You think we have a motive to do that?” Yumeko spat.

I leaned forward, close enough that the flare of my nostrils. My voice dropped, low and dangerous.

“Oh, you think I don't know what you think about me, Yumeko? I always know you want to be the 'Queen' of our trio. You always wait for this moment, didn't you???” I felt the words like a blade. It surprised me how angry I sounded; neither of them moved an inch.

"Are you out of your mind, bitch? What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Yumeko screamed out of anger.

Reine’s hand trembled around her glass. “M-Miku-chan… we’d never-”

“You fucking would. Because when things get messy, people like attention, and they love having the power to ruin the hierarchy. Tell me right now. Which one of you did it?”

Both of them were silent as dead bodies. 

"ANSWER MY FUCKING QUESTION, WHORES!"

Reine’s eyes went wide and wet. Nothing like the bright, cruel friend I’d known. She blinked hard and shook her head. “I-I didn’t even know what you're talking about, Miku.”

“Then who?” I demanded, my voice breaking on the last word in a way that made both of them flinch. Tears burned hot behind my eyes, and I hated myself for it. I hated that the sound of my own fear made me feel small.

Yumeko finally met my gaze properly, “You don’t have to threaten us like this. You’re scaring us.” Her lips looked exactly annoyed by this situation.

“I’m not trying to scare you, I’m trying to find the one who’s trying to take everything away from me....j-just....Tell me who would do this.”

Reine’s voice was a whisper. “We don’t know, Miku....”

I wanted to tear the truth out of their mouths. I let the silence sit heavy between us, tasting it. The bar’s noise crept back in as other patrons resumed conversation, but our little triangle was frozen, a photograph of hostility and fear. Yumeko's eyes seemed to hate me, and Reine's eyes were already red and swollen. 

“You two better not be keeping things from me. If I find out you lied, if I find out any of you handed the photos to him, there won’t be a single soul left on you. By morning, your body would be as cold as frozen beef. Understand?”

They swallowed. Boundaries shifted. The friends who’d laughed with me over cheap whiskey looked like refugees. I felt a small, ugly triumph at that. I told myself it was because I needed them to be afraid of betraying me. Fear would make people obey.

Yumeko’s lower lip trembled. Reine dabbed her eyes with a napkin like she was trying to hide something. “We understand,” Yumeko said, voice raw.

I studied them for a long moment, listening for the lie. Maybe there wasn’t one. Perhaps someone else had reached Ryu? The doubt didn’t leave me; it festered. I can't trust anyone at this point. But in that moment, I had a feeling it wasn't any of them, not Yumeko and definitely not Reine. I did it because I want to believe it's as simple as that. The culprit is in one of our groups, and it would have been easier to clean up....

“Good. If anything else happens, if Ryu finds another envelope, that’ll be on your heads.”

They both flinched, and the hurt in their faces made something like pity blink in my chest. I paid the tab, stood, and pushed my chair back so violently the legs scraped. I went through the door into the Shibuya night, and rain started pouring down, the neon and noise swallowing my figure. The city breathed around me, and I tasted iron at the back of my throat.

I’d promised myself I wouldn’t fall apart. I lied to myself and to them. Out here, under the flickering lights and soft rain, the only thing I could think of was that if someone had betrayed me, they’d pay. If someone had told Ryu, they’d pay. But is this truly a betrayal, though? What if the culprit is not in any of my circles...? 

I should meet Ryu now and explain everything before it's too late. It's a weekday night, so he's probably training in Nakano.

================================================================================

Nakano Gym, Tokyo - Night

I came to see him.

That was all I wanted. To explain everything.
Maybe he’d still hate me, he’d walk away again…
But at least he’d hear the truth from me. 

The evening air outside the gym was thick and wet; the glass wall was fogged just enough to blur what was inside. I clutched the strap of my bag tight, gathering what little courage I had left, then peered through the window. Slightly, I could see what's happening from the outside despite the heavy rain.

And there he was.
My Ryu.

His sweat dripped down his jaw as he moved on with his training mitts, focused, steady, handsome in any way only he could be. 

But then… I saw that bitch.

Chisa.

White sports bra, hair in a ponytail, hands clad in pink boxing gloves, her laughter carrying even through the muffled glass. She was throwing punches to Ryu's mitts, smiling every time he corrected her stance. 

And he smiled back. My heart just stopped.

Ryu never smiled like that to anyone else but me.
My breath caught in my throat, something sharp twisting deep inside. 

Wait a minute. Isn't all of this obvious, Miku? Why would I even lash this out to Yumeko and Reine?

Hahahahaha. Of course. Of course, it was her! 
The idol everyone loved. The one who always shone brighter, even when she wasn’t trying.

This bitch took everything I had left! The reputation I have built, the image I fought for, and now… him....

And suddenly it all made sense. The letters in Ryu’s locker. Kenta’s disappearance. She's the only person who knows about Kenta in the school, and she probably extorted him for some information; she probably even fuck with him. Maybe that’s exactly how she did it. Her motive... probably revenge because I wanted to destroy her. This is what she meant that day when we talked about wanting the same, unique thing. 

She wanted Ryu. My Ryu....

I stepped back from the glass, my pulse thundering in my ears.
My fingers trembled around my phone. For a second, I almost texted him...Ryu, please listen. It’s not what you think.
But would that change anything? He was already choosing to train her.

My vision blurred, tears threatening to spill, I could feel my jealousy haunting my heart, but I forced them down. Not here. Not now.

No… this wasn’t over. 

If this idol bitch thought she could play me like that, thought she could obliterate me and take him from me, she was dead wrong. 

Ryu is mine, and he will always be mine.

I’ll find out what she did. Every fucking little thing.

How she did it. 

Even if I have to tear every smiling mask off her face to see what’s underneath.

I turned away from the glass, my reflection staring back at me. 

“Alright,” I whispered to myself. 

“Let’s play this game, bitch.”