Here Comes Revenge

I had to eat. My survival was at stake. Without food, I wouldn’t be as efficient. Vomiting that much had really weakened my body, and every step was hard to take.

So before going where I had to, I made a quick detour to the nearest convenience store and bought some sandwiches and a bottle of water. It wasn't a luxurious feast, but it satisfied me enough to feel confident facing what was to come.

With my stomach filled, my strength came back and my steps grew more confident – my face less pale, my whole body no longer weighed down by exhaustion.

As if to test that, I did something stupid, jumping in place for a bit before running straight toward the dead end.

Once there, I noticed everything Naoto had said. The absence of doors or even an escape was obvious. At the end of the street stood a massive wall, stretching high upward with nothing to climb, no way Leo could have escaped in so little time.

“There must be a secret entrance somewhere here… I trust Naoto, so there has to be something.”

I searched the walls. I searched the ground among the trash and the boxes piled everywhere, making passage difficult. I tried not to knock anything over, or I would have been spotted. It was even harder with the backpack on my back, since the street was very narrow, but I did my best to reach the very end of it.

“I’ve looked everywhere and found nothing. Why do all my searches end in failure?”

I sat on one of the boxes and opened the backpack slightly.

“Hey… since you were willing to help… do you know something I could do here?” I whispered to the doll inside.

No answer came back. It had been like this since last night – the doll wouldn’t respond anymore, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

It annoyed me, and to vent my frustration, I kicked a can in front of me. It flew straight into the massive wall. But instead of bouncing back, the can sank deep into it, swallowed like it had it quicksand.

It made me laugh.

“Strange things always happen to me, even now. Do I really have to go into this?”

I didn’t hesitate long. I had already made my decision. Whatever happened, I would face it.

So I stood up – backpack on, mind ready, body too – and plunged into the wall, letting it swallow me into its depths, not knowing where it would lead.

Despite having the texture, density, and unpleasant sensation of sand against my skin, I didn’t suffocate. I could breathe, and the ordeal only lasted a few seconds.

Once inside, I coughed from the thick dust filling the room. It was lit only by a dim ceiling light, casting a creepy atmosphere over everything. It only enhanced the strangeness of this place, which looked like a cave – even though I had entered from ground level.

An old wooden desk, its surface eaten away by termites, stood against the wall in front of me. To my left lay a mattress directly on the ground, yellow and brown stains covering it. To my right, a staircase led upward into darkness – something to deal with later.

And most importantly, papers covered the floor. Documents – invoices, advertisements, hospital radios, receipts, and so many things I couldn’t clearly identify due to the poor lightning.

No one was there. The only sound was my footsteps crunching on paper.

I approached the desk and squinted, noticing a wooden panel above it that left me speechless.

Pinned to it was a photo of Atsuko – not a small one, but a large one. Not recent either. It dated back to her first year of high school: light brown braided hair, and her magnificent gray eyes.

“This guy… he’s still as obsessed with her as back then. Calm down, Ryota. This isn’t the moment.” I unclenched my fist.

Surrounding that photo were pictures of me – recent ones, taken in places I had visited over the last few weeks. Confusion was written all over my face.

I tore the photos off the wall, ripped them apart, and threw them to the ground.

My foot crushed the remains of a sandwich lying on the floor. I kicked it away, wiping my shoe on the documents scattered everywhere.

My attention was drawn to a neatly aligned stack of papers on the desk, treated with care – unlike the rest.

“So… let’s see what we have here... Hospital reports from 10 years ago. About Leo. Hey! They must be the ones I’m responsible for! At least I can confirm this is really your place.”

Each page detailed injuries – broken bones, bodily damage.“Too many things I couldn’t do back then that I’d gladly do today. I’m not a sadist. You just deserve what’s coming, Leo.”

Another pile left me confused – I had to reread it twice, one document in particular.

“I can’t understand this… what language is this?” Strange symbols, drawings, barely legible annotations. “From the general impression I get, they must be about the curse… or at least I think so. That would explain how he cast it and altered memories.”

I picked up another document. “On this one, there’s a dead person and a living one drawn, so I supposed it’s the part about Atsuko. But why isn’t there anything about my part of the curse? I’ll have to take them and decipher them when I can.”

I packed the curse-related documents into my backpack. There was nothing of value – only signs of life, but none of presence.

“Should I check upstairs?” I thought, staring at the staircase disappearing into darkness.

I stepped onto the first stair. It creaked loudly under my weight, the echo spreading through the room.

“If the door’s blocked or there’s nothing up there, I’ll wait here until he comes back. I’ll surprise him.” I laughed.

A shoe squeaked behind me – fast.

I didn’t even have time to turn before his scream reached me.

“I’m going to kill you, Ryota!”

Leo emerged from the shadows, plunging a katana-like blade deep into my abdomen.

The force sent me crashing backward onto the stairs, my head striking hard.

I coughed blood – the same blood pouring freely from my wound. It stained both my clothes and his. His furious face hovered above me, murder burning in his eyes.

“It’s been a while since I last saw my own blood… It’s almost nostalgic.” I laughed weakly. I wasn’t afraid.

“What makes you laugh? Is the thought of dying driving you insane? Then continue! Be insane until the end! I knew you’d come! I made a stupid mistake, it's true, and you found where I was hiding… but that’s a great occasion. I’ve been waiting ten years to finish things with you, and now I can. I won’t have to wait any longer – I don’t need to make you suffer slowly anymore!”

He drove the blade deeper, blood pouring abundantly from my mouth. He was putting all his weight on my body. I couldn’t move at all to free myself.

“What I’ve done… everything I’ve done… none of it warranted what you put me through and what followed. I didn’t deserve all of this. You should have been the one punished!”

I laughed harder, choking on blood. I couldn’t taste nothing else but its bitter, metallic flavor.

My consciousness began to slip, losing all ties to this world.

My eyes fought to stay open, but they closed anyway. Was this the end?

“You didn’t put up any resistance. If I had known, I would have come to kill you earlier – you’re not the same as you used to be.” Leo sneered, his sweat and saliva dripping onto me and mixing with my blood. He looked like someone who had lost all hope in life and was keeping himself alive solely through the desire to kill – like every killer might.

I couldn’t move.

He didn’t move away.

I couldn’t speak.

He monopolized the moment with his degenerate shouts.

It went on minute after minute, like a ceaseless carousel featuring a furious animal.

Gradually, he calmed down, breathing heavily as his laughter began to fade.

“Fuck… he’s heavier than he looks… when will he move away? I’m tired of playing dead. If he shifts even a little and loosens his grip on the sword, I’ll be able to retaliate.” I thought, opening my eyes just enough to peek through my eyelids.

He didn’t move. He seemed slightly curled in on himself, but his grip on the sword didn’t loosen. I couldn’t see his face.

“I’ll wait if I have to, but I hate the taste of blood. At least I don’t feel physical pain – it could have been worse. I'm already stuck with such an idiot. I don't even understand why I was so afraid of him. That alone is painful enough for my brain.”

“Even if you can’t hear me anymore, Ryota, I’ll finally say what’s been weighing on my heart for so long! I didn’t deserve all of that just for slightly touching and scarring Atsuko. But at least my revenge on you felt great! I feel… as light as a feather!” He laughed loudly in my face, flipping me off.

“Slightly?”

I opened my eyes like a gunshot and stared straight into the deepest part of his soul. Rage surged through me, burning hotter than any wound on my body.

I unleashed a powerful right hook straight into his jaw with all the strength I had, sending him flying back and forcing him to release the sword.

I stood up easily, the blade still buried in my body – but I didn’t care. My blazing eyes were locked onto this pitiful man in front me.

“Slightly? You touched her and scarred her slightly? Are you fucking kidding me? Do you want me to remind you – with my fists – what you did to her and the trauma that followed? Do you want to taste the suffering she and I had endured every time she died? You will experience it. I shouldn’t even have to remind you of what you did – that would just be a waste of my time!” I shouted, my voice breaking under the weight of my anger.

I pulled the sword from my body, blood spurting out. Leo recoiled in terror and slowly crawled backward toward the mattress.

Yet the blood flowed only for a few seconds before returning into my body – even the blood that had stained my clothes, the ground, the sword, and even Leo himself.

My wound closed as if the blade had never pierced me. My clothes were still torn, but my body was as whole as before.

“Why… how? They never said it was possible…” Leo screamed, completely panicked.

I stared at him coldly, my face shut tight.

My anger wasn’t visible – it was palpable.

He pissed himself. I laughed.

“Here comes revenge, Leo. But this time… it’s mine.”

I lunged at him. He was completely defenseless. I struck him again and again, every blow fueled with rage that pushed my body beyond its limits, adrenaline driving me to my peak.

I lost count of how many times I hit him. I felt pleasure in his pain – maybe I really was a sadist.

Blood splashed onto me. His cheeks swelled. I gave him a black eye, broke several ribs, and ignored some of his screams.

“Oh, stop screaming, Leo. This is nothing compared to death – the same one Atsuko had to endure. And remember, this isn’t just my vengeance.”

I stopped and grabbed him by the collar. He was still conscious, but barely breathing.

“Now tell me everything. Who is really responsible for all of this – the curse, our suffering? When you stabbed me, I started to understand. I’m not as stupid as you thought. And I won’t be as stupid as you, messing up your plan like this. You’re just a lackey. Someone’s giving you orders, right? Because considering everything that's been done, there’s no way a coward like you could’ve gone to such lengths only to be so easily defeated. I was afraid of you when you were hiding – but not anymore!”

I spat the words at him. He laughed anyway.

“Go… fuck… yourself!” He said, flipping me off one last time.

His eyes closed.

Instinctively, I checked his pulse.

Alive.

Unconscious.

I punched him once more in the stomach – no reaction – then stood up and picked up the sword from the floor.

I stared down at his unconscious body, adjusting my grip on the blade.

“I’m thinking about cutting off you balls. Haha… you’ve got nothing to say now, do you? I should’ve done this ten years ago. Consider it the first step of my vengeance.” I said, my anger no longer as strong as before, my calm slowly returning after all this violence.

The room was a mess. The mattress was stained a new color. Papers were scattered everywhere else, no longer around us. No one would ever know what had happened here.

I crouched beside him, raised the sword, and prepared to strike.

Then everything drained from my body.

A sharp sting pierced my neck – something being injected.

I collapsed before I could even think, before I could see what had happened.

The last sound I heard was the sword clattering against the floor, its sharp ring echoing through my skull.