Firewall

Yuuto chokes on his own rough and jagged breath as it escapes through his trembling throat. His eyes remain shut tight - attempting to withhold the surfacing salty tears in his eyes. The heaviness his heart holds starts to weigh down Yuuto’s entire body - making his shoulders sag at the unbearable pressure and shake from his violent, brutal sobs.

Beside him, Kagome begins screaming at the officers before her. Unearthing a boiling rage from within, Kagome’s eyes leak tears of anger and despair as her throat cracks under the strain of her voice.

“How could you do this, you sick, sick bastards?!” Her voice rips apart Yuuto’s numb eardrums, and scrapes the officer’s skin as it reaches them, “He’s seventeen! He did nothing wrong! He never even held a gun before! I can’t… Why?! Why would you do…”

Kagome’s voice gradually fades to a muffled nothingness within the confines of Yuuto’s mind. Despite being placed right next to her, the girl’s shrill voice does not reach the hysteric boy beside her. Instead, a persistent yet somehow vacant ringing takes over his hearing, and his mind takes him back to a distant memory.

“Yuuto…” Afryea Matsuo sang as she opened the door to her son’s room. She peeked through the ajar frame, and her eyes landed upon Yuuto’s sleeping figure. Afryea sighed a soft breath, and waltzed her way over to Yuuto’s bedside. “Yuuto, it’s time to wake up. You have school today,” Yuuto’s mother beckoned as she rubbed his head with her warm hand.

Soon, Yuuto’s eyes peeled through his sleepy haze, and his gaze swam upon Afryea’s own welcoming eyes. “Good morning, Yuuto,” Afryea greeted, as her hand still rubbed her child’s forehead, “School starts soon, you don’t want to be late.”

Yuuto groaned, and rolled away from his mother’s figure. “I don’t want to go to school today, Mommy,” He complained, his tone full of dread and exhaustion, “Can I stay home, and hang out with you?”

Afryea’s eyes hardened at his defiance, and her once warm expression stiffened into one of seriousness and command. Reaching out her arm, Yuuto’s mother yanked the blanket off of her son, and the cold, morning air wrapped itself around his tired body. He groaned in displeasure as Afryea stood from the mattress.

“Yuuto!” Afryea’s voice reprimanded, her hands had found her hips, “You know how important school is, so why would you even ask that question?!” Yuuto pushed himself off of the mattress from his stomach, and sat in a kneeling position atop of his bed. He rubbed his sleepy eyes with the back of his hand as he turned his blurry sight towards his hostile mother.

He allowed his hand to collapse back down to his side, and his eyes drifted towards the dent in the bed from Afryea’s previous seated position. “I know, Mommy,” The young Yuuto recalls, his voice soft and knowing, “I need to do good in school, so I get a good job. A job that will give me lots of money, so I can su-sup…suppo-”

“Support,” Afryea finished her son’s statement, as she sighed a heavy, long sigh. Yuuto nodded, and continued with his memorized spiel, “...Support you and Botan. Because family is the most important thing in the world! You’re so important to me, Mommy. I love you!” Afryea leaned over, and rested her palm on top of Yuuto’s head. As she caressed his bed hair, her eyes softened, but her mouth drew a solid line upon her face.

“But, when you get much… much older, Yuuto, you’re going to have a wife. She’s going to be someone very important to you, too,” Afryea informed, a slight hesitance laced her words, “You’re gonna have to support her, as well. She’ll be someone you love so so much - someone you’ll put over yourself every day of your life, without even realizing it.”

Yuuto’s young, curious eyes stared up at Afryea, and his head tilted at his neck subconsciously. “But I love you the most, Mommy,” Yuuto offered, his voice high and quiet, “I’ll never love a girl more than you!” Afryea shook her head, and sat back down on the bed cautiously. She rested her hands on her lap, and dragged her eyes over her son’s innocent face.

“The love for your wife is a different kind of love, Yuuto,” Afryea states, her voice soft as a whisper, “You love me because I make you yummy lunch boxes, read you your favorite stories, and tuck you snug into bed every night, right?”

An excited Yuuto eagerly nodded his head as a wide, sleepy grin came over his face.

“You’ll love your wife because of how pretty she looks when she sleeps right next to you. You’ll love the way her cooking smells, even when it smells really bad. You’ll love the way she walks, the way she speaks, and the way she dances. And, the best part of it all, she’ll love you all the same.”

Yuuto’s eyes sparkled against the morning sunlight that peeked through his window, and his once eager grin faded into a dazing smile filled with wonder and thought. Afryea sighed once more, and pushed off of her legs to a standing position.

“Come on now, Yuuto,” She called, as she began walking back out of her son’s bedroom door, “I’ll get breakfast ready, you get dressed for school. Okay?”

“Okay, Mommy!”

Yuuto’s tear-filled eyes train onto the screaming girl beside him, and his once hysteric sobs soften to dense hiccups that spill from his lungs. Though her demeanor is erratic and hostile, Yuuto feels a sense of comfort and easement as he kneels next to Kagome. His eyes drift along the veins popping on her hardened forehead, and his sight notices the way the light glints off of the tears beginning to spill from her tear ducts.

In this moment, she is beautiful. In every moment before this, she was beautiful. In every moment to follow, she forever will be beautiful.

At Mamoru’s apartment, the individuals remain rooted in their spots, and they allow Kagome’s news to settle within their minds. Kagome’s shouts and Yuuto’s stifled sobs continue pouring out of the television speakers - filling the vacant silence within the apartment. Junko remains collapsed on the floor beside Jiro, and Daku stands with his back facing the two best friends. Mamoru, in all of his pitiful glory, hangs his head at his neck as he stays tied to the wooden chair.

“Niko’s… dead?” Jiro questions in disbelief, his back slouched as his legs spill out in front of him. At his words, Junko’s petrified eyes shift to Daku’s back on her left, while his own stunned expression faces the television screen. “Why… why did you do that, Kenta?” Daku whispers incredulously to himself, too low for anyone else to hear.

Kagome’s screams found residence in Junko’s ears, and it causes her turbulent heart to beat even faster. Her brother is… dead, and he died right before her own eyes. And, yet, she couldn’t do a single thing about it. Junko couldn’t have protected him, she couldn’t have saved him, or even taken the bullets for him. All she could have done was sit there helplessly, and watched it all unfold on a bullet-hole pierced television screen.

“Why… why would you…” Junko’s low voice begins seeping out of her throat, catching the attention of everyone in the room, “How could you let them do that, Daku?! Niko, he… he’s… that was my brother! And now he’s gone!” Junko rips herself off of the wooden floor beneath her, and stands to her full height in the foyer.

Daku turns his hesitant body around, and his regretful, shame-filled eyes latch onto Junko’s enraged ones. Putting a hand to his chest, Daku stutters out an excuse, “I didn’t know what was happening! Kenta Kiyama, he… he acted without command! I didn’t want… You all were supposed to…”

Drawing his face together in frustration, Daku thrashes his body towards the television screen once again. “Kenta! Why did you do that?! I gave you no order to open fire!” He yells, approaching the display.

A deep, regretful anger boils in his stomach as he reprimands his subordinate. His eyes squint wide with frustration, and visible veins bubble from the surface of his forehead. Kagome’s eyes - filled with despair - flash to the camera, and her despondent expression reaches Daku’s heavy heart.

“Niko!” Kagome’s now raspy voice screeches out, her yells not ceasing since Niko’s fall down the steps, “You bastards! I hate all of you! Who even are you people?! I just… I don’t understand what’s going on… Junko! Please, help us! Help us, please!”

Daku throws his hands atop his ears and squints his tight eyes, for the close proximity near the television makes Kagome’s shrieks even louder and harsher on his ears.

“Oh, God!” Kagome continues, unable to control herself at this point, “He’s gone! Go… go check on him! He’s still there! Niko! Can you hear me?! Run! Run away! Please, Niko! Run!”

Daku groans in annoyance, and he rips his strained eyes back open - throwing them to the screen before him. Tearing his hands off of his ears, Daku scowls as he is forced to hear Kagome’s consistent screams. “Kiyama!” Daku shouts, hurling his voice over the girl’s hysterics, “Shut her up, would you?!”

“Yes, sir,” Officer Kiyama assures off camera.

Junko’s face twitches at the scene before her, and Jiro stres deadpanned at the floor in front of him, dragging his gaze over the empty pistol laying within his reach. Then, the sudden sound of a gun being cocked ricochets throughout Mamoru’s apartment, and the noise stems from the television speakers.

“No, Kenta!” Daku yells, his hands gripping the sides of the television, “Not that! Stop!”

At headquarters, Kenta Kiyama aims his rifle at Kagome, and his finger begins descending upon the trigger. Kagome stares down the barrel of the gun, and her brown eyes whip open wide at the sight before her. Her measly life flashed before her eyes, and if all at once, Kenta pressed his finger down, and unleashed two bullets from his magazine.

Kagome squints her eyes shut and cowers her head away, preparing for the lethal impact. However, even after the sound of the bullets shooting from the rifle, Kagome never feels any pain in her body. Instead, a shadow casts over her closed eyes, and a heavy thud follows the sound of the fired shots.

Peeking her cautious eyes open, Kagome’s gaze falls upon Yuuto - who lays limp on his back before her. Her eyes drag to the two bullet holes piercing the space just below his throat, and her sight lines the blood trickling from the freshly sliced wounds. Her mouth drops open in disbelief and fear, and her cuffed hands resists the metal as she yearns to reach out to the boy before her.

“Yuuto!” Kagome yells, the bottoms of her eyes squinting in helplessness, “What did you do?! Please… tell me this isn’t real… I can’t do this, Yuuto! Why did you do that?!” Yuuto’s slow, blinking eyes manage to find Kagome’s scared stare above him. “I always need to… put the people… I love… before myself,” Yuuto whispers out in hollow breaths, while his throat clogs from his saliva.

“I love you, Kagome.”

Kagome chokes out a sob, and she shakes her head at the boy’s foolish words. “You can’t leave me, Yuuto!” She cries, clenching her fists behind her back, “You lied to me, you asshole! You were supposed to stay with me, and love me, like you said you would! You’re just… you’re just doing exactly what I said you would!”

Yuuto’s mouth parts, and his eyes drift closed. “Kagome,” His throat manages to rasp out, “I’m not… going anywhere. I will… always be here… with you. You’ll end up… getting sick of me… from how much I stick… around. I… I love you, Kagome. I…”

Kagome squints her eyes shut, and shakes her head violently again. “Please, Yuuto! Don’t leave me, too! You promised!” She shrieks, her voice cracking from the constant strain, “I… I love you so much! You can’t leave me! Yuuto!”

Yuuto’s mouth remains parted, but no words or whispers of promise leave his full lips. His lifeless eyes drift against the ceiling above him - and the once vivid, chocolate brownness of his eyes turns dull and vapid. Kagome leans down upon his chest, and cries into the unmoving body of the boy she loved most in this world.