The beginning of a new path

Moments before Akira’s sudden killing of his former boss, a conflict had emerged from deep within him. While Akira’s body was frozen still, he found his consciousness dragged into a familiar place, one which he hadn’t visited in a long time.

As darkness began to fill the void, Akira was standing on a platform, though not by himself. It, who called itself Akira’s partner, was there as well, the two directly facing each other. A large window was shown to the right of them, which displayed the events happening on the outside world, Akira’s former boss’s demands being heard from here as well.

“Who does this bastard think he is?” It asked, who had taken the exact appearance of Akira, its tone quite annoyed. Its question was met with silence.

“That fucker thinks he can waltz here like he owns the place. He pisses me off,” It said as it stared at the window. It turned to face Akira, whilst pointing at the window.

“Hey, let’s kill this bastard.”

Akira shook his head.

“Huh? Why not?” It asked, it seemed It was quite taken aback by Akira’s response;

However, Its question was yet again answered with silence.

“Are you seriously doing nothing against this dipshit?” It said, its tone quite annoyed.

“No and that’s final.” Akira replied, his determination not waning. It sighed disappointedly.

“You’re no fun,” It stepped closer, a sickening smile appeared as the air began tightening. It became difficult to breath, as a cold sweat leaked from Akira’s head.

“How the hell are you planning to get your revenge if you chicken out from small prey, huh?!” It said as It and Akira’s faces were centimeters apart, Akira had difficulty keeping a straight face;

“I…” as Akira responded, It had cut him off, Its mood soured as the devilish smile disappeared, leaving a cold expression in its place.

“Don’t lie to me, I’ll fucking kill you.” It said, Its voice had caused Akira’s legs to shiver, Akira began breathing in heavily.

“The reason I’m still here is because you haven’t fully accepted me, why?” It questioned, Its tone returning back to normal. Akira’s eyes rolled to the ground, unable to respond.

“I don’t get you. Even though you requested my help, and while I happily gave you an offer, you just half-assed it like you have endless choices or something. What reasons do you even have to spare them at this point? Your wife is gone, let that sink in.” It said, completely disappointed in Akira, It grabbed Akira by the collar, slowly lifting him up.

“That’s not what she would want, she would never approve of this.” Akira, despite being scared, spit at It, who grunted. It had let go of Akira, who upon hitting the floor, let out a “Ouch.”.

After a moment of silence, a devious smile appeared on It.

“Fine, I’ll have to force you then. You leave me no other choice, after all.”

“Huh?” Akira said, as It had suddenly hugged him. It slowly disformed into a black sticky-like substance, It began slowly covering Akira with Its body.

As Akira tried to remove the sticky substance but to no avail, It began slowly entering Akira’s body, infecting it with Its very being. It became difficult to breath, as It specifically targeted Akira’s lungs. When It finally reached Akira’s brain, Akira’s vision turned black, his mind wandering about as well.

                                                                      …

The moment Akira's mind returned and functioned normally again, Akira's vision began to clear. When his vision finally cleared, he saw that he had returned to the mess that was his living room. Just when he thought he'd awakened from a dream, a foul smell filled his nostrils.

When Akira looked where the smell was coming from, he crawled back as he began screaming from the top of his lungs. The dead corpse of his former boss was laying there, the fearful expression still present on it.

Akira felt something come back up his throat, when not so long after he puked its content onto the floor, a nasty taste left in his mouth. After he’d coughed up everything, a sinister laughing echoed throughout the room. The temperature dropped as the air began to tighten.

As the colors disappeared from the world, a black clot began manifesting on Akira’s shoulder. It, who’s face identical to Akira, formed from the clot, It wore a wide grin.

“Congrats on your first kill, I’m proud of you.” Akira had, out of reflex, punched Its face, but the moment Akira had landed a hit, the face disappeared in a blink of an eye.

“Hey, hey. What did I even do?” It appeared right behind Akira, this time his whole body was present.

Though still perplexed by Its sudden appearance, Akira turned as he tried elbowing the creature behind him. Just as before, It vanished.

“You really have to stop doing that.” It said, as It appeared sitting on the table smashed into pieces.

“What did you do to me?!” in a fit of rage, Akira had burst out. His face slightly turning red. It, who was in awe of Akira’s sudden outburst, began laughing.

“What did I do, you say?” It continued laughing, It stopped several moments later, Its usual grin appearing again. “It’s simple, nothing.”

“Nothing? Nothing?!” Akira yelled, completely mad at Its comment. Akira pointed at the corpse to his right. “You call that nothing?!”

It simply smirked, as it got up. It slowly started walking towards Akira.

“That was your own doing, you know.”

“My doing?” Akira asked, his body trembled as his eyes sprung wide open.

“Yes, your doing.” It replied, its grin widening. When It got close to Akira, It snapped its fingers. Akira fell to his knees as the memories came flying in, several moments flashing before him.

As the smell of fresh blood entered his nose, Akira felt something come up his throat again but managed to stop it from leaving his body, swallowing everything back down.

“No. That wasn’t me!” Akira yelled as sweat began to drip from his face. As the color on his face began to slowly fade, he turned to It.

“It was you. It was all your doing!” Akira’s mind slowly torn apart. It giggled as It walked over to the corpse. It crouched and laid Its hand on it, the hand fazed right through it.

“As you can see, I couldn’t have done it.”

“Impossible.” as Akira was still processing what actually was going on, he crawled backwards several steps. When he couldn’t go any further, his back leaned against a wall.

“What are you?” Akira asked, whilst his body was trembling. His heart started beating faster, as the creature by the corpse turned to Akira’s direction. It smiled widely.

“Inside of you dwells a part burning in flames, fueled by your hatred for everyone that has made your life a living hell. I am that part which you desperately tried to lock away.” Its appearance began to disintegrate as its original form began to show, It stretching its skinless arms out.

“So don’t worry, partner. Leave everything to me, I’ll take care of it.” It said as It walked towards Akira. When It reached him, It embraced him as It comforted him. Slowly, It began to dissolve. As Akira’s heart finally accepted the lingering feelings inside him, Akira’s body began to absorb It. After a lot of struggling, they finally became one.

Thanks. Akira thought as he stood up. With his newly found resolve, Akira swore that he would make sure he would get his revenge, no matter the cost. An image of Naomi flashed before him.

I’ll get them for you, Naomi. Akira made a mental note, as he’d grabbed his shirt with his hand, whilst looking at the ceiling.

After several moments, Akira looked down, his gaze moving towards something foul in his room.

"As for this..." Akira searched for ways to get rid of the corpse. When he found a perfect solution, he immediately got to work.

                                                                      ...

Somewhere else in the city stood a house where the Watanabe family resided, normally their house would emit a cheerful atmosphere, but recently with the loss of Naomi, nothing but a dreary feeling could be felt from outside.

Inside, Youij Watanabe was sitting gloomy on a chair at the table in his dining room, his hands supported his head. He was thinking back the events that all began with a simple phone call.

Several days back, he’d received a call from the hospital Naomi was in. Naturally, after his daughter had been missing for several weeks now, he was quite delighted that she’d been found. And so, he brought his entire family to the place.

When Youij finally saw his daughter, he’d been holding back tears as he quickly went to hug her. He’d hoped Naomi would get dispatched as soon as she got better, Youij held his hopes up. But the moment he’d heard the news on Naomi’s condition, he fell to his knees.

While Youij was still processing his emotions on the situation, his son-in-law, the one who had promised to protect his daughter with his whole being, came in the room.

Of course, upon seeing his face, Youij couldn’t help but sock him in the face. He had sworn that nothing bad would happen to Naomi, and yet here she was laying on a hospital bed, barely alive.

Despite having hit his son-in-law, deep inside Youij regretted the way he acted. It must’ve been hard for him as he was also captured. The lifeless gaze that came from his eyes exposed the monstrosities he went through.

Now that Youij looked back on it, Akira seemed to want nothing more for his family to support him, tend to him. But now that moment could never come. Youij dropped his head on the table, sighing heavily.

His mind wondered about, until he heard a female voice softly call to him. It was his wife, Andrea.

“Honey.” Youij raised his head, as he saw his wife stand at the door, her face leaning against it.

“What is it?” Youij said, as he narrowed his brows after seeing his wife’s expression.

“Come with me for a second.” Andrea said as she walked out the room quickly after. Youij, slightly curious, followed right after her. They arrived in their living room, the television was showing the late night news.

“A house in a quiet neighborhood inexplicably caught fire tonight. The emergency services were immediately informed and are now trying with all possible means to save the residents.” the news reporter said formally.

A house catching fire in this city was quite rare, so Youij was certainly surprised it even happen. Surprisingly, it wasn’t that far from where they lived.

How unfortunate. Youij thought, as he was about to leave the room. But the moment his eyes focused more on the house on fire, he couldn’t help but find it oddly familiar. After scratching his head around the matter, he finally realized.

“Wait, isn’t that Akira’s house?!” Youij yelled, as he turned to look at his wife. She quietly nodded her head.

“Get in the car, now!” Youij said as he grabbed his keys from his jacket. He exited his house, his wife following right behind him. Their youngest son saw them quietly off, as he sat on the top stairstep.

                                                                      ...

After Youij and his wife arrived at Akira’s place, a massive crowd, consisting of many local residents, had already formed. Youij, quite annoyed at the crowd blocking the way, began forcing his way to the front.

The fire had already been dealt with, and now the area was surrounded by cops. It seemed Youij didn’t mind their presence, as he tried to enter Akira’s home, but was quickly stopped by a police officer, that officer being Kenta.

“Sorry, this area has been closed off.” Kenta said, as he raised his hand up.

“Move, I need to see my son! Where is he?!” Youij threw a tantrum, as his wife struggled to hold him back.

“You’re his family, huh?” a female police officer came from inside the house, it was Ai. She tapped Kenta’s shoulder, as a smile had formed on her face.

“Let them through.” perhaps being touched by Ai, made Kenta blush as both his cheeks glowed red slightly. He lowered his hand, allowing Youij and his wife to enter the house.

After they had witnessed on what remained in the living room, Youij dropped to his knees, as tears began falling from his eyes. His cries began to echo throughout the room.

The body the police had found was beyond recognition, its skin hardened like stone and colored in an ebony color. The smell of burned flesh was beyond bearable. The body was burned so much that the identity of the person couldn't be figured out. It was completely beyond recognition;

However one thing was indeed confirmed. The body belonged to a young adolescent. That was all Youij needed to know, the rest he’d already figured out that it was Akira’s body they’d found.

As Youij began to mourn the death of his son-in-law, Andrea joined him as tears began to fall from her eyes as well. When the police finally escorted the body outside to a ambulance, Kenta and Ai left the two alone, allowing them to mourn of their second loss this week.

When Youij and Andrea finally left Akira’s house, they began to head to their car. As the police had gotten the situation under control, the massive crowd quickly disappeared as many returned to their homes. Youij stared at the residents returning home, when he’d noticed someone in particular walking away.

Though Youij didn’t get a full look on his face, as it was covered with the hood of his black sweater. He could’ve sworn that person was rather familiar, as he kept looking at the person walking away.

“Honey?” Andrea spoke to Youij, who quickly turned towards his wife.

“No, its nothing.” Youij said, as he got into in the car. Andrea got in as well.

It possibly can’t be him right?  Youij thought as he began to drive to his home. Maybe his father instincts were messing with him again. Whatever it was though, it didn’t matter to Youij anymore as he began to contemplate the losses of two he held dearest.

He promised that he would do whatever it takes to not make the same mistake again for his youngest son. Adding another loss would undoubtedly be the final straw until Youij’s mind would wall apart.

                                                                      ...

It was slowly becoming morning as the sun began to rise in the sky. A train traveled along a railroad line into the countryside. Inside one of the cabins, sat Akira quietly dozing into the heaven, a traveling bag right beside him.

When the train had finally arrived at its destination two hours later, Akira quickly got out of it and without missing a beat, quickly heading towards his destination. When he finally neared the place, he stood before a door he hadn’t seen in a while.

After Akira rung the bell, an old man opened the door, a sickening smile appeared on his face.

“So, you finally came after all.” the old man said, several of his teeth were missing, his smile remaining.

“Teach me everything you know,” Akira bowed as he dropped his things right beside him. After a moment he straightened his back. “Uncle.”

The old man, who’s supposedly Akira’s uncle, grinned as he stroked his whitened beard.

“Very well.” ‘Uncle’ said as he let in Akira. After he had entered, ‘Uncle’ had shut the door close with quite a force.