People are going missing

The remainder of the night was short and Taro struggled to fall asleep. As he lay in bed he thought about the future that awaited him, a future that appeared to be taking a grim turn. Staring at his ceiling, he lay silently with nothing but the sound of his breath and heartbeat to remind him of his mortality. 

Vrrrrrrrr

His phone sitting on the bedside table had different plans. Taro sat up on his bed, rubbing his eyes. Not a wink of sleep came to him, his mind kept racing with so many different scenarios, none of which ended up being good.

At least today was Friday, which meant the weekend was near, Taro would finally be able to get what he believed to be the last of his relaxing days before the world crumbled into chaos. Taro rolled out of bed, making a loud thud on the floor. The last few nights had hit his sleep cycle like a truck, it was almost as if he was living in another timezone.

Shakily getting up, Taro crawls his way downstairs and to the kitchen where Ren is already making his own breakfast. It was clear by the dark circles under his eyes that Ren was feeling the same exhaustion as Taro.

"Sleep well?" Ren asks, glancing at Taro from the side of his eyes as he pours his cereal into a bowl.

Taro shakes his head "Of course not. I've not had a good sleep in a few days." Ren finishes pouring his cereal and passes the box to Taro as he grabs a bowl from out of a cupboard. "There's been so much going on that my mind just can't catch up, You know?"

"You should go back to bed, I'm sure school won't mind you missing a day."

"It's fine, I have the whole weekend to sleep."

Taro sat at the kitchen table and began eating his cereal, Ren joining him not too long after. The boys chew their cereal slowly and silently. The atmosphere could almost be cut with a knife.

"Listen... I'm sorry for getting pissy at you yesterday. " Ren apologises, his spoon clattering in his now empty bowl. "I'm just trying to look out for you in the only way I know how."

mhm is the only sound to leave Taro's full mouth. Through his annoyance, Taro didn't seem to completely comprehend what Ren had said and continued eating. His mind tries its hardest to tune out the blond haired boy across from him.

After swallowing the food in his mouth, Taro responded "That's not why I'm angry at you. I'll talk to you about it once I get home, but I've really got to get ready" Taro finishes his bowl, slips it in the sink and slumps back upstairs to his room leaving Ren as he stares at his empty bowl.

As Taro opens the door to his room he hears a sound just a little farther down the hallway. A door opens with Daisuke strolling out, Taro's sky-blue eyes meeting his fiery red eyes. Taro, still exhausted shakes his head to wake himself up.

"Didn't sleep well I take it?" Daisuke asks, slightly chuckling to himself, tightening his school tie around his neck.

"I didn't sleep at all," he brushes the back of his neck "in fact, I think I just lay on my bed for 3 hours doing nothing."  Taro laughs, embarrassed to admit that he hadn't slept very well. Daisuke, responding to Taro, pulls a device from of his pocket.

"Me neither, ended up playing video games," he waves the console back and fourth "I thought there'd be no point in trying to fall asleep since I'd just be getting up anyway." Daisuke laughs, pausing shortly after, peeking past Taro and down the stairs as if looking through the walls at Ren.

"Listen, Taro. I heard-"

"Just save it. I'm trying to forget that ever happened, I'm going to get ready for class."

"Right, but at least talk to Ren or Kami about it. I just don't want you guys to fight anymore," Daisuke shrugs, "I dunno, just... please fix it." Daisuke concludes, scooting around Taro to head downstairs, giving him a pat on the back as he does so.

Taro, now thinking about Ren after his confrontation with Daisuke, walks to the bathroom and turns on the shower, stepping in and letting the warm water cover his body. He runs his hands through his hair.

"He should have told me sooner, I wouldn't be this angry if I had of just known." Taro clenches his teeth, thinking on Daisuke's request. "Maybe he just didn't trust me enough to tell me." Taro whimpers, dropping to his knees and sobbing gently. The lack of sleep and pressure from the outside world was getting to Taro's head, but he didn't know any better.

Getting back up and turning off the shower, Taro stepped out, patting down his unhealed wounds and scars across his body. He put on the T-shirt he slept in and Wrapped a towel around his waist, before returning back to his room where he got dressed in his uniform for school. Tightening his tie around his neck and fixing his hair so he appeared presentable, Taro grabbed his backpack and headed out the front door where Daisuke was waiting for him.

"Ready?" Daisuke gets up from sitting on the front step "I didn't think it'd take you so long to get ready, I considered leaving without you." He laughs as he starts walking with Taro through the garden, out into the streets where only the previous night he had been running from a horrific glob of corruption. The two walk almost in silence until Taro decided to ask Daisuke a serious question.

"Do you think I was wrong to get angry at Ren?" Taro's eyes glide away from Daisuke as he asks this, not wanting the face the truthful answer. "I mean, he'd been lying to me for my whole life, right? So why do I feel so bad about being angry at him?" Taro asks, begging Daisuke for an answer to his problem.

"Well I know I'd be pissed if it happened to me," Daisuke nudges Taro jokingly "But you know what they say 'Blah blah blah, look it it from his point of view.' I don't know how to explain it, I think that's something for you to talk to Kami about, you know." Daisuke explains, trying to be as helpful as he possibly can.

Taro nods, smiling as Daisuke doesn't realise how helpful he had actually been to Taro over the past few minutes. The two continue walking together until they reach the school gates where Shiro had been waiting. The two boys wave over to her and she responds in kind.

"Good Morning, Taro! Good Morning, Daisuke!" The short girl waves with a wide smile on her face. "There's an assembly going on in the Main hall shortly. I've heard that its too important to miss." Shiro's smile wanes as she fidgets with her glasses.

Daisuke shakes his head "They always say it's important, but it never is." he strokes his hairless chin as if he had a beard. "I might skip out on it, I've got late homework to do anyway. I'll trust you two to fill me in if it is actually important." Daisuke laughs, walking into the building and leaving the other two alone together.

"Well I'll be going to see what's happening," She brushes her hair out of her eyes "Would you like to join me?" Shiro smiles warmly, holding her hand out to Taro as she offers to go with him. Taro returns the smile, as the two walk into the building together.

The halls of the school seemed much quieter today, the usual chatter of students talking about what they were going to do on the weekends were replaced with whispers of rumours and people frantically trying to contact friends that didn't show up.

Sitting down in front of many anxious teachers and confused students, Taro looks around and notices plenty of seats are still vacant. Students still scattered around in their now sized down friend groups.

"This already feels depressing, and the announcement hasn't even started yet." Taro's face falls into a frown. "It's like everyone's giving up on life. It's really sad." He mumbles to himself, as he's comforted by Shiro's hand on his shoulder.

After a short while, a plump man with a bushy moustache walks up to the podium clearing his throat before speaking in his gravely voice. "Good morning, everybody and thank you for attending today." The old man pauses as he looks around the barren room. "Wow, there are very few of you... Anywho, as your principle I have a duty to make sure you are up to date with happenings in the town. And today we have a visitor who has come to share some information. Please welcome Officer Hidetoshi."

The principle stands back and gestures to the tall man who looks like he had seen it all. Hidetoshi stepped in front of the microphone, pushed up his square glasses before speaking in a deep, monotonous voice.

"Yesterday we had received a vast amount of calls relating to missing people around the area. The police are working to find the monster responsible for the tragedy," The man tightens his tie around his neck and adjusts his hat. "If anybody here has any information regarding either the whereabouts of the missing people or the perpetrator please head down to the station as soon as possible and ask for Officer Hidetoshi." The man bows before heading back off stage.

Suddenly voices start erupting from the audience as they all simultaneously realise what has happened to their friends who hadn't shown up, nor responded to their text messages. And with panic, came rumours.

Hey, that girl Kami. She didn't show up either, right?

She never shows up this early. I wouldn't worry about it.

But don't you find it weird how both girls showed up within the same week?

Now that you mention it...

The gossip frustrated Taro to no end, but all he could do in that moment was just roll his eyes and ignore it. Karma would have it's way with them soon, Taro just hoped it wasn't the way he imagined it happening.

"You boys know I'm right here, don't 'cha? It's rude to talk about someone behind their back," Yami smirked, appearing out of nowhere to deliver the karmic retribution that Taro was hoping for, and fortunately not in the way he was expecting it. "Why don't you scurry off and think about what you've done." Yami spoke authoritatively as she sits down next to Taro on the other side of Shiro.

Shiro leans forward, smiling to Yami with a wave. "Good morning, Yami! You just missed the assembly." Shiro fidgets with her fingers "T-they said people are disappearing, so we should be more careful. I'm worried for the missing people." Shiro half lies, she knew why people were going missing.

"Is that so? I must have picked a bad time to move here then, Darling." Yami taps her forehead, thinking. "It's so many people that are going missing. Have you seen how empty the halls are?" Yami leans in closer to Taro's face, causing him to lean back half in disgust and half in shock. "Luckily my favourite boy is still here!"

"Shut up." Taro hisses, rolling his eyes. "Do you have no concern for anyone?" His eyebrows furrow. Taro gets up off his seat still repulsed by Yami and her mere presence. "I'm going to look for Daisuke, I need to be anywhere else right now." Clearly ticked off, Taro leaves the hall as a few classmates watch the commotion unfold.

"So, what do you think?"

"Hm?"

"The missing people. Who do you think's taking them?"

"Probably a cult or something. What would they need so many kids for?" Yami looks back at the podium where Officer Hidetoshi stood moments before. As though she was staring into space, as if the thought of the kidnappings occupied most of her mind.

"Right, but it's not just kids. is it? I've heard rumours of Adults going missing too."

"But Adults up and leave all the time, don't they? Some people just want a fresh start." Yami responds almost instantaneously, her eyes gliding down from the stage to her feet, as though her body was going into auto-pilot.

"Maybe..." Shiro nods, not actually considering for a second the possibility that hundreds of Adults would just leave town the same day hundreds of students go missing too. The two girls sit in silence as more announcements get made on the stage.

"You don't know anything about what happened to any of those kids, do you?" Yami asks, now suddenly seeming concerned, as though trying to avoid accusing Shiro. Shiro's face scrunches up, insulted by Yami's very clear accusation.

"You think I had anything to do with this?" Shiro shouts in a whisper. Yami stammers with her words a little bit, before eventually shaking her head and responding to Shiro.

"I meant on the news, or media..." Yami shakes her head, "There's no way you could do anything to this scale." Shiro shakes her head, and the two girls face to the front of the hall again, where the principle then makes further announcements.

"Bringing the ourselves to a brighter note, we are proud to announce that our boxing team will be going to Osaka for our first tournament as a school, so please give a big round of applause for Daisuke!" The room erupts into cheers and celebration, only to quickly realise that Daisuke isn't in the room.

"Daisuke...? Are you here, we'd like you to come up for a speech." The principle continues, pushing his glasses up as he looks around the room. Almost everyone in the room looks around, searching for Daisuke but eventually come up with nothing. Shiro, timidly stands up.

"H-he said he was going to be doing homework in another room. Sir." The often quiet Shiro bows as though apologising on behalf of Daisuke. "He should be with Taro." Shiro's following statement shakes everyone to their core.

Did she say with Taro?

You mean the wimp who he sent to ER a bunch?

Why's he hanging out with him?

"I-I see... Thank you Miss Shiro." The principle murmurs, looking upset at the fact that Daisuke, his number one boxer didn't show up to the announcement. "Well then, I think that's all. You are dismissed, please have a good-" and before the old man could even finish dismissing everyone, they were all gone.

***

Taro barges through the door to the classroom where Daisuke is getting his homework done, a fiery red tint to his face contrasting with his snow white hair. Taro throws the chair next to Daisuke back and sits beside him.

"I take it the assembly wasn't important then?" Daisuke asks, partially laughing as he finishes a question in his notebook, "Maybe you could help with this then, I'm struggling with the third question."

"Agh, it's Yami. She won't leave me be." Taro growls, tapping his fingers as he stares at the question sheet. "She just doesn't take no for an answer!" Taro places his head on the table, his head turned towards Daisuke.

Daisuke does the same, the two stare at each other for a moment. "Right, but I need help with this. Do you mind?" Daisuke smiles, teasing Taro slightly.

"Have you tried the parenthesis first? That's how you do these ones." Taro suggests, trying not to just hand him the answers. Daisuke, taking his head off the desk, looks at the page. The moment of realisation making Taro smile. Daisuke scribbles the answer down in his notebook and places his head back down on the desk.

"Anyway, you're mad at Yami? Why?" Daisuke raises an eyebrow, supressing a laugh.

"She just won't leave me be, I just can't get rid of her. I can't believe you made me introduce myself to her." Taro says, muffled by his sleeve. "I can't tell if she's even joking or not, but it's really weird."

"Have you tried just saying stop?"

"No way... I could have never thought about that!" Taro sarcastically quips, shaking his head unpacking his backpack and taking out his notebook and textbooks. "I just can't get rid of her. The best I can do is ignore her."

The class door opens, and the few remaining students enter. Taro gets up out of his seat and moves to in front of Daisuke, where he normally sits. Amidst the few students, Yami and Shiro enter the room. Shiro approaches Daisuke with a sly smile on her face.

"Congrats on making it to the tournament in Osaka" Shiro whispers to Daisuke, stifling a laugh as she talks. Daisuke, unfazed by the seemingly obvious poke at him, smiles at her supposed support of him.

"Thanks, I'm trying to go to international." Daisuke excitedly responds, immediately going back to his homework, still with a innocent smile on his face. Shiro's grin fades a little bit.

"Yeah... I hope it goes well for you. I thought I'd bring it up because the principle was excited to get a speech from you." Shiro states, clearly meaning to embarrass him a little bit. "The officer also came over to talk to the students."

Daisuke looks up from his homework to Shiro, completely ignoring the remark about the principle. "Officer Hidetoshi? What did he come over for?" Daisuke was very familiar with Hidetoshi. The officer would respond to many fights between him and Ren. He always seemed to know just how to get both of them to calm down, that was what Daisuke appreciated about him the most. "What was he in for? He's never come in for an announcement before." 

"I think we should wait for Kami, we can discuss it as a group." Taro suggests, giving a concerned smile to Shiro, who quickly nods in agreement. "We'll bring Daisuke and her up to speed at lunch time." he turns back to the front of the class as the teacher walks in.

The students flip to the last page they were studying and without a word from the teacher, continued working. Maths had always been a good subject for Taro, he had managed to best every question set in front of him making him a star student in the classroom. Ordinarily, Daisuke would have hated it, but since he and Taro became closer, he didn't mind it as much.

Taro quickly swept through all of the questions, clicking his mechanical pen on the desk with pride in his handy work. It didn't take long before Shiro finished too. Just like Taro, she rivalled him in grades and scores. Or at least she thought it was a rivalry. While she was trying to get better scores that Taro, he had been taking his studies very casually without concern for his scores.

Eventually time ran out and Daisuke, who had not nearly finished his work, clicked his pen on the table. His face showed a mix of frustration and embarrassment. Maths was never a strong point for him, he preferred sports and, surprisingly to others, he enjoyed literacy subjects like Japanese and English, which he was fairly confident with unlike many of his other classmates.

Daisuke taps on Taro's shoulder "You're going to need to help me with some of this later man, I'm lost on all of it." he worries, staring down at the piece of paper on his desk. As if by command, whispers could be heard around the room. Each sentence, each remark nagging at Daisuke as if they were stabs at his throat.

So it's true? Taro and Daisuke are friends.

There's no way, Daisuke's friends would kill him.

He's got to have a death wish.

SLAM

"I think YOU have a death wish" Daisuke rages, his fist crashing into the desk beneath him. The room falls completely silent. "You're all pathetic losers. I can't believe I was even friends with half of you." He storms out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Taro watches as the door closes behind him. Taro's eyes drift downward, his mind is stuck between feeling proud of Daisuke for making progress and feeling guilt for the number of friends he's at risk of losing. Taro, wanting to go after him, packs their backpacks and lugs them out of the room and down the hall.

As he drags both bags through the halls, Taro sees Daisuke past the lockers and at the main entrance of the building, sitting on a step with his head in his hands. Taro continues dragging the bags until he reaches him.

"I see what you mean about barely being able to carry this." Taro laughs, sitting next to Daisuke, who shows a faint smile. Daisuke returns to staring at the ground in front of him. "Don't worry about those guys. They don't know what we've been through." he places a hand on Daisuke's shoulder.

"Right, but it still hurts knowing that I need to choose between being friends with you and keeping the friends I've made up until now. I think it's like what you and Ren are going through." Daisuke furrows his brow at the thought of abandoning Taro. Though his apparent frustration quickly fades as he faces Taro with a friendly smile on his face. "But just so you know: I would not go back to who I was. It's just hard not to look back at the past with those constant reminders, right?"

Taro clutches his chest, Daisuke was right, being reminded about the bad at every point in their lives was frustrating. Taro smiled, his connection with Daisuke only kept getting stronger. "Right. But all this hurt will be worth it in the end, I'm sure of it." Taro stands back up, lifting his bag off the floor. "Besides, I want you to know how proud I am of you."

Daisuke smiles silently, picking his bag up off the floor with a groan and slinging it over his shoulder, narrowly throwing him to the ground again. The two chuckle, and head back to the classroom.