Determination

***

I was walking home with my friend from cram school. We walk a fair distance together because our houses are the same way. It was raining a little. We were just chatting as friends do but suddenly when I looked ahead, Kazuki was standing and his condition was not good at all.

Dirty clothes, Disheveled hair, was totally wet and had an expression on his face that kind of felt like he was really scared. Just as I was about to call out to him my stupid friend said something totally uncalled for:

"Hey, do you know this creep?" After listening to this, Kazuki started running back.

"Wait, Kazuki!" He did not stop. "Hey! Why did you call him that?"

"Uhh... Well, he was really looking like one. Sorry for that. He is your friend?"

"Y-yeah!"

"Ooohh! Is he?"

"Shut up! Anyways, he was in really bad shape. I will chase after him. Bye!"

"Alright, Bye! Be sure to catch up to your boyfriend!"

"It's nothing like that!"

*Why was he looking so scared? It felt like he just saw a ghost. Wait, there isn't one behind me, right? * I was wondering some stupid thoughts when I suddenly felt a shadow creep up behind me. I felt a chill of horror.

"I-it isn't a-actually a gh-ghost, right?" The words left my mouth as a slow murmur.

Quite a weird thing to think in that situation but it was obviously not a ghost. Not like it was something better. The next thing I knew was that there was a cloth on my mouth and I fell unconscious. When I regained consciousness I was in some sort of a really damaged place. It looked like it was some kind of abandoned home.

There are a lot of abandoned home areas in the city and some surrounding areas so I was probably in one of them. And of course, I was tied to a chair with a cloth tied on my mouth. It still felt unreal but I guess I really got kidnapped. When the reality sunk in, I started to feel the fear. More than that, I was also worried that Kazuki would blame himself for all this again. That the same thing would end up happening when his sister was kidnapped.

Suddenly the door opened and a guy came inside. He was probably one of the lackeys or maybe the instigator himself.

"Finally awoke, huh?" he said. He then took off the cloth on my mouth and made me forcefully drink some water.

"Why did you kidnap me?" It was much harder to speak than I thought it would be. This was probably a dumb question because I already knew.

"Huh? Are you an idiot? Of course, it is for the money." he replied. Of course, in the end it boils down to money. He then left. 

After a little while, I heard the voice of two men talking outside.

"Take care of things this time. Last time you killed the girl."

"H-hey! It was not my fault she tried to escape. I just fired to scare her but it ended up hitting her."

"Yeah, because you are an idiot. If you didn't have a good aim then why did you fire? We had to escape this city and go to another and we didn't even get the money because you killed the girl. The parents were rich WeTubers too. We could have gotten a lot of money out of them. Boss was really furious too. In any case, don't repeat that shit again!"

"Y-yeah... I will be careful."

*The girl... WeTuber parents... Are they the same guys who did that to Kazuki's sister...?!* I felt a lot of anger welling up inside me but I couldn't have done anything in the situation I was in.

I also started feeling afraid of what was going to happen to me. Trying to escape was off the list I guess. I just hope Kazuki doesn't end up the same again though.

***

"Wh-what d-did you just say?" Kazuki heard the news of Kayo's kidnapping from his parents when he woke up the next day. He couldn't believe his ears.

*Why is this happening again? Why did I leave her last night? I should have stayed there. It's my fault* These thoughts were running through his head as he ran back to his room and broke into tears. The thought of everything repeating again was haunting him. His parents called him a lot but he didn't come out of his room.

The room was pitch black. The curtains were closed and all the lights were off. Kazuki was sitting in a corner of the room with a blanket around him. It was like everything was reversed. It was the same all over again. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"Oi, what are you doing in there?" It was the voice of Jiro. "Are you planning to just sit in there trying to run away from things, huh?"

Jiro and Yoko visited his home since both of them didn't come to school today and were not answering their calls and messages too. They got to know about the situation from his parents. Jiro decided that he would take him out of his room.

"I could have saved her. But I just ran away last night. I should have stayed with her. It is my fault."

"So what? Or do you think just sitting in there is not running away once again? Do you think Kayo would want this for you? She helped you once, didn't she? Then return the favor dammit! Save her this time!"

There was total silence inside for some time. Then the door slightly opened and Kazuki came out of the room. His condition was not good looking in the least but Jiro's words were like an awakening call to him.

"You are right, I guess. Can't just go waiting in here once again."

"Alright! Now we are talking!" Jiro said giving him a rather hard slap on his back.

"So, what is the condition? Did they contact the police yet?"

"No, they didn't."

"I see. So it means they received the call already, I guess?"

"Yeah, also you are really calm about them not contacting the police. Shouldn't they tell them?"

"If they can afford the money told them, people generally don't tell the police because they think telling the police will cause harm to the one kidnapped. However, I don't think this is a good thing because doing this was probably the biggest mistake when my sister got kidnapped and you know how it resulted. How much did they ask by the way?"

"1 million yen. So, we are going to tell the police?"

"Yeah, we will but won't leave everything to them. It is true that they can use her as a hostage if the police just arrive there from the front while trying to find her."

"So, what are we going to do?"

"Hey! Did he come out yet or should I drag him out?" Yoko also came upstairs tired of waiting for them.

"Yeah, he is."

"I see, I was ready to turn to drastic measures if he didn't."

"Uhhh... I will just not think about those measures, I guess. Anyways, I have something we can try."

Kazuki was determined that he will not let the same thing happen again even if he has to face the danger too.