Collateral Damage

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(Akane's PoV)

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I walked with the broken angel until the heavy, industrial-grade plastic door of the third-floor girls' restroom clicked shut behind me, the mechanical latch sliding into its housing with a hollow, echoing snap.

At this particular hour of the morning, the room was completely deserted. I was sure that nobody would have come.

The rows of white porcelain sinks and polished mirrors sat cold and silent under the buzzing fluorescent glare of the ceiling tubes, completely cut off from the rising noise of the senior corridors outside.

I didn't loosen my posture for a single fraction of a second.

My leather combat boots remained firmly planted against the checkered tiles, and my hands pushed deep into the pockets of my oversized black hoodie.

In that moment, every single muscle in my body was completely on guard. Despite her look, I knew that I couldn't trust her 100%.

Kurone took two ragged, uncoordinated steps past the threshold before her physical framework gave out completely, but this time, she didn't attempt to reach for the vanity counter or the stabilizing bar; she simply collapsed backward against the plaster wall, her spine sliding down the cold surface until she was sitting flat on the floor tiles, her knees pulled tightly against her chest.

Then, she buried her face completely into her hands, her narrow shoulders shaking with a silent, violent vibration that disrupted the silence of the room.

I stood exactly three feet away from her, looking down at her rumpled uniform with an unblinking, calculated severity.

I couldn't be softened by the pathetic display of her tears. I had spent half a decade watching her engineer manipulative, sweet narratives to isolate Shin from the rest of the world, and I was fully aware that this could simply be another calculated script.

"So?" I demanded, my voice dropping into a register that carried little human warmth. "What happened, Kuro?"

After my words, Kurone didn't lift her head from her palms. Her breath hitched sharply, a low, strangled sound escaping her throat before the words finally broke through her teeth, sounding incredibly thin, broken, and hollow.

"Kenji... Kenji violated me, Akane. He took me by force."

Those words hit the empty room like a physical meteor, detonating the baseline equilibrium of my thoughts.

My eyes immediately widened, my pupils dilating as a violent, freezing shiver shot straight down my spine, turning my blood to liquid nitrogen in a microsecond.

Her revelation triggered a sudden, catastrophic cascade of old, buried memory files within my brain—the structural wreckage of my own childhood household.

The sound of my father's heavy, dominant footsteps echoing down the hallway, the desperate, muffled cries of my mother behind locked doors, and the absolute, sickening realization that violence was the only currency my family ever used to enforce obedience.

The monster's blood ran through Kenji's veins. That's why he was so precious to him. Like father, like son. And that asshole still acts as if he cares for me. 

I forced my jaw to lock tight, fighting back the sudden, suffocating wave of my own trauma as I stepped closer, my shadow completely draping over her trembling frame.

"Continue," I commanded, my voice dropping into a rough, gravelly rasp that vibrated with a tightly coiled fury. "Tell me everything, Kurone."

Then, Kurone's hands slowly dropped from her face, revealing the absolute disaster of her features.

Her mascara had dried into thick, black tracks that stained her cheeks, her lower lip split and swollen, and her large blue eyes completely bloodshot and glassy with a profound, unadulterated terror.

She began to weep openly, her chest heaving with a series of jagged, frantic sobs as she forced the words out, her entire body shaking uncontrollably against the cold wall. Moreover, she lowered her school uniform from her shoulder, revealing a large bruise on her collarbone.

I couldn't believe my eyes.

"I'll be honest, Akane..." She took a deep breath, "Yesterday afternoon... we went to that private karaoke establishment near the commercial high street," she sobbed, her fingers digging frantically into the fabric of her pleated uniform skirt. "I... I was feeling so incredibly lonely, Akane. I was devastated when I saw you and Shin together in his house... I realized I had lost him forever, which is why I wanted to talk to my 'boyfriend'. I wanted to tell Kenji about my problems. I wanted him to understand how sad I was... how lonely I felt. He's my boyfriend, so communication would be the foundation, right? I just wanted some reassurance, nothing more."

She stopped to catch her breath, a sharp, wet hiccup rattling her chest.

"But he... he didn't care about my words, Akane. Not at all. The exact microsecond I started crying about Shin, Kenji's expression went completely blank. He just... he started touching me, teasing my skin, telling me that he had a highly effective method to make me forget about him entirely. At the very beginning of it... I thought he was just trying to comfort me, so I didn't push his hands away. But then, when I specifically told him that I had changed my idea... he violently locked my wrists above my head and started tearing the buttons of my dress open."

A violent tremor rocked her entire upper body, her voice cracking into a high, terrified shriek that echoed off the white porcelain walls.

"I explicitly told him to stop multiple times! I screamed at him that I didn't want to go through with it! I kept repeating that I wasn't feeling well, that he was hurting me, that I wanted to leave the room! I tried to fight! But to Kenji... it didn't matter. He didn't care about a single thing I said. He completely ignored my tears and used his physical weight to strip my clothes off by force, slammed my spine directly against the concrete wall of the box, and... And forced his desire anyway. While I was sobbing, while I was begging him to let me go... he just kept going faster. AND IT HURT!"

She buried her face back into her knees, her voice dissolving into a pathetic, broken whimper that made the skin at the nape of my neck prickle with a deep, visceral disgust. Her legs occasionally moved back and forth across the pavement.

"And the absolute worst part, Akane... the thing that completely shattered my mind... is that after he finished releasing himself inside me, he didn't even attempt to form an apology. He didn't show a single micro-expression of remorse or regret. He just casually slid into his expensive casual jacket, checked his watch, and walked out of the building as if nothing had happened. He treated my body like trash. And he even had the audacity to text, 'I'm waiting outside, move.' I was just a piece of meat."

I stood perfectly paralyzed in the center of the room, her words filtering through my consciousness and leaving me entirely displaced.

My soul was caught in a violent, conflicting loop of pure psychological turbulence.

One part was burning with a fierce, territorial rage because this girl had the audacity to manipulate Shin for years, but a larger, deeper part of me was completely overwhelmed by a sickening disgust for what my half-brother had done.

He was completely his father's son. He had used the exact same dominant, monstrous machinery to break a human being's dignity. And for what?

Then, Kurone slowly lifted her tear-stained face, looking up at me through the messy strands of her strawberry-blonde curls, her blue eyes filled with an absolute, crushing despair.

"I am fully aware of the fact that I am the most hypocritical, flawed person in the entire universe for saying this to you," she whispered, her voice a ragged, breathless thread. "I know I have absolutely zero right to utter his name to your face. I know I look completely, thoroughly pathetic... but I miss Shin so incredibly much, Akane. If he had been there... if Shin had still been standing in my shadow... he would have never, ever permitted a monster like Kenji to touch a single hair on my head. He would have protected me."

In that moment, a cold, sharp shiver hit my spine for the second time.

The mention of my boyfriend's name from her mouth instantly triggered my territorial armor, a sudden spike of jealousy flaring behind my ribs.

But looking down at the broken, weeping wreck sitting on the dirty tiles, the anger couldn't hold its traction.

In that moment, Kurone was a victim of violence, completely stripped of her social power, starving for the safety she had thrown into the dirt. I had to let her speak and listen, because she was... vulnerable.

"Kuro, did you break up with him?" I asked, my voice dropping into a quieter, steadier register that lacked its initial venom.

"Y-Yes," Kurone choked out, nodding her head frantically. "I sent him a lot of messages yesterday, telling him it was permanently over. And because of that... I am completely, thoroughly alone now, Akane. I am like a stray dog in these corridors. I lost Shin because of my own stupid lies, I lost Kenji because he's a monster... and now, I have probably permanently lost you too, I feel it."

I stared at her for three long seconds, the absolute silence of the restroom emphasizing the depth of her isolation.

I took a slow, deep preparation breath, letting the clean air steady my racing thoughts, before I deliberately walked forward and dropped onto my knees directly in front of her.

"Listen to me, Kuro," I said softly, my voice a low, raspy purr that carried a sudden, uncharacteristic gravity. "Even though I should fundamentally loathe your existence for the structural damage you inflicted on Shin's heart... even though you lied to his face for years just to feed your own ego... I am fully aware that no human being in this world deserves to endure the nightmare you experienced yesterday. Kenji is an explicitly evil, toxic creature. He is a monster."

Without giving her a single millimeter of warning, I reached out my arms, bypassing my usual unapproachable boundaries, and pulled her shivering frame directly into a tight, secure embrace.

In that moment, Kurone froze for a fraction of a microsecond, her brain probably unable to process the sudden change in my mood, before she completely leaned into my touch.

She buried her face deep into the thick cotton of my oversized hoodie, her fingers locking into my sleeves as she sobbed without restraint, her entire weight anchoring itself to my frame.

"Don't speak right now, Kuro," I whispered into her hair, my hand automatically moving to rub the center of her tensed back in a slow, comforting rhythm. "Thinking about it would make it significantly worse. Just let it out."

We stayed locked in that embrace for several long minutes under the red-tinted glare of the room, the cadence of her sobbing gradually slowing down as the safety of my hold managed to calm her down.

But as her breathing stabilized, I realized that the contract of my new life required absolute, unvarnished sincerity. I couldn't keep her in the dark about the courtyard's architecture.

"Regarding Shin..." I murmured quietly, causing her head to lift slightly from my shoulder. "Before you're gonna hear it from the gossip mills or the whispers in the senior hall... I want you to hear the truth directly from my mouth. He and I are officially a couple now. We are together."

Kurone's body went slightly rigid within my arms, her blue eyes wide and unblinking as the information registered in her grid.

"He is genuinely happy now, Kuro," I continued, my thumb lightly tracing the fabric of her sleeve. "He smiles, he prepares breakfast, he laughs, and he even speaks about his family."

Kurone slowly pulled her frame out of the embrace, sitting back against the tiles.

She dropped her gaze, her pale hand moving up to press flat against the center of her chest, right over her rapidly thumping heart, as if she were physically trying to hold the pieces of her soul together.

Then, a small, bittersweet, and thoroughly exhausted smile touched her trembling lips.

"...Don't hurt him, please," she whispered, her voice a fragile, broken echo of the girl who used to rule the classroom. "Please, Akane... promise me you'll look after his heart. I... I hope with everything that he will find the capacity to forgive me. And... I hope that at least, in the future, I can be a real friend to both of you."

I stood up from the checkered tiles, my boots making a sharp, solid click against the floorboards as I looked down at her.

"I am fully aware of the fact that you realized his value now that you have permanently lost him, Kuro," I stated, my tone remaining entirely honest, stripped of any artificial sweetness. "But if you genuinely love him... If your soul has truly realized that he was your anchor... then the first thing to do right now is to let him smile and live. Don't throw your drama into his path. He desperately, explicitly needs this peace after all these years of starvation."

I paused, looking toward the white door of the exit, before a small, knowing grin touched my dark lips.

"And besides... I suppose I actually should thank you."

Kurone blinked, her cloudy blue eyes looking up at me in complete confusion. "Eh? What do you mean, Akane?"

"I won't go into details, but let's just say that if that pinky promise hadn't existed, Shin wouldn't be here," I explained, my voice dropping into its usual cool register. "So... I technically owe you a favor, Kuro. And because of that... You can completely count on my support from this moment onward. I'll help you recover from what has happened to you. As I said, nobody deserves such a thing."

I extended my right hand down toward her, my calloused fingers open under the fluorescent light, a genuine, soft smile gracing my features.

"Now," I said, my voice carrying a steady, reassuring strength. "Shall we go to class now?"

Kurone stared at my open palm for a wide, unblinking second, a final crystalline tear breaking over her lash and sliding down her cheek.

But this time, she didn't turn away. Instead, she reached out her small, shaking hand, locking her fingers securely within mine, and allowed me to physically drag her frame off the floor tiles.

Then, she walked over to the vanity counter, washed her face under the cold tap, and systematically adjusted the rumpled collar of her uniform dress, forcing her posture back into a controlled, dignified line.

She was still fragile, but she was no longer a dog waiting to be executed in the dark. She was a victim who had finally located a safe harbor.

"T-Thank you, Akane, I don't deserve this," she whispered quietly, opening the heavy plastic door for us.

"Move your legs, Kuro," I replied, stepping out into the senior corridor beside her. "I don't want to hear such sweet talk."

And then, we walked through the long, polished hallway of the third-floor administrative wing.

The morning bell hadn't rung yet, and the corridor was thick with senior students chatting near their lockers, their voices building a heavy, continuous hum through the space.

I kept my arms crossed over the front of my oversized black hoodie, my eyes scanning the environment with my usual predatory focus to ensure no spies were targeting us.

But as we cleared the central intersection near the faculty staircase, my entire body froze.

My boots pinned themselves to the linoleum with such sudden force that Kurone nearly collided with my shoulder from behind.

Every single cell in my body went completely, violently static-charged, a sudden surge of boiling territorial adrenaline hitting my chest like a physical blow.

Standing less than ten feet away from my classroom door, bathed in the bright morning light filtering through the large hallway windows, were two familiar silhouettes.

Shin, MY Shin, and Sora Fujimoto.

They were standing remarkably close together near the bulletin board; the distance between them was completely out of bounds for professional standards.

The student council president was dressed in her immaculate uniform, her long dark hair shifting as she tilted her head up to look directly into his face.

She was holding a stack of laminated vendor maps for the school festival, her lips pulled into a warm, exceptionally beautiful, and friendly smile that looked entirely too genuine for a sterile administrative briefing.

And Shin? My beloved boyfriend was standing directly in front of her, his hands pushed deep into the pockets of his new navy trousers, his posture entirely relaxed and unburdened.

He was looking straight down into her clear eyes, and as she pointed a finger at a specific point on the map, his dark lips curved into a soft, genuine grin—the exact same beautiful smile he had given me across the kitchen table just two hours ago.

The raw sight of their proximity hit my ego like an iron rod, my jaw locking so tightly the line of my muscles was starkly visible through my skin.

My fingers balled into tight fists inside my pockets, my nails digging into my palms as a violent wave of pure, unadulterated jealousy completely overrode my logic.

The school's golden idol was actively operating within my territory, and the ghost boy was smiling back.

But I knew that I had to trust him. 

'It's all for the festival... don't get angry... don't...' I tried to calm myself.

"Akane? What's wrong?" Kurone asked.

I looked at her and forced a smile. "Nothing, let's go to class."

And then, we walked away...

Luckily, Kurone didn't see him.

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Author's note #2: I've created Kurone's Chatbot, so have fun. This is the link: Kurone Tsugikawa