Chapter 74: Colored Drinks and Tarot Cards

Haru was so intimidated that he just let Saito do whatever he wanted. It was then that made Saito's intention clear to Haru. He definitely doesn't like Haru and would probably keep on doing these subtle tortures.

And just as he predicted, Saito came onto him more and more evil each passing day

At first, he was extremely careful until almost a month passed that Saito became bolder and began explicitly hitting Haru directly without any reason, excuse, or game to cover it all up.

The worst that Haru experienced were with colored drinks such as juices and wines. Saito made it a routine to give Haru drinks with laxative or some drug that made him bleed or hurt his insides. He couldn't show it to Mr. and Mrs. Hayashi, so he was forced to endure it.

The couple is fond of Saito as he's their eldest son, but the only reason that they are fond of Haru was because he reminds them of Hiroto and he's his replacement.

If Haru strayed just a little bit from that good boy image that caused no trouble for them, he feared that he'd get kicked out of that house—that hard-earned family he always dreamt of day and night.

With that, Saito found his perfect torture tool that made Haru throw up and bleed and suffer silently. He did all these with a grin on his lips and a relaxed expression on his face.

Saito's harassment varied and went more and more extreme that Haru could barely keep it together. That was when he realized that he's been living in hell through that house since then.

--

The first feature where Camille brought Haru was in a golden slot machine.

"If you win with three consecutive figures, it'll give you three tarot cards!"

"…Tarot cards?"

"Yep! Your past, present, and future! Fortune tellers use them!" Camille exclaimed. "I got myself a few cards and the past and present were really accurate! Unlike other quack fortune tellers giving vague predictions, this one's made by the Devil himself."

"Then the predictions were really specific?"

"Yes!"

Haru let out a sigh and faced the slot machine, "Alright, I'll give it a shot."

After a few anticipated tries, he got the three figures and was given three tarot cards of his past, present, and future. It felt like the cards would swallow him up as the eerie darkness in it consumed his consciousness.

As he was slipping through being awake and asleep, he thought that the witch's words must be true then.

A parade of his memories were flashing through his head again. It continues with the tortures of his older brother, Saito.

He remembered that much.

He knew that Saito hated him and he feared Saito's anger more than anything. He doesn't directly bully you outwardly and resorts to cunning methods that make you helpless. He sucks off your hopes and dreams; he's worse than a devil.

Haru remembered being miserable as he laughed robotically in front of the Hayashi couple during mealtime, hiding wounds and scars. And then, Haru remembered getting so fed up and sick of everything.

When he woke up from that dream-like state, he was back in front of the golden slot machine again.

The tarot cards dissipated into thin air and his eyes were bloodshot.

"A-Are you okay? Haru?" Camille asked, her voice was trembling.

Haru smiled at her, "I must look really repulsive to you right now."

Camille was startled until she recovered bit by bit as she shook her head slowly. "N-No, I don't think you're repulsive."

"…Even if you saw me killing my brother?"