Prey-Hunter Relationship

"It's suicide…" Yukawa said as he looks down at us with a dead face.

"No way… why would Hirarin do that!?" I shouted in doubt while putting my anger towards Yukawa. What he said is just too hard to accept.

With a serious look on his face, he tries to drag me out of the scene, but I resisted forcefully. I swore to Hirari that I should always be by her side no matter what happens.

"Let's talk outside, Saori," he calmly said as he looks his eyes away from me. Without my consent, he made me stand up and follow him by dragging.

"No! Let me go! Hirarin will disappear!" I cried in desperation. Hirari tries to grip my hand but Manabu stopped her.

"Go, Yukawa. We'll guard her until Saori comes back," Manabu said like he knew what Yukawa will do.

Yukawa dragged me out of the room and closed the door. His eyes are completely blank and covered with the shadows of his hair, and the me who can't think straight didn't notice it.

"What are you doing, Yukawa!? Hirari is your friend! Don't you feel sorry for her!? I don't care if you're still calm in this situation but please… leave me by Hirarin's side…"

I suddenly stopped after hearing hiccups from him… or should I say he's trying to hold his feelings, not until we came out of the room. His chin starts trembling while he swallows hard with lowered head.

"I… I feel sorry too. In fact, I'm here to tell you that…" The moment he continued, I've seen the weaker side of Yukawa. Tears of sadness start falling from him while he cried more than mine. In the shorter term, he exploded. "I can't hold this anymore…"

"Yukawa…" I murmured when I realized that I became too selfish of my feelings that I didn't even consider others. The next thing that happened was he shouted like he was in an open space while shaking in extremities and clenched fists.

"Why am I carrying all those heavy things!? Why am I the one stepping up the silent stone!? Why am I the one worrying too much than myself!? Why am I… why am I suffering…

"Why are responsibilities created in the first place? Is it to forcefully put burdens on people? Even other's life, it's all caused by me… It is such an indirect and painful curse put by everyone on me. And I… I'm a cursed child…"

Now that I've realized that he's not the perfect leader that we've been looking up to. He's just an ordinary boy that was forced to take the step because no one wanted to. We're both emotionally drained while carrying this overweighted feeling.

My heart throbs deep that I didn't notice that I've hugged him unintentionally. I rub his back while both of us are crying as he cried more. I'm uncertain of what to say next. I tried comforting him in a soothing tone, but I've said a bad choice of words.

"I believe in your ability, Yukawa. You've handled a much heavier responsibility. I still believe how strong you are, how powerful…"

"No, I don't need power. I never needed one. I needed to rest, to breathe freely, but when I do, everyone will blame me wrongly. That's right, everyone keeps blaming me, ever since I've lost my sister. Is there something wrong with what I've done?

"I can't ignore those words, those whispers. They're already living in my head. I try to keep calm even if I'm seen as insensitive. I thought that would help me lose those awakened nightmares but… what I need is peace."

"It's okay, Yukawa. You've done too much for us already. Thank you."

Suddenly, he stopped crying as I feel it. The shaking also vanished, and the next thing I heard is his deep breath. He then speaks with a slow and gradually fading voice.

"That's… that's the first time ever thanked me for what I've done. You're welcome, and… thank you too…"

Later that I noticed he is already drained as the ground drags his body down. His head droops as if it's wobbling on the neck. His dry tears surround his heavy eyelids.

"Yukawa!" I shouted as I catch his body before falling. Manabu quickly opens the door to help me carry him onto the laboratory. I already knew that he and the others are peeking at us without Yukawa noticing.

He helped me prepare the blankets for us but I volunteered to watch over Yukawa. Hirari is already a casualty, and I don't want Yukawa to be one too. Manabu comes back to the storeroom to check Hirari's condition, while Yukawa is still resting in my lap. Minutes later, Rise goes inside the lab room.

"Nice development. How is h…"

"Shhhh!" I shushed to let Yukawa rest from her loud voice.

"Oh…" She stuttered when she goes near us. "What a cool man. I never expected him to go boom! If this isn't the place, it's a huge scandal."

"She might have overdone things in his way."

"I see. From his face, I can already see some marks forming on his eyes," she said with narrowed eyes, analyzing his eyes.

"Eh? I can't see anything."

"Idiot, that's not obvious for you. I'm a pageant queen. You're a noob at putting makeup. I know face formations very well," she boasted.

"Oh… sorry."

"Hmm… I thought you were doing sleep rotations? Didn't he sleep?"

"That's what he proposed to us I remember."

"Then he might just be faking his sleep. In these past three days, he's completely awake, even with his eyes closed. He might have done too many hardcore games."

"Is that why he loses his calm?"

"You still have common sense, don't you? There's no effect without a trigger. We are all shocked by the situation, and that might have lit the bomb. Really, you should try leveling up your hygiene sometimes."

Is she saying that makeup is required for hygiene? "Is that so. Thank you for the tip. You're a kind person, Rise."

"You idiot. I'm not teaching you things. But there's something I'm curious about. Don't make a big deal of this, but you two… Aren't you a real couple?"

"W… w… wha… what are you saying!? We're not like that!" I shouted with sudden redness in my burning cheeks. I tried hiding my face under my hair but she'd seen through me already.

"Figures. Never mind it. Three days of sleep might be just fine, it's recoverable. But without water, I don't know. I'm going back to the storeroom. Manabu is doing some analysis on Hirari."

"If there's something… could you please let us know? I'm gonna watch Yukawa here for a bit."

"Isn't that a given? You're really an idiot. We'll let you know if we got findings of the killer."

"The killer? I thought Yukawa said it's suicide."

"Look… I don't care about the prey-hunter thing. But if there's someone that needs to be disposed of, it's the one doing the disposal," she said as she leaves the room.

Just what did she say? The killer and the hunter are different things?