"You're Alone Kokichi, And You Always Will Be" // A Saiouma Angst Story

Chapter 22 - Burn Marks

It was really cute, I crouched down in front of them, making sure I didn't disturb or wake them up. I gingerly reached out my hand and began petting one of them. Its back slowly rose and fell as it breathed.

As I gently pet the kitten, I heard footsteps come up from behind me, I felt my breath hitch with fear and I could feel my body temperature rise with panic. I shut my eyes tight, hoping they would think I didn't notice them and they would just leave.

But they didn't. They didn't leave and they wouldn't. They just watched me and I could feel their breath hit my shoulder after they sat down behind me. I could feel their eyes wander all over me, it was scary.

"I know you're aware I'm here." The stranger spoke. It was a man, he sounded to be in his late 30's, but he didn't sound like he had any intentions of doing weird things.

"What do you want from little ol' me? An autograph, maybe? Just a little warning, I don't have the best handwriting. Is that ok with you?" I asked, just trying to annoy the man at this point, still not turning around.

Then I heard him get up from sitting. The sound of his footsteps faded, and I let out a sigh of relief. But before I could get up and leave to avoid more trouble, I looked over my shoulde, only to see him approaching again, this time with another man.

In a childish voice, I sighed and yelled, "Did your friend want an autograph too? Wow I'm reaallly popular aren't I? Are you gonna tell me there's merch of me next?" I just wanted them to leave.

But they wouldn't stop walking. When the first man got close enough, he raised his fist and punched me, knocking me onto my rear. Still a bit stunned, I spoke again.

"H-how rude! You could have asked for an autograph nicer than that!" I said, still joking around and ignoring the pain in my left cheek. Then the second man approached, he was smoking a cigarette but then took it out of his mouth.

Before I could process what he was gonna do, he pressed the still lit cigarette up against my neck, leaving a burn mark. I let out a yelp of pain, gripping at his arm to try and get him to pull away but I wasn't strong enough and he continued.

The other man watched, letting out small chuckles as I continued to scream with pain. Could someone really find something like this funny? I stopped screaming, at this point I was just trying to ignore the cigarette. Small pained whimpers left my throat instead of yells.

When they noticed I wasn't screaming anymore, the second man threw the cigarette to the side. He looked over to the first man, I assumed he was waiting for a signal because after the first man nodded they both started to kick me.

They kicked me everywhere. My arms, my legs, my hands, my stomach, and more. After they kicked my stomach a third time, I coughed up a few droplets of blood and then vomited. They sat me up against the wall and took a photo of me before leaving.

After they left, I slowly got up, limping ever so slightly as I walked out of the alley way. As I limped on the sidewalk, I saw Shuichi at the end of the street, waiting by a stop sign. Probably waiting for a bus.

I was gonna turn around and go the other way, but I was unfortunate and Shuichi saw me. He called me over. I sighed and put on a fake smile as I tried my best to cover up my my limping.

"Oh, are you stalking me here, too? Geez Shumai, maybe you should get a job." I joked. Shuichi blushed and responded with, "Well, no, I was just gonna go to a nearby coffee shop. Wanna come with me?" He asked, obviously just trying to be nice.

I put my hands behind my head and nodded. "Yeah sure why not?" I replied, giggling. I wondered if I would ever get to confess to him.

Shuichi's POV