With You (Souyo)

I Need Space

Yu's POV:

I sit some distance away from him, looking down off the ledge.

I still can't believe that he was just going to throw me away like yesterday's trash. He was prepared to throw away everything we've done together, just at the snap of a finger.

Maybe meeting him was a curse in disguise of a blessing. Maybe we weren't supposed to get so close to one another. Maybe we're just meant to be strangers.

"Talk, Shin," I grunt.

"Remember when we went to that bar?" He says with a low voice.

"Mhm."

"And... I talked to Hana and those guys."

"Get to the point."

"They said they'd leave you alone if I paid up. But... I don't have what they want. So they said I'd have to pay in another way."

"Pay for what?" I frown. "You did nothing wrong."

"...I did do something," he admits. "But it was so long ago, that I had no idea what I was getting into."

"Another thing you hadn't told me?" I sigh. "...What did you do?"

"I'd rather not talk about it, okay?" He mumbles. "But... They want... Well, they want me to suffer because of that."

"Did you kill someone?"

He gasps slightly, blinking an awful lot. "Wh- what the hell?"

"Tell me," I frown.

"I didn't kill anyone."

"But someone died?"

"...Yeah," he sighs. "On my watch."

"Shit..."

"They all blame me for his death. Honestly, so do I."

"Enough of your pity party," I scoff. "Contuine."

"R-right," he splutters. "Um... He... Was an important part of their group. I- I didn't know at the time, but... They found out that I was involved in his death. It didn't seem right to them that I was able to move on from it. They wanted to haunt me. To make me pay."

"So they wanted to kill me in order to make you suffer?"

"It wasn't just you," he sighs. "It was a choice. A choice between you and Yosuke."

"...What?" My words come out as a mere whisper.

"I know it wasn't fair for me to make a decision like that," he shakes his head, ashamed of himself. "And I swear that I didn't want to. But, Yu... I can't lose my baby brother, man... I- I can't."

"...Shin..."

"You wouldn't get it," he looks away.

"I do get it," I shrug. "If anything were to happen to Nanako..."

"Yu, I love you. You know damn well I do. And I love Yosuke, too. Even if I don't say it all that often. But I can't let him die, Yu... I'm sorry."

"No... I... I get it."

"I mean, wouldn't you choose the same in that situation?"

"What, between me and him?"

"No." He wipes his nose. "Between him and me."

"What the fuck, Shin?" I say. "Stop saying shit like that outa the blue."

"Sorry," he shrugs. "It was supposed to be a joke."