[Shatter Me] [Shu Kurenai]

Part 12

I stopped outside Naoki's house, solitary, preparing myself for an exchange of information. From what I can tell, this won't end well. But then again, it never does. I knocked on the door, and once again his mother answered. "Just you this time?"

There was a hint of amusement in her voice, and I looked up at her, my eyes tired and my body heavy. Her face turned from amusement to pity in an instant. "Can I see Naoki?"

She nodded, moving out of the way, and I walked inside, knocking on Naoki's bedroom door before entering. He glanced at me, and there was a look of surprise on his face. "You look terrible, Shu. What happened to that oh-so-perfect mask of yours? I thought that included being beautiful?"

"I'm too tired for this, Naoki. Can we just start this? I don't want another person to die on my watch." I said, and he just stared at me.

"You've seen his future, haven't you? You watched it crash and burn." There was sympathy in his eyes, and I never wanted it to come to this, but we all knew it would. I hated it.

"Of course I saw it. I know everything. I always do. The moment I see them, I see everything."

"From what I could gather, you could only see 24 hours into the future. Is that true?" He shook the moment he looked into my eyes, realising his efforts were probably for nothing. I saw it all crash and burn, and I know there is no way to avoid it, as much as I wish we could. I want to save him, someone, anyone.

"I don't want to accept that future. We can change it - I know we can. We have the wonder boy on our side, for Christ's sake. We can do anything." I tried to convince myself that there was a way around this fate when Naoki put his hand on my leg, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"You're a prodigy, aren't you?" I nodded and he smiled. "Well, then that's use that head of yours to work through this. With your father now gone, is there anyone who knows about the ins and outs of the curse?" I shook my head, knowing my mum probably didn't ask questions. "Well then, other than the luck of the wonder boy, is there anything else that could probably counteract that curse?" I shook my head again. "Which means?"

"He's doomed," I replied, and Naoki nodded.

"Now I need you to check one thing and then get back to me. Did your dad get turned into a glass ball?" I felt Naoki's eyes on me and I shook my head.

"I know he didn't get turned into one, I saw his death. I remember it in vivid detail." I stared at my shaking hands. I didn't want to be reminded of that day. I didn't want to go back.

"Shu. Is there any way he could have escaped his death? Anyway he cheated it? Could someone have helped him?" My eyes widened in surprise upon mentioning the ability to cheat death. Only one person could perform miracles like that. Only one person knew the truth.

"Valt."