ALIVE | GOJOU SATORU

chapter thirty

A FEW DAYS LATER

You're staring at the TV before you, zoning out as Satoru tries to get your attention.

"Hey!" Satoru waves a hand in front of your face, making you blink and look up at him. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay." You respond, clearing your throat and reaching over to grab an Oreo.

He nods slowly. "What do you want for dinner tonight? We can order takeout once the kids get out of school."

"That sounds good." You answer, placing the whole Oreo in your mouth. Something catches your eye and you look over, noticing that Choso is pacing back and forth in the kitchen while on the phone. "What's going on?"

Satoru turns around, taking a moment to look at him before returning his attention to you. "He's caught up in something with Higuruma, I think."

You hum in response, reaching for another Oreo.

He sighs before walking away, heading down the hallway and into the bedroom. His eyes shut and his head falls into his hands.

You get up from the couch and walk into the kitchen. "Is there anything I can do to help?" You ask, Choso setting the phone on the table as he opens his laptop.

"Gojou probably wouldn't like that too much...you getting involved," Choso replies.

"I just want him dead." You shake your head, letting out a breath.

Choso's eyes peel away from yours, to the person standing at the kitchen entryway.

Your head falls forward in defeat.

"There is no way in hell I am letting you get involved." Satoru approaches, stopping in front of you.

"Satoru...I understand why you feel that way, but I hate just standing around waiting for something else bad to happen. I am useful." You look up at him with pleading eyes.

He shakes his head. "I am not letting you get hurt again."

You need him to consider all the opportunities you will all have if he just lets you do this one thing. Work to kill Naoya and his family. If you kill him without taking his family out as well, they'll just work to come after all of you.

Hearing him loud and clear, you nod and walk back over to the couch. He runs a hand through his hair and looks over to Choso who sends him a weak smile before taking a seat at the table.

—

You take a look out the window before you start pacing around the living room. "Are they usually late getting out of school?"

"Not this late. I'm gonna go by the school and see what's up." Satoru says as he grabs the car keys. "Choso will stay here with you."

"Are you kidding? I'm going with you." You protest against the idea, in hopes he changes his mind.

He lets out a sigh. "I need you to stay here in case they come home." He stares at you for a moment. "Okay? I love you."

You just stand there. "I love you." And he leaves the house.

The school isn't too far from the house, so he should be back in no time.

Your phone starts ringing and you rush over, an unknown number spread across the top half of the screen. "Hello?" You answer, walking into the kitchen before stopping in front of Choso.

"Mom? I need help. Tsumiki is...I don't know, she's not breathing. I don't know where I am." Megumi's voice is heard from the other end.

And your heart shatters and you can feel the panic coursing through you. There's no time to ask questions, you need to know where he is. "We're going to trace your call and we will be there as soon as we can."

Handing the phone to Choso, he immediately begins to trace the location of where the call is coming from.

The door opens revealing Satoru and you rush over to him. "We need to go. Megumi is on the phone and says Tsumiki is not breathing. We need to go."

As Choso traces the call, they all load up into the car heading to the location which is 20 minutes away, but with Satoru's speed, he makes it 10 minutes.

While on the way, the connection got lost and you can only hope that it remains that simple. It's just a loss of connection.

Pulling up, you notice It's a house, and leaving the males behind, you run inside, looking frantically for Megumi and Tsumiki.

There are dead bodies everywhere. And the house is destroyed, blood splattered on the white walls and wooden floors.

Your eyes widen at the brutal sight. Who the hell did this? You recognize some of the bloodied people, having worked with them with Naoya before.

There was no doubt that this had anything to do with him, but who killed them all? As you search the house you come across a room and your eyes land on the two kids in the corner.

Megumi is holding his sister, and you swallow hard. He looks up from Tsumiki and his head falls back against the wall. "I tried..." He begins to cry. "She had already been dead for too long. I did everything I could..."

Footsteps can be heard down the hallway and they quickly approach, Satoru entering the room.

You walk over and pull her body away from the young boy, holding her tightly in your arms and laying against the wall.

Her body is cold.

"I'm so sorry." You whisper.

Satoru is staring at you, not knowing what to do next.

"Uh...Satoru." Choso says from the other end of the house.

You look up and meet his eyes before he backs up and leaves the room, walking down the hall and throughout the house to make it to the living room.

Before Satoru can ask him what's wrong, he takes notice of it and takes a step back, looking up at Choso as he stares at him. "What're we going to do?"

"She can't see this," Satoru says. "She shouldn't even be here." He runs a hand through his hair and his eyes stay fixed on Choso for a moment before finally looking down at the body.

You've lost too many people. You don't want to lose anybody else, ever again.

It's hard to accept the fact that Tsumiki is gone. And you just got back home to be with her, you've barely been home a day.

"We should go," Megumi says softly, standing up carefully.

You look up at him and nod. Shifting your eyes back to Tsumiki, you plant a small soft kiss on the top of her head before moving her cold body to the side. Satoru or Choso will be the ones to figure out what to do about her body.

Leaving the room with Megumi, you stop in your tracks when you notice what they're doing, watching carefully. "What are you doing?" You ask.

Satoru jumps slightly and then covers the view.

Since he doesn't say anything, you walk forward, seeing Toji's lifeless body lying there. You try to show no emotion, and you struggle to keep your body up straight. "I was just going to kill him anyway." And you walk away from the scene, reaching the car.

Megumi walks up beside Satoru. "Who is he? He acted like he knew us...he tried saving Tsumiki."

Satoru looks over at him, staring into the teen's blue eyes. 

—

r.i.p toji