BRAINDEAD ~ Ruikasa

PIECE BY PIECE

It was nighttime, and Crawl Green was submerged in silence. Rui was sitting on the floor, staring up at the empty darkness the ceiling was hidden behind. He missed the Shinonomes a lot, even if the only things he knew about them were that they argued a lot and that the youngest one of the two murdered a girl named Azusawa.

A huge chunk of Rui's life was still missing, and he didn't know how to get it back. Usually, he saw quick flashes of some of his past memories, occurring in irregular patterns and probably not in chronological order. The intervals between each flash was a different length. Rui wondered if he'd ever remember why he loved Tsukasa. The blonde was nice and energetic, and he was good-looking. His voice could be incredibly mellifluous at times, and amusingly loud at others. But was that really it? Were human emotions truly as simple as that?

Rui was flung out of his thoughts as he heard noises disrupting the peaceful silence of the night.

     "Hey, Rui. You're still awake?" Tsukasa walked up to his friend, rubbing his eyes, which he could barely keep open even though he didn't feel tired in the slightest bit. "Have you been getting any sleep at all?"

     Rui shook his head.

"Yeah, me neither. Not since Akito and his sister left." Tsukasa sat down next to Rui and mimicked him by watching the unchanging darkness above his head. "It's been way too quiet. I know that Toya feels horrible about it as well. I never thought he'd like Akito in that way." He paused. "I wonder how the Shinonomes are doing. I bet you miss them, too."

Rui nodded, letting Crawl Green plunge right back into total silence. Tsukasa didn't let it drag on, though.

"Still not talking?" He asked, continuing when Rui didn't answer. "That's okay. I know it's hard for you right now. But remember what Akito said? She isn't controlling you anymore. You're in charge of you."

Rui knew that and he understood perfectly what Tsukasa was getting at, but he just couldn't make himself do anything unless he was told to. He was already invalidating his own thoughts. How could he ever recover from that?

"I hope you come back soon." Tsukasa said, standing back up and stretching his arms up to the ceiling. "The Rui I used to know, I mean. It's like you're not here, and... I miss you. But seriously, don't get me wrong, I still love you. I always will, no matter how you act. Got it?"

     Rui's chest tightened. He stood up as well and he gave Tsukasa a short peck on the lips, leaving the blonde stunned. Soon recovering, the blonde cleared his throat.

"U—Um... Before you left, you used to write i—in a journal," Tsukasa stuttered, reaching into one of the pouches that were attached to his belt. "Here they are, just in case you wanna write."

The blonde dropped the book into Rui's palm along with the pen that the alchemist used to write with.

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     Emu wandered around the halls of the MINDHIVE, peeking around every corner in case some BOTS would be found on the other side. It was a good thing thay she still had her gun, the one that Nene had given her to protect herself in case the green-haired girl died fighting and couldn't defend Emu and the others anymore. Unluckily for her, though, she didn't know how many bullets she had left. Emu only had to hope that she had enough to save her life.

The pink-haired girl moved through the building, weaving around the walls and exploring the small rooms that could be accessed by passing through large doorways that had no security systems at all. Miku had, after all, told Emu that she could explore the MINDHIVE without encountering any danger. Wait, had Miku ever said that last part about it being danger-free? Emu couldn't remember. Oh, well. It wasn't like any BOTS would be functioning anyway.