In This World So Cruel

Chapter 8

That was the information Arima had wanted to hear. That meant Sasaki had shown signs of remembering but never really remembered anything. “Anything else?” asked Arima. He doubted that there was anything else but if he didn’t ask he would never know. Surprisingly Saiko spoke up. “ While he’s sleeping he sometimes mutters things” said Saiko with a straight face. Arima could tell that she was serious and actually involved in the conversation. “What does he say?” asked Arima. He knew that these questions could be considered intrusive but he needed information. Saiko seemed hesitant before answering but she still spoke up. “He says things like ‘it hurts’ or ‘I will protect them and sometimes he counts backwards from a thousand saying things like ‘993,986,979 I want to die’. I have no idea why he says these things though.” Said Saiko timidly. Although she didn’t want to admit it she was scared. Some of the thing he said were not pleasant. While everyone sat in silence at what Saiko had said Shizaru tried to lighten the mood. “Hey Saiko” asked Shizaru in a teasing tone “How do you know what Sasaki says in his sleep? Are you a stalker or something?” Saiko realizing what he was trying to do replied with “I’m not just any stalker, I’m Sasaki’s personal Super Stalker! I know everything he does and watch every move. The reason I stay up all night is so that I can sneak into Sasaki’s room and steal his clothes!” Everybody except for Arima burst out laughing with Saiko’s ridiculous statement. Arima could feel the smile on his face as he enjoyed the moment with the teenagers. For once he felt like he could actually talk and spend time with the quinx without it being awkward but realizing what time it was and knowing he had work to do he bid the quinx good night.

After Arima left the quinx couldn’t help but wonder why Arima needed that information and the only one who had the slightest clue was Shizaru. To him the pieces of information were slowly falling into place fitting like a puzzle. Arima let out a sigh as he looked back at the door of the quinx house. He really wanted to stay and chat but he had more important matters to attend to. As he walked towards the CCG building he noticed Akira leaving and decided to ask her the same question. Akira was just finishing work and heading towards her apartment when Arima called her over. He hadn’t realized that he was there so it had somewhat startled her when someone called her name out of nowhere. After she had walked over to Arima he asked her a strange question. “Have you noticed anything strange about Sasaki?” asked Arima. Truth to be told she hadn’t really noticed anything strange about Sasaki so she responded to Arima to know why he had asked that question. “No, why?” asked Akira. Arima gave her the ‘what do you think look’ and she realized why he had asked. “No” said Akira “you don’t think he’s-“ “yeah he might be relapsing” responded Arima. Akira felt her whole world come crashing down on her. If Sasaki got his memories beck then he might turn into the evil ghoul he was before. “Mukade” whispered Akira clearly remembering the look of insanity on his face as he face Amon in his Kajuka form. The boy was so kind the way he is he helped others as much as he could and was patient with those who needed time. Like Arima Akira had grown attached to this version of the ghoul and couldn’t imagine killing him. If he truly was relapsing they would have to be more careful about what they exposed him to.

Arima could see the troubled look on Akira’s face and realized that she also didn’t want to kill him. He knew that he was going to regret what he was about to say but Akira had to know. If he didn’t tell her he would tell someone else and Akira was the one he trusted most, so he opened his mouth and began to speak bracing himself for the wrath of Akira. “You know” started Arima. Akira was hoping that Arima would tell her that he was okay, that he wasn’t going to regain his memories, Akira was hoping Arima would comfort her. What she heard was the exact opposite. “ There is a lot of proof that he was tortured in the past.” Said Arima in a calm but shaky voice, like he was trying to keep his voice calm. Akira felt her blood run cold. She could fell the tear dripping down her cheek and the only thing that was keeping her composure together was the small bit of hope that it wasn’t a long or really bad torture session. Her voice cracking she let out a small “By who”. Arima looked away and Akira could immediately tell that it was bad. “Jason” replied Arima almost losing control over his emotions. Akira on the other hand broke down crying, turning herself into a sobbing mess. Somewhere in the back of her mind she was thankful that her co-workers had all left and nobody except for Arima would see her like this. He was such a sweet boy he never deserved any of this but fate could be cruel.

Looking down at the sobbing mess that was Akira he could make out small words such as “Why him”, “he is such a sweet boy”, and “he never deserved any of this”. Arima sat down and wanted to try to calm her down by telling her that it was just a theory but he couldn’t tell a lie. There was so much proof it was almost certain that he had been tortured so he sat there rubbing circles onto her back and telling her that he had forgotten and it didn’t haunt him anymore. Akira knew that it was stupid but she couldn’t help but feel guilty. It was the CCG’s job to help humans and he was half human so they were responsible for him. As she continued to sob into the night Arima sat there providing her a small level of comfort.